Raging Fire (Guarded Secrets Book 4) (18 page)

“Night Stripe’s an amazing agent and always has been. She’s gone through enough suicide missions in the last three years to last a lifetime and she chooses to do them to save others! She stood up to the man who took her family from her and planned to kill even more people as a hired hit man. She’s risked her life for her teammates and never thought twice about it. She has never once fallen apart even as agents died around her in battle. She didn’t break down until she saw you. What did you do to her?”

“Me?” Sandstorm opened his arms in disbelief. “I’ve never met her before. I haven’t been in the States in almost eight years, when would I have had a chance to meet her? If what you’re saying is true and she’s only been in the agency for three years, then I can’t know her! I would’ve only heard about her in stories and updates from CIRA while I’ve been overseas.”

“You have to know her,” Camo interjected. “Look at her. No one breaks down like that for nothing. Just look at her for a second! Give her a chance.”

Sandstorms eyes darted to Night Stripe’s shaking figure. She couldn’t meet his eyes at first, but Renegade nudged her slightly as encouragement. Their eyes met after a few tense moments, and at first his eyes glared into her as if annoyed she was still crying after I had spoken so highly of her, but slowly realization washed over his face. His eyes lit up and a ghost of a smile curved his lips upwards before he slowly approached her as if he was worried rushing to her would scare her away.

I saw Renegade tense and prepare to step in front of her if he had to. Night Stripe must have told him it was okay because he slowly released her as Sandstorm kneeled down to her level. Her tears didn’t subside even as Sandstorm took her face in his hands and raised her head to once again meet his emerald gaze. Her blue eyes were tinted red from crying, but she held her head high. She took in a deep breath before attempting to talk, but for some reason couldn’t muster the words that seemed to sit just at the tip of her tongue.

It broke my heart.

Sandstorm looked her over in disbelief, and I wanted to ask how they knew each other, but didn’t want to interrupt. It was clear that he meant something to her. Whether she had seen him on a mission before or in her past life I couldn’t be sure. 

“I can’t believe it,” he said, finally breaking the silence. His voice was whimsical and disbelieving. “I can’t...” He took in a sharp breath to control his emotions. Now it seemed as if he suddenly understood Night Stripe’s rush of emotions, which he had carelessly said made her weak and subpar as an agent. “You’re alive.” He cried softly, before recovering quickly. “I can’t believe it. You’re alive! You’re actually here, crying and breathing. I can’t believe it. They told me you were dead. I was told I lost everyone in the crash, my sisters and parents were gone and I was alone. How are you alive? How long have you been here? What happened to you, Sara?”

Night Stripe let out a cry before she lunged at him and hugged him tightly. Sandstorm hugged her back, stroking her hair as she cried on his chest, while we stared at them in confusion. His recruitment story was a car crash, but he told me it was with friends after a night of drinking.
Why would he lie about that? Was the truth just too painful to handle for him?

“I thought I lost you, Grant,” she cried. “I lost all of them. You didn’t make it! You died at the hospital after James saved us. You never made it out of surgery. You died and I was all alone.” Another agonizing cry broke from her lips.

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay now. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere ever again without you knowing I’ll come back for you.”

“I went to your funeral!” she cried as she shoved him away from her suddenly. Her anger catching up with the rest of her emotions. I knew it had only been a matter of time. “I watched your casket be put to rest right next to our parents! I was adopted by the man who saved us. I suffered in silence because I couldn’t begin to explain to anyone what it felt like to lose a whole family and be forced to continue on without them. Where were you? Where the hell have you been?”

Sandstorm brushed off his stunned expression easily after Night Stripe’s sudden change in personality. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her for being upset with him even a little bit. She had been alone, but so had he. She thought everyone is her family was dead and while I hadn’t made the connection before due to the change in recruitment story, Sandstorm had been the same way. He thought he lost his entire family in a car accident, but he had never once mentioned Ash Crest to me. He hadn’t gone looking for the person who caused the accident, because maybe he truly believed it was an accident, unlike Night Stripe. He had accepted it and tried to move on, while Sara had to avenge her family. Now she had one of them back. He was her brother, and he had taken the job in the Middle East all those years ago to escape it all, just as she took the job to escape her old life. They were the same, but so very different.

“I wasn’t at the funeral. Any of them. I couldn’t go, and even if I hadn’t taken a mission right after I was pulled from the hospital, I still wouldn’t have gone. There’s no way I would have been able to handle it all and that’s exactly what I told Sharp Shooter. That’s why he sent me overseas and I haven’t been back since.” He paused for a moment, letting the tension drift away before he continued. “I don’t know how you managed to sit through the funerals, and then continue living. If it wasn’t for this job, I wouldn’t still be here.”

“Don’t say that,” Night Stripe cried.

“It’s true! I wouldn’t have been able to be as strong as you were to go on without them. Then you joined CIRA. God, I’ve heard so many great, reckless but great, things about you. I had no idea it was you though. Just a rookie who had gotten in too far over her head, but still managed to come out on top.” He tentatively came toward her again and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “I’m impressed with your strength. I’ve heard so much about you and what you’ve accomplished. I didn’t know it was you though, I swear it. If I knew you were still out there somewhere, I would have come home sooner. I would have come back for you, Sara. I would have never stopped looking for you because I know what it’s like to be alone. I wouldn’t have made you go through everything without me by your side.”

Night Stripe sniffled and wiped the remnants of her tears away. “I’m glad you didn’t. I’ve done remarkable things. I’ve done more than I ever thought possible, and I wouldn’t change anything that happened after the crash for the world. The Rickers loved me as if I was their own. James was so patient with me, and his wife and their sons took me in without question. I have made wonderful friends in the other agents, and I’ve saved so many lives by going through what I did 
alone
. I’m thrilled to have you back, Grant, but I really wouldn’t change any of it.”

Sandstorm nodded as he hugged her tightly to him. “Then I wouldn’t either. I’m glad to have you back, munchkin. It’s been hard without you.”

Chapter 30

After witnessing one of the most touching scenes since joining CIRA, hell maybe even before CIRA, we all left when we heard an ear-splitting cry for help. Night Stripe and Camo were the first out the door, but they stopped short and I crashed into them as the boys joined us. I glanced through the space between Camo and Night Stripe and saw what stopped them in their tracks. The scene before us was heart wrenching. Bodies of dead, dying, or injured agents littered the ground, and blood had painted the rocks and grass surrounding the compound red, which intermingled with black from the explosions. Siren and a few other agents were sprinting from body to body helping as many agents as they could when I finally heard the helicopters from CIRA arriving. I watched as they came into view, along with a few larger planes to help airlift more people, which I could tell just from one glance would be much needed.

“Night Stripe! I need your help here,” Siren screamed over the sound of the approaching helicopters, directing her toward a body lying in the grass.

I followed her gesture to a body with purple hair lying limp on the ground. Night Stripe took off in Rum’s direction as Siren ordered everyone else to help the other injured agents around the field, but instead I followed after Night Stripe as the helicopters began to land in the distance. Rum had endangered her life for me, I owed it to her to help her when she needed it.

“Rum, what happened?” Night Stripe’s voice cracked as she looked over our friend, who was thankfully still alive and breathing.

Blood stained her clothes, which were torn and ripped from the explosion and the fight before it. Rum had a long knife stuck in her side, which she seemed to be holding in place as if afraid to rip it out. I didn’t know if it would be better to take it out or worse, but I wasn’t going to touch it. I had caused enough pain, and I didn’t want to add to the list.  She already appeared to be in a lot of pain, her face contorted and eyes glistening. I glanced over her body to see a bullet wound to her left shoulder and right leg. I couldn’t turn her over to look, but I doubted either bullet had gone through and exited her body. Legs are filled with muscle, fat, bone, and cartilage, all of which made it a terrible place to get shot. The shoulder had a better chance of being a through shot, because the bullet had less to go through, which would aid in healing once she got out of here and to a hospital.

“I took the blast explosion for Spit Fire, a bullet for Demon, and another for Maverick while he was loading other agents into a plane. Looks like everyone got called in,” she slurred, exhausted from the fight and most likely delirious from the pain. “It’s a good thing too. I don’t think we could have handled it with just the three of us, Spit Fire.” A breathy laugh escaped her lips before she began to cough. Her hand held tightly around the blade in futile hope of easing the pain. She needed to get out of here and fast.

As if on cue, I heard the roar of a helicopter coming toward us. I got up to wave one in our direction while Night Stripe tended to Rum’s wounds as best as she could, which included ripping the bottom of her shirt off so she could tie it to Rum’s leg to stop the bleeding. My hair whipped around my face as the blades of the chopper pushed air around. Even after the helicopter landed they didn’t turn off its blades. An agent and a trained medic rushed from the chopper and approached us with a backboard. They wasted no time lifting Rum onto the backboard and taking her to the helicopter.

I watched in awe as they dropped her inside before rushing over to get the agent who Siren was tending to. The process went on, with the medics loading in survivors, including Camo’s patient, and trying to fill up the chopper with as many agents as possible. Once they were finished they sealed the doors shut and took off, sending the rest of us scattering to look for more agents who needed help. There were plenty around. We all fell to the first one we found and helped them to the best of our abilities before moving them to Siren for transport out of here. For the ones we couldn’t move, we stuck with them until they were taken to board a helicopter for a much needed ride to the hospital.

I saw Maverick’s smaller plane land near me on a makeshift runway that a few agents were still working on. It wasn’t perfectly flat, but it’s what we had to work with and if there was one thing the agents and pilots in CIRA were good at it was making the most of what we were given. While I waited for more planes to come, I worked on a rookie agent who was injured in the blast. All the while I continued to look at Maverick’s plane. Once the plane door opened and the pilot exited, ordering everyone to carry an injured agent into the plane as quickly as possible, I noticed that instead of Maverick, KC had leapt from the plane and was heading toward me.

“You really know how to end a made up mission, Spit Fire,” he quipped before offering me a smile to emphasize his joke. I usually didn’t mind an attempt at humor to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t in the laughing mood right now. I had caused this, and I wouldn’t feel better until all of these agents were somewhere safe, getting the medical attention they needed, and eventually healed.

“I don’t know if I trust you to take injured agents anywhere with your flying.”

“At least you know they’ll get there fast, and in a time like this fast is always better. It gives the doctors more time to work. Most of the seats have been converted to beds. I’m putting everyone in there that I can and getting them out of state to a hospital that isn’t bombarded with cases from this shit show. So, whether you like it or not, you’re putting them in my plane and I’m getting them to a hospital.” After finishing the minimal first aid he knew, he placed a blanket over my patient to provide a barrier between her burnt flesh and him.

“Are they all going to hospitals? Won’t that raise a lot of questions? I thought some would go back to CIRA.”

“We don’t have much of a choice, Spit Fire. There’s too many for the doctors and nurses at CIRA to deal with. We hope by taking them to different hospitals out of state it will raise fewer questions, but there’s not much else we can do. Now move! We have a lot more people to gather up,” he ordered as he lifted the rookie in his arms and ran back to the plane, slowed down only a little by the weight of the agent in his arms.

I nodded, trying my best to ignore his remark so I wouldn’t let it get to me as I ran toward another agent. This agent was familiar and, unlike Rum and her close call, dead. A few tears took me by surprise as I stared down at Whip Lash’s lifeless form lying face down in the dirt. I glanced around, the others were still busy rushing between bodies to help who they could. Even the agents who were injured but could move around somewhat easily were helping those who were in worse shape. I wanted to stay with Whip Lash, pay my last minute respects, but this wasn’t the time for it. If he was around he would order me to help everyone else before him.

“I’m sorry, Whip Lash. I’ll work to make it up to the agents who lost their lives today. I can promise you that.” I let a few more tears trail down my face for my fallen friend before standing on shaky legs and going to help someone else. I got about four more strapped into KC’s plane before he was full and ready to take off. I watched him leave, noticing that taking off was rougher than usual with the uneven ground, but he made the most of it and made it into the air without a hitch. A few seconds later another plane landed and we started the whole process over again.

We made our way around the field as more planes and helicopters came and went with injured passengers. All that remained were the agents who were stable enough to wait for one of the vehicles to come and the dead. While waiting for the planes to return I found a few friends sitting around with the other agents who were waiting. I took notice of one black haired friend in particular. Demon took his usual seat next to Renegade, who had left an empty spot on his other side for Night Stripe when she showed up, and was listening to the story about Night Stripe breaking down when she saw her brother again.

“I can’t blame her, I saw him and I thought I had died. The last thing I expected was Grant to show up as an agent. I didn’t even know he was Sandstorm,” Demon laughed as I took a seat next to him. “You know, I leave for a couple of months to the pacific to deal with a few things, and everything you guys are doing goes to hell. You just can’t survive without us can you?” Demon quipped with a smirk before it dropped from his features and the group was lost momentarily in silence for all those who had died.

“I guess you heard about Whip Lash,” I said after a moment. “I saw him while I was helping some other agents. I’m sorry, Demon. I know he was your friend.”
I’m sorry I got him killed
, I added to myself.

“Yeah, it was hard to hear. We’ve been friends for years, even before formal recruitment. I wasn’t there when he needed me. We thought it was best to split up for the fight, divide and conquer, so we could use the surprise of every agent pouring in to our advantage. I thought it worked, but he got taken out right before the battle ended. Raider tried to save him and took a bullet in the back. It missed his spine so they think he’ll be okay, he at least thinks he will be, but only time will tell. He’s on his way back to CIRA to be looked at by the medical unit, but he told me the news and all I could work up was a half-hearted, “Thanks for trying”.”

“Are you ready for all the questions that are going to come from this?”

“No,” he replied easily. “But as I told the pilots while we were coming in, we didn’t have much of a choice. We alerted every airport we could that we had a massive amount of injuries coming from an explosion in Washington. They held back other planes so ours can land and unload agents and then take off to come back. It’s the only solution we had, and we will just have to deal with it.”

“How did you know to bring in more people?”

“Rum called in a ‘moderate threat level’ between two levels and called it ‘an inferno waiting to happen’ when she and Night Stripe had first taken their positions. She said to prepare for a Raging Fire. We didn’t want a repeat of Sandtown so we prepared and left before it could get any worse for you guys. It looks like we made the right call this time, but we won’t be able to do it every time.”

For once, I was thankful for that damn phone Night Stripe stuck in my bag. It finally came in handy, and had saved a few lives. Maybe it even saved CIRA as a whole. I was about to reply when Night Stripe rushed up to us in a panic.

“Have you guys seen Fire Fox?” She asked as she frantically searched our faces for a sign we knew where he was. “His team was called back to help with the Raging Fire call. Maverick said he dropped them off after the first bomb went off and I haven’t seen him anywhere!”

“No, we haven’t seen him,” Demon replied. “You should check with Seeker if he’s still around. He was waiting to catch a plane with Aces so he could help carry the injured to the medevac.

She nodded and ran off with Renegade right behind her so they could look for his mentor.

“I didn’t know Fire Fox came back from Germany to help with this.”

“I told you, we called in everyone possible. No one was getting stuck here, we weren’t losing more people than we had to, and we made sure of that.”

“I’m sorry it had to happen like this,” I said quietly.

“Don’t be. We would have had to come take them down eventually. Now it’s done, and while we did lose a lot of people it all worked out for the best. They know that this job is dangerous before they go into the field. Don’t blame yourself, Spit Fire.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. His words and gesture did little to comfort me.

I already blamed myself, and nothing he or anyone else said would change that. The deaths of those agents were on my hands and no one else’s. This would stick with me for the rest of my life.