Chapter 29

His hands were tied down to the metal chair, but even I knew that it wouldn’t keep him down for long.  For one of us, things like rope and twine were easily undone.  It was one of the first lessons Mitch had taught us all, how to escape.  Because when things plummeted southward, when you screwed up the mission or it was compromised, the only thing that would make sure you were alive was knowing all of your escape routes.

“When will he wake up?”

George walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist in what I knew was meant to be in comfort, but all he succeeded in doing was making me smile.  Leaning back into his chest, I let out a sigh when his scent enveloped me.  It’s times like these that I wonder why I wasted a year of my life.  How could I have walked away from him all those years ago?

“In about two minutes,” he whispered before letting out a sigh.  His breath brushed against my ear, and I knew the words he was about to say were hard for him.  “I need to ask you something.”

Even though his grip was tight around me, I had enough room to turn in his arms.  By the tone of his voice, I knew that I needed to see his face when he asked the question, and he had to look into mine when I told him my answer, because despite the fact that we were some of the best at keeping our thoughts private, we could read each other better than we could read ourselves.  It was why we were such a good pairing, why Mitch had to split us apart.

“If Gabe wasn’t still working for Mitch, if he hadn’t betrayed you—”

“It’d still be you, George,” I interrupted, already knowing what he was going to ask.  “I may have spent a couple of years with Gabe, trying to make myself feel something that only you can make me feel.  One day though, I would have come to realize how stupid I was being.”  A small smile pulled up one half of his lips.  “It doesn’t matter anyway; you wouldn’t let me waste too much time.”

He bent down slightly, brushing a kiss across my lips.  “You’re right.  I wouldn’t have let you stay away from me for another year.” His hand ran up my back before settling on the side of my face.  Not being able to resist, I leaned into his touch, which made his small smile widen.  “He’s awake,” he whispered before pressing a quick kiss to my lips.  Dropping his arms from around me, he walked towards Gabe.

I turned to watch his movements, and there was no doubt that George was angry.  It was in the way his usual stride turned predatory, the way that his carefree motions turned calculated.  His hand slipped into his pocket, and a small switch blade gleamed in the light overhead. 

“Do you know where we are?” George asked.

Gabe’s expression stayed neutral, but the small flash in his eyes let me know that he did.  “You’re house.  Not the one that you built for Mitch’s pet project, but the one your agents stay in.”

My jaw ticked, but that was the only outward action that let them know how pissed I truly was, not only at Gabe for gaining my trust and breaking it, but at Mitch for setting this entire thing up.  The worst part was that I still didn’t understand.  I still didn’t know why Mitch did this to begin with.  Why he sent me out on a false mission.

“That’s right,” George whispered as he smiled down at Gabe.  It wasn’t a happy smile, not one to make you feel comfortable.  If anything, this smile was chilling.  Even with it directed at Gabe, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck rise.  “And every single one of them wants a crack at you.  Every single one of my agents begged for a minute alone with you, to show you just what happens when you betray someone.”

 Gabe turned to look at me, but the expression on his face was different than it had been before.  Where once I saw happiness in his smile, comfort in his eyes, all that was there now was anger.  “Are you talking about my betrayal of you, your organization, or are you talking about her betrayal?”  He motioned towards me, the smile on his face turning to one of pure hatred.  “I’m not the one you wanted to run away with.  Hell, you didn’t even like me, but how does it feel to have someone that you love choose someone else?  How does it feel to have them turn their back on you?”

George laughed, shocking both Gabe and me.  He turned towards me, nothing but love shining through his eyes.  “Her loyalty is the first thing that hooked me.  She stayed with Mitch because of that loyalty.  She helped me escape because of that loyalty.  If she turned her back on me all those years ago, I’d be dead.”  He motioned at his own body.  “Still looks healthy to me.”

Gabe’s expression faltered, sending a smile to my face.  “That was the only ammo Mitch armed you with?” I asked while sauntering towards him.  “He honestly thought that after spending years with George that one small thing from our past would make us turn on one another?”

Our prisoner glanced away before I could take another step towards him, telling me exactly what I needed to know.  I changed directions, walking towards George instead.  As I got closer, I bent down, smiling up at him as I slipped the blade from his boot.  “Knifes and tranqs,” I whispered while shaking my head.  “I can always count on you to have them both.”

“Why don’t you check my front pocket?” he said while raising an eyebrow.  “There’s interesting things in there too.”

Standing up, I slipped my hand into his front pocket, pulling out a small vile.  I turned it until the label came into view.  My eyebrows instantly shot up.  “Seriously?  Do you know how dangerous this stuff is?”

“Read him the label.”

“Scopolamine.”  I turned towards Gabe, holding it to where he could see.  “Pretty nasty stuff, if I do remember right.”

Anger left his eyes, quickly being replaced by fear.  “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

George grabbed the vile from my hand, gave me his small switchblade, and then pulled a needle from his jacket pocket.  I kept my mouth shut, not asking him why he would keep that in his pocket to begin with.  “Of course you’ll tell me everything that I want,” George said with that same chilling smile as he turned the vile upside down, poked the needle into it and began sucking up its contents.  “But this way, you’ll not only tell me everything I want to know, but you also won’t remember doing so.”

He tossed the vile across the room, not bothering to look where it went.  He held the needle up, pushing the end just a little to make sure there were no air bubbles.  Walking towards Gabe, George shook his head.  “The most annoying thing about this drug is that it doesn’t only knock out your memory of now.”

“I’ve seen the side effects,” Gabe snarled as he jerked in the chair, trying to get away before George came any closer.

“Good.  Then you know you won’t remember earlier either, when I tranqed you, when we found out about you, and unless Mitch runs a drug test on you, he’ll have no idea either.  How does that sound?”

The last question was directed towards me and despite the fact that I hated this method with a passion; I could see how this could work for us.  We needed to surprise Mitch.  If he knew we were after him, we’d never get close.  He had too many resources, too much man power, and we’d never be able to get passed it all. 

“Sounds perfect.”

Gabe glared at me, as George turned to towards me.  I could see it in his eyes.  He knew that I didn’t like what we were about to do, but he also knew it was the best way to get what we wanted, the best way to stay alive in the end.  Nodding, I gave him the go ahead.  He didn’t smile at me, but simply nodded back with understanding.  Right then, I knew that he didn’t want to do it this way either.  No matter how much Gabe screwed George over, using these means never set well with the two of us, mainly because Mitch used them all too often.

“Mitch doesn’t have to know,” Gabe began as George turned back to him.  “I’ll answer your questions, leave, and not a word about this will leave my mouth.”

“I’m supposed to take your word on it?” George asked with a laugh before stabbing the needle into his arm.  He pushed the syringe down, injecting the drug into Gabe’s system.  “Sorry, but I can’t do that.”

Standing there, I watched as Gabe’s eyes became glazed.  His body relaxed and a smile even slipped onto his face.  Now, as the drug was running through him, I knew that I could ask him any question, anything, and he would answer.  He wouldn’t remember that he answered the question, but with the drug in him, he’d tell us the first thing that popped into his mind, more often than not, that thing was the truth.  It was time to get my answers, time to figure out why Mitch had started all of this, why the man I thought of as a father betrayed me.  The only problem was that now that I could get my answers, I wasn’t sure that I wanted them.