10. Derek
Derek
Dean left me a few messages overnight regarding our assignment and Anathema. He found that over the years, there had been numerous complaints of dark figures going in and out of the old abandoned flour mills.
All of these were dead-end leads, and there was no physical or photo evidence to confirm these sightings had actually occurred.
His research proved there was potential for an underground operation to take root beneath the city, with the flour mills being the discreet doors in and out of the system.
In the last text he sent me, Dean requested that I meet him at one of the mills, the Twin City A-Mill, early in the morning to investigate Anathema's potential hideout more thoroughly—or at least the idea of it being there. We couldn’t confirm that this was where their hideout was located, but I wasn’t about to rule anything out unless it was a confirmed dead-end lead .
“Alright, Dean, you have my attention. Why are we here this early in the morning?” I ran a hand through my hair and inspected the seven-floor building before me as I stepped up beside him.
“Three nights ago, another report was called into the Minneapolis PD about suspicious individuals lurking around the mill. Same as all the other stories. Dark cloaks, faceless masks, and they added that there was a man in a black suit with them this time.”
“What did the police have to say about it?” I inquired, rubbing the stubble along my jaw.
“When I asked the officer who took the call, he stated that no one was there when he arrived, and all exterior doors were locked.” Dean shrugged with a sigh, pulling a backpack out of his car and swinging it over his shoulder.
“So they blew it off, assuming it was some prank call or teenagers screwing around.”
“And what’s that for?” I gestured to his backpack out of curiosity. It was still early morning, so I assumed he didn’t bring his backpack to camp out here, which could only mean one thing…
“Oh, this?” Dean chuckled. “Supplies we might need on our newest adventure.” He patted me on the back with a smirk and began walking towards the main entrance.
I let out a low groan of annoyance as I rolled my eyes.
“ Adven —Dean, what the fuck? I didn’t ask for this, this morning.” I called out, sighing heavily and grinding my teeth as I caught up to his side.
“No, you didn’t, but I know you, and if I did ask you to come with me, you would have blown me off like you always do and told me to bring Marcus instead.
” He stopped in front of the doors before turning to face me.
“Unfortunately for you, Marcus isn’t on this assignment, and it's classified, so you need to work with me whether you like it or not, Derek.” He snapped, and I recoiled.
Dean caught me off guard with his sudden attitude this morning, but he was right; I was guilty of shoving him off to Marcus whenever I had the chance. But in my defense, they were best friends; it wasn’t like I was pawning him off to another agent he didn’t get along with.
That being said, I didn’t mind working with Dean if I had to. He was easier to be around than any of the other agents, but today, of all fucking days, was the worst to drag me into a tunnel system.
The only thing running through my mind right now was Alexis and crawling back into bed with her. She finally lets me in for one night, and Dean pulls me away for this bullshit.
Fucking perfect .
Instead of spending the entire day fucking the one woman I wanted—that finally let me have a taste of her, I was going to, instead, spend it exploring an abandoned tunnel system with Dean.
My priorities may seem a little screwed up at this point, but I knew Dean and Marcus had been ditching work here and there to chase tail, so why couldn’t I? Fuck me and my work ethic…
I grasped the handle, turning it aggressively and ripping open the main entrance door.
“Let’s get this fucking over with.” I gritted out, grinding my teeth in anger. Damn right, he was going to know exactly how I felt about this impromptu field trip. I would suck it up and do this with him, but I wouldn’t be pleasant about it, not in the least .
“Goddamn, Derek. Get laid for fucking once; this attitude of yours is getting old.” Dean huffed as he followed me inside, and I held back a sarcastic laugh at the irony of his words.
The goal was simple for this morning: Get in, get out, and get the fuck back to Alexis.
Before descending into the basement where the entrance to the tunnels was located, we searched the main floor for any sign or evidence of individuals moving in and out of the building.
Given its long history of abandonment, the dust had settled heavily, making any disturbances easy to detect.
Sure enough, we found footprints and drag marks in the dirt trailing from the main doors to the far end of the building, where the entrance to the basement lay.
We assumed this was related to Anathema, but it could also be teenagers or social media explorers looking for their next viral video.
Due to the high risk of being caught, I had to agree with the decision to search the tunnels in the morning rather than at night.
Based on the times when most of the phone calls were recorded, the sightings always occurred at night, which meant they were most likely avoiding the mills during the day.
That didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t living down there either, but we assumed the likelihood of being caught during the day was less than if we'd come at night .
There were two primary benefits to searching these tunnels.
The first was that we could confirm where their hideout was and if they were actively using it.
The second, if we were lucky—but I highly doubted it—would be finding someone we could intimidate or threaten to become our resource for information.
With our backgrounds, Dean and I would never have the ability to gain access to Anathema on our own, and out of all the undercover work I’ve done previously, this would be the one time it was impossible to achieve.
You’d think that any group that functioned similarly to the mafia or a cult would welcome almost anyone with a vetted reference—not them.
No, Anathema was strict. Your record had to be clean of anything that could jeopardize their anonymity. This was why they had survived and remained enigmatic for so long.
Dean and I didn't speak as we descended into the Twin City A-Mill basement. The air was dense, and it was pitch black inside the tunnels—fitting for a murderous organization.
Hearing the zipper of Dean’s backpack from behind me, I looked over my shoulder to see him pulling two flashlights out of it. He walked over, handing one to me, and we both switched them on, taking in the hand-carved sandstone walls and endless abyss of darkness before us.
A lighting system was integrated along the walls, but after not being used for so long, most of the light fixtures were either broken, missing, or had their cables cut.
“Well… Home sweet home, I guess.” Dean mocked with a heavy sigh as he stepped past me and started making his way down one of the pathways. There were several to choose from; this was an entire underground network branching in multiple directions. It could take us hours to find anything down here.
“It’s only a home if we find evidence of their hideout down here; otherwise, it’s just an abandoned tunnel system under the city,” I muttered, more to myself than to Dean.
“Then, for your sake, I hope we find evidence so you can clear up that piss-poor attitude of yours.” Dean retorted in agitation.
Was he being fucking serious right now? I groaned as I continued to follow him. I didn’t bother arguing any further. It would get us nowhere, and I knew better than to push his patience.
Putting my job first had never been an issue for me. However, for some reason, the burning desire to be wrapped around and buried inside Alexis right now took complete control of my priorities. This possessive urge to not let her out of my sight, even for a second, was all-consuming.
Dean and I walked for—what felt like—an hour before I stopped and rested against the sandstone wall.
“This is ridiculous. There is nothing down here, Dean.” Anxiety and impatience were threatening to tear me apart.
Everything down here looked the same: an empty tunnel with graffiti and the occasional giant fucking rat.
This was a far stretch from being the secret hideout of an underground mercenary group.
Pulling out my phone, I tried to check our location under the city, but I couldn’t get a decent signal. Fucking great .
“What could you possibly have to do today that is more important than doing your fucking job?” Dean scoffed, turning around and approaching me. If only he knew…
“Nothing. Forget it.” I blew out a breath and pushed off the wall. “Let’s keep going.” I stepped past him and pressed on.
Dean frowned and bit his cheek before trailing behind me. My personal life was my business, and I wasn’t about to share any of it with him. At least not under these circumstances. Only one person knew everything about me, and he was over two hours away with the love of his life.
“So… have you heard anything new from Atlas lately?” Dean broke our extended silence as we walked through the endless darkness, sliding a free hand into his pocket.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he would ask about AJ while we were down here, grasping at straws for topics of conversation. Dean and AJ barely got to know each other from the short time he was in the office, but he knew we were close friends—best friends, practically brothers.
I don’t think he truly cared about what AJ was up to, but more so, he just wanted to fill the void of silence that had grown between us over the past hour and a half.
“Yeah, I have; it sounds like he will be back here within the next month.” A few weeks ago, AJ called me to get in touch with Madison.
He said that Chyler had been worried and constantly asking about her and Alexis.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe that he was able to keep her away from them as long as he did .
While they believed she abandoned them to the CIA, it was ultimately for everyone’s protection in the end, hers and theirs.
AJ felt guilty for isolating Chyler; he vented about it constantly to me, but the less communication she had with Madison and Alexis, the better—just until everything involving the three of them was swept under the rug.
It took months to cover their tracks, and we needed them to hate each other as part of the process to ensure that they weren’t working for anyone else besides Charlotte.
It was the easiest way to get the truth out of them.
The thought of betrayal will make anyone talk, even family, which was what they were to each other. Sisters.
“Is he coming back to the office or remaining remote?” Dean asked.
I laughed lightly, looking over my shoulder at him with a grin.
“You really think Conrad would let him remain remote after eight months of being gone?” I huffed, raising my brows.
“Fuck no. He will be in the office before he even gets a chance to set foot inside his apartment.” I smiled at the thought of AJ finally returning to the office and having my best friend back.
When I transferred here, I went too long without being able to hang out with him, only to have a brief reunion for a few months before he left yet again.
I’d consider AJ a brother, one I hated having to miss.
I was an only child; he lost his twin brother, so it only made sense that we became the missing piece to each other in that sense. He was always there for me, and I him .
“And now he finally smiles. If I knew talking about Atlas was all it would take to lighten up your mood, I would have brought him up sooner.” Dean chuckled with a hard slap to the back of my shoulder.
I glared at him, my smile fading to a hard line. He flinched from my sudden change in expression and shifted his gaze ahead of us.
“Let’s just get the hell out of here already. I’m done, I’m tired. There is nothing down—” I paused, noticing a boarded-off passage with streaks of dim light seeping out from between the cracks.
“Looks like we found what we were looking for.” Dean breathed, stopping next to me.
I continued to stare at the boards, examining them for any distinct markings that could confirm where this passage would lead.
My eyes stopped on a symbol burned into the top right corner of the barricade, and I pointed my flashlight at it.
A rabbit with the letter A on its body, the symbol marking Anathema.
“There’s your confirmation, Dean. Mark this location on your GPS, and we will return later—better prepared.” I whispered before checking over our shoulders in case anyone was headed our way.
They were indeed using these tunnels, and we needed to get the fuck out before they caught us snooping around and ruined everything.
“Right. Done. That way.” Dean gestured to our left, and we ran to exit the tunnels. I don’t know how he managed to get a cell signal when I couldn’t, but as long as we could get the hell out of here before anyone saw us, I didn’t care or question it.
Once Anathema was aware that the CIA was searching for them, it was all over.