Chapter Two

"What do you mean we're not leaving yet?" Hayes says, as I sit in front of mirror, brushing my hair.

Before he got in the shower, as he was asleep, I received a phone call from Patrick, informing me that he has word of where Dante may be located, but he was waiting for the information to download. That was an hour ago.

I look at him through the mirror. "What else could it possible mean? I don't know how else to say it. We're not leaving until I get my information."

"You know Patrick's probably going to get killed because of you."

"Oh, you know Patrick?" I ask, putting my hair in a high ponytail.

"Know him? The man practically taught me everything I know about hacking into systems. He's a good person and you shouldn't have threatened his family."

I stand up. "Because that's your job?" I arch an eyebrow. "Patrick gonna die one day if he continues to play double agent. Even if he didn't do my simple request, it wasn't gonna slow it down."

He crosses his arms over his chest. "Only speed it up."

"Look we can discuss this later but right now, we need to meet Patrick." I say, grabbing my things.

Thirty minutes ago, while Hayes was in the shower, Patrick called again to give me his address. I figured an hour was enough time to complete the download and now I'm heading over to him. Hayes can either stay here or shut the hell up and come along. He chooses smart and picks the second option.

"Did you steal another car?" He asks as we approach my newly acquired car.

"Depends. Is compelling him kindly to allow me use to his car for a bit the same as stealing it?"

He nods. "Yes."

"Then, yes, I stole another car." I say, getting inside. "He's not gonna remember ever having it or who I am."

"Even if he doesn't, his family are surely going to notice his missing car. They'll search for the license plate."

"I know, I'm not stupid. I swapped the license plates. If all is going well, they're looking in the wrong direction for us."

The car I swapped the plates with was, at the time, heading west, possible even south. I don't know and I don't care as long as it isn't anywhere in the east.

I pull into the parking lot, at the address Patrick had given me earlier. I head for the stairwell in building two. At the top of the staircase, I turn left and pass two doors before arriving at Patrick's. Before I can knock on the door, Hayes immediately grabs me and pulls me back.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Saving you."

"From?"

"It's a setup." He points the door. "You see there. The door isn't fully close. Someone got here before we did."

I roll my eyes. "You're being paranoid. Patrick must've forgot to close it all the way."

"And this is another reason why you're going to get yourself killed." He replies. "We have to leave. Whoever came before us, can very well still be here."

"I told you before, I'm not leaving until I get my information." I push open the door and step into eerie silence. Walking into the living room, there's Patrick lying on the floor, with his throat sliced and a pool of his own blood surrounding him.

I glance away and search for his laptop. Hayes stares at Patrick's dead body.

"You don't even care that he's dead and it's your fault." He says as I continue to search for the laptop.

"He had it coming." I say, nonchalantly. "At least they didn't torture him and no one has to threaten his family ever again." I find the laptop smashed and destroyed. "Whoever got here before us, took what I needed."

Hayes pulls the curtain back, slightly. He must've sensed something I haven't.

"We're about to find out who they are." He glances at me. "They're on their way up."

"Good." I smile. "They can give back what's mine."

"Think again, Millie." He says. "We're not staying. There are two coming but who's to say, there aren't more around the corner, waiting for us."

"Are you backing down?"

"Only when it's necessary and right now, it is necessary. We need to leave, now." He tells me.

"I don't know how many times I have to say this, I'm not going anywhere until I get my information." I run to the door and fling it open, heading to the men who are coming to us.

"Damnit, Millie." I hear Hayes says before he follows behind me.

I attack the closest one to me as he comes up the stair, my foot connected with his chest, hard. He falls back into the second man and they both tumbled down the staircase. I move before they can think about getting up. I get on top off the man I kicked as he friend gets to his feet. I can't deal with them both and I appreciate it when Hayes grabs the other guy, slamming him into the brick wall.

"Give me what's mine." I order as I grip the collar of the man's shirt.

I'm sure my weight isn't the thing keeping him down but the fact he probably have a concussion from his head impacting on the concrete.

"What are you talking about?" He says, disorientated. His eyes focuses on me before he frowns slightly. "Princess Millian? What are you doing here?"

I glance at Hayes and he looks at the second man, closely, before letting him go.

"These aren't Ramadi's men nor Abe's." He says.

"Of course we're not. I'm Agent Cooper and that's Agent Garza." He nods to the man on currently sitting on. "Why are you here, Princess?"

"I can ask you the same thing." I say, getting up.

"We got Patrick's message." Cooper informs us. "He said he needed backup and we're here."

"You're too late." I reply. "He's dead."

Cooper frowns. "How? What did you need from him? And why are you here?"

"You're asking too many questions and I'm afraid I can't answer them." I look straight into his eyes. "You will forget this moment. You never saw me or my friend over there. You came here because Patrick was in trouble. The ones responsible for his death got away." I turn to look at Garza. "Same goes for you. You won't remember this either. Now, Cooper attend to your partner and once we leave, you will forget ever seeing us. Got it?"

He nods. "Got it."

I glance at Hayes. "Let's go."

Hayes has this look on his face like he knows something I don't as we get into the car.

"What? Did I do something wrong beside not feeling any kind of remorse for Patrick?" I ask, pulling out the lot.

"You might've compelled them to forget our faces, but the government will do some digging about Patrick's dead."

"Okay." I reply, not getting what he's hinting. "What does it have to do with us. We're not the ones who killed him."

"No, but they will be looking for us." He looks at me. "They caught us on the cameras in the stairwell."

"This is why I had the wig just in case something like this happened. If we get followed, it's your fault."

"If we get followed, it's because of you." He says. "I told you to leave Patrick alone. You should've never involved him or the government. That's one more thing we have to hide from because you refuse to go back to Montana."

"You know, you don't have to be here. You can leave. I'm not holding you hostage."

"Trust me, if I could, I'd leave."

I look at him. "Then why don't you?"

My question is met with silence as Hayes turns to look out the window. I've seen that look too many times to know whatever his reason is for staying and not dragging my ass back to Montana, when he has the strength to do so, it isn't for my sake. He has something to do whatever he's hiding from me.

If I were the old Millie, I would demand what he's keeping from me, but I'm not and I honestly can careless about his secrets. If wanted me to know, he would've obviously told me. He said so himself the last time I had questioned him about him leaving to Europe. He kept his real reason for going to Europe to himself instead of confiding in me.

He speaks five minutes later. "If you're going to do this, you need to listen to every word I say and do exactly as I do or you'll never make it to Ramadi."

That isn't what I expect him to say but I can't say I'm disappointed. I'm actually glad he's finally on board with my journey of killing Ramadi. I'm sure he wants his revenge as much as I do. I would much rather do it my way but I can admit, Hayes is better skilled than me. He can do what I can't do and I can do what he can't. We need each other to succeed.

"Okay, I'm listening." I reply. "What's your plan?"

"We are a target on Abe's list as well as the government's now that Patrick's dead. We can only assume that Ramadi's men took him out because he found Ramadi's location."

"I was actually looking for Dante." I informed. "If I find him, he can lead me straight to Ramadi."

He nods. "Makes sense when Dante's apart of his inner circle, but so are the Morches."

I haven't seen the Morches since the night they attack us due to their king's, Gethrol, order. I wouldn't expect Ramadi to have offer the Morches any sort of deal since they were both rivaling to be ruler of the new world, the world they both envisioned.

I frown. "What do you mean? Since when were Ramadi and the Morches working together?"

They're enemies. It doesn't make any sense unless Ramadi did offer the Morches an offer they couldn't refuse. Maybe an offer to rule beside him? That's the only logical explanation. I know for a fact Ramadi would rather work alone than give up being king of an entire world.

"I don't have an exact date. I found out the day Lily died."

"So, we also have the Morches to watch out for."

This may be a little harder than I originally thought. Since our advantage was taken away, the Morches now have the ability to roam freely in the daylight. The only thing that kept them for doing so was Lily being connected to the sun. When she died, so did the part that harmed the Morches.

"Now do you understand why you would have never be able to do this on your own?"

I nod, stubbornly. "I get it. I need help. I still don't see where you're going with your plan?"

"My plan is to check every location Patrick gave you last night."

I glance at him. "Do you know how long that's going to take?"

That list had over twenty locations to search in and they are all scattered around the world. I don't have time to search each and every single one of them.

"Do you have a better idea?" He ask, arching an eyebrow.

"I did until Patrick got killed and took whatever information he had with him."

"So, no you don't. We'll start with the closest location to us and continue on."

I pull the list from my pocket and give it to Hayes. He scans the paper and nods.

"This isn't bad. It's a handful but I can tell you already a third of this list are decoys."

"How?"

"When I went to Europe, my father's old friend, did some digging for me and got the same list. He had some people check out most of the locations and the ones they went to were supposed to be used as lures."

"Okay, where do we start."

"Our first stop is, Nashville, Tennessee."

"That doesn't exactly scream secret hideout." I say.

"Which makes it a perfect place to put a hideout at. It'll take us at least half a day to get there if we take turns driving."

"I'm good to go as long as I have my coffee." I say, smiling.

After making a quick pit stop at a nearby store, we're back on the road. I take sips of my coffee as Hayes watches for anyone who might've trailed us. Three hours later, we're in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank and to stretch my legs. I lean against the car as I wait for the tank to fill up. Suddenly, I feel the right side of me get soaking wet my jaw drop.

I turn to my right with narrow eyes. I see three kids looking at me with regretful eyes before they take off running.

"Just let it go, Millie." I tell myself, removing the gas nozzle. "Let it go."

"What happened to you?" Hayes asks, returning from inside the store.

"Kids." I reply. "Did you get my.."

He holds up my favorite snack; chocolate chips cookies. "Got it. Let's go."

Inside the car, I change shirts before getting back on the road. We still have eleven hours left before we reach our first location.

Somewhere along the road, I must've gotten tired because I woke up in the passenger's side while Hayes is driving. Glancing out the window, I realize it's nighttime and we are only a few hours away from Nashville.

"Where are we?" I ask, turning to look at Hayes.

"On the outskirts of Ohio, almost in Kentucky." He replies in a tried voice.

I didn't notice it before but hearing how tired he is, I now can see the tiredness around his eyes as he stays focused on the road. I'm the one to blame for his lack of rest. The night before we left New York, I was inconsiderate. While I was getting my night's rest, Hayes was awake, keeping a lookout for us. That's what he was trained for and I didn't even switch shift with him during the night so he could rest as well.

I had offered to drive and stay up with him, but after the last stop we made, I forgot to grab my cup of coffee, thinking I wouldn't need it. I thought I could at least make it to Nashville on the other cups of coffee I had consumed.

I assumed Hayes made me pull over before I killed us both when I was falling asleep, six hours ago. Hayes has been running off of less than two hours of sleep and he took it upon himself to drive the second leg of the trip while he stayed up with me during the first half.

"Stop." I say, softly.

"Huh?"

"Pull over up here." I order, pointing to a rest stop.

He frowns. "Why? We're almost there."

"We're not gonna make if you fall asleep at the wheel."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not going to."

He past by the rest stop determined to keep going.

"It still doesn't mean you can't get some rest. I know you can make it the four hour drive to Nashville but what are you going to do if we run into a problem?" I ask, lifting an eyebrow. "What energy would you have?"

He seems to be thinking about it before he sighs a moment later. "Alright but wake me before we get into Nashville."

"Got it." I reply as he pulls over to the side of the road.

We switch spots and I turn on my right blinker, waiting for the moment to get back on the road. Once it's clear for me to go, I go. Hayes leans the seat back and folds his arms over his chest closing his eyes, concealing his gorgeous grey eyes.

I arrive in Kentucky ten minutes later. I reach Louisville in an hour and half. I stop to fill up the tank. Hayes is still sleeping and I take the opportunity to watch him sleep peacefully, through the lightly tinted window.

I remove the nozzle when I see a familiar car. It resembles  the same one I had seen an hour ago. Every move I made, they did too. I had ignored it because they wasn't much I could do about a straight road. There's only one way to go. I couldn't be suspicious about that but now I can be as they pull up to a gas tank a few rows down from me.

I get into the car and pull onto the road, glancing into the rear view mirror, watching as the person exit their car. My suspicion ceases when I see it's an elderly man heading inside to pay for gas.

Turning my attention back onto the road, I take the next right and merge onto the highway that will lead me to Nashville in the next three hours.

As I drive, I sing along with the radio, quietly not to disturb Hayes' slumber. I shovel a handful of fries into my mouth and pick up the ones that fall onto my lap. I grab more fries before reaching into the bag to get my burger. I take a huge bit and moan in pleasure.

It's close to midnight when we arrive in Nashville. Hayes told me to wake him before we got here but I couldn't wake him when he so clearly needed his rest.

"Hayes." I call out, shaking him lightly. "We're here."

Unlike me, he immediately wakes up on the first shake and takes in the new surrounding.

"Where do I need to go?" I ask.

"Keep going straight until you reach the lights and then make a left." He instructs me.

I do as he says and continues to follow his instructions until we reach out destination. It isn't an rundown abandoned warehouse. It's a nice, and tall business building. There are company cars parked on the side of the building in the parking garage.

I park in the front and cut the engine.

"You didn't run into any problems while I was asleep, did you?" Hayes asks as we head to the door.

"Other than thinking this old man was following us, no."

Hayes halts his steps. "Old man?" He repeats.

I nod. "Yeah. What's the big deal? It's not like he was following us."

He still seems on edge even after my reassurance and I don't know why. I lost the old man back in Kentucky three hours ago.

"Let's go." I tilt my head toward the building. I begin to walk to the door again. Looking through the glass doors, I can't see anything except pitch darkness. Perfect. There's no one here.

I look back at Hayes and he is still in the same spot. Only this time he's glancing up to the roof.

"You want us to climb up to the roof?" I ask, lifting an eyebrow.

He looks at me. "No. Something isn't wrong."

I frown. "You do you mean? I promise we weren't followed."

Hayes starts backing up slowly. "Millie, we need to leave." He replies. "Now."

"Why?"

Hayes doesn't have the chance to fill me in when nolan ropes falls from the top of the building and guardians come sliding down them. The rest storm from the parking garage and the other side of the building with guns raised.

The thing is, they aren't pointed at me, or even paying me any attention.

All eyes are on Hayes as he is surrounded.

Confusion is written all over my face and it turns to disbelief when the leader of the group speaks.

"Hayden Cipriano, you are under arrest for high treason and the death of Princess Lillian Delariox."