Souls

by Kahilah Harry

  Found him.

  A guard a few feet away from me, holding his gun in front of his face. When we made eye contact, he lowered his weapon and nodded. That was a warning shot. I nodded back. His eyes lifted as if he were smiling. I scrunched my eyebrows. Out of all the guards, I got the one that wanted to play games.

  Getting up from my crouched position, I ran at him. He tossed his weapon to the side and started running at me as well. I tucked my gun in its holster and ran even faster. We reached each other. He ducked and slid on the ground, kicking my legs from under me. I fell hard. A sharp pain shot through my wrists as I caught myself. I groaned inwardly, getting a little pissed.

  No more games.

  I jumped up, throwing a punch at his face, but he blocked it and hit me in the stomach with a force that took my breath away. The guard laughed as I staggered backward and clutched my middle, coughing. I inhaled sharply. My anger rose like energy inside me, building…like an adrenaline rush. I embraced it.

  Screaming, I charged after the cocky guard.

  This time, my jab connected to his face. He staggered just enough for me to throw two more punches into his middle. I ducked his next blows and threw more punches into his ribs and back. He wheezed and hunched over. I searched for something to knock him out with. He wanted to do this the old-fashioned way, so I didn’t pull out my gun. But I couldn’t find anything.

  The guard staggered my way. I charged at him and chopped my hand against his exposed throat. His hands flew to his throat, and I swept my leg under his feet, and he hit the ground hard, wheezing. Dropping down with him, I hurried and wrapped my bicep around his throat, squeezing in just the right way until he passed out.

  I huffed and sat on my heels, catching my breath. I placed my fingers on his neck to feel his pulse.

  “You should do a better job of choking someone out, Meadow.” His eyes snapped open, gray irises locking me in place.

  My mouth dropped. He grabbed my arm and shot up, twisting it behind my back and slamming me into the ground. I gasped from the force and gritted my teeth, squirming to get out of his grasp.

  “My, my, Meadow. This is quite embarrassing, isn’t it? I’m sure I trained you better than this, but don’t worry, I’ll get you to remember and oof—”

  His grip loosened. I broke free, ready to attack.

  Donatella stood over the guard’s body with a log in her hand. Her other hand graced her hip. “Really, agent?” She shook her head. “Pathetic,” she grumbled as she walked toward the building.

  I let out a pent-up breath and glanced at the unconscious guard. Something about his eyes reminded me of…I don’t know. It reminded me of something important, but I couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

  My head started pounding. Nothing made sense. How did he know my name? I followed Donatella to the building, and the question remained on my mind.

  It was a light gray, modern, square-shaped building. The windows seemed easy to break into, but there were barriers on the other side that blocked anyone from going in. Plus, an alarm would be triggered when unauthorized personnel entered the building, like the other buildings we owned. Which was also why I didn’t understand why Donatella was willing to risk it all for some petty guns she could probably get from the black market.

  “Let’s go, agent. This should be quick. In and out.” She scanned a badge, and the door beeped and turned green.

  The inside lights were dim but bright enough to see where we were going. It was a typical storage facility, a stark contrast to the modern-looking outside. There were crates and boxes everywhere. It was going to take a while to search every box and find these guns.

  Donatella let out a happy squeal and turned to face me. “We are in, agent! That’s your card I used, by the way, so good luck explaining that to your bosses.” She laughed as realization dawned on my face.

  I gritted my teeth and willed myself to stay calm. Only a little longer until I got my hands on the file to help me solve my case. “Whatever. Let’s just get to work. What are we looking for specifically?”

  She clasped her hands together and smiled evilly. “Well, these weapons are special. I know I said guns, but that was so no one else would know what I was really after.” She paused for dramatic effect, and I moved my hand in a circle, coaxing her to hurry and finish. “As I said, these weapons are extraordinary. I’m talking as in made out of a dangerous element. Only a few weapons were forged from this element, and two of them are right here in this very facility.” Donatella twirled in a circle, smiling.

  “I’m sure it’s not that hard to find, and some chemists can probably make it for you,” I scoffed.

  She sighed. “Agent, this is no common element. Its origin is unknown, but the power it wields is indescribable,” she explained with so much passion.

  I didn’t care about this so-called powerful element. I just wanted information. But then again, she had me a little curious. “Why do you want it?” I walked around, passing my hand over the dusty crates.

  “Because my boss wants it, and it’s my job to make sure it ends up in his hands.” She clapped her hands twice. It annoyed me a little bit. “Now, let’s start looking for the weapons. Both of them will be shaped like daggers. They will look like antiques, really beautiful. Golden handles with blue and white flecks on them. The blade itself will be a beautiful ocean-blue color, the ocean’s color when the sun is at its peak.”

  I watched her face morph into awe as she described the daggers. “Let’s get on with it.” I turned to the crate closest to me and opened it. I dug around for at least twenty minutes and there were still hundreds of containers to go through. Donatella didn’t look like she was going to give up anytime soon.

  Of course not, I chuckled to myself.

  She would literally go through all these boxes for days if she had to. I took a little break.

  It was dimmer on the opposite side of the facility, but there was something off about the wall. I made my way over to it to get a better look. One of the tile squares wasn’t symmetrical. It was connected by intricate shapes that seemed familiar, and after some pondering, I realized why.

  The shapes were crosses.

  The same crosses found on the corpses in the morgue. Interesting. Running my hand over the surface, I felt for a button or anything, but found nothing. I traced the whole shape, drawn in by the intricate crosses.

  Everything around me seemed to disappear, and I became one with the shape. I pressed my hand against the middle of the wall. Locks clicked open, and I jumped.

  The little crosses each ticked off the seconds as they turned to a vertical position. After the last cross finished turning, the locks stopped clicking and so did the creaking. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by my shallow breathing and Donatella’s annoying gasps.

  “How on earth did you do that?” She whispered loudly.

  I looked down at my hands and then back at the square. “I…I have no idea,” I whispered back.

  The feeling inside me was still strong, luring me back to the square like the pull of a magnet. A tingling sensation prickled my arms, up to my chest, and down to my fingertips. I walked back to it slowly. I lightly touched it with my index finger. It rumbled and popped open forcefully, slamming back against the wall, revealing a hole. When it seemed safe enough to move, I started forward.

  Donatella put her arm out to stop me. “I’m in charge of retrieving the daggers. They belong…to me.” Her voice got deeper as she finished, her face changed into one of greed.

  “It doesn’t matter who retrieves them in the end.” I glanced back at the opening. “Plus, we don’t even know if the daggers are in there.”

  She looked at me as if I had grown another head. “There is a secret wall in the building where they are keeping the most valuable weapons in the world, and you don’t think the daggers are in there?” She scoffed and started walking toward the wall. “Idiot,” she muttered as she walked away.

  I laughed to myself and shook
my head.

  She made it to the square and stopped. “No way.” She gasped. She put her hand in the hole, patting the inside frantically. She looked inside and started growling. “There’s nothing here!”

  I peered inside, and she was right. I really didn’t want to go through all of the crates in the warehouse. Turning back to the empty hole, I gazed into it, wishing the daggers were in there, and brushed my hand over the cold surface. The connection I felt before came back, the same tingling sensation prickling my arms, all the way up to my chest, back down to my fingertips.

  The odd sensation built inside me until it bordered on overwhelming. I pulled my hand back, but it didn’t move. My face scrunched as I kept trying to move it without alerting Donatella. The sensation in my chest faded, and all I felt was the tingling in my hand. A shock shot through me. I gasped and finally managed to pull free. “Crap!” I clutched my hand. “What in the world…?” I muttered to myself, inspecting my hand. It showed no external sign of damage. Once I was sure that my hand wasn’t going to fall off, I looked back at the hole and froze. My skin prickled.

  How…?

  A blue light shone from the opening. I didn’t know how, but in the hole that had been empty sat two blue-bladed daggers.

  6

  “Don’t even ask me how I did that because, at this moment, I have no idea how any of this happened,” I said before Donatella could say anything.

  The daggers were beautiful; Donatella definitely didn’t lie about that. The blue from the blades gleamed from the hole.

  “Yes! This is it!” Donatella gasped with glee. “This. Is. it.” She slowly walked to the hole, still in awe, and gently picked up both daggers. She pulled a brown cloth from her pocket, wrapped the daggers inside of it, and smoothed out the wrinkles in the fabric. “Now, let’s get that information you want so badly.” She walked out of the facility, and I followed her back to the vehicles. One of them was missing.

  “Uh, where are the brutal brothers?” I scanned the area to see if they were close by.

  “Don’t worry about them, darling. Worry about this.” She whipped out an orange envelope and dangled it in front of my face. When I reached out to grab it, she pulled her arm back, tsking. “This information is crucial to your case. But it is also the key to your life.” Her voice got more profound, and her eyes widened as if to make me take her seriously.

  I scoffed and snatched the envelope out of her hand. “My life is perfectly fine, thanks.” I laughed and sloppily saluted her goodbye, walking away and praying that I never had to see her again. Unless I was arresting her. Now, that’s a sight I would love to see. I chuckled to myself.

  I made it home after taking multiple detours to make sure that Donatella didn’t follow me. Could never be too careful. As I placed the envelope on the table, my phone rang. I picked it up. “Saar speaking.”

  “Meadow, what the hell did you do?” Caspian whispered fiercely.

  I froze. How did he find out so quickly? “What are you talking about?” I asked, deciding not to give myself away in case he was talking about something else.

  “Don’t play dumb with me. Duke came straight to me after being alerted that your card was swiped at a facility you should have no knowledge about. What is going on with you lately?” He sounded more concerned rather than upset.

  Crap.

  I blew out a breath and paced, trying to think quickly on my feet. “I—”

  “Hold that thought. Duke and some other suits are coming my way. You better get here now and come up with the best damn excuse because it’s not looking good for you right now.” He hung up.

  “Thanks,” I said to no one. I tossed my phone on my couch and ran upstairs to change into one of my best suits. As I got ready, I tried to think of any valid excuse for being at the facility. Maybe I could say that I had insider knowledge that the criminals would try and steal essential items.

  No, not good. Why would I, out of all the important people above me, be informed about something like that? I huffed as I tried to get my pants on. Oh—I could say I was kidnapped and forced against my will. Held at gunpoint and everything.

  Ugh, no. No good. If there were cameras, I would totally be caught in a lie. I wasn’t good at lying; that would be more Caspian’s avenue. I was done getting ready and didn’t have any more time to waste, so I ran downstairs, grabbed my phone, and bolted out of my place.

  The drive there, I was so anxious, I ran over some lane dividers, pissing off other drivers. When I made it to headquarters, I went straight to my office. I turned on the light and yelped, my hand flying to my chest.

  Caspian was sitting in my chair at my desk, hands folded together. He frowned, something he rarely did. He was disappointed.

  “Caspian, I can explain—”

  He held up a hand.

  I sighed and sat down in the chair in front of my desk.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about your plans?” He asked, keeping his voice low.

  I ran my hand through my hair and scoffed. “Look, you already know how you get when it comes to trying anything that doesn’t necessarily align with the code, so you shouldn’t even have to ask that question,” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Okay, fine. Why did you go alone?”

  Like that question was any better.

  “Because if my own partner doesn’t care to be a little reckless with me, no one else will either. I mean, I didn’t do anything too ille—”

  “Nope. Don’t finish that sentence. I don’t want to know anything. Keep it to yourself. Just think of something to save your ass when you speak to Duke and the suits.”

  My throat dropped to my stomach. “When do I have to speak with Duke?” I asked quietly, not really wanting to hear the answer.

  “Now.”

  Crap.

  I’m suspended. Two weeks. They were still debating whether I should get paid or not. I deserved that anyway, so I wasn’t really upset. But being suspended didn’t mean I would stop working. The opposite, actually. I researched like crazy for the next few days, buried myself in my work, determined to find any clues connected together, using the information Donatella gave me.

  I wouldn’t call it information per se. At least not the best information. She gave me an envelope with a piece of paper in it, which had one name.

  Victor Baldwin.

  A name that had been no help at all. Nothing important had popped up—nothing connected to my case at all. The only information I got from looking him up was that he captained a cruise ship that did popular cruises to The Island.

  After spending days and nights trying to get more information from the internet, I sighed and concluded that I had to ask Caspian for help. I hadn’t spoken to him after everything that happened since I’d been so busy. Picking up my phone, I tapped on his name and waited.

  “What?” Caspian’s voice came through the phone, sounding annoyed and tired. Granted, it was like 7 a.m., and he was probably still sleeping when I called.

  “Hi, friend, how are you?” I stretched out the last word and smiled, knowing he probably wanted to strangle me for being all hyper so early. Not that he would ever do that, because deep down, he was the biggest teddy bear ever.

  “Meadow. Do you know what time it is?” His bed creaked, and he groaned, probably checking the time to see how early it actually was.

  “Yes! But I really need your help.”

  He groaned again. “No, Meadow, I—”

  “It’s about our case!” I interrupted, hoping that would make him care enough to not be as irritated. I crossed my fingers.

  “You’re suspended, Meadow.”

  I pursed my lips. “When has that ever stopped me?” I asked. Long seconds passed by.

  “Fine,” he finally said.

  I punched the air with my fists. Success.

  “What time do you want me over?” he asked, getting out of bed, I assumed from all the shuffling in the background.

  “Now?” I responded sweetly
, making sure it came out as a question rather than a statement. It made it seem sweeter. Silence followed.

  “I hate you.” Were his last words before he hung up on me.

  I jumped up from the bed and did a little happy dance. He was so smart and always had the best ideas when it came to solving cases. I was better at the execution of those ideas.

  While I waited for him to come over, I took a quick shower, ate some breakfast, and got all the files and evidence I’d collected so far and brought them down to my living room. I spread them all out on the floor and grabbed my laptop as well, pulling up the article about Victor Baldwin on the screen. I had to get more information on this guy since he was apparently the key to solving this mess of a case.

  There hadn’t been any more bodies connected to my case since the last one, which was good because it gave me more time to connect all the dots without worrying about another body.

  By the time I was done setting up everything, I was confident I had enough information for Caspian to help me tie something together. Now I just had to wait for him to get here. A few seconds later, there was a knock on my front door.

  Perfect timing.

  I unlocked it, slowly and dramatically opening the door for him.

  “Why Meadow,” he said, stepping inside, “must you be so dramatic?” He shook his head at me.

  I smiled up at him and shrugged. “You know me. Always have to be extra. But what are you wearing?”

  He didn’t answer.

  I waved my hand in front of his face. “Are you there, Caspian? Hello?” I pretended to knock on the side of his head.

  He smirked slightly and looked down at his clothes. Black joggers with a pale gray shirt and white sneakers. He rarely dressed down. Not even when he relaxed. I didn’t know he owned other articles of clothing besides suits and slacks and button-downs. Oh, and of course, dress shoes.

  “Look, I am super tired, and maybe I’m starting to actually take your advice at not looking uptight all the time, whatever that means.” He rolled his eyes when my face lit up with glee.