Page 14 of Fate Awakened

Just friends.

I yell internally at myself. The constant message has been my tried and true for nearly the last decade since she told me I had to take her and her friend Livinia to the 8th-grade dance, so they wouldn’t have to find dates.

“Just as friends, of course, because eww,”Her words hadn’t stung then, but I still remember her nervously waiting for me in the deep green dress she’d borrowed from Liv that hugged her newly formed curves. That night, she shifted from being the sad neighbor girl to the only girl I wanted, and no one has kicked her off that pedestal since.

“Oh, we certainly miss that girl. How come you didn’t bring her by so that we could see her?” My mom interrupts my reverie bringing me back to the here and now.

“I told you, it was a last-minute decision, and I think she’s busy tutoring.” I finish clenching my jaw at the thought of her sitting for hours with that criminal.

Pot meet kettle.

“Well, you tell her she’s welcome anytime. It’s been ages since we got to have you both here. I miss having everyone here.” Her words say, “everyone.”Her words mean“seeing you two together, so one day I can have grandbabies.”

“I’ll pass your invite along, but I have to get some work done. When is Dad supposed to be home?” I ask, turning to head through the front door.

“He won't be back until after dinner, but I will tell him you stopped by. I think he said he put some mail for you on the counter,” she replies before picking up the mister and returning to her plants.

As I pass the counter, I swipe the stack of envelopes, looking for the ones with my name on them. Most of my mail has been forwarded to my house by now, but occasionally I get something here by mistake. A manilla envelope addressed to me from an address in Reno catches my eye—no company name. And instead of Keith Anderson as the receiver, it shows KJ Anderson. The subtle difference I use in my less-than-desirable work.

I pocket the envelope and swipe an apple from the basket before heading back to my old room.

It looks exactly how I left it when I moved out a little over a year ago and exactly how it appeared through college and high school before that. Tech equipment lines my walls. Textbooks fill my bookshelves, along with figurines from my D&D days.

I fall into the computer chair while pulling the mystery mail from my pocket. My curiosity piqued, I open it.

KJ,

Excuse my presumption in sending this letter. You’ve previously completed some work for us, and we require your services. Unfortunately, We haven’t been able to reach your previous point of contact, and this is the only information we could find for you as you haven’t responded to the controlled communication sent to the number on your file. This address is listed on the account we have been paying, and to say it mildly, getting ahold of this information was no easy feat.

Please utilize the same communication method to contact us at the same contact number as before, except replace the final digit with a two.

Please do not delay in your response.

M.

I reread the note twice before flipping back to the envelope to see the postmark date was almost a week ago.

Fuck, K’s missing. They can’t reach him either.

My palms begin to sweat as the enormity of the situation falls on my chest, making it difficult to breathe. I grab my phone, hands unsteady as I open the encryption app. I changed my authentication method to an open-source Yubi key when Cain and his buddies took my phone. They hadn’t been able to reach me because of the switch, and even though I updated K, they would never have received it if he’s been missing since before then. I send the message to the new number and anxiously await a response.

(KJ) 4422225533777: Message received. Meet location needed.

Six minutes pass before my phone receives a response.

(M) 25557442: Midnight 36.1474° N, 115.1557° W Ask for RP

I release the breath I’d been holding and get to work tracking down anything I can find on Cain, K, and the people I’ve apparently been working for. I have under four hours to get the upper hand before meeting Elle.

“Ok, Cain, let's see what you’re really up to.”

Chapter 7

Bri

Afteranotherhourofdriving in near silence, I begin to drift off to sleep. The combination of the drugs he knocked me out with and the stress from the night weighing heavily on my heart. My body aches with exhaustion while my mind reels, fighting to find a solution through a fog of uncertainty. Part of me wants to curl up in a ball and give up.

What do I have to fight for anyway?

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