"Well I'll be damned." Jerry said smiling at Kingsley before going in for a hug.
"Hello to you too Mate." Kingsley said laughing. I ran up and squeezed him tightly.
"You don't understand how happy I am to see you." I whispered to him.
"I'm glad you're okay. I'm happy that you're happy now, kid." Kingsley said kissing the top of my head. "Well why are you all standing around like that. Take a seat. You act as if we're strangers" Kingsley said before sitting next to Agent Cross. We all looked at each other before sitting around the table. "Well I suppose introductions are in order. Agent Cross, this is Brianna, Deneen, Jade, Jake, Reed, Jessica, Daniela, and Jerry. These young lads were all in my covert operations class at Gallagher Academy. A troublemaking bunch they were, but some of the best agents I've ever had the privilege of training. " Kingsley said looking at all of us. I won't lie, a couple tears came to my eyes at his sentiment, but I pushed them back quickly remembering the reason why we were all gathered there.
"The pleasure is all mine, honestly. It's a priviledge to be in a room with so much young, and mostly untapped talent. Nonetheless, you all have made your choices. Now, we must live with them." Agent Cross said looking directly at Jerry and I.
"So, group, what brings you all here?" Kingsley asked looking around.
"I'm sure you can guess exactly why they are here." Cross said looking at him. Kingsley shook his head and rubbed his temples.
"Don't do that." I said looking at him as well. "Don't shake your head and rub your temples. I know what that means, I was in your class. I know you, Kingsley. I know that a No is coming and I can't take a no right now. So please, please don't do that." I said begging him.
"She's good." Cross said simply.
"I know why you're here and I can't give you what you want." Kingsley said looking up from the table. His eyes were sad.
"Yes you can." I whispered.
"No Ela, I can't. This is beyond you. This is beyond even us really. I care about Alex and Tyler. I really do. Yet, I cannot allow you guys to go out there." Kingsley said shaking his head.
"Why not?" Jerry asked crossing his arms.
"Well for one, you guys have ben out of training for over a year. You guys are not actually agents, except Jade, Jerry, and Dee, and even then, this entire mission is beyond their clearance level. I could get fired, and so could they, if anyone knew you were even here.
"Kingsley, you don't understand. We might just be the only people that can actually save them!" I yelled in frustration.
"Isn't that just a bit self centered of you to think?" Cross asked sarcastically and a shot him a look.
"Honestly Mate, now is not the time to mess with her." Kingsley warned him. Cross backed down and Kingsley returned his gaze to me.
"Ela, trust me we have to best teams out there searching for them. It's not just us, but it's every governmental agencies. We're going to get to them. We're going to save them, but you have to trust me. You have to put your faith in me." Kingsley said leaning towards me hoping that this would work.
"I can't. I can't sit around and just pretend that this isn't happening. I can't go back to that damn university and pretend that they are locked up and being tortured somewhere. I can't go back to my normal life and just push this out of my head. Not again. I can't do that again." I said shaking my head and forcing the tears not to come.
"You have to. Think about how happy being at Stanford makes you. Think about how many great things you are doing over there. Think about the future you're going to have. Think about how relieved you've felt over the past year, not having to look over your shoulder constantly. Think about how nice it's been not having someone trying to kill you or capture you at all times. Go and live your life Ela. Go be happy. Go be free of this world. The world you decided to leave, and for good reasons. Trust us to take care of this. Trust me. Trust your friends. Please. I promise you won't regret it. Please." Kingsley begged. Reason began to flood my mind and I began to think if I really should be doing this. Should I actually try to go after them? How in the world could I do it by myself? I mean I've been out of training for over a year. Kingsley was right. I need to put my trust and faith in him. I can't do this. I shouldn't be doing this.
"You're right." I said sinking into my seat.
"What?" Jerry said from next to me. "No, he's not." He added looking at me. "No you're not right. I don't think you realize who we are, but we've been through too damn much to quit on them. No! I refuse to give up. We can't just sit on out hands while they are out there somewhere and we are their only hope. I don't know if you've realized this or not, but this whole damn thing is centered around Ela and I. And Damnit agent Cross I don't give a fuck about how self centered that sounded, because everyone in this room knows I'm right. This is going to lead to world war 3. I know it and everyone around here knows it. Ela and I are the only bargaining chips you have. We're your only weapon. We're your only hope of ending this. Don't push us away. I know what you're doing. You know what I've just said is true and you're trying to push us into staying at Stanford so that you know where we are whenever you need us. You'll have us stashed away as some sort of fucking insurance to know that nothing can ever really happen as long as we are happily trapped in our fucking safety box. No! I will not be pushed to the side. I will not be hidden away until I can be used. I refuse." Jerry yelled angrily. I've never seen Jerry like this before. I never seen him so worked up about something.
"I'm not stashing you guys away. I'm protecting you. I don't want you guys to get murdered. The only way we know that you are truly safe is if you stay at Stanford. We have made arrangements with the school officials to keep you guys safe since the day you stepped foot on that campus. People have been hired to make sure nothing happens to you guys." Kingsley yelled back at Jerry. Holy shit, excuse me. They've been watching us for over a year? They made arrangements with our school? What the fuck?
"Are you kidding me? You guys have been having us watched? So all those times I thought I was being paranoid about being followed and watched were real. I thought I was going crazy. I thought my brain was just used to being on full alert because of all the shit I went through. You actually have been hiring secret bodyguards for us. Wow. Thanks. So I guess Jerry really is right. You guys have to make sure your precious little insurance policies are safely tucked away. You have to make sure your weapons are cleaned and ready to go at any time. This is bullshit. I can't believe you." I yelled standing up and pacing around a bit. I was boiling. I was beyond pissed. I didn't have words to describe what I was feeling at that moment in time. I just didn't want to be anywhere near any of these people.
"It wasn't because we wanted to use you guys. It was because we wanted you guys to be done with us. We wanted you guys to be safe. Really truly safe, but we didn't know when or if any of the circle members would come back for you guys. We wanted you guys to really be happy where you were. We didn't want you guys to convince yourselves to come back. You guys deserve happiness and being part of this world has only ever brought you and unnecessary amount of pain and suffering." Kingsley yelled back. His British accent so thick it caused me to struggle to understand what he was saying. He sunk back into his chair and held his head for a bit. "You guys were so happy there." He said distantly, looking at the table. "We just wanted you guys to be happy." He whispered looking me dead in the eyes. "Which is why my answer is still no. I don't want you guys anywhere near this. Go back to school and let us handle this." Kingsley said firmly before getting up and walking out of the room.
~~~One Week Later~~
I'm going crazy just sitting here. I'm going crazy thinking about what is happening to Ty and Alex. I'm going crazy knowing that I could be doing something and can't. I'm going crazy knowing I could be doing something, but not knowing what to do. I'm sitting here doing nothing. I'm here stressing about organic chemistry when they could be getting beaten. I'm here stressing about completing a paper when they could be starving. I'm here stressing about go out to find them when they could be dead.
Oh shit.
They could be dead.
They could be dead.
No, they can't be dead. I won't believe that they are dead. I can't believe that they are dead.
Yet...
There's no way to be certain. There's no way to be positive. They could be in the ground, bloody and dead at the hands of a sick, twisted person because of me. They wanted me and Jerry, not them. They weren't supposed to be part of this. I don't know how or why they were dragged into this.
I need to save them.
I need to help them.
I need to.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I opened my door to see Jerry standing there. I rammed myself into his chest and started crying. He squeezed me tighter, not saying a word. He knew I needed some time. Some time to pull myself together. I pulled out of his chest and looked up at him.
"I know baby. I know." He whispered quietly while wiping the tears from my eyes. "It's not your fault. It's not." He said petting my hair down. It's crazy how he knew exactly what to say to me in that moment. It's crazy how well he knows me. "We have to go to headquarters. There's been a huge development in the case." Jerry said before grabbing my hand. I quickly grabbed my phone and keys before letting him drag me out of my dorm. I locked the door and turned back to him.
"What about Bri and Jess?" I asked as we sped out of my hall.
"Their already downstairs waiting for us." He answered quickly before we finally made it out of the building. Jake, Jade and Dee were there as well.
"Alright, let's go." Jake said before basically running to his car. We followed him. Everything was moving so fast I could barely register what was going on. As soon as we got in the car Jake sped off. I don't think that he was driving anywhere near the legal speed limit. We reached the headquarters in no time and ran right up to the conference room.
"I'm glad you guys could make it on such short notice." Kingsley said as we entered the room.
"What was the emergency? What's going on?" I asked moving closer to him. I was confused and worried and seriously on edge. I need answers and I need them now. Kingsley turned on the television. A male wearing a black mask came up on our screen.
"You may be wondering who I am and what I want. Well, you don't need to know who I am, but who I work for. I work for an organization larger than myself. We are here to carry out to mission that you guys thought you stopped. The start of world war three is underworks. Which leads into what I want. Well, I think we all know exactly what I want. Or should we say, who I want? Oh Jerry and Ela, we would be delighted if you would join us over here. We knew you guys wouldn't come willingly, so we have a little bargaining chip. Yes, yes, we have Tyler and Alex. They're pretty nice guests to have. Yet, I don't think you want them here for too long. We get a bit tired of our toys pretty quickly and tend to get rid of them. You don't want us to get rid of them. It won't be pretty, or fun. At least it won't be fun for you. It will be very entertaining for us. Anywho, tick tock. Your time is running out. Decide what you want to do. I'll be in contact soon." The video cut off. I didn't even notice the tears running down my face until I felt Jerry's hand touch my cheek. I looked up and him and he tried to give me an encouraging look, but he was just as shaken up as I was. Suddenly the phone rang.
"It's for you." Kingsley said looking at me. I put the phone on speaker.
"Hello." Jerry and I said in unison.
"Oh the dynamic duo. Wow, it's an honor. Truly. Pleasure meeting you. I assume you've received my video." The male voice asked.
"Yea, we did." Jerry said seriously.
"Such a hostile tone." The voice said with a light chuckle.
"Well, considering you have two of our friends held hostage, I didn't think you'd believe we'd be exactly happy." I said sarcastically.
"You mean two of your ex-boyfriends. Oh wait, that's wrong as well. We have an ex-fiancé and an ex-lover boyfriend type thing. We never really knew what Tyler was to you. We never knew which one of the two of you had the commitment issues." He said teasingly. I stayed silent. "Ooh. I see that is a bit of a touchy subject. Oh right, your current boyfriend is in the room. Sorry for reopening that infected wound. Nonetheless, we come in peace... kind of. Really we just wanted you guys, but we do also have a plan for Alex and Tyler. All we're saying is no one else has to get hurt if you guys just come join us peacefully." He said simply as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
"How do we even know they are alive?" Jerry asked.
"Yea, we want proof that they are living." I added.
"Kingsley, I know you can hear me. Check you email Mate." He said mockingly. Kingsley opened up his laptop and checked his email. He pulled up two photos of Tyler and Alex. They were tied up and pretty beat up, but I could tell they were alive.
"I want to talk to them." I demanded.
"Maybe next time. If you're nice to me. Anyways, think about my offer love. Talk to you soon." He said before the line went dead.
"Do you still believe we shouldn't be involved in this?" Jerry asked looking up at Kingsley.
"I need real proof of life before I bring you on board, but I will give you the clearance to do research on the investigation and to know all the information relating to the case. You guys just have to promise me you won't go doing anything rash and stupid that can get you killed." Kingsley said defeated.
"Promise." We all responded.
Who in the world could be the person in the video and on the phone? They were super fun to write because he is quite clearly a dick, but he's a funny dick. Anywho, you guys are going to be seeing/hearing more of him in the upcoming chapters.
Next chapter I'm particularly excited to write, because it will be from a different perspective. Who's? Well you'll find out next chapter.
Thanks so much for reading. I adore you guys! Love love love y'all. Have an amazing week! Do great things. Be inspiring people.