EPOV.
Time in some cases was dragging, in others it was moving much too fast. Both Bella and I knew that things were getting hot, we could both feel the anticipation in the air and it leant nothing to our moods, we were on edge. We still hadn't worked out why they needed us, there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to pump us for information when anything we knew was on a need to know based on the mission at the time. These clichéd ideas of us having arming codes and locations for satellites and the like are just that, ideas, sure if anyone would have a clue on satellite locations it would be Bella, but there's not a lot that could be done with that intel anyhow. The only other thing that came to mind was that we were needed to lay off the scent from what they were doing and anything they got from us would be a bonus. I could only hope that was true, because I couldn't even begin to imagine any other scenario without getting annoyed.
We spent our days following the routine we had established, perimeter checks, meals, occasional visits to town and my favourite...'Down time'. I felt more and more connected to Bella the longer that we were here and I couldn't deny the location was beautiful. Being around Bella was as easy as breathing, I didn't need to think about, it came naturally, no effort required. Not that I didn't make an effort, I enjoyed springing clichéd surprises on her, from candle lit dinner dates to even a trip to the movies, just so I could make out with her in the back row of course. I loved every minute of it, I'm pretty certain she did too. Our injuries were healing, Bella barely had a visible limp from her gunshot and I'd started exercising to get back to fitness, I needed to be in as good condition as possible if I wanted to protect her and Bella's awesome cooking was definitely going against that, which meant I had to work harder to keep myself at peak fitness. My arm was healing well and the brace was much less limiting than that dreadful cast.
It's now the middle of August and Bella was as usual embedded in the 'bat cave', I joked with her often that she should consider getting fitted for a neoprene suit, something clingy in a cat woman style, hell if not neoprene, leather would be great. She'd blush and slap my arm while laughing at me. I love her laugh.
I stood at the kitchen window staring out into the surrounding forest, nursing a cup of coffee when I heard her light footsteps approaching from behind. I continued to feign ignorance of her presence and took a sip from my cup as her hands snaked around my waist.
"You holding out on me with the coffee again Master Chief?" she purred.
"Maybe," I shrugged taking another sip.
Her grip tightened as she slipped around to stand in front of me, she looked up cocking an eyebrow in question.
"Okay, yeah... I'm hogging the coffee," I said with a grin.
"That's what I thought," she murmured, placing a light kiss to the middle of my chest.
I hummed in appreciation and held her tighter.
"So... what do you know?"
"I know lots of things, I know that you've been holding out on me with coffee, I know I love the way this t-shirt clings, I know I could nibble this spot forever and never get bored..." she said nipping my bicep. "I know I'd be lost without you and I know why the Volturi are doing this."
"Mmmm, baby you know it drives me crazy when you do that... wait. What did you just say?"
"I said... I know I'd be lost without you and I know why the Volturi are doing this," she replied with a grin. Her eyes sparkled with mirth.
"So... are you willing to share, or am I going to need to interrogate you further?" I said nipping her ear lightly.
"Well Master Chief, as much as I enjoy your interrogation methods, I think I'm going to have to share willingly this time," she said huskily. "But later, we're going to brush up on your techniques, can't have you wasting those skills can we?"
"Damn woman, you can't say things like that to me," I replied gripping her tightly by the hips and grinding against her. Her head fell back with a groan.
With a quick kiss to her forehead I stepped away, chuckling lightly, she looked up and frowned at me, shit! I'm going to pay for that later. So worth it. I shrugged and sunk the rest of my coffee before stalking towards the stairs to the panic room.
"You coming baby or are you going to stand there and frown at me all day?" I said with a smirk.
"You'll pay for that Cullen," she replied, stepping past me and skipping down the stairs.
"Oh I hope so," I muttered to myself.
Bella sat in her usual seat, braced for action in front of the terminals assembled in an arc across the desk. I pulled my seat up next to her and sat down, she smirked at me before looking back at the numerous screens in front of her, her hands were but a blur on the keyboard. I sat in a state of awe.
"Okay, here's what I've found out," she said, all concise, just like that day back in Mclean.
"Fire away baby, I'm all ears," I murmured.
"Right, well as you are aware, the Volturi is a big name in the world of crime, not so much elsewhere, although they do seem to have fingers in a lot of pies, Casino's, pawn shops, drugs, weapons, the usual Mob kind of stuff. Up until recently they've been pretty quiet, it's been very rare for them to appear on our radar for anything other than vehicle theft and the odd drugs misdemeanour. They've been busy, making contacts in all manner of places, but this one perked my interest," she stated directing me to look at campaign fund expenses from the recent Presidential elections.
"Huh?" Was my elegant response.
"See I only happened on this when I discovered an alias used by Aro Volturi, a man named Marcus Caius, he's named as a stockbroker from Manhattan. I didn't mean anything to me, until I saw his picture and that he gifted a lot of money, and I mean massive amounts to the Schrieber campaign fund last year."
"Why would seeing his picture mean anything?" I asked.
"Well because, when I was taken, before I ended up with you in that place, I was taken somewhere else, he was there, he questioned me. I think I know why now," she responded.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay fill me in baby and leave nothing out," I asked, sitting forward in my seat, eager to hear what she had to say.
So she did, she told me how 'Marcus Caius'/Aro Volturi had wormed his way into President Schriebers circle, how his greed for control and territory demanded he blackmail the President into looking the other way when he conducted atrocities in the Balkans. How he wanted the Balkan states as a potential training ground and future base for his endeavours into terrorism. How he collected highly skilled and ruthless mercenaries to his cause. How Schrieber had gone against him by backing NATO when they eradicated his influence in that region. How he now wanted revenge and had set his target on President Schrieber and the Senate.
"So there you go, he needed us, well me because in my job I'm instrumental in providing intelligence for not only you guys but our Secret Service operatives during Presidential functions. With me out of the way, they have a better chance of succeeding. I'm not so up myself to think that I'm the last line of defence, but the fact that my direct manager was murdered and his assistant brutally beaten, it lessens the focus on the real issue, I'm certain now that he plans on taking out the President and as many of the Senate as possible at the Labour Day gala at the Smithsonian. If he's successful, the country will be in turmoil without a government, likely resorting in martial law, and he'll be free to march right into the Balkans and set up camp, with little resistance," Bella finished, slumping into her chair.
I scrubbed my face roughly, that was all kinds of fucked up and it went all the way to the top.
"So what do we do now, because I'm worried that without you back in Mclean, they're going to work this out too late," I groaned.
"As much as I hate to say it, I think we are going to have to come out in the open. Stop cringing Edward, I know you don't like the idea, but what else can we do, we have the ability to stop this once and for all. I know you want to protect me, but there are innocent people who will be affected by this, and if that bastard succeeds and really does have a nuke, thousands will die on Labour Day. I can't sit back here and consciously accept that. I won't sit back and do nothing," Bella ground out, here hands shaking with the emotion of her thoughts being verbalized.
"Okay, we'll stop it, somehow, but until I've been in touch with Jasper we continue to lay low."
"Fine, but we don't have much time; we need to strike them before they hit us."
I pulled her from her seat opposite me and tugged her to sit on my lap. Holding Bella calmed me, we both needed to relax and regroup, a lot had been discovered over the last few hours and I felt like I'd been hit with a wrecking ball. The thought of putting Bella back in danger made me feel sick. I knew she was right, but I'd be damned to hell if I'd like it. She's the most important thing in my world, and I didn't want to risk losing her, not now.
*~*~*~*~*
Later that day we called Jasper, he was pleased to inform us that the traitor had been discovered and was being dealt with, he was shocked at what we had to tell him and agreed that we needed to get back to DC and sooner rather than later. He suggested that we should tell General Garret and also Phil Dwyer, but still keep our location secret until we arrived back in DC. They needed time to confirm Bella's findings and to plan. We needed to prepare for extraction within the next 4 days.
We decided that we'd use one of our escape routes and head to Wisconsin, that way we could ensure that the cabin remained unknown, and could be used in future should the need arise. We planned on leaving late the next morning by motorcycle and riding through Montana and North Dakota before cutting through Wisconsin to Lacrosse Municipal Airport. Sure it was a circuitous route, but we couldn't take any chances once Jasper filled in the General and the D/O. Emmett would meet us there in a civilian registered aircraft and fly us back into the hot zone.
It looked okay in theory; I could only hope we didn't have any problems.
*~*~*~*~*~*
I stood in our shared room watching as Bella packed the black backpack, a single change of clothes each, medical supplies, rations and a selection of guns from the gun case were carefully added. I approached the bed and dropped the small duffle of money from the cabinet in the garage, I was reconsidering taking the jeep, we could carry more equipment, but when it came down to it, the bike was the best idea, if we did encounter any problems it gave us more scope for evasion and escape.
I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and pulled her to my chest, laying my chin on her shoulder I murmured in her ear.
"Did I tell you today that I love you?"
"Nope," she sighed.
"Well it's true, I do. I want you to know that no matter what, I always will."
"Edward, don't talk like we're walking to the firing squad, we're doing the right thing and if it comes to it and we don't make it, then at least we can say we tried. Oh and I love you too, even if you are an emo jerk and a pain in my ass."
I chuckled at her before kissing the juncture between her neck and shoulder lightly, dipping my tongue to taste the delicate skin, before turning her so that I could kiss her properly. The need to crawl inside of her and set up home crashed through me, as insane as it was, the fear that we wouldn't get the chance to later spurred me on, I needed to feel her, all of her. On me, around me, inside my head, wrapped around my heart. Bella must have sensed the change in my demeanour and met my need head on. Clothes were discarded as we clashed in a flurry of arms and legs and tongues and teeth, moans and groans erupted from us as we drove each other to the brink of insanity, before we crashed with ecstatic screams and sighs of pleasure, the relief of being together as a single entity made my heart swell, I never realised that it could ever feel like that. The image of the white picket fence, the house and dog flashed through my mind, it was becoming clearer the more time I spent with Bella, and I wanted it. I wanted it with her so so badly. I knew that once this was over I'd be getting out of the military for good, I never realised that what I'd been missing all along was Bella. Until now. She's what I live for.
I fell back against the pillows on the bed, sweaty and puffing from the exertion; Bella flopped against me, a sensual smile on her face, enhanced by the rays of the sun pushing through the curtains of the window opposite. Her fingers traced circles across my chest as mine twirled a lock of her hair.
"Your it for me," I whispered into her hair.
"Mmmm me too," she replied placing a kiss over my heart.
"You know, we've really muddied the waters now, you're stuck with me baby, I won't be letting this fine ass of yours go," I said pinching said fine piece of ass.
Bella yelped and snuggled up closer, "Good thing I like mud then Master Chief," she purred.
"Baby, you're killing me," I said with a whine.
"Mmmm, but what a way to go," Bella responded straddling me.
What a way indeed.
*~*~*~*~*
The remainder of the day was spent acquainting each other with our voracious appetites for each other’s bodies and sating the need to be joined intimately. It was dark out when we finally succumbed to exhaustion and slipped into a restful sleep.
I was awoken around 2am by the outdoor sensor alarm sounding on the panel beside the bed. Bella rolled across me and looked up at the screen all bleary eyed and cute with her crazy haystack hair.
"It's probably a deer," I said, I'd seen one close to the cabin a few times.
Bella mumbled drowsily and moved to silence the alarm, when another flashed on to the screen, followed by two more.
"Okay that's not a deer. Get dressed and grab the bag," I said jumping from the bed and swiftly silencing the alarm, should our night time visitors hear it.
I swiftly pulled on some jeans and jumped into my boots while simultaneously tugging on a black t-shirt. Bella was beside me tugging on her own boots, her jeans still undone and a hooded fleece sweatshirt pulled halfway down her chest. I moved to the gun case beside the nightstand, swiftly keying in the code to open the lock and grabbed the Benelli shotgun, a hunting knife and a sig. I stuffed as many clips and shells into my pockets as I could and motioned for Bella to move to the corner nearest the door. With a quick kiss, I handed her a 9mm and bade her to stay there and keep an eye on the security monitor as I moved out into the hall. The cabin was silent. I moved around the upper level like a ghost, soundlessly I peeked through a window into the surrounding woodland; movement to the left of the cabin caught my eye as the man in black fatigues slowly approached the back deck. I spotted a second moving along the tree line to the right. I could imagine that should I look out front I'd see a similar set up, we were surrounded.
I moved back to the bedroom, Bella's gaze was fixed on the screen; we made out six figures approaching from all directions. I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me as we swiftly descended the stairs, we needed to get to the panic room, it’s the safest place here and had a direct access to the garage, but my first priority was getting Bella out of immediate danger. We moved silently through the lower level, our eyes adjusting to the darkness. I froze as I spotted the tell tale silhouette of one of our attackers cross the window, his shadow only showing due to the moon being particularly bright. I gestured with a finger to my mouth for Bella to remain quiet, she'd remained remarkably calm considering the situation, but she always did manage to surprise me. I nodded towards the basement and we backed down the stairs slowly to avoid making any noise. As we reached the wall with the hidden door at the bottom an almighty crash followed by a loud bang erupted above us, I pushed Bella through the opening, following her in and re-engaging the lock as the steel door slid shut in front of us. The familiar sound of flash bangs could be heard above; I could only imagine how long it would take them to find this room.
I grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her to the secret entry to the garage.
"We need to get out of here, while they're going through the cabin, we can use the distraction to our advantage and take off," I said stroking her cheeks lightly.
"Okay, what do you need me to do?" she asked.
I kissed her forehead and moved to the weapons cabinet, I pulled out an M4A1 assault rifle, a pack of C4 and a remote detonator. I moved back to Bella and handed her the block of C4.
"Okay, I need you to attach that to your terminal, I don't think we'll be able to come back and we need to keep any intel out of their hands. When it's secure, stick this into it," I said handing her a detonator.
"Right and while I'm going extreme detonators in here, what are you planning on doing?" she said cocking an eyebrow.
"I'm going to make sure that garage is clear, so we can get out of here quietly."
"Okay, be careful, I love you." she responded kissing me on the nose lightly.
"Always am baby, I'll be just outside the door, don't leave this room until you hear me say flash."
"I'll be right here, just make sure you say the word, or I'll shoot your emo ass."
I chuckled at her attempt at being strong; shaking my head I sprung the hatch to the garage and slipped out of the room. Leaving her alone made me nervous, but I couldn't even consider bringing her out here without knowing if they were waiting for us to slip out. I was right in my thinking, as I emerged from behind the old water tank, I spotted someone standing beside the jeep, I could only hope that he hadn't tampered with the bike. He was looking around like he didn't have a care in the world, undisciplined idiot. His NVG's cast a green hue on the ground as I sliced his throat. He didn't even have a chance to gurgle. I cast a wary eye around the garage, seeing no one else I dragged the body behind the jeep and returned to Bella.
"Flash, it's me, come on, we need to leave, NOW," I whisper yelled.
Bella appeared at my side almost instantly, the back pack in her hand. I moved towards the bike but then stopped beside one of the cabinets; I quickly pulled two bulletproof vests out, handing one to Bella and pulling one on over my shirt. Bella pulled the backpack onto her back, tightening the straps over her shoulders and another around her waist, I handed her a helmet and pushed the side door of the garage open, silently we moved out and into the surrounding woodland. A cacophony of bangs and shouts came from the cabin as I straddled the bike, pulling Bella on behind me, flicking the switch and plunging down on the kick start, the bike roared to life and I gunned the throttle, speeding us away from our hideaway under siege. I slowed at the boundary to the property, and pulled the remote detonator from my pocket; I looked over my shoulder at Bella and hit the button. Explosions rattled through the night, sending wildlife scurrying and birds flying into the sky to get away from the monstrous sounds. Bella nodded and gripped me tightly around the waist as I gunned the throttle once more and took off into the night. Neither of us knowing whether we were being followed or if we had a free run to DC. Nor eager to stop and find out.
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