Erik is waiting on them when they arrive. Careful to avoid any cameras, they quickly get Raina inside his vehicle, laying her down on Kas’ lap in the backseat. Desperate to relieve the pained expression on Erik’s face when he takes in her injuries, she gives him a sheepish grin, trying not to grimace from the pain the small act causes, “I’m going to take advantage of your sympathy right now and make a confession.”
Erik places his hand over hers, lacing her slender fingers through his. “You’re finally going to admit that I’m really the ultimate alpha geek and you learned everything from me? Don’t sweat it, everyone already knows that,” he winks.
Raina tries to return his grin, but it hurts too much, “I accessed the FBI database. That’s why they took me, so I would erase the files on Prizrak.”
“It’s okay, Rain. No one will hold that against you. They forced you to do it,” Erik almost chokes on his words as he inspects the proof of their cruel tactics of coercion covering her beautiful face. He has to look away when he sees the deep contusions on her wrists, showing how fiercely she struggled to free herself.
“It wasn’t Prizrak’s file that I erased,” Raina states, holding her breath at Erik’s questioning gaze.
“What did you delete then?”
Happy that Kas is there to save her, Raina quietly mumbles, “Your file.”
“My file?” Erik questions, confused, “but the only file that’s mine there is my—Oh no! Please, tell me you didn’t, Rain!”
Shrugging apologetically, Raina grimaces, “I’m sorry.”
“You better be glad that I love you, girl,” Erik laughs, before shaking his head at her, “only you can get away with wiping away several years spent masterfully putting together the most impressive musical collection in history.”
Kas’ hearty laughter is the sweetest sound to Raina. “You just gave me another reason of why I’m helplessly in love with you, darlin’!”
Four hours later, Raina is in a drugged induced slumber. Kas checks on her again, softly brushing a stray auburn lock behind her ear.
“She’s going to be pissed when she wakes up,” Austin states, chuckling. “I don’t know which one of you she’ll go after first,” he muses, looking between Kas and Chase, “the one who distracted her, or the one who stuck her with the needle.”
“She needed to sleep,” Kas states unapologetically, haven agreed to the Demerol both Chase and Dr. Reed recommended. Returning to the large open kitchen and living area, now their makeshift office at Wade’s house, he throws himself into the mission of taking down the man responsible for putting Raina through hell.
Studying all the information in front of him, Kas knows that if they are going to pull off an op of this magnitude, they are going to have to be as covert and thorough as possible. When one of the men who served under his dad volunteered his home, they immediately set-up camp. The next several hours are spent taking shifts working relentlessly at planning their next move. The only men who haven’t slept are Kas, Chase, Cliff, Erik, and Brent.
The way Brent keeps glancing towards Raina’s room doesn’t go unnoticed by Kas. Another two hours pass, and Kas stretches, leaning his head back and slowly rolling his neck. Being up for over thirty hours is starting to show its negative effects. Glancing at his watch, he leaves his work, deciding to check on the progress with Raina’s trap that Erik is instituting before checking on his wife.
The white bandages on her arm and wrists shine eerily in the blue light from the clock in the dark room. The soft rain falling down outside provides a false sense of serenity. One look at his wife’s face shatters any semblance of peace for her guilt ridden husband. Kas takes a moment just looking at her, overwhelmed with gratitude that she’s alive. The thought of losing her induces the worst incensing fear that threatens to completely destroy him.
Quickly pushing the dark thought out of his mind, Kas places his hand over Raina’s, his thumb gently caressing the soft skin just below her small, injured wrist. Her touch feels a little too warm again, and he pulls her covers down as his gaze shifts to a noise at the door.
Brent steps inside the room, briefly meeting Kas’ gaze before focusing on the woman who visits him every night in his dreams, leaving him heartbroken all over again each morning, haunted by what he will never have. Rage fills him when he witnesses her bruises for the first time. His pain is sharp when he inspects her dark purple, swollen eye, cheek, and jaw on the left side of her face. Both lips are split, and a large, angry bruise covers her right cheek. The bandages on her arm and wrists are further proof of the terrible pain she endured.
Kas watches Brent with ardent ambivalence but remains silent, not an easy task under the circumstances. Allowing Brent to touch Raina tests his failing restraint, but he stays seated. The pain in Brent’s eyes connects them, despite the fact that any form of their bonding is the last thing either of the men want.
Brent carefully unwraps the bandage on her arm, closing his eyes and turning his head at the long, deep cuts that have several stitches attaching the skin back together. Wrapping the bandage back around her arm, he wants to scream, weep, and savagely beat the hell out of the man who hurt her. Instead, his wrath turns on Kas, “You were
there
when she was taken! You are supposed to protect her!”
Looking at his wife, Kas’ voice is painfully raw, “Do you honestly think that I don’t already know that? I would give anything to change what happened.”
“If she never met you, none of this would’ve happened,” Brent spits out angrily.
Kas doesn’t argue.
Michael rushes into the room with Cliff and Chase directly behind him.
Chase sees the self-vacillation radiating off his best friend, and his own anger soars at the gross injustice. He despises how Kas is blaming himself for what has happened when the guilt doesn’t belong to him. He takes a menacing step towards Brent, but Kas holds out his hand, pushing Chase back.
“Raina deserves someone who can protect her better than this,” Brent accuses, waving his hand angrily at her motionless body.
“You’re not innocent from causing Raina pain,” Kas growls, the image of Raina broken and completely despondent on the floor tears through him.
“At least I didn’t almost get her killed,” Brent seethes, taking a step towards Kas, his hands curled into tight fists, his intentions clear.
Kas grits his teeth, his own fists itching to pound the man who caused him to hurt Raina, nearly destroying the both of them, “I appreciate you helping to find
my
wife, but it would be wise for you to remember that I don’t need any further invitation to kick your ass!”
Cliff steps in between the two men before all hell breaks loose. “Raina wouldn’t want this,” he admonishes, giving Kas a fierce glare. “Don’t you think she’s been through enough? She shouldn’t have to deal with the two of you causing her any more pain.”
“Brent, leave the room, now!” Michael commands.
Brent doesn’t move.
Kas takes a step closer.
Erik storms in, “If you two are finished acting like total dumb asses, I thought you might like to know that I just finished Raina’s obituary.”
Their shared pained expressions meet his agitated smirk, “Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.” Erik glances at his friend, who is totally out, oblivious to the men ready to rip each other apart over her. “Her idea is brilliant and, if I do say so myself, I wrote a helluva piece about her. But, if you two would rather beat the hell out of each other instead of catching the man behind Raina having the hell beat out of her, be my guest.”
Cliff gives Kas a pointed look, “Let it go, son.”
“Show me,” Kas states, giving Brent one last warning glare before following Erik out of the room, nodding at Chase, letting him know that he doesn’t want Brent alone with Raina.
Michael jerks his head at Brent, demanding him to get out of the room immediately. Once they are in the hall, he grabs his arm, shoving him against the wall. “I know you’re in love with Raina, but you’re wrong about Kas. He’s a good man, Brent, you just don’t want to see it. Do you have any idea what he did to save her?” Michael asks, his anger subsiding from the despair on his agent and friend’s face. “He jumped off the side of that friggin’ mountain to get to her. I know you’re hurting, but he’s hurting more than you could possibly imagine right now, so back the hell off him.”
Brent leans against the wall as Michael walks away. Pressing the back of his head against the hard sheetrock, he closes his eyes, willing the tsunami of emotions to pass, knowing they won’t any time soon. Michael’s words penetrate his opinion of Kas, thoroughly pissing him off. He saw that mountain, it was a seriously foolish move to take a dive like that. He hates to admit that there’s another man out there that would happily play the fool for Raina, without thinking twice.
Joining the rest of the extended team, Brent listens as Erik gives the step-by-step process of Raina’s plan, informing them that when Prizrak accesses the online obituary, they’ll finally have him.
“What if he doesn’t read it?” Jake asks, not wanting to bring up the possibility but needing to address it.
“He will,” Chase assures him, “he won’t be able not to.”
“Once he accesses the bogus file, we’ll have complete access to all of his files,” Erik grins.
“We’ll make it live this evening,” Kas informs them, immediately grabbing his phone and calling Dexter, letting him know that he’s going to need him to pave the way for a mass effort of interagency, intercontinental cooperation.
Kas calls Judge next, letting him know the time of the obituary and giving him an update on Raina, knowing it’s killing him not being here with her. “Henry, you’re doing what she wants you to do,” he reassures the judge, “your clout will pull the strings needed to get the judges to sign off on the warrants in the other states when we get the information.”
“I know, but it doesn’t make me feel any less like an ass for leaving her.”
“If it makes you feel any better, when I told her you agreed to go, she was ecstatic.”
“Just promise me that you will get them?” Judge asks, his voice weary and raw.
“I give you my word, Henry,” Kas swears.
The hours pass quickly until it’s time to release the bait. Reading the official looking notice of his wife’s fake death guts Kas. Erik made it perfect, not overly enticing which could tip off Parker. The cooperation of the newspaper made it easier to set-up without having to fabricate the entire news site. It’s simple, respectful, beautiful, and heartbreaking. When Kas reads about Raina’s pending visitation and service, he has to walk away, struggling to rein in his emotions. They don’t have to wait long to begin trapping the IP addresses accessing the obituary.
Sadness overwhelms him when Kas thinks of how he didn’t have many people to contact to let them know Raina’s really alive. After less than two hours of the bait going live, they are finally able to exorcise the Ghost. Over half the human trafficking unit is crammed inside Wade’s home. Despite its spacious 2500 square feet, agents have overtaken every room. Raina’s gift with languages is missed tremendously as they scramble for translators to assist with the calls to the numerous countries the large ring has infiltrated.
On the home base, nearly every state has been tainted by Parker and his handlers. The next several hours are spent carefully planning the largest sting ever attempted. Timing is paramount. If the news about taking the ring down gets out, all subgroups will disappear, only to reform later. Kas refuses to allow that to happen.
Leaning over the table, Kas studies the plans meticulously, making sure he’s gone over every possible inch of the plan thoroughly. The kitchen is littered with empty pizza boxes and dirty glasses. Raking his hand roughly down his unshaven face, he shrugs off his fatigue. He can hear Frank talking on the phone, his words are heated, stressed, and completely unlike him. “Give me the phone,” Kas commands.
Handing it over, Frank leans against the wall wearily while he listens to his boss let out a string of strong expletives, threatening to have the job and backside of every last person in the legal department if they don’t get the paperwork pushed through on the warrants for every person on the list he had e-mailed them hours earlier.
Chase raises his head from the files he’s been immersed in, watching Kas deliver his scourging wrath until he gets what he needs, almost crushing the phone when he closes it.
“When will they be ready?” Chase asks, unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up to his elbows.
“They’re waking up the judge now,” Kas replies, his voice monotone as he returns to the blueprints. Checking his watch, he glances at his extended team. It’s well past 3:00 a.m. “Take a break, get some sleep, we’ll start again in the morning,” he tells them.
“Only if you do, boss,” Frank insists, knowing Kas won’t rest until his body refuses to cooperate any longer.
Looking around the room, the determined eyes staring back at him fills him with humbling gratitude. “You’ve been working nonstop for too long. Thank you for everything you’ve done,” he begins, his gaze catching Brent’s. Swallowing his pride, he continues, “All of you. Sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
The living room becomes a makeshift bunker as the agents sprawl out on the couches and floor, and Wade hands out blankets and pillows until they run out. Chase sees the guilt permeating Kas’ eyes, “Go to bed with Raina, she’ll need you if she wakes up.”
Michael nods towards the room, “Pierce, go stay with your girl.”
Feeling torn, Kas relents, walking down the dark hall towards Raina. He’s just outside the door when he hears her whimper. Rushing inside the room, his worry heightens when he sees her damp hair and skin.
Dammit!
It’s only been forty-five minutes since he checked on her last. Touching her forehead, he finds it alarmingly hot. She flinches under his hand, and he can’t tell if she’s sweating from the spike in her temperature or her nightmare. Severely chastising himself for not being with her, he takes blame for her nightmare, knowing she never has them when he’s beside her.
Rubbing his thumb gently across her cheek, he whispers, “It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re safe, I’m here.” Grabbing his phone, he decides another man is getting awakened in the middle of the night. He relays Raina’s condition to Dr. Reed as his worried gaze never leaves Raina.
“Wake her up, give her two of the pills from the bottle I left in the drawer next to the bed. If her fever doesn’t come down in thirty minutes, call me and I’ll come over.”
Kas thanks the doctor before hanging up and opening the bottle, shaking two of the tiny white pills into his large hand. “Rain, wake up, sweetheart,” he encourages. Lightly shaking her to bring her out of her drugged slumber, his heart shatters at her frightened reaction when she jerks away from him while still asleep. “Raina, wake up,” he calls a little louder, not touching her this time.
Raina stirs, hurting like hell and feeling utterly disoriented when she opens her eyes to darkness. Sensing the presence of someone close to her, her heart pounds as she quickly raises and backs away until her back hits something hard, causing her to wince from the shot of additional pain. Kas reaches for her but is met with his wife’s unleashing fury. The strength behind her punch surprises him. Before he has time to say anything, she administers a second blow against his jaw, then shoots off the bed. Kas grabs her, pulling her backwards as she thrashes against him, punching, elbowing, and kicking while he tries to calm her.