Page 60 of Resurrect Me

“Thank you,” I say. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Chapter 30

Aris

“We invade The Org’s stronghold tonight,” I say to a room full of men and women. All a part of The Rebellis. “My identity’s been blown. Declan Harvey knows I’m alive. And The Org’s CEO is someone I know personally. We can’t wait any longer.”

I expected rebuttals. Refusals. Instead, the crowd of my peers and friends cheer and rush off to prepare for the coup.

I’m thinking about my family as I head down the hall to the weapons room. Tacy packed up and is taking the kids to a hotel outside of the city, in a little town most people don’t even know exists. An old mining town with a Bed and Breakfast run by Thor’s parents. They’ll be safe there. At least for a little while.

Shawn rushes up beside me.

“Why did you show yourself to him?” Shawn asks. This is about the thirtieth time he’s asked me this. “You should’ve kept a mask on, Boss.”

“I wanted him to see my face and know what he’s up against. I wanted him to know that I survived,” I say and light a cigarette. I don’t typically smoke. But the stress has me craving nicotine. “And I want him to be scared. I want him to be petrified.”

Reggie joins us.

“How do we know this mother fucker is truly one of us?” Shawn motions to Reggie.

“Because he is. He’s saved my life, more than once.”

“Could’ve all been an act,” Shawn mutters.

I pound my fist on the wall. “Enough! Reggie is one of the original Rebellis, like every single one of us. Probably more so. Tell Shawn what they did to you, Reggie. Then maybe he’ll believe.”

Reggie clears his throat. “When I was a kid, I knew I was different. Not just my race, or my sexuality, but also my learning disability. My father was on the city council. He didn’t know the people around him were all part of The Org. When he mentioned me to a coworker, they suggested sending me away to a camp. That they could fix me.”

“Like a Summer camp?” Shawn repeats.

“More like a concentration camp for children with disabilities. There was no therapy. No learning programs. Just three months of constant abuse. They tried to beat the dyslexia out of me. And, when they realized I was gay, the abuse got worse. I tried to tell my parents, but they wouldn’t let me talk to them except for under the supervision of a counselor.”

“Jesus,” Shawn says. “I had no idea. What happened when you got out?”

“I promised myself that I’d never let anyone hurt me again. Or hurt any kid who was different. Whether they were gay or disabled or whatever. I wouldn’t let these people have their way anymore. Later, in college, I realized the people my dad was working for were all working together. The mayor of the fucking city, for fuck’s sake, was a shareholder in the kids’ camp they’d sent me to. I got out of college and started working for the state. Worked my way up and into the Governor’s office. Which is when I met Lazaris. Well, he was Sol then.”

“That’s right,” I say and hold the door to the weapons room open for the guys.

“And when they tried to kill Sol, I knew I had to do something more than working in a government office.”

“Get to the part where you become a supposed double agent,” says Shawn as he grabs a black canvas bag off the wall.

“The day Sol disappeared, someone approached me. One of The Org’s lesser men. A minion. He offered me money to hand over the video surveillance of Sol’s abduction. But I refused. Then he threatened to kill me and my entire family. I handed over the video surveillance.”

“That’s fucking great, Reg,” Shawn snorts. “Now there’s no evidence as to who is responsible.”

“I handed over the video surveillance…after making a copy,” Reggie says and produces his phone from a leather satchel. “It’s all on here. Everything. The men scoping out the office in the month prior. And the actual abduction of the Governor. Of Sol.”

“Fuck yeah,” we say in unison.

“Leverage,” says Shawn.

“Once their stronghold is gone and we have them in cuffs, we hand over all of the evidence to the police and this whole thing will be over,” Reggie says.

“It’s never going to be over,” Shawn says and opens a locked box containing an array of guns and knives. “I say we destroy them. Fuck turning them into the cops. They probably have half the force paid off anyway.”

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