It’s time to lay everything out.
“The first time my heart stopped was when Nolan dragged you into my cell. The second was when I let that rock hit your skull.” Cam’s voice is painful and sullen. I have to restrain myself from reaching out and pulling him into a tight embrace.
He takes a deep breath and goes on.
“I first saw Reed on a mission in Montana two years ago. He was observing us from the second-story window of a barn across the cow field. He was hardly visible in the shadows, but I saw him watching us, studying our squad. I was more concerned with the fact that he’d just witnessed me killing my partner, so I pursued him with the intent of leaving his corpse in that fucking barn to rot. But when I entered the structure, I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
My mouth presses into a fine line.I know that barn, there’s an entire bunker below the hay.I keep that information to myself. He doesn’t need to know that the Mavestelli mansion was only ten miles down the road. Why was Reed out there? How did he know? I bite my lip as the thoughts race through my head.
“As I moved to regroup with the squad, a phone left on the ground began to ring. I answered it and Reed introduced himself to me. He said that he had been studying the Dark Forces for quite some time and wanted to propose a deal.” Cameron stops and runs a hand down his face.
“A deal?” I echo.
He nods. “Reed wanted whatever it was that made me so impervious to pain. He wanted the pills. I knew he worked for Mavestelli. He told me himself, but there was definitely more that he knew than he let on. He knew too much…of everything.”
This entire mess all for the fucking drugs. It makes my blood boil. I can’t believe Cameron has known Reed for two years. Evenif they weren’t working directly together, it still makes the air sour. Worse, I can’t believe Reed has been up to no good all this time.
Cameron’s eyes soften as he assesses my troubled expression. “I chose to dismiss him. But before I could drop the phone and leave him in the past, he promised that I would need his services one day, and that he was embedded in the Dark Forces in ways that made it inevitable for me to need to call on him. I didn’t reply…but I kept the phone. I don’t know why I kept it, something in my gut told me to. From time to time he’d call, inquiring if I was ready to work with him. I always declined. It wasn’t even a forethought. But then you happened.”
I stiffen in my seat and Cameron offers me a guilty grin.
“You happened, and I knew that Reed was right. That I would need him in some way or another because I wouldn’t be able to protect you. Not with the way that I am… So the evening I found you in the alley?—”
“That’s how you got rid of the bodies,” I murmur in disbelief.
Cameron nods. “I called him and he took care of it. I’ve never known a man to have so much power the way he does. He’s sly and malicious. He was close by, because it didn’t take him but an hour to have all of it handled. I still don’t know what part he plays in the Dark Forces, but it can’t be good.”
My hands curl into fists on my lap. I know all too well how cunning Reed is. But what was it all for? Is Reed a soldier? Or maybe he’s in the Intelligence sector like Mikah? Chills run down my arms. I really hadn’t even thought about it, but it’s possible. After turning eighteen he left for a few years with minimal contact with my father or me. Then he came back off and on. I figured he had gone to university to learn more trades to benefit the business, but now I doubt it.
Reed’s eyes have always been on the highest seat in the house. As power hungry as he is apathetic.
“I’m glad you didn’t go to the lieutenant,” I say quietly. I know he’s not aware of what I heard last night yet, but he nods anyway.
“I am too, honestly, I’ve been starting to have my fair share of doubts about them.” His voice is lowered into a whisper. “I think that they only wanted you to play your part in the Under Trials to lure your father in. He wanted his executioner back, even had his spy change course to get you. I think that they were done with your usefulness once Greg had changed his spy’s task to getting you out. They were ready to toss you to the wolves like a finished meal. Why else would they have you placed on the squad they already knew were going to Mavestelli’s hideout? I think that this has been their endgame all along. And whether or not you survived after the trials was just gravy and more ways to get Greg to make stupid decisions.”
I swallow, sweat clinging to my spine. How convoluted could men after power be? To care so little of the people thrown in between. Even my own father only wanted me for my ability to do his dirty work, but I doubt his reasons were ever as sinister as this.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. “Cameron, I heard something last night that you need to hear.” I pick at my nail nervously, worried if I can truly trust him. But everything he’s telling me lines up with my theory. It all fucking aligns into one awful truth.
His brows pinch together.
Tell him. You can trust Cameron, I reassure myself.
“Do you think anyone will ever actually earn their cards out of the Dark Forces?” I frame the question, my tone is implying.
I can see the wheels turning in his head. “You’ve asked me this before,” he says slowly, jaw working.
“I’ve asked Mikah too, and her response wasn’t good,” I confide.
“No one has gotten out yet. I don’t know if they would actually let anyone be free,” he says, and the words make time slow. His eyesgrow distant with the thought working in his mind. It makes his scar look more pronounced. A knot works its way into my throat.
“I overheard Nolan and Erik speaking last night. Their voices carried through the vents in the kitchen… Nolan told him to inform us that we are earning our cards out. He didn’t outright say that they were going to terminate us…but they’re sending the Riøt Squad out herejust in case.” My heart beats so erratically in my chest that I can’t tell if I’m whispering loud enough for him to hear me.
He sits back as if he’s been struck, eyes searching my face for anything to deny this claim, but he mustn’t find it, because he stands swiftly and grabs my hand as he pulls me up.
“Cam, what are you doing?” I whisper shout.
He stops with his hand on the door, looking back at me and speaking quickly. “We can’t stay, we need to figure out a way out of here. Our trackers were removed so they won’t be able to find us.”
