Rage and Ruin | 2

2 | 5

K A N E

      "He must have taken an extremely high dosage of cyanide," Riley said as we all stared down at the dead body. "That was a fast death."

      Delphinium sighed defeatedly. "The ONNT will take one look at this situation and think that it was all Hundsen's idea. They'll say that it was the same assassin he hired to kill Hunt in Boston."

      "We can still bring the body to headquarters," Hunt said suddenly, resting a hand on his still-healing wound. Finn walked in next to him after making sure that he was okay. "I'll have them run tests on his body and see what they can find out."

They began making plans to transport the body back to the ONNT. Glancing over at Riley, I saw that she had a hand rested on the dog's head as it sat compliantly at her side.

"Good boy," she crooned, stroking the dog's shiny fur. "Now go back to your owner." The animal bended to her will and ran out the open door as quickly as he'd come in.

She sighed as she watched the dog disappear into the night. "Now, why can't all men be so obedient?"

"Because we're not animals," I pointed out flatly.

"I can't say that I completely agree with you," she said, half a smile on her face. "You should have seen some of the boys I used to go out with."

I frowned. Her grin widened. "You're different though, don't worry."

      "I wasn't worried."

      The others righted chairs and tables and mopped up the spilled blood on the floor. "Can you two stop flirting and help me with this table?" Arlo asked, struggling with the heavy piece of furniture.

      "I was not flirting," I corrected him and reluctantly went to help him lift the table.

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"Well, that plan failed spectacularly," Jaxon stared as he flopped down in an armchair back at the compound.

"You can say that again," Arlo agreed as he slouched back, twiddling his thumbs.

"If you think about it, the plan didn't actually fail," Finn pointed out, ever the optimist. "We did catch an Imperium operative. He just killed himself before we could get any information out of him."

"And now we're right back where we started," Delphinium finished, staring out the window at the sunset.

      "I have a plan," Jake announced dramatically after suddenly entering the living room. "This time, it's guaranteed to get us the whereabouts on the masked assassin, specifically."

      "Why didn't you tell us about this plan before you went with the one that might not work?" Finn questioned, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

      "Because this is a last resort. It's risky, but it will get results."

      "But we're supposed to be meeting authorities tonight, remember?" Riley cut in. "They want eyewitness accounts of what happened to Hunt and we were all there. The ONNT is sending cars to pick us up and everything."

      Jake waved a dismissal hand. "Fine, I don't need all of you for this to work. Tesla, Williams and Shires, come with me. The rest of you are free to speak with the police or whatever else you need to do as Hunt's lapdogs."

     Why did he choose me? The last place I wanted to be going was to an unnamed informant at night with Jake. I glanced towards Riley, but she just gave a nod of her head, telling me to follow them.