Apologies for the late update. Like way late. I put up a message in Discord that goes into more detail about why I've been absent for so long. Long story short though, my classes took priority as I was struggling in one of them and needed to pass the class in order to graduate. I did manage to graduate, so yeah, and now I'm also in the middle of helping my sister plan her wedding.
Anyway, without further ado,
Enjoy the chapter!
Sam's POV
"Drive faster," Marrek growled as he checked over the gun in his hands for what must have been the tenth time.
"We're barely two minutes behind them," I replied. "I'm not speeding up, and they're not going anywhere until we get there anyway."
"At this pace, they'll be in the next state over by the time you get there."
He was trying to get a rise out of me. I chose to ignore him.
"My grandmother could drive faster than you, and she's dead."
Again I ignored him. It was difficult, considering my usual method of dealing with him usually included turning my hearing aids off so I wouldn't actually have to listen to him. However, turning them off was not an option for me anymore. So, I ignored him. I ignored the next five comments that came from his mouth and continued my focus on the road, wondering why the hell I was even here.
The best thing for everyone was if I stayed the hell away from all of them, especially Everly. Yet there I was, jumping in to help the second she called me to.
I let out a tired sigh. I didn't see a way out of this. Not for me at least. Either I gave Lydia what she wanted, and in the end, I knew she'd kill me to cover her tracks, or I didn't in which case she'd kill me and my family. I knew which option of the two I preferred. I also knew that I was only alive as long I was of use to Lydia, but I wasn't intending on being very useful for much longer.
"The fuck is wrong with you?"
I glanced at Marrek briefly out of the corner of my eye to see him watching me closely with narrowed eyes. "What?" I questioned.
"I asked what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"At the moment? I could come up with something," I said as I looked pointedly at him. "The question is why are you asking?"
"You're acting weirder than usual."
Shit. I forgot that he was actually pretty observant. I frowned. Still, I didn't think I was acting any differently to him than I had in the past. So what had he picked up on?
"I don't know what you mean," I replied as I made a turn at the end of the street.
"Normally, you'd have turned off your hearing aids before even getting in the car with me, but you haven't done that. I did notice you reach up like you fully intended to turn them off, only to stop yourself."
I shrugged, keeping my expression neutral. "I want to be able to hear my phone."
"Your phone is set to vibrate."
I rolled my eyes. "And how would you know that?"
"Because you never have the ringer on," Marrek responded. "I figured it was because you were doing shit you weren't supposed to be doing and it's pretty hard not to get caught when your phone is blaring in the middle of it all."
"You certainly have a way with words," I muttered. He was right though. Annoyingly enough. I had no intention of telling him that, however.
I could feel his gaze on the side of my head, but I ignored it. I knew there was more he wanted to say and yet for whatever reason he chose not to. That was awfully strange for him, considering he was blunt about anything and everything he wanted to say. I didn't dwell on it too much either way and instead pulled the car off the road, parking it behind Quinn's.
Everyone turned their heads and watched as Marrek and I stepped out of the car. Everyone except Everly and Alejandra. Neither was anywhere in sight.
I knew Noelle, but I could see a hint of fear in her eyes every time I spoke to her. She was good at hiding it, but considering we'd been on a team for years together and she treated me this way after I'd saved her life, I didn't like speaking to her. Alejandra, I didn't know, and she was nowhere in sight anyway. Tessa I knew vaguely, and out of the two agents that were left standing in front of me, I preferred to speak to her. No matter how much of bitch she was.
"Where's Thirteen?" I asked her.
I noticed Quinn frown, her eyebrows furrowing together. "You call her by a number?" She asked me.
I looked over at Quinn. "That's not strange for these people," I told her before turning back to Tessa.
Tessa waved her hand in a direction of the forest. "Headed off that way looking for Alejandra. Told us to catch up when you two got here." Tessa jerked her thumb in Quinn's direction. "Dog whisperer over there gave her a walkie. Apparently, there isn't good reception out here for phones or comms."
Marrek glared at Tessa before whistling for Hunter to come to him. Hunter let out a happy bark and skidded to a stop in the dirt at Marrek's feet. Marrek glanced at the splatters of blood in the bed of the abandoned truck. "Is that the person you want to find?"
Noelle shook her head. "No, but we believe that person can lead us to her."
Marrek stared at the blood for a moment before turning his gaze over to Quinn. "You stay behind me the entire time."
Quinn scoffed. "What good does that do if someone sneaks up behind you and I'm standing there? If I recall correctly-"
Marrek cut her off as he turned away from her. "Do you have any bulletproof vests left?" He asked me.
I shook my head. "I didn't bring any extras."
Quinn rolled her eyes. "I'm not wearing one. It's too restricting."
"If you want to go into that forest, you're wearing one," Marrek told her.
Another roll of the eyes. "Sean," Quinn said. "I'm safe so long as I'm standing beside you."
"I'm glad you have such faith in my skills sweetheart, but you're still wearing the vest."
"This has nothing to do with your skills."
"Then what . . ."
"To be blunt, you're a much bigger target than me."
The abrupt silence and the expression of disbelief on Marrek's face were actually quite comical and I couldn't help the small smile that split my lips.
"You did not just say that," Marrek finally spoke.
Quinn reached up and patted his shoulder as she walked past him. "Don't worry, I'll stitch you up . . . again."
Tessa began laughing and Marrek's attention focused on her. She kept laughing even as he sent her a death glare. She reached around her body and undid the straps of the bulletproof vest she was wearing. She tossed it to Marrek. "I like her," She told him. "Use that for her. Now let's get a move on, I hate to think that we're missing out on some action right now."
Noelle let out a sigh and rubbed at her forehead. "And what will you use?"
Tessa waved a hand dismissively. "I don't intend to get shot, and I'm skilled enough not to stupidly blunder into things. Unlike the civilians."
Marrek let out a high-pitched whistle as he stared at Tessa. Hunter growled and showed Tessa his teeth.
Tessa was unfazed. "Your dog comes at me and I shoot it."
"You won't have the chance."
Tessa narrowed her eyes at Marrek. "You think you could take me?"
"It's not a matter of thought," Marrek responded before turning to Hunter and giving out commands.
Hunter jumped up in the bed of the truck, sniffing at the blood before jumping back down into the dirt. He spent a moment sniffing around before letting out a loud bark and bounding off in the same direction Tessa had said that Everly and Alejandra had headed.
"Huh," Tessa muttered. "What a coincidence."
Noelle had a grim look on her face. "I have a bad feeling about this." She shook her head and took out her phone. "I'm going to call Ian and see how far he is from us now."
"Right," Tessa replied. "and while you do that, we're going to go off into the depths of the forest to get shot at. Tell his esteemed leadership to get here as soon as his schedule allows for it."
I looked off into the depths of the forest as if I would be able to see something. I didn't say anything, but I agreed with Noelle. There was something in the air and I had a really bad feeling about what was about to happen. If Everly had been standing here, I would have tried to talk her out of going into the forest but she was already gone.
Ever since dealing with the mercenaries, ever since her building came down, something had felt different about all this. True, I knew something everyone else didn't, but that wasn't it. This mission felt so much more dangerous than any other mission that any agent had ever completed.
We all followed Hunter off into the forest, walking as quietly and quickly as possible. Hunter would bound ahead and then stop and wait for Marrek or Quinn to catch up with him before bounding off ahead once more. Deeper and deeper we walked through the trees, climbing over fallen trees, large rocks, and twisted roots. And the deeper we went, the more uneasy I became.
I kept my focus primarily in front of me, scanning the trees, looking for Everly or Alejandra. Finally, I could see someone. I slowed in my tracks for a moment before I was finally able to make out that the person standing still in the middle of the forest was Everly. She appeared to have someone in front of her, and they were talking. Alejandra no doubt. So Everly had managed to catch up with her after all.
Tessa was about to shout out to them, obviously seeing them at the same time I did. I instinctively stopped her, slapping my hand over my mouth.
"Don't," I whispered. I could feel her tense up. I knew she was about to make a fuss, but then she noticed the same thing I had noticed.
Hunter had stopped, ears twitching back and forth, hair all along his back raised. Marrek and Quinn had both already crouched down and put themselves behind the cover of some trees since they knew Hunter's tells better than anyone else.
Tessa simply nodded instead and pulled my hand from her mouth.
There was a sound so loud in the quiet forest it sounded like it was right beside me. I whirled around, looking in every direction for the source of the sound. For the source of the unfamiliar voices.
"Not that way. I've got eyes on them."
"That's a shame . . ."
"They're catching up."
"I'm in position. How would you like me to handle this?"
"Just wait for a moment. Let them come closer."
Tessa frowned at me as I continued to look in every direction. "What the hell are you doing?" She hissed.
"You don't hear . . ." I trailed off, I had already answered my own question. I reached my hands up to my hearing aids, realizing that the comm frequency built into the hearing aids Lydia had forced me into wearing was picking up someone else speaking through their comms.
As far as we knew, there was only one other group of people out here besides us. The mercenaries.
I also realized belatedly that I should not have spoken. Not at all. There was no way my voice wouldn't have been picked up since I was on their comm channel.
I whirled back around to look at where Everly and Alejandra were standing just as another voice echoed in my ears once more.
"Well," The man's voice said. "No point in waiting for them to get any closer now."
"Get down!" I shouted. To hell with being quiet. "Drop! Take cover!"
I didn't have a chance to see if anyone listened to me. There was a noise so loud and shrill that was suddenly piercing through my ears. So loud it was painful. I let out a shout and clutched at my ears, realizing that the sound was coming through the comm in my hearing aids and it was enough to bring me to my knees.
As if that wasn't bad enough, gunshots began to echo out and bullets began to spray up the area surrounding us.
I knew I needed to get to cover, but with the noise coming in through the hearing aids, it felt like my skull was splitting open. I fiddled with the dial on the end of the hearing aids, quickly trying to change the frequency. I felt like I was finally able to breathe when I was able to get the frequency changed.
They had weaponized their own comm channel to use against me. Where the hell did they learn to do that? Why? Wasn't I technically being used by them? Was this just to put on a good show? Or did they not realize? Did Lydia give them the order to do so?
I didn't have time to dwell on that matter, however. Not whilst in the middle of being shot at.
"You idiot! Get down!" I heard Tessa shout over the ringing in my ears.
Something slammed into me with incredible force. Bullets sprayed up the trees and area surrounding me. I fell behind a fallen tree, struggling to catch my breath. The noise and pain from the hearing aids were gone, but something was keeping me pinned to the floor.
I could hear shouting. Loud and panicked. But the words weren't registering. There was still a slight ringing in my ears, making everything hard to distinguish unless it was loud explosions and gunshots.
Whatever was pinning me to the ground was suddenly pulled off me. Hands were grabbing at my arms, pulling me up from the floor. I looked up at Everly as her eyes scanned over me quickly, her hands pulling at my jacket, seemingly checking me over for injuries.
I opened my mouth to say something, but she suddenly shoved me to the side after confirming the worst of my injuries were just minor scratches. I looked over my shoulder at what had her attention, only to see Noelle ducked behind the fallen tree, Tessa on the ground in front of her, quite literally covered in blood.
The thing that had rammed me, had been Tessa. She'd taken bullets meant for me. And she was not doing well. She hadn't been wearing a vest. She'd given hers to Quinn.
Everly slid over to both of them, removed her jacket, pulled a knife from her boot, and began shredding the jacket into strips.
"Quinn!" I heard Marrek shout and I turned my head, watching as she dashed out from the cover of the trees and ran toward us.
I swore, pushed to my feet from where I was ducked behind the fallen tree, and began firing my gun at the mercenaries, giving them a target to focus on. I moved away from the fallen tree, away from Everly, and away from the injured Tessa. I drew the fire of the mercenaries, trying to keep them from firing at everyone else and keeping their fire off of Quinn who was making her way there. Marrek, I noticed out of the corner of my eyes, was doing the same.
I could see Quinn make it to Tessa from where I was ducked behind another tree further away. Bullets still sprayed up the fallen tree the four of them were ducked behind, but now the focus was also on Marrek, myself, and Alejandra who was hiding opposite to where I was but further away.
"Press down there!" Quinn was ordering Noelle as she rifled through the first aid backpack she'd had slung over her shoulder.
They all ducked down further as more bullets splintered the wood around them. Noelle looked down at Tessa, her face pale. I knew Tessa was not doing well. I didn't know exactly how many times she'd been hit, but she'd been drenched in blood, and for sure I had been able to make out at least three bullet wounds.
Quinn was focused on trying to save Tessa, the expression on her face serious, but I could see the helplessness in her eyes. Tessa's chances were low, and getting lower with each passing second we spent locked in this firefight. Everly seemed to have the same thought as me. She locked eyes with me, and a cold kind of determination settled across her features.
"Ninety-nine," Everly called out, reverting to numbers rather than names.
I knew her well enough to know what that meant for her. She was detaching. Prioritizing. Keeping her emotions from playing a part. She was looking at them as Agents instead of people. And that included herself. She was flipping the switch from Everly Kingston (who was formidable enough) to Agent Thirteen. This was one of the many reasons she was such a good agent.
One of the many reasons . . . but the only reason Zero valued her so highly.
"Ninety-nine!" Everly repeated when Noelle didn't respond to her. Noelle finally tore her eyes away from Tessa and looked to Everly.
"Once Quinn tells you it's alright," Everly said. "You and Marrek get Tessa and you get her out of here. Do you understand me? The longer she's here-the longer we're all here-the less likely she is to live. If Ninety-eight and the others show up, send them our way!"
Noelle nodded.
Everly turned to Quinn. "Use Ninety-nine," She told her. "She'll protect you." She then turned to lock eyes with Marrek. "Help them and get them the hell out of here!" She ordered.
Marrek looked like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut in that regard after seeing the look on Everly's face. "What are you going to do?" He asked her instead
Everly looked at me and then looked over her shoulder at Alejandra. "I'm going to distract them. What happened in the underground maze," She said as kept her gaze on Alejandra, making it clear she was speaking to her, not me. "Let's repeat that."
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