Chapter 91 Chapter 91
"What you did was stupid." He said as he pushed back strands of my hair, which fell over my face.
"I know you really don't believe that." I tried a smile. Sarcasm was always a good go-to in tense moments for me.
"Well, I'm sure you know I'm right. You didn't have to put your life in danger for my sake. That is what I am most experienced in. I wanted to be there to protect you, but I can't be there if I don't even know where you are."
"I know, but she had given me a time and a location. A window of opportunity that could have been closed if I hadn't shown up. I took it, and yes, it was stupid, dangerous, and..." tears swelled in my eyes.
"She's dead. Claudia is dead, and I really don't know how to feel about that." My hands shook with the glass of water still in them. Damien took it from me and held me close. The tears I had not been able to shed since I managed to escape the near-death situation flowed now easily.
"We will figure this out. Let's check out the flash drive." He said and picked up his laptop. I watched with interest as he worked to secure the system before opening the drive.
An encrypted file was loaded onto the system, but that was not a problem for Damien. He decrypted it expertly, and a long list of names popped up on the screen.
"Whoa," I exclaimed, how did the organization know so many people? But of course, that was a theoretical question; they had affiliates.
Damien's eyes scanned through the list, and I focused on his expression because that was how I would know whether or not this had been worthwhile.
So far, none of the names struck a cord and so, he kept scrolling. Until suddenly, he paused.
"You've got to be kidding me." He muttered. I sat up, finally curious.
"What is it?" I stared at the name he had clicked on, Grabiel Sanchez.
"Do you know him?" The frown on Damien's face had deepened. The lines on his forehead folded even more. His eyes were wide with trepidation, and he looked completely shaken.
"No, it can't be. I thought you were dead. You are supposed to be dead." He muttered to himself, and I frowned.
Moments later, he had shut the laptop down and was perched at the edge of the sofa, his hand folded under his chin, while he stared thoughtfully into space.
"Damien. What is it?" I asked, touching his shoulder, and he got up.
"Gabriel Sanchez was my right-hand man once. We were really close, thick as thieves, but he betrayed me, and we had an ambush that didn't end well for him. I thought he was dead."
The impression of the betrayal was evident on Damien's face. He looked perplexed, and that was not an expression one really associated with Damien Paulo.
"Isn't this the season for the walking dead?" I muttered to myself. First, it was Alexander, and now him? I even toyed with the idea that perhaps if I hadn't seen the bullet go through Claudia's chest, I would have thought she was alive, too.
"But if he is alive, then does that mean he is still working with the Syndicate? I mean, it only makes sense that he probably faked his death to get away from you after you found out about his betrayal."
Damien shook his head, still unable to believe it or piece the puzzle together. Why was this such a hard thing for him?
"I didn't find out about his betrayal until we were at the location where we were ambushed by another organization. I saw him get shot, I held his body in my hands, and he had asked me to leave as soon as the men arrived."
"The place exploded, and he died." He sounded as if he was trying to convince somebody who wasn't in the room with us.
"If he is alive, then perhaps he could be the key to helping us figure out what the Syndicate is planning." I offered. I didn't know what was going on, but I was certain we would not find out by sitting still.
"Well, we don't know for sure that he is still alive. This could be fabricated, all of this. I mean, how did Claudia get her hands on all these names?"
Was he doubting the dead woman? Well, she risked her life to hand it to us, so it had to be valuable.
"What about Marcus? He could tell us. I know he won't, but if he won't talk about the Syndicate's plans, then perhaps he would be happy to graze an old wound of yours open just to amuse himself." I suggested.
Damien looked uneasy with the suggestion, but there was no saying it would not work. We just had to try.
"You said it yourself, he has been keen on keeping information from us. If he wanted to hurt me, that would have been the best angle to go."
Why was he so bent on denying this? Was Damien Paulo scared of finding out the truth? He seemed like he was avoiding it more than he was trying to discover it.
"I understand if this is too much right now, but the sooner we find out the truth, the sooner the Syndicate goes down."
He nodded, agreeing with me for the first time in a while, and I felt relieved.
"I'll have Duke interrogate him again, and then we'll see what we do from there." He scratched at the edge of his palm like a bad habit he was unconscious of. It was disturbing seeing him like this.
He was upset, I could tell, and in all honesty, his situation scared me as well. How could a man be betrayed over and over again? Why him? What was the Syndicate offering these people that made it so easy for them to walk away from Damien?
More importantly, why was Damien such a threat to the Syndicate? Suddenly, the laptop dinged, and I opened it.
Damien was at my side in record time as well; he had received a video message.
I turned to look at him questioningly. It was from an anonymous source. He opened it, and right before our eyes, a video of Gabriel Sanchez speaking to some of Alexander's men in a strange location filled the screen.