Page 76 of Shattered

Jett was doing about as well as me, though he hid his anxiety behind humor. Despite being told multiple times by multiple people, he continued to harbor a massive amount of guilt over his sister's kidnapping. Jade saw it, we all did, which led to a discussion about seeking out professional help if it continued much longer.

“You ready?” Keaton asked.

I barely had the seat belt secured when he started in with the questions. Life went on, which unfortunately meant we all had to return to work. Jade and Henley worked the same shift at Over Easy, so Keaton had picked me up and the girls would take my car, since Jade’s was a piece of shit on wheels. It gave me peace of mind knowing she wouldn’t be alone, plus my Camaro had a state-of-the-art tracking system.

Safety first.

We’d been home for almost a week and, in a few hours, our team would be whole again. Riley’s information about Zasha Popov was spot-on and thanks to Nelson, we were able to track his movements across the country. His private jet landed six hours ago and was scheduled to take off again twelve hours later. Based on the conversation Lanie overheard, the meeting between Brandon Little and Popov was happening in less than two hours at the train yard.

“I’m solid.”

“I’ll let the lie slide for now. We’ll chat later.”

“Nothing tochatabout, K.”

“All right. I guess now is later.” He strummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “How are the nightmares?”

I sighed and conceded, knowing he wouldn’t give up. “They’re better since we got home. She still wakes up in a cold sweat at least once a night, so they haven’t disappeared altogether.”

“That’s to be expected, but I wasn’t talking about Jade.”

Even though it was early, the sun was still shining bright in the sky, which meant the Ray-Bans on my face concealed my rolling eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“What do you want me to say?” I shifted in my seat, shoving my sunglasses to the top of my head. “You weren’t there. You didn't pull her lifeless body out of a goddamn grave.”

“You got her out in time, Koen.”

“No, I fucking didn’t. For three horrifying minutes she was fucking dead, Keaton. Gone. I close my eyes and that’s what I see. I’m terrified I’ll wake up only to discover she didn’t make it.”

The air in the cab of the SUV grew thick as my biggest fear was laid out for him to witness. She might lay in my arms every night, but there was a part of my brain where logical thought was overruled by irrational panic. And I had a hard time reconciling the two.

A few moments of silence later, we pulled off the road into the location where we were meeting the team from the DEA. After shutting off the engine, we got out of the vehicle and started across the lot. When we reached thefront door, he held out his arm, stopping me from moving forward.

“Don’t let the demons win. The what-ifs…they’ll eat away at your soul until there’s nothing left. She’s here. Nothing else matters.”

If anyone knew what I was feeling, Keaton understood. He’d been through hell with Henley and they’d somehow come out on the other side stronger than before. Jade and I would too, of that I had no doubt.

“I’m here for whatever you need, we all are. We’re family, Koen.”

His words rang true. “Appreciate it.”

Unfortunately, our moment was interrupted when Duncan shoved open the metal door.

“You boys planning on joining the rest of us sometime today?”

“We were having a quick word,” I explained.

“Anything I need to be aware of?” He raised a brow.

“Nope. Just reminding Koen of a few things.”

“Unless you two need to hold hands and sing campfire songs, could we maybe speed this shit along? We’ve got some bad guys to get off the street.”

He spun and we followed, trudging through the doors of the large, nondescript warehouse, which would be our staging area for the operation. Lanie, Noah, and Waverly were standing off to the side with Agents Hendricks and Harty, having what looked like a rather heated discussion.

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