Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GHOST
The Code: Rule #6
All information is protected under The Code. If a Mask is found to be sharing their resources, they will be terminated swiftly and without trial.
My pulse monitor screams as I watch my beautiful darling toss and turn in bed. Even her sleeping pills won’t help tonight, and I know it’s because of the picture I uploaded to their system. I should feel guilty for the pain I’ve caused her, but I can’t. She had to know what they did to her mother. She has to grow to hate them just as I do, or she won’t be strong enough for what comes next.
My eyes take in each of her frenzied movements, and I absentmindedly reach a hand up under my mask to my mouth. I run my thumb across my lower lip, but there's nothing. No feeling—no fireworks—nothing like when she touched me the other night. There’s just… nothing. I sigh, dropping my hand.
I'm afraid I can’t live without her now. And I’m not sure what to do about it.
Slowly, I lean in and press my mask against the phone screen, closing my eyes and imagining I’m lying there next to her. Comforting her. I wonder what her hands would feel like on my chest, my neck, my—my face. My throat bobs at the last thought, and I snap my eyes back open, pocketing the device before stalking toward the front door.
“I’ll be back in a bit, Rupert. Hold down the fort for me, would you?”
Rupert raises his head lazily, heaving a generous sigh. “Damn, you don’t have to give me all that attitude,” I grumble, waving goodbye before slipping out of the stone fortress.
I swing my leg over my R 18 dragster, flipping up the kickstand before speeding down the narrow dirt into the mouth of the forest. My dwelling is located on the cliffs in the far north of Moriton, far away from any civilization—and even farther from the Sanctum’s headquarters.
Just the way I like it .
It takes me over an hour to make it to the outskirts of the city, and another two before I’m in the heart of the desolate concrete jungle. My chest tightens as the triangular behemoth structure of the Grand Sanctum comes into view. Taking up the entire corner of the block, the eighty-story-high behemoth towers well above the other skyscrapers in the area. Cathedral-style pillars line the diamond-plated windows of the massive double doors leading into the reception area, adding another layer of grandeur to the nauseatingly gaudy fixtures on the face of the building.
I park my bike in the alley at the back of the building, nodding a quick greeting to the armed guards standing outside the “secret” back entrance. All I’m saying is, if you want something to be a secret, you probably shouldn’t put two angry-looking linebackers in front of it.
As soon as I dismount, the guard on the left speaks. “Evening, Ghost. Madam is expecting you.”
“Isn’t she always?” I murmur, nodding a quick thanks as he holds the door open for me. “If I don’t see you later, one of you can have the dragster,” I joke, tossing the keys to the freckled guard on the right. “Keep her warm for me.”
The two guards laugh, but they don’t realize I’m being dead serious. Every interaction I have with the Madam could lead to my death—a reality I was forced to accept long ago. If she’s decided I’m no longer of use to the organization, then there’s nothing and no one who can stop me from ending up in a body bag.
That, or as food for her tigers.
I straighten, gliding through the long hallway like the color of the bloodred walls doesn’t cause my skin to crawl. I hate that color. Hate, hate, hate, ha?—
“R-1313. How nice of you to join us, finally.”
I twitch, having been so lost in thought I hadn’t realized I entered the main meeting room. The grand marble pillars and pretentious crown molding along the corners of the dining hall create a stuffy, suffocating air despite the size of the place. All twelve members of the Table sit in a semicircle, their hands clasped together on the table like identical, ancient robots. As always, the members are in full regalia, fine silk robes adorned with gold trim, tinkling with every slight movement due to the crystal accents hanging in rows along the hemline of their sleeves. Golden, bird-beaked masks adorn their faces, covering all but their mouths and the tiniest slit of their eyes, giving even the oldest of the members an eerie, threatening air .
“I had business to attend to.” I speak in monotone, the voice mod in my mask concealing any hint of rage there may have been. “What is this about?”
I scan the room quickly, noting how the thirteenth seat at the head of the table is vacant. Where the fuck is she?
“ Boy . I was beginning to worry.”
My shoulders tense at the use of that name, but otherwise, I give her no reaction. The Madam glides around the table, her movements lithe despite the six-inch heels attached to her feet. An elaborate Venetian mask rests on her face, the curves and gold leaf embellishments covering every one of her features, save for a pair of cruel green eyes peeking through the eye slits.
Her twin white tigers, Nix and Niege, follow close at her heels, their black-tipped tails twitching menacingly as they look over the nervous faces of the Table members.
“Rest yourselves, darlings,” she coos, raking her pointed crimson nails along Niege’s back. “Mommy is safe here. Rest.”
Nix fixes me with his yellow eyes, his canines baring as if to say you’re wrong about this one. He means you harm—I know better.
Oh, if only tigers could talk. “Madam. It’s always a pleasure,” I greet, dipping my head lightly in mock respect for the ruthless queen. “I see your children are eating well, as usual.”
Madam spreads her lips—that same horrible color as her nails—and fixes me with an all-knowing stare. “Nix and Niege have always had quite the appetite, yes,” she muses, reaching down and lazily fondling Nix’s ear. “It’s a good thing I have plenty of resources at my disposal.”
Several of the men at the table cringe, unable to help their reactions as she so callously refers to the countless young men she’s killed and fed to her beasts—some of them children of the Table members. Spineless bastards. If someone did that to my kin, I would tie them upside-down and skin them from their toes. I would ? —
“I’m sure you realize why I’ve called you down here,” Madam interjects, that same lipless smile plastered on her face. “You do know why, don’t you?”
I shrug, the movement hindered heavily by the material of my suit. “I assume it has something to do with my performance.”
Madam’s eye twitches, but otherwise, she doesn’t move. “Ah, yes. Your performance. Let’s talk about that. ”
I nod, waiting for her to elaborate. That eye twitches again, and Nix lets out a low rumble from where he rests at her feet.
“Your DNA was found at Daniel Hanson’s crime scene. Do you know anything about that?”
“Yes. And it took them nowhere. I am untraceable, as the Sanctum planned.”
Madam blinks, that smile of hers growing wider. “They talked to your birth mother, Boy. They now know far more than they need to. All because you failed to?—”
“I followed the Code to the letter, Madam. If there was an unforeseen element I could not control, then?—”
“It is your JOB to control unforeseen elements!” Madam screams, her composure cracking as spit flies from her bared teeth. Niege rumbles at her feet, and Madam holds a hand in front of her face, taking a deep breath to steady herself. When she looks back up, her mask is back in place—that eerie smile in full force. “That girl—the new FBI agent. She knows too much. What are you going to do about it?”
I shrug, trying to seem uncaring even though I’m pretty sure she can hear my heart from across the room. “I plan to do nothing. It would be a waste of my time. ”
“Are you really so naive to think that?”
“The girl is overzealous. If she continues to pose a problem, then I will deal with her. For now, she poses more threat to the organization dead than alive.”
Madam fixes me with a hard stare. “You know what, you’re right. Why should we waste time on such a gnat when there are bigger things to worry about? Things like your disobedience. Your faults.” Her lips widen farther, revealing the molars toward the back of her mouth. “If your abilities as a Phantom are faltering, I will have no choice but to terminate your contract, P-1313. As fond of you as I am, if you force my hand…” She takes another breath, snapping her fingers at the tigers.
The twins leap to their feet, ears pinned back and canines dripping with saliva as they hiss at me. For a moment, I think she’s going to order them to attack me, but to my surprise, she turns her attention to the Table member at her left.
“Nix. Niege. Fass. ”
At once, the tigers leap at the man, teeth and claws bared at his jugular. He gets out half a scream before Nix clamps down on his windpipe, crushing it in a slew of blood and matter. The rest of the Table members clamor back in horror as their colleague is essentially ripped to bits. Horrible squelches and crunching noises accompany the screams littering the room, adding to the drama of the whole scene. Through it all, I catch Madam’s eye, despising that excited little sheen in her black eyes as her right-hand man is torn to shreds in front of her.
“Nix. Niege. Platz. ”
In an instant, the tigers relinquish their prey, stalking back to the Madam’s feet before plopping to the ground, licking their canines the whole way.
“Good girls,” she coos, raking her nails through their bloodied fur as she gives us all that smile of hers. “Fortunately for P-1313, he remains indispensable to me. Unfortunately for Mr. Hollis…” She chuckles maniacally as she gazes toward the Table member’s remains. “Nix and Niege still needed to be fed.” She turns those beady black eyes onto me. “Remember that, Boy. If you disappoint me again.”
I nod, backing out of the room as soon as she waves me off. “Someone clean up this mess! And open a window, it’s starting to smell. We’re not animals for fuck’s sa…”
Her voice fades to nothing as I turn, traveling back down that bloodred hallway. Was that supposed to intimidate me? No. She knows that wouldn’t do the trick. It was a scare tactic, for sure—it just wasn't for me .
Perhaps there’s more turmoil within her inner circle than I knew about. It will certainly make things easy for me if she ends up killing off her Table members out of paranoia. Fewer bodies to deal with.
That’s what I’m going to tell myself, anyway.