AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Neither of us spoke. We went straight for her guns in her closet.
“Liam, call Coraline,” Mel said, and I froze as I was placing the magazine in.
“No,” I told her. I knew what that meant, and I was not going to accept it.
“Fine, then I will,” she said as she pulled out her phone.
“Mel, we’re going to get through this—”
“Do you know that for sure?” she snapped at me as she rose. “Because I don’t. This isn't the way this was supposed to go down! We planned for every motherfucking bullshit asshole move he could have made! Everything but this! We have eleven hours, Liam—”
“Don’t you think I know that? I saw the fucking clock, Melody. I was there, but there has to be a way we get out of this. I will not accept that he is smarter than us! We will fight, or we will die. I thought that was the code we lived by!”
“It was, until we had a son!” she screamed at me as her face turned red and her whole body shook. “I know how hard it was growing up with one parent. You had them both, but Ethan will have nothing and no one. He will have to spend the rest of his life in hiding, and in shame. Excuse me for one moment while I deal with my goddamn human emotions that you were so hell bent on making me feel. Excuse me while I try to think if going out to fight is worth giving up the chance to run away with you and our son! Give me a goddamn moment, Liam!”
She pushed me out of the way already dialing.
“Coraline—Coraline shut up and listen to me damn it.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I want you, Evelyn, and Ethan all packed and ready to go in the next hour. Jinx will be there soon—No, just bring enough for a long flight, but not enough to weigh you guys down. You’re running. I don’t have enough time to explain, just get it done and make sure that no one stops you. Can I hear him for a moment?”
My head hung as I heard her voice crack when he must have gotten on the phone. Squatting down, I lowered the glock as she spoke.
“We’re really going to have to teach you how to say ‘Mama,’” she muttered into the phone.
He must have said ‘Dada’ again, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of him for that. Each time I heard it, I was surprised and ecstatic all over again. What if I never heard that again?
Run. We still have time to run. We would be ghosts by the time this hit the news.
“Dada.”
Mel placed the phone at my ear. I glanced up at her, but she didn’t look at me.
“Be safe, Ethan. We’ll be with you soon, I promise,” I said to him.
“Daddddaaaaa.” He giggled not understanding me.
Saying her goodbyes, she hung up before she came over to me and began loading the guns in her hand while she placed two spare magazines at her back.
“Do you want to run?” I asked her seriously. “Because if you do, I will. I’ll walk away right now and spend the rest of my life with you and our son in some cave, if that’s what you want.”
She put her head on mine and we were silent for a single moment because that was all we had left to spare.
“He doesn’t get to win like this. We aren’t going to prison,” she whispered.
So it was decided. We were going to fight. And if we didn’t stop this, we were going to die; either by the police when they came, or by our own hands.
THIRTY-THREE
“This is your life and it’s ending one moment at a time.”
—Chuck Palahniuk
MELODY
I took a deep breath as I stepped out of our car and headed towards the federal building. It seemed as if everything and everyone was working against us. Was this really how our lives were going to end? Was this karma? Were we being tortured for all of our sins before we died?
With each step across the white gravel and towards the building, my heart hammered against my ribs as the warm summer wind cut into my face like the dull blade of a butter knife. I could feel the beads of sweat that crawled down my face, neck, and breasts and the story that was our lives played out in my mind—the first time I met Liam; the first time I shot him; the first time we fucked followed by the first time we actually made love; our first kill together; our first miscarriage; and our first child.
The sun felt like a giant interrogation light on my skin and I moaned softly to myself in disgust. Never had I hated the sun as much as I did in that very damned moment. I felt so exposed, you didn’t do this type of shit in the day—everyone was awake, alert, moving around.
“We have nine hours left, Mel,” Liam’s voice sounded via the earpiece I’d donned. I knew that we have nine fucking hours; I’d watched the time fly by as we were stuck in rush hour traffic. It was a different type of hell being powerless in a car as time flew by. A whole motherfucking hour, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that Avian had planned that as well.
“Your purse and ID, ma’am,” the security guard said at the entrance.
I gave him both, and as I stepped through the metal detector, another woman patted down the sides of my dress.
“State the nature of your visit.”
“I have a meeting with Director Doers,” I lied.
He nodded as he handed me my bag and ID. “Sorry for all the extra security, Mrs. Callahan. With the ongoing threats, we have to be thorough. Just head to the front desk and they’ll let you through.”
“Of course, I completely understand.” I smiled, as I tucked the bag under my arm and walked to the black counter that sat before the elevator bank. When we’d first returned to Washington, we’d planned to break into the J. Edgar Hoover Building. I’d known that I needed to have a look at Avian’s computer, considering that I couldn’t hack it from the outside. However, our plan relied on only the night staff being here, not every goddamn agent.
I had walked across enemy lines and into their territory.
“Welcome to the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Mrs. Callahan. I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it. Your husband is already upstairs.”
“I came straight from the spa. I’d completely forgotten about this meeting,” I giggled.
“That’s alright. Ms. Mina Sung has already cleared you both on behalf of the President. However, as I told your husband, Director Doers has not yet arrived,” the woman said from behind the counter.
I didn’t want to have to use the President or Mina for this—it was messy; however, there was no way we could break in without drawing unnecessary attention.
“That’s alright.” I leaned against the counter. “He told us we could just wait in his office. Is my husband there now?”
She frowned. “I’m sorry, ma’am, that’s against protocol.”
Who gave a shit?
“Sarah,” I read her nametag. “Does he need to call you or something?”
She sat up straighter. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Even if he were to call me and grant permission, I wouldn’t be allowed to do so simply because it’s against protocol and I could lose my job. The best I can do is give you a pass to go up and wait with your husband.”
“Thank you.” I took the pass from her and walked slowly towards the elevators. When her gaze moved to someone else, I shifted, and moved towards the sterile looking hallway that led towards the bathroom.
