Chapter Twenty-Seven

Seeing Chris made Abigail falter, but no one seemed to notice her misstep. She tried her hardest not to look at him as she talked to some secretary of some government department. She’d always hated these functions.

Her first clue that something was happening was when four of the party guards moved away, and her babysitters moved in closer. One touched her shoulder. “Miss Lewis, come with me, please.”

She glanced at him. The man might have been cute if he wasn’t working for evil incarnate. Briefly, she wondered if they all knew about her, or if her father told them yet another lie. “Why?”

“Precautionary measures, ma’am,” he replied. His grip tightened on her shoulder. “Now.”

Whether they all knew or not, this one did. Vicious promise laid inside his blue irises, so she excused herself politely from the conversation and allowed him to pull her away. His hand stayed on her shoulder as he led her not toward the house, but toward the guest house on the other side of the property. She glanced back toward where she’d seen Chris, but he was gone.

As soon as they were out of view of the party, her guard’s grip on her shoulder slipped to her arm, holding onto her tightly as he sped up the pace. She had to take double steps to keep up with him.

“Where are we going?”

“This way,” he replied, pulling her towards the guest house. Then suddenly he wasn’t there. A blur passed before her eyes and the man’s head snapped to the side as a fist connected with it. The guard whirled around, slamming a fast punch into Chris’s solar plexus. Chris gasped as the air left him and the man slammed another fist into the side of his face. Chris stumbled back, teetering like he would fall. A harsh crack filled the air and the man froze. Red blossomed across his chest.

Abigail stood motionless, her hands covering her mouth as he collapsed into a heap in front of her. Adrenaline surged inside her, her body shaking as she took in the bleeding heap at her feet.

Chris stumbled to her, grimacing as he took her hand. She stared at him. “Is it really you?”

“Yes,” he choked out. He coughed and drew in a ragged breath. “Target acquired. Heading toward extraction.”

“Dad said he had you.”

“He lied,” Chris said simply. He straightened up, holding her hand tightly and tugged her away from the house. “Come on. We need to move.”

She blinked, suddenly remembering. “We can’t. He has Bea. He’ll kill her.”

“Don’t worry. Jordan’s grabbing her. We have two minutes to make it to the water.”

“Water?” He didn’t explain as he dragged her behind him. She raced with him, her lungs burning, the heat of a Texas summer bearing down on them. It felt like pine needles made of ice in her lungs by the time they reached the end of the dock, where a yacht was parked. She didn’t recognize it so it couldn’t have been one of her father’s.

A hand thrust out to help her on board. She took it wordlessly and let them help her on board. She glanced up as Chris climbed up after her. “What the fuck are you doing here, Murphy?”

Murphy set her down on the deck and shrugged. “You were down a person. Nathan asked me if I could help.”

“You’re not…”

“No,” Murphy said. “It’s a one time favor to help my stupid ass brother-in-law.”

Chris growled. “You’re going to have to marry my sister to call me that.”

“I’ve been trying,” Murphy said. “Damn stubborn Hardys.”

Seconds ticked by like they were hours as they waited, looking for signs of the rest of their team.

Then they saw three figures racing across the lawn, one held between the two of them. As they got closer, Abigail made out Jack, with a rifle slung across his back, muzzle pointed up, his arm wrapped around Bea’s waist, and hers wrapped around his thick neck. Her leg was bloody, staining her jeans, her hair falling out of the ponytail it had been in. Jordan followed them up, a few steps behind. He caught up and helped to lift Bea onto the yacht then turned to the rest of them. “Might want to move it. We weren’t exactly subtle. They’re not far behind us.”

As if on cue, guards burst out from the house, running across the lawn.

“What about Nathan?”

Jordan shook his head. “He’s gone. Said he’d find us later.”

There was something in Chris’s eyes as he looked out at the party but it was gone before she could identify it. As the yacht pulled out, the guards leveled their weapons at them. They all took cover, Jordan and Jack taking up defensive positions and popping off the guards as the yacht roared out onto the open water.

Abigail wrapped herself around Chris’s body, hugging his torso. Slowly his arms came around her, gently shushing her and telling her it was going to be okay.

It was so not okay, but she loved the gesture.

~*~*~

Once they cleared the docks and made sure no one was following, they converged at the table at the back of the yacht, discussing the next steps.

“We dock here, and they’ll have a car waiting for us. Nathan arranged for us to fly directly back to Jubilee.” Chris was saying.

Abigail walked away from their planning meeting. She went inside the yacht and glanced around. But she only had a moment of silence before the big screen in the room turned on and Nathan’s face appeared on it.

“Hello, Miss Lewis.”

“Mr. Hawk?”

Nathan smiled but it wasn’t a warm one. She fought the chills that threatened to race down her spine. “Yes.”

“I remember you, you know.”

“Do you?”

“You used to work for him.” Abigail narrowed her eyes at the man on the screen. She hadn’t been able to place the face for a long time, but when she’d been in her father’s office, she saw the picture that brought it all back. “In his campaign office. It was… what, fifteen years ago, right?”

“Yes, until we had some… creative differences.”

“You punched him in the middle of his campaign office. I was like… seven at the time, I think.”

“It felt good to do it, too,” Nathan replied.

“I remember that week you made different headlines. When your family died.”

“When they were murdered,” Nathan corrected. “But I didn’t call to talk about that.”

She waited a long second. He was shutting her down. He didn’t want to chat about his family. She couldn’t blame him for that. “No, I don’t suppose you did. What do you want?”

“You know my team has a very unique setup. We can do things that others can’t because we don’t have liabilities.”

“I understand that.” Abigail nodded. “I understand that I’m a mission, and you wanted something very specific from me. Is it because of my real father?”

Nathan nodded. “In a way. We needed to bring a corrupt politician down a peg, and get a dangerous monster off the world’s radar. We had a chance at Giroux before, but we couldn’t take it because of Lewis. Lewis makes mistakes because of Giroux because he’s trying to stay ahead of him. If we took Giroux out first, Lewis would have bunkered down, killed you, and we’d be dead in the water. You are in a position to help us with both men.”

“So I’m useful to you. Is that what you do? Make sure people are useful to you?”

“Tread carefully, Miss Lewis. I’m not above making you disappear either,” he replied. She pushed out the fear that threatened to take hold.

“What do you want?”

“You gave Chris proof of your father’s transgressions. These files need to get into the right hands.”

“You want me to speak out against my father?”

“I’d like you to finish what you started when you escaped from your father the first time. I have an in with another senator. He will meet with you, take your statement, and take the case to Congress.”

“If you have this in, then you can do it,” she replied.

“I would rather not shine a light on me or my team at this time.”

Abigail swallowed. “And what about Jean Giroux?”

“Do you really want to meet that man? I mean, really.” Nathan’s face looked surprised. Apparently, he hadn’t expected her to want to go through with it. “Giroux is not a pleasant man. He’s ruthless.”

“I don’t need another father,” she said. “I don’t want one. But he bombed innocent people to get at my father. He has to stop. I’m probably the only one that could get him to.”

Actually, she wasn’t sure she could at all. But she had to try. They’d rescued her from Lewis. She owed them this at the very least.

“You don’t know the man. How do you know you can affect him at all?”

“I don’t. I have to try. If I can’t, then I will have led you right to him.”

“Alright. I’ll arrange for you to fly out to him.”

“I’d rather Chris not be there,” Abigail said. “It would… complicate things, since Jean Giroux is responsible for his near-death.” That wasn’t the only reason. She wasn’t sure she could do what she needed to do with him right there.

“I agree. Chris is too close, and Giroux gets under his skin. Jack will accompany you, and he’ll get you home safely as well.” Nathan smiled, but again, it wasn’t a happy smile. It was manipulative and crafty. It slithered over her spine like a snake. “I’m glad we’re in agreement here, Miss Lewis.”

“I wouldn’t say that, exactly.” She didn’t trust Nathan at all. But he could get her to Giroux safely, and that was exactly what she needed right then.

“Miss Lewis, I want you to know how important Chris is to my team. He is an extension of my leadership. He helped me to build it, and they’re broken right now, betrayed by one of their own. They need him more than ever.”

“I’m not sure what that has to do with me.” She also noticed Nathan had taken to calling Chris by his first name. It seemed to make everything more personal somehow.

“It has everything to do with you, Miss Lewis. Chris needs to sever all his ties to his life. He needs to move on.”

“And?”

“I can see him waffling now. First, it was because of his sister. I fixed that, and he finally saw how dangerous it was to have family ties in our line of work.” He paused, and she looked up at the screen, meeting cold eyes. “Now it’s you. He’s gotten it into his head that he loves you.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t love me.”

“Oh, I assure you, he does. Which is a problem for me. I need his loyalty and if I were to cleanse the situation, he would be lost to me.”

“What do you want from me?”

“For you to see why he can’t be with you.”

“And why can’t he?”

“You are America’s princess. Wholesome, beautiful, and completely unattainable.” Nathan’s smile turned insidious. “You remind me a little of my sister sometimes.”

“That’s nice.”

He sighed. “Bottom line, I need you to stop fucking with his head.”

“I’m not trying to fuck with anyone’s head.” Abigail crossed her arms.

“He does good work. He saves lives. But right now, he’s thinking about dropping it all for you. But see, if he does, it destroys my team.”

“What do you want from me?” she whispered the question, almost afraid to ask.

“Let him go,” Nathan said. She narrowed her gaze at the man on the screen, but for the first time since the conversation started, she saw the sincerity of his words echoed in his eyes. There was pain there, too, and she didn’t think he meant for her to see that. “Let him go. He won’t do it. He’s too stupid loyal for his own good. You have to do it. For his sake. He’s hanging on to a life that should have ended two years ago.”

“Why let him leave with me then? You could have separated us.”

“Yes, it would have been easier that way. But I’m never one to take the easy way. You deserved to make the choice. So much of your life has been decided for you.”

She couldn’t say anything. There was a knot in her throat big enough to make sure she would choke if she tried to speak. Instead, she kept swallowing it back down, breathing through the pain. Nathan was right and she hated that. But when she went to Congress, she couldn’t mention Nathan’s team. They didn’t exist. Except for Chris, and the last thing she wanted, was for him to end up at a congressional hearing because of his actions to save her.

“He needs to die before the hearings start,” she whispered, pain lancing through her body so sharply she wasn’t sure how she remained standing. “He saved me and died getting me out.”

“Yes. He will die a hero who saved a sweet little girl from a lifetime of imprisonment.” She looked up sharply at the screen. He nodded to her and the screen went dark.