Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
It’s then that I remember the keys.
By the front door of the house, there was a bowl, and Apollo dropped his house keys inside when we entered last night. I know where his office is from the surveillance data I was given before I took this job, and I know that it’s kept locked whenever he isn’t using it. Are the keys to the office in that bowl?
I won’t say I’m not curious, even for my own sake. Exactly what evidence is there that could sink this whole organization?
Shaking my head, I take a deep breath. I won’t do it. I refuse.
I sit at the top of the stairs, dial the number and raise the phone to my ear.
“Agent Divine, can you talk?”
I keep my voice low. “I haven’t found anything. The mission has failed.”
“Not a fucking chance, Cassandra. You’re in his home. There’s something there.”
“I’m not doing this anymore. I can’t, I—”
“Do I need to remind you of what’s at stake here? You’ve got a shining career ahead of you, it would be a shame for it to be hampered by one little mistake. I mean, how were you to know your partner was drugging and murdering young men in the alleys behind nightclubs? But some people would see that as—”
“Fuck you, Jackson,” I bark, louder than I intended. I glance around, but all’s quiet. A standing clock on the landing is ticking gently, its face reading nearly 2am. “Fuck you,” I say again in a whisper. “I know what people say about me and I don’t care. I’m not doing this. Apollo is—”
“Apollo? You’re on first name terms now?”
I feel my face heat. “You told me to get close to him. To seduce him. That’s what I did.”
My stomach flips at the words. It feels like a betrayal. Apollo isn’t here to hear what I’m saying, but if he was…
This was more than just a part of the job. I know that in my bones. My job was to seduce him, sure, but not to take it as far as I did and certainly not to…do the things we did.
I’m in love with him.
Fuck.
“He’s a good man,” I say defensively, not sure if I’m trying to convince myself or Jackson.
He laughs. “You’ve read the files, Agent. You know the things he’s done. Now you’re telling me he’s a good man? Have you forgotten which side you’re on?”
I feel my anger rising. “And who the fuck are you to judge?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Tell me about his sister. Tell me about Artemis.”
There’s just a moment’s hesitation, then he says, “That has nothing to do with any of this. You’re there, Agent Divine, you can find the evidence. And if you do, I’ll forget we ever had this conversation, and you’ll—”
“No.” I stand up, taking a step down the stairs. I can see the bowl with the keys. “I want to know. Tell me what you did.”
“I don’t have to answer to you, Agent—”
“I know where the evidence will be. I can get it. But I want the truth. Right now. You want to get Volos? You’ll tell me what happened.”
Silence stretches.
And stretches.
After about a minute, I take the phone away from my ear to check it’s still connected. I hear a creak, and my heart jumps into my throat. Staying still, silent, listening to the clock tick tick tick as it draws closer to chiming the hour. But there’s nothing else and I put down the noise to the house settling.
“Fine,” Jackson says, and I put the phone back to my ear. “Fine. Whatever. But you have to understand, this was forty years ago. A lot’s happened since then. We did things differently in those days. I was a different person.”
“Save it,” I tell him. “Just tell me what happened.”
“We needed to get something. It was Volos senior back then, Apollo’s father. A real nasty piece of work. Worse than his son in some ways, I’ll admit that, but it’s like comparing two Great Whites that are both looking to chew your leg off. The Bureau had nothing and they were floundering, but he had kids, OK? Apollo and Artemis. Twins. We knew Apollo was already deep into the family business, even at sixteen years old. Chances of scaring him were slim to none. So we—”
“Used that girl?”
“Sure, yeah, we used her. So fucking what? You’ve gotta see the bigger picture here. Bringing down the Volos family would have made a lot of people happy, a lot of higher ups were looking for just that. So we brought in the girl. Made up some shit about prostitution. These old crime families, that sort of thing is the worst possible sin. Some sort of honor thing. Anyway, Artemis also had a girlfriend. She was a fucking clam licker, can you imagine what her family thought of that when they found out?”