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CHAPTER THIRTY ONE


I lay in my lover's twisted sheets as his muscled arm was limp across my
waist, branding me.


Jace took it all in, tightened his jaw, and silently walked to the
nightstand. He held my gaze the entire duration and only tore them away to gaze
at the bible before him. Jace picked up the bible, slowly, and then silently
thumbed through the pagers. They were thin enough to make no sound and I saw
that the words had been whited out only to replaced with Marcus' hand-print.


No one would suspect a bible and it was the book you could nearly take
anywhere. It was ingenius and it was blasphemy at the same time.


Quietly with as little movement as I could muster, I slipped from Marcus'
claiming hand and grabbed my clothes. I took them out to the living room, gaped
in silent horror when I saw one of the security guards, holding a back exit door
open.


I dressed quickly and Jace moved around me and toward the door.


The security guard was the same one I saw in the residential home. His badge
identified him as Matthew and I still wondered if that was his real name.
Matthew handed back my cellphone and nodded with an apology in his eyes.


He held the door wider as Jace stepped through. I followed behind and Matthew
led our way downstairs. He stopped just at a door, keyed a code in a small
security box, and pushed through with a gun held down by his waist, ready to be
lifted at a moment's notice.


I saw that Jace mirrored his actions and pulled out my own.


Matthew had a car waiting and we got inside and pulled away.


I sat in the backseat while Jace took the front with Matthew driving.


I glanced behind, but the lights were still off on the sixteenth floor.


"You'll fill in the last report when you arrive?" Jace asked Matthew,
quietly.


I started, breathed out a calming breath, and forced myself to sit back and
relax. Just…relax.


Matthew nodded and replied too quiet for my ears. I tuned them out and
realized that Jace had spoken to me.


"What?" I blinked and sat forward.


"You want a coffee?"


"Uh…yeah. That'd be great." I nodded stiffly and realized that I still held
onto my seatbelt strap.


As we stopped for some coffees, it was surreal.


I had thought my life had changed irreversibly and a mere twelve hours later,
it had changed back.


And I was given coffee by two agents who had known my plight.


"Are you," I inhaled the sweet aroma as I asked Matthew, "going to be okay? I
mean, with helping us leave?"


"I'm Jake, by the way." He reached around and introduced himself with a
formal handshake. "And I should be okay. I'm not going back in so this worked
out for the best right now."


"What do you mean?" I took another sip.


"I'm getting married." Jake smiled widely and I didn't see any remants of the
shadows that clung to Jace and Stirley. Jake had done the job and he was done
with doing the job. He was returning to the anchor that had ultimately caused
Stirley to drown.


Jace turned around as Jake started the car and continued to drive out of the
city. "I recruited Jake because he's from Rawley."


Jace hadn't met my gaze for longer than two seconds since I found him
standing at the foot of my bed


"Yeah. I know Taryn. She was friends with my little brother's fiance."


"Who was your little brother?"


"His name was Adam, but he went by the stupid name of 'Props.'"


"I recruited him too." Jace said briefly as he drank his coffee, plain and
black.


"Adam's pretty savvy with the computer. He was always trying to upstage me. I
was the family's shining star since I went to the Academy, but he got the girl
in the end."


"So you're a cop?"


"No." Jake laughed freely. I was startled by the carefree air that shone from
his smile. "Jace got me before I finished. I couldn't do this sort of stuff if
they dug far enough and found out that I was a cop. I'd be dead within a
week."


"Is the lucky lady from Rawley too?"


"No. I actually met her a few months ago in Pedlam." Jake informed me as he
signaled to turn lanes. "She doesn't know what I really do, so when you meet
her, it'd be nice to keep it on the hush hush."


Jace's phone ran and he answered.


Jake spoke over the call and added, "She thinks I'm a banker and we have to
move to Spain for my promotion. That's my new cover so it shouldn't be too hard
to live, you know?"


"You're going to be hunted now, you know." I remembered Petrie's threat.


"Not too bad. They'll be hunting you guys a whole lot more. The company's
covering me. That and I have a kick-ass little brother who specializes in
everything a computer can do and they're pretty inventive to hide tracks and
create an entire new life."


"Where are we going now?"


"My brother's fiance's place. We're only an hour from New York and that's
where she goes to school."


"Really." I murmured and watched the scenery. I hadn't even noticed and I'd
never asked where Ben's school was located. I hadn't cared. I'd been that scared
about Marcus' threatening presence that I hadn't even thought to ask.
"Congratulations, Jake."


"Thanks."


Jace ended his call and the two talked with heads bent for the next hour. I
heard paper rustling, but I sat back and tuned everything out.


As long as the car was moving forward, away from what was behind, I was
happy.


As we entered the city later on, I asked faintly, "Aren't they going to look
at his family's places?"


Jake didn't answer, but Jace merely said, dismissively, "He had a good cover.
The DEA generally likes to keep their undercovers alive when they're pulled out
and transferred. It keeps the turnover rate down."


I sucked in my breath, caught his bite, and hurled back, "Well your company
policy sucks at communcation."


Jace turned around, fury glazing in his smoldering eyes, but he said nothing.
I saw the pain it took him to keep his mouth shut and it seemed another hour
before Jake pulled the car into a driveway, muttered quick as he ducked his
head, and jumped out of the car, "Look. We're here. I'll tell them we're here.
You can…stay."


His feet hadn't met the pavement before Jace hurled out, "I'm surprised you
came with me. I would've thought your reunion touched too deep for you to break
away."


"How dare you!" I seethed and snapped forward. "I thought you left me. I
thought you used me—"


"Because some lowlife tells you!" Jace exclaimed and leaned against the car's
front dashboard. "You should've trusted me!"


"Trusted you? Because that really defines our relationship, now, doesn't it?"
I cried out. "Trust goes two ways."


"You called him and I found you in his bed. How am I supposed to trust
that?"


"You should've trusted me to tell me the plan!"


"You wouldn't have gone in if you knew the plan!"


"Exactly!"


"I couldn't get the Decoder if you hadn't." Jace argued hotly.


I felt the punch from his words and a wall slammed in place. Quietly, I
murmured, "So the Decoder is more important than what I had to do in there."


"Yes." Jace said firmly, unflinching. "My brother died. And he's not the only
person that I've loved and lost. You didn't lose your virginity, Maya—"


"No. I didn't. I just lost my integrity." I said dully. "Thanks for not
cari—"


Jace interrupted, flatly, "They're children."


My mouth closed. "What?"


"They're children. That's what he's transporting for the smokescreen.
Children."


I reeled. I had no words.


Jace took a deep breath and continued, "His agents," he lifted the Decoder,
still blinded as a bible, "are the people who go out and either 'buy' children
from families or just steal them."


"How…I mean…"


"They go to other countries. They prey on poor families here. Hell, you have
to know about this. Have you not seen anyone who promised their five year old
could go and stay with another family who'd support them, but they could go and
visit whenever they wanted? You don't know anyone who's that desperate for money
that they'd be willing to believe a lie that good?" Jace murmured wearily.


The fight had left him.


"They…they take children and move them to a place in the mountains. That's
why I have Oscar there. His job is to find where they're holding them."


"And the Smokescreen?"


"The Smokescreen works with the adoption agents. They get the kids official
and they sell them. The ones that aren't cute enough to be adopted, they're
either killed or they're illegally sold. They didn't 'make the cut' for adoption
to a good family. They go…they go where someone's willing to pay the money."


"Oh my god." I choked out. I had begged not long ago to a lover's touch, but
I begged again, just to stop the words. To stop… "Oh my god."


"The bodies that wash up on Oscar's lands…" Jace took another deep breath.
"Those are the kids who either tried to escape or went past their 'expiration
date' for the compound."


Faint, I whispered, hoarsely, "I just assumed those were adults or…not
children."


"I know." Jace cut out. "I know."


"Stop." I cried out, harshly. I held a hand in the air and tried to breathe.
"I can't…" I rapidly blinked, not to clear the tears or the nausea, but just to
stop the shock from settling into my body. It was too much. Marcus. My freedom.
And now this…it was just too much.


Jace murmured, "I used you as bait and I'm not sorry. Marcus was going to a
meeting to get the adoption papers that you stole in that briefcase. They needed
to replace them in order to send off another shipment of kids so that they could
get another shipment into their compound. That meeting got called off because
Marcus had to catch a plane to get you as soon as possible."


I could hear my hear beating against my throat. And I could only see Jace
through the tears the blinded my eyes. But I heard each and every word, even
though I never wanted to hear them. I never wanted to comprehend them, but I
did. And I remembered a time when a stranger knocked on our door, asked for
Cherry, and told her there was a nice young couple who couldn't have children.
They lived nearby and she could go and see Gray anytime she wanted.


Cherry confided to me that night that she was tired of stealing baby food
from the supermarket. She couldn't afford the diapers from the dollar store and
she knew that the couple could probably afford to send him to a college
already.


That night, I bought all the supply of baby food from the supermarket and Kai
went with me to buy all the diapers from the convenience store.


Cherry walked out to the kitchen that morning, baby Gray in her arms, and she
fell to her knees, crying.


"They tried…" The tears slid down. "They tried to take my nephew. They wanted
Gray."


Jace took another deep breath and I readied myself for more damning
revelations. I couldn't ask much more.


"You said that Marcus had a senator Hauge in his pocket, but we think it's
Hague. We think he has someone who helped write and apply the Hague
Convention."


"What does that have to do..?"


"The Hague Convention writes up safeguards against intercountry adoption.
They help make the laws to decline child trafficking that happens. Marcus knows
someone on the inside there. Every agent the Hague Convention has to help
administer their laws, he knows them. He knows where they go, where they look,
who they question. He knows what they're looking for and he goes around them.
And he's paying someone to help stall a lot of these laws to get passed, someone
on the inside."


"I can't…" I heaved a deep breath and unburdened my soul. "I fought long and
hard for my life."


Jace quieted and listened.


And, god help me, but he could've been an angel right then and there.


"I…it took me a long long time to get things around in my head right. Krein,
yes, I love him and I will always love him because he's my big brother and I'd
like to believe in miracles. I'd like to believe that he can come around and he
can still prove to me that he's a decent person."


The world wasn't there. Not anymore. It was just me and Jace. It was time for
my truth to be told.


"I was smart enough to avoid a lot of bad places and stuff in Pedlam, places
that you probably owned. But…I was always a sucker for someone in need, like
Lily, like Lily—again. And…I wanted to help because it made my life not that
bad. It made it as if I had an okay life in order to even lend a hand. I never
loved Marcus, but I never hated him enough to leave him. I was scared and I was
living a double life for so long. And…" I brushed away a tear.


Jace listened.


"I've met my share of perverts and pedophiles. I—know, firsthand, what face
they wear to the world. So the thought of my nephew, being…what I did tonight,
—I…"


Jace grimaced and cut out, "You were surviving. I know that. You did what you
did because it might mean you'd have a chance later to live. I get that. I don't
like it, what you did, but I get it…and I'm the one who put you in that
position, because…


"Because you needed me to go in there."


"Because I didn't trust you enough to tell you why you needed to go in
there." Jace murmured, distantly.


"I never went to the corner." I said softly, to myself, to a memory.


"What?"


"I never went to the corner. When things got bad, no matter who was in the
room or who was beating who or threatening, I never went to the corner. I never
hid in a corner." I clarified. "I always stood there and I waited for what was
going to come, but I never hid or cowered."


Jace nodded and saw his own memories. He said softly, "First time my dad
threw me against a wall, I stood up. I was six. Brian was a baby, but I stood up
and I kept standing up until I could hit him back."


The sun peeked over the horizon.


I watched as the first beam traveled across the earth and finally found where
we sat, in our moment's peace from the ugliness that happened under it's
cover.


I basked in the warmth, in the glow, and Jace depleted it when he said, "Ben
was one of those kids. His name was on the adoption papers that we got."


"What?" I looked up and met his eyes. The grey shone specks of gold. I'd
never noticed that before.


"Marcus never officially adopted him, but he took him in and took care of him
for a reason."


"Ben was one of those kids?"


Jace nodded, "And Petrie was the agent who brought him in."


"God…" I drew in a ragged breath. "He told me his uncle's name was in that
book. And he kept talking about this story, how the lion grew up in the desert,
but knew he was supposed to be somewhere else." Henry just didn't know how to
get there, to get back home.


"Henry." I murmured, brokenly.


"What?"


"The lion's name was Henry." And in the end, "He was still in the desert, but
in his mind, he only saw the jungle. That was Ben. Ben was the lion. He…knows
where he comes from, but he can't get there so he pretends."


"That makes sense. He's fixated on that. He has Autism, but maybe he knows
something that we can't be told about. Maybe they see something we don't know is
there."


I whispered, needing something to believe, "Maybe they see something
miraculous, something that makes all the ugliness in this world worth it.
Maybe…"


"And maybe," Jace leaned over the seat and perched his chin on the seat's
headrest, "they have a chemical compound that's different from ours. Maybe it's
just mental."


"But maybe that enables them to see what we can't." I hoped. I wanted to
hope. I wanted…something. I confessed, "I need something to believe in right
now." I was never one to cry, but I cried now.


I was never one to ask for help, but I asked now.


And I was never one to admit I was nearing the end, but I was admitting it
now. And I was asking for something.


"I need something to believe in, to get through this…"


"Believe in me." Jace said flatly. "Because I aim to burn every single one of
them down."


"I think you might need help." I murmured, stricken, but I didn't know who I
spoke to. If I believed to pray, I'd pray then and there.


Jace studied me, found my hands, and held them as he said, hauntingly, "I
need you because you can decode all three books. I need those books to stop this
empire. I need you."


"That's not the help I was talking about."


"I know, but it's what I'm talking about."


I nodded, brushed a strand of hair out of my face, and broke out, "I think we
had it wrong all the time."


"Maybe Ben is where he's supposed to be. Maybe that's why Marcus took him in,
but not because of what we can understand. Maybe it's beyond us, what we can
fathom."


"Maybe." Jace heaved a relieved breath and asked, genuinely, "Are you
okay?"


"Not all of it's sunk in, you know, but it will. And…I'll deal when it does."
I said honestly.


Jace nodded, reassured, and asked, "We could go get some more coffee before
we head in?"


"I think I'd like that."


"Okay." Jace hopped over to the driver's seat and I took his as he started
the car and reversed.


We found a coffee shop, got our coffees, and sat there in silence, side by
side for three hours.


I said, one time, "It's heavy."


"I know."


And we went back to our silence.


It was needed.


After another hour, we stood, stretched, and readied to face the face of
polite strangers and exhausting small-talk.


As we got into the car, Jace remarked, "Going with the whole kingdom of light
and kingdom of darkness thing, you know, that you read from what Stirley printed
off."


"Yeah?" I held his coffee in my hand as he drove.


"It'd be nice, to believe that there was extra help out there." Jace remarked
and took his coffee.


"Maybe that's what they see." I whispered to myself. I didn't fully know who
'they' were, but I wanted to hope that there was a 'they.'


As we pulled back into the driveway, Jake quickly left the house and rushed
to the car.


"Uh…hi." He started, nervously, as he glanced back to the house.


Jace got out and grabbed our bags.


"What?" Jace chuckled. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."


"Uh…remember that I said we're staying at my brother's fiance's house?"


"Yeah." Jace remarked and leaned beside me.


"Well…they got engaged not long ago."


"When?" I asked.


"Like, a week ago…and…" He glanced over his shoulder.


Jace drawled, "This have to do with the six extra cars that weren't here when
we first showed?" He indicated the street.


"Yeah, well…they're having an engagement party…today. It started thirty
minutes ago."


"No problem." Jace said easily. "We can stay at a hotel, but I'd like to see
Adams for a little bit."


"Um…" Jake stood helplessly as Jace moved leanly past and darted inside.


I asked, "What's the problem? We'll just go somewhere else."


Jake laughed and it bordered on hysteria, "You don't know half of it."


"Try me." I could handle anything after what I was just told.


He slumped agains the car beside me, "Remember when I said that my brother's
fiance was friends with Taryn? Well…they're still friends and since they're
having an engagement party today…"


My smile was wiped clean.


"And my fiance is here and she doesn't like sharing the spotlight."
Jake finished darkly.


I pushed off the car and darted inside. I didn't have to go far.


Jace stood rooted in the foyer as he stared, emotionless, to the startled
eyes of Taryn, Tray, Carter, Mandy, and many more.


They all sat in the living room.


"What the hell are you doing here?"


I turned and blinked in surprise as I saw Cora standing in the doorway
between the kitchen and the foyer. She held a plate of engagement cake and a
sparkling engagement ring.


"Are you—," I cursed and exclaimed, "are you engaged to Jake?!"


Cora recoiled and straightened abruptly. It was true.


Jake coughed behind us and asked, "So…you two know each other?"


Cora coughed in outrage, but sputtered, speechless.


Jace was still frozen, his eyes held captive by Taryn's shocked form on the
couch.


Oh, the secret lives of spies and their small town roots.


Cora cried out, her voice jarring everyone, "Did Joe call you?!"