"About my ability to fade, singular. Yes, they do. And, more importantly, they know I'm the woman who exposed their sorry asses." The walls began moving once more, and she pressed her hands against the sides of her head.
"Exposed them? Wait a minute. You're the woman, the whistleblower who was tortured? Are you for real?"
She got to her feet, stretched, and wiped her face dry.
"Wow. I saw that article in the Post yesterday."
"Part of me thinks I never should've leaked information about SPI. Maybe all it did was make things worse." She dusted herself off and grabbed the backpack off the floor next to the gun and knife. After sliding both weapons inside the bag, she checked to make sure the safe box, AJ's flash drive, and the money were still there. Slinging the backpack over her shoulders, she proceeded to the door and looked at Niles. "Are there any hotels near here?"
"You're leaving?"
"Yes."
"Wait," he said, hurrying to her. "Stay here. There's room."
"Look, SPI knows nothing about your abilities. Best to keep it that way. You don't want this kind of trouble, believe me."
"But I want to help."
"Why?"
"Because at some point I'll have to fight them anyway. Better with somebody than alone, right?" He stood in front of her and blocked the door. "Come on. Every hero needs a sidekick."
"I'm not a hero, and this isn't a comic book movie. Now move out of the way."
"Lady—"
"The name is Eve. Not 'Lady'," she retorted.
"Eve, you're taking on an entire secret agency, and you're not a hero? You're basically Bond with superpowers. You don't have to be humble with me."
She groaned. "I know this all sounds like fun to you, but it's not. There are real people after me, and they'll find me if I don't find them first. Right now, these people don't know about you or else you wouldn't be standing here. You know what that means?"
He shook his head.
"It means you can return to your regular life like none of this ever happened, like you have no special ability."
"What if I don't want—"
"Look, you have no idea what I'd give to go back to the anonymity of my old life. Stop trying to be a superhero, Niles, and live your boring ass life. Forget all this ever happened."
"And what about when they do come for me? Just because I hide my abilities and try not to draw any attention to myself doesn't mean they won't find me eventually. So, the way I see it, helping you means helping myself down the line."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"I read the article about what happened to you and the others. I saw what happened tonight. I think I have an idea."
Images of Agent Grobeck pointing the Taser at her flashed before her eyes. "Listen to what I'm telling you. You don't want this life."
"I don't want this one either."
"Fine," she relented, shaking her head. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
***
As Eve plopped onto the new hotel bed in downtown Philadelphia, Niles stared at the small, black safe box she was holding.
"How many times have you tried it?"
"Fifteen? Twenty?" she said, sighing. She brought the box close to her eyes and searched for any inscriptions she'd missed. Nothing. "I don't know. I've lost count. I've tried every number combination I can think of. I don't get it...there can't be that many different number possibilities, can there?"
"SPI didn't give you the passcode?" He pulled up a chair in front of her. "Guess they didn't want you to see what was in it."
"Guess not."
"My cousin might have an idea how to unlock it." He scrolled through the contacts list on his phone.
She typed in another number combination using the keypad on the safe and waited for an indication that the number had worked. But nothing happened. Disappointed, she slipped the box inside the backpack and retrieved the flash drive AJ had stolen from her target, Andrew Wilder, the CEO of Generate, Inc. Perhaps it was connected to Salazar, Eve mused.
She inserted it in the computer and tensed.
To her surprise, several folders appeared. "Whoa," she exclaimed, and Niles looked at her. She clicked on one of the folders, only to be met with a box indicating that the folder was password-protected. Each folder she clicked on presented her with the same box. "Shit. We need to see what's in there."
"I can take a crack at it," said Niles. "I can crack relatively easy passwords."
"Hold on," she said, raising her hand. She typed furiously into the password box and waited. A box appeared on the screen with the words "Access Denied." She groaned and typed in another password. After two more tries, she was ready to scream.
"Eve," said Niles, "I'm sure it'll shut you out if you get the password wrong too many times."
"But we have to see what's in these folders."
Niles flashed her a sympathetic look and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know. But we'll find another way. I'll take a stab at it later."
With a sigh, Eve removed the flash drive, returned it to the bag, and shut down the computer.
She lay against a pillow. Her thoughts swam with more safe combinations and possible passwords as she stared at the ceiling. "You ever wonder what it'd be like to be the most powerful person in the world?"
"Like the president?" replied Niles, glancing sideways at her.
"No, like if you had the power to do something no other person could do? An ability that 99% of people would give their left tit to have?"
"Don't we have that?"
She shook her head. "No. Invisibility, teleporting, shapeshifting is all interesting. But I'm talking about real power. Something that would make you unstoppable."
"I guess I've never thought about it. What would that power be?"
"I don't know. But I think about it all the time. Maybe time travel," she said, lying back and staring at the cottage cheese ceiling. "That way I could go back in time and slap the disturbed person who came up with the notion of cottage cheese ceilings."
Niles laughed. "Hey, guess what I just read?" He turned his phone's screen to her.
"Something about cottage cheese ceilings?"
"No," he scoffed. "An article in The Guardian."
"Oh. Okay. Cool, I guess."
He rolled his eyes at her. "I thought it was about you at first. But this is about another one, a fader in London."
She sat up. "In England?"
"Yeah. You're mentioned, though."
Eve stared at the screen and read the headline. "This means—"
"It means there are faders all over the world making themselves known now, coming out of hiding. We're not alone anymore."
"And we're not safe anywhere," she mumbled, flashing him a wary look.
"Is the glass ever half full with you?"
"Who was the fader in that article? Did they give their name?" She gestured for him to hand over the phone, her eyes glued to the screen.
He scrolled to the middle of the article. "His name is Orson. Orson Remington III. Maybe we should try to reach out to him?"
She didn't hear Niles' suggestion because at that moment an idea struck her like a boulder, and she popped up. "The fader we were looking for here...Samuel Kim? I know how to find him. We need to visit Agent Yu."
***
Agent Yu paced in front of the sooty, half-dressed man on his knees. He was looking at the wet floor. Clots of crusty, dark blood ornamented his hair.
"The guards have worked you over bad," she remarked, low enough so that only he could hear her. She glanced at Agent Grobeck. He was lingering near the door with his arms folded across his chest and watching her silently. As she turned her attention to the man on the floor, he was groveling at her feet and reaching out to grasp her ankles. "We don't have to keep doing this, you know."
Sobbing, the man rubbed his fists against his sides with so much force that it looked as though he was trying to rub off his skin. "I don't know anything more than I alre
ady told you. Please."
"Mr. Ellis, if you cooperate, you can be out of here in no time." Agent Yu stepped back and squatted to meet his eyes. She coated her voice with as much sweetness as she could dig up. She leaned closer to him and whispered, "Just talk to me. Tell me the truth so I can help you."
"I don't know any more than I told you. I don't know where Eve is." Gabriel shivered and wiped away tears.
Agent Yu looked over her shoulder at Agent Grobeck and, after half a second, shook her head. She watched him pull out his cell phone, dial a number, and say, "Do it."
There came a shrill scream of terror from a room next door. Gabriel looked at the brick wall, searching for the source of the screaming. His eyes grew wider while the tears overflowed and dripped to the floor. When he turned to Agent Yu, he peered at her through eyes bloodshot clouded with tears. "Please. I don't know anything. I don't know anything."
"I can't stop it unless you talk."
The screams continued, louder with every passing moment.
He stared at Agent Yu. At last, his shoulders dropped, he lowered his gaze, and he cried. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." He slurred the words and repeated them like a broken vinyl record, his shoulders bobbing in sync with his sobbing.
"Mr. Ellis?"
Gabriel mumbled the same three words again and again, rubbing his fists against his sides of his head.
After a disappointed sigh, Agent Yu rose up and leered at him. "Fine."
She followed Agent Grobeck out the room and, before shutting the door, looked at Gabriel. He was on the floor, balled up in the fetal position, and covering his ears with his fists to block out the sound of the woman's piercing screams from the next room.
"Did he give you anything?" Agent Grobeck asked.
She shook her head.
"That's disappointing. I thought he'd be more useful, given your description of his connection to Miss Cooper." He typed into the electronic tablet.
"That description came from my snitch who was obviously wrong." Holding her tongue, she deliberately relaxed and folded her arms across her chest.
He fixed his cold gaze on her. "Let this be a lesson, Agent: do not negotiate with terrorists." With a smirk, he proceeded down the hallway to the elevator.
Agent Yu rolled her eyes as she watched him walk away. Once he was gone, she darted toward the cell two doors down and typed a code into a small black box.
When the door opened, AJ Taylor was sitting on a small metal chair in the middle of the windowless room.
After a glance over her shoulder, Agent Yu entered, shut the door, and locked it.
"What do you want now?" asked AJ, her face covered with grime and soot, her feet and hands shackled to the chair. Unlike Gabriel, she wasn't beaten up or bruised.
"I want to make you a free woman and take down Agent Grobeck in the process,” Agent Yu whispered, careful not to be overheard.
AJ laughed. "And I'm supposed to trust a cunt like you?"
"Yes, if you want to be free. Here's the deal. My snitch, the only person who can lead me to Eve, is God knows where, while I'm wasting time interrogating a couple of her friends. Now, ordinarily, this realization would have been enough to make me start drafting my resignation letter."
"Your snitch? I don't under—"
"But then an idea hit me." Kneeling, she unlocked AJ's hand and feet restraints.
"What are you—?"
"I'm proving to you that you can trust me," said Agent Yu and stood. She reached into the pocket of her pants and brought out a loaded department-issued GLOCK. "Here. Take it. Shoot me right now if you like. I'm sure I've done more than enough to earn it. Or you can hear what I have to say first and then make your decision."
Without hesitation, AJ took the gun and pointed it at the agent's right temple. "You swore nobody would get hurt."
Agent Yu didn't flinch. Rather, she came closer to ensure that AJ had a good shot. "And nobody has to get hurt anymore if you help me finish this. If you help me find Miss Cooper."
AJ kept the gun steady and pressed against the agent's temple.
"Think back to your first month of training. How simple it all was, how you knew you were part of something noble and for the greater good. It can be that way again." She stood and stepped away. "Contrary to what you might think, I don't like doing this shit—torturing innocent people and all. I don't like being an evil bitch for pay and, honestly, the pay isn't that good."
"But let me guess. You're just doing your job."
With an exasperated nod, Agent Yu replied, "Yes. This is part of my job and, believe it or not, I take no pleasure in it. But I have bills and shit, okay? And, on top of that, a dick of a boss who makes each day hell. So cut me some slack."
AJ frowned. "You're going to complain about your own life while you're torturing me? Wow."
"I believed in this work, once upon a time. I did. This work saved me from a life of..." she trailed off, lowering her voice. "It gave me purpose. I saw that it gave you purpose, too. What I'm trying my best to do is get us back to that, to our mission of protecting this country. Believe me, this bullshit that Agent Grobeck has us doing is not the mission."
"Right, this is all his fault. You're not at all part of the problem."
Agent Yu approached her again, closing the space between them. "You can shoot me right now, Miss Taylor. Or you can be smart, do as I say, and get out of this cell. It's your choice."
"What will you do to her when you find her?" AJ asked, her voice trembling, her eyes wide.
"Lower the gun, and I'll tell you."
AJ's chest heaved as her finger tightened against the trigger. She glared at the agent but, after a second, lowered the gun.
***
When Agent Yu arrived at home that evening, she retreated in surprise at the sight of the two people sitting on her sofa. Not missing a beat, though, she stepped inside, hung her bag on the coat hook, locked the door, and headed straight for the kitchen.
"Well, aren't you the stealthy little fugitive, Miss Cooper," she said, reaching into the cabinet for a glass. "Do you have any idea how much I've been looking for you?"
Eve sneered at her.
"Would you like anything to drink? Water? Juice?" she asked.
Eve didn't say a word.
"Suit yourself," she said, smiling and turning her gaze on the man with the large light brown eyes set against a smooth almond complexion. "What about you?"
Niles merely stared at her.
Agent Yu shrugged and poured herself a glass of water. She refilled it before joining her uninvited guests in the living room. "I'm disappointed you stopped calling me, Miss Cooper. But I suppose this is a nice, unexpected change of pace."
Eve signaled to Niles, and he pulled a gun from his hoodie jacket and pointed it at Agent Yu's head.
She smiled at Niles. "You're not the first person to point a gun at my head today." But when she noticed the silencer on the gun, her smile faded, and she turned to Eve. "Interesting. That's a SPI-issued silencer. We never supplied you with a GLOCK or a silencer. And we confiscated AJ's when we extracted her. Where did you get this?"
Eve glanced at the silencer that had belonged to Mauricio. She smiled and leaned forward. "I told you if you ever interfered with my plans, I'd make sure you regretted it. What part of that did you not understand?"
Agent Yu's thin lips formed into a smile once more as she sat the glass of water on the coffee table and relaxed in the comfy chair. "If you were going to shoot me, you would've done it as soon as I walked in."
Eve glowered at her and gestured to Niles. He lowered the gun.
"Good girl," said Agent Yu. "While this James Bond cosplay is cute, I can see that you're not about this lifestyle. You have to be—"
He fired two shots in quick succession, striking Agent Yu in each knee. She stared at him, her mouth hanging open. A second later, she whimpered in pain and clutched at her legs.
Eve gawked at him. "Hey, you didn't tell me yo
u were a good shot."
"My grandpa took me hunting in Virginia when I was a kid," he said, staring in dismay at Agent Yu. He looked mortified about what he'd done. "I...I never shot anybody before now, though."
Eve turned to the woman. "As you were saying, Agent?"
She moaned, still clutching her legs. "You think just because you got this lapdog willing to pull the trigger for you, you're really something now, huh?"
Eve gestured to Niles, and he shakily handed her the gun. She held it steady, pointed at Agent Yu's face. "Go ahead, keep talking shit."
"You think you know what's going on, but you have no idea."
"Well, I do know you should protect your computer better." Eve gestured toward the laptop that was sitting on the coffee table. "It didn't take me more than ten minutes to get past your password, and I'm not even tech-savvy."
"But I am," said Niles.
"So, who's Forest Sherman?"
Holding her leg and rocking in pain, Agent Yu cast Eve an inscrutable look.
"From what I saw in your files, you seem awfully worried about him messing things up for you. Who is he?" She paused, watching sweat roll down the agent's forehead as her face flushed bright red. "Whatever. That's not why I'm here anyway."
"Why are you here then?"
"To get a lead on Samuel Kim. Your computer was helpful on that front as well.”
“Is that it?” asked Agent Yu.
“No. Are they still alive? Zoey, Gabe, AJ, Mauricio?"
"Yes."
"If you're lying to me, I'll put two more bullets in you."
Agent Yu rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth, wincing from the sharp pain shooting through her legs. "They're alive."
"Where's Zoey and Gabe?"
She looked away. "I don't know."
"She's lying," Niles observed.
A frantic gleam came over Agent Yu's face as her eyes swept from Niles to Eve. "They were moved today. I don't know where they are now. Agent Grobeck doesn't fill me in on these things."
Eve moved closer. "Why were they moved?"
"To get more information out of them about you. They weren't responding to my...tactics."
"More information about me? Like what?"
"About your whereabouts primarily."
Eve exchanged a glance with Niles. "Okay. Where's Mauricio? What did you do to him?"
Eve and the Faders Page 20
