20. Emerson
Emerson
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I was thrust into the seventh circle of hell.
I was officially fucked. There was no coming back from how screwed I was. And only fifty percent of that had to do with Thad. The other half may’ve been even more grim.
I couldn’t begin to process seeing my sister or what she’d said to me. That was because as I was finishing up my shower, the one that Thad had put me in, gutted me, then walked out of, Tatiana knocked on the door and gave me fresh clothes and told me I was needed downstairs immediately.
I donned the clothes, that incidentally were mine, which meant she’d gone through my suitcase. Not that I cared, it was actually thoughtful of her. Had she not, my backside would’ve been running in a towel down the hall to the room my stuff was in.
After I was dressed, with my hair still wet and hopelessly in tangles, I went downstairs.
The sooner this was over, the sooner I could go up to my room and be alone in my misery.
And it was apparent I needed time alone, a lot of it.
I needed to get my head sorted. In a moment of weakness, I’d let my guard down.
No, scratch that, I didn’t let it down, I’d chucked it out the door completely.
In my defense I’d been more than a little shocked to see my sister, so when Thad had taken over, I allowed it. I needed it. I couldn’t think of anything other than Autumn’s dead eyes. Letting Thaddeus undress me and then touch me was a ginormous mistake. And I’d said some things I shouldn’t have.
This time when I walked into the room full of men, Tatiana was absent, and the conversation didn’t stop. They all continued like I hadn’t entered and they weren’t talking about me. Which they were.
“Did you get a picture of Harry Landry?” Declan asked. My gaze swung to him and I honed in on the angry, red welt on his neck.
There was still blood smeared down his throat disappearing down his shirt. Holy shit. Earlier there had been so much blood I couldn’t see how long the cut was. But now, shit, goddamn, it went from below his ear almost to his Adam’s apple.
“Yeah. I’ve emailed it to you. How sure is Emerson that Landry is Leon Brown?” Tex’s voice boomed from the phone that was on speaker.
“You heard her, she said she was a hundred percent sure,” Declan returned.
“That’s a big fuckin’ problem then, boys,” Tex said.
“Why’s that more of a problem than we had before?” Brooks asked.
“Well, considering Harry Landry is one of the largest exporters of women from the U.S. and he’s also been running military style ops using good men and women to take out the bad guys of the world, all the while what they were really doin’ was taking out his competition.
I’d say, that’s a major issue. That and the fact he had the intel he had to give to his operatives, I’d say, that’s a clusterfuck, friends.
One that’s gonna take me a long time to unravel. ”
“Tatiana’s gonna flip her shit when she finds out The Company is a part of the Omni,” Brooks muttered.
“Goddamn.” Kyle shook his head. “You think this runs deeper? Tatiana was approached when she went back to work for the CIA.”
“Zane’s got Garrett diggin’ into that. And before I go, Autumn Pierce was correct.
Garcia’s second-in-command has already made moves to take over operations.
He’s dumping the dogs but keeping the women and drugs.
There’s a million dollars on Emerson. Though, I don’t know how he plans on paying that bounty, unless Garcia’s dogs fetch a good price. ”
Oh, God.
“And people in hell want ice water—”
“Don’t do that, Thad. Paul’s not your average piece of shit.
He has connections and power. The only thing he lacks right now is the money.
Her best chance is to be locked in a safe house, while the rest of you go hunting.
And I’d get back in contact with that woman Faith, see if she knows any international organizations that rescue animals.
You need to cut the money off fast. He’ll be less apt to dump women at a rock-bottom price, but the dogs… those are all going.”
“And Autumn?” My voice cracked and I cleared it before I started again. “Where does that leave her? Why was she there?”
“That leaves her where she’s been, running her own game, Emerson.
I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I didn’t know for a fact, but seeing as she was at the camp I think I can confirm the rumors are correct.
She’s spent the last eight years much like you have, only she didn’t go soft and easy.
She’s worked her way across three countries taking out as many traffickers as she could.
The women she’s saved call her The Angel of Death.
Draw from the nickname what you will, my guess is you’d be right.
That also means, Autumn’s in the wind and likely will remain that way unless she wants to be found. ”
All these years I thought she’d been taken again.
I thought she was being held against her will and…
“Emerson?” Declan cut off my morbid thoughts.
“Yeah.”
“We’re taking you back to the States and we’re gonna put you in a safe house. Would you like us to arrange for your parents to—”
“No.”
Oh, God, my parents hadn’t been in the same room together for a long time.
“You’re going in a safe house,” Thad told me.
“No shit, Sherlock,” I returned. “The last thing I want is for Paul to get his hands on me. Why do you think I left willingly with you back at the hotel?”
“Then why the protest?” Thad inquired.
Oh, no. No more questions. I’d learned my lesson, there was no right answer when it came to Thad. And besides, my parents were not a topic I wanted to discuss.
“None of your business,” I told Thad, then to Declan. “No need to contact my parents.”
Declan eyed me suspiciously but said no more to me and instead went back to Tex. “You got anything else for us?”
“Not at the moment. Stay safe and I’ll be in touch.”
An awkward silence fell over the room and in an effort to break it, I zeroed in on Declan’s injury.
“Do you need stitches on that?” I gestured to his throat.
“Superglue.”
“What?”
“No to the stitches. I superglued it. ”
“You superglued it?”
“Yep,” he confirmed.
“I think you need a doctor, Declan. That can get infected.”
“It’s all good, Emerson.”
Fine, whatever, it wasn’t my neck on the line. If Declan wanted to act like a tough guy and superglue his throat back together after it’d been cut, who was I to argue?
“If we’re done, I’m gonna go back upstairs.”
“We’re done for now.”
Without delay I hightailed it out of the room, hit the stairs, and tried my hardest not to take them two at a time. The last half, I may’ve failed.
Tatiana was coming out of the bathroom and I felt it appropriate to thank her for her help.
“Hey, you got a minute?” I asked.
Tatiana stopped brushing her long wavy hair and smiled. “Yeah, of course. Is Brooks still downstairs?”
“Yeah.”
“Come to my room, if you don’t mind, so I can finish getting dressed.”
“If you—”
“No, come on.”
She opened the door to her room and entered. Her and Brooks’ room looked a lot like the one I was staying in, only they had one big bed instead of two.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you, but I wasn’t sure you’d want to talk to me,” she started.
“I’m sorry, I’m normally not so rude. Just with everything the last few days, my manners have taken a hike. Anyway, I want to thank you for the clothes you loaned me. Sorry they’re all muddy. And for uh… bringing me clothes now.”
Tatiana smiled and waved her hand, dismissing my gratitude. “No worries. How are you holding up?”
I thought about her question and part of my thought process was coming up with a lie. But looking into her kind brown eyes I decided on honesty.
“I don’t know. Everything’s happening so fast,” I told her.
“Yeah, it feels like you’re trying to drink water through a fire hose, doesn’t it?”
“Totally. I feel like it’s been months and not just days since Jefferson was killed, and I have to tell you, I don’t even know what day it is, or how long it’s been. One thing after another keeps happening.”
“Believe me, I get it. When you’re in the field, information is fluid and things change from minute to minute. What about Thad? How are you doing with that?”
Well, that didn’t take long.
“Our past, as I’m sure you know, is complicated. You also know I hurt him. Please understand I didn’t want that.”
She was quiet for a moment before she softened her voice even more. “Love’s often complicated.”
“You and Brooks are solid.”
“We are now, but we had a rocky start. I thought he was an arrogant, egomaniac and he thought I was a pain in the ass with trust issues. I think we were both right in some ways but mostly wrong.”
“Seriously? You’re not a pain in the ass, and you’re the only one who trusted I was who I said I was. Doesn’t seem like you have any issues there.”
“Well, part of that is because they’re men, they don’t trust easily, and are extremely protective of each other and me. They don’t let outsiders in, period. But especially in a situation like the one we’re in. They were also taking the cues from Thad who obviously had some, well…issues with you.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” I repeated, suddenly wanting Tatiana not to think poorly of me.
“I know, I read your file. I know why you did what you did. I can imagine it was just as heartbreaking for you to leave him. But just because I understand doesn’t mean I agree with you.
Not to say a few years ago, I wouldn’t’ve done the same.
I was used to working alone. I had something to prove, and I thought that meant doing everything on my own.
But over the last few months I’ve learned to trust and rely on my team.
They have my back no matter what, and just because I need them, doesn’t make me less than. ”
“I didn’t have a team,” I protested.
“Yeah, Emerson, you did. You had Thad. He would’ve helped you and your family.”
And that was the crux of why I’d done what I’d done.
“Do you know anything about Thaddeus’ past?”
“No,” she admitted. “He doesn’t talk much.”
“Right, well, his childhood wasn’t good.
Let's call it dysfunctional, and that’s putting it mildly.
His father is extremely demanding, and didn’t agree with Thaddeus’ decision to serve.
He wanted him to work the family business like his older brother.
The problem was, Thaddeus didn’t want that and he saw how miserable his brother was.
He joined the Navy against his family’s wishes which meant his family disowned him.
He had nothing to fall back on. He needed to prove to himself he could make it without them.
He wanted to live his dream and no one was gonna stop him. ”
I stopped a moment to gather my thoughts. I didn’t want to gossip about Thad’s family but Tatiana needed to understand why I’d left.
“He would’ve helped me,” I started again.
“If I called while he was on that training exercise and told him Autumn was missing, he would’ve come home and damn the consequences.
That’s how much he loved me—he would’ve given up everything he’d worked for.
He would’ve traded his dream to protect me.
I didn’t want that. I thought I’d go home, see what was going on, and when it was over, I’d call him.
But in the meantime, I didn’t think about what I was doing to him.
I hurt him and there was no going back.”
“I didn’t know that about his family. And I hate to admit it, but he would’ve left that exercise and he would’ve gotten in trouble. Probably kicked off the SEAL team he was on.”
And that was why I’d left. I didn’t want to be the reason Thaddeus lost out on what he wanted. I didn’t want to be the reason he’d failed. I loved him too much.
“That’s why I left.”
She looked at me with sympathy I wasn’t sure I deserved. At the time I’d thought I’d done the right thing, but maybe there’d been another way. Maybe if I called sooner. Maybe if I’d told him straight out but begged him not to help, he would’ve listened.
There were a thousand maybes. A thousand what-ifs. But there was only one thing for certain—I’d lost him.
“You should tell him that.”
“I did. But there’s no going back. Nothing can change. I still need to help my sister and he hates me.”
“That man has a lot of emotions swirling around you, and hate may be one of them, but hate stems from care. He wouldn’t be feeling any kind of way about you after all these years if he didn’t love you.”
“That ship has sailed,” I told her.
“The team will get a lock on your sister.”
“Why? She’s nothing to them. I thought you guys were after Harry.”
“We are looking for Leon slash Harry, but Zane’s put out the order to find Autumn.”
I still didn’t understand why, but I wasn’t going to push. I was simply too tired to think about why Zane Lewis would help me find Autumn, unless he thought she could help him in some way .
I felt like the more information I was given, the less I understood.
My mission was simple. Find Autumn. And in the process eradicate as many human traffickers as I could. The plus side to my plan was, I got to save a small number of women in the process.
Now, however, there was nothing simple about my life.