Page 49 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Nineteen

Emme knew as soonas he stepped out of the building covered in blood with a broken look on his face what happened. The area had been secured after the initial explosion, but there had been so much confusion. Only a few people inside had been fitted with two-way comms units to avoid distractions.

Not knowing what had happened in the building apart from hearing the gunshots and the explosion had been torture. Her fear for Shane had almost overwhelmed her, and it was only Lucy’s presence that had stopped her from running into the building blindly.

Shane walked towards her his face focused on her as he walked straight into her arms and buried his head in her neck. He held her with a steel grip as if she was the only thing keeping him up. They stood like that for what seemed like ages but was only a minute or so, before he pulled away.

Lifting her palms, she cupped his beautiful face in her hands, the pain and sorrow almost making the sob that she was holding back bubble to the surface.

“I failed her. They’re gone, they’re both dead,” he said his voice husky as he tried to hold it together.

“No, you didn’t. This was not you. A sick individual is responsible not you.” She kissed him then pouring all her love for him into the kiss. Emme had known when he left that she loved him, but the genuine fear that she had lost him meant she could no longer ignore the fact. She loved the man, hopelessly and irrevocably. She had no idea how he felt but he was it for her. Emme didn’t voice any of this, but her mind slipped back to Beatrice and their conversation earlier that night.

It had seemed poignant at the time but even more so now and she felt honoured that she had shared that part of herself with her. Her heart ached to think of the vivacious woman whose life had been snuffed out so prematurely. The only good thing if she could call it that was that they had died together. She didn’t know the details yet, but she did know that Beatrice and the Admiral were soul mates and for one to have survived without the other would have been the worst pain imaginable.

Wherever they were, she hoped they were at peace now, safe in the knowledge that they would never be separated again. Rest easy Bea. We will make her pay.

Two ambulances pulled up, not knowing that it was too late to save the people inside.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said taking his hand and leading him towards the vehicle which Zack had brought around. He, Jace, and Zin had gone to see if they could find the target, but she was long gone. The Purgatory team all looked like they were in profound shock reminding her of people who had shellshock, which she guessed they did. She wasn’t sure how she or her friends at Fortis would react had it been Zack that had died.

Just the thought made her sick to her stomach. Not because of her girlish crush that now seemed so silly, no, it was because despite them not being related by blood everyone at Fortis felt like family, and she knew the loss that the Purgatory team was feeling now and would be feeling over the next few weeks as they tried to wrap their heads around such a loss.

They satin silence as they finally made the short drive to Fortis HQ in the back of the car, as Lucy and Jace sat up front. Lance and Shane had insisted on staying with Zack until Beatrice and the Admiral had been brought out, saying they couldn’t leave them behind.

Owen held Dee in his arms, in a locked embrace, standing there too. Lance had looked visibly shrunken as he watched the black body bags with the bodies of his friend and mentor being loaded into the coroner’s van.

Shane held tight to her hand as he looked out of the window, lost in thought. The car rolled to a stop outside the entrance. Knowing the threat was probably gone now that Beatrice was dead didn’t stop them from taking every precaution as she stepped out of the vehicle though.

“You know where the shower and restroom is,” Jace said to Shane as the man let go of her hand and nodded.

She could feel him retreating into himself emotionally with every step he took away from her. She stood there not knowing what to do. Should she follow him or give him space?

Feeling a hand on her arm, she looked up at Jace. “Give him space. Let him get his head around things. He needs you, but he doesn’t want to show you that. Let him fall apart in privacy and then be there for him. That is the best thing you can do.”

“Okay,” Emme said as she walked with Jace towards the new kitchen and breakroom looking back over her shoulder as she did. She knew Jace was right, but she desperately wanted to help him. Maybe space was the help she could give him. But only for now. She wouldn’t let him pull away from her; he meant too much to her to let him put a wall between them.

Lucy placed a cup of tea in front of her, the British cure-all for every given situation. “Drink this. It will help the shock.”

Picking it up she took a sip, the familiarity and simplicity of the action soothing her. “What happens now?” She directed her comment at Lucy, who was sitting on Jace’s lap. The couple seemed to spend all their time like that, and it made her smile. They were so in love after finally admitting their feelings for each other.

“We wait for the rest of the team to get back and then evaluate the situation. I know Zack will not let this lie. If he has to hunt her to the ends of the earth, he will find her, but I suspect the boss will want to see if any of the Purgatory team want to take point on this.”

“Do we know exactly what happened?”

“Not in detail,” Jace responded. “We know the woman fired at Bea, and then the building exploded, but only enough to shake the foundations and cause a distraction. The Admiral dove on Bea to protect her and got hit in the neck by a piece of shrapnel. He bled out first, and Bea died in his arms.”

Emme angrily swiped at the tear that tracked down her face. The door opened, and Owen and Dee walked in, both with a determined look of resolve in their eyes. Beneath it, she could almost feel the grief as it shimmered off them.

“Hey,” Emme said not knowing what else to say.

“Hey,” Dee responded as she sat down heavily beside them at the table.

“Any news on Pax or the others?” Owen asked as he stood behind his wife’s chair, his hands on her shoulders.

“Pax took a hit to the head after she tried to stop the woman dragging a woozy Bea away. It knocked her out, but she only has a minor concussion.”

“How did she drug them?”