Chapter 22
AVA
Ava pressed a cool cloth against Sebastian’s head to combat the warmth in his body, a response to the unfettered pain he experienced from a surgery done with no anesthesia or pain medication.
Kyle had left a supply of pain pills, but with him still unconscious, she hadn’t been able to get any into his system.
She grabbed hold of her phone, toggling on the display to check for any new messages. None showed up.
With a lick of her lips, she tossed it to the side to continue her nursing duties. Her mind continued to dwell on Alex and Kyle’s next mission: guilting Chris into leaving or incriminating himself.
Her stomach rolled as she imagined him paying the price for The Board’s misdeeds. But then again, he had been the one who had nearly robbed her of her life.
A life she now desperately clung to with every fiber of her being. While she’d been married to Alex for nearly two decades, her life had never felt as complete as it had the moment he’d said he loved her.
And even then, she’d been terrified to lose him.
She still was, though now it was a new type of fear. Fear that The Board would cost them each other.
Sebastian groaned, pulling her thoughts back to the present. His head thrashed back and forth on the dining room table where he still lay.
She rose to her feet, leaning over him as she patted his cheeks. “Hey, Shadow, you awake?”
His eyelashes fluttered open, and his features pinched with both pain and confusion. “Ugh, what happened?”
“You were shot. Kyle removed the bullet, but you lost a lot of blood. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been shot,” he answered.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. This wasn’t the easiest of surgeries, and we had a complication. But I do have some pain pills that you can take now to see if we can get the pain under control.”
“Help me up.”
“What?” Ava leaned back, shaking her head. “Nope. That’s not happening. You were shot. You had surgery a few hours ago with a crude blood transfusion courtesy of Alex. You’re not going to go wandering around the house.”
“There are things that need–” His voice cut off as he groaned in pain.
“Uh-huh. Things that need done that either I will do, or you will wait to do. You can’t even get a sentence out.” She backed from the table toward the kitchen. “Don’t move. I’m getting water for the pills.”
“Ava!” he yelled as she rolled her eyes, making her way to the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
She twisted off the cap as she returned to the dining room. “Stop yelling at me. It’s not my fault you got shot.”
“It sort of is,” he answered, his voice taut with pain.
She popped the cap of the pain killers and shook two into her hand. “Oh, right. It’s my fault the DHS thinks you put the bomb on the flight. Well, I saved your life, so we’re even.”
After downing some of the water she gave him, he grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. “Those DHS agents were Board.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Whoa, wait. They were Board members posing as FBI or–”
He shook his head before he finally dropped back down to the dining room table with a thud. “No. I think The Board infiltrated the FBI.”
Ava’s shoulders slumped as she dropped into a chair. “You’re kidding.”
“No. That’s why we can’t stay here.”
She snapped her gaze to him. “Wait, do they know who you are?”
“They’re going to figure it out. Unless you get me up and moving. Come on, you’ve got to help me.”
“How are they going to figure it out?”
“Because Sebastian Bancroft is missing. I need to handle that.”
She stared at him before she made a face. “Oh, right, absolutely. I’ll get you right up and you can hobble your way back home for an appearance. No one will realize you’ve been shot.”
“Better than being missing. I’ll cover the pain.”
“You can’t even sit up on your own, but you’re going to go wandering around pretending you’re not shot. Not going to work. We need another way to cover. Have your parents say you were called out of town unexpectedly.”
“Oh, that’s not suspicious at all, Ava.” Sebastian scrubbed his face, groaning in pain again.
“Stop,” Ava said with a shake of his head as she pulled his hands away from his face.
“You can’t do this alone. We need a new plan.
One that makes sense. And unfortunately, you’re going to have to take a little leave of absence for a few days until you’ve recovered enough to stand up straight and not look like you just got shot and a doctor dug a bullet out of you on your dining room table. ”
“My phone,” he murmured.
“I have it.” She crossed to the server and retrieved it. “What do you want it for?”
“Not funny, Ava. Give it to me.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know. You did a lot of unfunny things when you were Raven, so I feel like I have a few coming to me.”
“I need to call my mother. She may have a way to keep me out of the spotlight with The Board for a little bit. And if she’s heard anything about what happened on the beach, she’ll be worried.”
With a sigh, she handed the phone to him. He toggled on the display and input his passcode. “Fifteen messages and five missed calls. Most of them are from my mother. This is the last thing I need right now.”
“Unfortunately, you’re stuck with it. Tell me what I can do to help.”
He shook his head. “I may need you to run some errands, just to make it look like I’m still around.”
“Got it,” she said with a nod as she retrieved her own phone. “I need to text Alex and get a car back. I left his at the Beach Comber when we brought you back here.”
He groaned again, sweat beading on his brow. “I still need to deal with Chris.”
“That’s being taken care of.”
He cut his gaze to her. “How?”
“Alex and Doc are handling it. Don’t worry, they’ll get the job done. I dated this guy, remember? I know exactly how to guilt him.”
“Too bad that didn’t work before he tried to have you killed,” Sebastian said, pressing his phone to his ear. “Mom…yeah…no, I’m fine…I know…I’m fine…but we have a little problem.”
She shuffled from the room to give him some privacy for his call as she texted Alex. Hey, I need you and Doc to bring a car up for me. You know, when you’re not busy guilting Chris for killing me.
A few seconds later, Alex answered. Any excuse to visit you, Avs. Also, if you’d like a ride along on that mission, hack my system and grab the pearl tracker.
She smiled down at the phone. Sporting a new accessory, huh?
He responded to her immediately. My tribute to you, Sparky.
“Ava!” Sebastian called, wiping any smile from her face.
She shuffled back into the dining room. “You bellowed?”
“My mother’s on her way up, despite me telling her not to.
When she gets here, take her car, get the USB from under the driver seat of my van, and drop it at the old warehouse on Pierce.
There's a red dumpster in the back under the second window. Leave it under the back wheel. If The Board doesn’t see some activity from me soon, they’ll start asking questions.
And if they find out I’ve been out of commission.
..well, let’s just say they won’t hesitate to finish what they started. ”
“Got it. Dumpster, second window, back wheel. Wait, right or left.”
“Ugh, why did I have to get shot?”
She sighed at him. “I can do it…but which wheel?”
“Right.”
She nodded before her eyebrows pinched. “Right as you look at it, or right from its perspective.”
His head thudded against the table. “Right as you look at it. Now, please at least help me upstairs to a comfortable bed.”
“You sure you’ll make it? You’re super heavy. I can’t drag you.”
“Pain killers are kicking in. I’ll make it. Anything to get off this table.”
She shoved her phone into her pocket and eased him up to sit, keeping a firm hand on him in case he passed out.
With that tackled, he slid to stand, leaning heavily against her. They made their way upstairs, and Sebastian collapsed onto the bed. “Hey, Ava,” he said as she lifted his feet onto the bed and covered him with a blanket.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for finding me.”
“Anytime,” she said with a smile. “Now, let’s see if you can hold any food down.”
“You may be worse than my mother.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to get a lecture when she gets here.” Ava left him behind to rest as she headed for the kitchen, searching and finding broth to warm for him.
As he finished the last of it, the sound of gravel crunching under tires met her ears.
“There’s a gun in the safe downstairs,” he said as she peered out the window.
“It’s your mom, but I’ll take the gun when I drop off this USB.”
Sebastian passed along the code as frantic footsteps pounded on the stairs.
“Sebastian?” his mother called. “Her voice raw with panic.”
She burst into the room a second later, her eyes going wide as she spotted Ava. “Ms. Collins?”
“Surprise,” she said with a smile.
With confusion on her features, Vivienne hurried to Sebastian’s side, taking his hand in hers. “Sebastian, what is going on?”
“I took a bullet. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Ava finding me.”
Vivienne shot her a glance before returning her wide-eyed gaze to Sebastian, stroking his forehead. “Shot? Sebastian!”
“The Board came after Raven. They’ve infiltrated the FBI.”
His mother’s eyes slid closed as she tightened her grip on his hand. “Thank heavens the illustrious Ms. Collins found you–when she is supposed to be deceased.”
“Yeah, your son saved my life on that, so it’s the least I could do.” She shrugged as she offered Vivienne a smile. “And now, if you don’t mind, I really need to borrow your car.”
Vivienne cocked her head, her forehead creasing.
“She has to do a drop. I can’t be dead, Mom.”
Vivienne nodded before she twisted to face Ava. “I left the keys on the entry table.”
“Thanks,” Ava said as she took a step toward the door when Vivienne reached out to grab her arm.
“Thank you for saving him. He’s all I have.”
“Anytime,” Ava said with a nod.
She left the bedroom behind, descending the stairs and retrieving the loaded gun from the safe before she grabbed the keys from the table and climbed into Vivienne Bancroft’s car.
After a quick stop at a gas station, she used Alex’s electronic payment method to purchase a new hoodie, pulling the hood over her blonde hair before she exited and climbed into the car.
She spent the drive back to the Hamptons contemplating their next moves. If The Board had infiltrated the FBI, were they safe anywhere? Could they actually take these people down?
By the time she’d reached the Beach Comber resort, finding the lone van in the parking lot, she hadn’t come to any new conclusions. Unfortunately, they’d have to rely on Sebastian for most of their guidance through this process.
She found the USB drive under his front seat, and climbed back into Vivienne’s car, programming in the address Sebastian had given her for the warehouse.
Within twenty minutes, she slowly drove past the place, casing it for any signs of trouble. She found no cars and spotted no one lurking around.
On her second pass, Ava swung into the deserted parking lot, the crunch of gravel under her tires loud in the eerie quiet.
The warehouse loomed ahead, its windows dark, the walls scarred by years of neglect.
She slid the car around the side of the building, her heart pounding.
The red dumpster, rusted and dented, sat under the second window, just like Sebastian said.
She hesitated, scanning the shadows for any movement, before slipping out of the car to make the drop.
She considered waiting somewhere discreet to see who picked it up but decided it would likely be a pawn or lower who wouldn’t make or break The Board.
Instead, she left the flash drive behind and aimed for the cabin. No need to tempt fate. She couldn’t be discovered by anyone before they were ready for her to return.
Her mind buzzed with questions during her drive back. They needed to come up with a plan, fast.
As Ava turned onto the gravel drive, the peaceful silence of the woods wrapped around her, but something felt off.
Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she instinctively slowed the car.
The cabin came into view, but instead of the usual solitude, a sleek black car with government plates was parked out front.
Her breath caught in her throat. What was a government vehicle doing here? And who had found them?