Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
T hey were back to the horribly awkward tension in the apartment since she’d almost kissed Gunner the night before. Once she’d gotten Sage settled and back to sleep, they’d finished dinner in silence. Lily didn’t know what she was thinking. Just because he said those nice things about how she looked didn’t mean he saw her as desirable. She was just confused. Why had he talked about having more kids with her? Why had he said she was his woman? The way he ran his hands down her sides and squeezed her hips…
They were friends, and he was worried about her not eating. What had he said? Oh, that they didn’t have a relationship like Gage and his wife. There wasn’t love. They were just friends.
That was all they were ever going to be, and Lily needed to get that through her head. Gunner had refused to sit down for breakfast that morning, mumbling something about needing to be at work all day for an upcoming assignment.
All it had done was make Lily sick with nerves all day. She’d successfully finished unpacking the last of Sage’s things into her bedroom, tidied the kitchen, cleaned the bathrooms, and taken a shower. By the time she’d gotten the chicken in the oven for dinner, she had convinced herself that Gunner wasn’t coming home because he was trying to come up with a way to end things between them. She ran into his bedroom and grabbed the laptop off his desk. When he came in smiling a few minutes later, she was ten listings deep into her panic search for small apartments nearby.
Before he could hang his keys up, Lily slammed the computer shut and pushed it away from her on the counter.
“Hey, I’m sorry I’m so late. Is Sage down already?” he asked as he looked at her empty swing.
“Yeah, she’s been sleeping a lot today.”
“I’m going to head in and see her for a minute before I have to leave.”
“Leave?”
“The guys and I have a job we need to do tonight,” he said as he walked down the hallway.
Lily pulled the chicken and vegetables out from the oven, loading food onto two plates along with the rice she’d been cooking on the stove. It wasn’t the best meal to put together, but with her current mental state, he was lucky she’d managed to cook anything at all. Could she start her job with Sloane earlier than planned? Maybe she could ask her for an advancement on her paycheck in case Gunner asked her to leave. Then she’d be able to get her and Sage into someplace safe. Shit, the same feeling of dread overwhelmed her as when she was trying to get away from James. She needed to calm down. Gunner would never do something that could hurt Sage.
“You okay?”
His hand landed on her shoulder just as she jumped, dropping the plates onto the table.
“Good lord, you scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m sorry.” His eyebrows were drawn together with concern .
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. I should have told you I wouldn’t be here for dinner tonight.”
“It’s not a big deal, Gunner,” her voice came out snippier than she meant it to as she grabbed his plate and brought it to the counter to pack up. “I’ll just wrap it and put it in the fridge. You can take it for lunch tomorrow.”
“Okay. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for tonight. It’s a surveillance job on a target.”
Her eyes snapped up from the plate. “That sounds dangerous. How close are you going to be to them?”
“Not close, Lil. It’s a long range surveillance outside Dallas, and those are about as boring as assignments come. Hawk and I will just be getting a feel for the target’s involvement in something.”
“Dallas. Gunner, that’s over an hour away.”
“I know, Lil. I’m sorry. The entire team needs to go, otherwise I would have volunteered to stay here.”
“No, I get it. I’m sure you’re ready to get back to the more exciting part of your job. I don’t expect you to always sit behind a desk. Just…will you let me know when it’s over and you’re on your way home?”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you. Please be careful.”
“Always.”
“Good. Because we want you to come home. I’ve gotten used to you handling her early morning feedings. You know I’d be a beast without those few extra minutes of sleep.”
“Never a beast, Lil. You’re a great mom, rested or not.” Gunner’s smile could have melted her heart into a giant puddle if it wasn’t so damn painful to hear him compliment her, with all the weird mixed signals he’d been sending her. “Listen, I’ll have to have my phone on silent, but I’ll check it as often as I can if you need anything. ”
“We’ll be fine. I’m just going to give Sprout a bath when she wakes up, and then we’ll both just tuck into our bed for the night.”
“Man, now I’m pissed about missing baby bath time.”
“There will be plenty of time to play with her in the bath some other day. Go. Save the world. We’ll just be here waiting for you to come back.”
She shouldn’t have let Gunner leave. Sage woke up an hour after he’d left, screaming at the top of her lungs. She was so worked up, her little face had gone beet red, and stayed that way. When she was that far gone, Gunner was the only person who could settle her.
Lily took her temperature and immediately got her into a lukewarm bath, but her beautiful baby just screamed even louder. There was something really wrong, and Lily hadn’t realized it.
Sage wailed as she bounced her up and down while walking around the living room, trying to will Gunner into picking up his phone.
“Shh, it’s okay, baby. I know you don’t feel well, but it’s going to be okay. Daddy is going to pick up and get us to the doctor. I promise.” Lily tried not to let the tears stinging her eyes fall. It was the third time she’d called him in the last twenty minutes. Sage’s fever was getting worse, and she was panicking. Things could go from scary to horrific with newborns, and she wasn’t prepared to handle any of it on her own. He’d promised she wouldn’t be alone, and yet there she was.
Please pick up. Please pick up. You promised we could count on you .
Nothing. He didn’t pick up. She’d leave him one last message.
“Gunner, I know you are on that surveillance job tonight, but Sage’s fever isn’t going down, and she’s screaming like she’s in pain. I have to take her to the hospital. I’m going to see if Mae can bring us. Please, let me know you’re okay and meet us there as soon as you can.” Lily tried to hold her voice steady, but knew she was failing as the familiar burn of emotions filled her throat. She ended the call and placed her phone in her back pocket.
“Okay, Sprout. Change of plans. Let’s see if Auntie Mae is home and can help.”
Lily carefully buckled Sage into her car seat, slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and grabbed the spare car seat base before heading into the hallway. She prayed Mae would understand the need to wake her.
Lily knocked on the door across the hall from hers, swinging the car seat gently back and forth to calm Sage. Well, if the knocking didn’t wake Mae up, her daughter’s siren wails certainly would.
The door opened slowly, and Lily nearly cried with relief.
“Lily? What’s wrong?” Mae’s sleepy face filled with worry.
“I’m so sorry, Mae. Sage has a fever, and it’s getting worse. She doesn't want to nurse and I need to take her to the hospital, but I can’t get a hold of Gunner and I was hoping you’d be able to drive us.”
“Oh god, of course I can. Do you have everything you need?”
“I think so.”
Lily watched as Mae grabbed her keys and walked into the hallway, reaching for the diaper bag on Lily’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Lily’s legs shook as she walked out onto the pavement of the parking lot where Mae’s car was. Sage’s screams pierced through the quiet night, making her anxiety skyrocket. Her baby was in pain, and there wasn’t a single thing she did that made her feel better.
“Poor thing,” Mae said as Lily secured Sage’s car seat into the car. “How long has she been like this?”
“All night. I’ve been watching her temperature since Gunner left and it just kept climbing, no matter what I tried. She’s still too young for any medicine, so aside from stripping her down to just her diaper and giving her a tepid bath, I wasn’t sure what to do. She missed her most recent feeding because she was just too fussy.”
“I think you made the right call, Lily. We’ll get her to the hospital and they’ll be able to take care of her.”
“Go over it again.” Gunner had heard the plan twice now, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“There’s a small compound about a mile up the road from where we are parked now. At midnight, a group of Chaos Knights members are supposed to be arriving to meet with their Xyn suppliers. Gunner and Hawk will drive to an unmarked spot past the compound and walk back on foot, setting up the surveillance equipment. The most important part of this mission is getting confirmation of who their supplier is and what members of the Santoro organization show up tonight.”
“What’s going on in Dallas?”
“The team there is already in place and the other team lead, Special Agent Finnegan Arroyo, will be in direct communication with me tonight. We’re going to take every single person in that warehouse into custody and pray that we can help the women who they are trying to sell.”
“Fuckers. ”
“Hold on to that rage, Gunner. We need all the evidence we can get against them, and that’s what tonight is about. If we walk away without obvious proof of these guys working with the Santoros, we can’t move forward with our plans to wipe both groups out on RICOs.”
“Yeah, Hawk and I get it. While the rest of you sit cushy in this van and watch our backs, we’ll be laying in the dirt getting the evidence.”
“Isn’t it good to be back, buddy?” Hawk slapped his shoulder. “And actually, there’s been a last-minute change of plans. Doc’s going with you instead of me.”
“Why? You getting too old?”
“No, dipshit. Maybe it isn’t about me. Maybe it’s about you.”
Gunner looked at Stone and rolled his eyes.
“I don’t need Doc analyzing my head.”
“I’m not even licensed to do that, Reap. I’m just making sure you’re really ready to be back with the team after your time away.”
“I’ve passed all the exams and had the counseling session with that quack Cap hired back in DC. I’m good. There aren’t any ghosts walking out in the field with me tonight.”
“And me being there on your first mission out since you got back will just be the last thing that verifies it. Now stop being such a whiny bitch and get your gear ready.”
“I literally cannot wait to listen to the comms tonight,” Hawk laughed as Gunner shrugged on his bullet-proof vest.
Three hours later, his body ached. They’d driven Gunner’s truck about a mile away from the surveillance van before ditching it off in the bushes on the side of the road. Stone and Gunner had hiked back through the thick trees until they were up against a wire fence.
It took a handful of quiet minutes for them to establish a safe boundary, and ever since they verified the heat signatures inside the cabin a short distance in front of them, they laid in the dirt, waiting.
It had been over two hours since the meeting was supposed to take place, and nothing. Thankfully, Stone had been relatively quiet, even with Hawk chirping in their ears every few minutes, trying to provoke Gunner.
As far as he could tell, the two people in the house they were monitoring had sat on the couch watching TV and then gone to bed. Not the most suspicious of nighttime activities.
“These fuckers aren’t going to show, Max. What do you want to do?” Gunner asked through his earpiece.
“There’s been absolutely no movement?”
“Nothing. We can see two people on the thermal imaging, but they’ve been laying in bed for an hour now. I don’t think this is going to shake out how you were thinking.”
“Fuck. I’m going to check in with my partner in Dallas.”
“I don’t like this. Something feels off about the whole thing. Max, I think we need to pack up and get out of here,” Stone said as he rolled onto his back.
“Fine. Pack up and meet back at the surveillance van. We’ll figure out what the hell happened when we’re back together.”
With their gear stowed, they started the half mile trek back to his truck.
“This is weird, right?” he asked.
“Something definitely isn’t adding up. You think the MC got wind of the FBI looking into them and switched their pickup spot?”
“Could be. That house was out in the middle of nowhere, but it still seems weird that a family home would be the drop spot. Max said it was a small compound for the MC, but did you see anything that remotely seemed like bikers went there, ever?”
“How do you know a family was there? We only had two heat signatures the whole time. ”
“Kids’ bikes were on the side of the house.”
“Hmm.”
They walked in silence through the trees and tall grass for a few minutes until Gunner’s truck came back into sight.
“Do you think?—”
Gunner used his truck’s key fob to remotely start the engine. He’d done it what felt like a million times before, with no problem. Which is why his mind couldn’t comprehend why he was flying backwards as heat and debris rolled over him in waves.
His eyes moved to search for Stone, but all he could see was the bright light of his truck on fire. His body slammed into the ground and his ears rang as his vision darkened all around him.