I chuckled moving closer to the bed.
"That is a name you will never have no matter how much you wish. Your brother will always be better than you a thousandfold. Like a shadow, you will only exist in his light."

"What brother?"

I rolled my eyes.
"This game you're playing... it's boring. Do you think you'll fool anyone by pretending to be pitiful?"

Zack lifted his head once more, his green eyes boring holes in mine.
"Pitiful?" He echoed with a taste of disgust.  "What are you even doing here?"

My foot froze in the air, before reversing back on the floor. What was I doing there anyway?
It was so late, the house was extremely silent, and there was no threat. So why did I feel the urge to be around the enemy?
Would my pregnancy give me some odd Zack-craving?
I shuddered internally at that horrific thought.
I would rather tie myself up and be locked in a dark room than let myself have such a devilish craving.

He'd be long dead before my cravings kicked in.

"If you tell me where Jack is, I may let you die in one piece, or one and a tiny fraction." My eyes dropped to his groin area for a second then back up to his face.
It felt as if I was looking at a version of Jack, but without the blue eyes or any warmth in those emerald balls.

"I do not know of this Jack you keep screaming about," he uttered throwing his gaze elsewhere.
The disrespect in his every word and breath heightened the fury scorching in my soul. I wanted to hop on him right then and there before driving the knife through his heart, ridding the world of his kind of evil.

"I swear you will regret ever showing up in California," I spat the threat and spun around to leave.

"Wait!" His voice boomed, halting my movements.

Tilting my head to the side, I asked, "What?"

"Can I have some water?"

A negatively amused huff came out of me as I once more turned to face him. "Water?"

"Yes. Maybe add some lemon, you'll need my throat to communicate." His words leaked arrogance and superiority. As if the world revolved around his ass.

"Oh sure. Anything for the VIP guest," I said, a sinister smile spreading on my face. If water is what he needed, then water he would get.

I ran up the short stairs before closing the door, locking itself automatically.
Once in the kitchen, the knife was dumped in the sink to focus on preparing a fabulous glass of water for the bastard.

Three minutes later, I was back in the basement.
"Here!"

Zack simply stared at me, his eyes questioning me.
"Oh, right, you can't move."

My right hand slipped on the back of his neck to aid him as his lips came in contact with the rim of the glass. The second he opened his mouth, my left hand shoved the glass further in while pouring the lemon water into a rough spill.
One gulp, and then he started choking from both excess intake of water and the highly concentrated lemon in it.
I quickly withdrew my hand, letting his head fall back so he could choke even more.

"Looks like you love the water. Should I get you more?"

*Cough*
*Cough*

They didn't cease, leaving me frowning as I put the glass down on the little worn-out table close to the bed.
Would he die?
If died this early, I would lose my only way of finding Jack.

Reminding myself that I needed the bloody bastard alive, I dashed onto the bed and quickly helped him lift his head up and then to the side.
The water seeped out of his nostrils in the company of his tears. And slowly, the choking ceased till the coughs vanished.
What was left was an ugly mess of water all over the lower half of his face and on the t-shirt he wore.

"I won't let you die that easily," I whispered thrusting his head back on the bed mercilessly before sliding off of it.
Dying from choking was such an easy death for the man who had assaulted me. I wanted him to bleed one drop of blood at a time till a river of it ran through the cell.

"You'll pay for that," he hissed, his voice breathless and coarse.
But I wasn't afraid of his threats, he was under my watch now. The worst thing he could do was maybe spit on me during the interrogation.

****************
****************

I was led in a hospital room by Matt. He had informed me of Zack's partner who had been with him when they found them unconscious on the shores of Malibu.
How they had got there, my team still couldn't tell, but whatever WSG was planning, I would destroy it before it even began.

The natural light from the drawn window provided a clear vision of the black-haired girl lying on the bed with her eyes shut.
The machines monitoring her were working, displaying normal activities within her body.

"Do we have an ID on her? Facial re-"

"No Boss. This only prices she's part of WSG. Not a thing about her was found throughout the database. It's like she doesn't even exist," Matt answered.

"Dammit! They're good," I murmured a conflicted praise, just as my knees touched the bed.
"She looks at least twenty. Any scars on her body?"

"No."

"Birthmarks?"

"None."

"Is her hair naturally black?" I asked, searching for any clues that could help identify her.

"No Boss. Her hair is supposed to be strawberry blond. From the dye on it, she changed it about a month ago."

"What brand did she use?"

"They haven't filled in that detail. But I will make sure everything is there."

"Her eyes?"

Matt moved to my side before he forced one of the girl's eyes open. A blue iris came in sight.
"So blue eyes, red hair..."

"And a chip in her brain. But different from the one they had put in yours."

"Fuck!"
It meant I could be dealing with an innocent victim like I had been.
Fuck WSG.
When would the war against them end?

"She uttered the name Jack at least three times last night."

Matt's statement sent me into the void where time had slowed, and the world had vanished.