Stone Cold

9

We take Annabelle back to our base. She stays silent the whole trip aside from a sob here and there. We pull in and Shane lifts Annabelle from the car and holds her gently. Ace and I follow him in and Jackson meets us at the door.

"Who is this?"

"Annabelle, she was the next target. She needs to be with police protection. Her dad is dead." I breathe out and he takes her from Shane.

"I'll get right on it, General is soon to be on screen." He says starting off. I follow after him and we end up in a room alone.

"Jackson!" He turns to face me still holding Annabelle.

"You can't tell her that we're here. We aren't done yet, or atleast I'm not, I need to go back out."

"You saved Annabelle's life, your job here is done Neveah."

"It's not. Not until I've caught the bad guy. Both Gregory and James spoke of someone else. This isn't over yet Jackson, and my job isn't done until I finish what I started. Please, take Shane and Ace back, but I'm not coming anytime soon."

I feel another presence in my mind and I curse.

"What are you doing? I'm not leaving you." Shane hisses.

"Your job here is done."

"No."

A moment later Shane steps into the room and I look over.

"You can't take me off this case Jackson. Neveah is my partner, it's my job to protect her; hers to protect me. She's out, I'm out. She's in, I stay." He says and I turn to face him.

"Shane, I'm just following a hunch. I don't want to pull you in to this."

"Enough from you both. I'm sending you back into the field, all three of you."

"Excuse me?" Shane and I both ask in sync.

"You, Shane, and Ace are all staying out. I will tell the General you have yet to return. Go."

"Jackson, you know Ace and I's history-

"Yes, and I also know you won't let it get in the way of your work. Ace is going with you, dismissed."

I huff as he walks away then turn to face Shane.

"I could've handled it on my own."

"Is that so? Well, I'm not letting you."

I sigh but nod and follow after him.

"Besides, we have some stuff to talk about. Starting with how you knew there was poison in the drink." He says and I instantly shut down.

"Lucky guess." I mumble then pick up my pace.

"Let's go!" I shout to Ace. He looks up then follows Shane and I out to the car.

"Let's get back to the place we stayed at last night. We'll get some sleep under our belts." I say climbing into the back seat. Shane takes driver's side again and Ace, passengers. He starts the car and we pull out of the parking lot.

~~~