Page 76 of Smoke and Mirrors

He rustles through some files clicking on things and speed reading. “What the fuck,” he says as his body tenses, and a bead of sweat rolls down his forehead. He turns pale white, and his jaw clenches.

“Kace, what? You’re scaring me.”

He turns to face me, his eyes so wide the white in his eyes is almost blinding. “This doesn’t make any sense. They told me he’d been killed on a mission overseas. They said he’d been sent to make peace with them, and they’d turned on him…” he says, trailing off like he’s trying to work this all out in his mind.

“Who?” I ask, a shiver running down my spine.

“My dad…”

My eyes widen in surprise. “Then where was he killed?”

Kace sweeps his hand through his hair, brushing away the sweat that has gathered. “Here, in the states.”

“Why would they lie about that?” I ask, confused. My foot taps impatiently on the floor, and I can’t stop my eyes from darting around the room, expecting someone to jump out and catch us at any moment.

“Fuck, Lily, this is so… fucking fucked. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

I move my hand to his shoulder and caress it as he slumps his body turning back to the computer. He types something else into the keyboard with a click clack, and suddenly the screen turns black, and a giant skull and crossbones appear. The skull starts laughing as the screen looks like it’s decaying.

Opening my eyes wide, I gasp. “What did you just do?”

Kace winces. “Just fucked up this guy’s computer. C’mon, we gotta go. We’ve been made, and we’ve been here too long already.” He stands up grabbing my hand. The shop assistant comes over as we walk off.

“Hey, hey! What the hell did you do to my computer, you asshole?” he calls out.

Kace drags me quickly toward the front of the shop, but he pauses, tensing his muscles as his breathing quickens.

“Fucking hell, that’s not even possible,” he murmurs.

I tense up completely as I look out the front to see a car pulling up, and inside is Axel, Noah, and Eli.

“Lily… go,” Kace demands, turning me toward the back door with a push. We both start running as fast as we can. My heart leaps into my throat as my chest heaves dramatically in fear.

“You can’t go back there. Hey! Hey, stop!” the shop assistant calls out, but we ignore him pushing through the heavy door that leads into a small kitchenette. Kace pulls my hand, and we dart toward a fire escape as we hear a loud bang back in the main shop, like someone breaking the main door down.

That’s not necessary.

Kace pushes the fire escape door open, and I breathe a sigh of relief when it opens to a back alley. We run quickly, my feet hitting the pavement fast and hard as Kace turns us down another side road. He leads us straight to a sporty-looking car—a fast-looking car—and luckily, it’s a back street so no one is around. He doesn’t waste time smashing the driver’s window, unlocking the car, and sliding in the driver’s side. He unlocks my door, and I hop in as he pulls the bottom of the dash down. He rustles some wires together as I pant and watch ahead but see nothing. The car roars to life, and I don’t even have time to put my seat belt on before Kace slams the car into gear and speeds off down the road, pulling out onto the main highway and into the traffic. I let out a breath of air and try to calm my raging heart.

“It’s okay, Lily. They didn’t see us,” he says, reaching out putting his hand on my knee. I jump slightly just from the pure adrenaline that’s racing through my system as I look back out the rear window just to make sure we’re not being followed.

“How did they get to us so quickly?” I ask through a pant.

Kace sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “The only thing I can think of is Yana. She told them the car we were in, and Noah must have hacked traffic cameras to search for us. They were on to us even before we went into the café, then my hack alerted them to our exact location. They were in the vicinity, and I led them directly to us. I’m a fucking idiot!”

Calming down enough to see that Kace is hurting, I turn to face him and put my hand on his knee. “Hey, you didn’t know Yana would rat on us. Plus, she gave us the intel that led us to Ethan, that led us to find out about your dad. The pieces are all unraveling, and now we just have to find something or someone who can put all the pieces back together to form the perfect puzzle. We need to know what’s really going on and how I’m involved.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It just doesn’t make any sense. If my mom was having an affair with Luthendale while my dad was still around and he found out, maybe that’s why they killed him. But there has to be more to it than that? It has to have been over something bigger… surely?”

Sighing, I tilt my head. “Is there someone we can go to? Another asset maybe, who might know more?”

Kace sighs slumping his body and shakes his head. “No. I don’t think anyone is going to know. This goes too high up. The only people who are going to know are…” he trails off, and a slight smile crosses his face.

“Kace?” I ask.

He looks to me. There’s brightness in his eyes, he’s excited, and I’m not sure if I should be happy or terrified.

“Lily, I have a plan.”

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