by Daniel Gage
Dealer X grunted in surprise and stumbled to the ground. Cam fell with him and landed on top, his weight pinning the man. The dealer attempted to strike with his free blade, but Cam blocked that with his arm.
Then Cam struck with the one weapon he had left, and drove his forehead into Dealer X’s face. Then a second time, then a third, until the dealer’s nose and eyes were a bloody mess.
But that only seemed to enrage the dealer. Dealer X growled and rolled, his strength more than Cam was prepared to deal with. Suddenly, Cam was under him, fighting to keep the dealer’s knife from plunging into his ribs.
Slowly, the blade lowered, Dealer X driving his weight and strength into the effort. Cam resisted as best as he could, but all he could do was delay the inevitable.
Cam prayed that he was too exhausted, too injured, to feel the death blow. And he hoped it would be quick.
When the knife was inches away from his chest, Dealer X grunted and jerked. Then again, and then a third time. His strength faded, and Cam was able to push the dealer off, then roll away.
Then Cam heard what had happened as gunshot after gunshot echoed. Even through clouded vision, he could see Emma standing just outside the elevator, aiming each shot into Dealer X until her gun was empty.
“Emma,” Cam said as he gasped for air. “Thank you.”
Emma didn’t reply, but she shook her head, her eyes not leaving Dealer X.
Cam turned and saw the dealer moving, groaning, and pushing himself back to his feet.
His pulse was already racing, but it somehow quickened. Adrenaline that Cam assumed had long been depleted pumped into his veins, and all he saw was red.
He couldn’t read Dealer X’s actions, but Cam didn’t need his ability for this.
He ripped the knife from his shoulder, but the pain and flow of blood no longer mattered as he dove at Dealer X, the blade’s tip burying itself into the dealer’s chest.
Cam fell on top of him, using his momentum to drive the blade even deeper. Then he pulled the blade out with no little effort, and stabbed him again and again. Blood droplets sprayed as Cam yanked the weapon free of his flesh, only to repeat the motion until the dealer only moved when Cam struck him.
Then, for a final measure, Cam drove the knife into the Dealer’s throat and twisted, then left the blade trapped in his neck.
Exhausted, Cam rolled his head to Emma, who had made it halfway down the staircase.
“Is it over?” Cam asked, his body swaying from fatigue.
“It’s over,” Emma said. “We won, Cam. We did it. We stopped the theft.”
Cam managed a weak smile of relief before he slipped from consciousness.
CHAPTER 38
Emma bandaged Cam’s more serious wounds, and after a few firm slaps, he came to. They both had to carry the difficult Leonard from the elevator, and eventually ended up gagging him.
“What about them?” Cam asked, nodding to the motionless dealers.
“Leave them,” Emma said. “The strike team can … I want to get out of here. Now.”
If she was being honest, Emma was too frightened to examine them closely, or even be near the dealers for too long. One had seduced her with his touch, one turned invisible, one controlled fire, and one healed from every wound he received.
Dealer X wasn’t moving right now, but she had seen how quickly that had changed before. Emma wondered if these Unborn dealers could even die, even though the one whose head she put a bullet into didn’t seem like he was going to be waking up again.
Cam didn’t object, and the pair hurried to get Leonard back to Olivier and the strike team. About halfway there, Emma ended up having to assist both Cam and Leonard, as Cam was again fading quickly.
Olivier ran to meet them as Emma approached, and his remaining team seemed to be securing the area.
“What happened?” Olivier asked. He quickly moved to help Cam, who was all but unconscious again.
“It’s over,” Emma said. “It’s finally over. We won.”
**********
Emma wasn’t sure how long she slept, and for the first time she could recall, she didn’t care. There were no nightmares this time either. She felt groggy but rested and relaxed, and helped herself to a long, hot shower.
Olivier took them all back to Monaco, and Emma didn’t object. She had nowhere else to go, and Sloane had wisely vanished. Even as a cripple she was a ghost; Emma would have to make sure she didn’t forget, she owed the other woman a proper drink as a thank you.
When she emerged, she saw that there was a clean set of clothes waiting for her, and surprisingly, in her size. Emma imagined that was one of the luxuries afforded to the wealthy and royalty, to have someone who could predict your needs without you even seeing them.
However, not to her surprise, her weapons were missing. There were also two armed guards stationed outside of her room, and Emma instantly knew it wasn’t for her protection.
Olivier wasn’t a fool. She shows up with two injured men and little explanation, of course he would take precautions. He also wasn’t a rude man, and gave her the benefit of the doubt; he let her rest and get cleaned up. He very likely saw that Cam and Leonard were taken care of, even if Cam was under heavy guard as well.
“I assume Olivier is expecting me?” she asked the two guards.
One nodded. “Yes. Please, follow me.”
Emma obeyed, and the second guard fell into step behind her.
As she walked, she kept her arms loose and her steps relaxed. Emma didn’t want to give these two men any reason to think she was a threat, especially since she didn’t know how much they knew. If they assumed she may have been any risk to the royal family, they would shoot first and maybe ask questions after the body was disposed of.
But within minutes, she was at a familiar location. Olivier was sitting behind his desk, and when Emma walked in, he looked up from some forms in front of him.
“Agent Jennings, I trust you slept well?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you for letting me,” she said with a grin. “And it’s Emma.”
“Are you hungry?” Olivier asked, although he betrayed a slight smile at her words. “I can have some food brought over.”
“Famished,” she said.
Olivier nodded to one of the guards who had taken position behind her. The man turned and left.
“I’m sure you understand the, ah, security precautions,” Olivier said. “But you’re a smart woman. I hope there’s no difficult feelings.”
“Not at all,” Emma said. “Cam, Leonard, how are they?”
“Your friend Cam, the one with the car,” he said as he pulled out a piece of paper from one of the many folders on his desk, “his injuries were severe, and he lost a lot of blood. The doctor said he should have died. He’s still unconscious, but the doctor is optimistic he’ll be okay.”
She had already felt relaxed, but that news helped ease her even more. Cam had been in bad shape when she left him, and to hear he was doing well was probably the best thing she could have hoped for.
“The other one, the cripple, didn’t have any sort of identification,” Olivier continued. “But he will also recover. Although he’s been quite eager to talk, he’s afraid he’ll be shoved into some prison and forgotten about for what he did.”
“Interesting,” Emma said with a laugh. “I’d love to hear that interview. And I do have some questions for him too.”
“I have the footage. I’ll share it with you after we’re done talking,” he said.
“How about the dealers?” Emma asked. “The dead, injured ones.”
Olivier sighed and looked away. “Gone. The one we thought was dead … he wasn’t. He escaped with the injured one, and torched the van with the dead.”
Emma was disappointed, but she wasn’t surprised. Dealer X was infinitely resourceful.
“So two were dead, not three?” Emma asked. “And he burned the bodies of the dead two?”
“Correct,” Olivier said.
Before either could continue, the guard came back with a generous helping of meats, cheeses, and bread. The spread itself looked like an appetizer to be served at an elegant ball or gala, but the sight and smell caused Emma’s stomach to emit an embarrassing grumble.
“Please, eat,” Olivier said. “We have much to discuss, but there’s no rush.”
“Of course,” Emma said. “I’m sure you’re wondering about the specifics, about why I called you for help.”
“My employers are aware of what happened with your previous employer,” Olivier said. “And I’ve been instructed to offer you a deal.”
He passed Emma a folder before leaning forward on his elbows.
“The agreement was with you,” Olivier said. “Not with your agency. And the royal family is extremely grateful. So grateful, in fact, they not only want me to make sure you get paid, but they want to donate to your cause.”
Emma looked up from the folder and didn’t bother to hide her confusion.
“What are you saying?” Emma asked. “There’s no cause. It’s just me.”
“And your partner, correct?” Olivier asked. “Tell me, with the right donation, and the proper support, could you continue your initiative? You and this Cameron Briggs?”
She sat there, blinking. This was the last thing she expected. Although, as she drove here, she didn’t know what to think; she only wanted Cam to live. She had a nagging suspicion that they would be held under lock and key while the royal family conducted their own private investigation, but to be offered to front a new operation like the Agency of Family Continuity …
“I’m confused,” Emma said. “Why would they do that? There isn’t much proof.”
“After the incident with the false doctor, they spoke to their peers,” Olivier said. “Other royalty. They’re not the first to experience this, nor do they think they’ll be the last. Some powerful people are interested in this never happening again.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Emma said. “I assumed with all the hearsay, all the lack of proof, that no one with any influence believed in it. I’ve had issues with the US Government, for instance.”
“This isn’t some formal government proposing this,” he said. “This is the real thing. Assuming all goes well with the birth, the offer is on the table. Of course, we would work out the logistics before everything is finalized. Are you interested, Emma Jennings? Or would that become Director Jennings? I suppose you could decide on the title.”
Emma didn’t even try hiding the grin. The mere thought of running her own agency, calling all the shots, hiring her own people. It would be a dream come true.
Well, almost. There was one thing that had to fall into place to make it a reality. She couldn’t see herself doing this without it.
“Before I can give you an answer, I need to find out one thing,” Emma said. “I take it I have some time to decide?”
“Of course,” Olivier said.
“And if Cam is still recovering, I’d like to take a crack at Leonard,” she continued. “There’s some questions I need answers to.”
“He’s in a holding cell we have in the building,” he said. “Please, follow me.”
**********
Olivier allowed Emma to go into the room alone; Leonard was restrained and showed no signs of violence during his previous interrogations. And the man looked exhausted, too tired to even be afraid.
“What do you plan on asking him?” Olivier asked. “We have his confession taped and documented. There’s nothing that wouldn’t keep him from being locked away.”
“No court can try him for these crimes,” Emma said. “There’s something special in store for him. But he stole something for the dealers. I need to know what.”
Olivier nodded and kept silent, and otherwise didn’t impede her from entering the interrogation room.
When Leonard saw her enter, he immediately tensed up. If he wasn’t restrained to the chair, Emma was certain he would have tried to hide in the corner.
“Leonard,” she said as she sat down opposite of him. “I’m Emma Jennings. We met on top of the Eiffel Tower, in case you don’t remember.”
“You … you stole this from me,” he finally was able to say.
Emma took a breath to steady her nerves. Leonard thought he deserved a new life … She had to wonder if other Benefactors felt this way before their shifts.
“In your deal, you stole some information from your former company,” Emma said. “I want to know what. Did you take financial data for your big clients and hand it over?”
“Why should I give you anything?” Leonard asked. He was attempting a bit of defiance, but it was heard in his words only. Terror filled his voice, and Emma couldn’t tell if he believed his own stance. “What good would it do me now?”
Emma slowly and deliberately slid the papers in front of her to one side, and leaned forward on her arms. “I want you to listen closely. What you did, the crime you attempted, technically doesn’t exist in any court of law. So there’s no lawyers, no trial, nothing that will ease your sentence or where you’re going. Except me. Convince me that you’re worth giving a damn about, Leonard.”
As she spoke, Leonard’s eyes slowly grew until they were the size of plates. He gradually realized what had happened, and what he had done, and that he truly had no escape.
“It was weird,” Leonard said. “The dealers asked me for a quarter million, which was my retirement. I cashed it out, and I figured they would want more from my job. But what they asked for, I didn’t even know we had until I did some digging.”
“What was it?” Emma asked, frowning. “What could they want from a financial company except money?”
“It makes no sense … they wanted patents.”
“Patents?” Emma asked. “Patents for what?”
“My old firm, they’re like a bank,” he said. “We store … things, but digital things. I found out we had a big customer who wanted to stash some intellectual property; they said the world wasn’t ready for it… I don’t know. I got a look at it. It looked like a radar, a scanner. Like something you use to track or find things.”
“Track or find what?” Emma asked. She almost didn’t believe him, it was so strange … but why would he lie now? And if he did lie, why go this extreme?
She had to believe him, at least for now.
“I don’t know,” he said, and now tears were forming in his eyes. “Please, don’t send me away. Help me, please…”
Emma shook her head. At least there would be no financial disaster, but this left another unanswered question.
These dealers didn’t seem to be in it for the money. That seemed to be a side benefit, but instead, there was something else going on. Something bigger, more sinister than she or anyone had anticipated.
Cam needed to get better; she needed someone she trusted to talk with.
CHAPTER 39
Even though it was only a hospital bed, it was still the most comfortable bed Cam had ever slept in.
When his injuries didn’t hurt, they itched, and it befuddled the doctors as to why the pain medication was wearing off so fast. They figured it was because of his metabolism, as Cam ate everything that was brought before him, and asked for more when finished.
Moving around wasn’t easy, but it was nice when he could. The outside air felt good, and every chilly breath reminded him how wonderful it was to be alive. Even the guards assigned to watch him gave him distance as he walked through the gardens, alone with his thoughts.
He wasn’t so naïve that he didn’t realize there were eyes everywhere, including ones he had no hope of seeing. But he wasn’t going to risk his warm bed and triple-portioned meals to pull any stunts.
But this was it. This was the catalyst. Cam decided it was time to change, and to not give a damn what karma or some man left dying in a bed had done to him. Although he never put it in words, he realized he had been playing the victim his entire life.
“No more,” he whispered.
He didn’t have a plan for when he went back home. But he was going to do right by his mother. Get and hold down a real job, maybe two, and save some money. Get a bigger place. Meet a girl who didn’t want him to get in bar fights every weekend to prove his affection. Who knows, maybe even have a family of his own.
The last part made him smile. That would give him purpose. To have a son, or daughter, would be magical. Maybe he could give his ma a grandchild before her dementia got worse. Maybe with his experience with the AFC, he could get a better-paying job, one that would see past his record.
“Won’t be easy,” he said to himself.
But it would be worth it.
“Has to be easier than all this,” he said.
“What’s easier?” a voice asked behind him.
It had been almost a week since he had heard her voice, and he had been starting to think she was avoiding him.
“Hey, Emma,” he said as he looked over his shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” she said. “Can’t remember the last time I got this much sleep, and for so many consecutive nights.”
“I can relate,” he said, while he sat on the nearest bench with a groan. “No nightmares?”
“They only happen before and during a job,” she said as she sat next to him. “Not after.”
“Why do you do this, Emma?” he asked. “You’re not like me; this whole Second-Life business hasn’t affected you. I don’t understand why you’d risk your life for this.”
Emma looked like she was about to deflect, but instead, she appeared to brace herself for her answer.
“But it has affected me, Cam. I used to be different. I used to, you know, have a life. Be close with my family. I was really close to my father, so when he started talking crazy, it really got to me.”
“You mentioned that before,” Cam said.
“I just mean that if he was sick, it would be bearable,” Emma continued. “But he kept going on about some sort of conspiracy, and it drove my family apart. He eventually died of a heart attack; it was sudden.”
