She looked at him warily.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
He smiled easily as he stepped into her cell.
“My name is Jack Kendall. And I'm here to talk,” he said.
She crossed her arms over her chest and squared her hips, as if readying herself for a fight.
“Your agent was already in here. Talking. He likes to talk,” Max said.
He smiled, slow and warm.
“Yes … William. He's a good agent,” Kendall said.
She looked at him oddly.
“You don't have to sell me on anything. I've already agreed,” she said coldly.
Kendall smiled.
“William is a good agent. But he's too good for his own good,” Kendall said.
“And why should I care about this?” she demanded in anger.
Kendall didn't react with anger or ego. He just smiled even wider.
“Because William is a good agent, he won't accept certain facts about our profession. He can't accept those facts,” he said carefully.
Max stood stiffly and waited.
“You're going to die, Max.” the words were cold, firm, and completely true. Her blood ran cold in her veins as she realized this.
And while he watched this happen, Kendall's smile faded and he nodded.
Will skidded down the hall just as the team stormed it.
He signaled for them to continue down the hall and forced himself down the hall into the ballroom.
People ran amok, screaming and crying.
“You can't do this to me!” Olivia screamed like a maniac from further into the ballroom. When she caught sight of Will, her eyes softened.
“William, tell them they've made a mistake!” She pleaded.
“Hey, Will!” Buster's voice came from nowhere as he came up behind his oldest friend.
The older man tossed Will a dark object, which Will caught in mid-air.
Olivia's face froze as she saw Will don the badge attached to a chain.
“You son of a bitch!” she screeched.
He ignored her, and looked around desperately. His eyes fell on the locker room by chance.
That had to be it.
Max.
Max ran into the back of the laundry room just seconds after Variable did. He rushed for the back door, and skidded to a stop and stared at the wall in angered incredulity.
Cold and tired, Max stood in the doorway that separated the kitchen and laundry room; a cement wall separating them from the kitchen, and the rest of the house.
“You can’t get out of this, Luke,” she said.
Her voice echoed off the cement, and resounded around the room.
He whipped around and faced her, and his brown eyes sparkled with violent fury. He stepped right up to her, his face only inches from hers.
But while his face was screwed up in fury, hers was set in sadness.
“You did this! You set me up!” he hissed at her.
She said nothing, her face set in a mask.
He waited for a reaction, for an answer, for an explanation. Furious that he couldn't get one, he slapped her.
The force of the blow shoved her up against a wall.
He grabbed her throat and pressed himself up against her, every inch of his body from his chest down touching hers, his face an inch from hers.
“Why?” he demanded. In his voice there was anger and fear … and hurt. Actual sadness.
It hurt her to hear it.
She pushed him away, using all of her strength to shove his body away from hers, to separate them.
Variable stumbled back a few steps, nearly to the opposite wall, and stare at her.
“Why did you do this to me!” he roared at her, escape all but forgotten in his pain.
She struggled to stand up completely, and faced him.
“Because I protected you! I kept you from prison and you do this!” she roared back.
“Bullshit!” he screamed at her, his eyes big and pained.
“I loved you!” she cried out at him. Tears ran down her face as she screamed the words.
He froze, and his beautiful face froze with him.
The pain was tearing at her from within, and a few more ears slipped down her cheeks.
“From the moment I knew you were my brother, I loved you! I kept you safe!” she shouted, “I never wanted this to happen!”
He looked at her with incredulity.
“Then why are you helping them!” he roared as he came up to stand before her. He gripped her arms in a desperate attempt to convince her.
“Because it needs to be done! You and I need to be stopped!” she yelled.
“Then you should be helping me!” he yelled back.
She shook her head violently.
“NO! We are monsters, Luke! Don’t you understand that? We hurt and we hurt and unless someone stops us now, we may never stop!” she yelled.
He slammed her up against the wall again.
She struggled but couldn’t move. This time, he was serious. He wanted her to hurt.
He looked at her intently, and he lowered his head until his forehead touched between her collarbones, until he could hear her rapid heartbeat.
“All I wanted was to love you. I’ve always loved you,” he whispered raggedly.
He was holding her throat tight, but not tight enough to cut off her air.
“The way you love me is wrong. You are my brother,” she whispered.
His head whipped up and stared at her, pained brown eyes into her equally pained gray ones.
“Bullshit! We didn’t grow up together, we didn’t play together. We have the same father, and that’s all,” he hissed.
A tear dripped out of the corner of her eye, slid down her cheeks, down her face and onto his arm as he gripped her neck.
“All the same, you’re my brother. And I could never love you,” she said quietly.
He shoved her away from him in disgust as he began to pace. The noise outside the locker room escalated.
Suddenly, he looked at her with wild eyes, and her heartbeat staggered as she saw the look in those brown eyes.
“If I can’t have you, then neither can William,” he spat.
His hand went behind his back to his belt, his face cold and determined.
She closed her eyes as he aimed.
