Page 97 of Jase
Burying my head in my hands, I couldn’t stop myself from spinning. I was on the verge of throwing up. Heat was pouring from my body, and the room was beginning to feel too small. I pushed back the hair from my face, trying to catch my breath.
“Fuck, you’re pale. Come sit down.”
I stepped back from Jase’s arm as he reached for me. “I’m fine. I just need air. I need to process this.”
“Process it while sitting.” Jase stepped in, pulling me into his side as he led me to the sofa. “It was too soon to tell you. I should have waited and just deleted it when you were asleep.”
“And hid it from me?”
“I’m starting to think it might have been the better alternative.”
“Never.”
He helped me sit, taking a spot next to me. “I know. Honesty is key with us. It’s why I’m about to tell you what I’m going to do. And yes, I said going. This is not up for debate. I’m doing this and you can either support the decision or do what you feel is best.”
There was such trust on Jase’s face as he peered over at me. Apprehension, but something deeper. Something more.
“What are you going to do?”
“Something insanely illegal. Something risky.”
I made sure my voice was low as I leaned in closer to him. “Are you going to kill again?”
“Damn right I am, but I’m not referring to that. I’m going to wipe the entire site. It’s the safest way so that it’s not just your video. There may be others David posted as well. I was looking into this. With red rooms, most try to get as much as they can with each victim. Videos like yours, the actual torture, organ harvesting. It’s common. If I wipe the site, with him dead, they’ll never return. It’s the best I can do.”
My head lowered as I licked my lips. My mouth was so dry. Just the admission that he would kill again should have had me terrified. I wasn’t. I suddenly felt nothing. Nothing but…rage. Satisfaction. A part of me was dead inside with the news—numbed out from the constant blows I kept undergoing. Murder wasn’t okay, but I didn’t care so much about that now that I was seeing exactly what these people were capable of. They’d taken everything from me, including my life,twice. I was done being their victim. Done with people hurting me and others. It wasn’t right, but if Jase could somehow put a stop to it while being safe…wasn’t it worth it?
“Wipe it. Wipe every single site in the world for all I care. I’m at the end of my rope. You have the skills needed to take them down, and the only reason they’re still at it is because of me. I should have never got between you and them.”
“Kody—”
“Don’t. I did. We both know I did. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I distracted you. I take a lot of your time, physically and mentally. Not anymore. They come first until they’re gone. I don’t care how you do it, or who you do it to. Do what you must.” I leaned in, meeting his eyes as my lips hovered just short of his. “I know nothing.”
Chapter 33
Jase
I know nothing.
Had I thought her perfect before? Had I ever questioned that she was the one for me? With those three words, Kody unlocked a piece of me that would never return. She didn’t just give me permission to do what I needed; she gave me permission to be my true self. There wasn’t anything more empowering than that. Kody finally knew what it was to be finished with these people. To be where retaliation and vengeance merged. We were one in the same now, fated, forever.
“Does everyone have their celebration drinks?”
“Beer and popcorn,” Tiffany yelled out, clinking her bottle to Kody’s.
“Do you have your phones ready?”
Kody lifted her cell to show me, taking another selfie with Tiffany. She ran to me, plopping down on my lap to kiss me. I scooped her in my arms, walking a few feet over and turning us so that the background of her picture was the curtained, glass wall. Just as she took the picture, I leaned in, surprising her with a kiss.
She smiled as I pulled back. “Alibis intact.”
“Yes, they are. Speaking of alibis, the others should be here soon.” I kissed her again, nodding to Rush and Rian as I put her down and took my place at my desk. They were serious, not at all good at pretending to be in a celebratory mood like the women. This was business. It was war.
“You both know what to do. We’re getting in, and we’re going to bring them down. We’ll be attacking a total of three different hosts. One for each of us. Countless sites will be wiped by the time we finish. It’s not going to be easy, but once we’re in, there’s no turning back. We delete everything. Once that’s done, we’ll drop the bomb and get out. It’ll do whatever we can’t.”
“I’m ready. Let’s fucking do this.” Rian gave Rush a nod, then me. I barely saw a slight flash of unease register on Kody’s face. She wanted this, but she knew the risk we were taking. One wrong move, and we were done. Exposed. This had to be fast and perfect.
“Here we go,” I whispered, bringing my screen to life. Me, Rian, and Rush stared at each other, Rush smiling first. He looked down, and the sound of keys was all that was heard. It was almost like old times, during and after the military. Back then, it started with us just messing around to see what we could find about future missions, or to see what we could get away with. Then after we were taken, we wanted answers we were never given about Afghanistan. We wanted revenge on anyone connected with terrorists. We got in over our heads in the forum. One thing led to another, and Rush almost got caught, but we were in the first stages of You2. We got our shit together, stayed low, and scraped by by covering our tracks. It all went away. Even to us, as we became focused on our jobs.
