34. Eva
CHAPTER 34
EVA
The highway never seems to end as we speed towards a location Ant found. He’s been monitoring every known warehouse of Marco’s and he pinpointed one in Chicago.
We’ve been riding in silence apart from a few moments where the boys have been discussing the plan between them, like me and Mandy don’t even exist.
Mandy sighs dramatically from beside me, who is sandwiched between me and Gunnar in the backseat.
Flynn and Ant are upfront, where Ant can change the location if needed while Flynn drives, and Carter, well… He’s been stuck in the boot since we left.
Mandy sits forward, resting her arms on the back of Flynn and Ant’s chair. “So, let me get this straight. We’re driving to this mystery location, outnumbered, unarmed and you geniuses don’t even have a proper plan? Stellar leadership boys, Axel would be proud.”
“Not helping Mandy,” Carter shouts from the boot.
She looks back, narrowing her eyes to the boy stuffed in the back with all the equipment.
“Oh I’m sorry,” She says, her tone dripping with Sarcasm. “Was I supposed to sit here quietly like a good little girl while you play, ‘Let’s wing it’ with Eva and Axel’s life on the line? Because I didn’t get that memo.”
The faint sound of leather rubbing, tells me that Flynn is no doubt gripping the steering wheel. “We have it under control, we don’t need a lecture right now.”
Mandy snorts, “You don’t need a lecture? You’ve got no plan, no backup, and the collective thinking range of a brick.”
“That’s enough,” Flynn snaps, quickly glancing at her before focusing back on the road.
Mandy leans back next to me, holding her hands up in surrender. “Fine, don’t mind me. I’ll just sit here and wait for your brilliant, ‘improvise and hope for the best’ plan to save the day. She leans forward again but towards Ant who’s concentrating on the screen in front of him. “How about you, Ant? Any secret plan you’re not sharing?”
He barely glances at her, tapping the screen and holding it up for her to see.
She looks towards me, raising an eyebrow before responding to Ant, “Oh good! You’re keeping count, that's handy, so let me guess… fifty of them and you’re all going to take them down with your combined good looks and charm?”
I shift in my seat as the tension grows around us. I know she’s only trying to help but right now, it’s not helping at all. I place a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to sit back, “Mandy, pleas-”
“No Eva,” She interrupts, her tone softening as she looks at me. “I’m not saying this to be difficult. I’m saying it because you deserve better than” She waves her hands to everyone in the car, “You deserve better than this. We’re walking into a fucking war zone for all I know without even a back up plan. You have a broken rib, you’re still healing and this is the plan? To go in all guns blazing? I don’t even know how to shoot!” She shouts.
She has a point, I shouldn’t have even left the hospital but here I am, in the back of a car, drugged up on all kinds of medication, storming into god knows what.
“Enough Mandy.” Flynn says through gritted teeth. “We don’t need your negativity right now.”
Mandy laughs, “What you need is a brain cell between the four of you. But since that’s clearly too much to ask, I’m going to keep talking until someone here admits, this is insane.”
I turn the five of them out as they bicker between them, thinking about the moment me and Axel shared in the forest. It feels like it was years ago that we shared something special, and now, we may never get that moment again.
Ant claps his hands, gaining everyone’s attention before holding up his screen for us to see.
Focus, we’re almost there.
I swallow, gripping Mandy’s hand into my own as we approach the warehouse. I have no idea what is about to happen, but I won’t be leaving without Axel.
The car falls into silence as I glance towards the others, their faces hard as the SUV slows to a crawl.
Carter throws a bag towards Gunnar, he opens it and throws masks to everyone in the car.
An orange one lands in my lap and I do everything to muffle the cry that tries to break free. It’s the one Axel gave me.
“What is this?” Mandy asks as she holds up a pink one.
Carter sits up from the back, placing his own mask on that’s yellow. “It’s our signature mark. No matter what we do, where we go. We wear these.”
Mandy examines the mask as it glows in her hand, “At least it’s pretty.” She says before sliding it over her face.
I watch as they all put them on, one by one.
Carters is Yellow, Gunnar’s is Green, Ant’s is Purple, Flynn’s is blue. But there is one spare, resting on the dashboard as it glows red.
Axels.
The car comes to a stop just outside of the warehouse, and for a moment there is no noise apart from the engine and the distant sounds of city life.
I glance around at the others, waiting for one of them to move as my hands shake.
“Mandy, stay close.” I whisper. She nods underneath the mask.
The others start moving. Flynn is the first when he opens his door and steps out first. It’s still light outside as the sun sets, leaving us no place to hide.
Ant follows close behind, his movements sharp as he gathers his gun from the front seat. He scans the area, his head moving for any enemies. Gunnar glances towards us before opening the door and moving towards the back of the vehicle.
He opens the door, freeing Carter from his trap. Carter climbs out, pulling a bag with him as he starts handing out weapons to everyone.
Taking a deep breath, I pull the handle opening the door before stepping out. I force myself to stay steady as my feet collide with the crumbling ground beneath me. A shooting pain erupts from my ribs and I do everything to try to stop myself from making any noise that may attract attention.
Silence wraps around us, it’s too quiet. Something doesn’t feel right.
“Get ready,” Flynn whispers beside me before handing me a rifle.
I hold it in my hands, not knowing what to do with it. We had target practice when we first joined the agency but we’ve never been trained for something like this.
The others surround me and Mandy, keeping us in the middle while Ant takes lead. Slowly we move along the side of the building, doing our best to stay in the shadows.
“I don’t like this,” Mandy mutters, her voice shaking from the nerves, “It’s too quiet. Something’s off.”
“I know,” I reply, keeping my voice low. “But we don’t have time to second guess. We need to trust them”
Ant signals us to stop when we reach the side of the warehouse. He taps on the screen of his device, no doubt checking everything is the same before holding it up for us to see.
“Through there?” Flynn asks, pointing to a door near the back.
Ant nods but he looks towards Mandy. She stares back at him and they stand there for a moment.
Carter breaks the silence, “Keep your heads down, no mistakes. If you get stuck, use the gun.”
Ant faces the front as Mandy grips my hand in hers, “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, I nearly lost you once. I can’t lose you Eva.” She tells me, her voice cracking as she holds herself together.
“I promise,” I say.
With a deep breath, they push the door open and we step through, allowing the darkness to swallow us.