Page 104 of Wandering in Darkness
“Felix,” I say quietly.
“Maybe… I might have… shouldn’t have… brought the pig?” he guesses.
“You shouldn’t have brought the pig!” I say as I lift my gun and shoot a propane tank on the other side of them. It’s not enough of a spark to cause an explosion, but the release of gas is enough of a distraction that quite a few of them spin around to see what’s happened. Brigs squeals while he scrambles around the corner and right toward Felix. Felix tries hefting the pig upto run for cover, but he can barely get the front of the pig off the ground, so he decides that maybe he’ll simply run with the pig following him instead.
He rushes for Grayson and Antonio and seems to think I’m following him, but instead, I move toward the building Ned’s office is in. It draws their attention my way and off Felix when I make a few shots at them that purposely go wide.
I slam the door shut and throw the lock in place before hurrying farther into the building as I hear them beating on the door in an attempt to get inside.
My phone buzzes, and I can only guess that I’m being yelled at for being reckless. There’s no doubt that they’re not going to be happy with me. But I can’t seem to stop myself while I rush inside, because what if Lt. Allen is here? What if I can just end this nightmare I’ve been forced to live through because of him and Devon?
When I hear voices coming from Ned’s office, I recklessly head toward them. My stomach is eating itself up as I kick the door open and point my gun right at Audrey’s head. There are two others in the room, Ned and another man who goes to pull his gun until I warn, “Lift your gun and I’ll shoot her in the head.”
“You’re not going to shoot me,” Audrey says, sounding determined, and there’s something about hearing her voice that makes me hurt. I trusted her. She was a part of our team. She was someone I wanted to keep safe, wanted to protect. Hell, I ran back into the building for her as much as the others… and now… I find out that there really was a reason I shouldn’t have. “You’re too good of a person.”
“I shot Devon in the head, and you think I won’t shoot you?” I reply coldly.
She hesitates, making me realize that she might not have known this.
“If you think I’m the same person I was before Devon made me shoot Eddie in the head, before I caused Tate’s death, and before I killed Devon, you’re very wrong. That Cal doesn’t exist anymore. You guys ruined me,” I say, a bite to my words. “And then to learn that you were part of it?”
“Things aren’t always black and white.”
“So why are you here? Money? Are you over here locking up innocents and brutally beating women until they die just for some money to fill your pockets?” I ask as I gesture toward Ned who lost his fiancée because of this bullshit. The same man who is currently bleeding all over his desk from where they seem to have done a number on him.
“If Ned would have just stayed silent, none of this would have happened,” Audrey says, like it really is as simple as that. “That’s what I’m trying to explain to him. Instead of this fucking… ruse he’s doing. Like he really thought he and a bunch of regular people could take us down? If everyone had just stayed out of it, fewer people would have died.”
“Me? You wantmeto stay out of it?” I demand, rushing forward and grabbing her by the front of her shirt before slamming her against the wall as I keep the gun aimed at her head. “Lt. Allencalledme. He fucking tore into my life spouting bullshit about needingmeto protect people. He drewmeinto it, and then when he realized I couldn’t be manipulated anymore, he threw me away once I was too fucked up and broken to use.”
Audrey’s looking nervous now. She knows that there’s no way her buddy can save her if I choose to kill her.
“I would love to say hi to my old lieutenant,” I say. “The question is, are you going to be alive for it or not?”
“What do you want? Do you want money?”
“No. I don’t need any money. All of the money I had, I gave to Eddie’s and Tate’s families. I sold everything I owned because I was convinced I deserved none of it and should fucking sufferafter what I did. Money was the only thing I could give them, so that’s what I did. So no, money isn’t what I need or want. I want you and Lt. Allen to pay for what you’ve done to all of the people you’ve hurt or killed. You’re going to call Lt. Allen and you’re going to tell him that you want to meet him, alright?” I ask before I hear a noise outside the door.
“It’s me,” Grayson calls as he pushes in.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask. “Why didn’t you stay out of this?”
“You really think I’m going to stay out of it and leave you at risk?”
“You’re working together?” Audrey asks, noticeably surprised.
I shake her hard. “Call him. I want to meet him. Tonight. Better be a really good excuse, or you’re not going to live to join us.”
She hesitates before nodding and pulling out her phone. She glances nervously over at her buddy while Ned looks uncertainly between us.
With a deep breath, like she’s steeling herself to do this, she taps his number.
“Speaker.”
Audrey nods and puts it on speaker. It rings a couple of times before I hear Lt. Allen’s familiar voice.
“Did you get out of him who was feeding him this information?” Allen asks.
“We have the whole place secured. It didn’t take much. Ned wants to talk to you… in person. He claims he’s only telling you who he was working with. I have to assume he thinks he’s going to get something out of this or beg for forgiveness or something.”
