Secrets (The Secret Series Book 1)

by James, Jax

  “Um, I think that I’m just going to leave and hopefully we will never see each other again.” I began to make my way over to the door, when he grabbed me by the hand and turned me around. I was pressed up against the frame of the door and if this was any other time, I would think that this was a sexual overture of some kind.

  “You step 1 foot out of the door and you’re dead.” The last word hung in the air like a Damocles sword swinging above my head and he still hadn’t explained why I was in such danger in the first place. “If you trust me, then I might be able to get you out of here in one piece. Once I do that, you are going to have to come with me and tell a friend of mine exactly what you heard that Japanese lady say to you on the street before she died. You don’t know what kind of Pandora’s box you’ve opened and you were just lucky that the man that searched her after the accident didn’t try to kill you right then and there.” He was basically telling me that this had something to do with the Japanese lady, even though I had no idea what she had said but could probably say it back verbatim.

  “I don’t like this at all. Why do I get this feeling that you’re not Drake?” I hadn’t put two and two together yet, but with this new information made things became abundantly clear. The man that I had been talking to all these weeks couldn’t be this man, because what happened to the Japanese lady hadn’t happened yet. This brought me to the conclusion that this man had taken Drake’s place, so what did that mean for the real Drake.

  “My name is Jason Mcevoy, or at the least it’s an alias that I use when I do a job. You really don’t need to know my real name, because it’d only put you in more harm. As for the real Drake, I can assure you that he is alive and well living with his wife and two kids.” I didn’t know if I believed him or not, not until he pulled out a laptop and showed me the files with the real Drake’s information on it and the secret of his double life. This man was not a good person and was sneaking around behind his wife’s back for little bit of extra excitement. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve already notified his wife anonymously about what he was doing and he is going to be served up with divorce papers before the end of the week.” That actually did make me feel a little better.

  “Um, this is all a little bit too much to process. What you’re saying is that you came here specifically to get me to talk and then kill me? What kind of person is able to do something like that in cold blood? Then again, what kind of person can sleep with a person like that?” My head was swimming and I felt for a moment that I was going to pass out, but it was just a slight case of hyperventilation. He was right there with a brown paper bag, letting me breathe into it and regain my composure after everything that I learned.

  “We really don’t have time for this right now. We’re gonna have to get out of this building before they come up here. They don’t know that you’re still alive and believe me they’re not going to take it very kindly. I just ruined my career over a woman.” I could feel the waves of contempt coming off of him towards me, but that was his cross to bear. He would have to deal with it the best way he knew how. I was just happy that something had stopped him from going through with it, because I really didn’t want to be just another statistic.

  “Fine, I will go with you, but I don’t think I can ever trust you again. You tricked me into sleeping with you by using the information from the emails that I had with this Drake person. I think that you should be ashamed of yourself, but I don’t think that you are capable of that particular emotion. You seduced me on false pretenses and after I told you that my heart had been broken. You could’ve easily walked away at that moment, but you continued because you had a job to do.”

  “There is nothing that you can say that is going to make me feel bad, because I feel bad enough already. I don’t like that you’ve gotten underneath my skin, Larissa. Believe me that hasn’t happened in all the jobs that I have done over the years. There’s something different about you that makes me want to protect you, but I know in the back of my mind that I should just shoot you now and walk away from this before it’s too late.” He grabbed me roughly and pulled me into the hallway, until finally we were going down the stairs.

  “Just wait…you don’t have to be so rough.” I kicked off my shoes and started to move down the stairs at a steady pace, but then again I really didn’t have any other choice with his hand holding on to mine. I tried to wrench free, but he was very strong and he wasn’t about to let go anytime soon.

  At the bottom of the stairs, he stopped and opened up the door a crack just to make sure if the coast is clear “Stay here and don’t move one muscle. I’m going to go out there and see if they have left somebody to watch the door. I don’t think that they will, because they know that I’m beyond reproach. They will have no idea that I have changed the parameters of the mission or even believe for a second that I decided to help you instead of kill you. That might be the only thing that we have going for us, because it won’t be long before they finally realize that they’re dealing with a traitor.”

  He dashed out of sight, leaving me to lie against the concrete wall with my breath coming in gasps. My entire world had just been shaken to its foundation and all because I was a good Samaritan and tried to render aid to a dying woman. It just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished. I really didn’t believe in that saying, but now I was living proof of it.

  This had to be a nightmare and right now I was still sleeping beside the man of my dreams. This happened so fast that I barely had enough time to come to terms with all of it, before he asserted his authority and made me come with him.

  Chapter Six

  I don’t know how much time elapsed, only that I was still lying against that concrete wall wondering when he would be back. It was possible that he had decided to cut his losses and was now hoping that those two men that had come into his building would take care of the problem for him. A sense of panic overwhelmed me and I felt like the only way out was to run.

  Grabbing for the door handle, it suddenly opened with him coming back in with his gun drawn. “We need to move fast and when I say do something, I expect you to do it without hesitation or question. The only way this is going to work is if you follow my lead and just shut off the part of your brain that makes decisions. For the time being, I’ll be making all the decisions for the both of us.” I didn’t like the sound of that, but it appeared like I wasn’t going to have any other choice in the matter. “They’ll find that you’re not up there and then do a floor to floor search of the entire building. I would imagine that once they find out that you aren’t dead, they will most likely call in for reinforcements to make this go away.” He was looking through the small slat of a window in the door, before opening it quickly and taking me by force into the open.

  Moving quickly, he was constantly looking around, before finally we stepped out into the light of day. “I already regret getting up in the morning and sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. I knew that you were too good to be true, but I deceived myself into thinking that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.” I wasn’t sure he was listening to me, as he was still trying to button up his shirt with his pants half undone and the belt still hanging loosely.

  Even though he was sent to kill me, it didn’t stop me from looking at his body and swooning all over again. I tried to pull my gaze away from him, but it was almost impossible to do it. This was a life and death struggle between two opposing forces that used to work together toward a common goal. That goal was to put my head on a stick, but now things had gone drastically out of control.

  “I’ve got a car nearby that I hotwired, which should get us out of this area before they realize that you’re gone.” I followed close behind and soon we were coming to this nondescript brown minivan that could’ve belonged to any family in the area. It was actually a good idea, considering that we wanted to blend into our surroundings and this car would do that and then some. “You drive, while I make sure that we’re not being followed.” It f
elt like I was in some kind of action suspense movie with new information coming to light at every turn. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that I was one of the stars and that over there by the door was the director yelling action.

  Climbing behind the wheel, I found a hat lying beside the seat and decided to put it on. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but it was the best that I was going to do under the circumstance.

  This killer had just shared my bed with me last night, but now those that he worked for were coming after me to finish the job. I knew that if I had a chance to think about all this, I probably would scream until I was hoarse, but I didn’t have that luxury. “Where are we going, or haven’t you thought that far ahead yet?” We moved out of the parking lot and he was hunched down behind the seat, with his eyes zeroed in on the front of the building, until we went around the corner and out of sight.

  Lying back in the seat, he was breathing heavy and showing that he was as terrified of them as I was of him. “Just get on the freeway and for god’s sakes stay below the speed limit. They will be monitoring traffic cameras, so as soon as you can get off onto a side road. We’re going to have to stay under their radar, which means we’re going to have to avoid any kind of technological advances.” I could see that his mind was going a million miles an hour. Maybe he was regretting climbing out of bed this morning as well. If that was the case, then I could certainly see where he was coming from, even though I was still secretly looking for a way out underneath his nose.

  I found the next exit and turned off; looking for any sign that would indicate that there was a police department nearby. Unfortunately, there was nothing but old farmhouses out this way and the further we went out past the area, the more desolate it became, until finally there was nothing but trees for miles. He seemed to have relaxed a little bit, but I was still going crazy inside and wishing that I could crawl into a hole and die. Then again, if they had their way that would be exactly what happened to me.

  “Drake…or should I say Jason...where exactly do you expect us to go?” His name was most likely one of many secrets and I was sure that I didn’t want to know any more of them.

  “Larissa, to be honest I haven’t been in this position before and now I’m trying to do everything I can to think the way that my people do. Once they figure out that I’ve disappeared as well, they will either think that I am working with you or mistakenly believe that somehow you took me out. I hope that they will think the latter, because that’ll give us a brief window of opportunity to make tracks. We will find a place to lay low and tomorrow morning we will drive to my friend and find out exactly why I was sent to deal with you.”

  “If I could, I would stab you and make a run for it on my own, but you have more experience with these people than I do. For the time being we’re going to work together, whether I like it or not. But to be real, this doesn’t mean that I don’t hate you for what you’ve done and that I don’t want you to pay for all of this. I’ll be just as happy to see you behind bars rotting in prison for the rest of your life.” I was trying to show him that I was angry beyond words and that nothing that he could do could calm the beast inside. Unfortunately, my words were diminished by the fact that I still had this desire to see him naked again.

  “I understand perfectly and I would feel the same way in your shoes. Explanations are all good and that, but that doesn’t take away the betrayal that you must feel towards me. If it helps, it wasn’t personal. It’s just business.”

  “It doesn’t help, and I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t talk to me for a little while. I’m so pissed right now. I’ve never felt this way before in my life. Even when my boyfriend dumped me for somebody else pales in comparison to this one moment. I want to lash out and slap you, but I know that I have to be civil. Believe me, I fantasized several times since you told me what you did about ways that I could hurt you and I have come up with some very interesting scenarios.” What I didn’t tell him was that most of those scenarios had us back in bed doing things with each other that would be considerably illegal in some states. I just couldn’t help how I felt, no matter how much he hurt me in ways that I could never voice.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that he was hanging onto his weapon and checking how much ammunition was left. He was also doing an inventory on those weapons that were hidden on his body. I really couldn’t believe that he had all of that stashed inside various locations of his clothing. “Damn, I left my jacket back at my place and it had a few new clips that I might need if we ever come under fire.” That wasn’t a pleasant thought but the reality was that it was most likely going to happen. We couldn’t exactly go to the local gun shop and get more, because frankly they would use the cameras in the area to pinpoint our location. “It’s fine and I have more than enough for the time being to keep us safe.” That was cold comfort coming from somebody like him, especially now that I had my eyes opened up to who he really was.

  “I’m so sorry that I put a crimp in your plans.” I was being sarcastic and I don’t think it was lost on him, because he was giving me a dirty look that basically told me to keep my mouth shut. “Don’t look at me like that, because you’re the one that got us into this mess.”

  “I don’t think that’s true, Larissa, because if you hadn’t have put your nose into a business that wasn’t yours, then I wouldn’t have been called to do something so unpleasant.” I knew that he was right, but that didn’t make me feel any better. We didn’t even have a chance to gather any kind of supplies and were basically running for our lives with our tail between our legs. “Try to get your facts straight before you say something that you’ll regret later.” He was actually scolding me like a little child, when I was the innocent victim in all of this, which only made me get angrier with him.

  “I really don’t need this attitude. I could just as well leave you and go to the authorities for help.”

  “Larissa, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have sources everywhere. If you did go to the authorities, it wouldn’t be long before they found you swinging by your neck. They wouldn’t even know what happened, because it would be one of their own that did the deed.” This was sounding better and better all the time and even the shadows had shadows of their own. It felt like the walls were closing in on me and I had to take a couple of deep cleansing breaths to bring my pulse down to a manageable level.

  “That’s just great and why exactly am I paying tax dollars if I can’t reach out to the police.” I knew that it was a stupid thing to say, but it was the first thing that came to my mind. He started to laugh and then I start to laugh and we both continue to laugh at the absurdity of it all, until we finally laughed ourselves out.

  “Even facing our own death, you find a way to bring a bit of levity into the situation. That’s one of the reasons why I like you. You’re not like other women. Most would be panicking or screaming their bloody heads off by now. You actually have a way to keep yourself from losing it. I admire that. That kind of composure is going to serve you well, because I don’t think this is going to get any easier. In fact I think it’s going to get a whole lot harder before we even begin to see a glimmer of light.”

  “I’m pretty scared, but right now I don’t have the time to let that emotion rule over me. I’ll admit that I was very mad at you for betraying me like this, but I think I now see that we’re in this together. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel like I would be better off if I had never met you, but then again you’re the only one that is standing between me and a bullet. So at this moment, this is the only place that I would want to be.” My anger towards him had ebbed slightly, but in place of it was now this desperate need to survive at any cost.

  “I don’t want to scare you, Larissa, but I think that you should know what we’re up against.”

  “Please tell me Jason…is there any conceivable way that we’re going to get out of this in one piece? Just be honest with me. I hope now you can see that I am not some kind of fragile doll. I’m stronger
than you think I am and I need a straight answer. Don’t bother trying to sugarcoat it, because I will probably see right through it.” I had to make him believe that I was somebody to be reckoned with and not this broken doll that was ready to fall apart at any moment.

  “I don’t know how to answer that, only that we’re going to have to stay one step ahead of them. To be honest, I don’t see a reasonable way out of this without one or both of us dying. I have no interest in walking away from this life without first putting up a damn good fight. We might be able to find some kind of leverage to use against them, but that’s going to depend on what my friend says tomorrow. Whatever the Japanese lady said to you was enough to put into motion all of this, which I think means that it has some dire consequences. Let’s just take this one day at a time.”

  Chapter Seven

  We were driving for some time, but then he pointed in the direction of this old farmhouse and said “I want you to tell me what exactly you see when you first look at that place. I don’t want you to think about it. Just react with your first instincts. What is the first word that comes to mind?”

  “Abandoned.” You would’ve thought that I had told him that the sky was blue, because he was smiling like he was loving the very sound of my voice.

  “That is exactly right and we need to get off of this road before somebody spots us. The place will be perfect, because it doesn’t look like anybody has lived there in some time.” There wasn’t anything around for miles and we appeared to be the only thing on the road at this time of night. We moved into the underbrush of the driveway, seeing that it was overgrown to the point that it was almost indistinguishable from the grass that now surrounded it. “Let’s put this in the garage, so that way they won’t be able to spot it if they bring out the helicopters.” He got out and somehow removed the lock from the garage door, swinging it open and motioning for me to drive forward. Once I was situated inside, we barely made it to the front porch when the sky opened up and it began to rain cats and dogs.