Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Thirteen's POV

I take a step toward Zack.

"Next bullet goes in you, or better yet, Lily," He says. "You don't seem to respond at all when pain is inflicted upon you, but you definitely react when it's someone else's pain. Plus, Garrett wants you alive . . . for now."

I glare at him.

He looks down at Zack. "I think you'll find that he's quite dead. Three shots right to the heart," He smiles in a sickening way, so different from his usual manner. "There's nothing you can do for him, and I've been wanting to shoot the bastard for a long time now."

"I'm only sorry I missed it."

I tense at the voice and my eyes go to the doorway where Garrett stands. He walks further into the room and kicks at Zack as he makes his way over to me.

"I wanted to see the look on my dear brother's face when he realized it was the end."

"You're a monster," I hiss as I glare at him.

He smiles darkly at me. "Am I? I think that depends on which side you're standing on." He looks back down at Zack. "I did warn him that he chose the wrong side. He knew the consequences. Pity."

Garrett turns his attention back to me. "The rest of your little team is being rounded up and brought here as we speak. Now you can make this easy or hard on them, depending on how cooperative you are."

I continue to glare, not sure I have the words to speak.

There's cursing coming from down the hall as Chase is shoved into the room at gunpoint. He looks down at Zack and his expression is unreadable. He looks back up to me.

"They took me by surprise and took out my earpiece before I could call out and warn you," He says. He glances briefly back at Zack. "But not before I heard what was happening in here."

Garrett looks down at his watch. "Well," He says to the guards. "Where's the other one?"

The guards shift nervously. "We're still looking for him. He set off a couple of explosions on the far side of the base before we could get him."

Garrett mutters curses. "How hard is it to round up one agent? The guy's a blundering fool. He shouldn't be that hard to catch. Never mind, I'll do it myself." He turns and strides quickly out of the room, pulling out his gun as he goes.

Chase's gaze is still on Zack.

"Oh, come now," He says. "You didn't even like him. I did you all a service. You were all suspicious of him anyway."

Chase's jaw and fists clench. He turns his steely gaze on him. "But no one suspected you."

"How could they?" Devin says, a dark smile on his face. "You all thought of me as nothing more than a prankster. You barely even thought of me as an agent. Why would you ever suspect me?"

I glare at him and Chase looks about ready to risk a chance at killing him. But I know he won't.

"Angry with me?" Devin questions mockingly. "Hurt? You care too much to take a chance at killing me."

"And evidently you don't care at all," Chase hisses.

Devin shrugs. "Caring about people is a weakness, and besides, you were all just a means to an end. You'll all be joining Zack shortly. Garrett only wants you around to keep Thirteen in check. After he gets what he wants, we won't be seeing each other ever again."

Devin waves his gun at Chase. "In the cell you go," He says.

When Chase doesn't move Devin makes a motion to the guards and they roughly force Chase into one of the empty cells, locking him in.

There's a commotion in the hallway and Jason is practically thrown into the room by Garrett, blood seeping from a cut lip, and a bullet in his arm. He spots Devin and swears before charging at him. His expression murderous.

Devin shoots him in the leg and Jason stumbles back. The guards grab hold of him and throw him into another empty cell. Jason lets out a groan and leans back against the wall.

Garrett comes walking into the room, and he's got quite a few minor cuts on his arms, and blood soaking his shirt from a slightly deeper cut in his side. He's glaring murderously at Jason. Jason salutes him with his middle finger. Garrett turns red in anger.

He looks back down at Zack before gesturing to the guards. "Get the body out of here before it starts to smell."

"Yes sir," The guards reply. "What would you like us to with it?"

"Might I suggest tossing him down the incinerator?" Devin says with a smile. "Makes clean up so much easier."

Garrett nods in agreement and gestures for the guards to leave. They grab hold of Zack and drag him from the room.

"Now," Garrett says as he turns back toward me. "I'd love to get started on breaking you right away, but unfortunately that current position is filled," Sam. "so, in the cell, you go. I'll come back for you later. And depending on how much longer Sam lasts, maybe I'll give you the opportunity to watch as I did for Flower."

I don't move. I can't move. Everything's happening too fast and I feel like I'm frozen in place.

"Move," Garrett orders. "Or Devin starts putting holes in Lily over there."

I look over at Lily, who's sitting on the floor of her cell, her back against the wall and her eyes scrunched shut as if this is some bad dream that'll just go away.

I walk slowly to the cell Garrett's holding open.

"May I?" I hear Devin ask from behind me.

"Of course," Garrett replies.

When I turn around to face them to figure out what they're talking about, Devin's fist slams full force into the side of my head and I stumble, falling to my knees.

I spit blood out of my mouth and look up at him. "That all you got?" I hiss.

He smiles smugly at me. "Not quite." His foot connects with my side and I fall onto my back, lying in the middle of the cell. He leans down over me, so he's mere inches from me. "Can't tell you how long I've wanted to do that."

He gets to his feet and walks out of the cell and Garrett shuts and locks it. He waves the keys at me. "Devin and I will be back later. And I'll be sending a couple guards in to keep an eye on all of you." He waves the keys in his hands mockingly as he leaves with Devin in tow.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I look over at Lily, who's brought her knees up to her chest and is shaking her head back and forth vehemently.

"Not again," She mutters. "Not again. I can't do this again."

"Lily," I whisper as I reach my hand through the bars to put my hand on her shoulder. She keeps muttering to herself.

"He's right you know," Chase says and I turn my attention over to him. "I couldn't kill him even if I wanted to." He leans his head back against the wall.

"Thirteen could do it," Jason says. I whirl to face him.

"Excuse me?"

He shrugs. "I don't mean anything by it. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm just saying, cause you've done it before."

I shake my head and look away from him. "You're wrong," I say quietly. "I couldn't do it again." This is the first time he's brought up my brother. "And I was hoping you didn't remember that conversation."

"Be kind of hard to forget it."

"What do you mean?" Chase questions. "What are you talking about?"

Jason raises his eyebrows. "You didn't tell him?"

I shake my head. "He and Cody never knew. It was only you and Devin who knew about my brother."

"What about your brother?" Chase asks softly.

I don't look at him and stare straight out of the cell to the opposite wall. "He was working with Garrett. So, I killed him," I state, my tone emotionless and cold. Lily flinches.

I'm sure Chase wants to say something, but he doesn't. He seems to be having a hard time finding the words to say anything.

"What are we going to do?" Jason questions.

"Lydia and her people are still outside," I reply.

Jason shakes his head. "And that's likely where they'll stay. Garrett will make sure they can't get in."

"I know. He's counting on no one else getting in."

"And there's nothing we can do to change that," Chase says.

I shrug. "Not necessarily."

All eyes turn to me. "You know something we don't?"

I shrug again. "Zero knows where we are."

"A lot of good that does us," Lily mutters.

I nod. "True," I agree. "He'd be too slow to stage a rescue for us. Fortunately, if he was tipped off to where an enemy of the agency might be, he'd be likely to move a little faster."

Lily looks at me with wide eyes. "You tipped him off that Lydia would be here."

"You also didn't tell us about it," Jason says. "Which means Devin doesn't know about it."

It gets quiet again as no one says anything else. Everyone's just waiting.

"I still can't believe Devin-" Jason cuts off abruptly as pain flickers across his face. "And Zack," He says. "I mean, I didn't really like him all that much but still."

A guard comes into the room and leans up against the wall by the door, not paying much attention to any of us.

Devin comes walking into the room shortly after, waving mockingly at us. He takes a place up against the wall a short distance from the guard.

Jason glares menacingly at him and Chase just looks away. Lily stares at the concrete floor and I keep my face blank.

"Reverting back to the ice queen routine?" Devin questions with a dark smile on his face, so different than his usual mischief. "I bet I could get you to show some kind of emotion. Shall I tell you what's happening to Sam?"

My gaze snaps over to him and I notice Lily shudder out of the corner of my eye.

Devin's smile gets wider. "Oh yes, I can definitely get a reaction out of you. If it's any comfort to you, Garrett should be done soon, seeing as Sam's on the brink of death."

I keep myself from showing any outward emotion.

Devin smiles. "You've really got a handle on yourself, I'll give you that. Maybe I'll take you to see Sam before he departs from the land of the living. See if that gets a rise out of you."

I take in a deep, shaky breath and glare at him.

Lily, to my surprise, is the one who speaks up. "You come anywhere near any of us, and I'll slam your head into the metal bars so hard you'll be seeing double for the rest of your life if it doesn't kill you." Her voice is cold and deadly and her expression even worse.

Devin loses his cocky composure for a second as he stares back at her in surprise. And fear.

He takes a second to recover, masking his expression of surprise and a little fear and putting his dark smile back in place. He doesn't say anything as he looks down at the watch on his wrist.

We can hear an explosion echo from outside the base.

Devin lets out a whistle. "Man," He says. "Your sister's really putting up a fight," He tells me.

Another explosion sounds off, only this one is ten times louder and shakes the earth. Devin looks worried.

I can't help but smile. "That's not my sister," I tell him as I hear the roar of the engines as several planes pass over the base. Devin looks confused as he hears it too. "That would be Zero."

Devin's eyes widen and another explosion shakes the whole base, almost knocking Devin off his feet.

"You never said anything about bringing Zero into this," He growls.

I shrug. My turn for the smug smile. "Don't worry, he won't blow the base. You still have time before he starts sending teams in. Maybe you'll live through all this," I say with a careless shrug. Another explosion. "Then again, maybe you won't."

Devin looks back down at his watch again. Cursing under his breath.

Lily's suddenly laughing loudly. Devin looks over at her in disbelief and her eyes spark with fire as she looks back at him. "Zero's going to kill you," She says, her whole face lit up in amusement, it suddenly hardens. "And I'll be glad to help him."

Devin's phone rings and he smiles smugly once again when he reads the names on the display. "Garrett's calling," Devin looks at me, his expression cocky. "That means he's finished with poor Sam."

Dread begins to fill me.

Devin answers the phone, his gaze on me the entire time as he listens to Garrett on the other end. "On my way," He tells Garrett before hanging up and sliding his phone back into his pocket.

"Good news," He says as he looks at me. "You get to say your final goodbyes to Sam personally."