Chapter 29
It only took me a few minutes to get Vaughn up to speed on the drugs I’d discovered on the lower level.
“So that’s what you were looking for in the schematics?” He leaned back against the headboard.
“I didn’t know what I was looking for. I could just tell something was wrong, but they’re so intricate, I couldn’t figure out what. Let me see your comm.” I wiggled my fingers at him for the device.
He unlocked it first, then handed it over.
I pulled up the digital schematics and zoomed in on the lower deck hallway.
“The digital files show the ship as is, with the empty niche on the left of the door to the engineering bay and the electrical panel on the right side. But the day the thermal regulator component went out, I went to the spot where the panel should have been, because I’d studied the original schematics that were filed with IA and Starlane prior to boarding the ship.
“Everything happened so fast. I found the panel on the opposite side, which was empty then, and at the time, I figured I’d made a mistake and almost immediately forgot about it. But the next day, I couldn’t remember what it was; I just knew something about the schematics was wrong,” I recalled.
“Wait—let me look at something.” He extended his hand to take the comm back.
I couldn’t see what he was doing from where I was sitting, but the moment he found what he was looking for was obvious. “That piece of shit.”
“What?”
He handed me the comm. “Press play,” Vaughn instructed. “Ethan told me he thought he saw Chadwick leaving with a big case when we realized he was missing too. I assumed it was his personal things and he was abandoning the ship.”
I watched the security footage Vaughn had pulled up from the hallway, and although the cameras at the far end of one side were at an odd angle, it was clear that Chadwick was loading the bricks into a black cargo container. “Fucking Starlane nepo scum,” I sneered.
“And now it makes sense why his tracker showed him on the other side of the port.” Vaughn shook his head, taking the comm back from me.
“Tracker?” I was confused.
Vaughn’s gaze lowered to my collar. He reached out and ran his fingertip over the pin that signified I was a crew member of the Radiant. “Embedded in everyone’s pins. Learned how helpful they can be while working black ops.” His eyes rose to meet mine. “It’s how I found you.”
The tension in our little fort surged. I couldn’t break eye contact with Vaughn. I saw the hunger simmering beneath the surface, a mirror to my own.
But Vaughn was the one who faltered, getting back to the task at hand. “You—ahh—mentioned something about your ex working with Meridian,” he stuttered.
“We need to get Darren on the line for this part.”
It took a couple minutes of explaining my thought process and what dots connected where, for Vaughn and Darren to understand why I thought Simon was connected to Meridian and my abduction.
They were rightfully skeptical. The situation sounded like a strange set of coincidences than something intentional. What were the odds of us being at the same port at the same time, let alone running into each other after having not seen each other in three years? Weird, right?
But the more I thought about the interaction, the more peculiar the whole thing became. Hell, I realized while retelling the story that Simon didn’t even seem surprised to see me, and given how he’d left things, what would have possessed him to pursue me to say hello?
However, if you add in the assumption that he was working with Meridian, who was most definitely on to me, at the very least from before I boarded the Radiant, as Darren had pointed out to me in the diner the day he’d offered me the mission, then things started to become much clearer.
To add to that, it would make sense that Meridian would have unfettered access to Starlane databases, as well as IA, a known fact amongst the intelligence community because of how far-reaching corruption and Meridian’s influence ran in the system.
The fact that Meridian and the Phoenix likely had access to the Radiant’s ships systems was just icing on the cake.
Vaughn didn’t like that I harped on that last bit. And it didn’t make me comfortable thinking about how they could potentially suffocate us in our sleep or redirect the ship without warning, both of which I pointed out to him.
“I have fail-safes in place to prevent either of those things,” Vaughn grumbled.
“More black ops secrets?” I teased, glancing down at my lapel pin.
“You have no idea what kind of tricks I have up my sleeves, Trouble,” he outright flirted with me.
I merely raised an eyebrow in challenge.
Darren prattled on to himself about the various connections he had that could assist and which of them would be more reliable than others, as well as what favors he’d have to call in and whether it would be worth the effort over his other options.
Vaughn’s gaze scanned me from head to toe, his brow furrowing.
“What?” I mouthed silently to him.
He put the comm on mute.
“Go shower. I’ll help him work out the details of finding Westcott.”
“You’re sure?” A hot shower sounded exactly like what I needed, but I didn’t want to leave if I was needed. Making sure Simon got what was coming to him was much more important than being clean at that very moment.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know when we wrap things up.”
“Okay.” I smiled, scooting off the bed, “Thank you.” I gave his hand a short squeeze before ducking out from under the curtain.
It wasn’t until I felt the warm water sluicing down my back and the grimy residue swirling down the drain that recent events started to catch up with me. Despite the fact that I’d been sedated for hours, it felt like I hadn’t slept in days.
I couldn’t ruminate over what could have happened or it would only make things worse. So instead, I focused on scrubbing every last speck of dirt from that trafficking ship off my skin.
Every time my mind wandered to what fate could have befallen me if I hadn’t been found, I thought about the way it felt to hear Vaughn calling out for me…the way his strong embrace calmed me in a way I hadn’t experienced in decades.
I’d just started washing my hair when I heard the bathroom door slide open.
“All good with Darren,” Vaughn called to me.
“Wait!” I shouted back over the sound of the shower. “Come over here.”
I could hear him hesitate.
“Okay.”
But I still couldn’t see him. I pictured him leaning against the counter.
I’d told him I was ready to figure out whatever was going on between us. I hoped he believed me. But I was tired of there being so much space between us, and I knew I would have to lead the way.
“Come over here, Vaughn,” I insisted more firmly.
Another pause, but then a moment later, I could see part of his body shift into view. I wasn’t sure if he was just shy or trying to be respectful.
“A little more.” I half giggled.
I watched his body sigh as he moved farther along the counter until I could see his face. His eyes were firmly watching the door.
“What’s Darren’s plan?” I asked, starting in safer territory.
“He figured out the right person to start with. Westcott shouldn’t be too hard for them to locate because he thinks he’s gotten away with everything, and there are additional tracking abilities for emissaries.
I sent him the location data I had for our former junior officer, although I’m sure the Elysian is already in the wind,” Vaughn informed me.
“I shouldn’t have left the ship,” I scolded myself. “I wasn’t thinking—”
“Lark.” Vaughn stopped me.
I paused scrubbing my hair to find that his eyes were on me. The look on his face was pained, and it was clear other parts of his body were affected by seeing me naked in the shower.
“You’ve been through enough. It was lucky you even stumbled on the cache; otherwise, we may have never known what Chadwick was up to.
And if you want to blame somebody, then blame me for ignoring your calls because of my own pride.
None of this would have happened if I would have just listened to you. ”
“It was understandable, considering.” I resumed my scrubbing.
Vaughn shrugged.
“How are you feeling?” I asked gently.
His gaze met mine again. “I should be asking you that.”
I rolled my eyes. He knew better than to deflect.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found you—if anything had happened to you…” His words trailed off, but I could see his posture tightening.
“But you did find me.” I smiled softly at him, leaning back to rinse my hair out, making sure he had an unobstructed view of the entirety of my bare profile as I arched my back, my breasts on full display.
Vaughn gulped, knowing exactly what I was up to.
“I hate that they left marks on you.” He scowled, his eyes drifting to my wrists, where mottled bruising was visible from where I’d been bound. “I wish I hadn’t left those monsters for the authorities.”
The pleasure I felt at the thought of him being protective of me pooled at my core. Just because I usually didn’t need to be protected didn’t mean I didn’t like the idea of someone wanting to keep me safe. All the better if that someone was Vaughn.
“It’s been a long time since I had someone looking out for me,” I admitted in a moment of vulnerability.
His eyes softened at the comment. He seemed to take a breath, weighing if he should say what was really on his mind. “What you said on the ship…you were under duress. I understand if it was just an in-the-moment thing.”
“Changed your mind?” I smirked.
“NO.” His eyes widened in alarm.
“I meant what I said,” I doubled down. “I’m sorry the timing wasn’t the best.”
“Fuck the timing,” Vaughn replied vehemently, his eyes suddenly heated.
I turned off the water, having finished rinsing my hair. “Hand me a towel, won’t you?”
He reached to the rack beside him, pulling a towel from the rung, and passed it to me.
I made sure to dry myself nice and slowly, aware of his searing gaze upon every inch of my skin.
“Hair tie, please.” I motioned to the band on the counter, which he dropped in my palm.
I wrapped it around my wrist, moving to towel dry my hair as best as I could, given the tension between us had ratcheted up to a ten in the last minute, and I could feel the wetness seeping from my core at the thought of what could come next.
Satisfied with my hair, I passed Vaughn the towel back and used the tie to place my hair into a loose bun. It was a terrible habit to go to bed with wet hair, but considering I had better things to do than spend the next ten minutes with a blow dryer, I’d give myself a break this once.
“I can grab you some pajamas,” Vaughn offered as I stepped out of the shower. Bless him, he was trying so hard to keep his eyes above my neck, but unfortunately, failing miserably.
“No thanks,” I simpered, dragging the tip of my finger across his chest as I passed him while I sauntered to the bed, still bare. I made sure to add an extra swing to my hips, knowing exactly where he was looking.