Chapter 25

Jep's head spun, his eyes fluttering against his double vision as he attempted to insert his key into the lock on his cuffs.

"They made me do it," Gardener said. Watching him.

"Made you do what?" He squinted to make sense of the small hole when the key missed it again. "Hit me on the head? I don't remember anyone ordering you to do that."

"It wasn't my fault. If I didn't do what they said, they would have killed me."

"Yeah, well, you can save that for the courts."

"You've got to let me out of here. You'll never hear from me again. I swear."

"I think I'd rather have you locked up." The cuffs released, and his shoulders sagged from the exertion. He took slow breaths as he leaned back against the bookcase to give his head time to clear.

"I'm surprised to see you sitting there so calmly," she said.

"I'm dizzy. That's a heavy statue."

Gardener chewed on the inside of her cheek. "You're not the least bit worried about Emery?"

"Em's a big girl, and Pearce is doing what he's supposed to. It's what any of us would do."

"Ah, so you weren't as out of it as you appeared."

"With my head doing flip-flops, it was easier not to move. And I find you discover a lot of secrets if people think you're unconscious. Once he finds Jade safe and secure, we'll have plenty of time to unscramble the mess you've made."

"So you don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Uncuff me and swear to me you'll let me go, and I'll tell you."

Jep shifted forward, his head swimming. He blinked until he could see only one of her. "Tell me."

"Looks to me," she said with a smile, "like you're in no position to argue."

"I'm not letting you go. You're responsible for a lot of murdered agents, and you're going to pay for it. You're also going to tell us who else is involved and where we can find them."

"If I did that, they'd find me, and they'd give me a bullet instead of a paycheck. I can't have that. But what I can do is help you save Emery's life. If that's what you want." She leaned back against the desk as if she had all the time in the world. "But it will cost you."

He was impressed with her control. For someone who worked as a paper pusher all day long, she steeled herself well. But even if Emery's life was in some kind of danger, he couldn't let Gardener see how much it affected him.

He moved onto his knees and used a nearby chair to drag himself up to his feet. "Tell me what you know. Did you put a bomb in the building?"

She held up her cuffed hand. "Let's trade."

Jep didn't have time to interrogate her, but he couldn't let her go, either. He'd have to bluff. "Fine." He pulled a chair over so he could sit close. Standing was costing him too much.

After unlocking her cuffs, he said, "Tell me."

"I'll text you once I'm out of the building."

He shoved her back against the desk. "No, you'll tell me why I should be worried about Em, or I'll break your fingers."

"Promise me you'll let me go?"

"Tell me!" he shouted and shoved her again. He must have looked wild because her eyes widened in fright. If only she knew how weak he was.

"Okay, okay. Back off."

He gladly sat back in the seat and took small breaths to keep the nausea down.

"Pearce isn't who he says he is." She had dropped her voice low, even though no one else was listening.

The sudden increase in his heart rate almost had him on the floor. It took him several seconds to regain his equilibrium. "Pearce is working with you?"

"Yes."

He punched the desk next to her head, and she jumped, but he didn't give her time to react further as he grabbed her arm and re-cuffed her.

"Hey!" she shouted. "You have to let me go!"

"No I don't." He stood, knocking the chair over as he stumbled out of the room.

"You promised!"

He ran into a rolling chair and tripped across it, catching himself on a nearby desk. After righting himself, he weaved through the room, propping himself up on desks and chairs as he went. He battled the vertigo that threatened to take him back to the black hole, which could mean Em's death.

His hand skimmed along the wall when he entered the hall, and he fell against the elevator, slamming the heel of his hand against the call button. "Come on. Come on!"

The door slid open, and he fell inside. It took him a couple of breaths before he could crawl to the number pad and jam his finger on the floor number.

"God, help me," he said as he rubbed his fingers on his eyes to clear them. "I need your strength, and I need you to get me there in time."

When the door opened, he was on his feet, but he couldn't remember standing. He practically threw himself down the hall, hoping his legs wouldn't give way while his hand traced a path on the wall of the corridor. It seemed interminably long.

He could see the door ahead was open. Then he heard a weapon discharge, and he surged forward, entering the room in time to see Jade's body lying at an odd angle on the floor before he registered Em was cowering against the wall with her eyes shut. Pearce was aiming his weapon at her.

Jep cried out for help from above as he leapt.

Em held her breath and flinched when the gun fired, waiting for either pain or the end. When nothing happened and all she could hear were muffled grunts, she looked up to see Jep hanging off Pearce's back with one arm around his throat and the other clamoring for the weapon.

The gun went off again, punching another hole in the ceiling. Em scrambled to her feet. She wanted to help, but all she could do was jump out of the way as the two men careened toward her and slammed into the wall. Pearce swung around, smashing Jep into it.

Jep was pale, and his face was tight, but he continued to hold on with his teeth gritted. Pearce flung his body back against the wall again, pinning Jep, whose eyes had rolled into the back of his head. When his arm went slack, Pearce wrenched from his grip and staggered free.

Em didn't know what to do as she watched Jep struggle to hang onto consciousness.

"Don't," he whispered. One of his hands was pressed into his knee, propping him up, while the other lifted in front of him like he could stop a bullet.

Pearce was breathing hard, but he held his gun steady. His eyes moved to Em. "At least now I have a good reason to shoot you both."

He looked back at Jep, and Em screamed as a shot rang out.

In the echo that followed, Pearce flinched like he'd been startled, then dropped to the floor.

Em stared at his dead body before looking to Jep for a weapon he must have been carrying, but he had listed sideways in exhaustion, his hands empty.

Her eyes travelled the room to Jade, who was lying on her back, her arm extended but resting on the floor. The gun was still in her hand. She was looking at Em, and her lips were moving wordlessly.

"Jade!" Em dove for her, but by the time she reached her, her sister's eyes had emptied and stared at nothing.

She held Jade's head and kissed her forehead, mumbling words of forgiveness and love as her tears wet her sister's skin.

"I'm sorry," Jep said from his place at the wall. "I couldn't save her."

"There was nothing you could have done." She kissed Jade one last time, then ran her hand over her sister's eyes to close them. "There was nothing any of us could have done."

She looked at Jep and saw he was in bad shape. Her sister was dead, but she couldn't let Jep meet the same fate.

She hurried over to him and touched the back of her fingers against his forehead. Then pressed her palm against his cheek. "You don't look good."

"That's not a very nice thing to say."

She laughed despite herself. "You need help. I'll call someone."

She dialed Lawson first, but he still wasn't answering. "Why is everyone still gone?" Her teeth were clenched in frustration as she called down to security and arranged for them to get paramedics on site.

She dropped her phone beside her and moved closer to Jep. "They're on their way." She wiped at the blood on his face but only smeared it. "You're not going to die on me, are you? 'Cause that wouldn't be cool at all."

He smiled weakly. "I think I can hang in there."

"Good. I can't lose anyone else."

He pushed up from the wall and grunted. "I should check Pearce's pulse. Make sure."

"No. Stay where you are. I'll do it."

He didn't resist when she pressed him back against the wall before tentatively making her way to Pearce's body, where she hovered over him, rubbing her fingers together to get up the courage to touch him.

"Wait," Jep said, holding out his hand. "Give me his gun. Just in case."

It was lying beside Pearce's hand, so she kicked it away before retrieving it.

"You sure this is a good idea?" she said, handing it to Jep. "Your double vision won't make you accidentally shoot me?"

"I'd never shoot you." His eyes sparkled a little. That was a good sign.

She went back to Pearce and lowered onto her knee. Knowing Jep had the gun gave her more courage. Slowly, she reached under Pearce's collar and grimaced as her fingers prodded his neck. She paused, then moved to another spot, just to make sure. "He's dead." She retracted her hand and moved back beside Jep, who'd dropped the gun into his lap once the danger had passed.

"Did you see that coming?" Jep said. "Because I am embarrassed to admit that I did not."

"No. I mean, maybe if I go back through every single interaction, there might be something. But nothing obvious. Gardener I can almost see, but Pearce?" She sighed, then shifted to get back on her feet. "I should wait at the elevator so I can show the paramedics where to come."

"Wait." He reached toward her. "Just wait. They'll figure it out."

"But what if?—"

"Come here."

She looked at the door. It wouldn't be that hard to find this room. But she was desperate for him to be assessed so they could confirm for her that he would be okay.

"Em. Please." She moved closer, and he put an arm around her, pulling her toward him. "I'll be fine, but you lost your sister."

She hadn't realized how far she'd crammed that information away from any emotional part of her being until he spoke those words. Her body tensed when a fresh wave of grief hit her. She shook as tears poured down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Em. I got here as fast as I could."

"I know." Her body shuttered, and she curled tighter into his shoulder.

"Whoa!" There was a shout from the door. Jep and Em looked up.

Agent Bailey stood at the threshold with his weapon drawn. "What's happened here? Is that Pearce?"

"At ease, soldier," Jep said. "The threat is contained. Have you seen any paramedics, by the way? They should be here by now."

Em wiped at her face but kept her eyes on the floor.

"What happened in here?" Bailey said, wide-eyed. "How'd the suspect get a weapon?"

"It's a long story," Jep said. "Is Lawson back yet? Where have you guys been?"

"I was the first to return. The rest aren't far behind. They're going to go nuts when they see this."

"But where were you all?"

"We were sent out to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Code red. There was supposed to be a whole nest of activity. Turns out it was abandoned but rigged with explosives. Good thing we checked first."

"We haven't been able to get ahold of anyone."

"Yeah, it was in a black spot. So…what happened?"

"You had better go get Lawson. And maybe give him a heads up about what he'll find, so he doesn't get startled like you did. I'd rather not get shot today. I've managed to avoid it so far, but my luck may be running out."

"I didn't get startled. Pearce is dead. And you're pretty calm about all this. You also haven't said what's happened to you. You look awful." Bailey shook his head. "Maybe I should stay here and?—"

"Just go get him, will ya? We're not going anywhere."

"This is bad," Bailey said as he returned his gun to his holster. Then he ran his hand through his hair. "Poor Pearce. Man. As if we haven't lost enough good agents already."

"Yeah," Jep said. Clipped. "Now, can you please go get Lawson? I've got a headache, and I don't want to go through this twice."

"Yeah, okay." He backed out of the room, still shaking his head.

"Hey, Bailey," Jep said. "One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Gardener is cuffed in her room. Don't let her go. She'll need to be questioned."

" Sylvia Gardener?"

"She's the only Gardener I know of."

"Why is she in cuffs? What did she do?"

Jep pointed at his head. "Knocked me out."

"Why?"

"Can you just make sure she's taken into custody?"

"You know, before you came here, this place was orderly."

"Orderly and full of traitors. Well done."

"Who's a traitor? Gardener? Jep, what?—"

"I'll explain everything to Lawson."

"Okay, but make sure you don't go anywhere."

"I don't know that I could move from this spot even if I wanted to."

After he left, Em wiped her face with her sleeve and sat back. "We saved a lot of people today, right? Jade didn't give her life for nothing?"

"If Pearce had killed us, there's no telling how many more people would have died. And when Gardener talks, we'll save even more."

"You think she'll talk?"

"I'll make sure of it. Your sister's death won't be for nothing. She's a hero."

Em let out a soft laugh. "That's a nice thing to say."

"It's the truth. But Em, be prepared. The agency won't look at her that way. They'll pick her life apart to find whatever evidence they need to condemn her and anyone else who will shift the blame as far away from them as possible."

"I know. But I don't care what they think. I know what was really in her heart. Underneath all her pain and anger, she could still do what was right. I only wish we had more time to explore that."

He tugged her close again. "I know."