Page 42 of Unraveling Connections

“That’s him,” Trick says, and my body instantly relaxes, before tensing again; I won’t fully relax until I hear the words from him that he is okay.

“Hey, Trick,” his familiar voice comes over the speaker, and I smile.

“Hey, I’ve got Cash and Pete with me.” Trick replies.

“Hey, Cash,” he says, and then his voice softens as he adds, “Hi, babe.”

“Hey,” I reply simply because he needs to give the update and if I say anything else I won’t stop talking, which won’t help anyone, and I don’t want Trick to stop me from being involved in these updates because I don’t stop talking. Not that I think that he would do that to me, but I still don’t want to risk it.

Elijah chuckles quietly because, of course, he knows what I'm doing. He questioned me about it once, and I went on a rambling explanation that lasted way longer than it actually needed to. To be fair I should have explained to him that was what I was doing as soon as I started doing it, he thought that there was something or that he kept making me mad or something, there was a big miscommunication.

I spin the ring on my finger, a nervous gesture that I have picked up since Eli gave it to me, as I wait to hear the words that will let me relax. Eli knows me well; he knows that I am going to be worrying which is why that is how he starts his update.

“We’re all okay, not even a scratch on us as we’re still doing surveillance,” Elijah starts.

“Still?” Cash asks. “What happened? The surveillance was only supposed to last a few days.”

“Trust me, we know,” Callan’s voice comes over the speaker. “Nothing has gone right with this case so far. It is taking far longer than it’s supposed to.”

“Okay, fill me in,” Trick says and then adds before anyone can answer him, “are you safe to fill us in properly now?”

“Yeah, we are. As I said, we are still doing surveillance, Callan’s actually the only one with me, the others are doing their shift.” Elijah replies.

“Good,” Trick replies and then adds, “okay, fill me in then.”

Elijah spends a while filling us in while Trick takes notes, and both he and Cash ask the relevant questions. I pretty much just sit there, grateful that he is okay and that the case looks to be fairly mundane.

“How much longer do you think it’s going to take?” Cash asks.

I instantly perk up, hoping that he is going to say soon, but I also know that probably isn’t likely since they are still only doing surveillance.

“I honestly have no idea. We thought the whole case was only going to take a couple of weeks, and we have gone over that now, and we are still only on surveillance. Once we have got the information that we need, we then have to make a plan and then execute it. As you know, the situation is quite delicate, and new things have come to light that we were not aware of, like the children. We need to extract them safely before we cantake down the parents, it has gotten decidedly messy.” Elijah explains.

“I understand,” Trick replies, “you have hit quite a few speed bumps that we had not planned for. Do you need back up from any of us? I know you have got a few teams on standby ready for the extraction, but do you have the manpower to extract the kids when the time comes?”

Callan is the one that replies this time, “We shouldn’t need any of you. We are so far away that you wouldn’t be able to get us very quickly anyway. We have already briefed the teams that we have got up here with us, so they know that there is a change of plans. We will work on the logistics of it when we have got all the information we need from the surveillance teams. Hopefully, it all goes off without a hitch.”

“Good,” Cash replies, “it sounds like you have got everything under control there. Have you got a plan for the children after you have got them out of the situation? Are they likely to fight you? Do they understand anything?”

“Unfortunately, they are probably more aware than most that their parents are monsters. I imagine that they will be glad to be free once they are aware that they are safe.” Elijah says, and I can hear the anger barely contained in his voice. I have a feeling that he is going to struggle when he gets back from this job. From his words, it's pretty easy to guess that he and the guys have witnessed some horrible things, and they probably feel guilty as fuck that they haven’t done anything about it yet, despite knowing full well that if they were to charge in there now, they would be putting those kids in so much more danger and risking their lives.

The safest thing for those children is for Elijah and the guys to make a proper plan that ensures their safety and although I know for a fact that they are going as quickly as they possiblycan, a good plan that can guarantee that they are safe will take time.

Even though I know that Cash and Trick know that, hell, Elijah and the guys all know that, they are still going to hate that they haven’t immediately gotten the children out of that situation, and that’s going to stay with Elijah, and is something that I need to be aware of when he comes home. We are always acutely aware of each other and the jobs that we have been doing, and we are also always entirely honest with each other; it helps to stop miscommunications and misunderstandings when the other one is quiet or snappy.

It is really important with the job that we have and the things that we see and go through that we communicate, even if it’s just to say that something happened that we aren’t ready to talk about, but we will when we are ready, or if it’s something that really affects us that we’ll talk about it with one of the organization's therapists and the other person has to be okay with that and respect it.

It has probably only happened once, right at the beginning of us doing this job, and I honestly found it really difficult that he would speak to a therapist but wouldn’t talk to me. Ever was actually the one that pointed out that it actually had nothing to do with me and whether I was a good boyfriend or not and all to do with the effect that it had on Elijah. She made me realize that I was making something that was about Elijah about me and that wasn’t fair. Elijah and I had a really good talk after that, and it has not been a problem since, both of us realising that we can rely on each other but also that if we need to talk to someone else, then that is okay too.

“Thank you for the update,” Trick says, “since you’ve got the time and aren’t in danger, you and Pete can catch up.”

“Thank fuck,” Elijah says, and then adds, “Pete babe, I’m face-timing you now.”

His response makes me smile as he instantly hangs up and my phone rings. I leave the room with a giant smile on my face, heading to mine while I talk to Eli.

Chapter Thirteen

Ever

---