Chapter 17 #2
“Jesus, that’s the saddest fucking song I’ve ever heard,” Owen said flatly as the song ended, making me and Rachel giggle through the tears. “Consider me impressed, blondie.” He gave her an appraising look.
Another hour went by while I fangirled hard over Rachel’s song. We were sprawled in the backseat, chatting excitedly about the latest song she wrote when Owen cleared his throat, sitting up straighter.
“There he is,” he informed us, pointing at the burly guy. “When he’s done walking the perimeter, I’m going in.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Even Rachel was chewing nervously on her nails as we waited.
When the guy disappeared back into the nightclub, Owen opened his door.
“Wait!” I whispered-shouted for no reason. “I’m coming with you.”
Owen looked at me as if I was insane. “Don’t start with me, Ava. You’re staying put. If I’m not back in two hours, call Syntax.” He shut the door and walked across the street, zipping his jacket closed as he went.
“You’re not staying put, are you?” Rachel noted, keeping her eyes on Owen.
“Nope.”
“Jeez, Ava. You’re gonna send me to an early grave, you know that?”
I quickly pulled up Syntax’s number from the contacts and handed my phone to Rachel, then pulled on my jacket. “I can’t just let him go in there alone.”
“Two is better than one,” Grayson had always said. “Even the best of us needs backup sometimes.” That was rule number six.
“You heard Owen. If we’re not back in two hours, call Syntax. And get behind the wheel. Just in case we need a quick getaway.” I grinned at her gaping mouth. “We’ll be fine,” I chuckled nervously as I got out of the car.
I walked across the street, following Owen’s path. I kept to the shadows like Grayson taught me, quietly moving past two men smoking on the sidewalk. They didn’t even notice me.
I rounded the warehouse and found Owen in the back, using a piece of wire to unlatch a window from the inside. I snuck up behind him. “For a cop, you sure are a little sus.”
Owen jumped around, instinctively reaching for the gun on his hip that wasn’t there. “Jesus, Ava!” He sagged forward, bracing his hands on his knees. “If I had my gun, you’d be dead right now. Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
I’d made Owen leave his gun and badge at home when we departed on our vacation, adamant to leave all FBI and Apparition-related business behind. A choice I was regretting right about now.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay in the car?”
“When have I ever listened to you?” I whispered back.
Owen huffed in annoyance. “You’re insufferable,” he mumbled, but didn’t protest my presence any further. “Make yourself useful.” He stood to the side and motioned for me to hold the window open.
I braced it above my head. It was pitch black inside the warehouse, making my skin crawl. Something felt off. “Owen, maybe we shouldn’t go inside.”
“You can always go back to the car,” he jeered with a pointed look. He silently hoisted himself up and disappeared into the darkness of the warehouse.
I chewed nervously on my lip. “Owen?” I called lowly into the darkness. I couldn’t see him anymore.
“Right here.”
I jumped as his face suddenly appeared before me, almost dropping the heavy window on my head.
Owen chuckled in satisfaction. “Get in here.” He held the window open for me, scanning the outside for any movement.
I nimbly lifted myself into the window and soundlessly dropped to the floor inside.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say breaking and entering is your day job.
You’re scarily good at it,” Owen whispered, turning on a flashlight.
He scanned the tops of the warehouse, searching for cameras.
But I already knew there were none. Or they were turned off.
We would have seen the red LEDs in the dark. Or so Grayson had once showed me.
“I guess I was trained by the best of ‘em.” I shrugged playfully, and Owen snorted.
I smiled. It felt good being able to talk about them, without wanting to crumble into a ball on the floor. I finally had my head above water again. And a big part of that was thanks to Owen. Never had I thought I’d ever be friends with an FBI agent, but here I was, his backup on a stakeout mission.
Owen stopped abruptly in front of me. “Oh. My. God,” he whispered in shock.
“What is it?” I practically hissed, frantically looking around. We were standing in the middle of the warehouse with absolutely nowhere to hide if someone came in. Grayson would be appalled.
Owen turned slowly around the room, shining his flashlight over the hordes of machines and tables around us. I caught a glimpse of a crate stacked with money.
“It’s a printing house. The largest fucking one I’ve ever seen,” Owen breathed.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right. We need to get out of here. If they catch us, we’re as good as dead,” Owen whispered urgently, taking out his phone and snapping pictures of the room around us, then pushed me towards the window we came in.
As we reached the window, I ducked, pulling Owen to the ground with me. He dropped his phone, as we collided, and it skidded underneath a machine. Someone was shining a flashlight outside the window. There were guys murmuring to one another.
Owen inched upward, looking outside, then ducked down again. “The guard. With a friend,” he whispered lowly into my ear.
My heart beat frantically against my ribs. The burly guy wasn’t supposed to do his rounds for at least another hour and a half. Did they know someone had snuck in? How? I had checked for cameras and alarm contacts on the window.
No. They couldn’t have known.
A door on the other side of the warehouse busted open and my heart stopped as three men, guns in hand, shuffled into the room. Maybe they did know. The surveillance cameras Grayson had talked about were used by a normal business. Not the mafia.
Gods! We were trapped.
“Fuck! Sorry, Ava, just…” Owen didn’t finish his sentence. There was no time. He yanked me to my feet, pressed me against a table and thrusted himself against my backside.
I gasped in shock as Owen grabbed hold of my jaw, turned my face to him and kissed me.
What the…
But it hit me. It was a cover. Our only chance of getting out of here alive.
So I kissed him back. His arm snaked around my torso, pulling me closer to him, while his other hand captured my neck, lightly holding me in place. He moaned as his tongue dipped into my mouth and my heart skipped a beat.
A light shone on us, and I wanted to pull away, but Owen held me tighter, his kiss turning desperate.
My chest concaved and my throat closed up. Why was he kissing me like that?
He finally eased up, and I couldn’t breathe.
“Sorry,” he whispered against my lips.
“Hey!” A man yelled at us, and I jumped.
“Sorry, Ava,” Owen whispered again as he pulled away.
I had thought he was apologising for kissing me, but our eyes met for a second before he pulled away completely. In them was an utter devastation, complete defeat. “I’ll get you out.”
No.
He didn’t think we were going to make it out. He knew we were going to die.
Owen turned towards the men, tugging me behind him and lifted his hand over his eyes to shield them from the flashlight they shone on us.
“Jeez, bro! Could you chill it with the light?” His whole body language had shifted.
He wasn’t the uptight agent anymore with a straight back and a proud gaze.
No, he looked more like a toy boy, they type of guy Rachel and I would roll our eyes at.
“Who the fuck are you?” One of the guys asked in a thick Russian accent, stepping closer to us.
I grabbed a hold of Owen’s hand, and he squeezed it tightly.
“Look I was just tryna take my girl somewhere romantic, ‘kay? Can you blame me, fellas? Look at her.” He looked me up and down. “We meant no disrespect or anything. We’ll just go back to the club now.” Owen pushed me backwards towards the window and turned to walk away.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the guy said, lifting his gun towards us and shot off a round, the bullet hitting the wall beside us.
I shrieked and Owen threw his hands up. “Woah, woah, woah! What the fuck, dude? What’s with the gun? We don’t want any trouble, okay? Just chill!” He was still acting.
The three guys laughed, closing in on us.
“What do you think, Vlad? Should we let them go?” The one furthest away asked, but his tone was mocking. He was fucking with us.
The man who had shot at us answered, looking us up and down. “Net, this bloke here’s a cop.” He gestured with his gun to Owen. “I can smell a rat a mile away,” he sneered at us.
Owen gripped my arm tightly. “I swear to God, dude. I’m no cop. Just let us go, okay?”
They laughed. “Vlad has never been wrong. You’re not going anywhere, rat.”
I heard the sound of a gun cock behind us, and Owen’s head whipped around. My stomach dropped to the floor. The burly guard and his friend had climbed through the window, guns pointed at us.
“Fine, I’ll stay. But let my girl go. I’m begging you. She won’t be any trouble.” Owen’s voice broke.
“Cuff him,” Vlad said, unaffected. “Bring the girl too.”
My ears rang loudly. Owen tried to reason with them at first, then floored the first guy to touch him and nearly the second, before two men pressed a gun in his face, forcing him to the ground and cuffed his hands behind his back.
This was it.
We were going to die.
Vlad pressed a gun to my head. A crazed laugh escaped me at the familiarity of the cold, rigid metal against my temple. Maybe this had always been the way I was supposed to die.
“Something funny, girl?” one of the men asked, yanking Owen off the ground.
I laughed again, my shoulders shaking. I ignored their confused sneers and addressed Owen. I pointed up at the gun to my head. “Does this look familiar?” Owen had watched the security footage of the bank robbery and my kidnapping, multiple times.
Another bout of giggles shook through me. Gods, I might have lost it completely now. I was full-blown crazy. But fuck it, I was going to die. If that wasn’t enough reason to give into the madness, then what was?
Owen huffed a laugh, but his eyes turned sorrowful as he looked into mine. “You don’t suppose this one will fall in love with you too, hmm?” He gestured with his head to Vlad, who still held the gun to my head.
Owen shifted his gaze to him. “Don’t feel bad if you do, Vlad. Happens to the best of ‘em. It kind of sneaks up on you.” He looked back to me with a sad smile. “Happened to me too,” he said quietly.
My heart shattered, tears flowing hot over my cheeks as I held his gaze. I never knew. I never realised he felt that way.
“Enough!” Vlad bellowed, yanking me past Owen.
They dragged us through a long corridor and up a set of stairs. The music was loud but muffled through the walls. I could feel it shake the ground underneath my feet. Or maybe it was me shaking. No one would even hear our execution.
They stopped at the end of the corridor and knocked on the door.
“Voydite,” a voice said from inside and Vlad pushed me through the door.