Page 54 of Scarred Sunrise

“I’ll have the plane ready.” Will stood, and he and Aubrey left the room.

Liz knew things would move quickly now as they had so very little time to stop Rhea’s plan.

“Roz, can you reach out to Rykov and see if he knows anything that might be helpful to us?”

“I can, but he’s a slippery fucker. He may help, but as head of the Bratva, he’ll want something in exchange.”

“Offer him one favour from Fortis as long as it doesn’t involve killing innocents.”

Zack and his team would do anything to protect the world from the threat they had no idea existed, even exchange favours with criminals.

The next three hours were spent planning the missions. Lucy and Jace left, but Meg stayed, in part for her but also because she had good insights into to how Rhea Winslow’s mind worked. It emphasised again what her sister had been through, and guilt weighed heavy when Lizzie remembered watching who she now knew was John, walk out with her baby sister and hadn’t spoken up.

Before she was ready, it was time for Ty to leave, and every cell in her body wanted to beg him not to go as the feeling that she might never see him again overwhelmed her.

He pulled her into his arms and held her tight as they stood alone in the kitchen at Fortis, lost in their private thoughts. Her body almost shook with the fear building inside her.

Ty pulled away, cupping her face with his hands, and staring into her soul as he had since the first moment they’d met. A connection that spanned years, heartbreak, pain, and so much hope, and one that had endured and gotten stronger even as he fought it. “I’m coming back to you, Lizzie, I promise.”

“I know.” Her voice broke, and he covered her lips with his own, taking her pain into himself and pouring every ounce of emotion he felt for her into his kiss, the salt of her tears mixing with the taste that was uniquely him.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can, okay.”

“Okay.”

He held her against him, neither of them wanting to let go until finally, he pulled away. “I love you, Liz, so much, and I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you, too.”

“I know you do, babe. Your love is the one constant in my life. I was too stupid to hold on to you before, but now I have you, I’m not ever letting go.”

He kissed her one more time, threw his bag over his shoulder, and walked to the car where Zack, Will, and Zin were waiting to go to the airfield.

She felt Meg’s arms around her, then Ava’s hand in hers on the other side, and saw Aubrey with her arm around a tearful Celeste.

“Will they be okay?” she asked the woman who could see the future with her touch.

“I don’t know, all I see is a murky cloud.”

Celeste’s words almost took her to her knees, but as she had many times before, she stiffened her spine. “Then now is the time for us to believe in the power of good over evil.”