Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight. I wish I did, but if wishes were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.
A/N: So as I am writing this, I don't have internet yet. I have my computer set up because I just couldn't bear to not be writing. It's seriously driving me crazy!!! I have located the nearest library so I can check my emails, but it won't let me onto Twilighted because of the adult content, some of which, I am the proud author of ^_~. So I apologize for the delay in the posting. As always, much love to my super beta, oceanwaters2006. I am so lucky to have you by my side on this story. I hope you'll be there on my next story venture ^_^
Chapter 18-
The last nine hours were pure hell. Tanya and I had gotten Edward into the Emergency Room just in time. He had lost a lot of blood. The surgery went well and now he was in ICU. I had taken care of the files the best way I knew how. I hid them. I couldn't risk putting anyone else in danger for them.
I stood in the corner of the room and watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. He looked so pale and fragile. I had never seen Edward in such a way. Now I understood what he felt when I had been shot. Remembering seeing the bullets making their impact was a devastating blow. I saw the door opening out of the corner of my eye. I smiled at Charlie as he walked into the room and made his way over to my side.
"Hey, kiddo. How are you holding up?"
"I've been better."
"You really love him, don't you?"
"What?" I couldn't even hide the surprise in my voice.
"Come on, Bells. You're my niece, I know you. I've seen how you two are with each other. And I saw the way he was when you were in the hospital. He loves you and you love him. I'm not going to step in between you two. He's a good guy and you deserve to be happy."
"Really? You aren't mad?"
"No. I'm actually happy for you."
"Thanks, Charlie."
"So are you going to tell me where you put those files?"
"I can't tell you yet, Charlie. It's just not safe for me to tell you where they are right now."
"Bella, I know you are trying to protect me, but we need to see what's on those files."
"I know. I just can't put you in danger too. But you should be getting all of the information on there location tomorrow."
"I trained you too well."
"I'm not so sure about that sometimes."
"Never doubt yourself. You're an amazing agent."
"Thanks, Charlie."
Charlie leaned over and placed a kiss on my forehead.
"I'm going to go home, Bells. Did you need me to bring you anything?"
"No, I'll be fine. Thank you though."
"Alright, but if you change your mind, let me know."
"I will."
"I love you, kiddo."
"Love you too."
Charlie put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze before leaving the room. I turned my attention back to Edward. The heart monitor began to speed up. As I was walking towards the bed, Edward's eyes shot open.
"Bella?"
"I'm here."
"What happened?"
"You got shot. You're in the hospital right now."
"Oh God."
"But you're going to be fine. You got shot twice in the abdomen and once in the arm."
"That explains why I feel like shit."
I smiled as tears formed in my eyes. I was so happy to hear his voice. Edward reached his good arm out and placed a hand on my cheek. I leaned into his hand's warmth.
"I'm just so relieved that you're okay. I was so scared."
"I know, babe. But you said yourself, I'm going to be fine."
"It's so great to hear your voice."
"And it's great to see your face."
Edward's thumb began to make lazy circles on my cheek.
"I love you so much, Bella."
"I love you too. And I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For making you go through this when I was shot."
"Yeah, turn about is fair play."
I sighed and looked away from his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
I pulled myself away from Edward and sat down in the chair that was by the bed.
"I found the files on the Ghede virus."
"Bella! That's great! Where are they?"
"I hid them. I can't risk anyone else I love getting hurt because they know where they are. I forwarded the information of the location to Charlie. He'll get it tomorrow, but I have to try and stop them."
"What are you talking about, Bella?"
"They've gone too far. Everything they can tell us is in those files. They're all of no use to us. They can't tell us anything we don't already have from the files. And I could only imagine that they are pretty mad that I destroyed their computers and deleted all of the files they had access to. They may have the files backed up somewhere else, and I can't take the risk of them acting now. They know that we're breathing down their necks so they will probably act on fear of being caught. I can't let them do that. They've already gotten away with attacking Alice, killing Reagan, and shooting you. If they didn't want me to come down on them, they shouldn't have gone after my loved ones."
"Bella, I thought you said you weren't going to go after them. I thought you said you would do this the right way."
"I can't, Edward. I have to take care of this."
"Bella, you can't go. It's suicide!"
"Edward, I need you to trust me. I know what I'm doing."
"Let someone else go, please."
The pain and anguish in his voice made my heart ache. But I had a job to do. I couldn't risk putting thousands of people in danger because I was being selfish. And I couldn't let them get away with what they had done.
"Edward, I love you, but I have a job to do and you know that. If I don't go now, people will die. I wouldn't be able to ever forgive myself. Their blood would always be on my hands."
His face fell and his usually emerald green eyes had become clouded with gray. I had to look at the floor before I let him change my mind. I stood from the chair next to his hospital bed and I began walking towards the door with my head still hanging down. I couldn't bear to look at him. Seeing him in pain and knowing I was the one that was causing it was killing me.
His hand darted off of the bed and grabbed my arm, halting me from leaving. I turned to look at him. Tears were now in his eyes.
"Please don't do this, baby. Someone else can do this. Stay here with me."
"I have to go. I'm the only one that knows what's on that file and I'm the only one that can stop them."
We both stayed silent for what felt like hours. His hand dropped from my arm.
"If you leave, you might not come back. And if you don't come back, I won't ever forgive you."
My breath caught in my throat. The man I loved just delivered me an ultimatum. It was either stay with him and knowingly let thousands die or walk out the door and away from the only man I ever loved so I could do my job. My heart and brain were battling back and forth. I stepped forward and bent over the railing of the hospital bed and placed a hard passionate kiss on his lips. My hands went into his bronze hair and his hands went to the sides of my face. I opened my mouth and ran my tongue across his soft bottom lip. He groaned and opened his mouth, letting my tongue enter his mouth. Reality came back hard and I forced myself to pull away from him.
"I love you, Edward. Don't ever forget that."
With that, I turned and ran out of the hospital room.
"Bella! No!"
Edward's voice echoed after me down the hallway. I fought back the tears as I reached the elevator. The door pinged as it opened. I got in and rapidly pushed the ground floor button. I leaned back against the cool metal in the elevator as the doors closed. The elevator descended and I tried to gather my thoughts. I had to be ready for tonight. The doors opened and I was greeted by Tanya.
"Hey, Bella."
"Hi."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm pretty sure Edward hates me and he'll never want to see me again."
"What happened?"
"I told him that I was going to go back to the warehouse tonight. I need to set things right. We may have Victoria in custody, but I don't want any of the others getting off that easily."
"That's actually what I was going to come and talk to you about."
"What?"
"Victoria's dead."
"What happened to her?"
"She had been injected with the Ghede virus. It took over her system and shut it down."
"Wait. She had been injected with the virus?"
"Yes. That's probably why she went after Alice. They found her because of her track record and used that against her."
"And James?"
"More than likely the same thing."
"That all makes sense. I need to stop this. I can't wait."
"I'll go with you. You'll need the back up."
"Yeah, thanks."
I inwardly groaned. I didn't want Tanya to hold me back from exacting my revenge. I would have to be sneaky, but I could manage.
"Don't mention it. Let's go. We'll take my car."
I followed Tanya out into the parking lot and to her car. I took in a deep breath and looked. I knew what awaited me tonight. Tonight, I would fight.
~*~
The sun had set and I was sitting in Tanya's car, waiting.
"Are you ready for this, Bella?"
"I was born ready."
"Okay, let's go."
I opened the car door and crept along the sidewalk and down the alley to the east entrance. The door opened slowly and made no noise. Tanya and I entered the warehouse and there was no one to be found.
"Bella, we should go over to the south side of the building. I found a room over there that they were using to test on people."
I nodded my head and followed behind Tanya. We made our way through the dark and damp hallways. Tanya stopped outside of a big metal door.
"This is it. Come on."
Tanya slowly pushed the door open and crouched down. I entered the room behind her. The room was pitch black. I strained to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I stood completely still with my back against the wall. The room was suddenly lit up and I squinted against the harsh brightness of the lights. I aimed my gun and pointed it around the room. I was surrounded by people. I felt my stomach drop as I realized what was going on. I turned to look at Tanya. She was glaring at me with her gun aimed at my head.
"You bitch. I knew there was something wrong about you."
"Well you should have trusted your instinct."
"Fuck you."
"Tempting, but I think I'll pass."
"Why did you lure me here?"
"Because, Bella, you have the files and we need them. You're the only person that knows where they are."
"Don't you have them backed up somewhere?"
"Unfortunatley, no. You destroyed the computers that had them. Very clever of you. But now, you have something we need."
"And you're not getting it back. I've already taken care of it."
"Fine. You want to do this the hard way? I can make that happen."
"So in other words, you need me."
"As much as I hate admitting it, yes."
"Good."
I quickly pointed my gun at one of the men in the corner of the room and pulled the trigger. His blood painted the wall behind him as he slumped to the ground. Tanya's foot connected with my hands and my gun flew out of my grasp. I turned and smirked at her.
"I might as well use my status to my advantage."
"You fucking bitch! You won't get away with that."
"What are you going to do? Kill me? Then you'll never get your files back."
Tanya didn't answer me. She kicked me in the stomach and then in the back of the knees. I fell to the ground and looked up at her.
"I'm going to enjoy torturing you."
"You won't walk away from this alive. I can promise you that."
I heard an assortment of laughs through out the room. I looked around and saw four people standing behind Tanya. There was a petite female, two men, and someone standing in the corner of the room wearing a hooded sweatshirt. I glared at all of them before I felt something hard hit the back of my head and the room went dark again.
A/N: I made you wait all that time and I stick ya with a cliffie. But have no fear, I'm already working on the next chapter! Woot! And I'm really sorry that it took this long for the chapter to get up. It seriously took 2 weeks to get my internet set up. First I went with one company, but it was so insanely slow, that I had Twilighted up for an hour and it still didn't have everything loaded. So I cancelled that and just got my new internet set up today. So far, so good. Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews. I'm so sorry I didn't reply to any of them, but as you all know, I wasn't able to. I love you all and I cherish your reviews!!
Playlist: Judith by A Perfect Circle, Becoming I by Unloco, Take It All Away by Faktion, Half Life by 10 Years, Wanted Man by Rev Theory, Last Kiss Goodbye by Hinder(^_~ you know who you are)