Chapter 6
Ava
I felt nervous standing outside the Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s office.
Like a kid called into the principal’s office.
To Owen’s surprise, the director who oversaw the entire Willsbury’s and adjacent cities’ FBI had wanted to speak to me in person, not a very common request when it came to informants like me.
But seeing how Owen and I had gone rogue in Mexico, I had been waiting for my punishment.
Owen had been pulled through the wringer already.
Was the director going to send me to jail?
“He’s ready for you.” The secretary smiled from her desk.
Owen nodded and opened the door, gesturing for me to go in first. The director rose from behind his desk, straightening his immaculate black suit.
I gave him a tentative smile, but he only stared at me with a furrow between his brows.
I came to a stop behind the chair in front of his desk, squirming under his gaze. Had I done something to offend him?
His eyes looked familiar. Maybe I’ve met him before? No, I would remember a man like him. He stood tall, his presence commanding attention and respect.
Owen cleared his throat, also painfully aware of the awkwardness floating in the room. “Good morning, Director. You asked to see Miss Beaumont.” Owen turned to me. “This is Director Devereux. My boss.”
“Sit down, Becket.”
Owen did as told, and I followed suit. The director lowered into his chair again, eyes boring into my forehead as I straightened my shirt, delaying having to meet his too intense stare. It was almost as intense as Grayson’s.
“Nice to meet you, Director. I’m Ava,” I finally said.
“I’m well aware of who you are, Miss Beaumont.” His eyes lingered on me for a few more seconds, and I felt like a child being scolded. “Becket, give me a brief on the evidence you collected.”
Owen straightened. “We have fingerprints, DNA, personal effects, possible contacts, documents we’re still evaluating, laptops and phones already at tech, recovered art and artifacts and… mice.” Owen shot a quick look at me. “Who are being cared for by Ava’s mother.”
The director lifted his brow at me, and I gave him a sheepish grin.
Gemma had fled without her mice, and I couldn’t just let them kill the little guys.
I helped raise them, after all. They were family.
And maybe Hunter was somewhere secretly loving the idea of the mice being fed to some snakes in a Mexican zoo.
Why would I give him the satisfaction? No, I’ll keep the little guys and let them loose in Hunter’s cell when we catch him.
Director Devereux turned his full attention to Owen.
“Since we’ve established beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Apparitions are real, I’m granting you the permission to assemble a task force.
I’ll have all other cases removed from you and any other agent you choose to be on this team.
The Apparitions will be your sole focus from now on until we catch them, is that clear? ”
“Yes, sir,” Owen answered with a grin that almost stretched around his head.
“Make sure you can trust the agents on your team. I’ve already signed off on Taylor to join your team. He is our best forensic analyst. And he’s a trusted friend of yours if I’m not mistaken.”
Owen nodded his head once, a serious crease between his brows. He was already sifting through other agents in his head, I was sure of it.
“You will report directly to me. And Miss Beaumont is officially a consultant to your team,” Director Devereux handed me an ID card. “Now you have no excuses for any more fuckups like Mexico.” He glared at Owen. “Get to work, Becket. I’d like a word with Miss Beaumont.”
I swallowed hard as Owen shut the door behind him, leaving me alone with the intimidating man.
He settled back into his chair as his assessing eyes locked onto me once again.
“I heard what happened at the hotel the night after you assisted Becket with the takedown.” His voice had softened, the biting tone, gone.
I nodded, swallowing down the sudden lump in my throat. “It’s nothing.” I tried to play it down. “He was just trying to scare me off.” I couldn’t say Grayson’s name out loud, but the director knew who I was referring to.
“And why, may I ask, are you not afraid of Grayson Varon?”
The brutality of that night flashed through my thoughts again, making a shiver run down my spine. “I never said I wasn’t.”
“Then why are you risking your life here? You seem like a good person, Ava. You found yourself tangled up with some bad people, but by some miracle, you made it out alive. Why are you thrusting yourself back into danger? I have already offered to release you from the plea deal. Why are you not home right now, enjoying your second chance at life?”
I looked away. But only for a second. “Honestly, Director? I’m angry. I’m scathing,” I said on a bitter laugh. “And if I just sit back and do nothing, let them get away with what they’ve done to me, then it will devour me. So I’m here. Making sure they get what’s coming to them.”
“You speak as if you did not love them once.”
Why did he care? Why would he bring up the demons I’ve been battling to keep caged?
Was he wondering about my allegiance? “I did love them,” I answered truthfully, struggling with the crushing pain clogging my throat.
“They were my family. But they never felt the same way about me. They used me, then abandoned me. It was cruel. And it almost broke me. I cannot let that slide, Director. I will do whatever it takes to make them pay. And you’ll get to put criminals behind bars. ”
Director Devereux stared at me for a while longer, then nodded, a hint of a smile on his mouth. “You have spunk, kid. I can respect that. But stay out of trouble. These people are not your average criminals. I can’t let a civilian get hurt on my watch.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I mean it, Ava. If you put yourself in any unnecessary danger, I will revoke your access to this investigation.” He stood and I followed suit. I shook his outstretched hand. “And if you need anything, you come directly to me, you hear?”
“I will. Thank you, sir.”
A week later, I sat inside a glass-walled boardroom inside the FBI Headquarters, appropriated by Owen to serve as our team’s command centre.
It was the taskforce’s first official briefing.
There were six of us gathered around the boardroom table.
Curious eyes flitted between people, but most lingered on me.
“Thank you to everyone who agreed to be on this team,” Owen said from where he stood at the head of the table, in front of the big screen that I couldn’t look at.
He pressed a button on the table and the glass walls turned frosted, hiding us from the rest of the facility.
“How could we say no? This will be one for the history books. I can feel it,” the man sitting next to me said.
He was the only face I recognised. Taylor, Becket had called him.
He was the agent that I’d spoken to in Grayson’s torture room.
And probably the Taylor that Director Devereux referred to as a trusted friend of Owen’s.
“Before I give you the details of the case, let me introduce everyone. Some of you might have worked together before, some not.” Owen pointed at the woman closest to him. “This is Emerie Whitlock, a colleague of mine. We specialize in Art Theft.”
Emerie met everyone’s eyes and made a saluting gesture, looking almost bored.
Owen moved on to the person next to Emerie. A buff-looking guy, no hair, with a stern expression. “This is Marshall Madden, tactical expert. He and his SWAT team will be the muscle of this operation.”
“Then that makes me the brains,” Taylor quipped from beside me.
Owen fought a smile. “The loudmouth over there is Liam Taylor, mediocre Forensic Analyst, and expert shit talker.”
Liam laughed. “I’ll be using that in my dating profile.”
Owen shook his head before continuing. “This is Cynthia—”
“Dear, God,” the woman interrupted. “If anyone calls me by my grandma’s name, I’ll gun you down with your own service weapon. It’s Syntax.”
Owen smiled. “Syntax then. She’s our techie.”
I already knew I was going to get along with her just fine.
The golden piercings adorning her ears, nose and mouth, perfectly complemented her dark skin, making her look like some kind of High Priestess of olden times.
Paired with her white pants suit and golden eyeshadow, she was dazzling.
But the mischievous light dancing in her eyes was even more captivating.
“Then the one you’ve all been waiting for, judging by the looks she’s been getting.
” He pointed to me, and I tried not to cower in my seat.
“This is Ava Beaumont. Consultant to this team and expert in anything Apparition related. The real brains in this operation.” Owen gave a mocking glance towards Liam.
Liam scoffed but winked at me.
“Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s get started. I don’t need to remind you that nothing leaves this room, right?”
Everyone nodded, eyes glued to Owen in anticipation.
“Great. In front of everyone is a case file with everything Ava and I know thus far.”
Everyone eagerly opened the files in front of them, except for me.
I knew every word, every picture by soul.
Owen cleared his throat as he turned to the screen, pulling everyone’s attention to him yet again.
I reluctantly looked up at the screen, seeing the three faces that still haunted me when I closed my eyes.
It was action photos, taken from the footage of our failed takedown attempt.
“Our perps.” Owen enlarged the photo of Gemma.
“This is the newest member of the Apparitions.” Owen shot a glance at me, slightly cringing at his choice of words.
Because I had been the newest member of the Apparitions. If only for a wild, short time.