Page 24 of ForeverMN

Nash. Fucking Nash Aimsworth and his little corner of the world. My jaw ticks, and I’m reminded of him, and our past, that is entwined with the girl we both love, but that I stole. “Reed set up a secure line and sent it to Aimsworth. I’ll be on.”

Kai laughs and covers it with a cough before he and Oaklynn jump off the call. I can hear Reed typing again. “I thought his little start-up was staying on their coast?”

“Ghost Operatives has grown in numbers. It’s not just him and Oliver anymore either, their friend Miles Hamilton started a few years back. I’m not surprised this area has grown, or that their clientele would bleed into ours.” Reed’s voice is bored and calm. Clearly he doesn’t see this as an issue. It must just be me, because Nash was so resistant to becoming Rogue, stating he wanted to have his own program stand on its own feet after all the shit he went through with his parents, and well, because he stabbed me.

I grunt in response, “Thanks Reed. Don’t forget that line.” I hang up and the weight of all my decisions hangs over my head. Saylor’s face flashes in my mind, and it hurts. My body aches, and not just where I’m still recovering. I hurt on the inside, deep in the place where I’m always reminded I’m not enough. As long as Rogue runs in my veins, I’ll never be enough for some people to love.

Ciaran

I fucking hate this city. I really can’t stand Nash Aimsworth. His call was only a demand to meet him in his city because he had information too private to go over a secured line. Kai had taken offense to the dig and I laughed. My friend thought it was so funny that Nash was making demands last night, and now, today, he was low-key insulting Kai’s work. I had called Reed to get his input, and even he was offended in the quiet and half-hearted way that Reed gets anyway. At their suggestion, and with everyone’s attention now on me, I agreed to meet Nash in New York City. His city.

By the time I pull into the main building of his empire I can feel the eyes of security on me. A slight chill runs over my spine and I fight it off with a cocky smile and middle finger salute to the assholes watching. Once I’m in the doors I breeze through, ushered around every corner by a barrage of different secretaries. Finally, I make it to Nash’s door, the impressive floor to ceiling black slab in the white hallway. The door is pushed open and I walk in, wishing Silas and Kai were here to witness the moment I don’t leap over the desk and strangle Nash where he sits.

“Long time no see, Jakobe,” A voice to my left responds and I do a double take. It’s been years since I’ve seen Oliver Saffran in the flesh. He walks over and we shake hands.

“This is Miles Hamilton, the third owner of Ghost Operatives,” Oliver nods to another man who was sitting closer to the desk that Nash is sitting at.

Miles stands and offers his hand for a shake, “Heard a lot about you.”

I incline my head and fight to keep my lips from smirking, “Good. Saves us from all the unnecessary pleasantries then.” Both men laugh and resume their seats. I slide my gaze to Nash, pinning him in place. “Why the fuck am I back in this god-awful city, Aimsworth?”

Oliver sighs loudly from his seat and Miles’ eyes narrow. Only Nash has the gall to look mildly irritated at my questions. “You’re the one who traipsed all over my territory Jakobe. At this point it was easier to meet here rather than try and send information over a compromised line.”

“Reed and Kai wouldn’t set up a line that could be compromised,” I fire back, my eyes narrowing on him, “So, what is so important I had to be here?”

Nash stands from his desk and clicks a remote. A screen falls down behind him and I’m looking at an image of a man with evil in his eyes. I don’t recognize him. “We don’t have a name for him yet. Miles is running him through every server and database we have access to, but we’re hoping to also pass it along to your team if you haven’t seen it yet.”

I grit my teeth, shaking my head, “We haven’t.”

Nash looks from the screen to me and back again before deflating some, “That’s what I was worried about.”

“Explain.”

“We first came across a group a few months ago who were being moved from the south and out of port in New York. We started to dig from as much as they remember.”

“Which isn’t much,” Oliver jumps in. “They were given something. They have forgotten their pasts, and most of theirtime in captivity. We only know where they had been by identifying some of the marks on their skin. South America, Egypt, Canada, various places in the US.”

“When we did matching and digging into who they were, we also found a variety of backgrounds. A senator’s daughter who was rumored to have eloped. A school teacher who was going on a blind date. People who were considered low risk and relatively no other issues in their history,” Miles finishes.

“Needless to say we started testing their blood and discovered an agent in their bloodstreams called MADAM B.”

“I’ve heard of that in rumblings. Aren’t the SEALS testing it out for PTSD effects?” I glance at the screen again and back to Nash. His lips are smashed together and I feel them all looking at me. “Someone in our government leaked the coding, or someone in our government is using this for personal gain.”

“The little escape route you found is just the tip of a very large iceberg with lots of unknowns,” Nash sits back down.

“And the guy,” I nod to the screen again. “Who’s he?”

“The Chemist,” Miles says, “We think anyway. Some of his facial features match a guy from South Boston who was in the military fifteen years ago. No one has seen him since he left for bootcamp. Only one person said they sort of recognized him and called him the Surgeon. When we ran the term the Surgeon, this was a black and white still that was found on a surveillance film near Chile. We don’t know for sure though. We only know that a few people remember hearing the term surgeon before their memories are gone.”

I glance from one man in the room to the next and the pieces start to fall into place. They picked up on us looking close to the border, but they were also hoping for it. Nash mentioned an iceberg but I’d equate this to playing hide-and-seek with a fucking ghost. They need us. And even though I’d rather cut myleft arm off than work with Nash, I’ll do it for the large number of possible lives we’ll be saving.

“I’ll have to take this back to my team. If it’s like you say, then the small group I have this weekend won’t suffice. We need Reed to do some exploring,” I point at the picture.

Nash’s frame loses some of the rigidity. “We can regroup in a couple of days then.”

My head cocks to the side and I can’t help it. “Funny how Reed’s lines weren’t secure enough for you, but you’re willing to let him start digging into all of this very private information. You trust him to do that. I’m starting to think you just missed me, Aimsworth.”

“Fuck off, Jakobe,” He answers right away, his tone back to the bored, millionaire attitude.

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