Chapter 28
Nudge
When I finally saw Fang saunter out of the Worthington mansion, every fear in my body dissipated. Well, not every fear. I mean, I was beyond relieved that Fang had made it out of the fire alive, but he was burnt far worse than I could've imagined. He looked like a haunted man, like he was trying to run far away from the house, trying to put enough distance between himself and whatever had occurred there. But, he was the least of my worries. When he failed to show up with Max, then I truly wondered what had happened, and his face wasn't giving off good news.
I knew I had seen her; the entire world saw her last night. Hell! She even gave an interview rubbing her existence on our faces! I thought she was trying to pull something with that media stunt of hers, but I honestly thought that when she had her fill, she'd come back to the flock. When I saw Fang come back alone, I guess she decided to move on without us. She was probably moving on with that Warren guy of hers…
However, one clear look at Fang's face told me that a lot more had happened then I'd seen. Obviously a tragedy had struck the family once more.
I leaned over to help Gazzy up; he had been curled up in a ball, crying for the past half an hour. He never cried, but with the stress of the situation, it was a lot to take in. I tapped Iggy on the hand, signaling Fang's return. He straightened himself out, trying to seem composed though he was losing it as well. We all looked like a glorified mess, especially Fang.
When he finally got to us, he stood at a distance and did not speak, his eyes averted into the distance, like he was trying to search for something that wasn't there. The waiting was painfully silent, and painfully cliffhanger-like. I didn't know how much more silence I could take, especially one this foreboding.
It was in this silence that I realized that Dylan and Angel were missing from the group as well. I never noticed what had become of them, so that was where I decided to start.
"Where's Dylan?" I asked.
It was a basic question, but Fang just gave me silence. Not wanting to pry, I decided to try again.
"Where's Angel?"
Again I got silence. Fighting back the growing impatience and anger, I asked once more.
"Where's Max?"
Silence.
That was it. After the hell of the evening I had just gone through, I was going to get some straight answers out of someone!
"Fang! We have been standing here for hours waiting for news about something, about if you were still alive, and no one has given us anything! We have been put through the worst kind of hell and now you just expect us to stand here while you mope around on your silent ass? It's about time someone told us the truth, and it's going to be you."
I stood firm and waited for his response, which wasn't much. He was still standing with his body tilted away from us, but I heard him sigh deeply, as if he was carrying some burden we couldn't see. He honestly looked tired, detached even. It was unsettling, and it only made my nerves jump. He didn't say a word though, and I was through with asking questions.
"Well, if you're not going to say anything then the three of us might as well leave, because we're done with lies."
I turned but was stopped by Fang's hand on my arm, gripping it firmly but gently. Strangely, his hand was warm though the morning was nearly frigid. He turned me towards him and a got a good look at those coal black eyes of his, which were flooded with grief and an apathy that wasn't there before the night. Startled, I turned to face him, ready for the truth.
"They're gone."
"Who's gone?" I asked quietly, my breath hitched.
"All of them."
My eyes widened at this, my mind not comprehending the magnitude of his words.
"Did they leave? Were they arrested? Where did they go? Tell me Fang!"
I was getting panicked, so I started pacing a little. I stopped only to fret in the prolonged silence and to let the boy finish.
"Angel fled after the fight. She's probably long gone by now…"
"Where'd she go?"
"I don't know…"
"And the others?"
"Gone."
"Gone? Gone as in…?
"They're dead Nudge. They're gone."
He said it with such disconnect that if I hadn't been totally wrecked by the news, his reaction would've made my cry tears of pity for him.
"Dylan was shot. The gunfire you heard, that was the gun that shot him."
"Bu-but who?" I managed to get out. I could feel the mascara running in sticky streaks down my cheeks.
"They don't know. The police were doing the autopsy and the evidence was inconclusive."
I nodded between my tears, wiping my face off.
"And…and Max?"
He didn't respond again, his composure turning distant once more.
"Fang! Where's Max?"
"She's dead."
It was a barely a whisper, barely a sound, but it was loud enough to wreck my world all over again. I fell down, sobbing. There was no way this was possible, no way death could strike twice one person. I had to be missing a part of the story.
"But how? She was alive; I saw her! You saw her! We all saw her at the party! There is no way that-!"
"She was never here Nudge. She was never at the party."
"But that doesn't make any sense!"
"I know, but you'll just have to trust me on this one."
I was still crying, and for the first time, I looked to see the reactions of my family, all of which were equally as devastated. Iggy looked stone cold, cradling a sobbing Gazzy in his arms. If we didn't look like messes before, we sure as hell looked like it now.
Fang, however, remained stoic as a monk, not showing any emotion. It was troubling that he could learn of the deaths of two people he knew, one he loved, and still be this calm. It was a disturbing notion to be impassive to death, but I had a feeling that he knew way more about this situation than I did.
"Fang…what aren't you telling us?"
He let out a troubled breath and turned away from me and to the sun whose beams were now far over the treetops. I could've sworn I'd seen a very large bird gracefully twirling away in the distance, but it was most likely the sun playing tricks on my eyes.
"There are certain things, a lot of things that I can't tell you."
"Can't or won't?"
"Both."
I opened my moth to protest, but he stopped me and continued speaking.
"I'm truly sorry, but you are just going to have to trust me at this point."
I glared at him, I even crossed my arms in front of my chest, but I knew that I would get nowhere by arguing with him. I had no choice but to trust him at this point. I didn't like it, but I supposed if it had to be anyone in the world, I'd choose him.
"Alright…" I sighed, throwing my hands down at my sides. "It's just, you can't…throw that kind of information around-"I cut myself off to withhold yet another sob, "-around without giving the whole story."
"I know…but trust me; the whole story doesn't help, not in this case. I don't even have the whole story…."
"Fang, what are we going to do?"
And with that finally admittance of defeat, I ran into his arms and sobbed. I cried and cried until I couldn't produce any more tears, until my eyes were swollen and red. It felt like hours I stood there in his arms, listening to his heart beat out of sequence with my thrashing chest. When I was done crying, I released Fang, but he still held me close, as if he needed someone to hang onto.
"I'm leaving…" he stated as if he was thinking about it for a while.
"What?"
"I have to leave. I can't…I can't stay here…not now."
"But you can't just leave us! We've already lost three flock members! Don't raise it to four."
"Nudge, I have to go. Now that I know what I do, there's something that I have to do."
"You can't just leave me alone here! I don't know the first thing about leading a group or running a family! That was always yours and max's jobs."
"But you do know about survival and how to stay together. And that's what you're going to have to do now, stay together. Now more than ever."
"But-"
"And don't worry. After I'm done, I'll come back. I'll always come back. That's a promise."
"A promise?"
"A promise."
I sighed and shook my head. Just as I was starting to barely catch my footing, the ground was ripped out from under me once again. But, what could I do really? I couldn't stop him from going, and at this point, I didn't know if I even wanted to. After all, he said he'd come back, and a promise was better than nothing at all.
"Fine. Go. But I will keep you to that. If you don't come back within a year, well, then I don't know what I'll think of you anymore."
He nodded and looked away. I reached out to hug him, but the hug was distant this time. It felt like I had already lost him. He reached out to embrace Iggy and then Gazzy, the latter crying uncontrollably, the former barely accepting the gesture.
Then, with the niceties over, he walked past us and beyond, never once looking back. From behind, he looked like a shadow, a footprint to be washed away in the sand. He was a haunted man, a haunted man chasing ghosts. I only prayed he found them before he became one as well.
Angel
I was livid. No. I was beyond livid. I was ready to roll the heads of every remaining ITEX member for their bumbling incompetence! I was gone for a few months and now all of my work, all of my planning was shot to hell! Oh, I'd still get hell though, there'd be hell to pay, and this so called director I'd placed in charge was first on my hit list!
I was practically flying down the halls of my top-security underground base, slamming through every set of steel doors, making sure they ran right into the two interns frantically pacing beside me. I had already imploded one of them, and they were scared shitless that they were next. As far as they knew, they were.
I didn't slow down until I reached the Director's office, taking only a moment to compose myself as best I could with a wounded shoulder. I hadn't had it treated yet, the pain excruciating, but the fire in my veins was enough reason for me to keep going. Snatching the door off its hinges, I threw it through the room and heard it shatter across the walls, the screams of a female present. I stormed in and watched him squirm.
"What the hell is going on!"
He literally jumped up out of his chair, his body going rigid, his face flushing. Looking, I saw where the screams had originated, from a young woman who was buried under wood door fragments. She was hurt, nursing a torn leg and a few other deep gashes, but her lips were swollen as well, all red and enflamed. Her hair and clothes were a mess and her body was glistened in sweat. Looking over the man, he looked shameful, his hands discreetly covering his crotch. I was disgusted, not to mention even more infuriated. I went right up to the girl, yanked her up by her hair, and dragged her out of the office through her sobs.
"And don't you ever come back! You're fired!" I screamed after her, a few guards coming to escort the whore out.
"YOU!" I turned on him, my rage ever more so fueled. "This business is not all fun and games and the personnel are not your personal sex toys! You're lucky I don't obliterate you where you sit, you disgusting pig!"
"I…I-" he stumbled, but I was on a rampage.
"I swear to GOD! This place is a disgrace! I leave for a few months to do my part of this plan, and the whole things get shot to hell! I can't leave you buffoons to do anything! The incompetency in this incorporation is appalling!"
"I'm…"
"WELL SPEAK! STOP STUTTERING AND GIVE ME SOME GOD DAMN RESULTS BEFORE I BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"
"Yes, ma'am! I do have the, uh, results of the latest drills…they look quite promising…"
He was stuttering as he pulled them from his drawer and handed them to me. I slapped them from his hand and then punched him in the gut as hard as I could muster.
"I don't care about drills! I want our progress on Project Alpha, if we've made any at all!"
The Director was lying on the ground, breathing raggedly as he tried to bear the pain of my fist. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. I had no further use for him. This man was a weakling, a poor choice for a leader on my part. Next time I'd be more careful in choosing my stand-in.
"Guards, get me Johnson!" I shouted at them, a few running to fetch my most trusted inventor. He was the only one I could trust to do things right. "And remove this man from my sight! I never wish to see him again."
Two more came in and dragged him off, his screams echoing across the stainless steel walls. I knew what they would do to him, the same as every other soldier who disobeys orders, the same thing that was going to happen to that slut of a secretary. They would be punished, and the most painful kind at that.
As I sat down and waited for my men to bring me Johnson, I pondered my options at this point in my plan. I was sure that my most trusted advisors did their parts, and as long as the research was not destroyed, the plan could still proceed. It was all a very tedious task for sure, but not impossible and definitely not unreachable. All it would take now was more time…
I heard a knock on the wall behind me, so I turned in my chair to come face to face with a man I had never seen before, an unmasked soldier to be precise.
"Ma'am, I've brought Johnson, along with a few others."
"Bring them in…" I sighed.
I'm sure they were more investors coming to complain; I'd had calls about that all week, but I was surprise to see that it wasn't investors at all. No, theses mystery guests were the suited men I had met with earlier, the ones who owed me very precious data, Johnson trialing close behind, scrutinizing the intruders. Actually, this time, it was only Mr. Black who came to see me, his face covered in a sly smile. Maybe I'd finally be able to receive some good news.
"I'm sorry about the sudden visit ma'am, but we were sure that you wouldn't mind."
"No, of course not. Please, have a seat."
I motioned to the seats in front of the desk I sat at, a smile of delight written on my face. Finally, I would be able to complete my plans faster than I had expected!
"You're wounded?" Mr. Black asked, his voice not hinting any emotion. I just loved how he didn't care. It was a rare quality in people now a days, one I wished there was more of.
"Oh, it's just a scratch."
I waved off my wound even though it stung like hell. I'm sure I was running the risk of infection, but this deal was much more important to me than my health.
"Do you have what I want?"
"Do you have my ten million?"
Again with the curt behavior. Oh, this man was a card, one I regretted not knowing sooner.
"Yes, it's all there." I pointed to a briefcase in one of the guard's hands. "But first, my files."
He sighed and pulled out a small envelope from his coat pocket. I snatched it up, ripping it open at the seams. Everyone in the room stared at the envelope as I carefully tore at the seal, anxious to see what was inside. Ever so slowly, I peered in, and when I saw the contents, I let out the biggest smile I had in a long time.
"Oh, Mr. Black, you are amazing. Really and truly, you have a gift." I flattered him as a resealed the package, holding it between my fingers. He said nothing to the compliments, but I was unsurprised. "And it is completely untraceable?"
"A hundred and one percent. That thing has so much coding that Bill Gates couldn't crack it."
"And you are sure it can be replicated?"
"It's formatted to be compatible with any server or software known to man."
"Wow, Mr. Black, I am impressed." I nodded, turning my chair to face him better. "I just have one last question: how was it that you were able to get this so quickly?"
"I have my ways…"
"Oh really?"
"Well, that and, you made me a very…attractive offer. That did tend to, oh, sway my ways…"
"Ah, so you are a man of material wealth?"
"No, I prefer to think I'm a man who values material wealth." he smiled at me, a crooked one that was more devious than mine, and that was saying something.
"Well, either way, you have one very satisfied customer. The money is yours."
"Thank you. It was a pleasure, as always."
He got up and nodded to me, pushing his chair in as he stood. He moved to get the briefcase from the guard, his fingers gripping the metal handle, lowering the case to his side. He was about to go out to leave, when I stopped him.
"Mr. Black, consider working for me. We could make a great team, you and I, and we've already accomplished so much."
"Sorry, but the only person I work for is myself."
"I understand." I was disappointed. I had so hoped he would work with me. It would be a refreshing change to be around someone other than these buffoons. "Well then, good day Mr. Black."
He nodded to me in return. "And the name's not Black. It's Remy. Remy LeBeau."
And then he left without a word. It was quite a strange way to leave, but I didn't much care at this point. I had what I wanted and nothing else mattered.
"Johnson, take this to the lab immediately." I handed the envelope to the man in wiry glasses, his rough hands gripping the vital package.
"Johnson, we have work to do. Project Alpha is back on schedule."
