She sat in a booth by herself, nervously playing with her fingers. Her platinum-blonde hair was perfectly straightened, and it rested at her chest level. She spotted me, and I didn’t know what to make of her expression. It was a mix between she had expected me, or that she was going to throw up. She nervously glanced around at all the tables around us. I sat down.
“Megan,” I said, giving her a nod.
“Lucas,” she replied with the same gesture.
“How have you been?” I asked. I wanted to start off casual and let her settle into the conversation. She pursed her lips and revealed a sardonic expression.
“As good as you can be knowing that you handed over the most confidential files of the twenty-first century to a CIA agent, and that at any moment you-know-who might come after me and my family.”
My gut twisted from her words. Veronica.
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”
She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and pulled her interlaced fingers closer to her side of the table.
“Before you go any further,” she began, “do you mind footing the bill?”
I cocked my head in surprise.
“Well, I guess so now that you asked. Why do you seem so blasé about asking someone you’ve only met twice to pay the bill?”
A satisfied smirk slid across her face.
“I have a feeling that you will owe me, because you are going to ask me to help you with something. Even though I don’t yet know what that is, I feel a tasty meal should suffice as payment.
“Deal.”
Suddenly our waitress popped out of nowhere.
“Hi! My name is Kim, and I’ll be serving you tonight,” she chirped. Her oriental eyes were almost slits, and her teeth were impossibly straight. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”
“I’ll have a shot of the house vodka and some sparkling water, please.”
“Of course, and for you, sir?”
“I’ll take a diet Coke.”
The waitress smiled.
“All right, I’ll bring that right out t—”
“I’m actually ready to order,” Megan cut her off.
“Oh, okay!” the peppy waitress said awkwardly. “What would you like?”
“I’ll have the sushi sampler. Make them all vegetable, California, and spicy tuna rolls. Ooh, actually, switch out the vegetable roll for a Philadelphia roll. I’d also like the pad Thai chicken curry plate, extra spicy, please.”
“Good choice,” she said, smiling. “Are you ready to order, sir?”
I was still staring at Megan wide-eyed. Had she not eaten all day?
“I will have the same entrée she had, without the extra heat.”
“Okay, sounds good! I will be back with your drinks and your sushi.”
She darted off and I stared back at Megan.
“What?” she snapped. “I had a rough week.”
“I can tell,” I teased.
“You look like you need a shot,” she cocked her head in my direction.
“I’ll probably need one after I tell you why I am here.”
“Aha,” she chuckled. “After hearing you say that, maybe I need two more.”
I rolled my eyes. The waitress reappeared.
“Here is your shot and sparkling water,” she said as she set them down. “And your diet Coke, sir. Your food will be out in just a little while, is there anything else I can get you while you wait?”
Megan shook her head no before I had the chance to answer. She walked off.
“So,” I began. She held her index finger up.
“Wait.”
She turned the shot glass filled to the brim with vodka skyward, and her face puckered up after she downed it. “Ahh,” she breathed out. I could smell the liquor from across the table. She took a sip of her sparkling water and set it back down.
“Okay, now tell me what you need my help with.”
“By the way. I was going to ask you, how did you know I needed something?”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“Because that’s the same thing you did when you came to me the first time.”
I snorted. “Well played.”
She took a deep breath in and out. There was something about her that seemed tense. Our waitress walked past our table.
“Excuse me,” Megan put out her hand to signal her. The waitress stopped. “Yes?”
“Can I have two more shots of vodka?”
My brow furrowed from her request. We were here to talk about something important, not to get drunk on my tab.
“Yes, I’m going to grab this table’s order and I’ll get that right to you.”
Megan turned back to me with a vacant face. Something was up, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. She was beyond stressed the day at her office when she had her breakdown, but before she opened up to me, she hid it quite well. Now, it was almost like whatever was going on inside of her was breaking through the surface. There were faint bags under her eyes concealed with makeup. I decided to wait and feel her out. I wouldn’t throw the news on her this second.
“How was work today?” I asked.
She slanted her head and glared at me dumbfounded.
“God awful,” she said. “How about yours?”
“The same. Just a little better now that Veronica isn’t around as much.”
“Lucky for you, because now she’s back at mine more,” she griped. “I’d rather gouge my eyes out than have to see her one more day.”
“I know the feeling,” I consoled. “When do you work next?”
She squinted quizzically.
“Why?”
“Because it has to do with what I came here for.”
Her eyes darted over my face cautiously.
“Monday,” she said.
Monday—the day of Veronica’s meeting.
I caught myself beginning to smile.
“Here they are!” the chipper waitress announced in a singsong voice as she set down Megan’s two shots. “Your food will be right out!” The moment she stepped away Megan downed the shot. She shivered after the first, and then immediately did the second. This time, she didn’t chase it with anything. She just slid the shot glasses to the edge of the table and looked up to meet my eyes. Her eyes glazed over as the buzz from the alcohol began to kick in. Her face was blank, almost stoic. In her blue eyes, I saw so much pain it almost made me turn the other way.
“Megan, is everything all right?”
“Do I look all right to you?” she countered flatly.
“No,” I said. “Not at all.”
Her lower lip quivered, and I noticed her chest kept heaving up and down.
“Well, I’m not. Like I said, I had a really rough week. I’ve been a wreck since Owen died.”
She pressed her lips together and covered her mouth with a closed fist, turning to face the window. Her forehead was scrunched together from trying to hold back the tears. If this was how Megan felt, I could have only imagined what Rachel was like that day.
“I—I’m sorry,” she hiccupped and took a sip of her water.
“You’re fine.”
I saw tears escape the corners of her eyes.
“I just feel so guilty!” she choked, suppressing her voice. I glanced around to see if anyone noticed her worsening condition. We were in the clear. “I mean, do you blame me for thinking that? Maybe if I would have told someone sooner he would still be alive,” she groaned. “I listened to her so I could stay safe, so nothing would happen to me. Owen wound up dead.”
She choked back another cry and wiped her face off with the napkin. I prayed our waitress didn’t bring out the food during this. It wouldn’t look good if the pushy customer she served three shots to was already bawling.
“It should have been me,” she said firmly. “It should have been my life, not his.”
I shook my head and tried to console her.
“No, Megan. It is bad enough he is gone. It didn
’t need to be you. Don’t blame yourself. A life is a life. Be thankful that you are still here.”
“Why?!” she raised her voice ever so slightly and scowled at me. “Why would I want to be here? This country is fucked. I’m better off dead…and that’s the thing, that’s what you don’t understand. I spent five years with Owen. I know him like the back of my hand, and you know what? He was the better person. He still had more to do in this world, Lucas. I was just a paper pusher at the EPA and he left it all behind to do something no one had done before, and he did it. I would have rather it been my life than his. My life never mattered. Now, I am left all alone and have nothing to do but wonder what I could have done differently…”
Her pain was so real that it was making my heart race. I could feel it across the table.
“Megan,” I said softly. I waited for her to compose herself.
“What?” she mumbled with her head tilted away from me, wiping her eyes again.
“There is still something you can do.”
She sniffled and then looked me straight in the eyes.
“Is that why you wanted to meet here? To instill me with some false hope?”
I shook my head side to side slowly.
“No, I came here to tell you a way that you can make your life matter.”
She squinted, studying my expression—trying to pick it apart.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked.
I motioned her to lean in with my fingers, and I was about to open my mouth when our waitress reappeared at our side. “All right, here’s your food!”
“Thank you so much,” I said. She disappeared a moment later. We each took a few bites of our food before I motioned to her again to lean in towards me.
“If you want your life to matter, if you want to contribute to a cause bigger than yourself, then please, hear me out.”
She nodded.
“You are going to help us take down Veronica Hall.”
She dropped her fork and it clung against the plate. Her eyes grew wide. Her expression frightened me because she looked so shocked. For a moment, I thought she was appalled by the idea…but suddenly, the surprised look began to fade away, and it was replaced with malice.
She nodded her head in agreement so slowly, I almost thought she was in a trance.
“Thank God,” I gasped. “Because without you, we wouldn’t have the capability of doing it. We have assembled a team. They are the same people that helped Owen, actually. For now, I will need to borrow your EPA ID. Come to my house late tomorrow night, I will give the ID back to you, and we will go over the details of the plan. We have one chance and one chance only to do this properly. The election is a week and two days away. Our time is running out.”
Megan’s eyes were still glazed from the buzz, but her face was frozen in a maniacal smile. The resentment she felt towards Veronica was all too similar to my own.
“Megan,” I said, trying to jar her from her daze. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
She finally snapped out of it and shook her head, gazing into my eyes with complete clarity of mind.
“I have never been surer of something in my entire fucking life.”
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
- 23 -
I was a dead woman walking. There was no guarantee that tomorrow would ever come. All that mattered was this moment, and the events that would take place today. If I lost my life in the process, so be it. When I went to bed last night, I talked to my mother and Owen before I fell asleep. I asked them to watch over me. At this point, I was more concerned about what the outcome would be for this country if I were to fail.
No—I would not fail. That was not an option.
Last night Megan came over. I was in the shower for the first half of her visit, and when I walked out and saw her, I knew it was her. I was surprised. She looked like the exact opposite of me. Blonde hair, cream-colored skin, and blue eyes. I wondered how much time she spent dating Owen, but I kept my urge to ask her suppressed. We didn’t talk much. We barely even greeted each other. I sat back and listened, because my role in the plan was the easiest—to pull the trigger. Lucas warned me what would happen after. The cops would swarm the EPA building twice as fast as they did with Owen in Atlanta. He said I might be shot at, but I made it very clear to him that I was not worried. Death was an escape from all of this. I did not fear it any longer. He instructed me exactly what to do when the time came.
Briana had been working longer than any of us. She spent all day in the basement workroom with Megan’s ID, trying to make a duplicate with my picture on it. Her dark roots were getting longer, making the golden blonde in her locks disappear more by the day. Natasha and Grey worked well into the night. Lucas had to run to the department store to get her some business clothes and a flash drive. It was all a part of the plan. After seeing Grey do it twice, listening to them plan it out in front of me was nothing short of amazing. It was intriguing to hear what went on inside the mind of a hacker. They both were brilliant, and what I came to realize was that two-thirds of what they did was making their target trust them enough to let them in. All they needed to do was throw around some technical jargon and make a good impression. Once the people on the inside made the mistake of letting them in, the ball was in their court.
The only thing we didn’t know was what time the meeting ended and how many people were going to be in that boardroom. We knew for certain Veronica and Marc Fleming would be there, and in all honesty, I didn’t care about any of the others. Lucas and Megan both knew she was behind this, so in my mind that was the only justification I needed.
I was going to kill someone today.
We had all showered one by one early in the morning. Lucas’s wife made us breakfast and brought it downstairs before she took the kids to school. From what Lucas said, she knew what was going on, but for the kids’ sakes she didn’t want them knowing we were here.
Briana had just gotten out of the shower, and she was getting dressed in one of the nearby bedrooms. I stood in front of the mirror, curling my hair. The steam was slowly receding from the top of the glass, and I could finally see my reflection. Looking at myself, I felt like a whole other person. Rachel Flores was dead, and this was what remained. I tried my best to embrace it, so I wouldn’t focus on what had happened to the old me. I wore light makeup and some red lipstick. I felt like I spy, and I looked like one too. Lucas wanted to make sure that Natasha and me didn’t blend together. She was wearing business clothes. I wore black dress pants and a white blouse. I had on a black pea coat that went down to about my knees. I was going to wear all black, but Lucas advised against it. It would only draw more attention to myself. He said that all black would make me look more suspicious, and he was right. Strapped to the outside of my right leg was a holster, where Lucas’s gun was. Yesterday, when the sun set, he brought me to a vacant field. We walked near the edge of the woods, and he put up a target. I practiced point blank and went through many clips until I was confident. I knew when the time came I wouldn’t miss. Not after all she had put me and my loved ones through. Viktor had our files, and he would fax them to Ian right as I made my entrance. He wore a normal button up with khaki slacks. Lucas, Grey, and Briana would remain in the car. Briana and Lucas had done their parts, and Grey would work remotely while Natasha did what she needed to do on the inside. Lucas borrowed some goodies from his work. We all were going to wear earpieces that were too small to be visible, and they had a range of a mile. We would be able to hear each other, which was crucial in a plan as elaborate as this.
The time was ticking. Forty minutes until the meeting began.
I set the curling iron down and stared at my reflection again. I felt numb—empty. Perhaps, what would take place today would reset me. I hoped so. I could barely get out of bed each morning like this. I had no drive. The only thing that motivated me now was the notion I could save Owen’s party for him. So
that all of his work wouldn’t be wasted.
“Knock knock,” Grey said, rapping twice on the door as he slipped in the opening.
“Hi, Grey,” I tried to muster the strength to smile.
“Happy Halloween!”
“I forgot that was today,” I admitted.
I saw him look my reflection up and down.
“What?” I chuckled.
“Your costume…and you, look marvelous.”
A smile tugged at my lips.
“Thanks, Grey.”
“Did I forget to mention deadly?” He winked.
“That’s more like it,” I teased.
“So…” He began hesitantly. “Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He snorted and nodded his head.
“You know, he would have never let you do this. He wouldn’t have ever gone along with this idea because he wanted you safe.”
Our eyes locked in the reflection of the mirror. Grey pressed his lips together.
“I just wanted to make sure I told you before we go, how much he loved you.”
Hearing those words come from Grey’s mouth caused tears to pool in the corners of my eyes. “I’ve known him since I was six, Rachel, and I had never heard him talk about another girl the way he did you. He loved every moment he spent with you, and he told me all of this the night in the penthouse, out on the terrace…”
My mind flashed back, and I could see him again. He was leaning in across from Grey, talking animatedly with his hands. I wondered what they were talking about, and now I knew.
“Just remember, Rachel, no matter what happens, I will take care of my end of things. Briana and your cousins will get their portion of the money. I will do what is right. It’s what he would have wanted.”
I threw myself into Grey’s arms and hugged him in a firm embrace. Tears rolled down my cheek and disappeared into his shirt. The warmth coming from his body was soothing. It reminded me of Owen. I was holding onto a piece of Owen—Grey—his childhood friend.
“Thank you, Grey, for everything. Thank you…”
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