Page 91 of Love at First Sighting
Marcus lets out a heavy sigh. “He’ll be fine. And so will you if you drop whatever this is. Right now.”
“You know I can’t do that.” My throat knots with tears. “You know I have been looking for answers foryears, and it was all right in front of me. You’ve made it so I could never find them.”
Every roadblock I hit, every obstacle he put in my face, was to keep me from knowing the truth. It was never for my own protection. It was never because he was trying to honor my dad’s wishes. I think of every night I fell asleep believing I was safe and taken care of, and how all of it was a lie.
I think there’s shame somewhere in Marcus’s expression.
“I know it was you. I know the truth. Or enough of it. So, you can either tell me the rest of itnowor…”
“Orwhat? You’ll go figure out the rest and nail me to the cross? How exactly are you expecting to do that, Carter?” His hand remains on his holster. “Be smart. Give this up and we can act like it never happened.”
“But I can’t…I can’t let this go.”
Now that I’ve rejected his peace treaty, his expression tells me he’s ready to go to war over this. “What do you think you can prove?”
“I was there that night in the hangar—with Ian Forte. I heard enough to know this comes back to you.” Marcus’s brows rise and his jaw tightens. What’s missing in his eyes is guilt. “What I saw the night my dad died, whatElsaw—those were Terra’s drones, weren’t they? And you’ve been pulling the strings the whole damn time.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Marcus starts. “You and your father areexactlythe same. You think everything is colored in black and white and never see the gray area. You don’t see the whole picture.”
Marcus steps closer. This time I draw my gun. If Marcus was the one who made me fail my exams, he knows I know how to use a gun. He knows I can be dangerous, too.
“Carter…Don’t do something you’re going to regret.”
“Like you did? If you even regret it?”
Marcus holds his hands up in surrender and glances across the desk at me. “You really want the truth?”
“I deserve that much,” I say. “No, I deserve even more than that.”
Marcus nods slowly. The rain picks up, splashing torrents of water against the rickety windows. I stare him down and ponder how I’m still going to get El into the bunker. I suppose the backup plan is, if I know what I need to know, maybe he’ll let us leave. Maybe he’ll at least let El leave.
“The Fortes have been working with PIS under the table for a long time. They have the technology we lack, but we have the access to government schematics and tools. PIS is the laughingstock of the Defense Department, and we’re one wrong move away from being cut loose entirely. Howard Forte was a good businessman. He knew a good trade when he saw one.”
“That’s treason.” I sigh.
Marcus rolls his eyes. “So is breaking into government offices. So is shooting a federal employee. To name a few…I offered Terra what they wanted—top-of-the-line information. They gave us something to make our job easier. To make us valuable. To keep us afloat.”
It doesn’t sound as bad when he says it like that. It sounds like a simple government cover-up where no one gets hurt. It’s easy to see how he’d think the same.
“Those surveillance drones?” I ask.
Marcus nods. “They save us time. Money. Agents. They were never meant to hurt anybody.”
“Just intimidate and spy on civilians.”
“How’s that different from what we already do? You’re part of this, too.”
I keep a covert eye on El in my periphery, making sure she doesn’t try to come back for me before this conversation is over. I need her to stay downstairs until Marcus is gone. “So, how did we go from security drones to my dad being dead?”
Marcus swallows hard. This is the part he’s afraid to share. This is where the secret lies. Government fuckery is part of the job. Murder isn’t.
“He didn’t learn anything from all our jobs. Truth number one: Everyone who speaks out lives to regret it. Your dad didn’t want me getting wrapped up in something I couldn’t get myself out of.”
Pain builds in the pit of my stomach. My dad was kind and easygoing. He was always eager to invite my friends over for dinner or sleepovers. There was no one who didn’t like him. Whatever issue he had with Marcus, I knew it must have come out of a place of care. Yet, only one of them is dead.
The right side of Marcus’s jacket falls open, revealing an ID badge strapped to the inside of his coat.Thatis what I need.
One tap of the badge and El can get safely inside the bunker downstairs, find the backup file, and run. And I need to hope Marcus isn’t going to use his gun on me.
