Page 34 of ForeverMN

When we get to our position, Reed fixes the suit he’s wearing, making sure that his own bullet proof vest is secure under his shirt. I follow him out of the vehicle, acting as his bodyguard. My steps slow when a woman I barely recognize steps into view. My memory of all the faces we passed that day is not the best. But I do remember her, and the peek I caught of her face before she resecured the bag over her head that was a required part of her uniform. I’m thankful that I did everything I could to try and mask my own appearance, from the change of eye color due to contacts, and coloring my facial hair to make it appear black rather than the light brown it could be.

“You look different than what I expected,” She speaks, keeping her eyes trained on Reed, only casting glances at me.

Reed picks an imaginary piece of lint off his jacket. “And you look like you’re dispensable. Which probably isn’t a good thing for your associate.”

Her lips thin out and her gaze turns murderous. This woman finally looks like the devil she really is. She looks like evil incarnate, and when she giggles out loud, it sends shivers over my skin. I fight the urge to attack, to protect Reed, to end this all here now. We need her captive and alive in order for the Chemist to make their next move.

“Thankfully, I’m more of a girl who works better alone,” She looks down at her fingernails, examining them, and I catch the faint stain of blood on the tips.

“Taking out your competition, or the one I really need for this deal to work?” Reed asks. I have to give it to him. His voice sounds like a true serial killer. Blank and bored, as if this whole altercation is playtime to him.

“If I’m not alive the supply doesn’t move.” She responds. Blinking at Reed like a doll.

Reed shifts and draws his hand across his lips. I watch closely, as this was the sign he was going to give me in order to find out if we have the true apprentice, or if we’re being set up. My hand tightens on my weapon, and I brace.

“The supply off the coast of the island, or what you have hidden in the canyon here?”

Her eyes narrow on Reed, and for the first time since she showed herself, her body seems to shrink back, as if she’s unsure. Or perhaps it’s been so long since someone was one step ahead of her and she couldn’t hide. Reed glances at the ceiling before rubbing fake dirt off his left shoulder. That’s our sign.

I hit my chest and activate my communication system open. “Confirmation.”

“Go,” Silas’s voice crackles in my ear, and I am finally able to break character. Between Reed and myself, and the other dozen or so hidden men we have inside, we’re able to grab the apprentice. Her scream is shrill in my ears when she realizes she’s been set up. I’m quicker though, and before the noise can reach outside our protective circle, I jab the needle into her neck. The serum works in record speed, and soon her body collapses, her eyes roll back, and anything else she would say dies on her tongue.

Reed and one of our guys manage to carry her out. I lead the way, paying attention to every command and turn that Kai tellsme, until we get to our vehicles. The woman is dropped between us, her hands bound, and a bag over her head. I take her hands and quickly press her fingers to our computer screen hoping we can get a hit on her fingerprints soon. We need a name and identity for this woman in order to find out how she could possibly be affiliated with the Chemist.

No sooner do we break the surface, driving out into the night and the fresh air, than a woman employee of Ghost Operatives slips in and takes on the role of the apprentice, acting as her to help them catch the Chemist next. We continue following the route that Silas mapped for us until we reach the underground prison where the real apprentice will be held. Everyone exits the vehicle, and we make sure she is secured and has no chance of escape.

A few hours later, after making sure our security is not compromised, Reed heads back to Arizona. Kai arrives with food, and we wait for Oliver and Nash to return to start their interviews.

“Glad it wasn’t a disaster of a mess to clean up this time,” Nash says as he breezes in, not a hair out of place, and his suit looking impeccably clean.

I grunt, rubbing my hands on my dusty pant legs. “Our jobs are always clean when we don’t have outliers trying to outdo us.” I remind him, enjoying the mark I hit because his jaw clenches.

Oliver joins us then and he bites off a laugh at his friend’s expense. “The job was done impeccably well,” he gives us praise and shrugs at his best friend when he scowls.

It takes a few more hours before my nerves start to calm. Our security is still going strong, there have been zero breeches. Reed has not reported any disturbances or rumbles from the underground tipping anyone off that we have the apprentice. It almost seems too good to be true.

“Drugs wearing off,” I lift my chin towards the woman whose eyes flutter and body shifts. Even with the limited lighting where I’m sitting I can see her flex her hands, trying to figure out her surroundings. Nash stands and walks towards her.

“You’re alive. I can’t say you’re safe, but if you give me the information I need, I could help you with that.” He tells her. His lie rolls off his tongue so smoothly, that even I believed it for a second.

Her jaw clenches and eyes narrow on him. They stare at each other for what feels like minutes before she starts laughing. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My fingers instinctively reach for my piece.

“Are you sure you’re confident?” Her voice sounds playful, as if she has a secret and we’re playing a guessing game.

“I’m not the one cuffed to a cement wall, so yeah,” Nash shrugs and rolls up his sleeves, arrogance drips from his voice.

She hates that. Her eyes turn cold and deadly while she stares him down again, trying to make him squirm and falter. Nash crouches to the ground, almost at eye level, but he’s still a head taller than her. “You can give me what I want, or we can play this the hard way.”

“I think I would check on them.” She replies, leaning back. Except this time her gaze dances around Nash, and lands on me. “You’d hate to be wrong about them wouldn’t you?”

My chest jolts, and my breathing stops. She couldn’t know about Rogue? I want to believe she’s bluffing, that she’s trying to get a rise out of me. Obviously, she’s put it together that I’m not in the same operation as Nash, who looks like he came from a board meeting, while I’m dressed like a soldier for battle.

I flick my eyes to Silas, silently begging him to reach out to our home bases and find out what he can. He slips out of the room and Kai turns on his comms so we can communicate with him. I focus on breathing in and out, working to not let heraffect me. I can’t let her suspect I have more people that I’m protecting. Nash glances back at me, and then to her, and he chuckles.

“My right hand man is never wrong. Trying to appeal to him is about as easy as snuggling a cactus. I’d be careful, Ivina.”

Her head whips up and her eyes widen. “You–”

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