Page 1 of Scars Run Deep

1

~Killian~

Something was wrong.

Over forty-five minutes had gone by following Jonah’s call and I hadn’t heard another word since.

Worse than that, all three of my check-in texts hadn’t been responded to.

Asher always responded. He was intense about checking in.

Especially with this, it was completely unbelievable that he wouldn’t have reached out to double check everything was okay with me and Olivia, that we were secure at the safehouse.

The only explanations were that they’d run into more trouble on the drive away from Strenwell, and that they were even possibly hurt—or worse.

I cursed under my breath as I continued pacing up and down

“You need to take a beat,” Olivia said, coming back into the living room carrying two mugs of coffee.

I watched her put them down on the worn wooden coffee table that had so many scratches etched into it. The two ratty beige couches and armchairs were in a similar state. The whole safehouse was, everything second—or third—hand. It was furnished sparsely and as cheaply as possible, everything non-descript, and as ordinary as possible, basic. Decking out the place as luxuriously as Asher usually went for as a non-negotiable thing would’ve drawn unwanted attention, especially when it came to the massive withdrawals it would’ve needed from our accounts or trust funds. Anything big was flagged by our fathers, another means of their control. Purchasing the actual house had been complicated enough to avoid their detection, something Asher had dealt with. The king of subterfuge right there.

“You haven’t stopped moving for a single second. It’s going to take its toll,” Olivia called again. “At least change out of those waterlogged and caked-in-dirt clothes. There are closets full of clothing in this place.”

I swung my head at her, taking in her patted dry hair, her now dressed in a fresh pair of tactical pants, a bulletproof vest, and a tactical jacket. Her former clothes she’d rolled up tightly in that bag of hers.

She drew her gun from a right hip holster, then reached into her bag and pulled out a metal box. She placed them down on the table, then held her hand out my way. “Give me your gun.”

“What?”

“It got waterlogged too. Let me see to it, alongside mine.”

She was trying to distract me.

She continued holding her hand out and staring expectantly.

I grunted and pulled my gun from its holster. I dislodged the clip and pocketed it, then handed it to her.

The corner of her mouth turned up. “If I was planning to shoot you, Killian, I’d use my own gun, which hasn’t left my side for the entire time you and I have been in close proximity.”

“It’s just an automatic precaution,” I told her.

She merely nodded, then started cleaning both our guns, stopping every now and then to take sips from her coffee.

“How are you so calm?” I asked, finally, continuing to pace and alternating between that and peering through the thick blackout curtains covering the front living room windows. No sign of any vehicles coming down the long dirt driveway. “I explained to you how out of sorts it is for my texts to go unanswered. I didn’t just send them to Jonah, I sent them to Asher and Aurora too, and there’s been absolutely no response from any of them. Even my calls have gone unanswered. Something must have happened. Asher would never leave it this long to check in. Especially when it comes to this, the intel I have on me now—and you being here too.”

“It’s highly likely that they have run into some trouble, or an obstacle—possibly both. But you have your orders and those are to stay put here with me. You deviate from them and it will only serve to worsen the situation. The intel is currently secure. Your prime asset—me—is secure. You’ve done your part.”

“Then I need to do more. If they’re out there hurt or—”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Imagine worst-case scenarios. It won’t help anything and it’ll just serve to antagonize an already stressful situation.”

“We need to do something. You’re ex-military, black ops. You can track them down a whole lot faster than I’d be able to.”

“It’s still torrential rain out there. Asher was taking a roundabout route out of there, not a straight-run to this location. That puts them anywhere.”

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