Zero.

Chapter Fourteen

I KEPT a safe distance from him as I followed him through the halls. He made navigating the vault a lot easier than if I would have been alone. But even with his promise not to try and hurt me, I was still wary of his every step. He on the other hand seemed to be completely at ease as he led me.
“What makes you so sure I won’t shoot you now? Like you said, you’re my target.” I wondered aloud after a few minutes of walking.
He chuckled again and stopped abruptly. When he turned to face me I pulled out the gun on instinct.
He took a step towards me.
“What are you doing?” I asked warily. There was a gun to his head and less than an inch of space between my finger and the trigger, but he looked perfectly calm.
“You won’t kill me.” he said confidently.
That earned a laugh from me, I’d run over the possible ways to kill him at least a dozen times already.
“What makes you so sure?” I challenged.
“You’re curious.” he shrugged.
“About what?”
“I can tell you want to know what’s in those documents, you don’t think Chief’s being honest with you. And rightfully so, because he isn’t.”
I lowered my gun.
“I’ll see it when I believe it. Cut the crap and take me to the vault. I may not want to kill you now, but my patience is wearing thin.”
He smiled down at me. “We're here.” I looked around. We were at the end of the hallway, with no doors or even a window.
“You’re really testing that theory that I won’t shoot you."
He rolled his eyes. “The vault is below us, Sarah. Well I guess that’s not your name is it?”
“No.”
“Care to share your real name?”
“No."
“I thought as much. If you are curious, my name is actually Benjamin Lee.”
Despite myself, I was curious “Why keep the name you enrolled in Headquarters with?”
“Because that is my name. Regardless of what number Headquarters drills into your head. Benjamin Lee is who I am. I went by a different name for a while, but after their deaths I went back to this name. I wanted to make it easier for Headquarters to find me.”
“Their deaths? Whose they? What number did you have? Why leave if you wanted to get caught?”
He smiled at me, and took a small step back, I eyed him cautiously, I had worked with Lee for some time now and I could see now that his happy-go-lucky business man act was just that, an act. What was really lurking behind those chestnut eyes was probably a truth I wouldn’t want to know.
“I’ll answer everything in a few minutes. But now, we go down.”
His sentence had barely left his mouth before the floor beneath us gave way and suddenly I was falling. The fall lasted only a few seconds before I landed on a matt. It didn’t hurt, but I punched Lee anyway. Grabbing the collar of his shirt I pulled him until we were eye to eye.
“No more surprises! What was that?”
The opening we fell through closed behind us and we were shrouded in darkness, but I could still make out the glow from Lee’s teeth as he grinned, pulling out a tiny black remote.
“Trap door built and controlled by yours truly.”
I shoved him away from me and he wiped a hand over the blood that trickled from his nose.
“Ow.” he complained
“Better than a bullet hole.” I warned.
“Touché”
I glared at him.
“Point taken. Well, since you didn’t shoot me, I’ll answer one of your many questions. I changed my name back to Benjamin Lee after my wife and daughter were murdered by Headquarters.”
“Headquarters doesn’t work like that” I retorted, standing up and dusting myself off.
“Aren’t you the poster child for Chief. He’d be proud at how well he’s brainwashed you.” His voice was practically dripping with acid. My response got cut short when Lee pressed a button on his remote, and the lights turned on around us. 
“Do you live down here?” I gasped.
The space was small, but well lived in. On the far-left corner was a rack of various suits next to what looked like a standing shower connected to a small sink and bathroom. On the opposite side was an uncomfortable looking cot. Besides that, the room was completely bare of furniture to make room for the safe that occupied the middle of the space.
“Only recently. Once I gave you the key, I figured it would be a matter of time before you came here.”
“How long have you known I was an agent?” I wondered.
“Since you and Grace Farrows popped into my humble little Pembroke abode.”
“How?” I pivoted on my heel so that I now stood facing him.
 I was finally getting the answers I waited for and I hoped my anticipation didn’t show. I had to remain objective in case this went south. He’d already accused Headquarters of murdering his family, i wanted to know what else he had thought up in this little hole.
“The documents. I stole more than even Chief knows. I wasn’t completely sure at first, if you two were the same agent's from the files, but faces like yours are hard to cover. Agent Zero, even with the glasses, or in the case of Agent One, that horrendous wig.”
I nodded slowly.
“Why ask my name if you knew it?”
“That’s not your name!” he shouted abruptly, I flinched back, ready for an attack.
“My apologies, I wanted to know if you knew your actual name. Not the number Chief planted as a replacement.”
I shook my head. My real name was irrelevant. Whoever I had been, I wasn’t her now. Dredging up my past was a futile effort.
“So you’re not even the tiniest bit curious?”
“No.” I warned through gritted teeth. I couldn’t afford luxuries like knowing my name. if I knew that then I would want to know everything. Who the man in my dreams was, if he was real. Who I was before Headquarters, because surely, I wasn’t always…this.
“I can tell you want to know.”
“Lee, stop.”
“Has Chief messed you up so much that you really believe all you are is a hitman?” he cocked his head to the side, analyzing me “or hitwomen in your case.”
“Who I was before Headquarters doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t know what’s more sad. That you want me to believe that, or that you wished you did.”
“Either way, I’m warning you Lee, I don’t care”-
“Mila Stone” he interrupted
“What?”
“Your name. It’s Mila Stone.”
“Stop saying that.” I whispered. My name was Agent Zero. As he repeated the name, flashes of the man in my dreams saying that name bombarded me.
“Why? It’s your name. Mila Stone.”
“I said stop it!” I shouted. I didn’t care that he needed to be alive to give me answers. I didn’t care that I would have to explain his early death to Chief. All that mattered in that moment was that name never be spoken again.
He didn’t try to block me when I rushed him, punching every part of him I could reach.  I kneed him in the stomach, but he did nothing. He only moved after I reached for my gun, grabbing my arm and pinning me to the ground.
“That’s enough, it’s okay Mila.” He whispered in my ear. I thrashed against his hold, but he remained stagnant. I felt the hot tears rolling down my face and squeezed my eyes shut against the onslaught of memories of the man from my dreams that kept coming. It was like knowing my name unlocked them and I couldn’t escape the truth. I wasn’t going crazy, I wasn’t making him up, he was real. As real as my name was. There was no use in denying it.
“Who. Is. he?” I sobbed.

I didn’t have to clarify. I knew Benjamin would know exactly who I was referring too. I wondered idly, what else he knew about me.
Lee released his hold from me and wrapped his arms around me instead, crushing me to his chest. I let him. I felt too numb to move.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I made a promise.” He said simply.
“To who” I asked. My voice sounded strange, void of any emotion.
“My partner. The man who I’m sure you’re referring too. The love of your life.
His name was Anthony.”