Leather & Lace- THE SPECTER SERIES [book five]

Chapter NINE

Ace Greyson

Lacey takes a deep breath, looking up at me as she tentatively reaches out, slipping her tiny hand into mine.. I can see the apprehension in her stormy aqua-grey eyes and I wish there was some way I could reassure her..
But I'm also mindful that anything reassuring I try to say will sound like bullshit..

She has just witnessed a heinous war crime that will likely change her forever.. Just like my tours overseas and the things I had seen had changed me..

"W-Where are we going?.." Her voice wavers as I begin to lead her through the trees, backtracking in the direction of the medical camp, though I steer us away from the dead rebel I dispatched only a few yards away.. She doesn't need to see any more bodies tonight.. And I'm pretty sure explaining to her that I had killed the guy in cold blood would not exactly put her at ease...

"Back to my camp, to call out for your extraction.. You gotta go home, Doll-face.." Getting her the fuck out of here is my number one priority.. Her fingers are frosty cold in my hand as she begins to shiver beside me, her teeth chattering.. The temperature has dropped dramatically and her damp blood soaked shirt, combined with the shock that is likely now setting in as her adrenaline wears off causing trembles to wrack her petite frame...

I shrug out of my black windbreaker and wrap it around her shoulders, she watches my every move so carefully, like I might hurt her, as she slips her arms into the sleeves.. It's about ten times too big for her, but she pushes up the cuffs to her elbows and zips it up to her chin with a thin smile.. "Th-thank you.."

I can see that she is dazed and frayed.. As badly as I need her to move and move fast.. She isn't a soldier.. I can't expect her to act like one and I sure as shit can't treat her like one..

So instead of barking orders at her, like I'm trained to in a scenario like this, I lead her to sit at the base of a nearby tree, she slumps to the dirt, rubbing her tired, bloodshot eyes.. "They wanted the vials.. They didn't take anything else.. The vials.. Doctor Sarif.. I need to find him.. They might attack the other medical centres looking for more.." She talks to herself, more than me..

"What vials?.." I question..

Maybe the rebels had been after drugs?.. Opiates or some other kind of high.. It wouldn't be the first time..

She blinks at me, as though she forgot I was here.. She scrambles to her feet, digging into her pocket and producing a long thin glass tube with a red cap, a dark liquid inside.. "This.. Whoever those people were.. They were after this.."

I frown, taking the vial and tipping it between my fingers.. "What is it?."

She scratches her neck, scrunching up her button nose.. "I.. don't know.. But I'm pretty sure it came from Davros Pharmaceuticals.. That's why I need to find Sanjake.. He must know what this is.. Why the rebels wanted it..".

Davros is a company name I have seen way too many times.. Splashed across case after case back when I worked contracts for the CIA..

The CEO, Kingsley, runs a corrupted company with even dirtier personal assosscations..

Yeah, David Kingsley is a certified scumbag, so I'm pretty pissed off to hear that he is involved in this project and somehow Iris had allowed Lacey anywhere near it.. I can't help but think of how furious the bossman is going to be when he finds out..

And he will find out, he always does..

Hell, he might actually kill Santiago.. I'd buy tickets to that fight..

"Where is Sarif?.." It is immediately suspicious to me that the doctor had been conveniently away from the camp at the time of the attack, the tracker I have on his SUV showed his location at an inn in Druitt when the gunfire had begun..

"I, um, don't know.. Druitt?.. I think.. He was expecting a big donation to come through after David Kingsley came to inspect the camp today around lunchtime.. But they argued.. And then.." She shakes her head.. "I think they left together.. Though I can't be sure.. I was.. um.. distracted.." She twists her hands together nervously as she trails off..

I crouch down in front of her, a few feet away.. Giving her space.. I'm picking up the very distinct signals that she is uneasy around me, and as a six-foot-something guy, I'm more than aware of my intimidating size.. "We gotta keep moving, Lacey.. Are you up to it?.." I try to keep my tone casual, but the longer we're out here, the more likely somebody will come looking for the scout I took out earlier and the missing medic..

She nods, to my surprise as she reaches out, wrapping a tiny and around my forearm to pull herself up..

And I let her..

"I think so.. But, Ace?.."

I pause.. "Yeah?"

"David Kingsley.. He's--" Whatever she had been going to say dies on her tounge the second we both hear the sounds of murmured voices filter through the trees ahead..

Her eyes go wide with panic..

I take her hand and without another word we set off, moving away from the voices and away from the medical camp, taking a longer route back to my camp..