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One Week Later
South America. His worst fucking nightmare. Gray was doing his best to compartmentalize his emotions, to bury them deep, as he climbed aboard a private plane bound for hell on Earth. Part of him was terrified his inner chaos would start leaking out once his boots hit the ground down there.
Focus, Ellis. Keep your shit together. And don’t let these guys realize you’re one step away from a complete breakdown.
Because the truth was he felt good being back on a team again and the last thing he wanted to do was screw it up. Zane trusted in Gray’s abilities, despite knowing he’d been having a rough year, and he didn’t want to let his friend down.
After stowing his bag, Gray sat down in a comfortable leather seat and watched as the rest of Ex Nihilo boarded. Other than Zane, he didn’t know the others at all, but he was slowly getting a feel for them. Or at least what to expect from them since he’d always been good at reading people.
Pharaoh, their leader, was a serious man, highly intelligent, and often lost in his own inner ruminations. Plotting and planning. Gray had learned his real name was Braxton Graves and he was a former Delta Force Commander. Made sense. Those guys were under a lot of pressure and couldn’t fuck around. The situations they entered were always life or death, and one mistake could lead to multiple lives lost.
The most light-hearted one of the group was Ryland Mills, AKA Rip, and a fellow, former frog. Gray had a feeling it had something to do with the guy being head over ass in love with his new wife, Harper. He constantly seemed to be one step away from spouting poetry or breaking out into a song and dance number. Must be nice. Gray had never been in love and had no idea what it would feel like to be living in a real-life musical.
Inda Diaz, better known as Bruja, walked down the aisle and gave his shoulder a bump as she passed by. He’d discovered her Spanish callsign meant witch. “Buckle up, big guy,” she said. “Pyro flies at the speed of light.”
Yeah, he figured. The only other time he’d flown on her plane, they’d crashed. Of course, it was on purpose, but Pyro was a daredevil. No doubt about it. Currently, their fearless pilot was circling the plane outside, finishing her preflight check. Hunter “Pyro” McGrath was a former Navy fighter pilot. In other words, a badass through and through.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want you to bump your thick skull and hurt yourself.” The comment came from Saint, of course. Real name Nikolai Vasilevsky, but he preferred Nik Valentine. Despite the man’s moodiness and somewhat abrasive nature, Gray was beginning to see more sides to Saint, and his sarcastic side was fairly amusing.
“Don’t mind him,” Inda said. “He’s just grumpier than usual because Pyro won’t let him smoke on the plane.”
“Damn straight,” Hunter said, stepping through the doorway and pointing a finger at Nik. “You light up on my flight and I’ll open the door and toss your ass out.”
Nik growled at her, but she brushed right past him without a second glance. “We take off in two minutes, so get situated.”
Hunter headed to the cockpit while the rest of the team found seats. Gray looked at Zane as he sat down across the aisle from him.
“You ready for this?” Zane asked in a low voice.
“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.” Gray hoped he sounded confident. He didn’t want to get kicked off the team before even going on his first mission. He locked eyes with Zane “Banshee” Hawkins, the most intelligent man he’d ever met. Despite what he’d claimed, Gray knew Zane probably saw right through his forced bravado.
“You need anything, you let me know,” Zane said, still keeping his voice low. Then he pulled his laptop from his bag, put on a pair of dark-rimmed glasses and started tapping away. The hacker was digging into The Agency, the organization that had targeted their own team. He’d managed to find and partially decrypt a list of ten names. People who sat on The Agency throne.
Gray had nothing but time and no other plans, so why not help them take the assholes down. He just needed to hold it together while they were in South America—the place that haunted Gray’s dreams every goddamn night. That made him wake up screaming in a pool of sour sweat. He hoped like hell he could make it through whatever was to come.
Reaching down, Gray started to scratch his scar.
Chapter Two
Aheaviness settled over her heart as Aubrey St. Clair cleared out the few things she kept stashed in her supervisor’s office. It was more of a makeshift tent really, but semantics. It had protected them from the rain and wind, and Dr. Ellen Martinez had become a true friend during the past year.
When Aubrey first came down to South America, her Spanish was shaky and working as a new nurse in a foreign country for Doctors Without Borders had been the scariest thing she’d ever done. But she’d needed to figure things out, find her purpose, and the past twelve months had been the most rewarding of her life.
She finally found the healing she’d so desperately sought for so damn long.
Losing her older brother Garrett and barely speaking to her parents had torn a huge hole in her heart. Even though he’d died three years ago, nothing had been able to fill the hollow in her chest. But coming down to the Chocó region of Colombia had been restorative and given Aubrey the fresh perspective she desperately needed. Seeing how thousands of people suffered violent attacks from armed groups, how entire communities had been forcibly displaced, made her take a step back and reevaluate her own situation. And she’d quickly, and gratefully, discovered she was lucky to have the life she did back in the States. Sure, she still missed her brother terribly and the relationship with her parents was practically non-existent, but she had her health, job and a freedom that other countries in the world didn’t.
After she zipped up her backpack, Aubrey took one final look around and briefly reconsidered signing on for another year. Was she making a mistake returning home? Doubts began to fill her and she hesitated.
“Don’t even think about it,” a firm, feminine voice said.
Aubrey turned to see Ellen standing nearby, arms crossed.
“I’m thinking about it,” Aubrey countered.
“I’m serious, St. Clair. You get your butt on that plane tomorrow morning or I will kick it back to Indiana myself.” Her face softened slightly. “You’re going to make an excellent trauma nurse somewhere.”
Aubrey blew out a breath and nodded. Starting something new was always a little scary, but Garrett had always encouraged her to follow her dreams and not let fear guide her decisions. He’d been a firm believer that if something scared you, it was worth doing. They were words to live by and his advice had stuck with her.
