Disclaimer: I don't own it, SM does. I'm open to all arrangements that involve me borrowing Jasper for a while though.

This fic is rated M for strong language, dark themes and some naughty thoughts about Jasper's butt. You have been warned

The story so far: Esme, Char & Alice are heading south. Peter, Carlisle and Charlie are heading East. Jasper and Bella are finally together. Edward is back in Forks and not terribly happy to find that 'his Isabella' was gone, and Rose and Emmett left for Italy, but Rose told Emmett she was returning home at Esme's request. But what is she really up to?

Chapter 25 – Covert Operations

RPOV

I was back in Forks by that night, hurtling up the driveway of the house in my rental car and screeching to a halt in front of the doors just as Edward came out onto the porch. He nodded to me as I got out of the car and I said a mental 'hello' as I breezed past him into the house. He followed me inside, closing the door behind him and standing in the middle of the lounge, his hands stuffed into his pockets and looking remarkably dishevelled for one of our kind.

I settled on the sofa and waited for him to speak, keeping my thoughts clear, knowing that he would explain just as soon as he got his own thoughts in order, and that any questions from me would probably trigger another panic like the one he had had earlier on the phone. In fact, if he hadn't sounded so desperate I probably wouldn't be here, but there had been something in his voice that had made me think helping him was probably a smart move.

Finally, Edward broke the silence. "She's not here, Rosalie, Isabella has left Forks. I was only gone three days; Charlie retired and people are saying they moved away. It's not possible for them to do so in just three days."

I raised a eyebrow at my brother. "Not possible, Edward? Esme can pick us up and move us in a few hours."

"Yes, she can. But she has six vampires helping her and packing at superhuman speeds. Humans simply can't just pack up and move in a weekend. They would have to have a lot of help."

I frowned. He had a point; especially if we were talking Charlie and Bella Swan. Little Miss 'I can do it all on my own' and the tree her apple didn't fall very far from, wouldn't accept help nor would they be particularly sprightly when it came to moving, I was sure. They would be the kind to reminisce about the stuff they unearthed and take forever to decide whether to keep it or toss it.

Edward nodded, obviously reading my thoughts. "Yes, exactly. Either they had help or this was planned long before, which seems most likely considering Charlie handed in his notice back in June."

That surprised me. She had known they were leaving and not said anything to Edward?

Again, he nodded along with my internal musings. "It would seem so."

"And yet you seem remarkably calm about this."

"No," he shook his head, "I already trashed Jasper's study and then his and the pixie's bedroom. I was about to start on yours and Emmett's room, when I thought of calling you to come and help instead."

"Yes, about that..." I trailed off, knowing he would understand my curiosity.

He shrugged, moving from his position in the middle of the room to rest on the arm of the sofa. "I need help, you need someone to put in a good word for you to get a promotion. Two birds and all that." He made an infuriating snickering noise when he saw my shocked expression and tapped his temple. "Oh really, Rosalie, did you honestly think no one in the family knew about your little back-scratching deal with Caius? I would have let on before now but it was to my advantage if you got rid of our Texan friend and moved up in the ranks, so I left you to it. Such a shame you failed." His tone was condescending and my irritation grew, but despite his insistence that no one could outwit his mind reading I managed to keep my annoyance from him and gave him a warm, but fake, smile.

"Well, it seems we can be of mutual assistance now," I purred, making sure my thoughts stayed on Bella and how to get her back.

"Perhaps," he admitted. "But there's an issue. Isabella was supposed to be here and I was going to take her away but I received a message today that the Volturi will arrive tomorrow. Aro would have agreed it was in her best interests as a newborn to be secluded so it wouldn't have been a problem. Unfortunately, she's not here, which keeps her safe from the Volturi, but I don't actually know where she is. Aro will not be pleased to find that out."

"So you were planning to turn her after all then?"

"No! I was merely going to make sure she was far enough away from Aro that he couldn't find her. As long as she never meets Demetri, she's safe." Edward seemed genuinely affronted that I'd even suggested the idea and I wondered how far he'd thought this through.

"So, let me get this straight," I sat forward, trying to fathom Edward's real intentions. "Aro is coming here tomorrow to get Bella; you were planning on Bella being with you in Nowheresville, pretending to be a newborn, but you're here and she's not; and you have no idea where she is, which Aro will know the moment you shake hands with him. Is that about right?"

Edward nodded. "Yes, there is one other thing though."

I eyed him cautiously. Edward always had 'one other thing' to throw in the mix and it usually brought trouble with it.

"Do you remember Angela Webber?" he continued.

"No, should I?"

"Probably not. I only remember her because she hung around with Isabella for a while. I never took much notice of her. But I saw her yesterday and I believe she's a shield too."

"Like Bella?" Now this was interesting. One shield was excellent; two was practically a miracle.

"I think so. Her mind is completely silent to me."

I mused on this information for a moment. It seemed odd that Edward hadn't noticed this about Angela before, but then he'd spent most of high school listening in on Jasper's thoughts and Alice's visions. He didn't really have much time for anything else until Bella caught his eye. Still, it wasn't something we could merely overlook. I thought about the two problems for a moment. We needed to get Bella back, we needed to give Aro the shield Edward had promised, and Edward wanted Isabella.

"Honestly, brother, I know you hate Jasper as much as I do, but you should have spent more time milking his skills. Strategically speaking, the solution is incredibly simple."

Edward gave me a look that was half glare, half relief. "Do tell, Rosalie, I'm not in the mood for games."

I rose from the sofa to stand in front of him. "It's simple, brother. First, get Angela, then call Bella and tell her either she comes back, or Angela goes to the Volturi in her place. Your girl will come scurrying back to rescue her friend, like the good little martyr that she is, you can whisk her away and I will stay here to hand Angela over as a shield to Aro. You get your girl, I get the recognition I deserve, Aro gets another shield and everyone wins." I sighed as if I had just performed a hard day's work. "Really, I don't know why you didn't come up with this idea yourself."

Edward look contritely at me. "I was a little stressed and couldn't see the big picture. You know how I get tunnel vision when it comes to Isabella. Your plan, however, has merit and I think we can work with it." His forehead wrinkled into a frown as he clarified in his mind what we were going to do.

"I think you should be the one to call Isabella. She'll know it's serious if you call her; she knows you wouldn't just call for a chat. I can get Angela, she'll be easily dazzled and I can claim I'm taking her to see Isabella."

I scoffed. Of course she would be easily dazzled. The stupid humans believe anything we tell them. "Alright, how long til Aro gets here?" Again, I kept my mind clear, not wishing to tip Edward off that Aro had been brought into the equation by yours truly.

"Tomorrow, sometime."

"Then you'd better go and get our hostage. I will call Bella. What's her number?"

Edward rattled off a string of numbers. "Assuming she has the same cell number."

"Of course she'll have the same cell number," I scoffed. "She wouldn't have a cell number at all if you hadn't given it to her in the first place and she never uses it. Why would she change it knowing that the only ones who'll call her is the family? What about the little watchdog though?"

"We don't need to worry about Alice. Even if she sees what's happening she can't stop it; she's on her own now. She divorced the only person, other than me, who ever took her seriously, just when he needed her most. I doubt he'll be willing to do her bidding; besides, he'd be too embarrassed to show his face around the human he just tried to kill anyway. And who is she going to call in? The Volturi? Caius has no time for her and Marcus is a pathetic recluse." He paused, frowning again, "There is one other..."

"Oh?" I questioned. I wasn't aware Alice had any friends outside the family.

"Yes, at Bella's house, there was," he curled up his mouth in distaste, "a Whitlock salute drawn on the wall. It's possible that Peter and Charlotte are involved somehow. But how I can't fathom."

I shook my head. It amazed me how dense Edward could be at times. "Isn't it obvious? They must have come to get Jasper. No doubt they paid a call on the Swans in order to finish the job that we should have done when she first found out you were a vampire. Peter probably got mad when he found out they were gone. You know how unpredictable he can be."

Edward nodded, "Yes, you're right. It's been bothering me how they might have been involved, thinking perhaps they took Isabella against her will, but of course, it makes much more sense that they came for Jasper. At least Isabella's sudden disappearance prevented them getting their hands on her." A thought occurred to me as Edward was speaking and he inclined his head. "What do you mean?"

"I was just wondering... I know I considered setting Bella up – I didn't - " I clarified, hurriedly, "but I was wondering... did you engineer what happened at the party? To get us all to leave and get Bella alone?"

Edward sneered. "I admit I considered it once. Briefly. But no, such tactics are beneath me. I could easily have persuaded the family she was in danger without having to resort to nearly having her killed by Jasper. That was merely a fortuitous circumstance, which I took advantage of."

I nodded, satisfied with his answer. I still suspected that someone had taken my plan and put it to their own use. If it wasn't Edward, then it was probably Alice. She could have seen what I thought about doing and put it to use for herself when I decided not to follow through. That gave her a few bonus bitch points in my book. Setting up your husband and best friend, just so you could get a divorce without taking any blame yourself? Genius.

"If she did, she will not live long enough to regret it." Edward cut in. "Jasper is already a dead man walking and I will be taking a contingent of Volturi guards to Texas to deal with him, just as soon as I have Isabella back safely. If anyone else was involved, they can expect to be dealt with very harshly indeed; no matter who they are."

He stood up, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides as he stared blankly at the wall, no doubt imagining how he would rip Jasper's head off. Suddenly he flashed over to the hallway and picked up his jacket, pulling it on. "I'm going to find Angela. Call Isabella. She needs to be here within the next twelve hours for me to have her far enough away before Aro arrives." With that he was gone.

I punched in the number Edward had told me and waited for it to connect. It rang a few times and I found myself hoping she didn't manage to trip and kill herself on the way to answer it. That would put a dent in our plans. Finally she answered.

"Hello?"

"Don't bother with pleasantries. This isn't a social call. Our proposition is quite simple; get your ass back to Forks like a good little girl, or your friend Angela will be joining the Volturi in your place. You have twelve hours."

I didn't bother waiting for her to answer, I just snapped my phone shut. There was nothing she could say anyway, it was a done deal. Little Miss Goodie Two Shoes was far too much of a martyr to let a friend go to hell in her stead. Wherever it was she'd run off to, she'd come scurrying back just like she always did.

I opened my phone again and hit the speed dial for Jane. "Tonight," I said and closed the phone again. I was glad I had thought to bring back up; Edward was acting strangely and I couldn't be sure how stable he was, nor how volatile he might be once Bella was back in his sights. The less stable he became, the more dangerous he would be. It would be much better if the Volturi were here to deal with him when Bella arrived.

By the time he returned with the human he was showing obvious signs of agitation again. As soon as they were inside the house, he grabbed her and took her down to the basement, returning to the lounge and pacing up and down, raking his hands through his hair and muttering to himself. He wasn't even focused on his gift anymore, which was working to my advantage.

I decided I should try to pacify him a little. Moving quickly, I stood at the end of the room with my arms folded across my chest and my feet planted firmly apart. It was my trademark 'don't fuck with me' look and it usually got a response. I smirked as Edward caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye and turned on his heel to look at me sheepishly.

"Edward, you have to calm down," I said. "You are going to be in such a state by the time she arrives that you're not going to be able to control yourself." I sighed dramatically and dropped my arms to my sides. "You don't want to put Bella in any danger do you?" I hit his weak spot with all the precision of a laser and the change in his demeanour was instant. He immediately drew himself up straight, frowning and staring a the wall behind my head.

"I'm sorry, Rosalie, of course, you are correct," he said in an even tone, "I must keep it together for Isabella's sake."

I gave him a fake smile, immediately masking my thoughts now that he was coherent again, only thinking of how wonderful it was to be given an opportunity to help him to get the love of his life back and be of service to the Volturi.

As I suspected, Edward was listening in again and gave me a half smile. "It is wonderful to have you here, Rosalie, at least someone understands."

I moved to stand next to my brother, stroking my hand down his upper arm. "Of course I understand Edward, I fell for a human once too, remember?" I emphasised my somewhat vague and irrelevant point, by picturing the one hundred mile run back to Carlisle, with Emmett in my arms.

Edward nodded solemnly. "Yes," he conceded, "I'm sorry, Rosalie, I will remain in better control of myself from now on."

I gave him a condescending smile and patted his arm. "Of course, now, let's get the human something to eat shall we? We don't want her passing out on us before Bella even arrives." I pulled out my phone and called a delivery service, then we waited for it to arrive. I found myself sighing and rolling my eyes in boredom a lot. Humans always seemed to have to wait for everything. It was so tedious. Finally the delivery service arrived and I took the food and drink down to the basement, returning to find Edward staring at his phone in shock.

Frowning, I walked over to him, asking him in my thoughts what was wrong.

"Aro is on the way. He is bringing Jane and Alec. He has grown impatient and wants to meet Bella, to formally request her to join them. Tonight."

I couldn't help but smile , but made sure the true reason was masked. "But Edward, that's perfect. He will arrive before Bella and you will be able to offer him Angela instead, before Bella even gets here. He'll be so delighted with his new toy that he'll forget all about Bella until you have her safely tucked away somewhere out of his reach"

Edward remained still for a moment, then a small, crooked smile spread across his lips. He looked me in the eye for the first time since I arrived and, dare I say, seemed genuinely happy. "Yes, Rosalie, it works perfectly- " He broke off suddenly, his head snapping to face the window, his focus on something outside.

"What is it?" I whispered in a tone low enough that only he would hear.

"There's someone out there, vampires, two at least," the crease in his brow deepened, "but I can't hear their thoughts... they have a shield with them."

I listened but heard nothing. Edward's hunting instincts were far sharper than mine and he often heard things outside long before I did. I wondered for a moment if it could be Aro sneaking up on us early with Renata, but he had only just called. Why would he sneak up on us having warned us he was coming? Besides, sneaking was far too subtle for Aro; he preferred to arrive with as much pomp and circumstance as possible, in order to set everyone else on edge. I spun round in the direction Edward was now facing, hearing a noise near the back of the house.

"Perhaps we should split up?" I murmured.

Edward shook his head, "They're inside." Just as he spoke, I caught the distinct scents of two different vampires. Instantly I was on the defensive; no vampires broke into the residence of another without having some kind of malevolent intent. I listened carefully for their movements, but all I could hear was the soft swishing of fabric. Then suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of white, almost ethereal in its movements, like the ghost of a white lady, but moving so fast I couldn't focus on it. The next thing I knew I was being held around the neck with my arm pinned behind me, unable to move, and there was a metallic grinding filling the air.

I screamed out to Edward mentally, hoping that the grinding sound was him ripping apart his opponent and that he would soon be rescuing me from the hands that held me so tightly that I couldn't move. I felt rage building up inside me, remembering the last time I had been held like this, back when I was a human. But my rage did not help me any more now than it had then, and the arms were too strong to struggle against. The grinding continued and I strained my head to look at the fight going on to my left. Suddenly something rolled across the floor in front of me and it took a moment to realise what it was. When I did, I screamed; it was Edward's head, staring at me, as motionless as if it were made of granite. My eyes flitted back to the white shape as it came into view. I didn't recognise her, but there was something familiar about her. She was tiny, maybe an inch or two taller than Alice, with long dark hair and quite a dark complexion for a vampire. She smiled at me, saying nothing and her stare was more predatory than anything I had ever seen before. She reached out to grab me by the throat and lifted me from the floor as if I weighed nothing, staring into my eyes. My original captor let go, swiftly moving through the house.

I struggled to break away from the woman, but somehow she was stronger than me and I couldn't free myself. The other, who I saw now, was a male, returned with the human beside him and said something to the woman in a low voice so that I couldn't make out the words; it didn't even sound like English. I struggled against the woman's grip again, my rage building when the human girl laughed and the male vampire beside her sneered.

"Let me go!" I choked out.

The woman tightened her grip, but lowered me so that my feet were on the floor again. I managed to move my head to the left enough to see out of my peripheral vision and choked back a gasp of shock and fury. Edward, my dear brother, lay in pieces that were strewn across the far end of the lounge. I levelled my gaze at the woman.

"You'll pay for that," I spat out at her, not caring for my own safety, but wondering how she had managed to best Edward. True, she seemed to have some sort of shield working in her favour, but even without his mind reading my brother was an accomplished fighter, having trained with Jasper and Emmett on many occasions; not to mention having had Volturi training. He was a formidable opponent and she had taken him down in seconds. I had to admit to myself that I found her a little unnerving.

The woman smirked, the look in her eyes daring me to try anything as she released me. I thought about running but it seemed pointless, she was fast and obviously able to handle herself. I didn't rate my chances. I might, however, be able to talk my way out of it.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you're going to have some serious explaining to do any minute now. Aro Volturi is on his way here with Jane and Alec, and he won't be pleased to see one of his sergeants in pieces. I suggest you let me go and we'll see if we can't come to some sort of an arrangement."

The woman continued to stare at me for a moment, then broke out into peels of maniacal laughter, that made me growl at her audacity. When she stopped, her face became solemn and again, there was a flash of movement too fast for me to see.

Then there came a screeching sound and it took a moment for me to realise it was coming from me. I tried to move but I couldn't; I couldn't blink or speak or breathe or anything. Then the world was spinning and the fire began, burning across my throat. I went to raise my hands but I couldn't feel anything except the searing pain, which was worse than anything I had ever felt before. My own feet appeared in front of me, but I couldn't quite figure out through the burning, which was now taking over my whole body, how they could possibly be at that angle to my head and for some reason all I could think was how terribly worn the heels looked, and that I was surprised Alice hadn't donated them to Goodwill a while back. Then I remembered they were my favourite pair and so that little mystery was solved. It took a few moments more for the shock to wear off and for me to realise that Jasper had been right; being ripped apart was truly the most agonising experience in the world.

Everything went still, and all that remained was the blinding agony. The woman's feet appeared in my peripheral vision as she made her way to the door, with the male and the human behind her. She paused in the doorway, speaking in a hushed, lilting voice.

"Dile a los Volturi, el capitán envía sus saludos." **

A/N: Thank you as always to my beta Dangerkitty and pre-reader Duskri123. Special wifey humps to DK this week for her Spanish abilities.

** "Dile a los Volturi, el capitán envía sus saludos." (Spanish English) "Tell the Volturi, the Captain sends his regards."

That said, Ch26 Spoiler:

Peter's been instrumental in all this so far. But what's his end game? What is he really up to? Let's catch up with Peter, Charlie and Carlisle as they arrive in the new Whitlock-Cullen residence at Red Feather Lake, Colorado.