It was easy to look for those two lackeys. After Kendall pinned me on the location, everyone in the house was asleep. I ensured Persephone had fallen asleep before driving to the bar nearby.
I pretend to grab a midnight drink when I spot the two Order lackeys laughing and making out at the corner with women on their laps.
I wanted to puke, but I had to be sure they were drunk before I got the chance to grab them. I made eye contact with the women on their laps. They nod their heads as I mimic in response. Although it disgusts me that they are with some random women, these women aren't ordinary people.
Odin owns The Daggers, a group of secret agents that my team and I belong to, along with others. We are different from other agents because Odin himself chooses us.
We are trained harsher and more fiercely because we are licensed to kill on contact without anyone realizing we exist.
Sasha and Teagan are part of the Daggers, and I had asked them for this favor to get the Order men lackeys drunk.
If the Order has eyes and ears worldwide, then we Daggers are ghosts to them.
"Another glass?"
I look up at Mario, aka Snake, the owner of the bar and an old friend of Odin. A retired Navy Seal and Daggers, he opened this bar not just to relax and enjoy his retirement but to hear and see everything. He's like our hidden card when it comes to intel.
"Got the room ready?" I ask, taking a sip of my Shirley Temple, an ordinary customer just wanting to drink around this time of night.
I saw most of our people in regular clothes acting as they should be to believe this is just a standard bar.
"It's ready for you once Sasha and Teagan get those bastards drunk." I can hear the stern tone in his words. Like me, he's one of the people who hate the Order.
When Snake was a Dagger, he had a family: a wife and a daughter. I've seen a picture of them when Snake talks about them. They were beautiful and so in love and happy. He had kept them under the radar from his work and if involved with the Order. But they were found out, his wife was killed and his daughter taken. Snake was the leader of the unit where I was assigned. Me and two other members joined him on a rescue mission. It was too late when we arrived where some children were kept. Five children were dead, and among them was his daughter. She was just thirteen years old when the Order took her life. It seemed she did not obey them because she was a 'problem child' who couldn't listen to her elders and must be punished. That means death.
On her fifth birthday at Disneyland, she only held on to a photo of three of them. The Order doesn't regard children as human beings but as objects, tools to use and use every day until they can no longer do their job.
I remember that day, and I was sixteen; Snake did not say a word or move. He sat down at the photo, wrinkled with his daughter's blood. But on his face, his eyes were bloodshot. He went berserk on the Order men. He left no one alive. After that, we later learned his daughter was pregnant, and the medical examiner, Dr. Warren, confirmed the pregnancy and her death of suicide.
Since his daughter's death and his mental breakdown, Odin had no reason to refuse after his breakdown. He departed because he failed to protect his family and little girl.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing how the girls gave them more alcohol to induce their high tolerance to alcohol. It's time to start the interrogation.
"Once they are out of the woods, bring them," I say to Snake as he gives me a nod.
"Come on, one more drink. For me?" Sasha cooed at Frankie, who felt his hand on her bare legs. She and Teagan are enduring the touches, but that is what they are trained to do. They have to lower themselves to keep their targets in check.
"I think my Lou-Lou-boo can hold his liquor than Frankie here," Teagan starts to create a mishap between the two lackeys.
"I bet my Frankie can drink up to six cups."
"Lou can drink up to ten."
The girls go head to head as if they care how much alcohol Frankie and Lou can drink, but it's the way to consume them before the interrogation.
I snort softly, seeing how well the girls play out. Even our people enjoy seeing how we toy with our prey, especially those from the Order.
"Snake, give them as much alcohol," I tell him. "I'll be waiting down in the basement."
"Yes, Cap."
I got off my chair and headed to the back, entering Snake's office. Behind a bookshelf, I pull a blue book to open a hidden door with a sensory keypad for authorizing Dagger members. I place my thumb over the screen as it scans and punches a small harmless poke to take my blood to confirm my identity. The door slides open as I walk down the stairs; automatic lights turn on, revealing a large room with walls made out of steel, filled with weapons and computer monitors that show the inside and out of the bar.
This secret base is more prominent than I have at home. While waiting, sitting on the chair, I pull out my phone and open an app that shows all the cameras in the Reid-Wolfe household that Kendall had helped me get through without breaking any law. Checking in Zara's room, through the screen and with the nightlight on, I spot Persephone sleeping peacefully before she would have night terrors and cry out in fear that the Order had captured her again, but now she is sleeping peacefully.
Eva is quick to spot her. I was too careless, thinking she could live an everyday teenage life, but knowing that the Order still haunts this country, I shouldn't have let my guard down even for a second. I know Persephone will be safe with Effie and the others; they have Don. For someone in the military and who was a mercenary, he has to be cautious around him even in his sleep—of course, tending to his pregnant wife.
Suddenly, my thoughts trail to Seth and his lips. I thought going out in the middle of the night would help my unstable heart, which has been beating every time I think about that incident. I reach up and trail my finger on my lips. They were softer than I had imagined they would be. His hot breath through my mind sent waves of ecstasy between my legs, causing that sensation I wished I had never wanted to feel. At that time, my body would betray me, and I got excited; I hated myself for having that feeling when being raped by an older man. The thought of Hugo's touch makes my sink crawl, and my stomach churns, but when Seth's gentle hand caresses my body, the sensation builds up the tension of wanting him to touch me more. All the thought about my tragic childhood is just blown away.
I sigh and tilt my head up, looking at the bright light above me. I close my eyes and let another exhale.
"I wonder what Seth thinks of me?"
"Who's Seth?"
I almost fell off the chair suddenly from Sasha's voice, with Teagan and Snake carrying the Order lackeys over his shoulders like a bag of rice passed out from the alcohol they had been drowning down their throats. They were standing behind Sasha. I blinked at them, and my face heated up instantly once I mentioned Seth.
I almost forgot that I'm here for interrogation and thinking about a man I can't be with. On top of that, no one except my team and Odin knows about Seth and how much I feel about him. As I said, only a few people close to me know I'm a woman. Sasha and Teagan still think I'm a man with a pretty face. As for Snake, he learned from the beginning but pretended not to acknowledge it. Of course, he was my former team captain, and there was a time when I was seriously injured that involved removing my protective vest. So, he found out.
They were looking at me with curious looks, wanting an answer. I swallow and ramble my brain to think of a solution before this interrogation is on me.
"My dog," was all I could say.
The girls all but frown, and Snake looks at me blankly.
"Your dog?" Teagan casually says with a dull look on her face.
"Y-yeah," my voice went high, and then I cleared my throat. "Yeah, my dog."
"You have a dog named Seth?"
"Correct."
"You have a dog named Seth, and you are asking yourself what he thinks of you?" Sasha continues.
Please don't ask anymore. I can not take this peer pressure.
I sat up on the chair and straightened my back. "Yeah, it's a stray dog. Not all dogs are delighted to have an owner because they were once abandoned, but this dog was different; he kept following me around and was always happy to see me with his tail wagging."
I just literally described Seth. The first time we met, he was all over me, trying to get to know me and become best buds. So, to make up an excuse and not want the girls to know I was talking about a guy, I had no choice but to detail Seth as a dog who couldn't stop wagging his tail when he was around me. If he were a dog, I would make him like a Golden Retriever because of the loyalty, but he's not blonde, so the other dog I think is also loyal is a German Shepard.
"Not only that, he licked my face," technically kissed me, but I initiated on that one. "So, I'm just wondering what he thinks of me as his owner."
I couldn't think of a better excuse, but I have to leave it open since I open that door and can't close it until they avoid the topic.
Picturing Seth with dog ears, nose and paw gloves, and a tail as it wags almost gave away my smile. I almost laughed at the thought.
I clear my throat, being serious. I must push away my thoughts about Seth becoming a dog and get down to business. "So, how many did they drink?" I ask.
"Frankie drank five," Sasha says.
"Lou, three."
I scoff. "I thought they would be tougher than that."
"Frankie was already drunk after his second cup," Sasha explains, and then her body shakes. "I wanted him to stop touching me."
"Lou can't stop kissing me. I almost want to throw up." Teagan gags. "Next time, put it in a position involving a female target. I'd rather deal with that than a stupid man."
I got off the chair. "This was an order, and as your superior, you obey my command. But, I will ask again for a favor, but if it involves a female." that made Teagan smile; she can play the part of seducing the opposite sex, but she prefers women to men.
"Okay, strap them. I got questions to ask." I say in a sinister way, and just in a few minutes, I will have them answer all my questions. They better have all the answers if they don't want their pride to be cut off.