Chapter Sixteen - Trust

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I stood abruptly, feeling the bench wobble against my legs. I made it all the way to the doorway before I remembered. Glancing back, I saw Ava hunched over on the bench, staring at her folded hands in her lap. Something tugged at a knot in my chest and when she looked up, the knot unraveled.

"Come on."

She jumped from the bench, following in step beside my longer strides. Cole glanced over his shoulder and caught my eye. He didn't say anything, but the look in his eye told me he didn't agree with my decision.

"I'm trusting you." I confessed. "I don't know what Pavlov has done, but it's never good. Let me deal with it, okay?"

"I can handle it." She saluted me, hand to forehead, and under different circumstances I might've found it amusing.

Cole pushed the door to my office open. Izaha was already waiting patiently in one of the armchairs on the other side of my desk, manilla folder in hand. I rounded the desk, kicking my chair back, but instead of sitting, I pressed the flat of my palm against the desk.

Ava had a hand poised delicately over one of the many leather binders that occupied the bookshelves lined against one wall. When she caught me staring, her hand dropped back down to her side and after a quick glance around, she perched awkwardly on the leather couch pushed back against a wall. Just her presence seemed to calm me and I braced myself for whatever lay inside the folder in Izaha's outstretched hand.

"What happened?" I kept my voice from rising as I sorted through the papers.

"One of the warehouses was raided." Izaha answered.

"Which one?"

Izaha half turned his head, eyeing Ava at the back of the room before he replied. "It was a weapons warehouse."

"And you're sure it was Pavlov?" I flipped over one of the pages and staring back was a picture.

"Yes."

In big, red bold letters across the wall of the warehouse, the word CHECK.

Wait a second. "Which warehouse? Not the one we relocated, right?"

Izaha exchanged a confused glance with Cole, before a look of realization came over his face. He slowly nodded. "It was."

"So we have a mole." I glared at the picture. "That or we are just terrible at surveillance." Before either of them could say anything, I continued. "This doesn't leave this room. I don't want our mole to know we know something's off."

Izaha and Cole nodded in unison as I flipped through the rest of the folder.

"Any survivors?" My voice dropped low, almost to a whisper. Izaha didn't reply, giving me enough of an answer. I sink into my chair with a deep sigh. "How many?"

"Thirty."

I nodded, more than just the letters on the page in my hand threatened to turn red. "Make arrangements for their families."

Izaha nodded. "There's one more thing." He hesitated briefly. "They didn't take anything."

The folder crinkled as my hand curled into a fist. "So they just killed my men and left?" I slammed the folder onto the desk in frustration, my lips pressed into a thin line. "Why now? He's been quiet for so long, so why start acting up now?"

Izaha and Cole said nothing in response and I glanced behind them at Ava. Her wide eyes were turned down to the floor.

"I'll meet you downstairs." I dismissed Izaha and Cole.

Once they were gone, I walked over to the couch where Ava hadn't moved since she sat down. I settled into the cushion beside her, leaning forward with my elbows propped on my knees.

"Why do you have a warehouse full of weapons?" I almost didn't hear her whisper right next to me.

I didn't answer. I tried to bring myself to regret dragging her into this, but a small part of me wanted her to know the truth. Wanted her to accept what I was, what I did. But then a part slightly bigger than that was afraid that she wouldn't.

"I'll walk you back to your room." I said instead, offering my hand.

She hesitated before placing her cold hand in mine. As quickly as she stood, she let go, but her blush did not go unnoticed.

Even though I wanted to drag my feet as we walked back to her room in silence, I was also itching to get some answers. Ava tried to reach for the doorknob when we finally reached her door, but I slid in front of her, my back to the door.

"Thank you for the song." Without thinking, my hand reached up and brushed against her face, trapping a strand of dark hair between my fingers. Her skin was soft and warm against my wrist and I strained to keep myself from cradling her face in my hands as I imagined what it might be like to kiss her. When my eyes started to drift towards her lips, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

My lips turned up at the incredible timing that Cole seemed to have. I reached behind my back to turn the doorknob, opening it behind me. "Sleep well." I finally tore my stare from her and set off down the hall to finally get some answers. 

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