by Sara Schoen
“Yeah, where the hell did you go?”
“I thought I saw someone else. I didn’t want her friend to roam any closer, but he turned around when he saw me and walked back toward the beach. I guess he was just exploring or looking for her. I couldn’t be sure. He didn’t say much to me.”
“Great, then you can go and lead this one back so both of them are out of our hair. The boss doesn’t want anyone back here.” Grant nodded toward Dave before the pair walked off to continue their sweep.
Siren ushered me out of the area under close watch from Grant and Dave. Grant continued to glance back to look at me as if he was worried I was going to hurt his friend. I didn’t think he figured out Siren wasn’t Macy because she kept her head down when they spoke. He would be able to tell she wasn’t Macy if he looked her in the eye, or if he paid closer attention. He was exactly like Raider; arrogant and too proud of himself. To him, nothing could get past him, but in reality it did. Too bad he probably wasn’t going to live long enough to regret it. Siren walked with me for about a mile until she was sure we were out of sight.
“Great job, Spit Fire. It was a little rough in a few patches, but you did great. Nice cover story too by the way, very quick thinking.”
“Thanks. I didn’t have much planned to be honest. Grant was overly suspicious of me at first, but he’s just like Raider so be sure to stroke his ego and he won’t even notice you’re a different person.”
Siren laughed. “I can do that. I’ll fall in line and report back to you as soon as possible.” She glanced around, looking to see if we were truly alone before continuing. “Rum should be returning shortly. She knocked out Macy and is taking her across the lake and calling the cops for some drugs we placed on her. They should hold her for a while.”
“Where did you find the drugs?” I asked curiously. “How did you even get them?”
“You mean you don’t carry some with you when you go on missions? I thought that was completely normal,” she said sarcastically. She broke into a smile a few seconds later and playfully hit my shoulder. “I’m just kidding, Spit Fire. I took some from the group we saw on the beach just in case. They really shouldn’t leave their bags lying around. I took it before we left, and it came in handy. I think it’s pretty believable. She does look like a college girl. I don’t know what they do anymore, but the cops should hold her for at least twenty-four hours, maybe more.”
“Works for me. The less we have to worry about the better.” We stood in silence for a few moments. Siren would have to leave soon, but she couldn’t return too quickly or they could think something was up so we had to wait a little longer. “That plan worked out better than I thought.”
“I told you it was good.”
“Even you didn’t think it was good,” I said with a laugh. “You basically told me to wing it and not die.”
“Same thing.” She waved her hand dismissively before turning around to look for Grant and Dave. “I better go. I don’t want them to come and look for me. You should be fine here. I told Rum to meet you around here so if you wait she’ll come after the cops pick up the real Macy. Until then, just don’t get caught.”
“I could say the same to you.”
She smirked at me. “Don’t worry about me. If I get caught, they’re the ones who are going to pay.” Without another word she turned and raced off under the guise of her fake identity.
I sighed, releasing some of the tension that had built up in my chest as I leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree for support. I hoped this would work. We didn’t have many other options, and without information I didn’t want to call in for help. I didn’t want help in general. The reason I did this was to save lives, but I was risking more by not alerting someone. What if something went wrong? CIRA would never know what happened. Then Night Stripe would risk something similar. Maybe I should call them, but I just couldn’t bring myself to. We had already done so much that we had to see this through, especially after that sorry excuse for a plan.
“I can’t believe that actually worked.” I let out a long breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in as I tried to relax. For a few moments my tension eased, the nerves and anxiety in my body slowly drifting away before they returned full force as the cold barrel of a gun made contact with my temple. My heart beat faster when a dark voice spoke.
“Or did it? I’m not so sure.”
Chapter 15
“Do you have anything to say for yourself before I blow your head off?” I heard the safety click before my attacker pushed the gun harder against my temple. “I’m going to guess that whoever took Macy away is a friend of yours. I’m sure the boss won’t like an intruder getting in the way and would love to make an example out of her. If she’s smart she won’t come back. I’m not a fan of people meddling in business that isn’t theirs. Especially when that ruins my plans.”
I remained frozen in stunned silence for a moment before I shifted slightly to move away from his weapon. As I moved, I felt the grip of my gun rub against my skin as a reminder; I could make it out of here. If I could move fast enough then I could find cover and eliminate him before he got a clear shot at me. Though killing someone this early would draw attention to me before I was ready. If one of their men went missing they would have a lot of ask questions, and that would only lead to more problems, but at this point it was either him or me and I didn’t plan on dying without taking Harley down with me.
I considered other options, but there weren’t any. I didn’t see another way out of this because I didn’t see him letting me walk away unscathed and forgetting what he’d seen. I only had one chance to get this right.
“Don’t have anything to say, or are you just shocked I found you?” he questioned, not giving me enough time to answer before he continued. “Either way, it will all be over soon.”
I heard the shift in his clothing as he readied himself and took the opportunity of his distraction to leap from my position to a tree nearby. He cursed as he shot, hitting the trunk of the tree as I ran away. There had been almost no sound except for the bullet ripping apart a small fraction of the tree’s protective covering. His silencer had kept the forest at an unsuspecting silence, which meant Rum wouldn’t hear our fight until she became a part of it. I’d have to finish this before she unknowingly walked into the crossfire. A bullet landed squarely in the tree where my head had been not even a moment ago, encouraging me to sprint for cover as fast as possible.
Bullets followed me, spraying pieces of bark into the air every time it made contact with a tree. Once I found suitable cover, and had put a good amount of distance between us, I pulled my weapon from my waist and glanced around the tree trying to get sight of him. I couldn’t see him clearly enough to take the shot. I could only make out a shadow as it approached my position cautiously. When he weaved in and out of the trees to advance closer we each took a few shots at the other, but judging from the lack of cries, neither of us hit our mark. I lost sight of him again after our short fire-fight, and the silence slowly crept in. He must have taken cover, changed his plan, and altered his mode of attack. It was too quiet. If I moved I could walk into a trap. Without the enemy in sight there was no way to predict how the fight could go.
Faintly, I could make out the sound of footsteps quickly approaching from my left. I quickly rotated and raised my weapon to my attacker’s chest as we came face to face. My jaw dropped as I looked him in the eye for the first time in years.
“Sandstorm?” The word left my mouth in a breathless question followed by a relieved laugh. “You’re here? You’re the one who’s been chasing me? I thought Seeker was kidding when he said I’d know someone out here.”
“Spit Fire?” He looked me over, his green eyes searching for a familiarity in me that may no longer be there. Unlike me, he hadn’t changed much. His sandy, blonde hair was cut shorter than before, but that was it. He still towered over me, and his lean face and features still held a ghost of a smile, as if his past missions were haunting him.
A genuine smile slowly broke across his features as he recognized the friend in me he’d once known. “It’s been so long. I didn’t even recognize you. You should have spoken up sooner, or I really would have shot you.” He laughed, as if I didn’t know he would have killed me. Those bullets weren’t warning shots. I almost spoke up before his features turned serious again. “It’s dangerous to run into agents who don’t know you’re here, Spit Fire. You have to be more careful in the future.”
I rolled my eyes at the sudden protectiveness in his words. He sounds like Seeker, I thought as his warning echoed in my head. “You have to be careful when meeting agents from your past, Spit Fire. You don’t know what he’s been through or what his current assignment is. We don’t want to risk agents, yourself included. So approach with some caution if you see another agent or just avoid it if possible. You may not like what he has to do.”
“Right, sorry about that. I don’t typically make a habit of going around giving cartel members my information. If it hadn’t been you and I screamed out I was a CIRA agent there wouldn’t have been a chance for me to attempt to fight back like I did. Besides, I didn’t know it was you. Don’t worry though, it won’t happen again. Now that I know you’re here anyway.”
“You didn’t know I would be here?”
“I heard a rumor that I had a friend in the area, but in the agency that could be anyone. Somehow my mentor, Seeker, guessed it was you when I last spoke to him, but I couldn’t be sure who it was and I didn’t want to speculate. I figured you’d still be finishing up in the Middle East instead of here. I’m actually surprised to see you in the United States.”
“This is the next step in finishing up in the Middle East and finally coming back home. Though if you and those lousy agents don’t get your shit together I may die before I get the chance to see what’s changed since I’ve been gone.” He let out an annoyed huff before he crossed his arms over his chest and scanned the area around us, looking to see if anyone else was around.
“Hey! You have no right to assume what they’re like just from watching them for one, rather quickly put together, snatch and grab. We came up with that plan only a few minutes before we did it and it worked. You haven’t seen what they’re capable of. They are excellent agents and have done remarkable things.”
“It showed.” His voice dripped with sarcasm as he glanced around us. “I’ve heard some things about certain agents while being undercover. Frankly, they all seem like they’ve been getting lucky after the first Sandtown raid. When I heard about that I was gutted, and I didn’t even know the agents personally. I wanted to come back and help, but Sharp Shooter said no. Then I didn’t receive a call from him for nearly two months after while they hunted down some rouge agent. All it did was slow down my progress even more.” He sounded like he was talking more to himself than to me. He must have been waiting to vent to someone who understood, but he didn’t know I knew exactly where this conversation was going. “He told me about some girl who took out the Cardoza Cartel in Sandtown.” Whoop, there it is. “That was awesome to hear even if she was a rookie and risked her life and her team’s. There were a few others whose names escape me, but they aren’t important right now anyway.” He scanned the area again, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he changed at all. He seemed angry at the world, just as he was seven years ago. Would he ever heal from whatever happened to him?
“Do you see anyone?”
“No, not yet anyway. The patrol should be returning this way soon though to finish their sweep. This is dangerous. We can’t talk here. In fact, you shouldn’t even be here.” His green eyes shifted back to me with a new fury in them. I shouldn’t have let his thoughts run so far without interrupting them; now his anger at the world would be redirected toward me. “What exactly are you doing here? Did Sharp Shooter send you? Did he think this was right? I told him not to come yet! I told him we weren’t ready. I don’t know anything yet. I haven’t been here long enough to help you guys!”
“No, Sharp Shooter didn’t send me. I came on my own accord!” I retorted as he let his anger eat away at him. No wonder Sharp Shooter sent him to be undercover in cartels. His anger fit right in and made him as deadly as any high ranking member.
“To do what? Be killed? Why did you come here?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked, meeting his anger level for level. He had no right to talk to me like this. I hadn’t done anything to him, but he made it crystal clear that whatever had hurt him all those years ago hadn’t healed at all. Something dark must have made him like this and that thought scared me. “What are you doing here? If you don’t work with the new leader, then why are you here?”
“That’s none of your business,” he spat. “It’s my mission, and right now you’re getting in the way of that mission.”
“Just like how what I’m doing is none of your business! I came here for a mission, and according to your logic you aren’t privileged to that information.”
We stood our ground for a few minutes, just glaring each other down and waiting for the other to cave. I saw the falter in his eyes before he gave in. He ran his fingers through his hair with a frustrated sigh before he turned around to scan the area again. The patrol would come back eventually; it wouldn’t look good for him to be talking to someone when they came by. Too many questions, which would go unanswered, and that would lead to him being found out if he wasn’t careful. All the patrol would have to do is describe me to Harley and he’d know in an instant who I was.
“Fine. This is getting us nowhere and the longer I’m out here the more dangerous it gets. To put it to you as quickly and easily as possible, I’m a liaison for the group I’m undercover for in the Middle East. This tie was severed when those agents took out the Cardozas in Sandtown and Georgia, and I was about to come home when Harley got into contact with us again. Harley is trying to put together all the old contacts, and with this being the last tie my group has to the United States I have to end it before I can leave. After this, the group I’m with overseas are basically done for and will run themselves into the ground, but I’ll be leaving behind a few of my team members to make sure that’s how it goes.”
I nodded in understanding. I could see the emotions in his eyes. He was happy to come home, but upset he had to leave people behind to make sure his group died out. It must be hard to be away from the only people he knew, if they were all still alive that is, at either place. I had a feeling the Middle East felt more familiar to him now after all the years he was forced to spend there, but he wanted to go back to CIRA. For both of us, CIRA was and would always be home. This was the final step to going home, and he seemed determined to end it fast, which worked perfectly for me.
“Now is when you share what you’re doing here, Spit Fire. I hope you didn’t lose your manners after only a few years as an agent.”
I glowered at him for a few seconds before he motioned for me to hurry up. The patrol must be getting close. “I’m here for Harley. Long story short, he’s from my past and I’m looking to collect a payment he owes. I originally came here alone, but the two girls you saw with me came to help, which it looks like you and I will both need. I want to find him and make the rest of his life a living Hell. Then he can spend the afterlife rotting there too.”
A cruel smile creased his lips before vanishing a second later. “And now I know why you chose the name Spit Fire. That’s a lot of hate for someone to carry around for one person.”
I chuckled lightly. Clearly he had never met Night Stripe. I think her hatred of Ash Crest rivaled the hatred I had for Harley.
“Good luck though. It’s practically impossible to touch him. He moves around a lot so I can’t even tell you where to begin your search. Your friend will figure that out soon enough though. When she reports back it won’t all be good news, but I have a proposition that could be good for us both.”
“What’s that?”
“Team up with me and help me destroy this base. I need it to be impossible for th
em to rebuild. I know they have a failsafe for if they’re attacked, but I don’t know what it is. I’m going to slowly eliminate the trading partners by messing with the shipments we get. Cause a problem internally, but I need one that’s external. It’s a four step plan, and I just need some help.”
“If in the end, I get Harley, then I’m in.” I stuck my hand out and he took it without hesitation.
“You can have Harley if we make it that far. It’s not going to be easy, and honestly if one of us doesn’t die it will be a fucking miracle.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Part one is done, I just had to get in and make them believe who I was, like I did for my other cartel mission. I knew they’d be a little wary after the last undercover mission revealed an agent working among them. His agent alias was revealed to be Renegade a little while ago, his real name is still under wraps, but I can’t imagine it would be too hard to find out. That’s why Sharp Shooter sent me here, an agent who hasn’t stepped foot on American soil in practically eight years. It made it easier to believe me, and I had a glowing recommendation. No matter how this goes, it will be reported to them that I died and will not be returning.”
“Is that part four?”
“Yep. It won’t be pretty, but I have a few more things to do on the inside and now that I have a friend on the inside it can go a little better. I need you and the purple haired girl to do some stuff on the outside to step up for parts two and three.”
“Which are?”
“Nothing short of suicide.” He turned to me to see how the statement affected me, when he didn’t see a reaction he continued. “Part two is gathering and saving as much information as I can. You know how Sharp Shooter is. He wants to save as much as possible. I don’t know how much I’ll get, especially since I can’t go into the upper offices, but I’ll try. For that I need you guys to listen to patrols and stay out of sight. I’m not going to waste much time with part two because in a few days there will be new people coming in and that makes my job a lot harder. So I want to move on to part three as soon as possible. For that, I plan to start lowering the amount of upper level members in an attack when they go to meet another trading partner. If we kill them then there’s no way this cartel will come back up, but that will lead very quickly into part four, and part four can only be compared to a full blown war.”