Dark roots

Chapter 37

Ashley's silhouette was standing right next to Graves, she grabbed the laptop from the table and walked away from them. She ignored their complaints and walked over to the other side of the room where she sat down and faced the screen to talk to us.

Her big, beautiful eyes looked up at the screen and it took my breath away. It was good to see her and be able to speak to her. Even if she was accompanied by Graves and Shepard, I just felt relieved that Makarov didn't have her.

It made me wonder why they wrote that in the letter they handed Jhonny. I wasn't sure how, but she got away from her dad and it probably infuriated him. Maybe he wanting to lure Jhonny to the church so he could use him as a bait, knowing very well how much he meant to her.

Jhonny turned the screen around so that the camera was pointed at him, I stood next to him but far enough to not be in the camera's field of view.

"Ashley what the hell? What are you doing there? I got a letter..." Jhonny's words came out hasty but he was stopped when Ashley smiled at him.

"Jhonny calm down, I'm alright. Take a breath." A chuckle escaped her lips at the worried look that was showed on his face. Unfortunately, her smile faded mere seconds later. "I ran into my dad last night while we were at the shop."

Her voice cracked at the end, she was trying to stay strong. I could tell that her walls were crumbling down and it made me feel awful. If only I could just hold her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

"Graves helped me get away from them."

"Them?" Laswell asked, she hadn't seen the letter that was addressed to Jhonny so she was still confused.

"My dad and 3 PMC's, probably Russian. They want me to help Makarov." She explained.

Shepard walk back into the screen behind her, staring at the screen so he could talk to Price again. They were using her as a bargain chip, I didn't trust them but for Ashley's sake, we'd have to work together.

"Captain, let me paint you the bigger picture. You need Makarov in a pine box, and I've got the nails."

"In exchange for what?"

"A way back. I'm not going out like this, I want my name on a win. Check your inbox Kate, I'll be in touch." Soon after that the call disconnected.

He must have lost his mind if he thought there was a way to go back to how things were. They had betrayed us, tried to kill us to keep it a secret that they messed up.

I wasn't going to let that slide, and knowing my team, neither were they. But as long as Ashley was there, I was going to play along. Laswell was typing away on her computer before she turned to us.

"I've got a name and a location."

"I'm not sending my men on a mission for him." Price snapped back, we all knew from the beginning that this could be a set up.

"This isn't a mission john. This is intel."

"Captain we do deals for intel all the time. This is no different." Gaz tried to interfere.

"Boss we've got this. But I need to see Ashley face to face to make sure she is alright before I go on this mission." I told Price before I turned to Jhonny, knowing that he'd want to join me just as bad. "Jhonny you with me?"

"You know it LT."

ASHLEY POV:

Shepard had closed the laptop and in doing so, disconnected the call. I wanted to speak to them for a little while longer and let them know I was alright. Shepard grabbed his laptop and left the room, leaving me and Graves alone.