Chapter Three
The Office
Friday
Evening
Almost Nine P.M
Well, this was definitely a surprise, and absolutely not the people she was accustomed to seeing on a daily basis, or hearing from them. Bishop couldn’t remember the last time she saw these two people in the same place together.
With her.
These particular Marines did NOT make house calls, or at least they never had here in Salem.
This was a flash to her past.
Family was here.
It appeared that Maura and Jagger had been called up by Oracle, from their new lives, and that both helped her relax, and scared the shit out of Bishop.
Why?
If Oracle was calling everyone back, was this going to be a permanent thing where they all went back to their jobs helping Avalon and Nate?
Were The Phoenix Files reopening again?
God.
She hoped not.
That was the last thing she wanted. Both she and Lucian had begun a life here, and while, currently, it was in tatters, and torn, it was still her existence now.
This was home.
They’d made this from nothing together, and she was accustomed to being a cop.
A wife.
A mother.
A Littlemoon.
The last thing she wanted was to see that taken away and then having to move around working on files while life passed them by.
Since she wasn’t inviting them inside the business, Maura went there.
It wasn’t lost on her that Bishop looked traumatized.
Welcome to the club.
When they heard Oracle in their heads and then got the address, they weren’t exactly thrilled to be doing this.
Maura knew that New Orleans was hanging in the balance with Von Donore all over the place.
This was not on their BINGO cards for today. Only, when Avalon Carter called, you didn’t ignore it.
How could you?
She was in your goddamn head.
“Well, Bish, don’t welcome us in or anything. By the way, nice face,” Maura stated.
Jagger just laughed.
“I think that’s her surprised face. I’m not sure since that’s not the face I’m accustomed to. Hey, girlie. We hear you needed help,” Jagger stated.
Bishop stepped back, and like her, the two people outside were armed.
And very dangerous.
You knew it was going to be bad when Oracle called these two out of retirement to handle a job. Maura and Jagger weren’t your run-of-the-mill soldiers.
They were killers for the US government, or that was what she’d heard.
Realizing she was being rude, she snapped out of it.
“Here's faces I haven’t seen in years,” she said.
Immediately, Maura hugged the woman, and then Bishop hugged Jagger. He ran his hands up and down her back, gently soothing her.
“We’re here now. It’s all good. We got you, Bish. You and the one-eyed devil are safe.”
Oh, she hoped he was right.
When they were sent packing, both of them were in bad shape. They’d gone off on their own to find Dianna, and they’d not heard from them after that.
“I’ve missed you guys,” she admitted. “Last I saw, you were on the hunt for your child. Did you find her?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
Maura nodded.
“Yes, and not only that, we found one more, and now one in here,” she said, pointing to her midsection. “My husband is a fiend when it comes to babies.”
Jagger just laughed and slapped his wife on her ass.
Damn right he was. His wife made beautiful babies, and he couldn’t wait to meet his daughter.
Bishop had tears in her eyes.
“I’m so glad,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”
Maura squeezed her hand.
“Fate usually drives the bus, Princess. You have nothing to worry about. I promise. Jagger and I are here to help. Where’s that sexy devil of yours?”
Oh, a lot had happened since they’d parted ways after Roxy’s death.
That was crystal clear.
Only, it felt like they’d never been a part.
And again, that scared her.
“He’s with the Littlemoons and Avalon,” she admitted. “Lucian!” she shouted.
Hearing his wife call his name, the big man headed their way, and when he saw who it was, he relaxed.
“Major!” he said, hugging Maura, and then, doing the same with Jagger.
Truthfully, they were a sight for sore eye.
That was for sure.
“We had a call,” Maura stated, tapping her head. “We were minding our business in NOLA, when the call came out. Avalon said it was urgent, so here we are.”
What no one was saying was for them to be called into play, something bad was about to happen. The Marines were the worst-case-scenario kind of assets.
“It’s bad,” he stated. “Thank you for coming.”
Jagger gave him a fist bump.
“Never a problem, Lucian. You know we’re always going to be family. We went through a lot of shit together. We are always going to help.”
He was aware, and that made them very lucky people.
It appeared the team from The Phoenix Files were back together again, minus Roxy and Luke.
Speaking of the two people…
“We’re sorry about Luke and Roxy.”
Jagger handled it.
“Things happen for reasons,” he admitted. “Losing Luke and Roxy was damn difficult, but we found something in the sadness that’s even stronger. I finally got the Major to marry me.”
Hearing that, he smiled.
Lucian would be lying if he said he didn’t think of them often. Only, Avalon reassured him that they were good.
Now, he could see that was the truth.
Someone found their path, and it looked good on both of them.
“I’m happy for you both. After this, maybe we can have dinner and talk about the past.”
Maura was to the point.
“It has to stay in the past,” she said. “I miss and love you two nuts, but…we moved on.”
Oh, well, it appeared they were all on the same page.
“Same,” he said. “Now, let’s hope Avalon understands that,” he stated.
Truthfully, he’d have to be blind not to see that his wife was looking a tad bit twitchy over this, and he knew why.
She didn’t want to go back.
Him either.
They had a life here that he loved.
So, to get this started, Lucian escorted them into the space, and immediately, Tori recognized them.
“Avalon knows Elizabeth’s Marines?” she asked, surprised. These two had been at the weddings they’d attended and were part of Elizabeth’s circle.
She’d just seen them last year at her son’s wedding at the White House. They’d all been in dress blues, and sticking to their little circle of Marines.
Now, she felt better.
While she didn’t know this Avalon, she knew from her bestie that Maura and Jagger were damn good people and always helped her when she needed it.
Lucian explained as the Littlemoons hugged it out with the two people.
“These are the Marines that helped us guard Avalon,” he admitted. “Maura and Jagger are our friends and family. They were part of our life before we came here.”
It wasn’t lost on anyone that the two people were heavily armed.
Well, no shock there.
Elizabeth Blackhawk was troubled, and they didn’t doubt that Oracle was too. This whole thing just screamed ‘national security issue’, and they knew it.
As Maura headed toward Avalon, she smiled.
“Avi, it’s good to see you again. Next time, pick up a phone. It’s weird having voices in my head. You know how to use your voice to chat on your phone. We taught you that for a reason. Better yet, just have your husband call.”
She laughed.
Oh, well, old habits were difficult to break.
For her, this was the easiest and most natural way to connect with people she considered family.
“Maura, I missed you. You look good. Oh, and pregnant, huh? There’s a lot of that going around,” she admitted.
And that was the truth.
Jagger shook hands with Nate.
“You look like shit, my dude. Did you just turn eighty? Maybe take a vacation and get some sun.”
Nate rolled his eyes.
Yeah, well, he was well aware. It had been a couple of rough weeks as they prepared for this. Before that, it was leisure and just doing simple things like working on cold cases for the FBI. Elizabeth had given him a consulting job so that he and Avalon could stay under the wire.
And he’d loved it.
Until this mess started.
“Yeah, well, I’d prefer to be home with our kids, and not on the other side of the country, but here I am, living la vida loca.”
Weren’t they all?
From where he sat, Julian was hella confused by all of this. What was going on?
“Why do we have Marines here?” he asked. “Not that I’m complaining. Any friends of Elizabeth’s are always welcome here, but this makes me worry. Marines aren’t known for being delicate and calm. My brother was one.”
At his comment, Maura was confused.
“Uh, they don’t know?” she asked.
Avalon was to the point.
“I was getting there. As usual, Major, you’re always early. Maybe slow down and observe speeding limits or pull off in a rest stop and take a nap.”
Jagger laughed.
Good luck with that happening.
They were on a time crunch and had to get back to NOLA in a couple of days. The BlackStone Group was causing shit, and they had to find the head snake.
To cut off his head.
“Well, she drives like a psychopath. I’m shocked we don’t have a trunk full of dead cops after they try to pull us over.”
No.
One.
Laughed.
Well, no one but Jagger and Maura.
“Sorry, I forgot. Some of you were cops, or that’s what Avalon told us. I wasn’t being literal. We wouldn’t have a trunk full of cops.”
Why?
As Mercenaries, they got rid of evidence. They didn’t drive it across state lines like novices.
That admission seemed to calm everyone down.
Thankfully.
Avalon was all over this like white on rice, and she knew what was coming, so she explained.
“I knew we’d need help with this, and who better to play hide-and-seek but two Marines?”
She had a point.
That kind of was their specialty.
Only, Tori was still confused.
“How are two Marines going to help us find whatever this is that’s taking the dead, hunting Genesis, and making a mess here? Isn’t this a psychic issue? I’m so befuddled on this.”
Avalon sat and tried to explain the best she could without adding to their stress.
They were missing some of the picture, and she was here to help with it.
“If you’ll entertain me for a minute, I really can explain, Victoria. I wasn’t done. We were at the part where this darkness came here and manifested. Let’s continue with that, and you might see the whole picture.”
She hoped so.
Tori allowed her the time to explain.
So, she did.