Ruby Laswell x Ghost (Vol. 2-4) Shattered Souls/Bandaged Bruises/Sinful Souls

4.

I had no energy in my body left. All I could do was flop in dead weight while Simon carried me. The whole way he did, all I could hear was in cursing obscenities.

Soap and Alejandro were still in shock that Graves managed to survive such an explosion. And I was too.

My eyes heavily open as I look up at Simon, his expression alarmed and aware as he looks around us.

"Where is Graves, do you know, Red?" Soap places a hand on my shoulder as he joins besides Simon.

"Red? Haven't heard that in a while," I chuckle.

"Ah, yes. You sure are fiery hermana," Alejandro jokes.

"I figured that would make ya laugh," he smiles apologetically.

"I don't exactly know. I was too much in a hurry to take in my surroundings. But I do know it's about a mile somewhere east of the alley." I explain. "I was in some.. dark basement, like a bunker. But it looked like an ordinary house."

"He's staying undercover," Alejandro breathes.

"We need to tell Laswell. Now." Simon orders.

Soap clicks on his phone, the signal pinging as it hides the VPN and IP address.

"Laswell speaking." My ears perk up at the sound of my basically adopted mother, knowing I haven't heard or seen her in forever. She was in Iran the whole time I was healing, but she made sure to write me or call me every other day.

"Laswell. It's Soap. We have an issue here, and you're not going to believe what the hell it is."

Laswell remains silent over the phone. "Is Ruby okay?"

I look to Soap behind Simon's shoulder, nodding eagerly. I was fine. Just shaken up. I've handled worse. Soap looks to me, nodding.

"Yes, she's fine. But someone has a hit on her- on us. Graves. He never died."

Laswell doesn't respond for a second, and I knew the very face she was making at this moment.

"Shit," she hisses. "That sick bastard. Who knows what the hell Shepherd has been in contact with him for before he died." Laswell sighs.

"What does this mean about Valeria?" Alejandro asks over to the phone.

"She is still top priority. That is unless Graves directly interferes; which would be idiotic on his part. We track her down, secure her. Send her to the United States and she will go into a high security military prison where she will be indicted." Laswell explains.

I look over at Alejandro who's features ping pong back and forth from anger to somber. It will always be a mystery to me what happened between them. I don't take Alejandro for a soft fool any day.

"Copy that," Simon says grunting.

"Ghost. Is Ruby okay? Secure?" Laswell asks a series of questions.

"She's fine, Laswell. She's with me; if she's with me, I'll make sure nothing happens to her." Simon looks down at me in a melancholic tone, then back up. He felt the guilt- I knew he did.

But ultimately, no one should.

"Okay. Just be safe, have Price check in with me tomorrow morning at 0600 hours." Laswell hangs up the phone as soon as we approach the squad car.

Simon ducks in as he slides me next to him, my body fully leaned into his. My head rests on his chest as I blankly stare out of the windshield ahead of me.

Soap and Alejandro take the seats next to me, shutting the door.

Price turns around, his eyes widening as they look to me.

"I hope that blood is you doing a number on someone else," Price says with a smile.

"Hell yeah I did," I agree.

"My girl. Are you okay?" Price looks down at my scratched thighs and lack of clothing.

"I'm fine. I'm just ready to get back, get everything moving again." I say firm.

"You know, Laswell." Gaz starts. "You deserve a damn metal for the shit you go through," Gaz smiles at me.

"I sure as hell do," I agree with a laugh.

I look up to Simon, who is indeed not laughing nor agreeing. I then look over to Soap, who's hand rests on my shoulder and slightly squeezing it.

"We care about you, hermana. We will get that puta back once we can," Alejandro grinds.

"Second that," Soap agrees.

The car speeds off, going into the dark trails of the forest.

Whatever happened to me in the last 12 hours of my life happened to be the one part of my life where I knew I could handle myself.