Chapter Forty-Five Audrey
Chapter Forty-Five
Audrey
Alejandro untangled our bodies before anyone spotted us, then offered his apologies to Trevor about Eden when he joined us in my bedroom, then left the two of us alone.
My stomach and heart hurt watching him go, and I now knew I couldn’t wait until after to tell him how I really felt. My choice of the pink bag wasn’t good enough. He needed to hear it from me now, not later.
“Audrey.” Trevor’s use of my name drew my attention back to him as he pulled me into his arms.
“I’m so sorry about Eden,” I whispered as he held my head to his chest with one hand, keeping his other arm at my back.
A broken sound I heard in his lungs came out as a gruff breath a beat later.
“Everything will be okay,” I reassured him, trying not to break down.
The last thing I wanted was him trying to comfort me.
“We will get your sister back, I promise.”
“Mitch needs her, which makes her safe from danger right now,” he said in a strangled voice. “So, yeah, I know she’s going to be all right. And no trades happening, either.”
I stepped back, looking up at him. “I feel a but coming.”
“More like a maybe.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “Riding here with Echo has me worried I won’t want to stop operating again after.”
That was quite a different after from the one I’d been discussing with Alejandro.
“I don’t want to upset you or Chase, though. I’m not even sure if it’s possible to pick up again and operate, but—”
“But maybe it is,” I said in understanding. “And you can be both a dad and a hero, you know. You were before.” I squeezed his arm. “I don’t get a say in what you do, but if you’re asking for my thoughts on it, I want you to be happy. If that’s operating, that’s operating.”
His shoulders fell. “Why are you so great?”
“I thought I was a pain in the ass?” I teased. “Always moody.”
“I was kidding about that.” He briefly closed one eye. “Mostly.” He rested his hand over mine. “Does he know we’re just friends? That we’re only going to be friends even in light of what we found out Mitch probably did to us?” His gaze moved to the open doors.
Not the transition I expected.
His blue eyes landed back on me. “I’d have totally fucked it up all on my own had Mitch not gotten involved,” he said before I could respond. “Unfortunately.”
“Don’t say that.” I rested my free hand on his chest. “And who knows, it could’ve been me messing things up.”
“You?” he scoffed. “Never. You’re perfect.” He smirked, only a mild flash of sarcasm there. “We’re just, uh, not perfect for each other.”
And he was right about that.
“Back to what I was asking: Does Alex know the news changes nothing for us?”
“Why are you asking about him?”
“I think you know.” He angled his head. “He’s the first guy that’s come into your life I don’t want to kill. Actually like. And I want to see you happy—so call me optimistic, but I was hoping maybe there’s something between you two.”
I closed my eyes. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation after everything.”
“Maybe it takes losing those you love to figure out what’s right in front of you.”
“And what’s right in front of you?” I whispered, eyes opening.
“That just because I don’t think marriage will ever be in the cards for me again doesn’t mean I don’t want the mother of my child to be happy. And you have me worried with your comment back in my office. Just making sure if anything happens to me this week that you—”
“Oh no. No, no, nooooo.” I pulled away from him.
“Don’t you dare start with me on that.” I made a zero with my hand.
“No chance of anything happening to you. Zilch. You will be fine. You will raise your son.” I folded my arms, standing my ground.
“And I don’t want to hear this BS about you not ever finding love again. ”
“How do you think it made me feel when you said as much to me?”
He had me there.
I puffed out my cheeks, then let the breath go. “I better hear you say you’ll be fine, or you lose my okay on operating.”
“So damn bossy.” He winked, then flicked his wrist. “Come here. You win. I’ll make the promise.”
I lifted my arms and held his cheeks like old times. His hands found my waist, and he slowly leaned in, meeting me halfway to rest his forehead against mine. Then he said what I needed to hear, promising he’d return safely.
“Happy?” he grumbled.
“Hardly. We still have hell to get through. Literally.” Mitch’s brand name had me shivering. Talk about giving new meaning to that word. “But we will get through it. All of us.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, voice thicker with emotion that time.
“Hey, am I interrupting?” Hollis asked, and Trevor cleared his throat and backed away.
I sniffled, swiping at a stray tear while turning around to face her. “No, we’re good. What’s up?”
“My brother found our hacker. Something to do with reading the numbers inside the numbers inside the digital footprint of her signature?” she said as if this was Greek to her.
She wasn’t alone on that.
“No clue what he actually meant, but he knows who’s been helping Mitch.
Her hacker name is Cipheria. She’s been active for over two decades.
She’s also someone who could hack the Joint Special Operations Command.
I mean, she has breached JSOC’s servers before.
She did it five years ago as a game just to let them know she could. ”
Trevor stroked his jaw, shaking his head.
“That means she could have found the transport vehicle bringing Mitch to the safe house, assuming Mitch didn’t even know where Chandler was taking him.
And she could’ve sent an unmanned drone to take out the vehicles to help fake his death.
Probably had another team on standby in a nearby vehicle for his new ride out. ”
“Which means JSOC didn’t do a great job at fixing their systems to protect her from getting back in again,” Hollis said.
“I have even better news, though. Gwen got a fix on the location for another former ghost operative from that Will Hobbs file. New alias for the guy, courtesy of Cipheria, and we caught him on CCTV footage here in New Zealand. We think this guy will lead us to your sister. Echo Team’s already gearing up now to roll out. ”
“You’re serious?” Trevor rested his hands on his hips, relief filling up his chest as he inhaled.
“Yup. Once we locate him, if we can confirm he’s with Mitch and the others, then Secretary Chandler wants us to go ahead and end this now. Converge on their location, and we’ll be done before sunrise. No need for the auction.” She revealed what sounded like a possible end to this nightmare.
Wait, is this really happening? Was Beth literally going to be our saving grace on this? That was hard to wrap my head around. Liars being honest and bad people being good. Felt like an oxymoron. Or another illusion.
“And if we locate Eden but not Mitch?” he asked. “What are the orders?”
“If they can confirm Eden’s safe, then the team sits tight. They’ll wait and see if Mitch shows up. If he doesn’t, then Echo Team will stay on Eden, then move in for the save on the night of the auction as planned.”
“This feels a little too good to be true.” I hated to be the one to say it, but something didn’t sit right with me, like we were still missing the big picture. Too focused on putting together the thousand pieces first.
“It does feel a little too perfect,” Hollis admitted.
“Which is why we prepare for the worst and hope for the best.” She gestured to the living room.
“Your brother’s team will stay with you, and I have no plans to leave your side after failing you the first time.
” She pinned Trevor with a curious look.
“You still up for operating with Echo, or is Bear’s vote going to waste? ” She shot him a quick smile.
Trevor exhaled and looked back at me. “What am I doing?”
“You’re asking me?” Ah, right. You won’t be able to stop helping people once you start again. Not the worst problem to have.
He lifted his brows. “So?”
“That’s a simple decision.” I rested my hand on his chest. “Go be the man your son looks up to as a role model. And while you’re doing that,” I said with a smile, “I’ll have your back here, waiting for your return.”