“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“You said it yourself. I was going to kill Ryku.”
“No, I mean why would you come here? You know it’s not safe. If anyone else had seen you—”
She rolled her eyes. “If anyone else had seen me, you’d be worse off than I am. And it’s not like it’s any safer out there. Not with Ryku in charge.”
Jared stopped pacing and turned to face her. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have left.” It wasn’t fair to blame her for the circumstances that had eventually forced her to leave the Project—not entirely—but he couldn’t help it.
She crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair. “You know I didn’t have a choice. But I’m glad I left. I’d rather be out there and free than in here licking Ryku’s boots and going along with whatever he says, no matter how wrong it is.”
Jared bristled at the accusation. How dare she say that after she’d betrayed the Project and forced him to make an impossible decision? After she’d come back here to kill Ryku and jeopardize all the work the Project had done? “Everything he’s doing is for the good of this country. He’s getting rid of problems.”
“They’re people, not problems. Real, living people with dreams and families.”
“Exactly. He wants to protect them, but sometimes you have to pressure people into doing what’s best. This whole country will be safer under his leadership.”
“Safer?” Zira scoffed. “You have no idea what’s going on out there. He’s killing and arresting people by the hundreds, and the other chairmen aren’t around to keep him in line anymore because he murdered them.”
“They got in the way,” Jared mumbled halfheartedly.
She leveled her gaze at him. “Did you help him kill them?”
The fact that she thought he was even capable of such a thing was like a punch in the stomach. Then again, could he blame her? The last time they’d seen each other, he’d been trying to kill her. He’d stopped short of that in the end, but that didn’t excuse his original intentions. “Of course not,” he said. “I had no idea he was even thinking about it.”
“But you’re helping him cover it up.”
“We all are, and if you were still here, you’d be doing the exact same thing. The truth could get you killed.”
She didn’t have a response for that and just sat there glowering at him with her arms folded across her chest. “So now what?” she asked. “Are you going to kill me? Turn me over to Ryku?”
“No,” he said.
“So can I go?”
He tightened his grip on the pistol and raised it a few inches. “No.”
She sighed and stared up at the ceiling, but remained in the chair. Neither of them spoke for a long time. Jared leaned back against the wall, still racking his brain for a solution. He didn’t find one.
“I’m sorry,” he said at last. “I screwed everything up.”
Zira dropped her gaze to meet his, her eyes as cold and hard as ice. “You tried to kill me.”
“I know. It was a mistake—the biggest mistake of my life.” He’d practiced what he would say to her if he ever got the chance a hundred times before, but now, he fumbled for the right words. “I wish I hadn’t done it, and I know I can’t change anything. All I can do is apologize and tell you how much I regret it. I’m truly sorry that I hurt you, Zira.”
She didn’t respond, but her expression softened just a little. He wanted to say something else, but before he got the chance, her eyes shifted to the door behind him.
In an instant, he realized she wasn’t alone—couldn’t possibly have gotten into the compound on her own. He’d been so preoccupied with the fact that she was even here and talking to him that he hadn’t stopped to consider how it had happened. Before he could turn around, something hard cracked against the back of his skull.
He staggered as the room dipped and swirled around him. A familiar face came into focus. “Aubreigh?”
She grimaced and raised the wooden sparring pole over her head. “Sorry,” she said. Her voice sounded distant. Jared lunged for her, lost his balance, and missed. There was another sharp blow to his skull, and he fell.
His vision dimmed and brightened in short intervals as he fought against the eruption of pain in his head. Zira was up. She was taking her pistol from his hand. She was saying something to Aubreigh. She was standing at the door, looking back at him.
Then she was gone.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Zira and Aubreigh sprinted across the compound to the guardhouse as fast as they could, pausing only to make sure no one else was around the next corner to see them. Zira kept glancing over her shoulder, but there was no sign of Jared in pursuit. He’d said he didn’t want to kill her, and turning her into the chairman would mean explaining why she was still alive in the first place. Aubreigh had given him an easy way out of the predicament. If he was smart—and he was—he’d leave them be and pretend none of this had ever happened.
“Open the door,” she whispered when they were about fifty yards away from the guardhouse.
Seth’s response came through her earpiece. “Got it.”
They darted out of the shadows and through the door, then shut it behind them.
Tripp immediately seized Zira by the shoulders and looked her over from top to bottom. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
Zira shook her head and removed the earpiece. “I’m fine. Aubreigh did way more damage to him than he did to me.”
“I hope he’s okay,” Aubreigh said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You did great,” said Zira. “But we should get out of here.”
Tripp nodded. “Right. Seth—can you take it from here?”
“Yes. I’ll erase everything as soon as you’re out of the cameras’ range.”
“Good,” said Tripp. “Let’s go.”
Zira paused at the door and turned back to Aubreigh. “Come with us.”
“What?”
“Just come with us. Jared saw you with me. He knows you were involved in this.”
“Do you think he would do something?” Tripp asked.
Zira shook her head. “I don’t know.” It was the not knowing that scared her. She had no idea what lines Jared was or was not willing to cross if it meant protecting Chairman Ryku and the Project. “I just don’t want you to stay here if there’s a chance you could get hurt.”
“I’ll be fine,” Aubreigh said. “Jared’s not going to hurt me, and he can’t say anything to Ryku because he can’t tell him you’re still alive.”
“If she leaves,” Seth said, “it’s just going to raise suspicion. It’s safer for her to stay here.”
“See?” said Aubreigh. “I’m better off here, and I can help people from here. This is where I belong right now.”
The warning lights in the back of Zira’s mind started to flash. Everything they were saying made sense, but she still didn’t like the idea of leaving her friend behind. This was Aubreigh’s choice, though, and it wasn’t fair to ask her to do something she didn’t want to do. “Just be careful,” said Zira. “Please.”
Aubreigh gave her a tight hug. “I will. You have enough problems to deal with out there, so just focus on that, okay? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Zira nodded and forced a smile. Then she followed Tripp out the door and through the gate, which Seth had opened just far enough for them to pass through. It closed behind them with a low rumble, and they walked away from the compound at a brisk pace.
“She won’t get caught,” said Tripp. “I changed all the video logs from before we left and showed Seth how to take care of the rest. I doubt anyone will look at them anyway. They don’t have any reason to unless there’s a problem, and as far as everyone else knows, there was no problem.”
Zira nodded. “Good.”
“I’ll contact Alma and Javier to come pick us up once we’ve put a few miles between us and this place.”
“Chase is going
to be pissed.”
Tripp shrugged. “Probably, but it was a long shot, anyway. You did the best you could.”
She hadn’t, though. Not really. She could have killed Jared after Aubreigh incapacitated him, then gone back to Ryku’s living quarters to finish the job. She could have killed Jared when she’d seen him sleeping outside the building before she even went in. Deep down, though, she knew that would never be a real option. Killing Ryku would have been hard enough. The thought of killing the man she’d once loved was on an entirely different and impossible level.
“He apologized,” she said to Tripp after they’d walked another mile. They were off the dirt road now and heading south on the highway. She wasn’t sure why she was telling him. Maybe she was just trying to rationalize her failure. She hated that they’d come all this way for nothing, especially since Tripp had been so uncomfortable with the idea.
“I heard,” he said.
“Oh. Right.” They all would have been able to hear everything through the earpiece, which was how they must have known she was in trouble in the first place.
“He sounded pretty conflicted,” said Tripp.
“He is, I think.” He’d tried not to show it, but she’d seen it. She just didn’t know if it was more about Ryku and the Project or about her and what had happened between them.
“But he didn’t kill the other chairmen. That’s something, at least.”
“Yeah.” It had been a relief when he told her—more than she expected it to be.
“And he could have killed you, but he didn’t. He could have come after you and Aubreigh, but he let you go. So maybe he’s not as loyal and devoted to Chairman Ryku as you think he is. At least, not when it comes to you. He still cares.”
She changed the subject. “Do you really think Aubreigh is going to be safe there?”
“I do. She’s probably safer than you and I are out here.”
Zira gave him a sidelong glance. “Especially since we have to explain everything to Chase now.”
Tripp grinned. “Honestly, I’m more worried about the lecture Alma’s going to give us. Knowing her, she’ll probably hold it over our heads for the rest of our lives.”
They’d been walking for at least an hour, and it was going to take Alma and Javier some time to reach them. “We should contact them soon, shouldn’t we?” Zira asked.
Tripp sighed and stopped walking. “Yeah, probably.”
He’d been joking about the lecture Alma would give them, but he clearly wasn’t looking forward to it, either. “A few more miles?” Zira suggested.
He smiled and clapped her on her shoulder. “Sure, kid. A few more miles.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Just try to avoid doing anything too physically demanding for the next few days,” the doctor said as Jared stood up from the examination chair.
“I will,” said Jared. “Thanks.” The sharp, stabbing pain in his head had diminished to a dull throb, and the dizziness had gone away earlier that morning, but he’d asked the doctors to examine him as an extra precaution. He’d told them another operative had hit him during a training exercise. They’d given him a full work-up, diagnosed him with a minor concussion, and suggested he remain there for observation. Jared had refused. He had other things to do, and he didn’t need Ryku finding out he’d sought medical attention and asking a bunch of questions.
“Come straight back here if you start experiencing any other symptoms,” the doctor said.
Jared agreed, thanked her again, and headed out of the unit A research facility. He’d barely stepped outside when his CL lit up with an incoming message from Ryku. He glanced at it and headed to the chairman’s office.
When he got there, Revolver stood in his usual place outside the open door. Jared gave him a nod and walked inside. Ryku sat looking at something on his CL and didn’t even bother to glance at Jared as he came in, so he took a seat and waited. After a few long minutes of silence, Ryku looked up. “I’m sure you remember Trinity Jones?”
“Yes,” Jared said.
“After she escaped, I had Revolver bring back evidence from her home. I wasn’t sure it would amount to anything, but I wanted to find out who helped her.”
Jared nodded. The whole incident had been a disaster thanks to Trinity’s two unknown accomplices, who had arrived to rescue her just before the local police showed up. Since then, Ryku had been determined to find out what happened and where things went wrong.
“The investigators retrieved a small amount of DNA that didn’t belong to Trinity from the door handle,” Ryku continued. “They also lifted some fingerprints from a can of pepper spray found in her room. Unit A has just finished analyzing everything. They matched the DNA and the fingerprints to someone I’ve been chasing for a very long time.” He raised his CL and projected a hologram over his arm for Jared to see. A man’s face appeared. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, with hazel eyes set in a pale face, short blond hair, and a long, square nose. His mouth was turned up in a lopsided smile.
“Who is he?” Jared asked.
“His name is Judah, though he’s gone by several different aliases over the past sixteen years. We got this picture about five years ago, when he was using the name Anthony Trippaldi, or Tripp. He hasn’t been seen since. He’s a former member of unit A.”
“Former?” Jared said, raising an eyebrow. The Project was a lifelong commitment, whether one chose it or not. Whenever someone was too old or tired or otherwise unfit to perform their regular duties, the Project found other uses for them, like teaching or being an informant or even just keeping the grounds clean. There were no former members.
“He deserted,” Ryku said. “But he’s smart, and he knows how to hide. We haven’t been able to catch him in all this time.”
Jared tried to hide his surprise. Ryku had every resource available to him and hundreds of special operatives directly under his command. They’d taken out targets far more dangerous than some deserter from unit A. Then again, things were a lot different when the target knew someone was looking for him.
“He’s never done anything like this before,” Ryku said, “but DNA can’t lie. It seems he’s become bolder, which means he’s more likely to slip up.”
“And you want me to kill him when he does.”
“Not exactly. It’s become clear to me that going after Judah isn’t a one-man job. I want you to assemble and lead a team dedicated to finding and capturing him. Alive, if possible. You can pick anyone you want, from any unit, and you have full access to whatever resources you need. Use Revolver. He could be a valuable asset.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want this taken care of as soon as possible, in whatever way you deem necessary, but be smart about it. Everyone else who’s tried to find Judah has failed. Don’t underestimate him. We can’t afford any mistakes or he’ll disappear again.”
“I understand. I’ll get it done.”
“Good,” Ryku said. He pulled a small data drive from a drawer in his desk and handed it to Jared. “That’s all the information I have on him. Use it wisely, and keep me updated.”
Jared nodded, slipped the drive into his pocket, and stood up. This was a huge responsibility, but he looked forward to the opportunity to prove himself. Better yet, it meant no more standing around outside Ryku’s office. He reached out to shake the chairman’s hand. “Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down.”
* * *
At six o’clock in the evening, Aubreigh sat in her apartment, debating whether she should go to dinner. She’d managed to avoid Jared all morning and afternoon, but she’d skipped lunch in order to guarantee she wouldn’t run into him in the cafeteria. Now, she faced the same dilemma, but she was hungry and starting to think it might be worth the risk. Besides, what was he going to say to her with all those other people around? He couldn’t openly accuse her or even talk about what had happened last night; he’d be condemning himself in the process. And if she didn’t show up, Revolver would
just be sitting there in the corner eating by himself again, and thinking about that made her feel guilty.
She went to her closet to change her shoes. Someone knocked on her door—a strong, booming knock that could only have been Jared’s. Her heart sank. So much for avoiding unpleasant conversations. She couldn’t ignore him forever, but she couldn’t bring herself to face him yet either, so she just stood there, staring at the door knob. He knocked again. “What do you want?” she called out.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“I can override the lock if I have to.”
She hesitated, then went to the door and pulled it open just a crack. Jared stared down at her with a flat expression, waiting for her to say something or invite him in. Aubreigh didn’t know what to do or say. After a few moments, Jared shoved the door open wide and stepped past her into the apartment. “Y-you can’t just come in here!” Aubreigh stammered.
“Why not? I thought we were friends.”
His voice carried a sharp edge that Aubreigh didn’t like—something that told her whatever friendship they may have once had was now severed. She gave him a nervous smile. “Friends don’t usually hit each other over the head with wooden poles,” she said.
“No. And friends don’t usually sneak assassins into the compound in the middle of the night.”
Aubreigh didn’t know how to respond to that. Jared took a step towards her. She backed up until she felt the cool metal of the door against her shoulder blades. Jared loomed over her, glaring down with dark, angry eyes. “You don’t scare me,” she said, attempting to keep her voice strong and even.
“No?” He let out a short, barking laugh. “Then you’re an idiot. I’ll only say it once: stay out of this. You’re just a nice girl letting Zira drag you into something you don’t understand. It’s not going to end well.”
The condescension in his voice momentarily erased whatever fear she might have had of him. “Is that a threat?” she spat.
Renegades of PEACE (Secrets of PEACE Book 2) Page 12
