Dawn Again

Fourteen

The men were discussing all that had happened in the last few hours to ensure that there was nothing that had fallen through the cracks between the two groups. Richard noticed Sophie's distress first. She had drawn her knees up under her chin and had her arms around her legs. She was shivering and tears were tracking down her cheeks. Richard gently picked her up and walked out the door into his own office. He was relieved when Sophie did not get scared or oppose being picked up. Richard realised that Sophie's mind had probably not caught on to the fact that he had her in his arms. But her body seemed to know him and recognised his arms as safe. As Richard sat down on the couch in his office, Sophie's opened her eyes and gasped. "It's alright honey. You were reliving something unpleasant so I brought you here. You are safe Sophie. I won't let anything happen to you. Promise. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"No" Sophie murmured and added, "Where are the others?"

"I brought you into my office, so you can calm down before we join the others." replied Richard.

"Thanks. We should go back." said Sophie, and got up, off Richard's lap.

"You okay baby?" Josh asked as soon as Sophie and Richard came back to the conference room. Sophie nodded and looked at all the men seated around the table. Her mind was numb. No...not numb...actually it was in a sort of overdrive. There were so many thoughts pinging about in her head that she was going to get a whopping headache soon. The men were all going over what the knew of Quinn - his various 'companies', the charities he supported, his current location - and it was all buzzing around in her head now.

Suddenly she said, "Please. Stop. What is the point of discussing all this?"

"We need to plan our next step, Sophie" explained Jason.

She looked at the man who had so many laugh lines, it was obvious the man found the light side of whatever situation he found himself in. Sophie almost envied him. But she had to concentrate here. She was not about to let these men steam-roll her into some sort of plan which, she was sure, involved a confrontation, and blood being spilt. She was not about to let that happen. This was her fight to fight, and she refused to let anyone else bear the brunt of it.

"We don't really need a plan, Jason. This is something that I knew would happen sooner or later. I know what I have to do, and I need to do that alone. Please." Sophie said calmly, looking at each man directly.

"No." Richard decreed. Shocked, Sophie snapped her head towards Richard, but he ignored her look, and continued, "I do not know exactly what the bastard did to you, Sophie. But I have seen enough action, and enough brothers with PTSD to know that you have a mother PTSD. I also do not know James personally, but he is a spec-ops. That makes him family and by extension you. Do not even dream about going this alone Sophie." Richard knew what he said next would be a blow to Sophie's hard-earned self-confidence. But he had to do it to make sure she understood that she was getting help, whether she liked it or not. So, he continued, "You are incapable of taking Quinn on. Not one-on-one and certainly not with all his considerable resources."

Sophie wanted to rant and growl but did neither of those. She also wanted to be left alone. She wanted to be invisible. She wanted to forget all about her past. She did not want to be Ana, neither did she want to be Sophie anymore. But she knew enough of men with strong alpha personalities to know that nothing she said now would see the inside of any of their brains. They were set to do what they thought was best for her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Then it looks like you don't really need me here. You can go ahead with your planning. I will be outside...somewhere....in your office. I am having a coffee...let me know if any of you want one." There was a general grumbling noise in the room which Sophie took to be a 'yes' from all. She turned around and left the room, softly closing the door behind her.

"Man, she is a keeper. Life would be so much easier if all women were such understanding creatures." Jason said, his eyes following Sophie's retreating form. "It was too easy if you ask me," said Chad looking suspicious. "My thoughts exactly." concurred Josh. But they soon got down to planning their next step, with the top priority being Sophie's safety. Sophie made a coffee for herself and then took five mugs, with sugar and creamers into the conference room. she left without saying anything.

Sophie settled herself with her coffee on the comfy couch in the reception area. Her mind and heart were in a turmoil and she needed to get a handle on it before she could make any clear decisions. On the one hand, she was tempted to let the men take the lead and do it their way. On the other hand, she wanted them to not be dragged into the murky waters that was living with John. But she had to be realistic. Richard was right. She did not have the skills or the resources required to rid herself of John. She had to work with Richard and his friends and she couldn't very well keep Josh out of this now.

Sophie had to be practical here. She needed help dealing with this and so she would accept help. But she would not be a mere spectator, she would participate. The guys needed her help even if they did not think so. Only she knew first hand how John thought and how he worked. Only Sophie would be able to predict with any accuracy what John would do or how he would react.

With her mind made up, Sophie rejoined the men in the conference room. She looked at each man, took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Guys...I am sorry I huffed off earlier. I need help, and you are my best bet. But, please, I cannot be a sheep being led around. I want to participate. I know John like none of you do. Up close and personal. I can help you."

"That's it!" Jason blurted, "Z, I will be taking her - if you don't mind! A woman who apologises! God did not make many of those." "Shut up Chuck!" Richard snapped. He went where Sophie was standing and gently taking her by the shoulder, led her to the chair next to his. "Sophie, honey, you don't have to apologise. It has been a very hard day. It was wrong of us to keep you out of the loop. You are right. We need your help." Sophie let out a sigh of relief.

The men then went on to outline the plan that had agreed upon. They were going to send Sophie away with Richard to one of ACE's safe houses in Colorado. Josh, Brian and Jason would go, along with Sophie's phone down to New Mexico. They were sure that John would track Sophie's phone and so they planned on using it to their advantage. Chad woyld stay back to keep an eye on thungs in Seattle. Other than looking alarmed when they mentioned her going away with Richard, Sophie took the plan very well. She looked at Josh who was sitting right next to her and then gently laid her hand over his arm on the table. "Josh...I don't have the words for this...but for what it is worth, I am so very very sorry for dragging you into this. Please take care. I won't be able to bear it if you got hurt in this." Josh covered Sophie's hand with his much larger one, then nodded to himself and chuckled, "Baby, look at me! They'd have to mad to try and pull one on me."

Sophie gave a small smile and murmured, "I hope so Josh...I really hope so."