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“Yeah, I’ll send Ash over.” I can hear her sigh in relief. I know she’s struck up a friendship of sorts with Ash, and I’m comfortable trusting her with Sage’s safety. “Sage, you need to know…”
I really don’t know how to tell her. I should have done this before, when we got the contract.
Knowing it hasn’t been long, I can only hope the emotional wounds won’t reopen. The woman has already done so much since she left Arrick. She’s strong, but everyone has a breaking point.
“The girl we were hired to get? The person who hired us pointed us to Mathieson Enterprises.”
A sharp intake of breath comes over the phone.
“She was with him, wasn’t she?” she asks.
“Well, yes, kinda. I’ll explain more when you get here, alright?”
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll bring the supplies I have on hand, but if you send word with Ash about her injuries, I can put together a list for her to go and pick up.”
“Got it. Be safe. And bring the kid. We miss him around here. It’s been a while.”
It’s good to hear the small laugh she lets out. The little moments of joy are important for them.
“I’ll tell him you miss him.”
“Oh, don’t do that. He’ll get the wrong idea.” The laughter in my voice is a betrayal. “He’ll start to think we’re buds or something.”
I hang up the phone and go about unloading our bags and putting all the equipment back in the weapons room.
It’s only been in the past couple of years that we finally took over and established a real landing place for all of us in our network, The Ascendancy Collective. Most of our associates come and go as needed. It’s only Cy and me here full time. But it’s home for us, despite the overwhelming number of guns, explosives, tactical equipment, and other items in our literal arsenal.
I cross the garage to the spiral staircase and pull my phone back out.
Calling this dude, and especially telling him what state Juliana is in, is going to be hard. Cy likes to leave me with the hard crap. Some would accuse him of not giving a shit, but the reality is he gets too emotionally involved. He struggles with detaching himself; it’s better than in the past, but at some point, we fell into a pattern where I handle the people crap and he handles the technical and planning stuff.
It takes the time to rise up to the top floor before I work up the courage to call her friend from my burner. As I reach the landing, I dial. Unsurprisingly, Jay picks up on the second ring.
“Hey, I saw on the news there was some kind of upset in the port. Was that you? Did you find her?” The anxiety rolling off him through the phone is stifling.
“Dude, calm down. Let me get a few words in why don’t cha?”
I know the guy is frustrated. He’s been on edge since the first time his friend, Rosie, the “flower girl” as Cy likes to call her, contacted us. But seriously, he needs a sedative at this point.
“Look, we found her.” I hear the breath he’s holding release. “But we can’t bring her back yet. Okay?”
“What do you mean?”
This dude with all of the questions. I’m so close to strangling the guy the first chance I get.
“She’s not in great shape, and we’re concerned they’re gonna come looking for her the second they realize she’s gone. Right?”
“What do you mean she’s not in great shape? You think they’re going to come after her? Why?”
Yup, definitely gonna strangle the dude.
“Look, your friend can probably answer some of those questions later. Right now, all you need to know is she’s safe here with us, and we have a doctor coming to look at her. Lie low, and I’ll be in touch when we know more,” I say.
“Wait, you can’t cut me out. Can I talk to her at least?”
“I know you’re worried out of your mind, and I would be too, but trust me when I say the best thing you can do is sit tight.”
There’s silence for a second, and I hear him clear his throat as if to start on another line of questioning, but I cut him off.
“Dude. Stop. You keep pushing, and I’m hanging up on you.”
Over the phone I can almost hear the gears in his mind turning. “Yeah, okay. But…” Concern leaks through. “Keep me updated? I need to know she’s okay. And tell her… tell her I miss her.”
I sigh. “Yeah, I’ll give you another call soon.” I make my way down the hall but stop and sag on one of the walls after talking with Jay. The man’s exhausting. I almost regret taking the job.
Almost.
