Temporary Alliance

Chapter 11 : Played

Leaning back into the cushioned seat with my eyes closed, my heart continued to pound from the long sprint back to our vehicle.

I had this gut feeling that something was off the moment we infiltrated the cottage. Everything felt suspiciously wrong the moment we stepped in.

"They purposely made their bomb tick. It started as soon as the video finished." I stated the facts quietly to myself as I tried to analyze what had exactly happened the whole time we were there.

No one commented but I knew everyone was listening intently on every word I was saying. When I came to a conclusion, I let out a humorless laugh.

"Unbelievable," I muttered, pissed and utterly furious at myself for falling into their perfect trap.

"Vita?" Victor called out from the back, peeking through the small window screen that separated the front of the van from the back. The ones that usually existed in limousines. Alexander also tossed me a rapid, questioning gaze as we soon as we reached a red light.

Waiting for a moment, I tried to form the smoothest way I could break the news to them. "Didn't you think this whole thing was weird from the moment we walked in?"

No one answered me. They quietly waited for me to say my conclusion out loud even though I knew they had all most likely came to the same conclusion that I had.

"Bombs these days don't necessarily tick, but theirs did. It started the moment the video finished." I snorted. "They wanted us to find it. The bomb gave us enough time to make it out alive if we found it on time."

"They knew we were coming so they set everything up perfectly the way they wanted us to find it. We were their shiny new toys." The humorless smile vanished from my face and a vacant mask covered my face.

I looked over at Alexander's profile. "We were played, Alexander."

He didn't comment as his fists tightened on the steering wheel and he continued to drive with his jaw clenched tight. The entire ride back to headquarters was so silent that I was consumed by my thoughts once more.

Whoever we're after, they're good. But sometimes, even the best will fall. I've seen too many people who were examples of that.

*

Alexander parked in the underground parking area and we all got off. Alexander, Victor and I thanked the five men that cooperated with us today and they simply nodded in response then left.

When we got back to our unit room, no one talked. No one dared to breach the subject of our failure or the fact that our team has now met a dead end or that the chance of us finding my parents alive has greatly diminished and there was nothing more for us to go on. I knew we were grasping at straws for anything since the beginning, but we didn't even have those now.

"You guys can go home." Alexander spoke up, his voice much more distant and icier than usual.

Emmaline eyed Alexander cautiously. "Alexander-."

"Go home."  He closed his eyes and leaned into his chair. If anyone walked by, they would have thought that he was relaxing, but I knew he was anything but that.

"I can-." Victor began but he was also cut off like Emmaline was.

"Now." There was an underlying strict command in his voice. 

Emmaline and Victor got their things and watched us both carefully while doing so. There was no expression on Victor's face as he left but Emmaline paused in front of me before she reached for the door. Her face was an open book as it easily portrayed the sadness she felt. Emmaline opened her mouth to say something but she quickly pulled her lips into a tight line. With an uncharacteristic, brisk nod, she ran out of the room with her bag.