by Sara Schoen
“To find out whoever killed Sharp Shooter.” I stumbled to my feet and managed to hold my balance. My vision cleared a little more and I could finally make out the room clearly. Everything slowly returned to normal, well, almost everything. “We have to get going. We need to help the other agents.”
“And what do you plan to do? You’re in terrible shape. You can barely stand without wobbling. What are you going to do if they accuse you?”
“They won’t accuse me. I told them to find every agent they could and hold them down there. We need to find out who did it rather than fighting each other. I just have to figure out who it is and end this before chaos breaks out again.” The spinning calmed fully and I managed to turn to face Rum, but instead found Renegade tied down to a chair and gagged.
My gaze drifted over his body after I noticed a pool of blood at his feet. I didn’t see the cause of the blood right away, but it was severe. His pants were drenched and the floor beneath him holding a fine puddle. “Renegade!” Forcing myself forward, I sprinted over to him. Some of the dizziness returned, but I managed to keep balanced. I fell to my knees and tried to work on the binds, but he fought me. “What happened to you? How did you get here?” I ripped the gag out of his mouth, but as he coughed and gasped for air, a menacing laugh echoed in the empty room.
“Wow, you really haven’t figured it out? Are you that naive? What do you think happened? How do you think he got here? It wasn’t on his free will, he put up a fight, but once we crippled him he couldn’t put up much of a fight.” Rum’s dark laugh filled the air. “He’s not going anywhere any time soon.”
Everything I knew about the mole swirled in my mind like a whirlwind. The mole knows us, they are on our team, they knew our plan, knew how to hurt us, and knew CIRA. My hands clenched into tight fists as I pieced it all together. Rum knew us all, knew the plan…she took the phone from me at the raid just before we started. She must have called Mark. My body started to shake with anger. She killed Whip Lash, injured Fire Fox and Renegade, all while pretending to still care about me to get information. And now she’s trying to keep me from the fight because I should have known. She wants me out of the way so she can accuse me.
“I can’t believe you…”
Rum rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips as I turned to face her. “Look around you, Night Stripe. Why would I bring you here? Can you really not see it? Are you blind or are you just that stupid? If I knew you wouldn’t figure out it was me, I might have spared you and Renegade.” She shook her head and made a “tsk-ing” sound to echo her disappoint. “I had higher hopes for you, but I should have known you wouldn’t stay out of this. I thought I’d have an easy time getting out of here if you had.”
“No,” I stated. I paused so long it sounded like that was my answer. “No, I can’t believe you would do this to CIRA and expect me to let you walk away.” Slowly, I unsheathed my knife. I held it tightly in my hand and waited for the evitable. “You’re not leaving this building, and if you do, it won’t be with you breathing.”
Rum fell silent for a moment before breaking out into a fit of laughter. “You think you can kill me?” She laughed loudly and in the most demeaning way possible. “I killed Sharp Shooter! I hoped that I was doing it to save Mark, but it turns out you had quite the con going. Everyone thought he was in here, yet there’s nothing here. Now I almost feel bad for knocking Camo out to get in here. I could have just as easily lied and said you filled me in. I guess her blood is on your hands too.” She winked at me, telling me Camo was fine for now, but if I didn’t get to her it could be bad.
I hope the other agents are out clearing floors still. Maybe one of the teams could help her.
“You refused to see what was right in front of you, that I’m the mole! You still can’t see it, can you? Even with your boyfriend sitting here, bleeding and basically telling you that the cartel kidnapped him and sent him straight to me. How else would he get here, seriously? You refused to believe and now you won’t even attack me when you had the upper hand. You’re weak! I trained you better than this.” She stepped forward and flung a knife in my direction. I shifted to the side as it sped past me, grazing my ear, and then landed in the wall behind me.
I glanced back to see one of her throwing knives stuck in the wall. That means there’s more to come, I thought as I took a side step away from Renegade so he wouldn’t be in the line of fire. “How could you do this to us? CIRA took you in! You’re supposed to protect agents not cartels. Now you’re killing people who considered you a friend!”
“Fuck that!” She spat her words at me. I couldn’t tell if it was out of fury or hatred. Is there a difference? “CIRA did nothing for me. Everyone in this building is too senseless to realize when they are being used. Everything about my story is a lie. You know that. I wasn’t trained by monks, that’s just ridiculous that anyone believed it.” She scoffed, as if offended that anyone trusted her story.
It wasn’t that we believed it was true, almost everyone knew it was a lie, but we thought the truth was too much for her to bare. We were half right. If she told us the truth then she wouldn’t be able to complete her mission and double cross us all. So much for caring about other agents. Now we’ll feel the need to vet their stories thanks to her. The trust held in this building would go out the window if we weren’t careful.
“I made up lie after lie and everyone here ate it up! Well, everyone except Hess,” she continued as I took a few steps closer to her. “She figured out the truth. She discovered I was raised to infiltrate CIRA when she caught me during the raid on the Cardozas. That’s why the compound exploded, we had to eliminate her. I almost felt bad. I liked her, she was a good friend, but friends don’t replace family. The Morettis took me from my family after they killed them and they became my new family. They taught me to fight and then abandoned me so Demon would pick me up. And CIRA fell for it.” She paused again, turning away from me to look at Renegade, who started to struggle against his binds.
He hadn’t say a word when he got his hands undone and now he was working on the rope around his ankles. I turned back to Rum, knife tight in my hand, ready to attack, but I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t the coward she was. I wouldn’t take the cheap blow. I’d face her head on. Right? The thought blossomed, ruining any intention I had of attacking her. I can do this…no I can’t…The battle raged in my mind until I saw the glint of a knife just before she leapt forward.
I may not have been able to take the cheap shot, but she didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and I’d suffer for my hesitation. I should have taken her out when I had the chance. She lost the chance of redemption by bringing Renegade here, by killing Sharp Shooter, and using me from the start. Without thinking, I stepped up to protect Renegade and waited for the blow to come.
Chapter 28
Rum may have made the first move, but I made the first blow. In her attempt to attack Renegade, I jumped in front of her and stopped her dead. We collided with full force, my shoulder to her chest and my elbow directly in her stomach as I held my ground. A rush of air met my ear, irritating the cut from her last blade, from air leaving her lungs and then a grunt left her lips when I shoved her to the ground. She fell in a graceless heap and looked up at me; seemingly surprised I had knocked her down so easily and gotten into the fight.
I didn’t want to fight her, but I refused to let her hurt anyone else. Especially someone on my team. And to think I felt bad about calling her out on her shit my first year here… “You don’t get to go after my team anymore!” I yelled, pulling the gun from my side and leveling it at her. “I won’t let you!”
A low chuckle resounded from her and boomed a few seconds later. “Let me? You haven’t done anything about it before now and I love that I get to tell you this…” Her sentence trailed off as she leapt from the ground, avoiding my shot, and grabbing the gun. “You can’t stop me. You’re a stepping stone, simple as that. I’ll use you as the mole and watch CIRA burn to the ground. At leas
t then I can go home with my head held high. I thought we still had Mark, but without him, I’ll have to bring the Moretti’s a few dead agents. Do you want to be one of them?”
“Not on your life.” The words barely came out because of how tight I had my teeth grit together. “You’d have to make it out of here first and I don’t see that happening.” I won’t let it happen. I fought for control of the gun, spinning on my heel to land a blow to her gut. Her grip wavered, but didn’t release. She didn’t even falter as she jumped, twisting the gun out of my grip while she back flipped. She lifted her leg and landed a blow to my arm, removing the gun completely from my hold and sending it across the room.
“Looks like it’s just us.” She cast me a dark, wicked smile. “And just like all our training sessions you’ll lose. Only this time, I won’t pretend to kill you. You’ll be left here to rot and I’ll make sure your name is slandered to everyone here before I kill them, or let the chaos make them kill each other.”
“Not while I’m around!”
“I can arrange that,” she said as immediately sprang forward, making two quick hits to my side and dodging under my punches. I turned to attempt to get in a better position, but she disappeared for a moment. I knew this strategy, and unfortunately, I knew she’d win if I didn’t give into the blow. I turned, receiving the blow to my gut as expected.
Instantly I dropped to the ground and faked the pain she’d expect me to be in. If she thinks I’m so stupid, I can use that to get her to underestimate me, I thought, watching her feet from the corners of my eye. She approached me slowly and when she got close enough I grabbed her ankles and pulling them out from under her. She crashed to the ground before I got my knife out and just when I was about to end the fight, she rolled away.
“Nice try. I’m glad to see you learned something in training. Maybe this won’t be as easy as I thought.” She pulled her knife free of its holder and matched my stance. “Your move.”
Tightening the grip on my knife, I leveled my gaze with hers. “Teacher first.”
A cruel smile curved at the edges of her lips just before she sprang forward again. I went to duck under her, but she saw it coming and slashed her blade at me. I jumped back, grabbing her by the arm to force her away from me and put distance between us again. She glanced around, possibly looking for an exit strategy if she decided to not finish the fight, but I doubted it. She used the chaos as a cover to rescue Mark. With him gone...What’s stopping her from killing everyone here?
Renegade is in no position to fight. I glanced over my shoulder to see him free of his binds, but struggling to move. It’s between me and her, but there’s one major difference; I have the agency behind me. I just have to somehow get word who she is to someone in case I didn’t make it through this. Though, they’ll figure it out once she starts slaughtering people.
“Are you ready to give up?” Rum asked, breaking me from my thoughts. “Are you realizing there’s no way out? We can end this right now if you want.”
“Not a chance.” I steadied myself, waiting for her to make the next move.
Rum always thought that making the first move gave the upper hand, but after training with her, I knew to wait. I could watch her movements and dodge more effectively. So, when she moved to stab me, I took two quick steps forward then used the momentum to slide under her blade. She grabbed me at the last moment and forced me to the ground.
Within seconds she was kneeling over me, her blade straight to my throat. “Do you give up now or should I end it here and now?”
My answer was shoving her off and knocking the knife from her hand. Rolling away from Rum, I took advantage of her frantic state. I made two quick punches, but she ducked under them and hit me twice in the stomach, causing me to double over slightly. She grabbed my wrists to flip me over, but before she could, I broke free and took a jab at her. She ducked and managed to slip away, heading right for her knife.
Her agility was matching mine blow for blow. I’m not sure if there is a way to win this. We’re evenly matched. I glanced around, looking for a way out, but I wouldn’t be able to move Renegade quickly enough. She’d attack us both. I’ll have to win. She stepped towards me again and I readied myself. The handle of the blade left marks on my hand from the pressure I was holding it with, anxiously awaiting her move.
She wavered, glancing back towards the door, but then back at me. She seemed to be looking for a way out. She must be thinking the same thing. I watched her shift as she had a mental debate with herself. After a few moments, she fell back into a fighting stance. Unless she feels like she can win. I followed her gaze to the exit behind me. If she gets out of here, she can kill every agent here without warning. Even with them all together, the chaos would make it easier for her. It has to end here.
Rum took another step, this time away from me. I wish I could have been hopeful to end this, but the malicious smile on her features told me otherwise. “Well, if you won’t get out of my way to save yourself...” She turned her attention to Renegade, her twisted smile deepening. “Then maybe you will to save him.” Her gaze fell on me, twinkling with dark excitement. “I thought I trained you better, never show the enemy your cards. I knew if it came to it I’d have to kill him. Good luck living with the guilt of causing another person’s death.”
In seemingly slow motion, she darted toward Renegade. My reflexes seemed slower than usual when I fought to follow her. The space between Renegade and I seemed to be filled with a viscous liquid, preventing me from getting to him any sooner. He barely reacted as she grabbed hold of him, but once knife found the nape of his neck he managed to find the little fight left in him. I saw pain etched into his face as she pressed the blade deeper into his skin.
At the last moment, he pulled her arm away from his neck, causing her to slice his chest rather than his neck. The laceration started bleeding almost immediately, giving me an extra power in my stride. I closed the distance as Rum pulled back and readied her blade again. I saw her lips move, but didn’t hear what she said. When I saw her hand twitch, ready to cut his throat, I shoved my blade into the side of her throat.
She let out a sharp, pain-filled scream. I yanked the blade from her hand and then rammed her blade into her gut. She crumpled in my hold, grasping at the wound on her neck. No sound came out while her mouth moved, but blood gushed from the wound. Blood spurted over my face, but they were quickly wiped away. A few tears slipped down my cheeks as the brevity of the situation hit me full force.
“You did train me better. That’s why you should have never fought me in the first place.” I closed my eyes before I pulled the knife out of her neck and let her body fall to the floor in an ungraceful heap. Completely different from her living body. “I’m sorry it came to this, Rum.”
Stepping over her cooling body, I leaned down to check over Renegade. The bleeding was already slowing, but his leg was messed up. Blood still seeped out of the wound and the skin around the area looked mangled. He moved to stand up, ignoring my help, but he couldn’t put weight on it. His leg gave out and he crashed back to the floor. He’s not walking out of here on his own. I’m not sure he’ll ever walk again, I thought as I put his arm over my shoulders and pushed up.
“What’s going to happen to me?” His voice was weak and strained. The pain was evident in the cracking tone. I tried to push past that to think of something positive, but I couldn’t think of anything. With his leg, he can’t be a field agent for a while. Would they kick him out of CIRA? We didn’t have room for non-active agents, but what could he do now?
I shifted his weight on my shoulder as we started to walk out. He weighed a ton compared to me, but I didn’t complain. Now wasn’t the time. “We’ll make it work, Renegade. I promise, but for now, we get you to the hospital and get CIRA put back together. Then we can figure out what happens.”
He nodded, slowly limping his way out of the room and down the hall. When we turned to head toward the hospital, he tried to turn me around. “I don’t need
to go to the hospital. I need to go talk to the agents. You need to talk to them and tell them what happened. Sharp Shooter would want damage control done sooner rather than later.”
I stopped, catching my breath, but acting as if I was thinking over what he said. “You’re right.” He tried to turn us around, but I stood my ground. “But you have to go to the hospital and I have to do damage control.” I glanced down the hall in time to see Seeker about to vanish down the maze. I called to him and told him to come back.
“No, I have to go with you,” Renegade argued. “I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m just fine.”
“Says the man currently bleeding out,” I retorted before Seeker stepped within feet of me. I could see the question in his eyes and interrupted him before he could ask. “I need you to take him to the hospital. We eliminated the mole, but I should get to the other agents before they start killing each other again. I promise to explain later, but please do me this favor, even if it’s against his will.”
He nodded, taking Renegade from me without much of a fight. “I expect a full explanation later.” He walked off with Renegade practically hopping on one leg, but looking over his shoulder at me with a longing expression.
I need you to be okay. Please be okay. I can’t lose you too.
I need you…I love you.
Chapter 29
When I walked into the mass training room, I was bombarded by voices. Everyone had questions and concerns about Sharp Shooter. A few, who had come down from the hospital to get answers, were just learning about his death. Many just wanted to know what was happening, but all those questions stopped when they noticed the blood on my clothes. They stopped mid-sentence, their eyes lingered on my face, and they noted the small blood spatters that had started drying and the few that had left a blood trail.
