AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As much as I try to concentrate, my emotions are all over the fucking place, causing my brain to fog as more negative thoughts keep flitting around, picking at my invisible walls.
Seeing an opportunity, I lunge for the small gap between the two aiming their guns at me, feigning escape, and when they step together, tackle dude goes for me again. Clearly, he didn’t learn his lesson from the first time. Spinning, I aim a punch straight at his head, but it grazes his cheekbone as I bring my knee up to kick him in the dick. I’m not afraid to use dirty tactics to get away, and this situation is calling for dirty tactics. I don’t think he was expecting my knee to make such blunt contact, and he goes down hard, grunting in pain. I didn’t hold back with that kick. I hope I didn’t ruin his chances of having children.
One asshole down, two to go. I move again and lunge at the one who has his gun trained on me. I know they will be reluctant to shoot again, because they are good little soldiers who follow instructions, and I’m wearing body armor, so they have to know it’s useless unless they take a headshot. I hope they are not that stupid. I grab the gun in one hand, releasing the magazine and pushing the slide back in one motion. It drops to the ground, and the bullet ejects out of the chamber. His shout of surprise would bring a smile to my lips if I wasn’t in such a shitty position. While he’s distracted, I do a spinning kick and hit the other guy in the head. He drops his gun, and his eyes roll back in his head—steel-toed boots for the win. He tumbles to the ground in a heap of muscle, and there’s no denying he’s out like a light. I can hear the guy on the other rooftop shouting in frustration, but I ignore his words as I square off against the last man whose gun I’ve rendered useless.
“What the fuck? Are you a ninja?” he growls, but I don’t respond, I just run at him. I feint to the left, and as he tries to tackle me, I leap over him and run for the stairwell door. It’s another long run back to the exit, but I still have wind left in my sails. I’m fit enough that even with all the adrenaline coursing through my body I can keep going. It’s what I’ve been trained for.
I can hear him on my heels, but I wrench open the door and take the steps two at a time. The noise is loud, and I can hear his heaving breath in my ears. Just as I’m about to round the next landing, something hits the back of my heels. It’s all I can do to protect my head as I stumble and fall down the next flight of stairs. Pain explodes throughout my body, and it feels like I tumble down one stair after the other in slow motion before landing at the bottom. I close my eyes against the pain, refusing to scream or acknowledge how injured I am.
“Holy shit, dude, what did you do?” a new voice from below asks.
“I did what I had to do,” a voice growls back. “He was getting away.”
“He wouldn’t have gotten far. I’m here, and Anders left the roof on the other building as soon as Phantom did. He would have been at the bottom when the assassin got there.” Fuck my life. The pain is too great, and as much as I fight internally, I can feel myself fading from consciousness. “Is he alive?”
“Who cares?” the man who tripped me responds as I pass out completely.
Chapter 3
A low groan leaves my mouth, which makes my head pound harder as I try to force my eyes open. I blink against the brightness of the light, unsurprised to find myself tied to a chair. I failed my assignment, was apprehended by the opposing team, and, to top it all off, I think I killed my own father. Blood wouldn’t have spread across his chest with a blank. I’m not sure how it did. I checked it, it was definitely a blank, and nobody could have tampered with it before I took the shot.
I’m so confused. I don’t understand what’s happening, my head is foggy, and my body aches like never before, the pain making it hard to think clearly. I feel tears well in my eyes, but they soak into the ski mask I’m still wearing, so hopefully nobody notices my moment of weakness.
They are all too busy arguing to notice I’m awake yet, so that’s something. My gaze skims my surroundings, and I recognize one of the interrogation rooms in the bowels of the Lighthouse.
“Any news of Theseus’s arrival? Or should we start questioning this asshole without him?” Lathan asks Dayton, who shakes his head.
“Nobody could give me any answers. They advised us just to hold tight and make sure Phantom doesn’t escape.” I couldn’t tell if there was genuine concern that I would try to escape or not, but the idea of being babysat because of the possibility clears my mind a little more.
“I say we beat the information out of him.” Miller pushes his fingers together, cracking them aggressively. Fuck. That’s just what I need, to withstand torture on top of everything else. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough for that. “And if that doesn’t work, I have some tricks up my sleeve that will.”
They all look so angry, and I don’t blame them. I’m not looking forward to being on the receiving end of an interrogation for a change. I’ve been trained for this, but nobody likes pain, or at least most people don’t.
“He’s awake and has been listening to you assholes chatter for about five minutes.” Bishop, Latino Lovely, has finally realized that I’ve regained consciousness, and they all turn to look at me.
“Why didn’t you say anything, asshole?” Miller shoves him.
Bishop clenches his fists but doesn’t retaliate. “You seemed to have it all under control.” Wow, the barely contained malice between these two is super obvious. I wonder what has their panties in a bunch.
“Who hired you?” Anders demands, but I stay quiet. Dad told me never to give up any information without him or Uncle Theseus in the room despite us being on the same side—or at least that’s what they lead you to believe.
Miller strides over to me, his hands already fisted, and I brace myself. He hauls back and slams one into my face, and a grunt leaves my mouth as my head snaps back as his fist connects with my cheek. “Answer the fucking question, or that is just the beginning.”
My ears ring from the punch, but I stay quiet. Another fist comes at me, and this one hits me in the nose. I feel blood explode from it before it leaks down into my mouth, along with the tears I can’t stop. It all rolls down my face, both fluids soaking into the mask.
Breathing through my mouth, I try to compartmentalize the pain, knowing I deserve every blow for killing my own father. I was overconfident and sloppy, and I must have missed something. I never expected my dad to put himself in a position where he could actually die during a training assignment, but here I am, at the mercy of Team Basilisk, and I’m receiving the consequences for my actions.
No, I deserve everything they dish out to me. I’m hoping they will just get it over with and kill me. I can’t live with the knowledge that I killed my dad. A sob threatens to break through, but instead, it comes out as a whimper. My poor mom is never going to be able to forgive me, and I will never be able to look her in the face again. No, it would be better if I disappeared and she never found out what I did.
Shame weighs heavily in the pit of my stomach, and it deepens the heartbreak ricocheting through my veins.
“Fuck this, I want to look into the face of the person who murdered Percy.” Miller reaches over and pulls the mask off my face at the same time the door opens.
The five men in front of me gape in surprise when they see me—a person who is definitely a female and not a male like they foolishly assumed.
“Fuck, it’s a girl,” Bishop announces rather unnecessarily as my dark blonde ponytail falls over my shoulder. I want to roll my eyes at the obviousness of his statement, but I manage to keep my expression blank.
“That’s Percy’s temp secretary from the other day,” Lathan points out, and Miller hauls back to hit me again. He’s even angrier than before, if that’s even possible, but maybe it’s from knowing they didn’t recognize any warning signs indicating I could have been a danger to MITHOS that pisses him off.
