SCARLETT 16

 

Cassius bundled me into the chopper early this morning, telling me that I was needed to detect if the doctor would tell us the truth or lie. Cassius is sitting to my left side while Burkhart’s on the right, Draco and Celmund are sitting before us and to my surprise Caelius is flying the chopper. It’s the first time I have ever been on a helicopter and the idea is making me nauseous.

Cassius hand is holding mine as he looks out the window and his thumb is stroking circles on the top of it. Looking down at our hands I see the contrast of his tanned fingers against my white ones, his hand is big, nearly two of mine. I feel tiny between all these men, but most importantly they make me feel safe.

Cassius was worried about the device detonating with the altitude, but Bion assured us that after analysing the x-rays and sonar that he did on Brielle he’s sure that the only way it will detonate is if someone activates it. 

“Ten minutes till we land.” Caelius voice comes through the earphones; I keep my eyes either trained on our hands or on the floor as not to see how high we are. When I feel that we are starting to descend my fingers tighten instinctively. Cassius looks over at me and then smiles tenderly.

“Those earphones are bigger than your head, I can hardly see your face.” He says, my head snaps up and I see the others smiling, and then grin when the earphones start to slip forward. I hastily pull them back in place as I smile; some of my hair has slipped out of my pony tail and is now curling around my face.

Cassius lifts the hand that isn’t holding mine and pulls at a strand of hair playfully.  Just then I feel the chopper touch the tar, my eyes widen in surprise and then I realize that he was distracting me so I wouldn’t be afraid of the landing. He pulls his earphones off and then helps me with mine.

Stepping out of the helicopter he turns holding me around my waist he helps me down, and then starts to guide me towards a SUV that is waiting for us. Burkhart takes the wheel this time, Draco sits next to him in the passenger side. Once again I’m between Cassius and this time Caelius while Celmund sits behind us.

I look around as we drive, because it’s still early in the morning the traffic is hectic but we soon make it into a suburb where the traffic has calmed down. “You sure he’s home alone?” Draco asks

“I have a visual of him still sleeping.” Celmund answers

“Are we going to his house?” I ask

“Yeah, like that no one will interrupt us. Baby, when we asking him questions if he lies just nod okay?” Cassius says squeezing my hand gently as we pull up outside a high walled house. “Let’s go.” He calls as he opens the door and steps out holding his hand out for mine.  I notice that Burkhart doesn’t switch off the ignition as we cross the road towards the high gates. I notice Celmund has his tablet out and is typing away, just then the gates start to open.

“Did he do that?” I ask as I stare at Celmund

“Yeah” Cassius says as we hurry inside before the gate closes behind us. “Don’t make any noise now baby, we need to surprise him.”

I see Draco place his hand on the double wooden entrance doors, I don’t know what he does to them but they swing open as if commanded. Draco, Caelius and Celmund slip inside with their weapons drawn. Cassius pulls me behind him as he advances, his weapon is also drawn but he holds it down as we walk inside.

I see Draco and Caelius climb quietly up the stairs to the first floor while Celmund waits at the base of the stairs. I can feel my heart racing while we wait; I have never done something like this before. Even though it’s exciting, my nerves are making me jumpy. When we hear a scuffle upstairs and then a groan I look up at Cassius worriedly, but all he does is wink at me as he starts to climb up the stairs pulling me behind him.

As we enter a bedroom, I see a man that must be in his late forties sitting on his bed with Caelius gun pointed at his head. “Doctor do you know who we are?” Draco asks conversationally as he pulls up the chair that was by the window, and inclines his head for me to sit.

Moving towards it I see the man’s eyes on me, “I’m not sure.” He says conversationally, “but if I have to guess I would say you are Elemental’s.” I’m surprised at his calmness, if it was most people they would be stressing but the man is just sitting there as if nothing is happening.

“Do you know why we’re here?” Cassius asks from behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder. I see the man analysing us before he shakes his head.

“So you have no idea, why we would pay you a visit?” Draco asks

“None at all.” His lying, I look up at Draco and nod. He knows that we’re here because of the devices.

“Well, I don’t think I believe you.” Draco says as he walks towards the bed and sits next to the doctor as he inclines his head to Caelius, who steps back and lowers his gun. “Tell me, what do you know about the devices that the Keres are using?” he asks conversationally.

“If you’re here, I’m guessing they are devices that I created.” The doctor says sarcastically.

“How did the Keres get your devices?” Cassius asks

“Well that you will have to ask them, now won’t you?” again he lies; he knows exactly how they got them because he was the one to train them and hand them over. I nod again to Draco, and even though his eyes are on the doctor, I know that he saw my nod.

“Well doctor, I think that you’re keeping secrets from us.” Draco places a hand on the doctors shoulder, “I believe you like working with chemicals, don’t you?” I see the doctors’ expression tense and then he flinches but Draco holds him tight with his one hand. Only then do I see the fabric of his pyjama top crinkling away, what the hell?

Suddenly the doctor screams, only then does Draco lift his hand. I’m sure my mouth is hanging open, as I see the blistered shoulder. How did Draco burn him like that? I know these men have certain gifts, but I never knew they were like this.

“Did you know that the Keres were going to use those devices on our women?” Cassius asks from behind me.

“No,” he yells, but his truth is that he knew that they were going to use it against the Elementals’ not specifically against the women. I don’t know if I should nod or shake my head, therefore I nod and shake my head. Hopefully the men understand, the doctor is too busy pulling at the fabric around the burnt area to pay attention to what I’m doing.

“How do we deactivate the device?” Draco asks

“Has it been implanted?” the doctor asks in a rasp.

“Yes”

“Nothing can be done then.” He murmurs, I can feel Caelius and Cassius eyes on me as Draco snaps his eyes towards me, I nod, apparently if we have the right frequency and code we can deactivate the device and then it will be fine to be extracted. I bring my hand up to Cassius hand and pull gently to let him know that I need to tell him something.

They won’t know what to ask him if I don’t tell him. He leans down towards me as Caelius moves and blocks us from the doctor. “Ask him what frequency, and what the code is?” I whisper

“What frequency do the devices work on?” Draco asks, how did he hear my whisper? Wow, I must really be careful when talking around them.

“What?” the doctor asks surprised.

“You’re wasting my time doc,” Draco places his hand on the doctor’s leg.

“No, wait.” He says hurriedly with a grimace. “How do you know about the frequency?” he asks

“That isn’t an answer.” Draco growls

“I’ll give you the frequency, wait. I’ll give it to you.” The doctor yells, “I need a pen and paper.” Caelius walks out of the door and then Celmund walks in with his tablet in hand. He moves to stand before the doctor and then hands him the tablet. The doctor works for a minute, and then hands the tablet back.

“Did you give us the correct frequency?” Celmund asks with a frown as he looks down at his tablet.

“Yes.” Truth

“Now that we have the frequency what are the codes?” Celmund asks

“I don’t know, each device will have a different code.” The doctor gasps as Draco latches onto his leg again. “I promise, I don’t know. Whoever programed the device has the codes; I will never be able to give you the codes.” Truth, there goes our hope of getting the devices deactivated soon.

“Who did you give the devices to?” Cassius asks

“I didn’t, our team was tasked with it.” He says hurriedly, “three bikers from the Keres MC came in and I was tasked to teach them how to work with it.”

“How long do the people have when the device is activated?” Celmund asks

“Seconds.” I sigh at his answer; I can feel Cassius tenseness behind me.

“Who were the Keres that you briefed.” Draco asks

“I don’t know,” part of it is true, but he knows that they’re in Cape Town.

“Where in Cape Town are they?” I whisper softly, wondering if any of them heard and just as I finish Celmund asks the question. Wow, okay at least I know now to keep my mouth shut when around them. I see the doctor look at Celmund with wide eyes as he shakes his head. Draco places his hand against his leg again and this time the doctor yells in pain.

“Please, please . . . stop.”

“Where?” Draco’s voice is low and commanding as he waits for a reply.

“Goodwood,” he shouts, “please, they’re in Goodwood.”

“Are you sure there is no other way of neutralizing the device without the codes?” Cassius asks, as the doctor gasps in pain.

“No other way.” He murmurs.

“Who gave the order?” Draco asks as he stands.

“Santra . . . Agent Santra.” I see Draco scowl and then his hand is on the doctors’ hair and he’s pulling his head back until his eyes are on him.

“Are you telling me that Santra is in bed with the Keres.” He rasps, I can see the muscles in Draco’s back are tense.

“Don’t know,” he doesn’t, but interestingly I pick up that he suspects that this agent Santra is taking bribes from the Mafia. Draco turns slightly and inclines his head to Cassius, at that I feel Cassius hand on my bicep as he helps me up and ushers me out of the room. As we walk towards the steps I draw closer to Cassius and whisper about the Mafia.

Cassius doesn’t say anything just nods and continues to walk. I see Caelius at the bottom of the stairs as we start descending. “Can you also do that?” I ask curiously, surprising Cassius that looks at me with raised brows.

“Do what?”

“That barbecue thing that Draco has going?” at my question both men start to chuckle.

“Never thought about that, maybe we can get some chops and ask him to barbecue them.” Cassius says as he looks at Caelius.

“Or, I can just barbecue your chops.” Draco says as he starts to descend with a questioning look as he looks at Cassius.

“Nope it’s fine; I like his chops raw, tender and bloody . . . but thanks.” I quickly interject before he actually does decide to burn Cassius. At my muttered comment the men look at me in surprise and then roar with laughter. As the laughter dies down Cassius guides me outside, Caelius before us with Draco and Celmund behind. I’m curious to know what they did to the doctor but I’m not going to ask. Once we’re in the car Cassius leans down against my ear and whispers.

 “Can’t wait to get you home.” My cheeks instantly warm in embarrassment as I know that the others heard what he said. I turn my head and wink at him in response instead of answering, and then I turn forward and try changing the subject by telling the others about knowing that the agent the doctor was talking about is working with the Mafia. 

“That motherfucker.” Burkhart growls as he slaps the steering wheel.

“At least we know the area where the Keres are in Cape Town,” Celmund says, “we can contact Tor and get him to start scouting.”

“We’re all going to Cape Town, the sooner we find them the better.” Draco says

My eyes snap up towards Cassius in surprise, “we going now?”

“Yeah baby, the sooner the better. I want to get that out of you as soon as possible.” He murmurs as he nuzzles my hair.

“But I don’t have anything with me.” I state, and see the guys smile.

“Don’t worry; you will have anything you need at Tor’s compound. The fucker lives like a king.” Cassius persuades.

“Did you see that massage bed he had their last time we were there?” Celmund asks as he shakes his head with a grin.

“Yeah, he tried to get me to try it.” Caelius growls, “Fuck that.” I smile at his words. Caelius is the last guy that you would see pampering himself. He’s the real rough to the bone kind of guy; his t-shirts are usually black or dark grey, jeans always indigo blue. His dark blond hair is long, usually covering his features, with stubble that looks like he never shaves. I can just imagine his face when Tor offered for him to use the massage bed.

I lean against Cassius resting my head against his bicep as I hear the guys tease Caelius, I know that we have a possibility that we might not find the Keres with the codes, but having met Cassius and being able to know this absolute overwhelming connection that we both have is worth everything I went through even if it means that I die because of being his mate, but at least I die knowing love.