Chapter 6
I scrolled through my text messages to Lyra and clenched my jaw.
Lyra: Call me a slut or a bitch, and you will never hear from me again.
Lyra: I know you don't care about me.
Lyra: But you took it too far.
There were many things wrong with what she'd said. I'd never use such language toward her, and I cared about her too much. Getting her on the phone was the obvious option, but I itched to see Lyra in person, to see her face as she tried to lie. I hadn't replied because what could I say?
Lyra was my favorite puzzle. She was the only person who made my heart feel anything.
"Are we boring you? You were the one who insisted on calling this meeting of the council." A voice crackled through the speaker.
Ten screens, each one doused in shadows as their users hid their most defining features. The council members of The Unseen, known only to each other, were scattered across the country. The pomp and mystery would have intimidated even seasoned agents. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
"As I said, I'm concerned for one of my agents. Their communication and progress have been minimal. I don't think it's outside my scope as a handler to oversee the mission in Greenich Bay."
The silence made me crack my teeth.
"Beck, you were cautioned about this when you interfered with Angelo Amato. That was in defense of the same agent, wasn't it? Our ethos guides us to remain in the shadows as much as possible." One of the council members scolded me like I were ten years old rather than my late twenties.
"Perhaps the care of this mission should go to another handler?" said another voice, one I wanted to strangle.
I clamped down on the fury that rolled through my veins.
Spending my formative years in a psychiatric hospital might have been traumatic to some.
I endured it like a sponge, cracking open patients and doctors alike to learn how to present like everyone else.
I copied facial expressions and turns of phrase until The Unseen recruited me.
What better way to find agents with flexible moral compasses than those already deemed insane?
"There is no one more capable of finding Ellington Vizor than me. Begs the question of why I wasn't sent in the first place."
It was a civilized reproach, not my preferred method to handle irritating people. But there was little I could do over a screen. In person, I would have pulled off three fingernails already to get the answer I wanted.
"You think you know better than the council?"
Yes.
I picked at the temporary tattoo on my wrist, a thin outline of a lyre, and breathed out my nostrils heavily. It wouldn't solve anything if I broke the necks of the council. It might feel good for a moment, but it wouldn't get me closer to Greenich Bay.
"Of course not." I dipped my head. "I only bring you my concerns because I wish for the capture of Ellington."
"Have you given our previous conversation further consideration? If you had a seat on the council, this would be a formality."
My face was stone.
"I enjoy teaching and fieldwork when able. I might reconsider if you give me this one last opportunity."
An indulgent chuckle came from two screens. "Oh, those glory days. Very well, Beck. You have permission to manage the Ellington mission in person. You can take your seat on the council afterward, and we will finally be eleven again."
Victory tightened my stomach, and I nodded with a tight smile.
"It will be my honor."
"Look closer into Adelaide Orazio," one of the council members ordered. "She's been on our warning list for a while. Another flighty, irresponsible leader. Ellington likely wants to do the same thing as Thornridge: seduce her and get access to her fortune. Take her out if you get the opportunity."
I peered at the screen a little closer, noting the wrinkled hand of the person who spoke.
They assumed I hadn't done my research, and another agent would've believed them.
But I didn't. Not when I knew how close Lyra, or Lara as she called herself, had become to the Orazio heir.
The back of my neck prickled. I'd reacted the same way when they sent Lyra on her own to deal with Amato.
It didn't make sense. She shouldn't have been alone on either mission.
Lyra was a capable agent, I'd made sure of it, but she was still too green to go up against Amato and Ellington.
"You believe Adelaide Orazio is a threat?"
"Chances are high. We had to intervene in Greenich Bay in the sixties. One of the council members went deep undercover, and the Orazio family was spared, but blood will out, won't it?"
Blood will out.
I offered a nod. Not because I agreed, but because I knew how to play these games. He thought Adelaide was bound to turn out bad because crime ran through her blood?
Idiot.
What did that make me? My family had done nothing to deserve a monster like me rising through their ranks.
It didn't matter. Adelaide Orazio could do what she liked as long as she didn't get between Lara and me.
Besides, The Unseen was nothing but a puzzle, most people were, and I enjoyed unraveling secrets like pieces.
Putting them together or blowing them apart, whichever way my mercurial desires leaned.
"I will update you with my process."
"I assume you already have an alias lined up?"
"There just so happens to be an opening in the Greenich Bay police force. I intend to take it."
There was a rustle as the council shifted with interest, but I gave them no more.
"Remember your focus, Beck. You're there to clean up Ellington, nothing else. Get cleared and get to Greenich Bay."
I ended the call. My ears hummed, and I opened up my text exchange to Lyra. It would take me some time to craft the paperwork needed to slip into Greenich Bay unquestioned, more-so with a role like the police chief.
"Should I tell you I'm coming Little Liar?" I whispered. "You haven't earned my mercy."
I thought about the first time I saw Lyra, newly eighteen, at an illegal, underground fight.
Her boyfriend dragged her there and got roped into helping collect the bets.
She noticed, like I did, that some volunteers were skimming the cash.
Her dark eyes followed and unassembled in a way that made my pulse quicken.
It was why I recruited her. She had an eye unlike anyone I'd ever met.
An ability to shapeshift and a grit that people weren't born with.
You had to snatch it from the gates of hell.
I scratched at the temporary tattoo of the Lyra constellation. I'd wanted it on my wrist this time, so I could see her when my heart was too far away, and angry to reply to me.
"You think I don't care about you?" I whispered to myself.
The bare patch of skin made me flinch, and I curled down my sleeve to cover it.
I'd put a new temporary tattoo on it before I left, but for now it had to stay hidden.
After my teenage years, I couldn't stand needles.
But the sight of my skin also disgusted me, so temporary tattoos were my solution.
I wandered down to medical. Forcing my steps to seem languid. There were cameras watching, always.
"Jet."
The Unseen's resident doctor turned. "Beck. You still moping about your girl?"
His teeth were white against his dark beard, and his busy hands stilled. Dr. Jet liked blood too much, but he'd learned to never breach my skin. Not unless he wanted a broken jaw again.
"I don't mope, and she's my agent. You know, they don't allow handlers to have relationships with their charges."
The rule kept me leashed for years. Even though Lyra flirted with me constantly, I kept myself in check.
She was too young and certainly deserved better than me.
But I couldn't help myself. The moment I saw the bullet hole Angelo Amato left, so close to her precious skull, I had to have her.
I had worn out the memory from revisiting it so often.
Jet made a noise that sounded a lot like a smirk. He patted the bed.
"Don't you have more than one woman under your care? I didn't say which one I was talking about."
I clenched my fists. "Hilarious. I need to get signed off for a mission."
"Wait, wait, I'm not done teasing you."
"You are if you want to keep your tongue." My tone was neutral, but Jet's reaction wasn't.
He sucked in a sharp, spluttering breath, and silence crept into the room. I was glad my reputation hadn't faltered. It meant I could be the shadowy umbrella over my Little Liar to make sure she was safe.
"If you could undress?"
"No needles." I reminded the doctor as I heeled off my shoes and dropped my pants.
He looked away from my swinging dick, waving a hand at the disposable blue robe I was supposed to put on. I shook my head, and he grimaced.
"I need to update your records. Even a prick would be enough." He eyed my veins like a vampire, pupils dilating.
"No. Needles."
He wrapped the blood pressure cuff around my bicep, and my skin pinched as it inflated with air. I let out my breath with a whistle. The taste of chemicals was in the back of my throat.
"Blood pressure is normal."
He took my weight next, staring too long at the temporary tattoo of a jester on my chest. I changed all my tattoos, except for two.
The jester, as a nod to The Unseen, and my lyre.
A nod to my Little Liar, Lyra. Sometimes I wished I could get them marked permanently, but I promised I would never again let a needle touch my skin.
On the nights I couldn't sleep, I still felt them. Hundreds of ghost pricks over and over until I screamed. Like I used to when I was sixteen. Before they muzzled me, of course.
"Good." Jet nodded, noting down the number on his pad.
I stepped off the scales and hissed as Dr. Jet's finger tapped the scar on my chest. I snapped my hand around his wrist and squeezed until I heard something pop and he whimpered.
"Don't touch me, Jet."
"Dr. Jet." He licked his lips, feeling brave or stupid today. "Where did you get these scars? Why do you cover them with fake tattoos? I always wanted to know."
I tightened my grip around his wrist until his knees wobbled, and Dr. Jet sagged. The edges of my vision flickered red. He looked at my dick, and his tongue traced his bottom lip again.
"I killed the last man who touched me uninvited. Gutted him and choked him with his own intestines."
The council reprimanded me for that. It was another level of gruesomeness The Unseen couldn't sanction. But my frustration with Lara's silent treatment had to go somewhere, and I was sure she would come back to me. In the meantime, I could rack up my body count.
"Was it messy?"
"You would have come in your pants, Jet, you fucking freak." I let go of his wrist with a noise of impatience.
I wandered over to my clothes and dressed, giving him my back. Let him see the scars there and wonder about those, too. I wasn't afraid of him, and he knew it. I'd survived more sadistic doctors than him, an entire team of them.
"We're not done, I still need to—" Dr. Jet scrambled to his feet, and I cut him off with a slice of my hand.
"I don't care. I'm getting on a plane in the next two hours, and a positive medical result better be sent to the council in the next hour. Full health. No issues. Understand me?"
I tied my laces as Dr. Jet gaped at me. I flashed him a smile, one I'd been told looked like a shark, and his shoulders bowed in.
No more hiding, Lyra. I hope you're ready for me.