Targets - A Roman Reigns AU Story

29. her sacrif1ce

"Rose," Jasmine started, gazing imploringly at the woman she thought was her friend. She knew that their last encounter had not been the most amicable, but she had hoped it wouldn't come down to this. Clearly, she had been much too optimistic. "Rose, please."

The redheaded woman didn't seem to have heard Jasmine's pleas. "Let's get to it, ladies," she addressed her accomplices, reaching for her gun. "Make it quick. And hurry up, before anyone sees us."

"Sure thing, Rose." Iris and Pansy advanced towards the wounded, cornered couple, but Rose suddenly struck from behind, putting a bullet in the back of Pansy's head. She did the same to Iris, watching her drop to the ground.

Roman and Jasmine stood frozen, in complete surprise at what had just happened. Rose just gunned down her own associates.

Rose stepped over the bodies. "We don't have much time," she said curtly to Jasmine, throwing open the back door of the car. "Let's go. Now!" she added harshly, startling the couple and rushing inside the back seat.

As she drove, Rose threw a small white towel over her shoulder to Roman. "Here. It'll stem the bleeding," she advised. Roman said nothing, but pressed the cloth to his skin. She may have rescued them, but his suspicious gaze on the redhead hadn't quite wavered.

"Sorry I took so long," Rose sent an apologetic glance through the rear view mirror. "I had to convince Lily to let me come after you, that you would listen to me and turn yourself in. I didn't know she would make me take Iris and Pansy along for the ride," she added, referring to the two F.L.O.R.A. agents now lying dead in a deserted alleyway. "I don't think she trusts me anymore."

"I'm sorry about that," Jasmine managed, still slightly numb and acutely aware that both she and Roman could very well have died today.

"I'm just curious as to how you knew where to find Jasmine," Roman spoke up, his tone edgy as he cast a hard gaze at the woman in the driver's seat, "So you knew where Corbin was keeping her? And you did nothing about it?" he demanded. For all he cared, Rose may have been in on the whole thing. For all he cared, this was another trap.

Rose smiled, understanding the man's grievance. "Care to explain, friend?" she simply said.

Confused, Roman turned his attention to his girlfriend. He watched her take off her right earring and hand it to him. "This is a tracking device that Rose and I were secretly working on at F.L.O.R.A. It's just a prototype, but we weren't sure it was in proper operating condition until today. It was the reason I went out to contact Rose, just in case something happened to me. I left a voicemail on her phone asking her to meet me at an address, 20 Whiskey Omega Hotel at 13:45. But it's not an address; it's an activation code."

"2-0-W-O-H," Roman deciphered, inspecting the object between his thumb and forefinger before glancing back at Jasmine.

"One three four five," She finished for him. "That's the code. The plan was always to make it sound like it's an address and a time in case we're being listened in on. And even if they do figure out the address is a fake they still won't know what it is we're talking about. The code can only be accessed through a phone programmed to accept it, like Rose's was. Once you type in those numbers into the phone, the tracker is activated instantly."

Roman nodded, and then returned his gaze to Rose. "Took you a while to find us then, Red," he commented, his tone almost accusing. Through the rear view mirror, Rose met his glare with one of her own.

"Roman, stop it," Jasmine reprimanded. "She's not to blame for this."

"What if I'd been too late? What if Corbin took you out before I got there? Huh? What if you d-" He quickly cut himself off, refusing to complete the question, letting it hang in the air for everyone else in the car to digest.