Breaking Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Forty-Six

“Fuck.”

Soft hands caressed over Wes’s shoulders and he leaned back into his chair and Naomi’s embrace.

“What’s wrong?” her voice whispered beside him as she bent to his ear. He lifted his hand to massage his eyes before he remembered he was wearing his contacts and diverted to his hair.

“This program is being difficult.” He sighed and threw his hand up at the wide screen television he’d revamped to be his computer screen in the cabin. “I’m trying to open up the security for BlackStone yesterday, but it keeps fizzing out. I’ve tried almost every camera and they all show nothing out of the ordinary, but this one right here—” He pointed at the top right screen that showed a distorted and pixelated view of the outside of the BlackStone facility outside of the war room. “Is being a pain in the ass.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to fix it?” Hawk asked, his arms crossed off to the side as he paced. The man was a solid rock, but after the ordeal they’d all been through the day before, arriving back at the cabin without a wink of sleep, and with Phoenix and Ascot missing, their leader was off his game.

Naomi grunted before standing back up and rounding the couch to sit beside him. Thea’s little voice repeating every word to Brave was a soft undercurrent in the living room that helped calm his nerves. He’d been preoccupied all morning with the programming, but Naomi had taken care of everyone by cooking breakfast for all of them. Thea was now happily in her own world, or Pixar’s version of medieval Scotland, as it were, like she wasn’t almost a casualty to a bomb yesterday.

“I’ve almost got...” He entered a few more keystrokes, ignoring the throbbing in his palm. “Got it! Yes!” Finally, the screen enlarged and settled onto a complete picture and Wes slapped his hands and immediately cursed at the pain. Naomi tensed beside him and threw her hand up to her heart.

“Shit, sorry, love.”

“Wes, you can’t say bad words.” Thea spoke out, almost in a monotone.

“They hear everything, don’t they?” Wes asked under his breath and Naomi chuckled.

“You have no idea.” She turned to her daughter. “Thea, baby, go to your room, okay?”

The little girl sighed before picking her bear and her iPad up and taking them to her room.

“Close the door, T.”

There was another insufferable sigh and the door closed. Wes smirked at the dramatics and huffed a laugh when Naomi rolled her eyes.

“What’s that?” Hawk asked, completely ignoring them as he pointed over their heads at the screen.

Wes drew his attention back to the screen to see the picture still on the fritz, but at least they could see the large black van almost off the corner of the screen.

Wes resisted cursing under his breath and enlarged the picture further, only for a fire to explode on the screen. Naomi jumped back, as if the flames from the day before would reach out to grab her.

“That is what y’all went through? Oh my god, my baby…” Her voice trailed off and a tear leaked from her eye as she looked back at Thea’s closed door.

Wes grabbed her thigh and squeezed three times, hoping it’d calm her jumpiness. She locked her arm in his and returned the gesture four times. He wanted to revel in the feeling, but someone exited the van on the screen, drawing his attention to the fuzzy picture to try to make it out.

“Is that...” Hawk asked.

“That Russian bastard, Vlad? I think so.”

“Who’s that?”

They didn’t answer her, both in rapt horror as they watched the guy enter the hole created by the bomb in the building.

“He must’ve been in there right as Thea and I got out.” His revelation had Naomi gasping and tightening her grip on him.

They watched in silence and rapt attention for several moments before someone else appeared on the screen. This time, all three of them cursed as Ascot came bumbling out of the wreckage with his hands cuffed behind his back.

“So they were after Ascot all along?” Naomi asked.

“Seems that way,” Hawk answered as someone out of the frame pushed Ascot forward to the back of the van.

The frame went fuzzy again and Wes returned to his keyboard to see if he could fix it.

“How did Vlad get him out? He was handcuffed and taped to the chair. The only way they could’ve gotten him out is if they had a key and we were the only ones who have a copy.”

Just as he said it, the screen cleared just enough to see another figure enter the screen, sending Wes’s emotions haywire. No one said a word as Vlad followed behind Ascot... with someone at his side. No… not someone.

Phoenix.

“Son of a bitch.” Wes slapped the table but kept his eyes on the screen.

Phoenix and Vlad stopped, seemingly having a conversation before the camera footage warped again. Wes cursed and typed furiously until they could see Phoenix open the van’s back doors and help Ascot inside. When he closed the door, he nodded and said something to Vlad again, before looking at the building and then going to the passenger side of the van. The picture was so poor it was hard to make out anything, but Wes could definitely see Vlad follow Phoenix to the passenger door and open it for him.

Before Phoenix got in, he looked up at the camera and his lips started moving.

“What’s he saying?” Hawk asked as they all leaned in collectively.

“I think it’s... I think he’s saying, ‘I’m sorry,’” Wes answered.

Phoenix shook his head, his lips now in a grim line, before half his body went off the screen to get into the van. Vlad’s big figure closed the door and disappeared. After another moment, the van revved up and drove off.

Wes immediately went to look up the BlackStone facility’s entry code access. When he saw the last name on the list, he shut his eyes and rubbed his face.

“It was Phoenix. It was all Phoenix, man. Fuck.”

“What do you mean?” Hawk asked.

“See this—” Wes pointed to the screen. “Phoenix got home late last night, but his code was used to get in this morning just before the bomb. That’s how they got in undetected. They used his damn code and then he left with them. He’s been in on this shit the whole time.”

Hawk shook his head slowly before scrubbing his fade and bringing it down to swipe his face. “That doesn’t make any sense. He’s our teammate and brother. There’s no fucking way he’d be in on human trafficking. We spent years eradicating that evil together. He wouldn’t do this.”

Wes shook his head, almost unable to believe it himself, but it made sense.

“Fuck, Hawk, I would’ve thought so too, but think about it. He didn’t use his headpiece and was MIA when we went to save Ellie, Nora, and the other kidnapping victims last year. What was he doing in the meantime?”

“That’s different—”

“And shit, when you guys were taking down the traffickers two weeks ago at the hotel, when you and Devil went with Phoenix to save those victims. Didn’t he knock his guy out? Making it impossible for you guys to question him?”

“There was another one, too—”

“Maybe that one didn’t know Phoenix, but the guy Phoenix took down did.” Hawk was scrambling for answers, but Wes felt like he’d already solved the riddle and it made his stomach churn from the betrayal. “He’s been getting drunk and going to the strip club nearly every night. No doubt he’s depressed, but maybe that’s because he’s guilty. He knew where Ascot was going to be and when. He refused to interrogate him with us. Man, I’m telling you... this all fucking adds up.”

Hawk tapped his finger against his lips in thought and his brow furrowed above his dark eyes. Finally, he shook his head.

“It might all add up, but none of it makes sense. Something’s going on. I can’t believe he’d betray us like this. Not after all the women we saved.”

An anvil dropped in Wes’s stomach as he remembered what he needed to tell Hawk. “Actually, man. I’m not sure we saved a damn soul.”

Hawk’s eyes widened and he stilled before he directed his strong gaze on Wes. After allowing Wes a moment to gather his confession, Hawk seemed not to want to wait any longer. “Speak.”

Wes shook his head, defeat making his shoulders sag as he confronted his teammate, one of the most dedicated team members and leaders Wes had ever had.

“The Rahab Foundation. Ascot wasn’t lying. It’s a sham. I’m afraid every single one of those women we saved was put through that foundation and sent right back out into trafficking. I’ve looked everywhere for them, but they were conveniently disbanded the same day we were attacked in Yemen. Everything about them was scrubbed from history after that—”

“Like we were.” Hawk’s deep voice was hard as the pieces obviously clicked together in his mind.

Their team at MF7 had been psychologically discharged after their disastrous attack in Yemen, and after that, MF7 wasn’t classified, it was completely erased from government books. Like the seven years of their lives that they’d toiled and put on the line to save others was for nothing. Or worse.

“Every single one of the women was re-trafficked?” Hawk asked, stuttering back a fraction before his hand found purchase on the back of the couch. “All of them?”

Wes felt his lips thin. “I’m not sure. Too many, even if not all. I’ve been working with Marco on the information that Investigator Burgess collected over the last year. I’ve accounted for nearly all of the women, cross-referenced them with the lists I was able to find from my personal database concerning MF7. Only a handful were unaccounted for.”

“What does a ‘handful,’ mean?”

Wes clicked through the screens and pulled up the very short list he’d compiled after all his research. “These names sounded familiar, but I wasn’t sure why. I’d downloaded the MF7 database before we were discharged, so I checked the names against that. These three were ‘attendees’ at the fundraiser the year before we were discharged, and all three of them were women we’d previously saved from trafficking who had seemingly tried to get their life back."

“So some women were helped with the Rahab Foundation.”

Wes grimaced and for the first time, he registered Naomi’s hand on his thigh. He looked at the concern written all over her face before he answered. “None of the women were ultimately saved, I don’t think. While some of the women saved by us were immediately trafficked again thanks to the foundation, others seem like they were given a second chance, only to be pulled back in. That’s my working theory, anyway. But these three—” He pointed at the screen. “I can’t account for them. They might’ve actually been helped by the Rahab Foundation, but I don’t know what happened after this party, or whether they even attended.”

“So they could be safe... or they could be...” He didn’t finish, and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his neck. Wes nodded to the unspoken question and Hawk cleared his throat before jutting his chin to the screen. “We need to figure out what happened to them. That’s our next priority. And this woman—” He pointed to the screen. “What happened to her?”

Wes shook his head and blew out a harsh breath. “I honestly don’t know. She’s the only one I have absolutely zero information on.”

Hawk turned his head and something flashed in his eyes that Wes couldn’t identify before they closed again. His leader seemed to stare off unseeing before taking a steadying breath.

“We need to understand what happened to these women. I won’t let another day go by without us putting one hundred and ten percent behind finding them and making sure they don’t need our help. Got it?”

Wes nodded.

“Good.” He scrubbed his fade again and turned away from them.

“You okay, Hawk?” Wes asked, he’d never seen the man look so rattled, but he could understand where he was coming from. Wes had basically just told him their life’s work had hurt countless people and there were still those out there possibly suffering.

He shook his head slowly. When he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. “I-I just need a minute. Can you call the others? Give them the CliffsNotes version?”

Wes nodded. “Of course—”

Hawk left the room before Wes could finish his sentence and he finally gave Naomi his full attention.

“This is insane, Wes...”

Wes nodded. “Yep, but we’ll figure it out.” He hadn’t said what he’d been thinking, that maybe Phoenix had been in on the entire operation, Rahab Foundation, re-trafficking the women, Yemen, maybe even Eagle’s death. That was too much to come to terms with after just figuring out everything else.

Naomi leaned against his shoulder and he soaked in the calmness her presence gave him. His previous life’s purpose may have been tainted, turned and twisted into something awful that he couldn’t—think about, but his purpose now? Thea and Naomi. Ever since he’d met them both, they’d captured his heart. He would do everything in his power to make sure his queen and her princess were safe in their kingdom. They hadn’t needed a white knight, but their happy ever after was now his top priority.

“I love you,” he whispered and kissed her head. Naomi lifted hers to face him with a small smile.

“I love you, too.” Her brow crinkled with worry. “It’s just Thea. We just got out of my relationship with her father. Then all that mess with him. She’s been through so much...”

“I know it’s soon,” he began. “But... I’m in this. All in. I know having a kid changes perspective, but you don’t have to worry about Thea with me. Everything we’ve done has always been on your speed, love. I’m not going anywhere until you kick me to the curb.”

She laughed. “I don’t see that ever happenin’.”

He grinned back at her, letting the words soak in the air.

“Good.” He leaned in and kissed her, loving the way she melted against him. He had so much to do, but being in this moment with her was exactly where he needed to be.

His back pocket vibrated and he groaned. Despite the fact that all he wanted to do was take Naomi and make love to her like they had the night before, bombs had been dropped, metaphorically and physically. Whoever was calling had to be important.

“One second and then these lips are mine,” he whispered before pulling at her bottom lip with his thumb. She blushed before he pulled his phone from his pocket and frowned.

“What is it?” Naomi asked, immediately seeming to sense the change.

“It’s Nora...” He slid the green button over to answer. “Hey Nora, what’s—”

“Superman! Oh thank God, no one’s answering the phone—” Her words were coming at a mile a minute. “I’m at the hospital—”

“Is Jules okay?” Wes interrupted.

“Yes, she’s fine, well, I mean. Babs is in labor but—”

“Jules is in labor?” he asked. “Does Ellie know?”

“Ugh, yes, I’m sure she does, but that’s not why I’m calling—”

“Okay, why are you calling?”

“Will you freaking listen to me? It’s Drake!”

“Draco?” Wes’s stomach leadened as he used his teammate’s call sign. “I know the doctor said it was...” He swallowed, remembering what the doctor told the team his suggestion was.

There was a choked sob on the other line and Wes felt his lips go numb as he asked the question he didn’t want the answer to.

“Do we need to come... say goodbye?”

“No... no,” Nora answered and seemed to take a steadying breath. “He’s awake.”