Chapter 34
Ava
My hands were shaking. There was a constant current of electricity floating through my body, keeping me sharp and on the edge of my seat.
It was day two of waiting and the nervous energy seemed to rise with every second ticking by.
If the Apparitions decided to keep us waiting until the last day of the exhibit, we would all turn into rabid animals.
We sat in the hideout room, agents checking and re-checking their weapons, while eyes were glued to the little laptop screen—footage of the outside of the museum.
The museum’s wireless security footage went blank, and everyone stilled, holding their breaths. Just as we had expected. A jammer. Syntax had a wired system installed with hidden cameras wherever she could get access, knowing the Apparition’s M.O.
And they finally arrived.
Liam pulled up to the front of the building in an old beat-up Corvette, wearing a food delivery outfit.
Everyone perked up, murmurs floating through the room.
We did not expect to see him. Grayson rarely brought other people into his heists, unless absolutely necessary.
Liam pretended to yawn and stretch, all the while looking to Hunter, who gave an almost imperceptible nod, from the street café where he’d been stationed since the opening of the exhibit, just out of sight of any surveillance cameras in the area.
The nod was the okay Liam could proceed.
He pulled a large food bag from the backseat, while another car stopped in front of him. It was an unremarkable white Sedan, but the man getting out of the passenger seat, was anything but.
My heart thundered as Grayson straightened his sweater and pushed a pair of glasses back up his nose. Was this how he dressed when he was a professor?
Gemma came around the car with a similar look. Academics interested in Da Vinci’s collection.
“Show-time,” Owen whispered from beside me, signalling for the agents to get in position.
I stood too, but only to move closer to the small laptop screen.
The Apparitions made their way to the museum’s entrance, walking with confidence and ease.
Liam was the first to reach the door, but when he pushed the glass door open, Grayson stopped dead in his tracks.
Gemma stopped too, and even Liam, who must have seen Grayson in the reflection of the glass, paused with the door half open.
Owen and I stopped breathing.
Grayson slowly swept his eyes over the surroundings.
What was he doing? What was he seeing? I know there was nothing that would alert him. We had worked tirelessly to ensure it.
But Grayson balled his hands into fists and shook his head, ever so slightly. Liam and Gemma retreated immediately, swinging around and hastily making their way back to the cars, their eyes pinging back and forth over the surroundings.
“Fuck!” Owen bellowed beside me, making me jump.
Hunter had also stood from his table, calmly, but quickly making his way to his motorcycle.
No fucking way. I couldn’t breathe. How the hell did they know?
It didn’t matter now. We were prepared for this.
“After them!” Owen blared over the comms, shoving agents out the door.
“Already on it!” came Marshall’s voice over the comms, and just as Grayson and Gemma pulled out of the parking, one of our unmarked SUV’s came skidding around the corner.
“You stay here!” Owen shouted at me, as he ran for the door, eager to join the chase.
I returned my gaze to the screen as Marshall gunned for Grayson and Gemma’s car. But Liam’s Corvette shot out of the parking, crashing into Marshall’s SUV from the side, sending the SUV crashing into a streetlamp on the sidewalk.
Shit!
Liam had the audacity to wave at Marshall, an enormous grin on his face as he sped past him. Marshall pulled out his gun and shot at Liam’s Corvette before it disappeared around the corner, another one of our cars chasing after it.
Come on, come on, come on!
Unmarked cars whirred past, chasing after the Apparitions. Marshall had flagged one down and rejoined the chase.
I stared, dumbfounded at the empty street, my heart beating in my throat, my mind at a standstill.
How the hell did this happen again? How are they getting away again?!
My whole body was shaking with anger and disbelief. I tried to concentrate on the chase happening over the comms, but it was hard keeping my mind from spiralling.
The Apparitions had split up as they raced through the city.
Marshall and two other chase vehicles had almost cornered Liam, but he had no issue crashing through a makeshift barricade with his rusted Corvette.
It seemed to be reinforced somehow. It only sustained surface dents while our cars were all but totalled.
Emerie was chasing after Hunter on his motorcycle.
It took four cars to keep track of him as he bounded through walkways and alleys.
Owen had joined the chase after Grayson and Gemma.
They made it out onto the freeway. Their car was unsuspectedly fast, but so was Owen’s.
He kept on their tail, screaming commands over the comms to the other agents with him, hoping to box the car in.
It was complete chaos.
So much so, that I almost didn’t see the cameras in the viewing room going dark.
I gasped in surprise, startling the other two agents in the room with me. Grayson’s face appeared in the last camera, before it went dark.
He was here. Grayson was here.
Was anyone else seeing this? Was Syntax still monitoring the cameras? I doubted it. She had her hands full trying to navigate the FBI through three different pursuits at once.
My trembling fingers clutched around the radio next to me. The agents behind me were swearing, cocking their guns.
“Owen?” I whispered over the comms, my eyes glued to the black screen.
“Ava? Talk fast,” Owen instructed.
“He’s here. In the viewing room. He’s in the trap.” My heart felt like it would explode out of my ribs. Grayson was in the next room. He was inside our trap.
“Jesus!” Owen hollered. “Stay calm, okay? Stick to the plan. Let him trigger the system. I’m on my way.” I could hear the tires of his car screeching. “Keep talking. What’s he doing?”
“I can’t see.” My voice was shaking. “He blocked out the cameras. I’m going out. We need a visual.” I motioned to one of the agents to hand over his earpiece.
“Don’t let him see you,” came Owen’s worried voice in my ear.
I made my way to the door, silently unclipping the latch, and pushed it open without making a sound. To the right,was the door to the viewing room. I kept my back to the wall and snuck up to a column, crouching down behind it.
I took a few silent breaths, regaining control of my thundering pulse. Rule number four.
I peered around the column, into the viewing room. Grayson was spraying some type of gas over the heat detection trigger by the pedestal.
I quickly sat back, panic clawing through my chest.
He knew about the hidden heat detector. He knew about every hidden camera.
I wanted to throw up. “He’s not triggering the system,” I murmured in disbelief to Owen. Grayson knew it was a set-up. I peered into the room again, watching him lift off the glass from the pedestal.
Owen was quiet. Probably coming to the same conclusion I was.
Grayson had us playing Snakes and Ladders, while he was always playing chess. “I can’t let him get away.” Adrenaline coursed through my system, making it impossible to stay still.
“Ava. Don’t do anything stupid,” Owen cautioned, but it was too late. My mind was already set on my stupid plan.
I jumped from behind the pillar and sprinted down the hall into the viewing room. Grayson already had the book, making his way to the opposite door. I skidded to a halt, right on top of the pressure plate, and the doors slammed shut, right in his face.
Grayson was trapped.
But so was I.
My heart stopped beating as he slowly turned towards me. His face was expressionless, but I knew better. There were storms in his eyes.
I jumped to my feet and ran to the door I came from. The other two agents were already there, yanking at the door.
Why can’t they open it? I slammed my fist against it.
Owen was screaming my name as the agent outside the door kept repeating, “It won’t open,” over the comms. But their voices disappeared, and I flinched away as Grayson’s reflection in the little window appeared behind me.
He had ripped the earpiece from my ear. I whirled around as he crushed it underneath his boot.
The Codex was back on the pedestal; his knife clutched in his hand instead.
I couldn’t breathe, my body frozen underneath his cold stare and his towering frame.
“My little witch,” his silky voice slithered up my spine.
He slowly lifted the knife to my face, trailing the tip of it over my cheek.
I kept his stare, but something in me snapped—strings that had been pulled taught for way too long.
I always knew Grayson would be the death of me, and finally, that day had arrived.
It was almost a relief, standing in the moment I had anticipated for so long.
The fear left my body, replaced by acceptance.
I lifted my chin higher as his knife came to a stop on my neck, right over the faint scar he left.
“Make it quick. You owe me that much.” I had always imagined that I’d be looking into those dark twisted eyes when Death came to fetch me.
And if I was honest, it wasn’t a bad way to go.
There was so much I wanted to scream at those eyes, but it was unnecessary.
I felt it around me—Fate had woven this moment together. And no one could escape Fate. We were always meant to end up right here—the devil and the witch, locked together in an inescapable room, forced to face each other.
And unfortunately for me, there was no winning the devil. Not without sacrifice.