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direction, warning her not to speak. “I can’t—” Rick was beyond agitated. She watched, helpless, as he tore at his own hair, his jaw clenched in frustration. Rick shook his head. “I can’t do this.” Before she could take another breath, he was gone.
Stunned and humiliated, Quinn could feel everyone’s eyes on her as she stood in the middle of the gym. She caught a glimpse of Mack, standing by himself doing that deep thinking thing he’d been doing a lot of lately. Clint must have sensed her impending breakdown, because he took her elbow and quickly escorted her back to her apartment. Once there, instead of losing it, Quinn was completely numb, unable to process the rapid-fire events of the last ten minutes.
“Here.” She felt a glass of water being pressed into her hand as Clint led her to the couch. He dropped into the ratty old armchair opposite where she sat and leaned over the coffee table to talk. “Rick is angry.”
A slightly hysterical giggle bubbled up from Quinn’s throat. “You think?” She gaped, struggling to explain how she felt. “I don’t get it? Is he gone? Why is he angry with me? What—”
“He is angry, but it’s—” he sighed. “It’s misdirected at you.”
“I don’t understand.”
Clint’s mouth twisted up, clearly uncomfortable having to be the one to tell Quinn what had Rick acting so out of character.
“He had Travis in his sights… could have taken him out. But—”
Oh.
“But he didn’t because I made him promise not to.” When it clicked into place, she suddenly felt suffocated, as if the room were closing in on her.
Clint took her hand and awkwardly patted it. “He’ll come around. He just needs some time. Rick isn’t used to failure. And he isn’t used to caring.”
Quinn vaguely remembered nodding as Clint said something about having Mara check on her later and the guys watching her apartment on the security cameras. She heard the quiet click of her front door and she was alone.
Still numb, she kept her emotions locked up tight, too afraid to let them out because they might send her down a hole she couldn’t climb out of. Shutting off her mind, Quinn went through the motions, showering and climbing into bed. As she stared at the ceiling fan, watching it go round and round in slow circles, she wondered if Rick would ever forgive her.
It was nearly a week after the failed mission and Quinn still hadn’t heard from Rick. Not a phone call, not a text, he hadn’t even shown up for work. Frankly, Quinn was beginning to feel more pissed off at his selfishness than she did worried.
“Hey. You want to learn this or not?”
Quinn was startled from her thoughts. “Sorry, Tucker. Yeah, I do want to learn.”
“Cool.” Tucker continued explaining how to use the different components of Sanctum’s sophisticated computer system, oblivious to Quinn’s anxiety.
After finding her moping around the gym, waiting for Rick to magically appear, Tucker pulled her into Mission Control and began to show her exactly what Sanctum was capable of. Now, five days later, Quinn was hacking into files all over the world, collecting intelligence for clients (aka the US Government), and gathering info for Mack’s operations.
She was grateful for the distraction, but honestly, Quinn really wanted to talk to Rick and make sure he was okay. Even though she was madder than hell that he blamed her for his failure to catch Travis, she couldn’t deny that she loved him. Before she met Rick, Quinn couldn’t have imagined trusting anyone enough to fall in love, let alone have feelings so strong that she literally felt ill at the thought of not being with him again.
They continued gathering intel for an operation Tucker said was to take place the following week. Dane stopped by several times throughout the week to see what they had compiled, since he was going to be the team leader when the operation hit the ground.
“So…” Dane tried to be casual as he scrolled through the files they had downloaded to his laptop.
Quinn glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “So what?”
“Just wondering if you’d heard from Rick.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line, her nerves worn thin. “No, Dane. I haven’t. Just like the last four times you asked.”
“Okay, okay.” He held his hands up in defeat. “I’ll stop bugging you.”
“Thanks,” she snapped, irritated that not only was Dane constantly asking about Rick, but that Rick was still gone. Quinn turned to Tucker who was speaking to someone on his ever-present Bluetooth. “Should we bring this stuff to Mack?”
Tucker held up one finger for Quinn to wait. He finished his call and threw his earpiece onto the desk. “Mack’s not in. That was him on the phone. He’s been working remote since Tuesday.”
“Oh. I hadn’t even noticed.” Great, now she felt bad that she’d been so wrapped up in her own problems she had no clue Mack hadn’t been at work the last few days. The man took her in, treated her like his own, did everything in his power to get Travis, and she couldn’t be bothered to stop by his office long enough to notice he was missing.
Tucker shrugged. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”
Mack would be back tomorrow, but would Rick? Not knowing hurt like hell. “I think I’ve had enough for today.” Quinn pushed away from the desk, not meeting Tucker or Dane’s curious stares.
