Chapter 13

Charlotte and Amber compiled dates and artwork. Then they worked with Rio and his boss putting together data about arms deals and information brokering. The list was far larger than any of them had thought. The codes beside each date seemed to represent a bank account and a name. The name of the person that the black market art, information or illegal arms were sold to. For the information sold that had decimated Jaxson's team, the guy would be charged with treason of aiding and abetting the enemy.

Nathan sat looking over the data and suddenly realized that more than Jaxson's mission had been compromised. Going back over 10 years, he had brokered information that had cost the US soldiers, spies, information, and weapons. Whistling to himself, he looked up at Rio and said, "This is going to go higher up than I had originally thought. Come over he and look at the code. There are only a handful of people that have access to that code. It's a CIA slush fund that was supposedly defunded and shut down. Guess who the agent was that was supposed to take care of that?"

Rio frowned as he realized what his boss was telling him. "I fricking hate that organization. Most of those guys seem to have no morals or ethics, whatsoever. And if they do hire someone that is morally good, it's trained out of them. It's sickening."

Amber walked over to look at the laptop screen over Nathan's shoulder. "Nathan, that isn't all." She began pointing at the codes beside each number. "These are a combination of social security numbers and birth dates. When we figure this out, we will know who this little greasy ass was working with."

Nathan turned to look at Amber with an incredulous look on his face. "How did you figure that out so quickly?"

"One of the classes I had at Quantico, was a cryptic information class. How to spot it and quickly determine what the code is. You see, most people really have no idea how to create a truly cryptic code to conceal or defend information or data streams. Most are based on information that the user already knows. This guy obviously knows who his customers are. Here, look, I'll show it." Amber reached and picked up a piece of paper and a pencil and began writing out a number. "Here the first 4 numbers are usually the last four of someone's social security number. The next four are the month of birth and last two numbers of their birth year. For instance, this code is 45950269. These numbers are the last four of the social," Amber underlined the first four numbers to indicate what she was talking about. "these numbers are February and 1969."

Sitting back, Nathan wondered how long it would be before some young person was doing his job. "Jeez Amber. Is this what they teach you guys now?"

"Some of it. Nathan, the world you protect is changing and we as agents have to change with it or else we can't do our jobs. The 'digital age' has changed everything From how we bank to how we entertain ourselves" Amber smiled gently and patted her boss on the shoulder. "Quantico still teaches us textbook stuff like investigation and interrogation techniques. We still go to the gun range and participate in shooter drills of different kinds. But, the modern age is now controlled by a data stream, not microwaves, radio waves, or any of the other stuff we had before the internet."

"That's some scary shit," Nathan said.

No one bothered to acknowledge his statement. Charlotte just handed him some coffee. Realizing that they had been at it at the kitchen table for several hours and that they were all getting hungry. Going over to the fridge, she took out the leftover meatloaf, sliced some tomatoes and onions, and a loaf of bread. Arranging lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on a plate, she sat it in the middle of the table along with the sliced meatloaf and bread. Getting glasses, she filled them with ice and poured everyone a glassful of sweet tea.

"Let's put this away for now and take a break. I think we all need to take a break."

Just as Charlotte finished speaking a truck pulled up next to Bill's. They all held their breath waiting for any noise. Because of the recent events, Jaxson had started wearing his gun again. Looking around the kitchen, Charlotte saw that everyone was armed with a firearm but her and swallowed hard.

A knock sounded on the screen door and everyone drew their weapons. Jaxson laid his finger on his lips indicating for everyone to be silent. He quietly walked to the front door and reached for the knob while Rio stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room with his gun aimed at the door.

Opening the door, Rio leveled his gun at the person standing there. Realizing it was the doctor, Rio still aimed at the man.

Jaxson walked in front of the man. "Henry, what are you doing here?"

"Uh Jaxson, your mate is my patient and I need to check to see how she's healing," Henry said, a little dumbfounded.

Jaxson lowered his weapon and motioned for his brother to do the same. Stepping back out of the way, he nodded. "Sorry Henry. Been a rough day. Things have hit the fan."

"I'm sure that if it has anything to do with what happened to Charlotte, then it is a mess. That girl has been through enough. I'm sure she is ready for everything to be over." Henry walked into the kitchen and realized that there were more people there than he had expected. Seeing a total of four new people, he didn't say anything. Just stood in the kitchen doorway and asked Charlotte if they could go to her and Jaxson's room to let him examine her.

At her nod, he just waited for her to pass him and left the kitchen to follow her. He went to push the door close and Jaxson put his large hand on it and held it open. He walked in and then shut the door.

"No offense, Henry. We aren't mated yet and the idea of her being alone with another male doesn't sit right with me." Henry just shrugged and went to get his instruments out of his bag.

"Charlotte, please disrobe down to your underwear. I need to see how everything is healing." Henry paused for just a minute when Jaxson growled low in his chest.

"Jaxson stop. Please. I know your bear needs to assert that I am your mate, but I need this exam." Reaching up, she stroked the side of his face.

Jaxson smiled down at her and nodded. "I'm sorry, Charlotte. It's not intentional. I just feel very odd and super possessive of you. You're in your bra and panties in front of another man. That is hard to think about."

"I understand. But, you are going to be in here the entire time. Besides, Henry is one of you. He's former military and he's a doctor. I trust him and I know under other circumstances, you do too." She pulled him down to her and placed a sweet kiss on his cheek. "I think I like the stubble, Keep it?"

Jaxson just nodded and smiled. "Okay, mate. I'll keep the bear down as much as I can. And I'll not shave." Running a hand over his cheek, he could feel the heavy stubble where he hadn't shaved this morning.

Henry took the opportunity to check Charlotte over. Okay Charlotte, I think we can take out any stitches that haven't dissolved yet." As Henry reached into his bag for scissors, a knock sounded on the bedroom door.

Without opening the door, Jaxson called out to ask who it was.

"It's Misty. I want to document this. I also want to talk to the doctor about Charlotte's injuries."

At Charlotte's nod, Jaxson allowed the other doctor in the room.

When Misty realized who was in the room, she couldn't stop the gasp that escaped from her.

"Hello, Misty. Nice to see you after all of these years. How are you?"

Misty didn't know what to say. Henry acted like this was not something out of the ordinary. That happening across long-lost family members was an everyday event.

"Mom misses you. Randi finally stopped asking about you. She doesn't understand why you left....." Misty let her voice fade.

"We'll talk about this later, Misty. My patient needs my full attention, right now." Henry clipped a stitch and pulled it out of Charlotte's side to prove a point.

Misty busied herself with photos of Charlotte's body, of her wounds. When she was finished, she simply told Henry, "I'll meet you in the kitchen ad we can talk there."

After he finished, he indicated that Charlotte could get dressed. "I need to ask some questions." At her nod, he began.

"How are you sleeping?"

"Pretty good, all things considered."

"How's your appetite? Are you eating well?"

"I'm eating two to three meals a day, And I am drinking plenty of water, as well. Jaxson makes sure I get some light exercise, too. We walk the property, I will help in the barn feeding the animals. He said it was too soon to be cleaning the stalls. He has let me brush the horses, though. My energy level is going up." Charlotte blew her breath out in a rush.

"What I really want to do, Henry is sit in a bath. I have showered and washed my hair, carefully. But, I really miss sitting and soaking in a tub of hot bath water, or bubble bath.'"

Henry smiled at his patient. "I think we can allow that. All of your wounds have healed enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Leave off the bubble bath or any additives for the time being. I would like for you to let those wounds scar over first. Perhaps another two weeks? Then you can have all of the bubble baths you want to have."

Henry busied himself with cleaning and putting away his instruments while Charlotte got dressed.

"Go ahead and go into the kitchen. I need to speak to Henry for a minute." Charlotte gave him a curious look but did as he asked.

As soon as the door closed, Jaxson asked Henry a question. "Who is Misty to you?"

"She's my sister. I haven't seen her in ten years. Something happened. Something bad. I left because I didn't know how to face it or my family." Henry said quietly.

"Don't you think your family needs to hear from you? That they miss you? I mean, Misty sounded a bit broken when she said your mom misses you and that Randi, whoever that is, has finally stopped asking about you." Jaxson said almost as quietly.

"I killed someone Jaxson. I pulled a stupid prank and killed someone. A kid. Someone with their whole life ahead of them, and I took it away from him. The police said I wasn't at fault, but I was. I might as well have put a gun to that kid's head and pulled the trigger."

Jaxson didn't say anything. The look on Henry's face was full of torment. He had seen that look on the faces of war survivors and guys who had seen and done too much. That look was one you never understood how to deal with. It stayed with you and you never forgot it.

"Henry, have you thought about.....seeing someone?"

"I have. While I was in the service, I saw a therapist once a week unless I was in the field as a medic.. He helped me a lot. But it doesn't change the fact that I took a life. The life of a child." Henry stopped and Jaxson could swear he was gritting his teeth. "He was 17 years old, Jaxson. 17, just about to have his 18th birthday. His whole world was about to open up to him."

Jaxson could hear the agony that Henry lived with day to day. He understood. It wasn't all that dissimilar to what he had experienced. When Charlotte came into his life, she opened his heart back up and was enchanting him with life. Because of his little mate, he was living again, not just getting by.

"Come on. You need to get this over with. The faster you do, the better you will feel about it and possibly, yourself." Jaxson patted his friend on his shoulder and steered him out of his bedroom and into the kitchen where everyone was still gathered.

Rio walked up to his brother and said, "I think we should fire up the grill. We have steaks. The girls can prep potatoes for baking and we can all work together and cut up veggies for a salad."

Jaxson nodded. Their mom would do this when there had been any type of emotional upheaval. It ensured that everyone worked together and strengthened the family bonds and helped ease any bad or anxious feelings that they were all experiencing.

"You can't isolate yourself and work together as a team." She would say.

Everyone pitched in. Someone cut up lettuce, someone cut tomatoes, another boiled eggs, another grated cheese, and still another onions. Everyone had a job to do. Rio even took steaks out of the fridge and had them marinating.

Introductions were made and Henry was not surprised that Misty worked for the government. What really surprised him was the hickey on her neck and how close she stayed to Bill. He knew that the sheriff was a widower. His mate had been killed years ago in an accident. A punk kid the next town over had stolen a car for a joy ride and had run a stop sign. Bill's mate was going through the intersection. The kid t-boned her and rolled her car, killing her almost instantly. The kid was serving life in prison for vehicular manslaughter.

Jaxson fired up the grill and let the coals burn down. While they waited, Charlotte surprised them all again. She dug into the pantry and pulled out the ingredients for homemade bread.

"I'm going to be big as a house with this kind of cooking, Charley," Rio said with a groan after smelling the bread.

Jaxson laughed and snorted.

"What's so funny?" She asked.

"Rio. We're shifters and have a very fast metabolism. The same metabolism that keeps us from getting drunk, is the same metabolism that keeps us with almost no body fat. And he knows it."

"Yeah, I know. But, Jaxson! Who would have thought that you would have found a mate that could cook like this? I didn't know women still tried to master to art of homemaking, anymore."

"I took every "homemaking" course available in high school and while I was in nursing school. Even though I went to school and have a Masters in nursing, all I really wanted was to get married and have a family. So, I learned to take care of a home, so that my husband wouldn't have to worry about it. I know in this day and age, that isn't a popular ideology, but it's mine." Charlotte raised her chin almost in defiance.

Nathan Powers looked from brother to brother and then back to the dark-haired female. "Son, if you don't snatch her up soon, someone else will. Women like her simply do not exist much in this world anymore."

This caused Jaxson to release a loud growl and grabbed his mate and yell, "She's mine."

Everyone laughed because they all knew that Charlotte wasn't going anywhere without Jaxson.