Chapter Fifty-Two Ashes & Glass
All of June and most of July passed with only two very brief check-ins from Aaron.
Tommy was growing concerned and was seriously considering sending Cole down to find him and his friend and pull them out.
He had reached out to his contacts in the Colombian government to see if they could provide him with any intel on their last rumoured location, so Cole at least had a decent starting point, but had instructed him to begin planning to go to Bogotá and start there just in case.
Evie was in her office very early, ten days before Cole was supposed to fly out, working on a way to integrate a micro camera into a pair of glasses that would also connect to HELIX via satellite link.
She was there early because she wanted to get the specifications to the tech department with as much information as possible so they would have a prototype ready and tested before Cole left, and because she was tired of arguing with Alex.
After weeks of him complaining about Evie making excuses so she wouldn’t have to go on their hiking date, she went to Tommy and asked for permission to tell Alex about Paula so he would drop it and leave her alone.
Instead of being understanding, he turned it around, saying she could have just told him her uptick in work was because of a death, and then turned it on her again, saying she wasn’t communicating with him.
She tried to tell him that she was communicating.
She had told him that work was extremely busy and that she had about twenty things she was trying to do at once.
She told him that she was exhausted and emotional, that she wanted to do things in her limited downtime that made her happy because everything was so stressful and sad, and that hiking did not make her happy.
He’d stopped talking to her after that, which would typically have sent her into overdrive to fix things, but she was so annoyed with his response that she just walked out.
She was dwelling on what his reaction would be later and didn’t even notice that someone was standing in her doorway watching her.
“This is why you’re the tech girl and not a field operative. No situational awareness at all.”
Evie’s head snapped up in shock as she recognized the voice, and she froze as she met Aaron’s blue eyes and sardonic smile. “Aaron?”
“In the flesh.” He came over and laid his jacket on the chair, still smiling at her. “No hug? I’ve been gone for close to two months.”
Evie got up, walked around the desk, and poked him in the arm. “Huh. Just wanted to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating.” She grinned in response to his raised eyebrow, then hugged him. He held on just a little too long, and she had to make a move to do the awkward breakaway. “How are you?”
“Good. I guess.” He shrugged and sat down. “Alive, and since I could access the contractor dorms last night and this floor this morning, I’m assuming I still have a job.”
Evie looked him over. He’d lost a little weight and looked like bugs had happily feasted on him, but otherwise, he looked perfectly fine and healthy. He was tanned, and his typically dark blonde hair had been sun-bleached to a light blonde.
“Tommy wasn’t going to fire you for what you did; he understood. He was worried, that’s all. We all were.” She hesitated, wondering if they’d actually gotten the guy or just given up because his friend had to come back for his deployment. “Did you…?”
He nodded, smiling faintly. “Yeah, we got him a week ago. It took us a while to get out of the jungle and to the nearest airport, that’s all.”
“Good.” Evie nodded and moved back to her chair. “When you’re ready, we can sit and discuss everything regarding Paula’s funeral.”
“Might as well get it over with unless you’re busy.” He stretched, eyeing her curiously. “You’re here awfully early.”
“I have a project I’m working on.” She gestured to her tablet, where the schematics were still displayed, and dug out the folder with the paperwork, handing it over with a pen.
“Read through everything and sign wherever there’s a sticker.
” She hesitated, wondering if it was the right time to ask.
“We were wondering if you’d be okay with us doing a memorial wall with her picture. ”
Aaron’s expression dropped, but he nodded as he opened the folder, avoiding her eyes. “Yeah, go ahead.”
“Are you sure?” She didn’t want him to be uncomfortable, since the wall they’d chosen was near the front entrance. “We wanted to honour her memory without it being too upsetting for you, assuming you plan to stay.”
“I’m sure. I would actually really appreciate it.” He flashed her a quick grin and then focused back on the folder. “And yes, I’m planning to stay. Sorry, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
“Who said I wanted to get rid of you?” Evie rolled her eyes, picked up her tablet, and went back to her schematics. Same old Aaron. It was both comforting and annoying.
“You’re being very nice to me.” He murmured, flipping through the pages and signing wherever he saw a sticker, far too quickly to be reading anything. “You don’t have to be. I would prefer if things just continued as normal.”
“I’m a nice person. You just say stupid things,” Evie shot back without thinking. Her fight with Alex had made her more easily irritated than usual. “Negging doesn’t work on women who are intelligent and confident in themselves.”
“Negging?” Aaron looked up and furrowed his brow. “What’s that?”
“Backhanded compliments,” Evie explained, not sure she believed he didn’t know what he was doing.
“You said, ‘This is why you’re a tech girl, not a field operative.’ It sounds like you’re complimenting my tech skills, like I can’t kill someone, but I know my tech.
But then you added, ‘no situational awareness.’ In other words, I ignore my surroundings to my own detriment. ”
She set her tablet aside and crossed her arms. “You’re trying to make me seek your approval. Or you believe what you’re saying and have no respect for me.”
“I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing.
” Aaron’s frown deepened, and Evie almost believed him.
“I have a ton of respect for you. I think it’s cute that you get so into your work that you don’t notice what’s happening around you.
You want to make sure we’re all safe and can do our jobs effectively, and you’re one hundred percent focused on it. ”
“Uh-huh.” She eyed him suspiciously, watching him flip yet another page without reading it and sign where the sticker indicated. “Are you reading any of that or just signing off on it?”
Aaron ran his hand through his hair and looked at her in exasperation. “Did you put this together?”
“Yes.”
“And you followed what she wanted?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Then I’m sure it’s great. Or as great as a funeral can be.” His face tightened, and for a second, he looked like he was about to cry. He dropped his gaze back to the paper he was signing. “Did, did Nissa find out how she was caught?”
Evie winced, not wanting to be the one to tell him.
She felt it would be better coming from Nissa, since she was the one who gathered the information and could answer any questions he might have, but he’d asked, and she couldn’t bring herself to tell him to ask someone else.
“I don’t know everything. You’ll have to talk to Nissa if you have questions, but according to the people she questioned, Paula wasn’t hiding why she was there.
” She nodded at the folder in his hands.
“Nissa’s report is in there, the last two pages. ”
“She was trying to get back at me.” Aaron laid the folder on her desk and played with the pen, watching it roll between his fingers.
“I loved her so much. I was willing to do a lot, give up a lot. I cut contact with my mom for this woman. I planned to be a lawyer and wanted to be with her so badly that I switched my career goal and became a CIA agent to spend more time with her. I did all that for her, for us. I wanted to start trying for kids right away, and she wanted to wait five years, so I agreed. I just wanted kids with her.”
His face hardened, and he glared at the pen like he could see Paula’s face on it.
“We were going to start trying next year. She had a ten-year copper IUD implanted four months ago after we had a pregnancy scare and didn’t tell me.
I found out when I overheard her on the phone with her mother.
I left the house and met up with my best friend, Beau.
He’s a sniper in the army and is the person who taught me to shoot and fight, so I’d have a better chance of being accepted into the CIA.
He’s going back to Iraq in a few days, but he was going to Costa Rica with some of his army buddies for a few weeks first. He saw how upset I was and invited me along. ”
“Paula hated Beau. She didn’t want me to go, and I told her in no uncertain terms that I was.
She didn’t like that and said I’d regret it.
I regretted marrying her at that point, but didn’t say anything.
I didn’t want to say something hurtful that I couldn’t take back.
Beau and I were supposed to leave the day after she was killed.
She got herself captured on purpose so that I wouldn’t go. ”
He tossed the pen on top of the folder and leaned back in the chair, staring angrily at the front of her desk. Evie didn’t know what to say, so she stayed quiet and let him get it off his chest.
“And Beau, the guy she hated so much, he dropped everything, lost a ton of money on his flights and accommodations, and risked getting into a lot of trouble to help me find and take out her killer.” He looked up at Evie.
“I’m so angry with her. And then I miss her, and then I get angry again because if she hadn’t gotten so vindictive, I wouldn’t be missing her.
I wasn’t planning to go to Costa Rica for the full trip, just four or five days. Was that so bad and selfish?”