Chapter Twenty-Three

LILY

Ethan didn't have much more information for Kace, so we left, and now we're in search of an internet café. I'm not really sure why, but Kace is on edge. He seems distracted, and I want to see if I can help in any way.

"Kace, is there anything I can do?" I ask as he pulls the van into a parking space on the side of the road.

He exhales, turning to look at me and shakes his head. "No, just stay by my side. Don't move away from my line of sight, okay?"

Nodding, I exhale as we hop out of the van. I grab our backpack full of supplies and walk into the internet café. I step over to a computer, it looks outdated and ancient while Kace goes to the counter to pay for some time. He steps up to me, taking a seat in front of the machine and sighs. "Can you keep a look out, make sure no one comes too close to our station?"

Nodding, I smile that I can be helpful in some small way. Kace opens the web browser and types in some gibberish into the search engine. A web page of a museum comes up, and I furrow my brows as he clicks into the log-in area and types in some details. Suddenly, the screen turns black, and bright green digits run down the screen. I gasp as Kace looks around to see if anyone is watching.

A logo appears of a circle with a banner on the bottom, and two eagles in flight in the middle flashes on the screen. I swallow hard knowing he isn't searching for something on Google anymore. Another log-in screen appears, and he types in some keystrokes again, and then all these browsers pop up one by one. I glance around as I breathe in hard knowing he's probably hacking his own Agency's server right now.

"I'll have to be quick. I used my log-in to access the primary server, knowing they would have kept it active, so they can trace me if I attempt a log-in. An alert would have triggered the instant I logged in. We don't have much time before they trace it to here."

I tense knowing his team will be on our tail again soon.

He rustles through some files clicking on things and speed reading. "What the fuck," he says as his body tenses, and a bead of sweat rolls down his forehead. He turns pale white, and his jaw clenches.

"Kace, what? You're scaring me."

He turns to face me, his eyes so wide the white in his eyes is almost blinding. "This doesn't make any sense. They told me he'd been killed on a mission overseas. They said he'd been sent to make peace with them, and they'd turned on him…" he says, trailing off like he's trying to work this all out in his mind.

"Who?" I ask, a shiver running down my spine.

"My dad…"

My eyes widen in surprise. "Then where was he killed?"

Kace sweeps his hand through his hair, brushing away the sweat that has gathered. "Here, in the states."

"Why would they lie about that?" I ask, confused. My foot taps impatiently on the floor, and I can't stop my eyes from darting around the room, expecting someone to jump out and catch us at any moment.

"Fuck, Lily, this is so… fucking fucked. I don't know what to believe anymore."

I move my hand to his shoulder and caress it as he slumps his body turning back to the computer. He types something else into the keyboard with a click clack, and suddenly the screen turns black, and a giant skull and crossbones appear. The skull starts laughing as the screen looks like it's decaying.

Opening my eyes wide, I gasp. "What did you just do?"

Kace winces. "Just fucked up this guy's computer. C'mon, we gotta go. We've been made, and we've been here too long already." He stands up grabbing my hand. The shop assistant comes over as we walk off.

"Hey, hey! What the hell did you do to my computer, you asshole?" he calls out.

Kace drags me quickly toward the front of the shop, but he pauses, tensing his muscles as his breathing quickens.

"Fucking hell, that's not even possible," he murmurs.

I tense up completely as I look out the front to see a car pulling up, and inside is Axel, Noah, and Eli.

"Lily… go, " Kace demands, turning me toward the back door with a push. We both start running as fast as we can. My heart leaps into my throat as my chest heaves dramatically in fear.

"You can't go back there. Hey! Hey, stop!" the shop assistant calls out, but we ignore him pushing through the heavy door that leads into a small kitchenette. Kace pulls my hand, and we dart toward a fire escape as we hear a loud bang back in the main shop, like someone breaking the main door down.

That's not necessary.

Kace pushes the fire escape door open, and I breathe a sigh of relief when it opens to a back alley. We run quickly, my feet hitting the pavement fast and hard as Kace turns us down another side road. He leads us straight to a sporty-looking car—a fast-looking car—and luckily, it's a back street so no one is around. He doesn't waste time smashing the driver's window, unlocking the car, and sliding in the driver's side. He unlocks my door, and I hop in as he pulls the bottom of the dash down. He rustles some wires together as I pant and watch ahead but see nothing. The car roars to life, and I don't even have time to put my seat belt on before Kace slams the car into gear and speeds off down the road, pulling out onto the main highway and into the traffic. I let out a breath of air and try to calm my raging heart.

"It's okay, Lily. They didn't see us," he says, reaching out putting his hand on my knee. I jump slightly just from the pure adrenaline that's racing through my system as I look back out the rear window just to make sure we're not being followed.

"How did they get to us so quickly?" I ask through a pant.

Kace sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "The only thing I can think of is Yana. She told them the car we were in, and Noah must have hacked traffic cameras to search for us. They were on to us even before we went into the café, then my hack alerted them to our exact location. They were in the vicinity, and I led them directly to us. I'm a fucking idiot!"

Calming down enough to see that Kace is hurting, I turn to face him and put my hand on his knee. "Hey, you didn't know Yana would rat on us. Plus, she gave us the intel that led us to Ethan, that led us to find out about your dad. The pieces are all unraveling, and now we just have to find something or someone who can put all the pieces back together to form the perfect puzzle. We need to know what's really going on and how I'm involved."

"Yeah, you're right. It just doesn't make any sense. If my mom was having an affair with Luthendale while my dad was still around and he found out, maybe that's why they killed him. But there has to be more to it than that? It has to have been over something bigger… surely?"

Sighing, I tilt my head. "Is there someone we can go to? Another asset maybe, who might know more?"

Kace sighs slumping his body and shakes his head. "No. I don't think anyone is going to know. This goes too high up. The only people who are going to know are…" he trails off, and a slight smile crosses his face.

"Kace?" I ask.

He looks to me. There's brightness in his eyes, he's excited, and I'm not sure if I should be happy or terrified.

"Lily, I have a plan."

KACE

Pulling the Ford Mustang GT down the street of my prey, I know Lily won't like what's about to go down, but it's necessary to retrieve the missing pieces of this puzzle and have them fall into place. It's the only thing I can think of, and after driving for a couple of hours from Philadelphia back into Washington DC, it's now night-time.

As the moon shines brightly through the velvety sky, I think about my tasks at hand. My most important one—keeping Lily safe. The second—getting the right information to free her and bring down the people who want her dead, no matter who they are.

Lily is my priority. I need to clear her name, but my gut is telling me that in reality, this has nothing to do with her.

I drive up the quiet suburban street, streetlights light the way, and the roar of the engine alerts me that stealth is not an option when belting around in a V8 sports car. So I'm going to park a couple of houses back, and we'll walk quietly up to the house in question.

I will get my answers. Even if I have to use any type of force necessary to get them.

Pulling the car over, Lily looks at me, raising her eyebrow. I can sense the tension rippling off her in waves. I hate that she's scared, but I don't blame her. We had a close call today, and I can't let that happen again.

I won't!

Breaking apart the wires to turn off the ignition, I twist to her and look into her beautiful crystal- clear eyes. "Okay, so whatever goes down in here, I want you to know I'm doing it to protect you. To protect us."

She nods and chews on her bottom lip in apprehension. "I'm with you, Kace. Let's put this puzzle back together."

Smiling, I nod and turn to get out of the car. I only have my Glock with me, everything else was left in the van when we had to run. It's loaded, but I only have six bullets in the clip. Hopefully, I won't need to use them. I quietly close my door, and Lily notices doing the same. I walk around grabbing her hand and take a deep breath. "Follow my lead, okay?"

She nods and walks behind me as we step alongside the bushes up to the house. Glancing around, I notice the driveway leads down the back of the house. I calculate this as being the best point of action. So I pull Lily with me, and we slide down the side of the house along the bush line keeping out of the light and hiding in the shadows.

"I feel like a ninja," Lily whispers.

I smile and bring my finger to my lips in a gesture to tell her to be quiet. We don't need to be found before we make our surprise entrance. We round the back of the house and head up the back porch. The decking boards creak, and we both stop moving and stiffen our posture flattening our backs up against the house wall. The eerily silent night with only cicadas chirping to break the silence, is annoying as I take a deep breath.

There's no movement in the house, and I nod to Lily to let her know I think we're okay. I turn toward the back door and bend down, twisting the knob. I know it won't be unlocked, but there's no harm in trying. To my surprise, it turns, and I stand up straight as all my muscles tense, and the door squeaks as it opens slowly to a darkened house.

I place my hand up to Lily for her to stay where she is—this is completely abnormal. My senses are on high alert, and if I didn't know better, I'd think someone has beaten me here. Taking a small step forward, suddenly an arm flashes out, I duck weaving out of the way of the punch as he steps out of the shadows and comes right at me full force. His shoulder hitting me in the stomach as he pushes me backward off the porch. I stumble but don't fall as I bring my knee up into his groin, making him "oomph" out in pain as I wrap my arm around his neck, twisting his body so he flips over, his stomach now facing the sky. I wrap my forearm tightly around his neck cutting off his circulation. He tries to flip me over him, but he's too fat and old to get in a good swing.

He might have been an excellent Operative in his heyday, but now he's only good as a boss. He's shit in the field. I tighten my hold on his neck and start marching him back up the porch and inside the house as he grips onto my forearm gasping for air. Lily closes the door behind us as I walk him up to the dining table and let him go, turning him, and sitting him down on the seat. He collapses, begging for breath as he sits down in his boxers and tank top. Lily stands in the corner holding herself as I look down at the man who ordered the kill on my girl.

Mark Luthendale.

Director of The Agency.

Creator of SO7.

Apparently, the man banging my mom.

This is so many levels of fucked-up, I'm not sure there's a number that's appropriate.

He looks up at me as I stare down at him with anger seeping from my pores. He goes to get up, and I slam my hand into his chest pushing him back down into the chair.

"Sit. Down. Mark. Lily, can you find me something to tie him up with?"

She nods and starts opening the kitchen drawers as Mark snarls at me. "Kace, we've been looking for you."

I can't help but chuckle. "And yet here I am, right in front of you."

"What about this?" Lily asks jogging over to me and holds up some duct tape.

"Perfect." I take the tape from Lily and pull some from the roll.

"You know if you tie me up, your job at The Agency is done, boy. You know that, right?" he spits out, and I huff while wrapping his wrists together as tight as humanly possible, and with more tape than used in a bad bondage movie. I watch as his hands turn red, then instantly white with the cut off of circulation.

"You think that with some of the stuff I've found out that I think The Agency is above board?"

His smirk tells me I'm on the right track. "You know, Kace, there's so much you don't know."

Scoffing as I walk back around to his front, I shake my head. "People keep telling me that. But no one will tell me exactly what I don't know. That's why I am here, Mark. You're going to tell me everything I'm missing."

"Oh, I am?"

Smiling, I nod. "Yes, you are."

"And what makes you think I would tell you, Kace? Because I'm such a nice guy?"

Smirking, I shake my head. "No, because when I did some digging at the internet café, I found my father's records, the ones that say where he died."

He tilts his head and shrugs. "And?"

"And I want to know how he was killed at home on U.S. soil? Where he should have had backup. Where he should have been safe and protected."

His hard glare intensifies, and his lip curls up in disgust. "No one is safe in this line of work, Kace. Don't be so na?ve."

I let out a small, sarcastic laugh. "I want to know what happened, and I want to know now. This can go one of two ways, Luthendale. Either we can do it the easy way, where you tell me what I want to know, or we can do it the painful way, and I can torture you till you cave. Up to you."

Lily winces, and I tense up hoping she doesn't have to see me torture someone, but Luthendale is a weasel. Hopefully, scaring him will work.

"I won't talk, Kace. Camilla would kill me."

Wincing, I slump a little, while I like torturing people for information if they deserve it—like Mark does—doing it in front of Lily is not something I want to do.

"Okay, the hard way it is," I say.

Lily swallows hard as I walk past her and into the kitchen looking for something to use.

"Where do you keep your pliers, Mark?" I ask more as a scare tactic than anything else.

"Fuck you, Kace."

"No pliers? Okay, I'll improvise," I say, opening a drawer to find a roasting fork. Smiling, I pull it out, the silver shines against the pale moonlight that filters in through the window, and I sigh. "Lily, turn around."

She whimpers and turns facing the wall. I stalk over to Mark as his eyes focus on the giant meat fork.

"One last chance, Mark, talk or you get the fork. Ha… that rhymed," I say, trying to sound like I'm having fun with this.

Mark's tension rolls off him as his body shudders, and he shakes his head. "Stop playing about, Kace. I'm your superior, and if you do anything to me, your career is ov—"

I stab the fork straight down into his thigh, so deep it goes all the way in, the metal pulls against his thigh muscle as it penetrates his skin. Blood seeps down his leg and runs onto the floor as he screams out in agony.

"Sorry… you were saying?" I ask and pull it out torturously slow twisting it slightly as I do. He writhes on the chair and breathes so harshly in and out of his mouth that spittle flies off his lips.

"Fuck you, you fucking little bastard. I'm going to make sure no government agency ever looks at you aga—"

With those words, I stab it into his other leg right above his knee. He kicks out and screams in pain as I hear Lily whimpering behind me, but I can't focus on her right now. I have to get at the truth.

"Mark, c'mon. You know it only gets worse from here. Next stop is your eyes." I pull the fork out positioning it in front of his face. He breathes heavily and murmurs under his breath, but I don't quite catch it.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"I'll fucking tell you, you fucking son of a bitch!" He looks up at me glaring as he pants harshly.

Grinning a toothy grin, I nod and take a deep breath knowing how easily he caved. "Okay, first things first. You and my mom… true or false?"

He exhales and nods. "True. We've been together for the last seven years."

My eyebrows cross, and a slight cough pushes up from my chest. "Seven years? Fucking hell, how did I not see that? How did Dad not see that?"

His breathing slows, and he sits up a little taller. "Your dad got suspicious of us—"

"So you had him killed?"

Mark shakes his head. "No, Camilla did. He was too close to the truth."

I furrow my brows. "What truth?"

He exhales. "Your mom got power-hungry. She was pulling toward command and control, and your dad was all about being virtuous and protecting people."

"The Agency is supposed to be about protecting people."

"Your mom thought The Agency was better consorting with the powerful companies in America. So we aligned ourselves with them, and everything we do is to benefit the profit margins of those businesses which, in turn, helps line our pockets."

Furrowing my brows, I shake my head a little confused. "What do you mean, everything we do?"

He sighs and slumps his body. "Well, when the economy crashes, businesses can either fall or rise to the surface taking out those who are failing."

I shake my head again, still not understanding. "So what does this have to do with The Agency?"

He scowls. "Think about it. What makes the economy crash?"

I freeze, swallowing hard as the blood drains from my face while I think about it.

He laughs and nods. "That's right, Kace. Terrorists, mafia bosses, all the crap in the world, they strike, assault, attack, and these events aid toward our financial gain. It's so easy, Kace.

Wincing, I say, "Go on…"

"We secure access to the Intelligence agencies' Watch Lists. Those terrorists or radicalized persons are listed all in one easy place, so we're able to coerce them and give them the information they need to formulate a strike. There's a terrorist attack… panic ensues, shock and dread follows, but more importantly for us, there's uncertainty."

Feeling lightheaded, I nod my head once. I'm not sure I know where this is going, but the feeling building inside me is one of dread and hesitation. "Uncertainty?"

"One of the first things uncertainty brings is to the stock market, which crashes, and we gain. So while the country goes into full-scale alert and meltdown, we're benefiting from the misery. Let's face it, they destroy infrastructure, and the businesses we have onboard benefit from reconstruction."

I can feel my face paling as I listen to him. My stomach churns while he seems almost proud of his words.

"Our intention is totally on soft targets, ones that are relatively unprotected and vulnerable. We do this for two reasons… one, to minimize innocent lives lost, and two, to ensure we cause the most infrastructure damage. We are not completely unconscionable, we ensure lives lost is minimal. It's a win-win situation."

"Oh yeah, I can see you're scrupulous." I cough sarcastically. "Are you telling me The Agency is virtually funding lone wolf terrorists and mafia to reap profits from economic crashes and attacks on our soil?"

He smiles, his eyes squinting like he's the devil incarnate, and it sends a chill down my spine. "No, Kace, The Agency is the terrorists."

Lily gasps as my heart pounds so hard in my chest I want to scream. All this time I've been working for the wrong side.

How could I have been so stupid as not to see this?

"But what is SO7's part in all of this?"

"You know SO7 is a black ops team funded solely by The Agency. SO7 is off-grid and works on a need-to-know basis, so only a specialized few know about its existence for obvious reasons. You're assassins, trained hackers, infiltrators, the cream of the crop, and you work for The Agency to find the families, loved ones, and associates of the known radicals on the Watch Lists. Once you've found them, we issue the waste orders for their families or loved ones to coerce them into cooperating fully with The Agency. If they think their families are threatened… especially after you take one of them out, they're more likely to collaborate and work for us. You, as an SO7 Operative, think you're taking out the terrorists, heads, and cartel leaders when, in fact, you're murdering innocent civilians that just happen to be in their lives."

"This is fucking crazy! What the hell do you get for helping businesses profit from a failing economy? How can a government agency benefit from that?"

He smirks. "It doesn't. Shit, you're slow. Your mother was the one who saw how this could all work for us… this is her love child. She saw that if The Agency started under-handing its dealings, then certain people could profit from it. Her… me… senators who sit in Congress… are all in on it, too. This is not just The Agency, Kace… this filters through the entire government system."

"But the President—"

"Of course, the President has no idea…" he cuts me off, "… nor his cabinet or trusted advisors. Basically, it all started with Camilla, and you had no idea you were working for the wrong side all this time. It was working flawlessly… until Lily."

Anger bubbles inside of me making me see flashes of red. I want to kill him so badly, but I can't, I need to know why Lily is involved. "Why Lily?"

He chuckles. "It's silly really. Her dad, her real dad, was involved heavily in a drug cartel ring. He died, of course, and he being in the cartel was the only thing we could pin on her to make her sound like a traitor to The Agency, to the government."

Lily steps forward shaking her head and furrowing her brows. "But I've had nothing to do with my father. So why bother taking me out, I don't understand?"

He laughs a belly laugh and shakes his head. "Wow! You two really are dense. It was Camilla. She saw you two were getting close, and she didn't want Lily to become a distraction for you, Kace. So she did some digging, found something that could work. We falsified records to show she took the place of her father as head of the Sinclair Syndicate. I approved it, and then she put out a waste order to void the distraction. It's all bullshit, of course."

Lily scoffs.

He's so fucking arrogant, you can clearly see he has no issue with any of this.

My anger burns so red hot, I'm not sure I can contain it. My mother, the woman I trusted with everything—my job, my life, fucking everything—has put a hit on my neighbor just because she showed interest in me? Not only that, but she's organizing terrorists, mafia, cartels, and God knows what else to destroy the very economic foundations of the country I'm so proud to be a part of.

Who the hell is she?

What the hell has Mark turned her into?

My breathing becomes harsh and ragged, my heart pounds so frantically, I can't think straight. I know what happens next, and I have a little bit of sanity remaining to do what needs to be done.

"Lily, go outside. Now," I demand.

She doesn't stop to ask questions as she turns and runs outside. The slamming of the door is all I need to spur me on.

"You ruined my family. You killed my father. You turned my mother into a monster. You have committed untold atrocities and crimes against America. For that… you must pay."

His eyes open wide as he shakes his head from side to side slowly while I stalk toward him fork still in hand. "Kace, you're like a son to me. You don't have to do th—"

The fork stabs straight into the side of his neck. Blood spurts out to the rhythm of his heartbeat as muffled gurgles echo through the room. As I twist the fork a little more, my heart pounds furiously while I seek my vengeance. His body shudders as blood swirls down his neck in a red torrent. I pull the fork from his flesh and move in behind him, wrapping my arm around his throat.

"God bless America," I say, then swiftly spin my arms snapping his neck. His head falls to the side limply as his body sags lifelessly.

A calm washes over me as I take a deep breath.

Living in this new world, it's a world I want no part of.