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51

All I wanted to do was enjoy a nice hot bath with no interruptions. Unfortunately, some else had a different idea.  Whoever was pounding at my front door was gonna get it once I got there.

After spending the day with Walker and Greer, I needed to clear my thoughts. What she said about Aubrey and I really got to me. To add to that, I really missed him. It may've only been a little more than two weeks, but he added something that my other friends couldn't.

Plus, I couldn't talk to him over the phone. Something about keeping things secret, I really don't know. I had a feeling it was another one of Lucas's stupid games. I wasn't completely sure of that, but one thing I did know is that I wanted him to come home.

Once I got to the front door, I looked into the peephole and rolled my eyes. I opened the door for him and he stepped inside.

"What's up, Emerson?" He carried a brown paper bag in , that was holding a bottle of liquor.

"What could you possibly want?" I sighed as I began to shut the door.

"I figured we could drink a little and entertain ourselves." He said, as he plopped back on the couch.

The door was almost closed when it came into contact with something. I looked over to see a foot in the door frame.

"Not so fast," The thick accent sent chills down my spine, making me wish I would've shut the door faster. I mumbled under my breath and opened the door for Lucas to enter.

"You invited Lucas?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Nope." He proceeded to take the glass bottle out of the bag and place it on the coffee table. "I thought this was a Jace and Emerson thing, but apparently she's joining now."

"I didn't come for your stupid games." She rolled her eyes. Lucas walked into the living room and took a seat in one of my chairs. I closed the door all the way and pulled my robe so it was more secure.

"What are you here for? Aubrey said we were done till he came back." I took a seat next to Jace.

"I came because I have a situation I need you two to handle. Well...Killian too."

"No way!" I crossed my arms. "I'm not doing shit until Aubrey comes back. Jace and I are not qualified to handle a mission without Aubrey. And Killian isn't going anywhere if I have any say, he needs to spend time with his baby."

"I have to agree with Emerson on this one." Jace said leaning back into the couch. His chill attitude was throwing me for a loop. Sure, Jace usually wasn't one to get worked up, but he also wasn't one to sit back and let me do all the arguing. The more I thought about it, the clearer I became.

"Oh my God." I ran a hand over my face. "You're fucking high? And you drove here? Really Jace?"

"What? I was bored." He shrugged. "It's not like it's dangerous."

"Yes it is." I rolled my eyes. "Just- we'll talk about this later." I turned to Lucas. "I'm not going anywhere without Aubrey."

"If you two idiots would shut up for two seconds." She glared at us. "I don't want to send you on a mission without Aubrey, but I have to. All my other teams are tied up with other things and I need everything handled. Well, not all my teams. I have half of one. Two of them got hurt in their last mission, so I need you to go with them."

"What about Killian?" I asked her.

"I need him to come."

"No way then." I protested. "I don't want to go anywhere, but I'm definitely not going if Killian is going."

"You'll do whatever I say, you signed a contract." She raised her voice.

"Killian isn't going." I shook my head. "I'll go if he doesn't. I'm not going if he comes."

"Trust me you're not gonna want to miss this case." She crossed her legs.

"I will if it means Killian can stay here." I mumbled.

"We'll both go if Killian stays." Jace spoke up. "I don't want him to leave either."

"Fine, Killian can stay." She rolled her eyes and mumbled, what I'm sure we're nasty remarks, in Russian.

"And we're not telling him about the mission either."

"Whatever gets you two on the next flight to France."

"The next flight?" My jaw dropped. "No warning? And what the hell? Europe? That isn't really our forté."

"I know I typically send you two one missions in the States, but considering your close ties to this case and the lack of other people, you'll be going."

"What do you mean close ties?" Jace asked sitting up, suddenly interested.

"I wouldn't just ask you two... imbeciles to do something if I didn't need it." She looked at both of us. "As I said, you'll be joined by two others on this case. As for the close ties part, the case is concerning a team I sent out two weeks ago, and Aubrey was on it."

She was silent, awaiting our reactions. I, personally, was confused. Why were we going to do a job that Aubrey was already doing? The whole thing didn't add up, and when I looked up at Jace, he held the same expression.

"So...what exactly are we doing...?" I said slowly. She sighed loudly.

"Aubrey and that unit just so happen to be missing right now."

"He's What!?" I jumped to my feet. "When? How fucking long? Oh my God, what do you think happened?"

"I already know where they are, I just need you to go retrieved them." I paced back and forth, thinking about this. "I haven't had contact with them in over a week, but I know who he's dealing with and what they want."

"So he been missing a whole fucking week?" I turned and shot she a nasty glare. "And you didn't think to tell us before now? What does this guy even want?"

"That's non of your concern. What you need to worry about is getting the five of them back." She laced her fingers together and sat up straighter. "This is a high level mission, and they all happen to be of high importance to me. I need most of them back safely."

"What makes you think he'll just hand them over?" Jace seemed to still be in his drugged up state, but was slowly, but surely, recovering.

"He will." She reassured. "You two need to leave as soon as possible. The other team is already on the way in the jet. I expect you to be at the airport in an hour and a half."

"We'll be there, but not a word to Killian." I narrowed my eyes at her as she stood from the chair.

"My lips are sealed."