Chapter 36 #2
The crack of August’s neck is loud in the quiet room, and my eyes widen as his lifeless body collapses to the floor heavily.
My eyes flick to Carter warily as he sits back down like nothing happened.
I may have been wrong about his desire to be more removed from the killing. York and William don’t flinch.
“There.” William shrugs. “We made room on the team for you.”
York stands cautiously, and I stand in place dumbfounded. “You have a skill set we can use. Between the four of us, we can manage the tech side of things, but we can’t do what you do. We can’t play the roles you do.”
William and Carter get up, Carter going into the kitchen as William comes around to stand in front of me beside York.
“The honeypot was honeypotted,” William says, gently pushing my gun down to point at the floor. “But we know you’re more than that. We just needed to see it.”
“Jesus,” I say under my breath as my head swims.
It’s hard to ignore the pang in my chest as I stare at York. I knew they weren’t being completely honest with me. I suspected some acting was going on, but I thought I figured it out . . . I never suspected York was playing my game. He would have made an excellent Raven.
“Impressive work,” I say dryly.
“Many things I said were true,” he murmurs, glancing down at August. “I do want you to want to stay . . . but I thought for certain you’d pull the trigger on him long before we’d have to.” My breath catches as his eyes come back to mine. He smiles slightly. “I lost that bet.”
They were trying to bait me into killing August from the start? That’s so fucking twisted.
“But I may have misled you with the whole domination angle . . . In fact, we misled you with a lot of things. Most of the conclusions you arrived at about us were the conclusions we wanted you to arrive at.”
“We aren’t sleepers,” William says in a perfect British accent.
It sounds so out of place with the way he looks and because I’ve grown accustomed to the Texan twang.
Can’t say I like the change. “And we don’t have government resources at our disposal because we aren’t affiliated with them in any . . . official capacity.”
“Mercenaries,” I surmise.
“Contractors,” York amends. “The Director was a contract that came to us."
“Who put out the hit on Russel?”
“The White House,” Carter says as he comes back in with garbage bags. “They looked into the Raven Program after the Venice incident went wide and wanted it shut down.”
“The other Ravens?” I look at William.
“All dead.”
“So, this whole time, I’ve been the end game? You were setting me up to kill one of you— obviously you wanted it to be August—and it was all a test?”
“A tryout,” Carter confirms as he bends down. “Technically, it was a tryout that you failed, but August had to go regardless. We have our reasons.”
“She may not have had the balls to kill August, but she killed that agent to protect me,” York says with a shrug. “That’s a pass in my eyes.”
“The balls?” I grind out loudly. “I’ve known you for a week and killed two people. A week! I went seven years without having to resort to that.”
The level of manipulation . . . layers on layers of it that I couldn’t see at all. My hand tightens on the pistol grip. The things he said to me and the things I wanted to believe…the things I thought I could maybe feel for him . . .
“You only killed one person,” York corrects.
I raise my gun in Carter’s direction without looking and pull the trigger twice.
From the corner of my eye, I watch him drop in a heap on top of August’s body.
“I’m perfectly capable of killing each and every one of you.
I’ve told you once, but I’ll remind you.
Whatever you think you know about me is only half of the truth. ”
They stand there for a moment, both of them focused on the newest corpse on the floor, and I wonder how close any of them really are . . . how expendable they are to each other.
“We needed Carter.” York’s attention shifts to me. “I liked him.”
“No,” William says as he stares at Carter’s body a moment longer. “We can make do if she learns his job. Hope that’s not a problem, honey, but you just volunteered yourself.”
“No, it won’t be a problem.” I step forward, leaving just inches between us.
I push the gun into his firm stomach and stare up at him.
“I can learn everything he knew with a bit of time, practice, and light reading. In fact, I could say that about the two of you, as well. So, if you keep fucking pushing me, I’ll take over this whole operation out of spite. ”
“You’re in, then?” William asks, leaning in closer to my face.
“Why was the Agency really after me?” I whisper, distracted by the closeness of his mouth.
“When we began executing the contract from The White House, we had limited information on each Raven. But when Babylon and Carthage were killed, a contract for the rest of you came up from Wainwright himself and we snatched that up too. It contained everything we needed to find each of you and led to discovering you.” William says, gaze burning into mine.
“I think he did it because he thought someone was killing them off to get to you, so he decided to cut his losses rather than risk you being grabbed.”
“So no cover up?”
“Oh it was a cover up,” York supplies, “But they were trying to cover up you, not the program.”
I take a step back from William, clearing my throat, but William’s gaze doesn’t leave me. I feel it burrowing into my skin with a heat that makes my stomach twist in need, even as I look at York. “Russel hired the same company to kill me that was already hired to kill him.” I could laugh.
“Yes.” York reaches out and slips the gun from my hand, flipping the safety back on and ejecting the round from the chamber.
I don’t fight it. “You belong to us now, Theresa, whether you like it or not, and the only way out of it will be to kill us.” He runs a thumb across my jaw.
“But something tells me that's not what you want to do, not to us.”
The way he says that confirms he knows about William and I, and I could laugh again, but I don’t have the energy. Was that planned too?
I take York’s hand from my face. “Not today,” I correct. “But someday? Maybe.”
“Perfect,” he whispers and smiles. “That’s exactly the kind of excitement I need in my life.”
William produces my passport and holds it out to me. I take it. Everything is so fucking twisted now. I pinch the bridge of my nose for a moment as I try to get my head back in the game.
“Take some time. A break,” William suggests. “We’ll contact you when we need you.” He holds out a phone. “Keep it on you at all times. If you don’t answer when we call, we’ll come looking.”
Dropping my hand, I look at him and then York. “You know I like to be difficult.”
“I’m counting on it,” he says and then turns, picking up the plastic bags from where Carter dropped them all.
“I’m looking forward to it,” William adds as he watches York shift Carter’s body. “You want to run, and I want to chase . . . so please, don’t disappoint me when the time comes.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, William.” He raises a brow at me, and then I face York. “Just leave the bodies and turn the thermostat to eighty-three on your way out.”
I don’t explain myself before I turn and walk back down the hallway.
Climbing the stairs, I go to my childhood room and scoop up the envelope of cash from the floor, and then go to my current room and grab my shoulder bag from the floor beside the duffel.
I drift out the front door of the house, lost in a fog of thought without another word to either of them. I fire up the stolen van and speed down the deserted street.