Her eyes widened and she let out a muffled yell.
Blaine. He'd recognized her.
She felt the man standing behind her put material around her mouth, taking away her ability to scream for help. He tied up her hands too. She struggled to move, and he bent to tie her legs. She remembered this man, Blaine's accomplice.
He had immobilized her.
The man had fast rope skills.
But he was careless.
Blaine stormed up to her and backhanded her in the face.
She flinched. He wore a sharp, metal ring that cut her flesh. She felt a small trickle of blood run down her cheek.
They drug her into the trees surrounding the camp. No one would hear her screams, even if she got the chance. She remembered this place in the woods.
She was crouched on the forest floor, picking up small pieces of paper. She was upset, her back and face cut and bruised.
She saw a figure standing there. Felt a hand lightly resting on her shoulder. Her trembling hand dropped all of the pieces of her photograph and she looked up, through watery, red, swollen eyes to find Zane.
He was frowning. His expression of sympathy, pity, guilt, and overwhelming concern overpowered his typical mask of tedium. The lined of sadness were etched on every inch of his face.
It fascinated her.
They stared at each other for a long moment of time. She broke the eye contact first, sweeping his hand away from her arm, returning to her task of trying to retrieve all the little bits of paper.
She didn’t want him to see her tears. She would deal with everything herself. She didn't need help. She didn't need Zane to see her like this. She sent him an incredibly forced smile as she picked up another piece.
"Hey Zane, what brings you out her—"
"Are you stupid?" he’d snapped at her.
She had dropped her head. Of course, he'd be angry that she was being so pathetic over one little picture. Angry that she was so weak. She felt her head get tugged back upwards to look at him. She should have been surprised, but instead the hurt overwhelmed her.
He had looked so angry. He let out a humorless laugh. "How can you still force a smile at times like this? Look at yourself!" He released his hold on her face. Then, cursing, ran a hand back through his hair and his eyes darted around before finally settling back on her.
She had stopped moving as he examined her face for a moment.
He was so disappointed in her.
"I’m sorry," She’d whispered in a quiet, weak voice. And sadly went back to picking up the pieces of paper.
Zane had watched her in silence for only a moment. "What's so important that you have to stay out here, looking like that?" He said in such a furious tone. He was obviously trying to hold back as much anger as he could.
She’d replied, "This is the only picture I have of my parents."
Zane had looked down at the pieces in her hand. Then grabbed the wrist containing the scraps with his left hand and took them with his right. He’d shoved those tiny pieces of her life into his pocket, then leaned forward and placed his arm underneath her bent legs and wrapped an arm around her back, sweeping her into his arms.
He'd saved her that night. He'd saved her from the darkness.
If she had to die tonight, this wouldn’t be a bad place to go.
* * * * *
She yelped as another powerful slap went across her face.
"This is part of pretty little Sunnyside, correct?" Blaine thrust up his sleeve, showing her a deep purple bruise and a patch of his arm that had been bandaged. "You gave me these wounds when you were saving that little friend of yours. Undercover are you? They sure are taking them young!" A sadistic smirk spread across his face and he nodded at Tim, his accomplice.
"I’ve changed my mind. I want more time to make her pay. Take her to the van."
She waited until they dragged her out of the forest before she made her move. She pulled her hands free of Tim’s sloppy knots, kicked her legs free, and then shot to her feet. She didn’t hesitate, but immediately jumped into the air, shoving her foot into Tim's stomach. He fell backwards.
Blaine let out a deep growl, almost bear—like. "Little bitch," he lunged forward to grab her.
She ducked, using her shoulder, ramming it into his stomach. She was breathing heavily. She was scared, but the adrenaline blocked that out. Her parents were watching her. She'd show them that she was a big girl now. She'd let them watch their daughter catch their killer.
She yelped and fell to the ground when she was punched hard across the face. Her nose started to stream blood, but she leaped back onto her feet and carried on fighting. She grabbed the heavy rope from the ground and swung it around, wrapping it around Tim and then pulling him towards her. Using his forward momentum, she kicked him in the stomach, sending him towards Blaine.
They both slammed onto the hard dirt.
"You killed my parents in front of me," she whispered, wiping away one single tear that fell from her eye. Her brow creased in determination. "They're watching me, you know."
Blaine let out an aggravated yell and pushed Tim off of him, getting to his feet quickly and pounding towards her. His red hair bobbed up and down, his cold eyes stared at her in anger. He lunged forward, leading with his fist.
She dodged the blow, slapping his hand away, and then elbowed him in the face.
He yelped and pressed the back of his hand to his cheek, raising his cold eyes to hers. “I won't be beaten by a small, measly girl," he growled angrily. Blaine may have been a notorious criminal, but he had the same build as Zane. Thin, wiry and tall. There was no muscle, but he was fast, and mean.
She dodged a punch from Tim, who had managed to unravel himself. Tim was the one she had to watch out for. He had muscles that weren't a laughing matter.
She watched the two men silently, considering her options. She had few choices. She could try to run away, further into the camp. Or if she were really lucky…she could somehow fight until she knocked them both unconscious and then call Dexter. Her last option was to scoot further into the tunnel of trees, to maybe find a weapon of some sort, or attract the attention of someone at camp.
For a moment she wondered what her parents would have done in a situation like this. What would she do, if she had a harder personality, a ruthless one?
She was going to go for the last option. She started to inch her way back into the tree cover, closer to camp. Royal Haven was only a few feet away, but she wouldn’t lead this man to Zane. She couldn't run there.
She turned and started to sprint into the tunnel.
"GET HER. WE HAVE TO GET HER," Blaine yelled.
She knew why he had to get her. She knew the location of his hideout. She remembered it clearly, like it had only been yesterday that she’d been an unwelcome guest. When she’d been kidnapped at ten, they hadn’t shielded her from seeing where they took her. Now that she’d remembered where they had gone, she could tell Dexter.
If she lived through the night.
She yelped as a heavy weight shoved her to the ground, her hands colliding with the soft dirt beneath her. She was turned around and then Tim raised his fist to punch her.
Her training kicked in and Red rolled them over, so the man was underneath her. She was frantic for a second, not knowing what to do next. Then she grabbed a stick from beside her and thrust it hard into his eye, ignoring the queasy feeling that action caused at the sound of his bloodcurdling yell and soft squelch of his eyeball.
She searched the ground around her again, this time grabbing a large rock in her hand and slamming it down hard on his head. He went limp beneath her. Unconscious.
Tim was down, temporarily.
It was then she heard the soft click of a gun. She turned around slowly, sliding off the immobile man. She didn’t stand up. On the ground she would be harder to see in the surrounding dark. On the ground she might find something else to use for a weapon. Standing—she was nothing more than a target.
&nbs
p; There was no mistaking the soft glint of metal in the moonlight and the malicious gaze that Blaine turned her way."I’m going to take you, torture you, and then kill you in the exact same way I did your parents all those years ago."
She crawled backwards as slowly as she could, barely daring to breathe.
He barked at her to stop moving.
She had put Tim’s body a little in front of her, hopefully enough to block her hands from Blaine. Inch by slow inch she moved her hand to her pocket and touched her cell. She pressed the repeat call dial button for the only person she’d ever called on her phone. Then she hit carefully laid the phone in the grass, with the speakerphone engaged.
She waited a few seconds, judging the timing for the call. Then pushing down the fear, she looked at Blaine. “I—I just want to ask one question," she stammered. She tried to find the strength to do this. Her strength was that her parents were watching. She couldn't be scared. "W—why Zane? Why did you come all the way to Sunnyside to find Zane?"
Blaine smirked. "He was a bargaining chip. I can use him to gain access to some of the company’s technology, a whole lot of money. It’s well known that his uncle would do anything for Zane. Give up anything to get him back. I needed him for the money."
"Why do you want me then? I’m worth nothing, Blaine. In the darkness of this tunnel of trees, I’m just an ordinary girl. What will you gain for taking me?"
He let out a quiet, evil laugh that send cold shivers down her spine, all the way to her toes. "You know the location of my hideout. Don’t you girlie? But, more than anything…" He grinned maliciously. "It’s just so much fun to torture you!"
He leaned forward to grab her and she looked at his outstretched hand as though it was a viper. But he never reached her.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH." Blaine looked sideways at the approaching figure. Before he could lift his gun and shoot, the many swung his arm around and hit Blaine in the face with something he held in his hand.
Red didn’t look. Instead she used this distraction to roll over and grab the gun that had fallen out of Blaine's hand. She got quickly to her feet, holding tight to the gun.
She was holding a gun again. She'd never liked guns. She steadied her trembling hands, rolled her lips into her mouth so their shaking would stop and settled a determined frown on her face.
She could kill him. As much as that tempted her, she knew she wouldn’t do it.
Blaine sat up and turned to look at his assailant.
Red stepped out of his reach, and turned to look too. She couldn’t see faces, but she knew that she was no longer alone in the dark, facing a mad man. She smiled.
There were three people armed with weapons, and one without. The unarmed man stood a little closer. The one who had assaulted Blaine stepped forward into a slight beam of light. She sucked in a breath. It was Casper.
"Are you stupid, boy?" Blaine ran a hand down the cut on his face that he gotten from the shovel Casper hit him with. The blonde boy stood straight, gesturing for the others behind him to step forward.
It was Seth, Vikki…and Zane.
Zane stormed forward and looked shocked. Staring between her, Blaine, and the gun in her hand, with eyes wide, there was a look of distress on his face.
"Zane, you can't be here," she whispered unintentionally, lifting the gun that had slowly pointed to the ground. She increased her grip, keeping it sturdily pointed at Blaine.
The angel looked at her, fear in his eyes. Not fear of her. Not fear of Blaine. Quick movement out of the corner of her eye alerted her.
Blaine had reached into his pocket and pulled out another gun. And it was pointing straight at Zane. Smirking, he looked at her and then to Zane. "What are you going to do now, Agent Hart?" he hissed, an evil rumble of laughter coming out of his lips. He cocked back the pistol with a click, his smile widening. “I underestimated you. You finally trapped me. But would you let your mission die, in order to catch me?" Blaine tightened his finger on the trigger.
Her heart thumped hard against her chest. "DON'T." She yelled, stepping forward. She let the gun sag in her hands, and then the heavy weapon fell to the ground with a thud. She stretched out her arms and her vision blurred with unshed tears. "Don't kill him. Please don't kill him."
Zane didn't even seem fazed by the gun pointed at him. He had told her before he had a lot of experience with people trying to kidnap him.
He looked like he'd shatter into a thousand little pieces. Like he had already been shot. It was as though a bullet would cause him no harm, compared to the feelings he experienced at that moment.
"You… you're an agent. You… I’m… a mission?" He looked at Blaine and the gun in his hand.
She didn't like that he wasn't scared by it. He needed to be scared. Scared like she was. More tears blurred her vision and she went to take a step towards Zane.
Blaine sent her a warning look.
"You were. You were, but I protected you because you're a friend."
He shook his head at her in denial.
She wiped her sleeve along her bloody nose. "You have to believe me. You have to."
Blaine watched the drama unfold in front of him. Then a smirk spread over his face. “Has little Agent Red grown attached to her mission?" He grinned malevolently. “I may just have to kill him to see the look on your face."
She wouldn't let that happen. A plan formed in her mind. It was a risky one, but clever. She was aching, hurting, emotionally torn, but she knew it was time for her to do it. There would be no other opportunity.
Dexter was taking too long to get here. And the police—had no doubt been called as well, weren’t going make it either.
If Zane died, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.
She took in a deep breath, trying to stop her tears. She may be naïve, she may be perceived as clueless, but she was clever. She had inherited the minds of her parents, who were the best agents in the world.
She collapsed on to the ground. There was silence for a moment, as she had expected.
Blaine frowned. He couldn't take his gun away from Zane, but he couldn't step forward to force her up either. "Get up," he barked.
She pretended to struggle as she pushed her weight up with her arms. She collapsed back down onto the ground. She let out a huge, fake sob. “I can't—"
"DON'T MOVE."
One of the others had obviously made the attempt, stepping forward. Blaine wasn't happy about it.
She peeked up at him through the gaps in her bangs. The gun in his hand was slowly loosening. Then he gripped it and swung it around to point at her. Bingo. In one, swift movement, she picked up the gun that was lying underneath her, gripped it tightly and pointed it at him, pulling the trigger as quickly as her finger would move.
Around the darkness, echoing across the lake, throughout Royal Haven and Royal Nature, waking everyone up—two gunshots were heard.
Chapter 25: Rainbow
It was over. She watched as Blaine was carried away in handcuffs, both of his kneecaps immobile. She'd shot one of his legs. Dexter had shot the other.
She had a blanket wrapped around her and was sitting in the back of one of the agents vans, her cuts already tended to and the blood wiped away from her face. The dirt had been swept away from her black t-shirt and black shorts. She watched as people hurried around—talking on phones, gesturing and excited.
One of the first things she’d done when Dexter arrived was inform the agent of the location of Blaine’s hideout. Currently there were agents on the way to his secret location. Ready to infiltrate, gather all information that they could find, and eliminate anyone who happened to be in the way.
Her first mission had been a success. Well, it had been in everyone else's eyes.
In hers, it was one big failure. She'd captured the man who’d killed her parents with her own hands and she knew that her parents were impressed and so very proud of her. But it wasn't Blaine's actions that haunted her. It wasn't the memory of her parent's death.
/> It was the look on Zane's face she would never forget. Illuminated by just a sliver of moonlight, she was able to see the hurt. The pain. And all because he believed that she’d been playing him.
Technically they weren't friends anymore, but it still hurt her so much. Had the kiss meant nothing to him? Was that how it worked? Were they supposed to kiss you and that was it?
He hadn't said anything to her since then, so she must mean nothing to him. But he meant so much to her. How could he not know that?
She pushed the blanket off and walked through the crowds of people, working her way back through the gates of Sunnyside. Everyone had parked outside of the camp, attracting a lot of attention from the campers who had hurried out of their dorms to see what was going on. The road outside of Sunnyside had been blocked off and outside the ropes were reporters. Constant pictures were taken, questions were shouted, and cameras were rolling.
It was after midnight.
As she entered camp, she was harassed by everyone. They knew now. How could they not?
"You're an agent, Red! I never knew!"
"Do you have a gun? Can I look at it?"
"Red! So you were undercover? That's so cool!"
She ignored them and pushed her way through the crowd. Half of Royal Haven had remained in their dorm, not really interested in what had happened.
Well, she had people she needed to see before she left.
She slowly pushed open the large door, looking around the dorm, her eyes filled with sadness. She had really, really grown attached to it. This place was beautiful. She loved the magnificent cream walls, the shiny, clean floors. When she left, she would even miss the scornful looks she had gotten on her first day. She stepped slowly through the halls, almost as though in a trance. She didn't feel her legs moving beneath her.
It was time to say it.
She had to say goodbye.
She didn't belong in a place for the rich and famous. She didn't belong in a place filled with so much beauty and so much happiness. But most of all, she didn't belong with any of the angels.
Zane Noble was out of her reach, like a star. A star shining so brightly and so fiercely that she couldn't touch him. He was too far away. Just like everyone else.
Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup Page 21
