Chapter 30

Agent Ronnie Keevler knocked on the Director’s door. She was holding a disc in one hand. It was the security footage from Exclusive. They had to hack the cartel boss’s heavily secured computers to obtain the feeds, managing it without leaving any trace of their presence.

“Whatcha got?” a male voice asked off to her right, with an air of bored curiosity. “The boss ask for this?”

Ronnie looked that way and saw Escher coming toward her from over by the vending machines. Once he got closer to her he tried to reach out and pluck it from her fingers. Before he could even get close, she whirled in a blur, her free arm latching onto his wrist and yanking it up his back as far as it could go before snapping. There was a gratifying yelp of pain, and more of it when she pushed him up against the wall.

“Don’t touch me, Escher,” she whispered, leaning in close to his ear. “Or next time I’ll rip your arm out of its socket.”

“You’re…so cute…when…you…threaten…physical violence…ahh!!” he gasped, letting out another yell when she jerked on his arm again, apparently not liking the arrogant tone to his voice.

“Shut up and leave.” She pushed him aside, away from the Director’s door.

He stumbled across the floor for a second but after he regained his balance, he turned toward her and smiled just as cocky as ever. He rubbed his arm gingerly.

“Maybe we can play some other time.” He gave her a mock salute and then went back over to the vending machines, putting in some cash and waiting for a package of Skittles to come falling out. Ronnie turned her back on him and proceeded to ignore him like she did most of the time. A moment later, Isaac opened the door and gestured for her to come inside. She did so and took a seat in front of his large desk. There was a worried expression on the Director’s face that she didn’t care for at all. He was usually a man who kept his emotions closely guarded, rarely showing anything but a calm, business-like manner.

“The footage you asked for, sir,” Ronnie said without hesitation, handing over the simple little disc to him. He slid it into the computer and waited for the software to load it. “Did you have any problems doing what I asked?”

“We were able to erase the footage from their hard drive. I went to the police station to acquire their copy but it came up missing. So far, we have only guesses as to what happened but to be honest, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

“Marks,” he said.

Ronnie just nodded her head.

“He wants revenge and he can’t do that if the cops connect Subjects I and II with the heist and murders,” Isaac said. “He arranged for the police’s copy to end up missing. That means his people found something and they don’t want them to know about it.”

“Exactly, sir,” she said. “However careful the subjects thought they were, it wasn’t enough. Marks knows who they are.”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Isaac told her dismissively. “There’s nothing he can do to them. They’re indestructible.”

That didn’t ease his fears as much as he would have liked though. Isaac believed that men like Marks always found a way to do as much harm to people as they could in very short periods of time.

“And what if he goes after their girlfriends? They aren’t indestructible,” Ronnie asked. “If something happens to one of them, it could start one hell of a shitstorm.”

“That is all,” he told her, his voice firm. He dismissed her and in doing so, her question too. He didn’t miss the harsh glare in her dark eyes.

Ronnie got up and left, undisguised anger in every inch of her body. Watching her like that, how angry she was with him for apparently disregarding human life, made him feel like a bastard. At the moment, he felt no different than General Armstrong. At the same time, however, he knew Marks wasn’t stupid. The man didn’t get to where he was by being an idiot. He knew he couldn’t hurt either subject directly so he had to find a less direct method. When Ronnie mentioned that the police’s copy of the footage was misplaced, he knew instantly that a firestorm of trouble was starting to brew. Marks would use whatever knowledge he gained from the tapes to get his revenge. He would track down the subjects and after that, the people closest to them. Those would be the ones Marks would target, using them as lures to get his money back and then killing them just to torture the subjects.

He pushed those thoughts aside and played the disc with Exclusive’s security footage on it. He watched in complete amazement as the two men literally took down one of the most powerful drug cartels in the country in a matter of minutes. It was extremely impressive to watch and it only made his apprehension concerning the two young subjects grow. They had the power to be unstoppable forces in the world and that truly scared him. With no way of stopping them they could rampage over anyone in their way, exactly like they did to Marks and his drug empire.

He focused once more on the screen and watched as Subject II crushed a man’s throat. Even on the somewhat grainy video quality, Isaac could still see the burning hate in Subject II’s eyes as his fist closed around the man’s thick neck, blood spurting between his fingers. He saw the callous way in which Subject II tossed the man’s dead body over the railing without a second thought as he searched out his next victim. Isaac took note of the fact that Subject II took his time killing that one. Richard Williams, he remembered. Marks' right hand. He went back to watching, just in time to see Subject II deal the man several crippling and extremely painful looking injuries before finally snapping his neck. He saw Subject I in the picture at times, trying to get II to stop killing, but II completely ignored I’s attempts to stop him and even sent him away at one point. That was when Subject I went inside the office to confront Marks.

The fact that Subject I tried to stop II from killing men that likely deserved it would suggest certain levels of humanity in him. But Isaac couldn’t let that sway him now.

I can’t afford to let myself believe they’re human anymore, Isaac thought darkly to himself.

“Just drop it,” Darius said in frustrated annoyance. It had been two weeks since the robbery and Alex still sulked around like a dog that just lost their master. “I paid for what I did, all right? Anna found out and now she won’t have anything to do with me. She thinks I let myself become a monster. You spend most of your time with Cassie anyway, so it’s not like you have to really put up with me that much. How about we just forget the whole thing and move on?”

Alex thought about what Darius said for a while and came to the conclusion he was right. He might have hated him for what he did but in the end he was suffering because of it. He had gotten a sort of karmic punishment for the murders.

“Fine. I’ll drop it but only because you make a good point. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about what happened with Anna.”

“It’s my own fault,” he replied, sorrow ringing in his voice. “I’m not sorry for what I did but I am sorry that it changed the way she sees me now.”

“Give her time. I’m sure she’ll come around,” Alex told him confidently. He clapped Darius on the back. “She loves you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Darius was not convinced of that at all. At least, not anymore. He tried calling Anna, practically blowing up her phone, but every call went unanswered and every message he left for her was ignored. When he showed up at her door one day, knowing full well she was there, she ignored him then too. He stayed in front of it for a long time, thinking that persistence might force her to open it, but Victoria caught him and made him leave. He did so grudgingly, wanting nothing better than to shove the nosy RA into a broom closet and leave her meddling ass there, but in the end he left peacefully because he thought Anna would hate him more if he physically assaulted Victoria.

She continued to treat him like he didn’t exist, even going so far as to blow him off completely when he tried to corner her after one of her classes. She saw him and for one instant of pure hopefulness he thought she was actually going to talk to him. There was something he saw in her eyes, or maybe the subtle way her shoulders became a tiny bit more relaxed. Instead, she continued past him as if he weren’t even there. He might not have felt real, physical pain anymore but when she did that to him, it hurt like hell. It was like getting sliced by dozens of razors, each one making deep cuts into his heart.

Alex saw the pain and hurt in his friend and whatever residual anger he felt quickly drained away. He felt better for it too. That anger had been like walking around with fifty pound weights tied to his chest and back. Now that the anger was gone, he just felt lighter.

“We both just need to get on with our lives,” Alex advised. “You don’t have to give up on Anna, not yet, but don’t sit in here throwing yourself a pity party either.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Darius waved an irritated hand in the air. He was glad he and Alex had been able to get past all the bad stuff between them and were on better speaking terms. However, Alex was not Anna and he felt like he needed her badly. “You got any plans tonight?”

“Yeah, I was going to take Cassie out for dinner and a movie,” he said, smiling with a big, dopey grin.

“All that money we stole from Marks and that’s where you take her? You’re hopeless.” Darius replied, a small, tired smile on his face.

“Well, maybe you can give me some advice for next time,” Alex shot back. Then he glanced at a duffel, this one blue and black with white piping around the edges. It was filled almost to the brim with the stolen money from Marks. After the heist, Darius transferred all the money from the trash bag to the duffel. All told, they had walked away with roughly half a million dollars. It was definitely a nice chunk of money. Alex took part of it and paid off what he owed for the semester, then bought a silver, slightly used 2003 Toyota Camry. He also decided to get a better phone, opting for the latest, and greatest, phone on the market.

Darius, however, hadn’t spent a penny of his half of the money.

There was a knock on their door and Alex felt a thrill of excitement race through him. He looked to Darius and found him quietly watching TV.

“You gonna be alright?” Alex asked. He went to his desk and picked up a black jewelry box and put it into a pocket in his pants.

Darius just waved him off.

“Ok. Well, see ya,” Alex told him and then opened the door.

Cassie was on the other side, smiling happily at him. She leaned in, looking around until she spied Darius.

“Hey there.” She waved, but stopped when she saw his dark, sulky mood.

“Cassie,” Darius said, tonelessly. He tried to smile at her, but it came out looking miserable and pathetic. “How’s life?”

“Good,” she replied, still trying to be cheerful. “Anna still won’t talk to you?”

Darius sighed. “Nope. Not a word.”

“What happened between you two?” she asked for about the hundredth time.

Darius had to reign in his growing frustration. He didn’t want to go over it with her again but it seemed he would have to.

“Cassie,” he replied quietly and made at least a bit of an effort to sound polite. “Quit prying. It’s none of your business.”

She frowned cutely, looking to Alex for support.

“Leave it alone, babe. Trust me,” he told her as gently as he could. He led her out and she followed.

They started down the stairs, deciding to go to the Court. When they got outside, the air was cold and some snow was on the ground now. Cassie zipped up her coat but Alex didn’t wear one. She looked at him, slightly jealous.

“I’ll never understand how you can just walk outside in the dead of winter with no coat on and act like you’re just chill in on a beach or something.” She pouted cutely at him. “Makes me so jealous. I’m freezing.”

“Let me help warm you up then,” he told her, slyly. Then he put an arm around her and folded her into his body. She snuggled into him and feeling her there was like his own personal heaven.

They continued on like that, laughing and joking the whole time. Alex couldn’t remember a time he’d ever been that happy. The same could be said for Cassie. She had been with several men and one woman but not one of them had ever made her feel the way Alex did. He was special.

The two of them were so absorbed in each other, neither one noticed a figure getting up from a bench in front of Creek.

The lone person, covered in a thick coat and a hood pulled over their head to shadow their face, followed after the two of them with silent footsteps.