AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A dead man walking doesn’t have room to bargain for anything.” He grinned at me, but there was no madness in his eyes, just icy control.
“Fuck you,” I snapped.
He rolled his eyes. “Fuck you back,” he said. “So, you genuinely your Ranger buddy is holed up around here?” He peered out into the darkness beyond, at the old warehouse district, and seemed puzzled. “Dark warehouses are a bit too obvious, if you ask me.”
“I know he’s here.”
“And the files he has?”
“On our encrypted server.”
Another shrug from Danvers. “Kill him. Destroy the information.”
I picked up my weapon and opened the door, watching the red dot move—one last look back at Danvers and I slipped out of the vehicle and headed into the maze of buildings. My body cam would show everything, and I knew I was being tracked, so I didn’t delay in getting to where I needed to be, I climbed in through the back window that never shut properly and landed as soft as I could in a bathroom stall. I edged out of the room, and sticking to the wall, headed for the main area, the familiarity of training exercises in this same building helping my muscle memory.
I turned the last corner and came face to face with Ryder, unarmed, and pointed my gun at his chest.
“Ethan? What are you doing here? Why are you… what the fuck?” A hundred messages passed between us, his gaze flicking down to my chest, and then he held up his hands in self-defense. “No. Don’t—”
“You or me,” I said, and shot him through the heart. I watched him crumple. I saw the moment he died, and for a moment I bent over him, my breath catching in noisy gulps. I stayed in character as I logged in with one of our old team passwords and deleted all the files on our encrypted server. Then I shoved everything I could from Ryder’s desk, files, folder, photos, into his familiar computer bag and slung it over my back, and set the charges that would destroy everything here.
I picked my way over Ryder’s body.
And I left as the explosives I set to cover up the death of my friend filled the sky with fire.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Josh
I’d never playedshooting games online, but what we were watching on the monitor had the same feel as when an avatar goes around taking out aliens or something. The feed was coming from the camera that Danvers had forced Ethan to wear, and somehow Sanctuary had piggybacked onto something clever and found a way in.
From the moment he stepped out of Danvers’ car, I didn’t take my eyes off the monitor so that I could watch what Ethan was doing. I was thankful this was happening at night, and despite Ben picking up on my stress and getting anxious, at least he’d fallen asleep before all this started. On another screen, there was an amalgamation of feeds focused on Ryder, who was acting as if he didn’t know that his best friend had been sent to kill him.
I want to ask if they were sure that this would happen the way they expected. I wanted them to stop and explain it all to me again, right from the start, because I wanted to delay this happening at all. But I knew the last thing they needed was me standing there asking questions, and I understood I was in the room because I was stubborn, and Kayden had backed down at last. My heart was racing, I felt nauseous, and as Ethan reached the agreed corner, his weapon in front of him, like in a game, I held my breath.
This isn’t a game.
Kayden was counting down. The distinct clicks in return were the one way we could communicate with Ryder after he’d gone dark on us so it would appear as if he was taken by surprise.
What if Ethan missed? What if he didn’t hit Ryder at the exact point where it had been planned? I knew Ethan wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he killed Ryder. How could everything become so out of control that the whole situation relied on Ethan facing down Ryder and keeping a steady hand?
“Three. Two. One. Go!”
On the screen, the feed from Ethan’s camera showed Ryder’s shock, they exchanged words, and then Ethan shot Ryder twice in the chest before he crouched to check for a pulse. He sprinted to a desk, going through the motions, signing into whatever dummy server Sanctuary had set up for him, grabbing paperwork and thrusting it into a bag before setting the charges he’d taken in with him.
He left as fast as he arrived.
Ethan’s feed changed to him running from the building, staggering at the sound of the explosions behind him. On the other feed, two cameras blinked out, but one remained—the one only we could see—showing Ryder rolling to his knees and curling up behind a sheet of armor as the room caught fire. There were other people in the room, helping Ryder, half dragging him out to a safer place away from the flames.
Then there was nothing else to watch.
There was a heavy silence in the room. We’d all seen Ryder move to hide from the explosions and fire. We all watched as sanctuary operatives helped Ryder out, but that didn’t mean Ryder was okay. This had been a gamble, and one that Ryder was happy to take despite Sanctuary advising otherwise. I didn’t know Ryder well, but he was adamant that he’d met no one with as good an aim as Ethan Myers, but I got the sense Ethan inspired loyalty, and he and Ryder had many years of a connected past.
“All clear,” someone confirmed. “Medics here, subject intact.”
I assumed byintact, they meant alive, and when Kayden sat back in his seat with a small smile, that confirmed my assumption. He wouldn’t be so relaxed if somebody had died on his watch, right? Then, he shut down the two monitors, stretched, and ushered me out of the room.
“That’s it?”
