25. CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 25

Atlas

A bright light blinded me, and my ears were ringing. Derek, Marcus, and Dean blew off the warehouse doors to gain access, one of them throwing a flash bang into the room. I had no fucking clue why they would have deployed one of those after seeing that there were only two of us in here, and Chyler charged at them with nothing but a fucking knife.

As soon as the grenade went off, I heard a gunshot. As my disorientation subsided and I could finally focus again, I felt someone behind me using a knife to release my wrists from the zip tie. Bringing my hands to my front and flexing them, I looked at where I last saw Chyler. She was on the ground, motionless, and Derek was standing over her, his gun held to her temple.

“Derek, Stop!” I choked out. Dean was the one to release me from the chair, and when he had cut the rope from both of my ankles, I ran and collapsed to my knees beside her. She was knocked unconscious from the blast and had a gunshot wound to her bicep. It didn’t look bad, but it wasn’t good either. I couldn't help the rage that bubbled up within me at the fact that they had shot at her—worse than that, they had actually hit her. If I didn’t know them, I would have killed them for that.

“She was going to fucking kill you, AJ.” He growled, glaring down at her.

“She was the one who sent you the message.” I hissed, looking up at him.

“If she was trying to save you, then explain to me why you are bleeding from your neck.” He gestured to the side of my neck, where Chyler had dug her knife into me.

“It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you later. Right now, we have two motherfuckers that need to die.” I held out my hand for his gun. Derek took another look at Chyler’s unconscious body and sighed.

“No, I’m going to help you; take Marcus’s.” Derek turned to Marcus, “Give him your gun and cuff her. Take her to the car; do not take your eyes off her. As of right now, she is in CIA custody. AJ might trust her, but I don’t.” He spoke, and I knew I didn’t have time to argue with him. As long as she was out of here and safe, that was all that mattered. I already fucked everything up with Atwater; I wasn’t about to fuck it up again. I stood up and took the gun from Marcus, signaling for Derek to follow me to the hall at the back end of the warehouse.

I was alert when they brought me to this warehouse and strapped me down to that chair. I knew there was a back hallway leading to several rooms, and I assumed Charlotte and the other two women were in one of them.

“Derek, there are three of them. The woman in red is our primary target,” I said as I kicked open the door to the hall. We ran down it, checking the rooms as we went. It was possible that they had already made it out of here if they were watching everything from a video surveillance feed, but we had to try.

I kicked open another door, and it was the room that they were watching us from, but the women were nowhere to be found. Fuck, we missed them . I cursed and shoved myself past Derek and back into the main warehouse, yelling for Dean.

“Get to the fucking car, and track them, they ran!”

The three of us beelined it out the door, and I followed Derek and Dean to where they had parked the car. They drove the Ford Expedition, which left plenty of space for the five of us to fit. Derek was in the driver's seat, Dean was in the passenger seat to guide him, and Marcus and I were in the second row. Marcus had laid Chyler out in the cargo space. She was still unconscious, as far as I could tell. Dean loaded up his tracking application, and we peeled out of the parking lot to chase after Charlotte and the two women she had with her.

Before I left the office to confront Atwater at the Soap Factory, I mentioned to Derek that no matter what happened with the case, one of them would put trackers on any vehicles found at our destination in case they managed to flee the site. After having Chyler get away from me twice, I learned my lesson and wanted to ensure we were better prepared, especially where Atwater was concerned. I had no idea where he was now, but Charlotte just put a bigger target on her back for turning Chyler against me.

“Turn here. There are about five miles ahead of us,” Dean said as he continued giving Derek directions to chase down their vehicle.

I stared down at the gun in my hand and gritted my teeth. I had no intention of letting her get away from me. This had gone from wanting answers to shoot now and fucking forget it. I just wanted her dead; I didn’t need answers anymore. My brother was dead, Atwater was AWOL again, and Chyler was unconscious with a gunshot wound in the back of our SUV. My knee bounced with the adrenaline pumping its way through my body.

“Can’t you go any faster, Derek?” I growled out of frustration.

“AJ, shut the fuck up. I am going as fast as I can. If you want me to go faster, then you drive.” He snapped over his shoulder, and I shut my mouth. I leaned back and turned to see Chyler’s motionless body in the back, blowing out a sigh.

What the fuck happened back in that warehouse to her? Why was she acting that way? I had never seen her so dark and twisted before. Was it something Charlotte had done to her?

“We're Coming up close to them. Take a hard turn here, Derek. They are just ahead of us; we can cut ‘em off.” Dean said as Derek took a hard left, and my body jerked into the passenger door. I grabbed the back of Dean's headrest to stabilize myself. I didn’t even know where we were. I was so deep into my thoughts and wanted Chyler to wake up that I wasn’t paying attention to what was outside the window .

Out of the windshield, I could see a black Cadillac Escalade speeding about a mile ahead of us. You’re a fucking dead bitch.

“I’m going to PIT them. Hold on, boys.” Derek yelled as he accelerated. I gripped Dean’s seat in front of me as we pulled up to the back right corner of their Escalade, and Derek gripped the steering wheel, violently pulling it to the left and slamming the front of our Explorer into them. Their vehicle spun in front of us and then flipped several times before coming to a stop.

“They’re mine,” I called as I opened the door and jumped out of the back seat, taking off to their upside-down Escalade. Derek wasn’t far behind me, gun drawn, as we bent over and scanned all of the broken windows of the vehicle.

I stopped when I saw Charlotte’s crimson suit through the shattered passenger window.

“Derek, check on the other two with Dean. I’ve got her.” I shouted over to him.

I approached where Charlotte’s arm lay outside the broken window and crouched to get a better look inside. She was lying on her back on the interior roof and coughing up blood. I couldn’t help the smirk at seeing her bleeding out and in pain. I pointed the gun at her head and waited for her to turn to see me.

I knew my first question should have been, ‘ Where did Atwater go? ’ but instead I demanded, “What the fuck did you do to Chyler?”

She laughed as her eyes lifted to mine, and she attempted to roll herself over to her stomach .

“Nothing that she didn’t need. Ataraxia, dear boy.” She spoke with a dark cackle. “Good luck loving a woman who can never love you in return.” You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Charlotte had injected Chyler with Ataraxia, which was why she was acting so strangely towards me in that warehouse. But, towards the end, she mouthed that she loved me, so what did that mean? Was she still affected by the drug, or did something else happen?

I growled and held back the urge to crack her over the head with my gun. I needed her awake and alert, and I knew if I hit her hard enough, she would be out cold. I only had one question for Charlotte before I could repay her for what she did to Chyler.

“Where is Roman Atwater.” I hissed, my anger beginning to consume me.

“You’ll never get him, Atlas. He’s gone.” She smiled and coughed once more, blood spraying from her mouth.

“Tell me. Now.” I snarled as I held my gun to her temple. She was lying on her side, choking on her blood. I could make a solid bet that she had internal bleeding from the crash. When she didn’t answer immediately, I yelled again, “Now!” My restraint to pull the trigger coming to an end.

“He’s fled the country. Probably with a new identity by now. Your chances of revenge are gone. He is never coming back.” She laughed once more, and I smiled down at her.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I can still get my revenge. Maybe not with him anymore, but you are a great second option.” I raked the slide of the handgun, loading it, and gave her a smug smirk as I placed it back against her head and, without hesitation, pulled the fucking trigger.

Walking back to where Derek had stopped the Explorer, I noticed both of the women were restrained with cuffs. How was I going to get Chyler out of this? I rubbed the back of my neck as I approached the group. I looked at Derek and gestured for us to step aside and speak privately. After five years of friendship, I knew I could trust him and hoped he would still be loyal to our friendship.

“I need to tell you about Chyler, about this entire fucked up situation, and I need you to listen to me before cutting me off and making any rash decisions. Deal?” I would lay all my cards out on the table with him. In the worst-case scenario, he was going to take Chyler to the CIA and let them deal with her. Best case, the two of us were getting the fuck out of here together. Derek stood up straight and crossed his arms, giving me a nod of approval.

“Let’s hear it, AJ. I’m all ears.” He said with a smile. I knew he would always be there for me. He knew the story of my brother and what had happened eleven years ago. He understood exactly where I was coming from. So I started from the beginning. From the night at The Landing.

The entire time I spoke, Derek just stood there and nodded. He didn’t speak or attempt to cut me off at any of the parts where I was reckless and stupid—mainly the night that I threw Chyler out of the warehouse after I had caught her. I knew my actions that night were wrong and that I shouldn’t have let her get away and then covered up her tracks. But I was in love with her, and I had no intention of letting her go. If that meant betraying the CIA, then so be it. She was mine, and she always would be.

“Wow… Just… Wow, man.” Derek blew out a long breath and scratched the back of his neck as he began pacing in front of me. I needed him to be on my side, to let me get Chyler out of here and protect her. I bit into my cheek, waiting for him to decide what he was going to do. I would beg him if I had to; I’d do anything. I was desperate.

“Derek, look… This is what we’ve always been searching for. That one woman that would be the end for us. Chyler is that for me. She is my beginning to my end. I can’t—” I paused and rubbed my hands down my face. “I can’t let you take her from me,” I said, knowing that it came off closer to a threat than anything. It would become a threat if need be. I wasn’t going to let them take her without a fight.

“You do realize the complications here? What am I supposed to tell Conrad? ‘ Sorry, we only managed to get two of the three; here you go ’?” He threw his arms up and then dropped them by his sides.

“Yes, exactly that. You tell them she got away and leave it at that. Two out of three is better than nothing, not to mention you have their leader, Charlotte, over there with a bullet in her head.” I pointed to the flipped SUV, not taking my eyes off him. “Everything here is better than nothing. Let me get her out of here. I’ve never asked you for a favor in all our years, but now I am. My first and last.” I ground out. I was shaking from fear, from adrenaline… Derek sighed and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You don’t need to ask me for favors, AJ. We’re best friends. I’ll always cover for you—even if you sound completely insane, like right now.” He chuckled and looked over my shoulder to where Dean and Marcus were talking, holding onto the handcuffs of the two women.

“How are we going to explain this to Marcus and Dean?” I asked, turning to look at them.

“You let me handle that. Get into the Explorer and get the hell out of here. I’ll call for additional agents to help us out.”

“Thanks, man. I owe you one.”

“No, you don’t. Just don’t forget to call me when you are settled.” He smiled and placed the keys to the vehicle in my hand as he pulled me in for a guy hug, patting me on the back of my shoulder. “You take care of yourself.” He murmured before letting me go and heading back to the others, pulling out his phone to call for additional agents.

I looked down at the keys in my hand, gripped them tightly, and ran to the SUV. I jumped into the driver’s seat and took off with Chyler still in the back.

I may not have gotten my revenge on Roman Atwater as I had hoped after all of these years, but I did manage to meet the one woman—my soulmate—with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with—and saved her.