Page 105 of Wicked Deceit
“Right,” he says, nodding his head. “I apologize for this having to happen right now. I know your brother and girlfriend were severely injured in this war, and my new team failed you on so many levels. I’m Agent Zero.”
“Yeah, along with my other damn brothers. And apparently, you were here while she was getting hurt. What the Hell? Kaycee is going to fucking die….” I bring my fist to my lips, breathing deeply again. I might punch this fucker and send him to an early grave if I keep ranting.
He exchanges a heavy look with Espie, and she sighs. “Yes, I was here the entire time, but you have to understand, we had no evidence to put away those three in the middle of it all. All we had was circumstantial evidence and hearsay.”
“No fucking evidence?!” I grit out, balling my fists. “How long have you been monitoring these psychopaths? Even I know they’ve been using a calling card at the end of their kills. Did you look at all their victims?”
The man swallows hard, running a hand through his hair. “My God, she really got into anything and everything, didn’t she?” he whispers. “Your girlfriend is something else when it comes to computers. I’m assuming she got into our database as well?” I frown, holding his gaze. He chuckles. There’s no way in Hell I’m implicating my girlfriend in front of his entire operation. “Smart,” he says, nodding his head.
“Can we get on with this? They’re all fucking at the hospital. My brother—everyone—I need to get there.”
He holds up his hands. “I just need you to walk me through tonight. What you guys planned and how you executed it. Agent Seven has explained her end to me, involving Carter, but I need to hear your end.”
I take a deep breath, reliving the last day of literal Hell. “We got a text from Carter from Kaycee’s phone. He told us what happened and that he was trapped. He said he would have to play along so he didn’t get himself killed or Kaycee. We made a plan and waited for a second text. We stationed Zepp to take out their power, and Carter would bring her to a window. I stood out in the woods, waiting for a sign. I saw him move the black curtain and flash his flashlight, and I took Kaycee and ran. Is that good-fucking-enough?” I growl as he exchanges another look with Espie.
“Agent Seven will escort you to the hospital. They have informed me they have rushed Kaycee to surgery to mend her injuries. Your brother is being patched up with non-life-threatening issues,” he says tersely, dismissing me just like that.
“And the others? They’re my family, too,” I say with hope filling my chest. My brother is okay. Kaycee’s getting the help she needs and will hopefully—no—Kace will survive this. They all will.
Agent Zero rolls his lips together, sighing. “Mr. Cunningham is in surgery as well to repair the damage. He’s suffered major blood loss and critical injuries. They’re doing the best they can. And Mr. Benoit is in recovery from his burns, getting fluids for now. But that’s all I know,” he says, eyes scanning the crowd. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have many people to interrogate and paperwork to file.” He pats my shoulder once, getting ready to retreat from this conversation. Yeah, that’s not fucking happening.
“No,” I growl, getting in his face. I don’t give a shit if he is some big agent in some shitty company. “Where the fuck were you during this whole fight? Why the fuck didn’t you protect that paramedic? Why the fuck did I get my ass kicked if you were here the whole time?” I growl, putting my nose against his. He holds his hands in the air as a few of his agents raise their guns.
“I get it, kid, you’re upset right now. You’ve been through something no eighteen-year-old should go through. But we couldn’t step in. It wasn’t safe for us. Do you know how many agents they surrounded and murdered in the woods? I sent ten of my agents that way. There shouldn’t have been a chance for them to sneak up on them, let alone shoot them. It wasn’t safe for us to step out of the shadows until Carter took them out by surprise. You have to understand that your safety is important to us, but the safety of my agents is important, too. If I don’t have them, I have no one to fight the good fight.” My eyes bug out of my damn head at his admission. He just let us fucking fall on our asses while he watched. We could have fucking died, and he would have shrugged his shoulders all to protect his agents. Isn’t that what cops and special forces are for? To step in when people are getting hurt instead of standing on the outside and not doing shit?
“My girlfriend was bleeding out. My brother got fucking shot for you! What the fuck!” I hiss, peeling my face away from his. I have to get my shit together if I want to live to see my family again. These assholes will probably go rogue and murder me for getting in their leader’s face.
“When you calm down, kid, you’ll understand why we did what we did. For the safety of all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have shit to do and an investigation to wrap up.” He raises a brow and walks away with his shoulders pulled back. Barking orders, he commands his people to take every black-robe toward a large bus with metal bars on the windows.
“Are they all going to prison?” I swallow hard, watching them march those bastards toward the bus.
One by one, they march them toward the bus with their hands secured behind their backs. They don’t speak to the agents tugging them along. Their heads hang low, killing their protests.
Espie’s gaze cuts into me again, and she nods. ”Most of them. Our insider, Zoe,” her eyes cut to me, and I swallow hard, thinking back to the time we caught Zoe and Principal Shaw together. And now it all hits me that maybe it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. Maybe she was forced into doing whatever they made her do. “She’ll be under our protection for the time being until all this is settled. We didn’t have evidence before of their crimes. Not until I witnessed the murders.” Her timid hand runs down her face with a drawn-out sigh. “This was my first case,” she whispers, staring off at her team. “I’ve been with Veritas for two years training for this type of situation, but they don’t prepare you for the real thing.” She wipes away the sweat on her forehead and sighs again. “But let’s get you to the hospital. I’m sure you’re eager to get there.”
Nervesbursttolifein my stomach, twisting it into knots. I gnaw on my lower lip, following Espie through the parking lot toward a blacked-out SUV. Exhaustion settled into my aching bones long ago, but there’s no rest in sight for me. My brain is fucking alive with so many thoughts I don’t think I’d be able to shut my eyes any time soon. Not that I could. There is too much to do and too many people to worry about. Half my fucking family is lying in hospital beds dying because of what they went through. And then there’s me, alive and well, following my former classmate, who was an undercover agent this whole time.
“Get in,” Espie says, gesturing toward the passenger side door when we approach the vehicle.
I blink several times, heave a breath, open the door, and climb in. I secure the seat belt over my chest and click it into place when she makes it around to the driver’s side. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes, but I’m haunted by my rampant thoughts once again. Espie starts the SUV in my peripheral and messes with the radio, turning it down until silence is the only thing filling the car.
When I reopen my eyes and look around with a jolt, I realize Espie has driven us off the property, and we’re coasting down the highway towards the hospital. Several cop cars plow toward the school, too little, too fucking late. Where the fuck were the authorities when all this was going down for the past year or so? Shit, who knows how long the Apocalypse has been up to this shit.
When I settle back in the seat and lean my head back, I feel her gaze again searing into me. It’s like that time at the restaurant when she worked there. She couldn’t take her eyes off me. I let it go for a few minutes, but every time we get stopped at a light, I feel it again, and I can’t fucking take it anymore.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I grunt, peeking an eye open to watch her. “You did it at the restaurant, too,” I point out in a gruffer voice than normal. Exhaustion pulls at my limbs, and a heaviness takes over my mind, but the horror show plays in my mind every time I shut my eyes. I can’t imagine what Kaycee fucking saw because what I saw was fucking terrifying.
She sucks in a breath, red brightening her cheeks and neck. The tips of her olive-skinned ears inflame. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to stare. You—uh, you remind me of someone I used to know.” Her grip on the steering wheel tightens, white-knuckling as she presses on the gas pedal, speeding through town.
I raise a brow. “A good someone?” I gently probe, putting a teasing tilt to my voice. As harsh as it might sound, I don’t give a fuck what she has to say. I just need a distraction to get me through this long and tense drive before I think myself into fucking oblivion. So many distinct possibilities ring through my mind: the good, the bad, and the very fucking ugly.
She snorts, running a finger across the top of her lip. “Not exactly.” She shakes her head. “You remind me of the boy I once loved, then…..” She swallows hard, blinking rapidly while staring ahead. Biting her lip, she sneaks a look at me and sighs. “His father killed me, and he let him,” she whispers with so much raw hurt in her voice. I don’t know how she’s sitting here today telling me this. Grief flashes in her eyes until the vulnerabilities she had given me vanish into thin air. She grits her teeth, strangling the steering wheel until her knuckles turn white.
“He killed you?” I ask slowly, sitting straight up in my seat with furrowed brows. “Like fucking killed you?” I ask again, trying to understand whatever the fuck she’s telling me. Killed her? I narrow my eyes on the scars lining her face when she brushes her fingers over them. Her fingers trail down toward a thicker-lined scar, running the distance across her throat and up to each ear.
I recoil, swallowing hard. How have I never noticed the scar before? Have we been too busy avoiding the new girl to notice she’s lived a hellish life we couldn’t imagine? Fuck. Why am I even thinking about this right now? I don’t understand why this mysterious government agent is spilling her guts to me suddenly. Maybe it’s because I look like this mysterious dude she was once in love with. But how the fuck can she stand to look at me if I look like the guy who aided in her—well—not so death? Well, fuck. Whatever she wants to tell me, she can. I’m invested now, and it’s helping to take my mind off all the fucked up shit going on.
Her fingers work around the steering wheel and slowly loosen until she’s completely relaxed in the driver’s seat. She hums in response, nodding her head, and clears her throat. I lean forward, eyeing her as a glazed-over look takes over her eyes like she’s lost deep in memory.
