"Who's Cassie?"
We turned. "You?" I shouted. Her again. What's she even doing here.
"Hey Agent Reyes, Matthew, we meet again." she said.
"It's Mark," Mark grumbled before leaving, muttering something about an unfinished case.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well I came to see a friend," she said, smirking. I became confused.
"You have friends?" I asked, honestly shocked.
She frowned. "Well I'm not that bad, so yes I have. . . friends," she mumbled the last part, trying to convincing herself instead.
I noticed that the question affected her, so changed topic. "Okay then, if you don't mind, I have work to attend to," I lied, walking away.
"Awwwn, why's everyone busy today," she pouted, following. I chuckled at how cute she looked. I stopped.
Did I just think she was cute?
It must be the lack of coffee. I continued walking. "Maybe it's because it's a federal agency. It's meant to be busy," I said.
"Oh here, I brought coffee. It's for my friend but since he's busy, you can have it. It's Americano," She offered.
"Thanks, but I hate americano," I said.
"Oh come on, it can't possibly be that bad," she said.
"Well if it's from you then it is"
"Well I didn't lace it with anything if that's what you're thinking,"
"As a federal agent, I have to be careful. Besides why would you insist if you didn't lace it" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, because I don't want to waste it. That's money you know." She said.
"Well you should have thought of that before buying it,"
"I just said. . . ugh, you know what, forget I offered," she said, "I'm just going to give it to someone who actually needs it," she huffs and stomped off. Cute.
Not again.
I really need my coffee. Its not that I don't like americano, I just preferred cappuccino to it. Or let's just say I prefer cappuccino to any other coffee. I went to the bull pen.
------
I walked towards the parking lot. I'm done for the day. I mean, there's no interesting thing to do than sit behind the desk all day examining paper work. I could do better than that.
"Kayla!" Someone called. I turned.
"Yeah?" I said.
"I just spoked to the supervisors and they agreed, provided you don't mess things up," James said. I scoff.
"Mess things up? Last I checked, they messed things up when they delayed the backup team. Cassie wouldn't have died if they didn't," I gritted.
"You know it happened because of the wrong intel I gave," he said.
"I still don't understand how you would send a wrong information based on analysis right in the middle of an operation. Every information is accessed and analysed," I said, "but they knew our identity somehow,"
"Let's not dwell on this, you know it never ends well," he said, "besides we caught them, didn't we,"
I sighed, "You're right, I don't know why I even brought this up,"
He patted me on the shoulder, "It's okay, you're just still angry at Cassie's death," he said.
"I guess. See you tomorrow," I said walking to my car. He nodded and went back in. I sat on the drivers seat and rested my head on the wheels.
We wouldn't have caught them if Mark hadn't been there on time. He knew that something wasn't right. I mean, how would a group of dealers know the exact location of my apartment? It was confidential, and I never went there once because the agency didn't want to be compromised incase those dealers decide to visit since I'm working undercover, so they rented out a room in a hotel. Besides, the warehouse they were was like ten miles away. But somehow, I got a call from my neighbours saying that some men that matched the description of the dealers, visited. I called the agency to look into the CCTV, but they said no one visited, and then they waved it off saying that it could be a false call or a prank or something. Mark knew something was up, and if not for his intervention, I would be dead by now. Since then, I suspected a double crosser in our midst, and I think Mark does too.
Something shifted in the corner of my eyes. I slowly reached for my gun. Then I heard a click.
"Don't move," they said, "hands on the wheels, nice and slowly". I placed my hands on the steering wheel, and twirled my ring slowly.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"For you to live," he said, taking the gun from my holster.
"That's ironic"
"Drive," he said, climbing to the passenger seat and still pointing the gun at my head. I started the car and drove off.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You ask a lot of questions," he said.
"Well if I'm going to die, at least tell me where. Hope it's not some empty building with roaches, that would be embarrassing," I said. He looked at me with confusion. My phone rang.
"Don't answer it. Also, you're about to die, the first thing you worry about is how embarrassed you'd be?" I shrugged. My phone going to voicemail.
"Wouldn't wanna hurt my ego now would I," I said nonchalantly.
"What the. . . you know what? Forget I even asked. Of all the things in the world she just had to be crazy," he said to himself. I smiled.
Something hit my side mirror. "Shit," I said.
"Damn it. We are being followed. Unless you don't want to die in an uncomfortable way inside a car, I suggest you step on it," he said. I cursed and accelerated.
I swerved to the right, nearly hitting a pole. I glanced at the passenger side mirror and saw two black cars, chasing and shooting at us. One of the bullets hit the back window, shattering it, I hissed. "Hey I also have a suggestion, kill those motherfuckers,".
He smiled and loaded his gun, "With all pleasure," he said and started shooting back at them. They were coming closer. I made a deadly left turn, hitting a parked car in the process. They followed.
"You know I feel like you're gonna get us killed before they do," he said, reloading his gun.
"Strange, cause I feel like you'd be the one getting killed if you don't shut up," I said.
"Have you forgotten I'm the one holding the gun?" He said with amusement.
"And have you forgotten I'm the one holding the wheels?" I said smirking.
"Fair point," he said and continued firing at them.
Then I passed a road by the left. An idea popped up in my head, I smiled. I made an illegal turn and headed towards the road I passed. As expected, they followed.
"What are you doing? Do you want to kill us?!" he said.
"If I wanted to, I wouldn't bother with the chase," I said, "just trust me on this one,". He gave me a look I couldn't place, before nodding.
We had eight seconds before the light turns red. I accelerated. It was a cross road. I spotted a trailer coming from the road at the left. I sped up, going faster. We crossed the traffic light immediately after it hit red. The black cars followed, but one got hit by the trailer, which blocked the other one from going further.
"Yes! You did it. Ha, that was amazing," he yelled happily.
"Yeah," I said, smiling.
Then we both remembered how we ended up here. He cleared his throat, and pointed the gun at me, "Keep moving,". I groaned.
------
"Again, where are we going," I asked.
"You'll see,"
But there was something about what he had said. 'For you to live', he said. Also, he looked strangely familiar. Maybe he's a wanted criminal or a gangster that did something he shouldn't have and now he's gang wants to kill him. But I have a feeling that this guy knows something, I just have to know what he's talking about. But then, where is he taking me? My phone rang again.
"Don't answer that," he said, "We're here". I looked out.
"Seriously? There was absolutely nothing you could come up with than a deserted area, with a lake? Oh come on, you could do better than that," I said. Is he some serial killer? Why didn't I think of that possibility. I mentally facepalmed myself.
He gave me a look I couldn't decipher. "I'm not here to kill you, if I was you'd be dead a long time ago, trust me," he said looking around, "but that's the least of my worries now,"
"So why did you bring me here?" I asked, slowly reaching for the Beretta under my seat. Then he looked at me with a satisfied expression.
"Get out of the car," he said. I groaned getting out. He came out too. "We weren't followed" he said.
"Yay?" I said. He sighed.
"I wanted to talk to you, and I couldn't do it around the agency," he said, lowering his gun and coming closer. Wrong move. I twirled my ring.
"So you brought me here, in a deserted area. Have you ever heard of a cafe? Or the bench on the street? Or I don't know, a park?" I said.
"I couldn't risk getting caught or worse, exposed. You saw what happened," he said.
"Too late," I said confusing him, which gave me enough time to knock off the gun from his hand and tackled him to the ground, taking the gun I had secretly collected under the driver seat. I stood up, pointing the gun at him.
"Wait wait wait, don't shoot please," he said.
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't end you," I said, my expression back to being stoic.
"Because I'm trying to help you," he said, "if you had gone back home you'd be as good as dead. Those guys were after you,"
"I thought they were after you, and why would anyone want to kill me?" I asked, though I knew I have a lot of enemies considering I sent a lot of people to jail.
"I believe it's because you know something you shouldn't," he said, dusting himself and standing up. I clicked the safety off.
"If you value your life, stop moving," I said.
"Look I'm just trying to help. There's someone out there who wants you dead," he said.
"Go on," I said.
"Yesterday, while I was looking for ways to talk to you without risk being exposed, I noticed that you were being followed" he said.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Like I said before, I'm just trying to help,"
"Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Cole. Ex military officer," he said, "I've been watching you for three months now. I was told that you could help me,"
"And why would I help you?" I asked.
"Because the same people who wants you dead, also wants me dead. I even had to set my home on fire," he said. Then I remembered the news I saw earlier this morning. No wonder he looked familiar.
"Why would they want you dead?"
"Well, let's just say that I have something I shouldn't have either," he said, "I just need the code to open it,"
"And what makes you think I know this code?" I said. My phone rang in my pocket, interrupting what he wanted to say. I answered it, still pointing the gun at him.
"Yes?" My face went pale, "are you sure?. . . did they know who did it?. . .I'll be fine, do me a favour. . .tell Mark that I'm alright. . . okay thanks," I hung up.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Someone blew up my apartment. The agency wanted to know if I'm okay," I sighed.
"I'm sorry," he said, "well I guess that makes us even,"
I eyed him, "What makes you think I can help you?" I asked.
"Because you have what it takes," he shrugged.
"And what makes you think I will help you?"
"Because you're gonna need answers. You'll want to know who wants to kill you," he said, stepping closer.
"Yeah but I don't necessarily need you" I said.
"Trust me, you'll need me" he said.
"And why is that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
He stepped closer, "Because I'm Cassie's twin."