Chapter 51: Breaking Point 2

Jennifer

“Fine, if it’s what you really want Jennifer.” My stomach curdled at the hurt in his voice. “I have been waiting for you my whole life, I can wait a little longer if I have to.” He said, his head bowed and eyes downcast.

He let go of my hand, “I should get to work.” He said, and with that, he got up and walked away. An empty pit settled in my chest where my heart used to be. It seemed he had taken it with him.

Steak would have been too much anyway, I thought to myself bitterly. It was supposed to be my first steak after my cheek bone had healed. I was confident that it was healed since I never had any issues with it when I was eating so far.

What I had been eating so far was soft wraps, soft pasta and smoothies though so maybe I should wait for the all clear from the doctor before I try to take it further. I had already gone outside of what they recommended for my diet.

I had an appointment to see how my leg was healing soon anyway so I would ask her then. Hopefully I would be able to get off the crutches soon or at least be able to put some weight on that leg.

The hurt I had heard in Bjorn's voice echoed in my chest. Then again, I thought, maybe I deserved the pain and discomfort for all that I was putting such a kind and gentle man through, he deserves so much better.

Yes, it would have been too much to ask for things to have gone smoothly. For me to have finally found someone who cares about me and wants to add to my life just as I care for them and want to add value to theirs.

I had already spoken to Connor and got in touch with their dept companies to buy up all their dept so I could write it off. Every outstanding bill was paid off for the Ezekiel family and their mortgage was taken care of. What money they had now was purely their own.

At least I could leave them with that. He really would be better off without me but I still, selfishly prayed to whatever gods and goddesses there may be that he really would wait for me and give me another chance because I was certain I was worse off without him.

I flopped on the couch next to Maya, feeling the old, familiar, dark clouds of depression crowd my thoughts again. Johnathan is out there somewhere again, plotting and scheming against me and we still had to work out what to do with the asshole in the hut.

That is step one, we needed to form plans to account for every eventuality too. It will be the only way to keep everyone safe as the pieces start falling into place and the true dangers start to come to light.

The only thing I can be certain of, is that they will not stop until we stop them. Jackson soon arrived to check over Maya. He changed her IV bags over and gave her some medication to try and stop her being sick.

She didn’t wretch this time when we tried to get her to eat but she still wasn’t interested in the food. Jackson recommended a plain diet, some cooked chicken and rice, and to keep trying it with her every few hours.

She seemed to be getting better but when I looked in her eyes, they seemed dull with none of the usual brightness or life. It was the river again, it was being left, cold and alone in the mud again.

I spent some time with her, reassuring her but so far, all she seemed to want to do was sleep. I, on the other hand, couldn’t sit still, I needed to be doing something. So, I made sure she was comfortable and set up a camera to watch her so I could head over to the cottage.

When I got there, it was quiet with most of the team still asleep after last night. Phantom was watching the security cameras, flicking through the new ones they had placed at the perimeter whilst we were out searching for Maya last night.

Valkyrie was apparently on asshole watch at the hut. “You want me to wake the others Jennifer?” Phantom asked as I walked in. “No, it’s okay, let them sleep a little longer. I will get things set up. I have a lot of thoughts to organise, I think we will need to move on to phase two ahead of schedule.” I replied absentmindedly as I searched for paper and pens.

“Okay, well just let me know if I can help with anything.” He replied. “There is something actually. If I watch the screens for a minute, could you pop over to the equipment shed and grab the white board from behind the door?” He responded immediately by dutifully fulfilling my request.

After helping me move a table over to the wall so we could stand it up, he went back to his work. “Is Phantom you’re real name?” I asked, I hadn’t really had the opportunity to speak to him since he usually worked the night shift, but curiosity was now getting the better of me.

“As real to me as any name.” He replied with a slight smirk. “It was my operational name, but I used it for so many years, it’s what everyone knew me as and, it’s what I knew myself as. Some of us decided to change back to our birth name when we left the military, but I was so used to being called Phantom that it felt strange to be called anything else. It’s the same with Valkyrie and Pheonix. My real name is Gary, and you can call me what you want but I may not respond right away if you call me that.” He explained.

“Thanks, I will stick to Phantom if it's what you’re used to. That explains the unusual name anyway.” I replied. I busied myself after that with writing down points as they came to me.

We had two initial targets, Wez and Franko. The connection between them is the police station as they are both using Police Chief Braxton to manipulate the law to work for them.

If we can get rid of Police Chief Braxton, we can take out their safety net and prevent them from getting away with anything. That would also solve the issue of what to do with the asshole in the hut.

The problem is, who do we replace him with, who won’t end up just as corrupt as him and also, how do we get him out in the first place.