Page 85 of Bound By Water

After a barrage of questions that give us few answers, Hightower steps away from the podium to join a group of men. With a wave, they turn and head back inside the Capitol.

Oliver drops into a chair and rubs his hand down his face.

We’ve been waiting for them to make a move, but we never expected this to be it. Not once. Hightower has balls. Kidnapping a fellow senator of the United States. There isn’t any line he won’t cross to win this war. He must think taking out Jack will cripple us, but now that we’ve left the Army, we have a lot more options.

“Wait… rewind!” Greer suddenly yells. Her eyes are glued to the screen. Fingers white with tension grip the sheet. Jax rewinds it back to the podium, then hits play. “Stop. Right there.”

We all look from the screen to her and back again. “What is it?”

“It’s Trent,” she says, her voice barely audible. When none of us says anything, she narrows her eyes. “I’m not crazy. It’s him. Can you zoom in or something?”

“Nash!” Jax shouts, and we hear feet running from across the house.

Breathless, Nash walks into the room. “What? Where’s the fire?”

“Can you zoom in on that group of men?” Jax asks, pointing to the screen.

Nash curses and flips off Jax. “Let me get my laptop.”

He returns and grabs a seat at the small desk in the room. Fingers fly over the keyboard as he finds the broadcast, splices it up, then loads it to another program. He clicks on the images on the screen to zoom in closer. “Done. Let me put it on the TV.”

We all watch as Senator Hightower leaves the podium and crosses over to the group of men. He places his hand on the back of the one next to him. A familiar gesture, but it tells us nothing.

Nash clicks through to the next frame and zooms in. The man next to Hightower turns and looks back at the camera, perfectly capturing the features of the good looks he got from his Italian mother.

“Son of a bitch,” I say, staring in disbelief at the face on the TV. “I completely missed it.”

She grimaces. “I wish I had. It’s hard to forget the face of someone you’ve killed.” She swallows hard. “You know what this means?” When we all look at her with confused expressions on our faces, she huffs. “He’s one of us. Which means one of his parents is, too. The mother, maybe? Or Hightower?” Her voice drops as she considers the ramifications.

We all share a look. “Are you sure you killed him?”

“I snapped his neck. When I woke up the next morning, he was still lying on the ground next to me, eyes open, staring sightlessly at the sky,” she recalls. “But there was a moment when I reached the top of the cliff where I thought I saw him smile.” She blows out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know. Damn it.”

“We’ll look into it, but first, we need to rescue Jack,” I say with a frown, turning toward Oliver.

Oliver’s head rises, his eyes flashing a dark stormy grey. “I should have seen this coming. For some reason, I thought my father’s position kept him safe. Fuck Hightower. The gloves are coming off.” He stands and starts pacing. “We’re not going to win this battle in a direct fight. With the government behind him, he has access to endless troops.”

“We’re not stopping the rescues, right?” Greer butts in, her lip between her teeth.

I reach over and pull it out. “Hell no. We’ll find a way to infiltrate the facilities from the inside. Right now, we need to let things die down. Throw him off the scent. We need new plans.” My mind buzzes with the possibilities. “We need to take down the foundation under Hightower’s feet.”

Oliver’s determined face nods in agreement. “My father has a few trusted men who I can tap into for intel. Up until now, he’s made all the calls. It’s time for us to make a few moves.”

“With me included. I’m done sitting on the sidelines,” she says, her eyes shifting from me to Oliver, knowing we lead the team. “I have a few ideas on how to expand this group of ours. Create a larger network. All they need in return is hope.” She raises her hand, and the water arcs out of the glass by the nightstand, freezes mid-air, then returns, proving her ability to wield and control the element. “After we find Oliver’s father.”

Oliver comes over and picks up her hand. “And kill the bastards who took him.” He leans down and stares into her eyes, then his gaze darts to mine with a command. I subtly turn my head to look deeper into their green depths, and that’s when I see it. Two slivers of color—blue-grey and amber.

Stunned, I look at him, wondering what the hell it could mean.