Page 79 of My Ghost

Suddenly my phone chimes.I look down, hoping that it is Luc telling me he found that fucker hidden under the sofa after all.

What flashes on my screen makes my heart stop.Then it starts to beat again, wild and erratic.

Authorized access to vault #6452.

Identity, Skye-Alias verified

Signal route, Encrypted ping sent to Bastion-Core

Code- 404—Knife Not Found

I nearly drop to my knees.My smart, beautiful, brave Erin… She’s found a way to send me a signal.Which will enable me to get a location.My heart is beating so fast my vision blurs for a beat.I turn to my computer to track the signal’s source while I hit the group call button on my phone.

“We have a location, she sent a signal.”

Not even twenty minutes later, D, Luc, me and forty of our best soldiers converge at a red-brick warehouse.It looks abandoned.But there are fresh tire marks on the dust covering the entrance.My heart kicks in my chest, but this time I feel purpose flooding my bloodstream.

Shehasto be here.Alive.

I signal our men that I’m going in first.I try the pedestrian entrance.It creaks faintly but it opens.I step inside, eyes sweeping the surface, noting, mapping, planning.That’s what I do, that’s who I am.I hadn’t gone to the tactical floor of The Bastion to change into more practical clothes, but I ditched the suit jacket and slipped on a pair of soft-soled tactical boots on the ride here.Now they help me move soundlessly around the large area and through the dark corridor.I strain my ears, gripping my gun harder in my hands.There is a faint voice coming from the end of the corridor and I creep closer.Then there is a sharp crack, as if… I grit my teeth.I need to stay in control,I remind myself.

The corridor opens into a large storage area and now I see them.A man is standing with his back to me and he is gesturing wildly with a gun in his hand.My blood runs cold when I see her.Erin is slumped on a chair, her head is hanging, chin resting on her chest.She doesn’t move.Either she is unconscious or…No.

“I can’t believe it, you must be lying!”the man shouts.I instantly recognize his voice.Adam Rourke.“Answer me, you lying bitch!”He slaps her again, sending her head flying back.She doesn’t make a sound.But when her head swivels back to the front, I am relieved to see that her eyes are open.She is alive!

Then she sees me.She looks right at me through the strands of her hair hiding her face from him.For a beat our eyes are locked.And the world fucking stops.

She looks back at Rourke before he can sense anything going on and starts to laugh, rough and demented.“I’ll tell you the truth,” she grits out through her bloody lips, “…Geryon,” she adds with another crazed laugh, and my blood turns to ice in my veins.

No fucking way.

“Come closer,” she goes on, “and I’ll tell you.”The last part is a mere whisper, as if her voice is failing.

I inch closer, ever so slowly, heart pounding.I want to launch myself at that fucker and kill him with my bare hands.But he’s too close to her, I can’t risk Erin’s life.Another step forward.Another inch.

Rourke is leaning forward to hear what she has to say, and all my muscles coil, ready to pounce.

He is on her now, so close that their cheeks are touching.Suddenly she lifts her leg and kicks him so hard between his legs that he staggers back while her chair topples over and she falls backward.Her head hits the concrete floor with a sickening thud, and that’s when I attack.

A fraction of a second later, Rourke is lying on the floor with a broken wrist, a disjointed knee and a broken nose.The next second, I am kneeling by Erin.

“Amore.”I gently cradle her head, assessing her state.Bruised face, split lips, one eye is swollen.Her torso seems unhurt, her wrists are zip tied to the chair and I pull out my knife to cut the ties.She is barely conscious and her eyes roam around for a beat before they focus on my face.

“You came,” she whispers and then her eyes close.I pick her up in my arms knowing that I will never let her go.I carry her to the exit, almost not noticing the chaos around us.Dave is sprawled on the floor, dead.Rourke is being dragged away by our men.I managed not to kill him although it had cost me.Later.Information first.

I carry Erin outside to the awaiting private ambulance and lay her inside on a gurney.Then I sit next to her head while a medical team takes her vitals.I can’t look away from her bruised face.She is still unconscious and she looks so fragile that my heart clenches painfully.

If a god can hear me, any god, I beseech you, don’t take her.Take me instead.

I have never been religious, but at this moment, I’m ready to kneel in front of any altar and surrender what’s left of my black soul to have her returned to me.

* * * *

Turns out Erin has a concussion.There’s no internal bruising or brain damage, thank fuck.But she has been unconscious for two hours now and I have been banned from her room by the medical team because I washovering.Only their threat of not being able to properly care for her got me finally out of there.Now I’m sitting in the hallway of our private clinic, face buried in my hands.My eyes are burning from lack of sleep, my nerves are shot and now that I know that Erin is taken care of, I am getting restless.Luc sits down next to me and offers me a cup of coffee.I take it with a grateful nod.The taste is horrendous but the caffeine helps me clear my head.We sit in silence until I put the cup down on the low table nearby.

“She’ll be okay, Teo.”

I nod again, but don’t reply.My hands are clasped so tight my knuckles are white.I know I need an outlet.Luc must sense my restlessness.