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“Liam,” she said gently, and I wanted to laugh, but instead I smirked at her, as I sat against the wall next to the window.
“Don’t go all ‘sweet wife’ on me now. Go on, I can take it,” I said.
Her eyebrow twitched. “I’m working on trying to be kinder to you, but you’re a pain in my motherfucking ass sometimes, Callahan. Why in the goddamn hell is it so hard for you to sit down, shut up and just—”
“There’s my Mel. I thought you had drowned in a vat of rainbows and pixie dust.”
The look on her face as well as the fact that her hand was now twitching towards her gun made me smile. As if I didn’t already have enough bullet scars from her.
“Do you enjoy pissing me off?”
“In the beginning, your mood swings drove me crazy, now I find them kind of hot.”
That did it; she drew her gun and pointed it at my head.
I grinned. “Put that away before you hurt yourself, love.”
Her hands clenched into fists and I waited for it, but she stopped, pulled her gun back, and shook her head at me.
“You son of a bitch. You’re trying to entertain yourself because you’re bored. If we fight, you’ll end up fucking me on the floor.”
“I’m definitely not that desperate,” I lied and she knew it.
She sighed loudly. “He’s been watching us for years Liam. He knows when we sleep, when we eat, he’s watched us fight and only God knows what else. The man has basically been living with us and we were blind to it. Yes, I know this is not your forte, and if you want, I can do this part alone. But when I said I was done with this motherfucker, I meant it. I’m going to be better at his game. He got into my head, but I’m going to get into his very soul. I want to know what he does and when he does it, even if that means I’m out here every night. I’m going to be his fucking shadow. He doesn’t get the right to sleep soundly at night. He fucked with our family and I’m going to fuck with his legacy, with his life.”
She looked back into the scope and watched him again. Rising, I looked out the window, staring at the man who was once again smoking a cigar. The smoke came out of his mouth in rings. He looked deep in thought, and perhaps this was how he came up with all his fucked up ideas of how to kill us. An agent stood right in front of Avian on the balcony, watching the surroundings from all angles while sporting a bulletproof vest.
I wonder if they know what type of man they’re protecting.
At least with our men, they knew who we are and what we did. Avian was a different type of monster.
“Kill the agent,” I demanded.
“He’ll know—”
“I want him to know. I want him to feel us closing in on him. Kill the agent.”
She pulled the trigger, and hit the agent between the eyes; the man fell back against the glass before sliding down it. Avian, still safely inside, let out one more puff of smoke. He tapped the bullet in window before he looked around, scanning the buildings. He didn’t seem fazed by his agent’s death; however, the other agents around him scrambled.
Mel broke down her rifle in seconds. “That’s our cue to leave. I give it an hour before they start checking all of these building.”
“The shot heard around the world,” I said, as I looked into Avian’s home. “I want to know where he’s going next.”
“Look who’s joined the party,” Mel said as she stood at the door and waited for me to follow.
I couldn’t wait to shake Avian’s hand tomorrow when we got back to the White House.
TWENTY
“A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”
—Criss Jami
CORALINE
As I walked towards the front desk, I held my head high and tried to deny the fact that my heart was beating erratically. So much so that I could feel it pulsing within my eardrums. But I couldn’t break now. I was going to have to hold in the panic that was threatening to surface. Pulling out the forged badge, I held it over the scanner, and released a small sigh of relief when I wasn’t tackled by some three-hundred-pound security officer.
“Thumb,” the guard demanded, without even bothering to look at me, which was a shame really, since I’d put in a lot of effort into getting ready for this.
“It’s fine, Coraline,” Declan said in my ear.
I pressed my thumb onto the green pad, feeling better because of Declan’s reassurance.
“Thank you. Have a good day,” the guard muttered as I walked through the rest of the security measures they had set.
“They’re going to do a body search. Do not make eye contact, just walk through as if this is a normal routine,” Declan told me.
I didn’t answer, instead, I tried to follow his instructions as I placed my bag onto the conveyor belt. It reminded me of the security checks at an airport—an x-ray machine, a metal detector, and a line of stoic faces waiting for their turn. Once on the other side of the metal detector, I took my purse and walked towards the elevator bank. I entered without a word and held my bag tightly as the other occupants moved aside and allowed the janitor to enter. I slid my bag off of my shoulder and opened it without drawing attention to myself. From my peripheral, I watched as the janitor slipped a gun in and quietly took his exit on the next floor.
“Fedel will meet you on the top floor,” Declan’s voice called through the indiscernible earpiece.
Again, I didn’t reply. Instead, I examined the number pad in front of me; there were sixteen floors accessible by the elevator and I was only on the fourth.
At the tenth, he spoke again.
“Coraline, get off the elevator on the next floor. I’m looking at the security feed and there are guards everywhere. We’re going to have to abort this.”
I looked around me and saw that there was only one man left, a man who kept looking at me strangely. He caught my gaze and held it.
“What level?”
“Do not answer,” Declan told me.
“What level?” he asked with a little more force, as he reached behind him.
Shit.
“Coraline, get out when the doors open.”
“This is federal property. It’s off limits to civilians. You are not allowed beyond the ninth floor,” the man stated.
“Coraline!” Declan screamed.
I pulled out my earbud and faced him. “I’m sorry, were you speaking to me?”
“Who are you?”
“Excuse me,” I snapped. “It’s not your business as to who I am, Agent Morgan. Nor do I answer to you, are we clear?”
He froze as he stared at me with an expression akin to shock. “I—I—”
“This is your floor,” I told him as the doors opened.
He looked confused as he walked out.
“Agent Morgan,” I called out, “if you wish to advance in this career, you’d do well to remember your station and those of higher rank.”
I flashed the forged badge as the doors close. When they did, I took a deep breath before I leaned against the wall.
“How in the hell did you know what to say?” Declan asked when I placed the earpiece back in.
“I saw his phone when he was checking his email, it had information that gave me an idea of his rank and status. And as Mel always says, ‘if you demand respect, you will get it.’” I was sure that Mel wouldn’t have frozen for even a second.
