The man motions for one of his guys to pass a black suitcase to Roman, who opens it to reveal stacks of money inside. He grins wide.
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
That’s when all hell breaks loose.
The doors to the warehouse burst open and uniformed men flood inside with their guns at the ready. Someone shouts, “Don’t move, FBI!” But of course the guards from both sides start shooting. The agents return fire, and the next thing I know, bullets are flying everywhere. I duck and try to find cover.
Garrett puts himself between Olivia and the rest of the warehouse, shooting at the agents. Olivia turns to me, and her face is twisted with rage.
“You traitor!” she screams at me. “What did you do? Who are you?”
I ignore her and try to run, but she pulls a gun from her purse and aims it straight at me.
“I will deal with you myself,” she says.
I freeze with my hands in the air, but from the corner of my eye I see a pool of black liquid moving across the floor toward me. My breath catches. That’s Zeth. I know it’s him, and I can’t fight the urge to meet him halfway. I want to feel him inside me because only then I will feel safe.
I bolt to my right just as Olivia presses her finger on the trigger. My foot connects with Zeth’s liquid shape, and I feel him taking over me, pouring himself under my skin. Just as the bullet is about to lodge into my chest, Zeth rushes to the surface like armor around me. I’m inside him now, or more like I’m still standing here, but Zeth is all around me, enveloping me to protect me.
We are one.
I feel the bullet pierce him under the sternum, but his body matter bounces it back. Before I fully wrap my mind around what’s happening, the bullet is out and ricocheting across the floor.
It’s dark inside him, but it’s not a scary kind of darkness. It’s warm and safe, like nothing can reach me. I can see through his eyes the way he sees through mine when we’re merged, and I realize the roles are reversed now. It’s fascinating.
Olivia gasps and starts shooting again, round after round. I see her desperation through Zeth’s eyes as his body keeps rejecting the bullets with no effort at all. He advances toward her until her gun is empty and she’s pressing the trigger with no effect.
Zeth grabs her arm and twists.
Olivia drops the gun and screams.
“You...” she starts to say, but Zeth pulls her close to his face.
“I’ve been wanting to do this,” he sneers.
He squeezes her arm so hard that I hear the bones shatter. Olivia wails, and when he pushes her back, she tumbles to the ground and stays there, cradling her ruined arm. I can feel thatZeth wants to do more, wants to cause her pain, destroy her completely, and it’s terribly hard for him to hold back, but he does.
Silence has fallen over the warehouse. When Zeth looks up, I see through his eyes that the agents are cuffing the people who are still alive. Roman is in cuffs, his face pale and shocked. Garrett is lying on the floor in a pool of blood, his stare blank. I feel nothing when I see him dead. Today, he showed his true colors, and he got what he deserved.
Captain Holt approaches us.
“Where is Wren?”
Zeth retreats and pours out of me, and then I’m myself again, whole and untouched.
“Are you hurt?” Captain Holt asks, looking me over with concern.
“No, I’m fine.”
Captain Holt nods and looks at Zeth, who’s now standing next to me in his humanoid form.
“Good job, you two. We hit all their locations at once. I just got word that Viktor Kyzer was arrested, along with his sons. This is more than we expected. What you did here will make the history books.”
I don’t know about that. It seems like an exaggeration. But I’m relieved that it’s over, that we survived and the mission is complete.
“What now?” I ask.
“Debriefing,” Captain Holt says, patting me on the shoulder. “Then I think you should take a vacation before your next case.”
