Chapter 34
There was someone following me, but as I crossed the last few miles and got out of the club’s vicinity, the Shadow Knight disappeared, I shook my head as I rode my way to the bunker.
I parked the bike in the garage, took off my helmet, and sighed. The adrenaline drained away, leaving me with nothing but a numb body, a mind ready to burst from exhaustion, and a heart unsure of what to feel first. I got off the bike and walked into the bunker. The moment my feet hit the iron stairs, every eye was fixed on me. Everyone was here–Jina, Kevin, Matt, Sky, Ria, lan, Tong, Siya.
Jina rushed to me the moment she saw me.
“Are you alright?” she asked, concern etched on her face.
“I’m fine. What could happen to me?” My voice was drained of tone and emotion.
“We saw there was a gunfight! You didn’t get out of the basement!”
At the mention of the basement, a flicker of embarrassment washed over me.
“The feed to the basement was cut off after Kevin and Eddie left,” Sky said, avoiding my gaze. She was like a little mouse, crimson tainting her cheeks. Smart as she was, she must have cut the feed before things got too far.-
She was just a few months younger than me, but she had sense.
“I’m fine. The gunfight ended, and I’m here,” I said, passing Jina without another look. A heavy silence fell, thickening the air with tension. Scanning the room, I asked,
“Where’s the newbie?” My voice rang in the deafening silence.
“Resting,” Jina answered. I turned to look at her, but she was watching me with questioning eyes. I looked away, paying it no mind.
I spotted my bag on my seat at the workstation and went to pick it up. Kevin looked at me with those big brown eyes, framed behind his large square glasses. I ruffled his already messy curls, patting him.
“You okay?” I asked. The calmer I was, the stiffer everyone else became. But Kevin relaxed and nodded. He was cleaned up and looking better, though dark circles still lingered under his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
1 nodded. “Sure.”
If anything had happened to him… the thought itself was unbearable. My jaw clenched.
I walked toward the office. No one moved—a good thing, because I might just explode in the worst possible way.
Once inside, I went behind the desk, setting the bike keys and my bag down. I slumped into the chair, its rolling wheels squeaking under my weight.
I rubbed my temple. What was supposed to accomplish in the last 12 to 15 hours had been constantly derailed. I needed to sort things out now. The lack of time frustrated me to no end.
I pulled a silver case out of my bag. At this rate, I’d become a chain smoker. I opened the case, but then Killian’s voice echoed in my head. The marks marred on his skin–the flashes of that memory, when he was bare, his beautifully tattooed skin tainted by…
Maybe I could finally understand what Killian felt when he saw my back.
I snapped the case shut and threw it back into my bag.
Jina walked in. I looked up, licking my lips in frustration.
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Chapter 34
“Alright, I’m here. Say it,” she said, sitting across the desk and looking at me.
“What do you want me to say?” I asked, feigning nonchalance.
“Look, I get it. You’re mad,” she said, leaning on her elbows against the desk.
I scoffed.
“I did something you disapproved of.”
I shook my head. “That’s not the issue.”
“Then what is?”
“I can’t be here for long periods, and this place doesn’t exist just because of me. You and Kevin both play a part in it.” I closed my eyes, suppressing the bitter feeling rising inside me. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. “You’re older than me, smarter than me, stronger than me. I’ve always left this place under your command without questioning it. This is your home.”
“This is our home,” she protested.
I shook my head. *Home?* I never had one. Probably never would. I didn’t have such high expectations from life.
“You can disagree with me. Go ahead, do something I disapprove of. I don’t have to agree with you for you to be right, and vice versa,” I said, leaning forward and meeting her gaze, steeling my heart. “But you have no right to keep me in the dark!”
I restrained my anger, keeping my voice low as I clenched my jaw. “This is my domain too, and everything that happens here has to be reported to me.”
She looked a bit taken aback.
“You started something you thought was right. Something went wrong. The best course of action should have been taking everyone into account, reporting, and coming up with a plan for rescue! How the hell did a trainee even get access to highly classified information?”
The idea was laughable.
“He was a kid with good intentions–I get it. But what if he wasn’t? What if he was sent here by someone? What if our anonymity was at risk? What if it wasn’t Killian Knight he heard of, but Christien Meng? Then what? Before we even knew it, their organs would be on the black market by now.”
Jina closed her eyes.
I unzipped my jacket, suddenly feeling suffocated. “We weren’t ready to create a field team. This is exactly why I said it should be pushed to a later date.”
“I understand,” Jina said.
“Do you?” I asked.
“When will we ever be truly ready?” she challenged, her expression hard.
“After the Patronus. When we won’t need anonymity as desperately as we do now. We need more resources. This needs to be meticulously planned. We do everything with a strategy–I’m not against the idea, just the timing.”
“We don’t have enough resources to get the Patronus out *and* free you.”
“But we work through a feasible plan. I thought you agreed?”
“Hiring some bounty hunters–that was your plan? Can we even trust them?”
“They’re not professionals, but criminals in the eyes of the law. And we both know some thieves have integrity–because “we are those thieves,” I said, bewildered by her skepticism.
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Chapter 34
We traded information to whoever paid for it–the more classified, secretive, and deep, the better. There was no good or bad side in KJM. But we had standards. Some things simply weren’t allowed, and if we could help it, we ensured the true monsters of society found themselves behind bars.
“So now what? Killian Knight is your knight in shining armor?”
“Jina, that’s low,” I said calmly but firmly. “Killian Knight wasn’t even in the picture when you started this. Don’t use him as a jab.”
She held my gaze, then looked away, guilt flashing across her face.
“Fine. I made a mess. I apologize,” she said, giving in.
“I trust you. But… don’t you trust me?” I asked. That was the heart of it all. I wouldn’t be here without her–we had risen from the same place.
She looked at me, guilt and shame filling her eyes.
“It’s not that. I just want to protect you. How much longer can you keep putting yourself in danger?”
“We created this together. Some of them outside are younger than us, some older. But one fact remains–it’s our responsibility to protect them,” I said.
“We should work together to protect them. And if we can’t, then we shouldn’t involve them. I won’t have someone dying for me.”
Killian’s image flashed before my eyes–blood, a gunshot-
A silence fell between us. I looked everywhere but at her.
“I was out of line,” she admitted.
“From now on, there are two rules,” I said. “One–nothing happens without reporting to me.”
She nodded.
“Two–no one is allowed to get themselves killed. We’re moving into dangerous territories, but that doesn’t mean it’s a free pass for suicide missions.”
She nodded again.
“Good. Now…” I glanced at the digital clock. *4:56 AM.*
“I have two urgent things to tell you. Is Kevin asleep?”
“Yes. Why doesn’t “he* get a scolding?”
“Because *you* are in charge of him,” I said, pulling out my laptop. Connecting my cracked phone, I opened the article Franny sent me and turned the screen to Jina.
She froze, then turned to me.
“She’s *really* dead?” she asked in disbelief.
I nodded.
She bit her lip, her eyes lighting up with something almost terrifying.
“Awesome!” she exclaimed. “How did this happen? They’re saying it’s a murder, but in the picture, it looks like she just fell and tragically broke her
neck.”
I shivered at the delight in her voice.
“What? Don’t tell me you “don’t like it?“,
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Chapter 34
“I don’t “want to like it,” I said. “I don’t know how to tell Kevin.”
That sobered her up.
“We’ll do it together tomorrow,” she said. Then, grinning, “I’d kiss the person who did this.”
“Yeah…” I cleared my throat. “You’re not allowed to do that.”
“Why not? It looks flawless.”
“Because Killian Knight did it.”
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