Just Another Liar

Chapter 17: Milo

"I won't be part of this anymore, I can't help you do this." I thought saying the words would make everything better. I thought Deandre would meet my eyes or I could meet his, but it didn't. I had been complicit from the beginning. I had eagerly kept things off the books and circumvent protocol. This was my bed, and they would make me lay in it.

"Then get out the way," Parker said. She aimed for the space just above Deandre's heart so that when the reports came in on how he died, it would fit the story they had fabricated.

Raguel, the archangel of justice, fairness, and harmony. The name those who knew of her skill once called her. I saw why she hated that name. There was nothing fair or just about what we did. We had some sense of superiority, as if we weren't criminals with badges and license to kill.

Was I going to watch her kill the men I cared so deeply for? Could I watch them fall to the ground and bleed out on the street? The thought of watching their faces pressed to the dirt asphalt hurt me. I had to stop thinking and act. I raised my gun into the sky and pulled the trigger. The sound caught the agents' attention, but Aurelio and Deandre focused on raising their weapons.

"What are you going, I said get out the way if you want help—no—you want to help them instead of your comrades? Make sure your next move is what you really want to do. You could have advanced up the chain after this assignment if you just kept your heart out of the mission," Parker said. She was no longer calm, cool, and collected, instead she was a puma ready to pounce on her prey.

The reaction wasn't as surprising to me as some would have thought. I was going after her livelihood. We tried to pretend that we had a lot more going on as people than we really did, when in reality we usually became what we did for a living. Lawyers spouted their knowledge of the books that governed us. Doctor felt like gods as they talked about saving lives. Even freshman at ivy league schools had a false sense of superiority when they proclaimed the school they went to. Parker had the same sense of vanity. She tried to cover it up by being modest and not going by Raguel. But she was just like everyone else when it came down to it.

"I won't let you kill them, there has to be a way out of this where they can have a proper trial and the FBI won't look bad," I said. I had no solutions for the problem, a fatal flaw in trying to convince someone of your argument. I had watched my dad talk to his soldiers when I was young. He would preach the need to come up with solutions instead of complaining. Since I did not have a concrete way of getting out of this there was no reason to listen to me.

Parker pointed her gun at me, "Get on the ground Eaton, don't make this harder than it has to be."

"And what are you going to do to him," Deandre asked. Everyone had a gun on someone but me. Deandre and Aurelio focused on the two guards, so I pointed mine to Parker. This side was one of murder and drug dealing, but at least they were honest about who they were. I had worked so hard to get into the agency, but here I was looking at the opposite of what it meant to be an agent. Watching someone who mildly had my back become a person willing to follow orders she knew were wrong.

"I can't do that," I said. Parker nodded and pulled her trigger. I moved out of the way, and the bullet hit the car. We all started shooting at the opposite side. I pulled the trigger at the red-haired man who took the shot to the chest in stride. Aurelio ducked behind a dumpster and looked over at me for a half second before waving me over.

"I don't know what to say," I said as I crouched beside him. Bullets hit the metal dumpster and ricochet off somewhere unseen.

"I can't deal with you right now, don't fucking die. Is Deandre hit?" I looked over at Deandre who was on the opposite side of the small alleyway engaging all three of them.