Octagon Project 3: Zachary McHall

~-16-~

"Kaylee, please open the door..." Roy begged quietly again as he gently knocked on the door a fifth time. 

"Roy, give up. Just let her process." Vanessa sighed as she handed Mel a cup of coffee who was sitting on the two person love seat with her knees curled up to her chest. She took it gratefully and glanced up cautiously at Roy as he plopped down into his favorite seat near the front door across the living room from her.

"You met Zack in England." He recalled as he studied her. She nodded shyly and tensed as Vanessa sat next to her. "How did that happen?"

"I'm a friend of one of his contacts there." She replied. "I was in the area when I heard someone needed help getting back to the states."

"So you poised him as your brother." He pieced together. She nodded again and Roy narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to see straight through to her. "And his girlfriend?" He asked carefully. Mel shook her head.

"He was alone." She snuck a glance at him. "Sorry..." She muttered.

"Don't be." Vanessa grunted as she got comfortable. "Besides, you were just a mediator in all this. I doubt you ever thought you'd get caught up in -"

"His line of work?" Mel interrupted. Roy and Vanessa's faces skeptically watched her. "I was in the underground society for years. Crossing an assassin doesn't shake me." She confessed.

"So you knew about the Octagon?" Justin asked as he leaned on the top of the back of the couch near the kitchen. Mel nodded.

"Why did you stick with him after getting back to the States?" Roy pressed. Mel's cheeks flushed as she looked down at the hot coffee in her hands. Roy's jaw clenched at that. The thoughts of Zack being a player never quite came into his mind until now.

"He was in the process of joining our group underground when we were compromised." She said.

"At a hospital parking lot in Ashland," Justin noted. "What the hell were you guys doing there?"

"He had another fallout." She sighed, trying to hide her shock at how much more mature Justin had become.

"A fallout for what?" Vanessa pressed. Mel pursed her lips tightly in feeling that it wasn't her place to say.

"A blood disease I'm guessing," Roy answered. All eyes were on him in utter confusion. "I found a blood thickening medication in his room several years ago and he never told me why he had it." He explained. Roy's thoughts were confirmed as Mel stared silently down into her mug.

"That would explain how he always had such bad bruises." Dean sighed from his seat on the stool at the kitchen island counter. 

"I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch the minute he steps foot in the house." Roy grumbled loudly as he rubbed his temples.

"If  he ever steps foot in the house." Dean spoke gloomily and everyone turned to look at him.

"Didn't you guys hear? McHall scheduled a surgery for Zack. God only knows what they plan on doing to him this time. They may even keep him locked up until he breaks."

"Breaks?" Roy's voice got defensive. "He fucking killed Mel dude! Over something that he kept in his wrist! And he didn't look like he regretted it either! We all witnessed his suicide attempt when Mel faked her death so how far do you think he has to 'break' in order to kill her himself?!" Dean rose his hands in surrender.

"Just a term man." He said calmly.

"If you ask me, McHall didn't seem all that surprised when Zack said that he killed her." Vanessa spoke up. "He seemed satisfied with himself."