Page 36 of Declan (Gold Team #5)

“Take Autumn to the basement and get her kitted out,” Zane instructed and Declan went solid.

“Z—”

“Don’t even try to cut me out, Declan,” I snapped.

His gaze came to mine—hard, angry, and unyielding.

“You’re—”

I pushed away from him, squared my shoulders, and prepared for battle.

“I trust you, Declan. Right now, you need to trust me. I’m going with you.”

“This has nothing to do with me not trusting your ability to handle yourself and everything to do with you personally knowing Maloof. There’s a strong possibility she’s not walking away alive.”

Damn, that hurt. I was having a hard time reconciling that the Ash I knew, my friend, a person I’d trusted, might not be who I thought she was. She’d lied to me about something important, something huge, so what else hadn’t she told me?

And if Natasha was who they all thought her to be, a victim sold into human trafficking, why would Ash take her ?

That didn’t make sense. I’d witnessed her helping countless men and women, I’d seen her free them from shipping containers. I’d seen the emotional toll that’s had on her. You can’t fake that kind of hurt.

“That right there, baby, that flinch. That hesitation. That’s why I want you to stay back.”

Would I hesitate to take her out? Probably. Somewhere inside of me I still had a conscience.

“I need to do this and I’m asking you not to sideline me.

We both know, if you pitch a shit hemorrhage about this, Zane’s taking your back and I’ll be escorted to a safe room and locked inside until you get back.

I’m asking you for a variety of reasons not to let that happen.

One of them is, we’re a team. I need to take your back and I need you to let me do that. ”

Okay, was it shitty of me to use the teammate motto that Declan used on me? Hell yes, it was. Did I feel bad about basically emotionally blackmailing him? Hell no. I hadn’t lied, I needed to help. I also needed to have Declan’s back.

“Thad,” Declan shouted.

“Jesus, man, I’m right here.”

“Take her to the basement,” he told my brother-in-law, then came back to me. “Don’t think I don’t know what you just pulled. And I’m warning you now, in the field, I’m the boss. Period. You follow directions.”

“You know, I have to say, you’re kinda hot when you get all growly and bossy. But warning , big guy, you might be the boss in the field but you try and pull shit when I’m not strapped and wearing a bulletproof vest, you’ll find that my bite is sharper than my bark.”

Declan’s red eyes flashed and narrowed.

“You know, I’m rethinking the shy, sweet wallflower.”

“You’re such a liar. You wouldn’t know what to do with shy and sweet. She’d bore you to tears. Besides, someone’s gotta keep your bossy ass in line, and lucky for you, I’m more stubborn than you.”

With that, I walked out the door, smiling when the room burst into laughter. That was, everyone but one man who stood by himself, with his arms crossed over his chest looking supremely pissed.

Whoever this Natasha woman was, she meant something to him.

Thad and I were in the elevator on our way to the basement when he turned and smiled at me.

Before I’d been taken, I’d seen pictures of Thad, I’d even video chatted with him once when he was living with Emmy.

He was good-looking ten years ago, but over the years he’d taken on a hard edge that took him from a cute guy to a badass.

In other words, I understood what had attracted my sister to him, or at least I thought I had.

But right then, with Thad’s face relaxed, his eyes gentled, and a huge smile, I totally got it.

He looked like he had a really good secret, one he’d only share with Emmy. And I knew my sister, she was a sucker for a good smile. If he looked at her that way, she’d do anything he wanted.

“You have him wrapped around your finger.” Thad chuckled.

I didn’t ask Thad which him he was referring to. I knew he was talking about Declan, and the thought anyone could wrap Dec around anything was absurd.

“Hardly.”

“You totally do and it’s good to see. Dec keeps his cards close to his vest, always has, he shares bits and pieces when he wants.

I knew something bad happened, but until the other day, I didn’t know how bad.

Knowing what I know now, I never should’ve said what I said when we were in Afghanistan. I feel like a dick.”

“You shouldn’t. And, yes, what happened to Declan was beyond tragic.

The worst kind of pain a person can feel, losing his daughter and wife.

But sometimes it takes someone close to you, someone you respect, to smack you in the head before you wake up and look around.

I think he’s finally decided to look around.

We both have, and we’re finding that there are people around us who care.

But for him and me, that’s hard to accept, so you need to push every once in a while. But understand when he pushes back.”

“You’re perfect for him and it fucks me to say this, but I admit I wasn’t sure. Both of you…”

“Are screwed up,” I supplied.

Thad huffed then smiled. “I won’t go that far.”

“Lighten up, brother-in-law.” I nudged his shoulder. “He lets me be me,” I whispered.

“Yeah?”

“He accepts that I’m broken and doesn’t try to fix me, but at the same time, he is.

It’s scary and exciting, and I’m terrified I’m gonna mess everything up, but at the same time, I don’t think he’d let me mess it up.

He says it’s me, that I’m the only one strong enough to patch him back together.

He’s that for me, too. It had to be him. Not Mom and Dad. Not Emmy. Not you.”

“We get it. And maybe one day you’ll understand that you can just be you with us, too.”

“I’m getting there, Thad. It’s just gonna take time.”

Thad leaned forward and kissed the top of my head.

And I let him.

I was pretty damn proud of myself.

Ten minutes later, I was fully kitted out with weapons and ready to roll.

It took five minutes longer than it should’ve because I’d stopped to peruse the wall of sniper rifles on display.

I wasn’t a gun person per se, they were tools I used for my job.

But the display was impressive, made more so because I knew each of those rifles were custom made.

Zane Lewis wasn’t rich—he was filthy rich.

“Brooks went up to supply and grabbed you a vest and the rest of your gear. Are you going to be okay in jeans or do you need cargos?” Thad asked on the way back up.

“Jeans are fine,” I assured him.

“This should be an easy in and out.”

“Are you worried about me?” I teased, and Thad pinned me with his brown eyes and frowned. “I know what I’m doing.” His frown deepened and I sighed. “Seriously. I’ll be fine.”

His gaze dropped to my still-healing throat and he mumbled, “Right.”

Jeez. Touchy .

“You ever been hurt on the job?”

Silence. He had.

“And did it stop you from going back out? Did your teammates coddle you and ask you to sit out the next mission?”

“No one’s coddling you. I’m concerned.”

“I appreciate your concern. But I’m fine. And again, I know what I’m doing and all of you will be there to have my back.”

The elevator doors slid open and I was assaulted with chaos.

Brooks walked by and tossed a vest in my direction. I grabbed it before it fell. Then I noticed more men now filled the office space.

“That’s Blue Team. Gabe, Owen, Kevin, and Myles.”

My eyes went directly to the man named Owen. He looked no less angry than the last time I saw him. As a matter of fact, he looked more agitated.

“What’s going on?” Thad asked Dec as he made his way to us. “Any word?”

“Garrett picked up the car northbound over the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”

“Dundalk?” Thad weirdly asked.

“Doubtful. If she’s looking for privacy, she won’t find it there.”

“Sparrows Point,” Thad returned.

“That’d be my guess, but we’ll wait and see if she exits.”

“What’s Sparrows Point?”

“A large industrial area. It was owned by Bethlehem Steel. Now Amazon has a distribution center there,” Dec explained.

“Too busy. A distribution center would have employees around the clock. Trucks in and out. What else is around there? More privacy.”

“There’s a cement factory and coal plant on the south side. If she waited until after closing, she’d have all the privacy she wanted,” Thad added.

“That’s hours away,” I noted, and held out the 300 blackout rifle I was holding.

Declan took it and I put on the heavy bulletproof vest and kept talking but lowered my voice so Owen wouldn’t hear.

“Ash is patient to extract the information she wants but impatient to start. She wouldn’t drive around with this woman in her car all day. ”

An ugly nagging started in my stomach and crawled its way up to my heart.

How was it possible to know someone so well but not know anything about them?

I still couldn’t believe my friend had lied to me.

Why wouldn’t she just tell me her father was involved with Pollaski?

It didn’t make what happened to her mother any less horrific.

I was missing something. Tex and Beth were missing something.

“We’re missing something,” I voiced my concerns.

“Hold that thought,” Dec told me. “We’re ready to roll, we’ll talk it out on the way.”

Zane started in our direction, with Owen and the other three men following behind him.

“Gold, you take point.” Zane made eye contact with Declan.

“I called the Baltimore County Mayor and explained we’re running drills in the area.

That means you have a cunt hair of leeway, but this is not the wild wild west and I’d prefer my night not be spent getting you out of lockup.

” Then Zane’s gaze moved to Owen. “And you, lock your shit down. You were taking a shower for fuck's sake. You didn’t miss anything because there was nothing to miss. No threats were made.” Zane’s eyes came to mine and they narrowed.

“Don’t get dead, don’t get hurt, don’t even get a motherfucking scratch.

You’re already a supreme pain in my ass.

If I have to deal with a gonzo Declan and Thad, which means Emerson, Violet, and Jaxon will be breathing down my neck, too, I’ll be seriously fucking pissed. ”

“Your concern warms my heart.” My snarky comeback earned me a growl from Zane and snort from Brooks.

“Christ. Pain in the ass,” Zane grunted and walked away.

“Takes one to know one,” I called to Zane’s back.

“Can we go?” Owen barked.

I looked up at the man and barely held back my flinch. Open pain, stark fear, extreme anger. Owen seriously cared about Natasha.

“We’ll find her,” I gently told him.

“Right, but will she be breathing when we do?”

That was a question I didn’t want to answer.

To use Zane’s description, Owen already looked gonzo , was as big as a house, and didn’t look like he actually expected an answer.

Ashaki better have a damn good explanation for taking Natasha. Damn good . Or she wouldn’t be left breathing.

I wasn’t certain how I felt about that. What I did know was, I was questioning everything that had led me to this moment. Every action. Every decision. The trust I’d put into someone who clearly hadn’t trusted me. And the uncomfortable truth was, I didn’t want this life anymore.