FIVE
THE BLINDFOLD SET OVER HER eyes was ripped off in a sudden movement, the light hanging above her blinding her vision. Scarlett squinted at it. Her thoughts were muddled inside of her head, a pulsing going through her body. Had they knocked her out?
Her dress was tight against her body. Her arms and legs had been tied tightly to a metal chair with thick rope, which rubbed against her skin. The Agent tried to wriggle around, testing out her options.
If she could get her hands free from the restraints, she could untie her legs and make a run for it.
"I would stop if I were you," a voice said from the dark. It startled her. "Rope burn."
Scarlett tried to speak, now becoming aware of the cloth that had been shoved into her mouth. She mumbled unintelligible words angrily, still continuing to move against her restraints.
A chair was pushed into the light, a man coming into view. He sat himself down slowly, a mask covering his face. And even with the mask, Scarlett could see his eyes — looking right at her.
He leaned forward, his hands pulling down the gag on her face.
"You— you knocked—"
"Don't make me put it right back in," he warned. "You're lucky I'm even allowing you to speak. I have a few questions for you."
Scarlett shut her mouth after that, a frown on her face. No matter what, she would keep silent. His questions weren't worth answering.
"Did you really think it would be that easy to take us out?" He shook his head, letting out a laugh. "We've kept our eye on you since your boss assigned this mission to you. We always keep tabs on federal agencies, and you, Scarlett, just happened to raise a red flag. Can't risk being compromised by an Agent, right?"
"Get to the point," Scarlett spat out.
The man continued with his story anyway. "We led you on for a bit, just to see exactly how determined you were. You persisted! Messing with your systems was quite easy, to our surprise. We decided to lead you to New York and straight to us, which worked like a charm, don't you think? And that dumbass password. We Are Legion? You believed that, didn't you? As soon as our bodyguard alerted us we knew it just had to be you. Can't disappoint your boss on your very first mission."
"Get to the point," Scarlett repeated, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
She had been tricked by an entire secret organization. Been drawn straight into their trap. If Scarlett even got out of here alive, she would lose her job on the spot. But her job wasn't what she was worried about currently. Being kidnapped and stuck in a basement was.
"How many Agents did you bring along with you?" He questioned.
"None," Scarlett lied.
He could detect it and she knew it. If they had truly been tracking her from the very beginning, they already knew about Kaden and William.
"That's a lie."
"You know the answer."
"We want to hear it from you." He held up his finger. "Before you answer, do not lie to me. You've seen interrogations before, correct? So tell me, what happens to the bad men when they lie to you?"
"They get hurt," Scarlett answered, letting her head hang down. "Badly."
Scarlett had only seen a couple of interrogations held by other Agents — and seen their countless torture techniques. It started on the good side. A simple punch to the jaw or a broken nose. And on the bad side came water boarding, broken arms and legs, missing teeth.
"Excellent. Look at me when you answer. How many Agents did you bring with you, Ms. Pierce?"
The woman looked up at him, a smile on her lips. "None."
•••
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT, WILLIAM." Kaden told the Agent, pacing around his hotel room, his hands on his head. His face was puffy and red, tears streaming down his cheeks. He hadn't planned on losing Scarlett today. "If you had kept your eyes on her, maybe this—"
"I had my eyes on her, Kaden!" William fought back.
"You were the one to convince her to go with him! If Scarlett had stayed at the bar we would have her here with us!" Kaden let out a shaky breath, plopping down on the stiff hotel bed. He couldn't find the means to care about shitty hotel mattresses in the current moment. "I'm sorry to lash out, but you Agents are always so fucking reckless! Do you even—"
"Do not talk about me or any other Agents that way." Williams face was beginning to turn red out of anger, his fists clenched.
"No wonder she hates every single of you. You sexist assholes really think you're everything, huh? I would give up my job in a second if it meant that Scarlett would be safe. Could you say the same for yourself? Is your job that important to you, to the point where you would choose it over a human life?"
"She— she hates us?"
William hadn't known.
He first met Scarlett when she was first recruited.
"Hi, I'm William Garcia," the man introduced himself.
She held out for him to shake, which startled him a bit. From his own experience, women typically didn't do handshakes. "Scarlett Pierce."
Everyone had cracked jokes left and right about the woman at first, claiming that she was only hired because the recruiter felt bad that women couldn't do the job right. The jokes affected her job deeply. Their own boss Chris began to join in on the hurtful banter, always sending out Scarlett to go get his coffee and lunches while other Agents worked on their own assignments.
He remembered the many occasions that Scarlett had gotten in trouble for interfering with other Agents missions. One of these missions was his own.
For weeks William had been chasing a serial killer on the loose. This killer hunted down newly divorced women to seek revenge on his ex-wife, who had died two years previous. His wife had been abusive to him, but left in annoyance.
He had been utterly lost with no leads.
"Can I help you with that, Garcia?" Scarlett asked him, looking at the work load on his desk.
"Not today, sweetheart. Coffee?"
"No." The woman pulled up a chair, sitting down next to him. "Give me a folder, I'm helping."
When the killer had been caught and Scarlett put him in handcuffs — William took all of the credit with no second thoughts. He received reward after reward, mentions in the news and countless interviews about how he did it.
In truth, it was just the woman he had underestimated all along.
"You didn't know?"
William pressed his lips into a thin line, shaking his head. "It doesn't matte if I knew or not. Do you have a plan on how to find her?"
And in the new light that had been shown to William, he realized how wrongly he had treated her. She had said nothing about it. Hadn't mentioned it. Hadn't brought it up to HR. Not a single peep.
"Yes, maybe I do."
NOTE
I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger there but I assure you that chapter six is in the making!
Also, William going through character development? Never thought that would happen.