No turning back. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, it's too late to say goodbye.
Conflating life is the hardest thing that was left on the mankind species.
Trying to organize the world is near to impossible, putting your own life on the line is close by, yet even the one short day is nothing which comes easy.
Should I be horrified? Not for me, but for him? For Landon?
"Thorne." Jackson yells once more as Landon refuses to move an inch, and the faces around him with too many deadly weapons seem to be getting irritated.
I grit my teeth, using the sudden lightness of his grasp to slip my hand out of it. He doesn't even pretend to fight me when I lock my hand on the side of his neck and tangle our legs to flip us around once more.
He is still looking at me with tired and calm eyes, the mesmerizing look in the blue crystals match when he looks at me matches the same look in the eye tourists have when they see saphire into selling business.
He looks at me as something holy.
I place a palm over his chest, knowing he won't fight me and none of the bullets will be fired in his direction.
Should I be confused? How the hell did they find us?
I hear laughter from below, breaking eye contact just for a moment to see Jackson sighing in relief as the two agents run past us, searching the rest of the house.
Jackson is walking slowly, mostly staring at Landon with such distaste that the floor could melt from the poison behind his eyelids.
I swallow down, flicking my dyes to him as I ask. "How did you find us?"
He laughs, raising an eyebrow. "You called us Haden." he says, patting my back as the greeting.
What?
"What? No, but- Why would... You-" I stutter over words, not even sure what is the first thing I want to ask about?
Landon is no amateur, yet as hard as it is to admit, neither are the rest of them. All they needed is at least two or three stray rebel kids to hire with small payment to make sure they can be tracked.
After all they went through and accomplished, a phone call takes them down?
"Haden." I shut my mouth at Jacksons words as he stands right next to me, if the trigger was pulled it would go straight into Landon's heart. I follow after him, standing up as Landon has to stay down. "Don't worry about it, we will explain it on the way. Right now, all that matters is that you won."
I won.
It surely doesn't feel like it.
Something is not right.
Scratch that. Nothing is right here.
"Winter Haden, being the only person to catch the notorious and infamous Landon Thorne, again."
My mouth feels dry, full of acid. I need a drink, my head is pounding.
A clattering of metal is pushed at my chest. My finger grazes slightly over the cuffs when I glance down, but Jackson's eyes are full of excitement and pride.
"You have the honor."
Lovely.
I try to avoid looking at anyone, just snatch the handcuffs from his hands as I fall down on my knees. Soon the attempt is failing as I catch the sight of Landon's eyes full of something I cannot put my finger on.
I am grasping his left arm, cuff hugging his wrist as I open my mouth to speak.
"Landon Thorne, you are under arrest for all of your previously convicted crimes." I pray that Jackson is blind as my hands and voice tremble, just as much as Landon isn't. I clasp one handcuff around his wrist.
"As well as the rest after. Prison escape, murder of your inmate, kidnapping of a government agent, his family." I occupy his other wrist with the cuff, now pulling him into a sitting position. His face is barely inches away and I have no idea what to do.
But I know what I am obliged to.
"And killing a Bureau agent." I finish, closing in the cuff harshly on his wrist.
"Clear." the SWAT team is informing us as I pull Landon up, this time completely avoiding even looking in his direction as I leave him with them, sprinting down the stairs.
What is happening? I don't understand anything.
"Dad." My head is turned at the sound of Leah's voice immediately. Just as fast as I spot her, she is in my arms, both of us gripping for dear life.
She is finally in my arms, safe and out of danger.
I should feel happy and relieved.
I should.
Why don't I?
"Bad guys lost this one, dad?" she yell-whispers that in my ear. She takes that after her mother, she never knew how to be quiet when whispering either.
I chuckle, patting her head as I move my eyes to the side, seeing Lilah being pushed through the doors, Celine close by as she tries to fight back, but in vain.
Caitlin has her own arms to comfort herself as the pale face stays set on the door.
"Yes." I harmlessly lie to my child. "They lost, honey."
Did they?
"Something is wrong here, Jackson." I pull him to the side as soon as we are out of the building. Numerous cars and vans are parked here, civilians and press are creating circles of masses around. Next to those three, only Rafael was caught, while Meredith and Edward were nowhere in sight.
The local police are still searching for them, but knowing them is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Exactly knowing that, how did they allow this?
"What do you mean?" he raises an eyebrow as I glance at the side and see Landon being led in the back of black van, surrounded by SWAT agents.
My eyes sting, throat burns and head is screaming, but I keep my posture.
"It feels too easy." I rush out, hands sweating as the ground feels like cracked glass. "Nothing makes sense. If they learned I called you immediately, why wouldn't they leave the same second or even try to cover up their-"
"Winter." My head snaps at him, slightly shocked to be called by my first name, but his face is serious. "You are worrying too much about this. You know how narcissists and egoistic they are. They always think they are invincible. Their confidence is what helps us take them down all the time."
That is true for most people like them, but not for them.
"Still, I don't trust them-"
"Of course you don't. Nobody does."
I shake my head. "You don't understand-"
"I do."
"No-"
"I do, Haden." he flickers the keys around his fingers and my face is seething from annoyance. "I do understand you to be cynical about this, but remember that that's how ever victim we save feels like. It's just paranoia."
He isn't listening to me.
Whilst his words are truthful and honest, he cannot mix me with the rest of the people they save. I am different. I have lived through this and I have studied it. I am not insane.
"You are right." I tell him after a moment of silence.
It is quite useless trying to reason with him at the moment, so I drop the subject altogether.
"I am driving with Thorne?" I ask and the darkness in his eyes is displayed the same second that I even regret opening my mouth.
"No." he shakes his head, even his body as if the bucket of louses was dropped on him and he wants to be rid of it. "That is exactly what that sick bastard would want. We are not giving it to him."
Classic rule of dealing with criminals. If you need information, give them all they wish for, but if not, stomp over all those wishes.
"Right." I nod. "So who are we driving with?"
Despite not wanting to leave my family alone, we had to separate each one of us with the SWAT team and accompany the others.
Both Daniel and Jackson wanted to drive with Lilah.
"Absolutely not." I tell them, stepping in front when I see her being dragged towards us. "None of you are in the right mind now, I will go with her."
"Not in the right mind? She betrayed us, Winter. Lied and pretend to be our friend, for years-"
I cut Jackson off with a simple raise of a hand. "That is the exact reason why it won't be any of you two."
Daniel's face is something of hot red rage and disappointing betrayal, but he is the one who handles it much better than Jackson is. The oldest one seems ready to snap her bones between his fingers as he adds. "That's not fair."
"What's not fair?" Jackson settles his eyes back as soon as she speaks. Lilah is standing there, hands tied with two agents on her side as she smiles broadly.
Why the hell is she smiling?
The brute silence is next to us, each lip sealed with a different kind of emotion. Lilah carries as much pride as Jackson has anger, while my confusion and Daniel's sorrow stay close by.
A former team all together, yet not for the right reasons. Not one good reason.
Never once in my years of training have I wondered about this. I know that I should have, but think of it more profoundly. Fighting on the different side of the war sith a person who helped you build your own side.
Sometimes tragedies are more internal battles rather than a dead body into a pool of blood.
"I will go with her, end of discussion." I tell them and she is the first one to smile.
"Oh why is that? I have seen you every day, I was hoping I could speak with them. It's been a while since we chatted."
Jackson's face twitches in madness when Daniel speaks instead. "We have nothing to tell you."
"Oh, and why is that?" she asks.
I move through the two of them, grabbing her elbow as I guide her inside the van. She tries to rip herself out, but I only tighten my grip and pull her inside.
The agents sat her down at one side, tying her hand down by the chain at the floor of the van, while they are grids separating the driver's place from us.
Jackson and Daniel stand, hand crossed at the still open back doors, staring at her with disgust.
"Come on boys," she says, voice loud and obnoxious, irritating for this kind of situation. "This is war. You can't be mad for the winning side playing a little dirty. You have done it yourself."
Daniel shakes his head dismayed. "This is no war Lilah, you are just as insane as your mother was."
As much as the words make her flinch, shock written all over her face, Jackson's and mine eyes are wide. Not a single person expected it, we always kept quiet on that subject and Daniel being the most reasonable and calmest one, no one saw the words coming from him.
Lilah's father was always a distant and unknown fact, even to Bureau and Lilah, or at least we thought it was for her. Now, trusting that would be stupidly easy.
She claimed that her mother partied a lot in her twenties, she herself was even asare of the father when she got pregnant.
Now, we could get behind that. Looking through her record, her mother was borderline insane. When Lilah was fifteen her mother was finally discovered by the police to be helping a rebel cult into murdering teenagers with nordic ancestry.
She claimed what they were doing was in favor of everyone. Those children were devils, their exact words.
After that more and more illegal behavior and actions were found so she was persecuted to life time prison and Lilah was sent into foster care.
She was jumping from family to family for a while, until after becoming an adult she chose a life on her own. Not much is known about that period of time, now it's finally clear why.
She scoffs in disbelief. "You have no idea-"
"Spare us." Jackson cuts her off, closing one of the doors. "Let's just hope you follow her fate." he adds before slamming the other door closed.
The light in the back has not died fully, but the air has darkened just as much as her eyes.
Her fate.
Lilah's mother hanged herself two months into imprisonment.
I don't know whether to feel guilt for the words being spoken, maybe even comfort her, but reality checks up on me.
She is an enemy.
She betrayed us and deserved that.
Landon will deserve what's coming to him, too, right?
My head is hitting the metal, but I feel no pain as I drown in my own thoughts. Car is driving, I don't look to see what is outside but I can feel the kind of road we are going over, know the amount and sort of car following behind and in front.
I am coming home.
This is all over.
The end has never felt this near and never this wrong.
"He is getting death penalty."
Death penalty.
No trial.
Just death.
Gone.
I know what the distress instead of relief in my heart means, but I cannot let myself feel it. Masking it down and disallowing myself to care is much better.
"Mr Haden." Pablo calls out for me at the end of the lesson. Through confusion I walk down to him and wonder what is going on in his mind.
Every time since that lesson he has this strange pick on me.
"Yes, sir?" I almost slap myself when he raises an eyebrow in such a childish manner as I excuse myself. "Yes, Pablo?"
"That's better." he sits back, motioning for me to sit across from him.
I follow, not crossing my legs while both of his legs are crossed like a kindgrader kid when it sits down and watches the theater play.
"So, Mr Haden, I was wondering what is your plan after all of this?" he asks and considering it's almost the end of this year, he has one class left. So he is asking about my plans for the future I suppose.
"Join one of the department of justice agencies."
He grins, wide as this amphitheater. "That's a high expectation."
"I like to aim high." I fight back, even though he means no harm I refuse to be melancholic when someone doubts me.
He laughs. "I can see that Mr Haden. You surely have the potential, more than half the people here, but you still have that one fatal flaw."
What is this? Percy Jackson?
"Your temper Mr Haden." he tells me. "Your intelligence is the thing which will keep you alive, but temper will kill you."
I feel hair raise on my body, he spots the way my body stiff so he smiles again, this time more menacingly and adds. "But you shouldn't worry, I can help you control them. Switch emotions on and off, become a perfect liar and deceiver, stay as calm as the stone even if the volcano is erupting right next to you. Look a person in the eye and spill the ever so epic poem with the biggest smile and eyes full of hearts whilst feeling nothing but hatred for them."
Pablo was right.
I don't ever even tell anyone about it, most of my superiors and colleagues believe my perfection of decievement and emotion control is my own business.
I will let it stay like that.
"Don't you get bored?" Lilah breaks the half an hour-long silence when the car finally stops. The doors are being pulled open, the closed side of the airport is in our sight as I know Leah and Caitlin are on the other side, mixed with the rest of civilians.
"Of what?" I ask her, placing my hand on her back as I lead her towards the plane, two other cars are being parked to the side.
Landon is being guided from one, while Celine and Rafael are leaving the other two, but I only focus on the people waiting by the plane.
"You were quiet on the ride, what did you think about?" she asks me, but I only glance back to confirm that SWAT agents gave everything under control as Jeremiah stands there with crossed arms.
Calm as the sea in the winter.
"Gilbert." I nod at him, but he is shooting his dark and cruel glare at Lilah. If he was any softer looking in person, maybe she would be better at hiding her horrified expression.
I cannot blame him trying to intimidate people that tried to kill him and succeeded in disposing of his partner.
I am thanking God that he doesn't know it was me who sent their sentences on the doormat.
"Haden." he nods, not moving an eye from Lilah while he speaks with a rough voice, sounding straight out of baba yaga horror stories.
"Keep yourself in check." I tell him and do not even think of stepping down when he moves his head, glaring at me with the same anger, but I am so close to rolling my eyes at it.
I step closer, pushing Lilah along as she stands in front of me. She tries to bury her feet in the cement, but it's needless as I stop.
Behind us, stands a line of agents surrounding criminals as I add. "You will either act professional on this plane and leave your animalistic urges here or I tell my team to dial Alena to forbid you to enter."
His face is close to exploding at my words, but I have no time to deal with this. "We are transforming four federal criminals, I will not allow any mistake and if you can't act as an adult, you have nothing to search here. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good."