Chapter 15
Hello, Déjà Vu…Nice To See You Again
“Em, get up already.”
“No, go away. Sleep. I want more sleep.”
“You’ve already gotten enough sleep. Get up.”
“Nope.”
A sigh. “Fine. I’ll get you up a different way then.”
Footsteps headed for the door before it clicked shut. Smiling slightly, I turned and buried my head in the pillows again.
But it was only a few minutes later that two other sets of footsteps sounded down the hallway with the first. Knowing what Ryan’s plans were, I pulled my covers over my head, hiding.
When the door opened and Ryan spoke, I could hear the smile in his voice. “You two know what to do.”
The bed dipped as Aiden and Sterling crawled up on to it, their giggles getting closer before they started jumping all around me.
“Emmy, get up!”
“Unca Ryan said we could tickle yous if yous didn’t!”
One of them jumped on me, so unexpected that it forced the air from my lungs, and they both started clawing at the covers, trying to pull them off me. But I held onto them, laughing once I was able to suck in a breath.
“Unca Ryan, help us! She won’t gets up!”
“You got it.”
Ryan moved the boys away and yanked the covers right out of my hands. Aiden and Sterling squealed again, jumping back onto me. They tried to tickle me, but I caught them up in my arms and pulled them to either side of me.
“Yous awake!” Sterling grinned from beside me once they stopped trying to wiggle free.
“Unca Ryan said yous were still sleepin’,” Aiden laughed. “He said we could gets yous up. You got a present!”
“A present? But my birthday was a few weeks ago.”
Aiden nodded. “Someone sended you somethin’, though! Unca Ryan, show her!”
Ryan reached down where he’d put the box on the floor beside my bed as I sat up, looking at it curiously. With Aiden and Sterling on either side and Ryan sitting in front of me, I tore the tape off, opening it up to see a folded piece of paper with my name written on the front.
I’m sure you’ll find use for this soon.
- Ed
Smiling, I pulled my leather jacket out of the box and a thousand memories came flooding back. How they still had it, I had no idea, but I couldn’t go properly go out on an assignment without it.
“How’d he know?” I asked Ryan, looking up at him.
He smiled, shrugging. “Last time Juliet talked to him, she said that your first assignment was coming up soon. And then this morning, this was sent over to the house. I guess he figured you’d want it.”
I smiled again, nodding. “So it’s soon then, huh? The first assignment?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “So you’d better start getting ready…we leave in a few hours.”
***
If anyone had told me before that I was going to basically be posing as a security guard in general, I would have laughed at them. But what were we doing then? We were on one of the Knights’ jets, headed for Florence to do just that.
The sun had started to set when we were just twenty minutes away from landing. We would have been sitting around the dinner table then, but instead, we were going on the first assignment with all of us since I joined the team, so to say.
It was just the five of us – me, Ryan, Tory, Jude and Jamie – though Juliet said that she could send someone else if we needed them. As to why we would need them, I didn’t know just yet. All I did know was that we were dressed and ready for anything. When I put my leather jacket on just before we left, nostalgia hit me hard…but then putting my gun in the holster on my hip and my knife in the sheath on my right boot made me realize that it was going to be quite different. I wouldn’t be stealing anything with John by my side, I’d be protecting something with Ryan.
“Okay, you guys, this is how it’s going to go,” Ryan started, pulling a few pictures out of the file Juliet gave him just a half hour before we took off. Placing one on the table for all of us to see, it showed a man in his fifties with dark brown eyes and salt-and-pepper hair. “This is Roberto Favero, owner of Favero Antiquities. As far as we know, a member of the Order wants to buy it. That’s where we’re heading to now, the company headquarters, for the meeting that’ll be taking place in a little over an hour.”
“That’s what this is about?” Jamie asked, raising an eyebrow, as she sat on the armrest of my seat. “What’s so important about this company that the Order wants possession of it?”
“That’s something we don’t know. We’ve always had alliances with Favero – and so has the Brotherhood – so the Order wanting possession of it is suspicious, don’t you think?”
“Both the Brotherhood and the Knights have ties to it? Don’t you think that’s reason enough for them wanting it?” I questioned.
“I agree with Em,” Jamie nodded. “I mean, we know their motives and know that they’ve succeeded with killing the Amirmoez family, so maybe they’re trying another approach.”
Jude shook his head, looking in between me and Jamie. “Am I the only one who’s still creeped out by them getting along? Actually liking each other?”
Jamie glared at him. “Not the time, Jude.”
“Exactly, this isn’t the time…though I agree,” Ryan said with a slight smile. “But as for their motives, we don’t need to be concerned about them just yet. Favero said that he had no plans on selling to them, but feels like they’ll do something to try and change his mind. That’s why we’re going to this meeting, which is the fourth that they’ve been in to try and convince him to sell. Favero wanted extra security, so Jude and I will be in the actual meeting with them and intervene if they decide to use any kind of force. You three will be in the security room where we set up our own system when we came last week. It’s separate from their system entirely, so if anyone messes with theirs, it’ll still be fully operational.”
“So we’ll just be sitting there, watching screens to see if anything happens outside the meeting?” I asked, raising an eyebrow like Jamie had.
Ryan shook his head. “Don’t make it sound so useless…”
“Well, if nothing happens, it will be…”
“But if something does, you’ll be the ones to go see it first.”
“Okay, that’s a little better,” I admitted. “Don’t want these past eight weeks of training to go to waste, right?”
He narrowed his eyes at me and I grinned. Cue overprotective big brother mode. “Well, let’s at least hope it doesn’t get to that, okay? But seriously, Favero said that he wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to sabotage and force them into a deal. You guys need to keep close eye on everything. And if anything happens, it’s up to you to handle it…but I trust you can do just that. You can always call us for backup if needed.”
Shifting the picture of Favero to the side, he put three others on the table. While Favero’s looked like professionally taken, the others seemed to have been taken while following the subjects around. All three showed different people: a man who looked huge even in the picture with dark red hair and what seemed like a permanent sneer, a blond-haired woman in her late thirties, and a dark hair man in his early forties.
“These three are who we know will be there,” Ryan said, pointing to the red-headed man first. “This is Lorcán Karson. He’s only there as the muscle and the intimidation factor.” To the blond woman. “Seraphina Guillory. She’s married to one of the Order’s highest members. He’s pretty much holds the most power of all, followed by her.” And then to the other man. “And this is Hector Guillory, Seraphina’s brother. She’ll be doing most of the talking, but he’s the persuasive one. They always team up when it comes to these kinds of deals because they get things done. They’re pretty much the reason Favero wanted us there.”
“They don’t sound like a good combination,” Jamie grimaced. “What about Karson? Do we know if he’s going to be in the actual meeting with you guys?”
He shook his head. “No, we don’t yet. He might not even show up, but we need to keep an eye out for him anyway.”
With the three people we were to watch out for pictured in our heads, the jet landed ten minutes later. A car was waiting for us on the opposite side of the runway, which we then drove the twenty minutes it took to get to the Favero Antiquities building. It was located in the heart of Florence in a building that was at least a few hundred years old, but well taken care of. I kept my eyes open, looking around for anyone suspicious, but only saw grandmotherly old women chasing children, young couples strolling hand in hand, and shop owners going about their daily chores.
Standing at the door was Favero himself with a slightly hesitant smile, though he seemed welcoming enough when he hugged Ryan, Tory, and Jude before introducing himself to me and Jamie.
“Wonderful to meet you,” he greeted us in Italian. It still surprised me how much I learned of the language, being practically submersed in it in Pallandino. “Come in and we’ll go to my office to discuss details before the meeting.”
Following behind him inside, my eyes swept past all of the pieces on display and the hallway and rooms we passed in general. Paintings, sculptures, tiny figurines, books that had to be hundreds of years old protected in glass cases…I had a hard time keeping my eyes away from everything to keep up with our little group as we started up a staircase to the second floor.
When we got to Favero’s office, he closed and locked the door once we were all inside and turned to us, clearly relaxing. His shoulders dropped their tenseness, but he still began pacing in front of his desk.
“I don’t believe you realize just how tense this meeting will be by the end,” he started. “I don’t know what your association with these people is, but I’m glad you know what they’re capable of. You know where I’m coming from when I say that I’m extremely nervous.”
“We understand completely,” Ryan nodded, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. Jamie and I stood behind him while Tory took the other chair with Jude standing beside her. “Do you remember what we discussed before? Jude and I will be in the meeting also and you’ll just introduce us as other associates. Tory, Jamie, and Emmy will be in the security room with your guys on our system, just in case something happens with yours. We’re not anticipating anything to, but it’s still good to be prepared.”
Favero nodded. “Yes, yes. Should I show you ladies where security is?” he asked, looking at me, Tory, and Jamie.
“I remember where it is, Mr. Favero,” Tory smiled. “And if you three need to get to the conference room, I can introduce Emmy and Jamie to Accorsi and Mosconi.”
“Of course,” he nodded, looking down at the watch on his wrist. “Well, we were closer to time than I’d thought before. We have ten minutes time, but they’re always here early. Gentlemen, why don’t we head out and let the ladies do their thing.”
Ryan put a hand on his shoulder as he stood, making him stop in his tracks. “Everything will go fine, Favero,” he told him earnestly. “You have nothing to worry about. If something goes wrong…”
“Well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Shall we go? I’ll lead the way.”
Ryan turned to me as they walked out of his office and looked at me seriously. “Em, if anything happens, just let Tory and Jamie take care of it. I don’t want anything to happen…”
I snorted, rolling my eyes at him. “Are you serious? What have I been training for the past eight weeks for then? I’m not just going to stand on the sidelines, Ryan. You know me.”
“That’s the problem. I do know you. I know you’ll jump at the chance to take action, but I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I’ve been beat up by Jamie. I can handle myself.”
“Yeah, but the Order members won’t just beat you up, Em. Especially Karson. I’ve seen him before…and you do not want to get in his path. He’s got this affinity for knifes that’s unheard of…”
I patted his cheek, smiling up at him. “I’ll be fine. Quit worrying. For all we know, no one will show up that wasn’t planned for. Tory, Jamie, and I will probably be locked up in that security room for the entire time. We’ll be all warm and cozy while you and Jude are in that tense room with Order members who don’t even seem nice to me…and all I’ve seen is their pictures.”
“Well, let’s hope you never meet them in person,” he sighed, and then shook his head. “Okay, let’s go before we’re late and Favero starts freaking out even more than he already is.”
We met up with the others at the end of the hallway where Jude and Favero were heading into the conference room while Tory and Jamie started back down the staircase. With one last smile at Ryan, I followed them to the security room.
Accorsi and Mosconi were apparently the security surveillance team, sitting in a back room with monitors lining one wall that showed footage of every space in the building. They were nice enough, though quiet, but it wasn’t like we were going to have a little ‘get to know you’ session, because the Order members were already there.
We had our own set up, but with only three monitors with split screen footage from our own cameras that Ryan, Tory, and Jude had set up on their two week assignment before. While Accorsi and Mosconi were watching on theirs, our eyes were glued on our own.
“You can click a feed to make it bigger, if you want, and minimize the others while still keeping them on the screen,” Tory showed us when the Order members appeared in the front hallway. “We’ll need to use it to keep track of their every movement. If we see anything that involves Seraphina, Hector, or Karson, we’ll have to message the guys. They’re the big three we’re looking out for, though we know where Seraphina and Hector will be. Karson’s really the one we need to keep an eye on. He’ll more than likely not be in the meeting, but lurking around somewhere else.”
On my own screen, I pulled up the video feed of the hallway that the man and women – Hector and Seraphina – we walking down, led by what looked like one of Favero’s employees. It seemed we were all tracking their movements, so I took the time to look them over more closely.
Seraphina had her hair pulled back in a ponytail that made her already stern face look even fiercer. And dressed in a tailored suit with an emerald green silk shirt underneath, she looked like she was prepared to take over the world while looking fashionable doing it. Her brother, Hector, was the same – a stern expression and suit – and followed behind her until they reached the conference room. Karson, however, was nowhere in sight.
While Favero sat on one side of the table, flanked on either side by Jude and Ryan, the two of them sat opposite. There was no handshaking, no greeting of any kind. And by the nervous shaking I could barely see as Favero placed his hands on the table in front of him, I knew the entire time they were in the meeting, it was going to be tense.
“Have you guys seen Karson?” Jamie asked about twenty minutes later.
I shook my head, still watching my screen where the meeting continued. Nothing had happened, just the normal discussion, though I could see Ryan narrowing his eyes every now and then. “Nope…but my focus is on the conference room mostly. Why?”
“He just arrived out front.”
Both Tory and I looked over at her screen where she had the feed for the front entrance up. There was indeed a car with blacked out windows sitting just outside and Karson was there, leaned down to talk to someone in the backseat we couldn’t see. After a few more moments, Karson looked up and smiled ominously, almost like he knew we were watching, and a shiver of fear ran down my spine. But he stepped back then, pulling the door open.
When the person he’d been talking to got out, Jamie all but jumped out of her chair, eyes widening as she looked at the screen. “No, it can’t…”
“What?” I asked. “What do you see?”
She pointed to the guy who was now standing beside Karson. He looked young, maybe in his mid-twenties and wasn’t dressed as business-like as Seraphina and Hector, but rather in jeans and a jacket over a t-shirt. His hair was light brown and cut short and he was probably a few inches shorter than Karson. He was only out of the car for a minute or two before he looked back inside where someone else must have been, though they didn’t show themselves. And with another word to Karson, he was back in the car, which quickly drove away.
“Jamie, do you know who that was?” Tory asked, looking over at her in confusion.
She nodded, swallowing hard before turning toward us. “That guy…that was the guy Brae was with…the night I followed her…the night of the accident. But what was he doing…?”
Just then, every security screen except for ours went blank. The three of us sat still as Accorsi and Mosconi tried to pull their feeds back up. As they yelled at each other, my eyes turned to one of our screens where the lights had gone out in the basement of the building. Two emergency lights was still on, so the outlines of what looked like packing crates were there, along with the darkened doorways of the few rooms in the area.
“What’s down in the basement?” I asked, looking over at Accorsi. “Do you guys keep anything down there?”
“Besides the company mainframe? There are a few storage areas…”
The company mainframe where all of Favero Antiquities information was stored…was that what the Order was after?
“There,” Tory said, pointing to the screen of the back alleyway behind the building. “You see them?”
As we looked closer, four figures appeared out of the shadows, running toward the back door. We couldn’t make out their faces and, when they got through and into the darkness of the basement, it didn’t help either.
“We need to get down there before they get whatever it is they came for,” Jamie said, standing up quickly before striding for the door. Tory and I followed behind her after telling Accorsi and Mosconi to watch the screens and that we would take care of everything.
“So we’re thinking they’re Order members?” Tory questioned as we descended the three flights of stairs to the basement. “Could they be anyone in the Brotherhood?”
“What would the Brotherhood need?” Jamie answered. “And Ed would tell us what it was about if it was them. I highly doubt it. The Order…I don’t know what they would need…”
“Blackmailing information?” I suggested. It was the only thing I could think of. “If they were going for the company’s mainframe, they could get practically anything. But what if they’re going after something that’s in storage? Do you guys know of any artifact that could be here that’s important to both the Brotherhood and the Knights?”
Both Jamie and Tory shook their heads.
“Not that we know of,” Jamie said. “We know where pretty much everything is…well, of course, other than the Brotherhood’s records.” She looked at Tory then. “Ed said they were still looking for those, didn’t he? John was still the main guy on the job and Haidar was helping, but then…”
Tory shrugged. “Yeah, Ed said they were still looking. But with the whole Emmy situation and now with the Amirmoez family, they’ve put it on hold for a while…”
We were at the door to the basement then. As I put my hand on the handle, Tory stopped me.
“We don’t do anything until something’s wrong, okay?” she said, looking between me and Jamie.
Jamie snorted, rolling her eyes. “Something already is wrong, Tor. Just be ready.”
Nothing but darkness greeted us past the emergency light above as the door closed silently. The three of us paused again, waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness in between us and the other light on above another doorway. There was no sound from down the hall, so either the people breaking in had already left or were extremely quiet. Slowly, I moved forward, alert and focused, with Tory and Jamie following behind. It wasn’t until we came up on the crates we could see from the monitors that something changed.
It was then the first set of footsteps sounded from the other end of the hallway where it turned a corner. Immediately, Tory and Jamie dove behind the two stacks of crates on either side to shield themselves, but I stayed frozen in the middle of the hallway as déjà vu hit me just as hard – if not harder – as the nostalgia had before.
“Em, get over here!” Tory whispered. I didn’t move.
It was like the day at the Louvre all over again – the darkened hallway, the footsteps, and the flashlight moving swiftly down the hallway. But unlike that fateful day in Paris, there were three other sets of footsteps that accompanied the first.
“Ren, get ready,” a voice said quietly. I swallowed hard as she stepped into the light and I saw her. Stella.
The voice that answered was Ren himself before he appeared, shaking his head at her. “I’m already ready, woman. Just keep look out, would you?”
“You guys are going to give him a conniption if you don’t shut up.” That voice – a woman – was unfamiliar and so was the face. Blond and a little taller than Stella, but she turned toward the fourth person before I could really get a look at her face.
But when he stepped into the light, I didn’t see any of them anymore. My breath left my lungs in a rush when I saw his face. Because I wasn’t seeing him in my dreams or in a picture…
He was standing right there in his jeans, black t-shirt, boots, and signature leather jacket, looking exactly the same as when I first saw him in Paris. His eyes swept the hallway in front of them and directly past me. He didn’t see me, though, since the darkness concealed me from him.
But, even though he was half the length of the hallway away, I saw those green eyes I loved and missed so much…and they didn’t seem the same. They held anger, a hardness in them that was all but permanent. When his eyes scanned the hallway again, I noticed just how much he’d changed in the weeks that I’d seen him last.
He’d changed…but after what happened, after all this time…did I really expect he wouldn’t?
“All of you, shut up,” John growled out. “We get in, get out. That’s all we’re here to do.” His eyes swept over the darkness that covered me again. “And hurry up…because I already have the feeling someone’s watching.”
***One...two...three...*fangirl screams*
JOHN!
Seriously, guys. You don't know how much I missed the guy...and got all emotional reading parts of BH and GD where he was either being a butt or super sweet or just so...John. You know what I mean?
And guess what, you lucky people? The next TWO chapters are already written! I wrote them on that short break (ha, yeah right, Ansley...two months is hardly considered short) that I took a little while ago. All they need is some editing since I've changed some stuff, but they are good to go after that!
So as soon as we hit 100 votes and 30 comments, I will upload chapter 16!
Comment and vote!!!1***