Chapter Six

When the Flowers Stop Singing

Edward's POV

The next day, at the Oktyabrskaya Hotel...

I walked inside the elegantly designed foyer with my thoughts and recollections of Jasper beaming vividly inside my mind, his jubilant smile and velvet-smooth voice replaying over and over to me, reminding me of how happy I truly felt when I was with him as I navigated through the modest groups of Russian-speaking customers.

I had spent the day after waking up Jasper's apartment merely perusing around Nizhny Novgorod, listening to a few more dialects of the Russian language and simply just remembering my personal, blonde-haired angel located not too far from where I had ventured.

I had checked in with the other agents that evening, having lied to them about my broken audio receiver just as I had planned it the night before, and they had believed every word that had come out of my mouth.

This evening, however, as I reached my hand forward and grasped the golden doorknob of our appointed suite, I could feel that something was not right.

As soon as I opened the door, my vision was met with all of the agents strapping on their heavy, Kevlar vests, followed by their blue, FBI winter coats, all of them stone-faced and barely speaking amongst each other.

"What's going on?" I asked at once, stepping further inside the room as I caught Sam Uley's pointed gaze as he chambered a round in his standard-issued Glock Model twenty-three before placing the firearm inside his black leather holster along his hip.

"It's been confirmed that the members of the Morozov Faction are at the Udachi Bar again. They're planning to send a hell of a lot of money and weapons to anti-America groups overseas. We're moving in now, so get ready," Agent Uley informed me curtly, his knack for getting straight to the point nearly hitting me straight through my chest, knocking the marrow right out of my bones, and threatening to make me collapse right where I stood as I processed such detrimental information.

"What? Since when...when was this confirmed...holy fucking hell...Jasper's in there right now!" I mentally hollered, my eyes widening in horrifying revelation, my conscious completely rejecting all else attempting to reach me, as someone roughly shoved a Kevlar vest into my arms.

The next few minutes were a kaleidoscopic blur of sharply spoken orders and speeding cars, where the team of FBI agents and I were quickly driven the short distance to the smoky, quaint bar where I had first seen Jasper, all of them stating in hurried voices which positions around the establishment they would take.

I said nothing, even as someone snapped their fingers in my face and told me to 'get it in gear.'

"...wait...wait; we don't have to do this...!"I blurted out mindlessly upon being practically yanked out of the vehicle and made to march towards the door where all of us huddled in such a way where our formation could be executed with the most efficiency, our firearms in our lowered hands as we waited for the countdown to finish before storming inside.

3...

2...

1...

My words of opposition fell on deaf ears, and, before I could fully register what was happening, we were bursting through the front door of Udachi, startling the few, aged patrons as the rest of the agents began hollering commands repeatedly, all of us shuffling seamlessly over towards the occupied table at the back.

My green eyes locked onto vibrant blue ones that had looked pleasantly surprised to see me, but then transformed into punishingly cold as Jasper glared blankly at my face.

"Hands in the air! Hands in the fucking air! I said get your fucking hands where I can see them!" the agents shouted in turns towards the three, Russian men who had instantly taken notice of our pointed guns and FBI attire as they all had stood up from their chairs and reached into their pockets.

Emmett scowled at the FBI agent nearest him as he quickly retrieved two nine millimeter pistols from the back of his pants, pointing them out wide at either of his sides, as he flashed his wild stare from person to person, seeing which one of us would move towards him first.

My eyes snapped from Emmett's hulking, defensive frame clad in is black leather jacket and jeans, to Aro beside him, his ghost-white features appearing amused at the situation as as he leaned in ever-so slightly towards his other Faction member currently guarding him as well.

My hold on my gun shivered for an indisputable moment as I shifted my now crystal-clear gaze to Jasper, seeing his stoney, unreadable stare directed to no one else but me, right in my eyes as he held the expression of a man largely betrayed, a man with nothing left to lose where all he would have to do was pull the trigger fitted so snugly behind the crook of his index finger.

Jasper's gleaming Browning HP handgun was deadly still in his grip as he continued aiming his weapon at my throat, my own firearm being clutched in both of my hands as I had it merely pointed in Jasper's general direction, our eyes boring into each other even though they spoke volumes of differing emotions.

I saw nothing but icy hatred; the pure, raw energy he was putting into absolutely despising me in this moment was chilling, and I knew that I barely even deserved to look upon his beautiful face right now as I held his expressionless, half-lidded gaze with my own.

I knew he could sense my distress, my guilt, but I also knew that it would do nothing to compensate for the fact that I was an FBI agent, here in Russian along with a team, to bring him and his Faction to justice.

My eyes flickered to Aro's softly grinning features as they neared Jasper's cheek, Aro touching his lips to the outer shell of Jasper's highly-receptive ear as the older gentleman whispered something to him, making sure to brush his lips across Jasper's curly hair in the process.

My grip tightened on my black, polished handgun in immeasurable discomfort, my eyes narrowing at the way Jasper moved his tongue around the inside of his mouth, his action causing Aro to smile even more as he backed away from the blonde-haired Russian, and before any of us agents realized it, Emmett and Jasper both lowered their firearms.

My team moved in immediately, but I moved behind Jasper faster, not wanting anyone else to touch him except for me.

Voices were still speaking and giving orders, but I continued to hear nothing, all of my senses focused on the alluring, enraged angel standing a few inches in front of me, his back to me as I reached around his body and took a hold of the barrel of his handgun.

"...I'm sorry...I'm..."I whispered quietly for no one else to hear except Jasper, as I routinely stowed his handgun into a separate holster I had on me before setting my own gun aside.

Jasper stayed painfully silent, making even more of my shattered heart ache in remorse over the situation, as I seized either of his hands and brought them behind his back, quiet words of woe still falling from my lips, as I latched a pair of handcuffs around either of his wrists, greedily savoring the feel of his smooth skin against my fingers for a breadth of a second.

I licked my drying lips, my throat feeling unbearably constricted, my heart even more so inside my burning chest, as I placed both of my hands on Jasper's shoulders and turned him around, Emmett already being escorted out of the bar in my peripheral vision.

"Jascha..." I began, my voice strained and pleading as I spoke tenderly to his ungodly perfect and attractive man within my grasp, needing for him to understand that I had not meant to trick him...I was falling in love with him; but any words that were spinning ruthlessly inside my brain, tingling on my tongue to say to him, were cut off in an instant as Jasper interrupted, his voice kept low and dangerous.

"It's Jasper..." the blonde-haired Russian corrected me coldly, before tilting his curly head to a side and spitting on the dark wooden floor next to us, "...you filthy American dog..."

Author's Note: Oh no...right? Ha! God, this story is just...taking over my life lol. Alright not really, but whatever – you all know what I mean. Cheers and thanks. XD