Chapter 18
ATLAS
I’ve been giving Kira regular briefings on the intel Viper gathers, but the information I share with her is only a level or two beneath the surface. She’s been traumatized by a car accident, reeling from betrayal, and is growing a child inside her. She doesn’t need all the grim details.
Viper, Grizz, and I also hold daily meetings, and today, Viper raises a new concern.
“She should know how to handle a firearm,” he says with no preamble.
Grizz looks up from the map that’s spread between us, one of his eyebrows shooting up.
“What to do. What not to do,” Viper adds.
I shake my head. “Not while she’s pregnant. Lead exposure rules that out, not to mention recoil.”
Viper doesn’t argue the facts, but he persists. “I'm just talking handling. She shouldn’t be seeing one for the first time if everything goes wrong.”
I’m typically all for people being informed and educated, but I don’t intend for her to ever need to defend herself. “It puts responsibility on her,” I tell Viper. “I don’t want her to have the idea her survival depends on what she can do in a worst-case scenario.”
He lifts his chin. “Fear comes from the unknown. Knowledge gives her options.” Quieter, more to himself, he adds, “People shouldn’t be left helpless.”
A low pull settles behind my sternum, drawing my attention. The air changes in the room, and I look up and find her in the doorway. It’s becoming a problem, the way my body reacts first, while my mind runs a second or two behind.
“Kira. Need something?”
Her hair is piled loosely on her head with several strands hanging free.
Her long pale blue sweater hugs the slope of her chest and the round curve of her belly, which is becoming more noticeable by the day.
One of her hands is resting on her stomach, and the other supports her as she leans against the doorframe.
“Information,” she says.
It’s a reasonable request to make of three armed men tracking motion sensors and radio chatter.
Grizz swivels his chair in her direction. “Careful, Kira. When someone asks the old man for information, he starts building a PowerPoint presentation.”
Viper’s eyebrows lift, and he’s right. She’s got skin in the game.
Kira would usually laugh, but her expression doesn’t budge. “I appreciate the information you’ve given me, but I want to understand more about what you’re doing. I need to know what I should do if …” Her voice pitches higher. “If he finds me.”
I don’t look away, because the worst thing you can do with fear is pretend it doesn’t exist. “Okay. Come in.”
As she approaches, I curse myself for noticing more of her curves. The bow of her lips, the roundness of her hips, the sweet fragrance that breezes in with her.
I stand and pull a chair out for her, and she settles into it, her back straight and her chin held high.
Something in the way she carries herself reminds me of Sarah, and I hate that my mind makes the comparison before I can stop it.
I take my seat, clear my throat, and force my attention back to the monitors. “All right. Let’s go over the perimeter layout.”
I pull up the terrain map with the property line and inner fencing marked, and orient Kira to our location. Then I point out where she’s likely been, and show her the parts of the compound she may not have seen yet.
Viper cuts in to overlay information about motion sensor positions and camera angle coverage.
Kira listens and follows along, then says, “I’m surprised you don’t have a gate at the end of the main drive.”
“We don't want to advertise the compound,” I explain.
“A gate indicates secrecy,” Viper says, “and secrecy invites curiosity.”
“Makes sense,” she says. “What happens if someone comes up the drive?”
“Sensors are triggered,” Viper says. “I’ll either be watching it happen, or we’ll be alerted.”
“If they’re dumb enough to keep driving, they’ll meet me,” Grizz says.
We go over plans and backup plans until she’s satisfied, then her focus turns.
“I’ve been thinking that if Preston can’t find me quietly, he may try another route.
He can’t admit what he did … or what he’s involved in, so he’ll frame the narrative.
Make me unstable. Emotional. Pregnant and hysterical. ”
Grizz lets out a growl. “I’ll be happy to introduce him to unstable.”
I lift a hand to quiet him and keep the focus on Kira. “Keep going.”
“He might say I ran. That I stole something, or that I’m scared because I’m guilty.” She draws in a heavy breath. “He might even say I’m a threat to myself and the baby, and get caring people involved in finding me.”
“That’s depressingly plausible,” Viper says.
“It’s marketing,” she says. “He’s had a lot of practice crafting stories people want to believe. Politicians win votes by generating fear. If he can stir up some fear around my disappearance, people will eat it up.”
I’m impressed by her insights, even as a knot of dread twists in my gut.
“He can use people’s sympathy to get help finding me, then bring me home like a hero,” Kira says.
“Like hell,” Grizz mutters.
He, Viper, and I exchange looks. It’ll never happen on our watch. If Vaughn somehow managed to take Kira home, he’d arrange for her to have an accident. No way he’s going to risk her talking.
Still, Kira makes excellent points. “You worked in marketing?”
“I was a brand strategist until I got pregnant, and Preston urged me to quit. Ever since I met him, I’ve been helping him with political branding. It makes me sick that I played a role in making him look like a saint when he was actually the devil.”
Grizz rubs her forearm, then gives a reassuring squeeze. “There’s no way you could have known.”
Rather than meet his eyes, Kira looks blankly down at the table. Her shoulders round in, a posture I haven’t seen since her first few days here, when she was afraid of everything, including us.
I’m grateful her physical injuries are mostly behind her now. Emotional wounds are something time can’t rush. I know about that better than most.
My arms ache to comfort her, but making physical contact is dangerous. Instead, I speak as gently as I can. “Kira, you couldn’t have known what he was doing.”
Still not looking at any of us, she shakes her head. “I should have realized …” She sounds ashamed, and the pain she’s feeling twists into me like a knife.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Viper asks.
Silence rings loud.
“Did he hurt you? Before that day?” I ask.
She swallows, and my eyes go to her neck, where the bruises have finally faded. “He grabbed me once,” she says. “He’d gotten some bad press over an infrastructure vote. He was angry, and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He apologized right after, and I was stupid enough to let it pass.”
Grizz’s chair squeals as he slides back. Viper stays stock still. My hands are clenched at my sides, and the urge to put my fist through something is rising fast and hot. I force it down like I’ve forced down worse.
“You didn’t tell us.” Anger at a man I’ve never met makes this sound like an accusation, even though I don’t mean it to sound that way.
She’s disclosing one incident, but I’d bet money there were more. Each followed by emotional manipulation to make her think his actions were her fault.
Kira’s mouth tightens, and her shoulders straighten. “I didn’t want your pity.”
“You’ve got our protection,” Grizz says. “Not our pity.”
She takes a deep breath as something flickers behind her eyes, then she lets out a sigh. “I know. That’s why I’m trying to make sure I don’t get you, or anyone else, killed.”
I push back from the table and meet her gaze, forcing her to look at me.
“You won’t,” I tell her. “Because from here on out, that danger is ours to carry. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Her breath catches, and I realize I’ll burn everything to the ground before I let Vaughn or anyone else hurt her ever again.