Finding Jess (First Wave) (18 page)

“I don’t believe you! I’m not
stupid! I know you intend to kill both of us! Now back away or I’ll kill her
first!” Atane tightened his arm across Jess’s chest, causing her to gasp as he
squeezed the air out of her lungs. Reven caught Amun right before he broke past
him.

“Calm yourself or she will die!”
Reven hissed at him through gritted teeth. He damn sure didn’t need this right
now when he was still figuring out Jax’s plans as they were happening, and he
needed to get ahead of this if he was going to help.

“I’m willing to work with you man,
but I’m not letting you cross that bridge with her.” Jax shook her head in an
exaggerated fashion as if mocking Atane. As Reven tried to understand why she
was antagonizing him, she spoke quickly into her own primitive comm, “When you
got it… Go!”

Oh damn, she was going to engage in
some way. He quickly spoke into his own comm. “Hold your fire, no matter what;
you do not fire unless I command it!” Whatever the hell she was going to do; he
didn’t need his men adding their fire to the mix when no one was sure who all
was bad at this point. He’d no sooner had the thought than everything exploded
into action at once.

Jax raised her hands into the sky
as a flock of birds swooped in over Atane’s head, wings flapping and claws
extended, Atane swung wildly with his weapon to force them back. Moments later
Atane’s arm holding the weapon was jerked back at an odd angle, the hand still
holding the gun dropped to the ground and Amun took off running towards Jess.
From under the bridge four women flipped over to the top of the bridge, ran and
grabbed Jess and pushed her into Amun’s waiting arms, then turned their weapons
on Atane, who was now lying on the ground holding his arm while Jax sauntered
casually up to him.

Reven stood back a moment looking
for the shooter. Who the hell shot Atane? No one in their positions could have
made that shot. It had to be someone from Jax’s team otherwise she wouldn’t be
so nonchalant right now. Still scanning the area he walked up beside her as she
stood over Atane, who was now lying on the ground crying over his lost hand but
still not giving up his pretense of being Atane.

“You and your other buddy over
there are now going to be our guests. At least for as long as you prove
useful.” Nodding her head at the four women who’d been somehow suspended under
the bridge, they stepped forward, grabbed him from off the ground and dragged
him crying back into the building.

Reven watched dispassionately as
Atane was dragged off, he’d pick at his emotions over the loss of one of his
men later, when he was alone. He smiled briefly as Amun held Jess while silent
tears streamed down her face, her hands clutching at his shirt. Still his eyes
scanned the area as his men mixed with Jax’s team as they came out of hiding.

“Can’t figure it out can you? Admit
it!” Jax joked as she laughed at him.

“What are you talking about? And
woman! We… we have a lot to talk about later. A lot.” Reven tried to keep the
smile off his face as he attempted to be stern with her, shaking his finger at
her. It was really hard to do when her face was lit up with happiness; it was
as if she was glowing with beauty. The few rare smiles she usually gave did not
even come close to the gut punching reality of how beautiful she looked when
she truly smiled.

“You’re dying to know where the
shooter is! It was the hardest part of this to figure out!” Jax lightly punched
him in the arm and smiled brightly at him.

“I do admit to being very curious
as to not only the location of the shooter but the full details regarding this
interesting plan, which I can’t fail to point out seemed to work quite well;
with no casualties among us, other than one which we appear to have lost much
earlier than today.” Both Reven and Jax turned embarrassed faces towards Ivint
and Banatar, who stood behind them on the bridge.

“I particularly liked the parts
where Reven looked like he was always two steps behind everything that was
going on. I wonder why that was? Maybe you could point out the shooter to me
Reven?” Ivint asked with an indecipherable look on his face.

“Look to the tree Sir.” Jax told
them after speaking into her comm and pointing at the scrawny tree not thirty
yards in front of them.

Even Reven watched in fascination
as the tree appeared to blur before the outline of a man appeared at the bottom
and began walking to them. As he drew closer, Amun could see what appeared to
be bark and leaves painted on the man’s clothes and skin; even his weapon
looked like a part of the tree.

“Sirs, may I present to you Lt.
David Jacobs, former United States Navy Seal.” Reven heard Jax introduce the man,
and he didn’t like the way she said his name one bit, as if there was too much
admiration in her voice.

“Sirs, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
You must be Reven.” Reven felt like choking when the man made it clear to
everyone that he had no idea who he was. Ivint shot him an unreadable look at
the revelation that he truly had been clueless on at least that part of her
plan and Banatar seemed to be fuming.

“We should all be debriefed as
quickly as possible since we really need to hit the road to the warehouse
district. So how about we get that over with so we can pack up?” Jax seemed to
be the only one unconcerned with the suspicious looks being thrown around by
the men. Reven couldn’t completely suppress his growl when she took hold of
David’s arm and led him into the compound, Gibly close on her heels. He was
stopped from storming after her by Ivint’s hand on his arm.

“Reven, I suggest you take your own
advice and calm yourself before you do something… out of character.” Ivint
suggested sternly before heading inside. With one last look at Jess and Amun,
he followed Ivint and Banatar into the compound.

Jess held tightly to Amun, uncaring
of anything going on around her but the feel of his arms around her and the
sense of safety he always gave her.

“Amalaya, are you alright?” Amun
didn’t wait for his hands to stop shaking before he started running them up and
down Jess’s arms and back trying to feel for any injuries.

“I’m not hurt. I was just scared.
Did you see Lily? Is she ok?” Jess asked, her voice still shaking.

“I didn’t see her on my way to you.
She was supposed to be with you.” Amun said with concern, looking around to see
if he could see their little girl.

“Jess! Amun!”

They turned towards the door of the
compound in time to see Lily come flying towards them. Amun caught her up in
his arms when she launched herself at him. Lily hugged him tightly before
leaning down and hugging Jess.

Amun looked over at Maggie, who was
smiling broadly in the doorway with Tarvok standing behind her looking
thunderous. Not wanting to even think about what was wrong with Tarvok and
Maggie this time, Amun turned with Lily in his arms and went back to hold his
family.

“You really should go inside now.
Our location has been compromised, and we need to get out of here and get set
up in the warehouse district.” Risk squeezed Amun’s shoulder before walking
inside.

Amun looked around and noticed that
there were at least eight Valendran warrior’s and women standing guard around
the three of them, all with weapons drawn and ready to defend them if
necessary.

“We should go inside now Amalaya;
we need to pack as well, and I need to make sure you, and Lily are alright
before we go.” Amun nodded gratefully at the men and women who had surrounded
them, as he led his mate and child inside.

“As soon as we get packed, I’ll
come help you with the other children.” Jess said to Maggie as Amun led them
through the doorway.

“No need honey, the other girls
already had them packed and ready before we even knew we were leaving. You take
a few minutes with Amun and Lily, and we’ll let you know when we’re leaving.”
Maggie gave Jess’s hand an encouraging squeeze and smiled at the three of them
as they passed her.

Even Lily remained silent as Amun
led them through the hallways to their rooms. He walked through the living area
and headed right to him and Jess’s bedroom; sitting on the bed, he gathered
Jess close to his side as Lily settled into his lap. Even now, knowing that
they were safe, he was still shaking.

“I love you both, so very much.
Thank you for listening and going to get help Lily. You probably saved my
life.” Jess thought she would be able to speak by now, but she barely got the
last sentence out before she broke down into convulsing sobs.

“Gods baby…” Amun lay back on the
bed and dragged Jess up to lay beside him and curled his body around hers as
she sobbed into his chest. Lily crawled up behind Jess and put her arms around
her waist; Amun put one arm around both of them.

“Why do I have a feeling that when
I find out everything that went on today I’m going to be very upset and very
proud of both of my girls?” Amun asked, trying to lighten the mood now that he
was calming down. He smiled when Jess let out a choking laughter.

“I think maybe you shouldn’t know
everything then.” Jess sniffled and tried to pull herself together.

“I did what Jess told me to do, so
I don’t think I should be in trouble at all!” Lily piped up.

“Really? I remember telling a
certain little girl to go with Maggie. But somehow you ended up back with me
anyway…” Jess turned around to smile gently at Lily, who blushed and hid her
face behind Jess’s back.

“Oh I definitely want to know what
happened today. If it wasn’t so important to get out of here soon, I would be
finding out right now.” Amun leaned up and smiled down at his mate and child,
his heart clenching at the thought of how close he could have come to losing
them both.

“We’re ok, my love. That’s all that
matters.” Jess gently ran her hand through Amun’s hair and gave him a wobbly
smile.

Amun was going to find out what
happened today and would probably be furious… at someone. But right now he is
just too happy that they were unharmed and safe with him to care.

Chapter
Sixteen

“Does someone want to tell me what the
hell just happened here? And when did we approve the use of a human outsider?”
Banatar thundered at Jax and Reven as soon as the conference room door closed
behind them. Reven assumed that either Banatar didn’t care or had forgotten
that his loud voice was carrying through the closed door to the human sitting
right outside.

“Well, as I tried to tell you from
the beginning, and you wouldn’t listen, the enemy within was one of them. The
only way we were going to draw him out was to use a few extreme techniques.
Which we did. At no point was anyone in danger. Reven and I had it covered at
all times.” Jax was unconcerned with Banatar’s anger. This was pretty minor
compared to some of the things she’d done before so she didn’t really expect
too many hassles from it. Ivint’s small smile and silence had her worried
though; there was never a clue as to what that man was thinking until he opened
his mouth. She hoped that if Reven wasn’t too angry at her that he would try to
run interference with his boss the way she was with Banatar.

“At what point, did Reven have
anything covered? It looked to me like he was chasing you all over the damn
place trying to figure out what the hell you were doing! You were told to work
with him, not leave him in the dark while you did whatever the hell you wanted
to do!” Banatar paced the floor of the conference room, his face glowing red in
his anger.

“Sir, with all due respect, Jax is
right. The traitor was one of our own. Our options of catching him were very
slim considering the fact that we had no clues as to who it was. I don’t know
about you Ivint, but I knew Atane. I helped train him when he first became a
warrior. I never expected it to be him, and I would have continued not to
believe one of ours was responsible if she hadn’t planned this to go exactly
how it did.”

“I knew what Jax was doing, and I
agreed that there were things that even I didn’t need to know so that there
could be no chance of the information being compromised. And this may surprise
you, but we communicated quite well together. It may have been unconventional,
but as you said, no one was harmed. We have two in custody, including the
Relian, who killed Atane and took over his form, which is more than we had
yesterday. And we have a team recovering the real Atane’s body from the woods
around the cabin so that his family can give him a proper burial.” Reven told
them, trying his best to protect Jax from their anger. Why he didn’t know. He
was so mad at her; he wanted to strangle her.

“The human is my fault. I brought
him here.” Gibly announced with what could only be described as a grin on his
face.

“What were you thinking? He could
have compromised the safety of everyone here.” Ivint looked sternly at Gibly.

“He would not! He good man and we
need him.” Gibly replied indignantly while Jax jumped to his defense.

“I investigated and vetted him
myself! Yes, we took a chance, one we’ve made many times before and just like
when we’ve done it before this is another time when it was the right thing to
do at the right time!”

“That man was in that tree for
four
days
! Four days he waited until he had the perfect chance and the perfect
shot! All to help out a bunch of ungrateful alien jerks! He saved Jess’s life,
and I won’t let you sit here and tear him apart because you didn’t get to meet
him first! He’s a decorated hero who deserves more respect than this.” Jax was
livid. How dare the Valendran leader question her ability and judgment?

“Jax, you better tone your attitude
down right now! You disobeyed an order, and you aren’t going to stand there and
talk your way out of it just because it turned out alright!” Banatar was
obviously really pissed off at Jax. Reven assumed it had to be from Jax doing
similarly dangerous and unapproved actions before now. However, he still couldn’t
stand there and let her take all the anger; he was just as responsible for not
confronting her when he knew that she was doing things behind his back.

“If you had wanted a babysitter for
her, maybe you should have said that instead of ordering us to work together.”
Reven didn't realize he’d said it out loud until he heard the sharp intake of
breath from Banatar and Ivint.

“Hell yeah!” Jax agreed
enthusiastically.

“Reven! Watch your tongue as well,”
Ivint gently reprimanded. It was Ivint’s leniency that gave him the courage to
take it further.

“No, this is enough. You both sat
there and watched us go over this plan! You
both
said you had no ideas
to offer, nothing to add to our conversation. You both told us to work together
and get the traitor. And we did. And this is what we get for it? Ivint, when
did we start reprimanding our officers for doing a hell of a job? From where I
sit, we have one traitor and one Relian in custody and ready for interrogation,
and every single person is not only accounted for but uninjured.”

“To me that says we not only won,
but we are way ahead of this, because of Jax and her unconventional plan. No, I
didn’t know all of it. I couldn’t. And neither could any other Valendran,
including both of you.” Reven tried to defend Jax.

“And Jess was still taken and could
have been killed!” Banatar began, but was interrupted when Jess and Amun came
in the door.

“We don’t mean to interrupt you,
but Jess has something to say about that.” Amun said, letting Jess into the
conference room ahead of him.

“I’m so sorry. But I had to do it.”
Jess walked past Amun and immediately fell into Jax’s arms.

“It’s ok honey. I had already
expected exactly what happened, and you did wonderful! You were so brave!” Jax
gave Jess a genuine hug in response.

“Please don’t blame Jax for my
mistake. Please. I wasn’t supposed to be there. She had told one of the other
girls to be me, knowing that I… they would be taken. I couldn’t let someone
else take the chance meant for me. Please understand it wasn’t her. I had to do
this; I had to prove I could be strong enough.” Jess couldn’t help it; she
started to cry. Amun put his arms around her and held her tight, giving her his
strength.

“Jess, you had nothing to prove to
anyone. You’ve done more for our women than anyone else other than Banatar
himself, why would you think you had to risk your life again?” Ivint asked
gently, not wanting to upset Jess any more than she seemed to be already.

“Because, I had to know I could be
a good enough mother for Lily; that I could not only protect her with my life,
but that I could be worthy of having her… and Amun.” Jess admitted so quietly
everyone had to strain to hear her.

“Oh Jess… you have more courage
than any warrior I have ever met. I am more than honored to have earned the right
to have someone so beautiful and courageous by my side.” Amun tried to hide his
own tears by hugging Jess to him.

“Jess, you were a hero just by
being yourself. You didn’t need to do this to show who you really are; you
already did that. This time… it was my turn to be your hero.” Jax hugged both
Amun and Jess.

Jess pulled away from both of them,
wiped her tears as best as she could, and stood as bravely as she could in
front of Ivint and Banatar.

“I would like to formally request
leniency for Jax and Reven. Her plan would have been perfect if the right
victim had been where she should have been, if it hadn’t been for me. Please… I
don’t know what you do to people you think did something wrong… but please
don’t do anything to Jax or Reven. Please.” Jess couldn’t continue; her tears
made it, so she could no longer speak, and she just clung desperately to Jax
and Amun.

All Jess could think of were the
horrible things she suffered through whenever the Relians in the camp thought
she did something wrong. It killed her inside to think that through her
actions, she may have sentenced Reven and Jax to those nasty punishments.

“Jess, I don’t know how much you
know about us, but we would never do anything bad to Jax for disobeying orders.
She’s like a daughter to me, and she knows it; which is why I yell at her so
much.” Banatar tried to smile at Jess, but it didn’t have the effect; he
thought it would.

“Jess, I can’t tell you how much I
respect you. If you say you changed Jax’s plans for your own purposes, I
believe you. And I will not hold her accountable for your actions. But it does
not dissolve her of the responsibility I gave her.” Banatar said with a lot
less anger in his voice now as he looked to Ivint for help with the distressed
girl.

“Jess, we do not have the kind of
punishments you may be thinking of. They will not be harmed in any way. Ever. I
promise you that. But yelling at them… that’s something they are both used to
by now.” Ivint said with a sigh and a grin at Reven.

“Thank you, Sir. Jax… thank you.
For giving me back my life. For making me feel like I was strong enough to be a
mother. To be a mate. I can never repay you for what you have given me. I can
only say that I hope when we finally try to have a ceremony again, that you
will not only be there, but you and Reven will be on watch.” Jess held Jax’s
hands and glared at Banatar, who sighed in exasperation and threw his hands up
in the air.

“Jess, I never meant for you to go
through yet another trial by fire. Your loyalties were known long before you
graced our home with your presence. And I truly mean that. If you chose to
exert your power, then I refuse to say anything more that may take from you
your hard-earned ability. Accept my apologies and my heartfelt wish that you
and Amun and Lily live happily.” Banatar was done. It was extremely hard to be
angry at Jax when the person they were supposed to protect came to her defense.

“Thank you Sir!” Jess ran up to
Banatar and surprised him with a hug that he returned immediately.

“You are more than welcome, Jess.
I’m sure Maggie might need some help getting the children ready to go if you’re
feeling up to it.” Banatar really didn’t have time for this right now and
wanted to get as much of this day cleared up before they moved to the warehouse
district in Knoxville.

“I’ll be happy to help, Sir.” Jess
allowed Amun to lead her out of the conference room and down the hallways
towards Lily and the other children.

“Sir, if I may be free to speak?”
Lt. David Jacobs came in through the open door to the room as well.

“In Jax’s defense, it was Gibly who
recruited me to your cause, not Jax. I didn’t meet Jax until much later, when
she decided my particular talents would help you. I’m sorry; I've lost my
manners. I m be a little loopy after sitting in that tree for so long. Forgive
me. I’m Lt. David Jacobs; I was the one in the tree you met earlier.” David
held his hand out to Banatar and Ivint, hoping to save Jax from… he didn’t know
what. What the hell do aliens know about honor and why was he trying to save
her? He didn’t have a clue, but Gibly smiled at him and that was enough for
him.

“Lt. Jacobs, it is a pleasure to
meet you. We can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done. I’m sure we can come
up with suitable recompense for your time assisting us,” Banatar offered.

“I would rather appreciate the
opportunity to offer you a job. That shot was impressive, and the fact that you
avoided detection in that small tree for four days… I am very interested in
your work and would like the chance to speak with you more; when time allows of
course.” Ivint said to the Navy Seal standing at attention in the doorway.

“We are, as I’m sure you noticed in
the process of moving locations for safety purposes; I was hoping that we could
persuade you to come with us and maybe provide us a unique insight into the
workings of the military and the American government. If it’s something you are
interested in of course.” Ivint knew that any warrior willing to camp out in a
tree for four days would be more than happy to learn more about them.

“I would be honored Sir. Thank you
for the opportunity to assist you and your brethren.” David wasn’t sure what
else to add. He wasn’t certain if Banatar was playing bad cop and Ivint good
cop, but he figured his time to say his peace was over now. Giving Jax a
friendly pat on the shoulder, he walked back out of the open door and sat down
at the chairs outside of the room.

 “If we are going to talk about my
Jax, then I must admit that I was talking to the lieutenant long before I told
Jax about him. We bonded before Jax had anything to do with it,” Gibly added to
the eye rolling of Banatar.

“She didn’t need an excuse to be
insubordinate! She has always been that way! All you’re doing is giving her a
way to escape responsibility by congratulating her!” Banatar may have been less
angry, but he was still frustrated.

“No, you can’t disregard what she
has to say because you don’t like it. There have been more times than I can
count where I relied on Ivint to trust me, and you have not. You call her your
second i command, and you rely on her. But you don’t like the methods that
achieve results. You can’t have it both ways. We have delivered to you a
traitor, as requested, and another prisoner. Not including the fact that no one
was hurt. What more do you expect? Because if it is more than that, we may not
be able to comply.” Reven tried one more time to calm Banatar.