Not If I Save You First

twenty-nine | trigger

I can't wear a dress and pretend to be happy while Grayson and Thea tie the knot. Why? Because there's still criminals out there, and my mission is still unaccomplished.

"Alright, we're out of ideas on how to find Leila," I announced to Archer and Little Dean. We were in my bedroom going through everything we know so far. "We have two plausible options for drawing her out. Option one: Little Dean goes to Donovan and basically begs for the location. Option two: we dangle Archer in front of all cameras and pray Leila comes to us."

"Those are the worst ideas I've ever heard," Grayson sighed.

"Thank you, Nine. Your input is well appreciated. Now unless anyone else has an idea, then these are our only options," I stated.

Celia and Thea joined us in the room after a few minutes.

"I think I should talk to my father," Little Dean said.

"What?" Celia exclaimed. "Dean, angel, we can't let you anywhere near that man."

Hearing Celia sound genuinely concerned for Little Dean felt unnerving. The kid may be nothing more than a kid, but he's still a secret agent. He knows his father better than any of us. Little Dean will know how to talk to his father about this.

"If we get Donovan Halstead to slip up, then we'll be able to find Maya and William Hawthorne and we can prove that Archer is innocent," I explained.

"We've all known for months that Archer was innocent," Celia stated.

Grayson and I were prepping Little Dean to ask his father specific questions.

Our plan was for Archer and I to bring Little Dean to his father. Originally, Grayson and I were going to bring Little Dean. However, Grayson needs to stay in front of a computer to simultaneously search for Leila based on what Donovan Halstead says.

"Are you going to be my girlfriend again?" Archer asked.

I nodded. "The best way for Little Dean to sneak in is if you distract the agents. I'll be in communication with Little Dean the entire time, so if necessary I can sneak into the room to throw Donovan Halstead off his game. If he sees Little Dean and I together, that might be our window to take him down," I explained.

🂧

I dressed as Archer's loving and sympathetic girlfriend again. We decided that Archer would hand over his letter to the FBI. He would also give them the name of his sister to try and lead them away from Donovan Halstead. New information means all hands on deck.

I was sitting outside of an office while Archer was telling everything he knew to a team of FBI agents. Little Dean was sneaking his way through the office to his father. They have him in a holding cell, but I hacked into the FBI database to have him put into an interrogation room again. The database says that Donovan Halstead is going to be interviewed again today, and that's not technically a lie, but he's going to be interviewed by who he least expects.

Little Dean walked through the door of the interrogation room. Donovan Halstead's tired looking eyes widened and a flash of vulnerability stuck across his face. It was barely a shift, but I saw it.

"Hello Donovan," Little Dean said.

"Donovan? Wow, never thought I'd see the day when you didn't call me dad," Donovan said.

I stood on the other side of the glass, making sure Little Dean didn't put himself in too much danger.

"I haven't called you that since you put a gun to my head," Little Dean said, taking a seat across from his father. "I'm here because I'm a secret agent and we're trying to find the Hawthorne's."