Page 3 of Gunner

Chapter 2

It wastypical of his fucking luck for a storm to blow in now of all times and derail his plans to give Jack the answers he’d been holding back from him for over two years. Gunner looked in the mirror of his hotel bathroom and saw nothing of the man who’d signed on with Eidolon.

Hope was a fragile emotion that he should’ve known better than to feel. Yet he had, even after he vowed never to hope again after his sister was injured because of his own selfishness. He’d thought that joining the British Air Force and climbing his way into a good job, one that fed his injured soul enough that he could bury the bitter grief and guilt he still carried.

But even flying every aircraft known to man hadn’t extinguished the burn in the pit of his stomach every time he saw his sister in the facility he paid for. Her life had ended that day on the lake, in every way that mattered anyway. He’d been going through the motions until he met Jack, and he’d offered him the opportunity to do more.

Gunner had jumped at the chance and loved his place in Eidolon, genuinely feeling for the first time in his life like he belonged. The men he served with became the brothers he’d never had, giving him a family again.

Then it had all come to a screeching halt one day when he’d opened his door to a man who’d brought reality crashing in on him like a freight train. He’d had one choice to make, and as he looked at the haunted, dead eyes in the mirror, he knew it had been the wrong one.

He’d chosen to betray his friends to save his sister, to break a bond forged in blood because he could not face the way they would look at him when they found out what he’d done to Milla, and to protect the man who had offered him hope from the truth.

Now they knew about his sister anyway, and the ties that had almost dragged him free were now the same ones that would pull him under. The loss of his family at his own hand had shaped him into the man he was today, but the way he’d betrayed his friends was the legacy he now had to live with.

Splashing cold water on his face, he watched the droplets slide down the stubble of his chin, exhaustion a constant companion these days. At least Milla was safe now, another debt he owed Eidolon and would never be able to repay.

Pulling his long hair back into a band at the back of his head, he walked from the bathroom and threw on a clean white t-shirt. He checked his phone and saw he had a message from Bás confirming the men he was meant to meet were also delayed, and the meeting would now take place in two days’ time.

Gunner wasn’t a fool, he knew the risks he took going to this meeting, but it was the least he owed Jack. To give them the truth and open up the lies and treason that was at the centre of everything. Handing Jack the truth was all he had left to give now, and if it cost him his life, he didn’t care. In fact, at this point, it would be favourable to the life he was forced to live now.

He was tired, so bone-tired of fighting, and he had so many regrets that he could hardly breathe from the weight of them. A vision popped into his head of Lacey Cannon, the woman they’d rescued from her psycho ex when he’d kidnapped her at Skye and Nate’s wedding. In another life, he would’ve asked her out, spent some time with her, maybe even fallen in love with the blonde beauty, but that wasn’t on the cards for him.

Needing to get out of this room before he went stir crazy, he grabbed his wallet, phone, and key card and headed for the elevator and the bar he’d spotted downstairs. A few drinks might help relax him enough to sleep, failing that, he’d drink until he passed out cold.

Hitting the button, he waited as he watched the numbers move before his impatience got the better of him, and he decided to take the stairs, his gun tucked into his leg holster out of sight. Never leaving the room unarmed was something Jack and Alex had drilled into them. The gun laws in the UK, of course, didn’t allow people to carry guns but they had a special licence, and although he no longer had that he still carried everywhere, he went. Especially as he had a target on his back now.

His long legs ate up the steps as he jogged downstairs and out into the foyer of the hotel. He walked past the lift and saw it was still stuck on the same floor, making him glad he’d walked.

The bar was more of a cocktail lounge with a piano in the corner that matched the one he’d seen in the lobby of the hotel. It had a certain nineteen forties vibe that he liked, and as he ordered himself a beer from the bartender with the handlebar moustache, his fingers itched to play.

Taking the beer, he pointed at the piano with a question, and the bartender nodded for him to go ahead. Gunner sat at the black grand piano and placed his drink on the floor beside him. It had been a long time since he’d played but his grandmother had insisted it was the one thing he kept up, even after Milla was injured. She’d said it nurtured his sensitive soul and the thought made him smile.

The time he’d spent with her practising was among only a handful of happy memories he had. His hand caressed the ivories with reverence, the feel of calm he always had when he played was the same as when he flew—pure peace. Everything else ceased to exist for him when he played. He began to play, and all the pain and tension left him as his fingers moved over the keys. ‘River Flows’ by Yiruma was one of his sister’s favourites, and he closed his eyes as the music washed over him.

He was halfway through the piece when he realised someone else was playing the same music as him from the piano in the lobby. He couldn’t see the person, but he heard the music and increased his tempo slightly, seeing if they would keep up and he was happy when they did. People began to drift toward him to watch as others moved to the lobby to see who played with him.

He should stop, he knew that his job was to be a ghost, but this was the first time in a long time he’d felt alive, and he didn’t want to give it up. So, he kept going, faster and faster they played until the culmination of the piece peaked and then slowed as the duet ended with the last haunting note.

Gunner was on his feet as soon as the last note played, his interest piqued as to the identity of his duet partner. He rounded the corner and came slap bang into the one woman he thought never to see again. A woman who’d played the lead in many a fantasy and it felt like fate that she’d be here now.

“Lacey?”

“Gunner?”

“What are you doing here?”

She moved closer, closing the gap between them and the scent of her hit him like a punch to the gut. She looked stunning, her eyes bright, skin flawless, the wounded look he’d last seen in her eyes after her kidnapping almost gone.

“I had a flight cancelled because of the storm.”

He stepped up beside her as they moved into the bar area. “Drink?”

“Yes, please. I was headed here when I heard someone playing and couldn’t resist joining in. It’s one of my favourite pieces.”

“No way, me too.”

Lacey cocked her head as she hitched up onto a barstool. “That was you?”