Page 5 of Secret Redemption

Chapter Two

The team all sat around the conference room in silence, looking to him to give them answers to questions that he had no answers for. Zack wondered why he hadn’t gone into the family business like he’d been expected to do. Then he looked at Ava and Celeste and thought of Lucy, and he remembered the promise he had made to his sister.

He would not take the easy path, but instead, take the one he had chosen, and live every day to the fullest. Most of all he remembered the vow he had made on the day they had put his beautiful sister in the ground. He would never fail someone again.

He stood with his hands on his hips and faced the men and women who were his to protect. “Will, what do we have?” he asked getting straight down to business.

“Not a fucking lot. We lost him as he went over the Old Bridge. He’s like a ghost, one minute he was on the CCTV, the next he was gone. It was like he just went up in smoke,” Will said. He sounded half pissed and half proud. Zack understood the sentiment. Up until that afternoon, he had been proud that his team had members the calibre of Zin and the others, now, however, he knew that it was a nightmare of epic proportions.

Zack ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He turned to Dane, “Are Sly and Lucy coming back?”

“Yeah, they were already on their way back.” He looked at his watch, “Should be here within the hour.”

Zack looked at Celeste and knew he needed to talk to her about what had just fucking happened.

He sat back down and faced her. She was sitting beside Ava on his left. “Celeste, would you care to tell us what the fuck happened earlier,” he asked and received a death stare from Ava, which he returned. Celeste looked at him, and he saw a flicker of defiance. She looked so much like Kanan at that moment.

“I just wanted to calm things down without anyone getting hurt,” she stated.

“And what made you think that in a room full of the most highly trained operatives on the planet, that you were the best equipped to do that?” Zack asked, his eyes never leaving her face. She had the grace to look contrite, but Zack wasn’t finished. “You could have gotten someone killed, and because of your silly thoughtless actions, we now have the deadliest SIS agent that there ever was gunning for us, and we have no fucking clue why!” he said on a bellow as his anger at the situation got the better of him. He knew he should calm down, but the thought of Ava bloody and hurt kept running through his head.

“Don’t shout at her,” Ava demanded angrily, shooting to her feet beside him. He looked up, and the fire in her eyes instantly made his dick twitch. He loved her like this.

He rose slowly ignoring those around them. “I run this team, and I will shout at who I damn well please,” he said quietly.

“You’re scaring her!” Ava responded on a hiss.

“Good!” he shouted back. “Have you any idea the danger you are in because of her? Did it escape your notice that it was you he was talking to? He could have been planning this for months.” He hoped to fucking God Zin hadn’t been, but at this point, he had no clue.

Celeste’s voice was forceful. “No, he wasn’t.” Everyone in the room turned their focus from Ava and Zack to Celeste.

Daniel leaned forward slightly, “Celeste, how do you know that?”

“Because I read him,” she replied softly.

Ava sat down, and Zack followed suit, all his attention on Celeste.

“I’ve been reading people since I was a young child. If I touch someone, I instantly know what he or she is thinking. I have flashes of the future sometimes too. Those are less common though.”

Zack let out a whoosh of breath. How the fuck had they missed this?

Zack took a calming breath before asking his next question. “Does Zin know?”

Celeste shook her head. “Nobody knows, I’ve never told anyone.”

“Why not sweetheart?” Ava said, gently taking her friend’s hand.

Celeste smiled. “Not everyone is kind about people with gifts, and it can be difficult. Some people are hateful and knowing what they are thinking can be exhausting and terrifying. I just prefer to keep my own counsel.”

Zack frowned, as things started to click into place “Is that why you shy away from people touching you?”

“Yes, at least until I trust them fully and know they are not hateful people. Even then, it can be awkward,” she said and smiled.

Zack tensed and remembered what he had been thinking as he comforted her. He felt a blush steal over his cheeks and wanted a drink, preferably something old and strong.

“So how does this correlate to Zin being innocent?” Dane asked.

Celeste looked at him, “Zin has been teaching me to ride a motorbike, and that involves touching. He’s a good man with a devotion to this team. I see it every time I touch him, and I saw it just before he got that call and left. In fact, I handed him a coffee just seconds before, and he was thinking about how he could get a lock on the Butcher, whoever that is so that he could make sure his friends are safe.”