Okay, I'm SO SORRY!!! I forgot to upload the rest of the book, so here it is!! The story ends at chapter 33! I'm so sorry! Please enjoy!
"Then let's go," Mike said calmly after Erica held up the sticky note with the address of who we assumed to be the real Joshua Duncan.
"Yeah let's go," I aggressively, standing up. I was understandably angry at Hailey. Not even really that she killed her father (although it was messed up, she seemed to have believed Joshua's lies that she was helping Mark) but the fact that she lied to us. All of us. She made us waste so much time and energy while we thought we were helping her. If she had just explained in the beginning, we could move on and focus our attention elsewhere.
But I guess our adventure to get to this place was constructive. We found even more evidence Joshua is planning something and we even have a HUGE lead into the Joshua Duncan identity issue. But still, Hailey should have admitted it long ago, to save us all some time.
"Um, I don't think Hailey should go," Jawa said, "I don't trust her after what she just said and I'm still very suspicious of her. Chip and I can stay here with her. You four go."
Hailey looked disappointed at having to stay back, but didn't say anything. I think she was as intrigued by all of this as we were. After all, it involved her past boyfriend and father. I guess we had no right to tell her she can't go after we started intruding on her life, but she didn't verbally protest.
Erica nodded. She, Mike and Zoe started discussing a plan. I tried to listen, but I was distracted.
Hailey lightly touched my arm, "Hey, can we talk in private?" She asked me.
I grumbled a little, but nodded.
She led me to the entrance of the room, out of the craziness in the main area. She looked absolutely defeated, "I know and can tell you're mad at me. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. But when Erica lied and told me you guys were in the FBI, I freaked out. I didn't want to go to jail, even for manslaughter, so I kept it a secret. I know I wasted everyone's time and I'm sorry."
I understood where she came from, but I was still mad. I was glad that she said something and I'm VERY glad she wasn't a sociopath and didn't purposely kill her father. However, I wasn't so quick to forgive.
"Hailey, you wasted so much of our time. Now who knows when and what Joshua's plan is. We could have been devising a plan DAYS ago. And the worst part is that we thought we were helping you and your family, but you're just lying to everyone around you. You've wasted all of our time and it's counterproductive."
I felt a little bad at how much my words affected her, but I didn't show it.
"Ben, I'm really sorry. I don't know what to do or say that will make you forgive me. I really care about you Ben and that was the one thing I wasn't lying about." Hailey didn't say this in a pleading or annoying way. It felt genuine.
"I'm not that quick to forgive," I said plainly and coldly.
My harsh tone upset Hailey a bit, "I understand that, but honestly, who asked you? Who asked you to come and meddle in my family's business? I let you guys into our HOUSE to investigate some guy you had beef with TEN years ago? Not only that, all of this put my life in danger."
I was appalled and taken aback, "Excuse me? We were trying to help you and your family figure out what happened to your dad!"
"Were you?" Hailey shot back, "Did you even care about Dad in the first place? Or did you only come to the farm and investigate to settle a score with an old enemy? I don't think you were even concerned about my father unless it mattered to the case with Joshua."
I was going to shoot back with a comeback, but I paused. Dammit, she was right. I honestly didn't even care about the death of the congressman UNTIL Joshua came into the picture. Throughout this journey, I kept telling myself that I was helping my country and their family. But if I am honest with myself, the whole reason I am doing this was to relive my glory days after real life slapped me in the face. But there was no way I was going to tell Hailey that.
So I deflected, "You lied to me! You told me no more secrets, but you hide the biggest one from me?"
"Well you lied to me too! Ben, I didn't really show it, but I was deeply hurt by the fact that all of you lied about being journalists then the FBI and then the CIA. How do I even know you're telling the truth now? You manipulated me and the family so that you could meddle in my personal business! We don't even have solid evidence that Joshua is planning anything until you guys meet with Joshua Duncan. You involve yourself into things that aren't your jurisdiction. In fact, you're not even CIA anymore. But I still let you into my personal affairs and even forgave you when you lied to me. If you ask me, investigating and manipulating me while lying about it is as bad as me lying to you. Ben, you and your friends emotionally manipulated me and as you now know, it doesn't feel good."
After that rant, Hailey stormed off. I didn't follow her. It was a lot to take in. I admit, most of it was true. I was just furious that I thought we had something and she lied to me. But I guess that's how she felt when I told her that we were CIA.
"Ben, we're going," Zoe said and I followed her out the door. Erica and Mike were right behind me.
I sat in the front seat with Mike. Being that it was Washington DC in January, the roads were icy. Luckily it wasn't super cold or snowing like it had in the past. Since Mike was from Massachusetts, he knew how to drive on icy roads considerably better than someone from California or Illinois so he was driving. I was navigating since I knew DC the best these days.
I had a general idea where the apartment was, so I directed Mike that way. The drive was a little bit long as it was a fair distance outside of downtown DC. And the drive was so awkwardly quiet. We should have been devising a plan or something, but I was still upset after my conversation with Hailey and that energy was feeding into the car.
Finally, Zoe just said, "Okay, I'm sorry Ben, but I'm too curious. What were you and Hailey talking about?"
I relayed the conversation we had to the rest of the dar. It was silent as I was describing it.
"Well she's not wrong," Erica said nonchalantly. That was unexpected.
"What?" I asked, turning in my seat to see her. Erica was just calmly looking out the window.
She met my eyes, "Hailey. She's not wrong. You lied to her and we have no business messing with her family drama. And she's also right that we have no jurisdiction doing any of this."
I was annoyed by how calm Erica was about that, "Can you support me on this please? Hailey lied to all of us and wasted our time! And let's not forget she murdered her own dad! How are you not more mad?"
Erica shrugged, "Yeah, maybe she wasted our time a little bit, but we also got some great leads we never would have gotten if she hadn't lied to us. And I've stopped judging people on their past choices after Audrey. And I don't find Hailey intolerable like I find most people."
"What does this mean for your relationship?" Zoe asked.
I exhaled, "I don't know. I'm not ready to go back to the place we were at before all this happened. I still care about Hailey as a person, but romantically, I'm not sure anymore."
Zoe looked a little disappointed, "Not to meddle and make decisions for you, but think about this: when you dropped the bombshell on Hailey that you were CIA and when you admitted you were initially using her for Erica's attention, she forgave you rather quickly. She forgave you because she believed in your relationship and the connection she had with you. Hailey didn't want to ruin it. I would think about giving her the same respect."
"I'm not going to forgive her just because she forgave me," I said, sounding a bit like a whiny toddler.
"I'm not saying you should," Zoe said carefully.
Before I could respond, Mike turned off the freeway. I had to give him directions from there. We finally arrived at this run down apartment building. The bricks were fading and vines were wrapping around the unstable structure. It wasn't sketchy but it was super rundown.
We got out of the car and made sure to lock the doors. According to the sticky note, the unit we were looking for was number 200, on the second floor. We approached the rusty gate and pushed it. Luckily, it swung open. There was no lobby in the apartment complex. The doors just opened without a key and there was a rickety staircase leading upwards. We cautiously ascended the stairs. We could hear people yelling in some apartment on the first floor.
The specific apartment we were looking for was on the right hand side all the way down the hall. When we finally reached the door, Erica immediately put her head to the doorframe to see if she could hear anything inside. She shook her head, indicating no. There was a possibility that no one was home.
It occurred to me that we had no plan of action when we opened that door. Behind it could be Joshua Hallal with an entire army. It could be a trap. But at this point, it was too late to do anything.
Erica picked the lock with some paperclip she found in our hotel room. We stood behind her as she swung the door open. There was one man sitting at a foldable table with his back turned away from us. I didn't recognize him until he turned around to look at us.
Holy crap. It was Scott Pierceton, Erica's assistant.
I stood there in shock. Even Erica looked absolutely shocked. Mike and Zoe just looked confused. Scott, when he realized who it was, freaked out the most. He stood up abruptly, knocking over his flimsy desk with a laptop on it. Scott frantically looked around for an exit. His only option was to jump out of the building (as we were blocking the door) and he didn't seem too keen on that.
Erica and I were honestly paralized in shock. What the hell was Scott Pierceton, Erica's celebrity assistant, who was supposed to be in LA, doing in Joshua Duncan's apartment?
"Wha-what... ahem. What are you doing here?" Scott coughed and started sweating despite the cold temperature in the room.
"I could ask you the same thing," Erica said coldly. It didn't seem like she knew why he was here though.
"I thought... why are you... you're supposed to be in Nebr... aren't you supposed to be at some high school reunion?" Scott was shaking in nervousness.
"What are you doing here Scott?" Erica avoided his question.
Something occurred to me. I saw a birthmark peeking over his collar at the base of his neck that I hadn't noticed in the past. However, I saw that birthmark before. Specifically, on a certain facebook page. As Scott was distracted talking to Erica, I slipped away and stood behind him.
"Joshua," I said simply, as Scott's back was turned to me.
He whirled around instandly and looked at me, expecting me to continue. But then he instantly realized his mistake.
As he turned back around to look at Erica, she kicked his leg out from under him, causing him to crash on the ground. He tried to stand back up, but Erica drove her heel right into a nerve in his ankle, causing it to lock up and paralyze that area of the body. Scott was laying there defenseless. Mike and Zoe still had no idea who Scott was.
"Is that Joshua Duncan?" Mike asked, looking thoroughly confused, "Do you guys know him?"
"Yes," I replied, "That is Joshua Duncan, the real Joshua Duncan. But we know him as Scott Pierston, who happens to be Erica's assistant."
Zoe and Mike's jaws dropped to the floor.
"Wait, was Joshua working for Joshua the entire time he was working for Erica?" Zoe asked. It took a second to register. I think it would just be easier to refer to the real Joshua Duncan as Scott still and Joshua Hallal as Joshua.
"That's what we're going to find out," Erica said as she dragged Scott onto this old, smelly couch. This ancient TV with antennas was on displaying the news. Erica seemed to have no reaction to her assistant and probably her friend betrayed her. She still has a habit of throwing up a wall to block her emotions. Erica had a tough and terrifying facade.
Scott looked absolutely petrified. If he was working for Josua, he must have not been working for him for a super long time as he hasn't yet developed the really annoying habit of being overly cocky.
"So Scott, or should I say Joshua, this could be done the really hard way, or the easy way." Erica's words were threatening, but she said it very calmly. She slowly sat down on the coffee table across the couch and Scott.
"The easy way!" Scott said very meekly. He was not protesting or restraining at all. I also had a little bit of a feeling that he was relieved that someone found him.
"Okay, then explain yourself. And don't lie, because I can tell when you're lying." Erica said.
Mike, Zoe and I pulled up folding chairs from the corner and sat next to Erica. The apartment seemed like it was thrown together last minute. All of his furniture seemed to come off of sketchy ebay or a flea market. It was bare, too. There was a folding desk with a folding chair. There was a laptop on the floor where Scott knocked over the table. He had folding chairs leaning against the wall as well. Since it was a studio apartment, we could see the mattress that I guess he sleeps on with an old fuzzy blanket on top. In the kitchen there was an open box of cereal on the counter and a singular jug of milk. It seemed like there was nothing else there. He was living like a squatter and there was a chance he was one.
"I can't. I'm not allowed to." Scott said timidly.
"Answer me Scott. I'm not in the mood for this. I trusted you with everything in my life and I am shocked you are here. My patience is razor thin right now," Erica growled, which scared Scott enough to start talking.
"Okay, okay. Yes, Ben, my name is Joshua Duncan and I am the real Joshua Duncan. My middle name is Scott and Joshua Hallal gave me the last name Pierston," Scott started. Oh boy. We were going to get the real confession right now and it wasn't going to be good. Erica does not like being played for a fool. I think this will hurt Erica a bit too. Erica is a private person and once she lets someone into her life, she trusts them. From what I saw when I was at her house, she cares about Scott and even saw him as a friend. This wasn't going to help Erica at all with her trust issues.
"I'll back up. This started years ago, maybe three years ago. This random man with the same name DM'ed me on Facebook. We were chatting and he was super friendly and convinced me to meet him in real life. I lived in Washington DC at the time since I had just graduated Brown and moved here for the opportunities. Anyway, I met Joshua. Immediately when I saw him, I got bad vibes. He took me to some sketchy restaurant and we were the only ones there. He told me he'd pay me 500,000 to give him my name. I was taken aback of course. Why would I give him my name? He offered for passports and ID to be made in the new name. All he said he wanted was for me to keep it a secret. I thought that was sketchy as hell, as one does, and tried to leave. He pulled a gun on me and recited my parents address to me and told me if I didn't help him, he would kill them. Then I realized that this was serious and that he was one freaky dude. He gave me the money, but I was forced to give up everything. I had to call my parents and tell them to give me the password to their facebook account so Joshua could change what he needed to. It was scary. Whenever I protested, he reminded me that he could kill my parents at a moment's notice. And Erica, at this point, I don't even care if you're with Joshua as a double agent or something and plan to kill me. I give up. I don't even care at this point. I'm sick of lying and being under Joshua's thumb the entire time. I want this off my chest."
Erica shook her head, "I'm not with Joshua. God no. But I'm surprised and deeply hurt that you are. Continue before I kill you myself."
"Okay, so that all happened three years ago. I was finally getting used to being Scott Pierston. But as Ben figured out, I still sometimes respond to Joshua if I'm not thinking correctly. Okay, so I went back to living my life with a new identity. It was hard getting used to, but I was managing. Jobs weren't really working out at the time, but I wasn't discouraged. I thought Joshua was done with me and I could live my life. But about a year and a half later, Joshua told me that he was going to try to run for the position of a congressman in Nebraska. I asked him how he was going to win in Nebraska since Mark Dazy, the House of Representatives member at the time, had that position for decades. He vaguely told me he has an idea and asked me if I would work for him. The last thing I wanted was to work for that creep but I really needed money at that point. No one was hiring at the time and I was desperate. So I started working for him as an assistant. I was good at it too. But I started noticing weird things in his bank statements and stuff. He had HUGE sums of money in his account when he claimed he was essentially broke from his student debt. This was only like a few months ago, maybe a year ago. I confronted Joshua about it and he turned really angry. He told me not to mention it to anyone and that he'd kill me and anyone I cared about if I told anyone else. I was obviously really freaked out and didn't say anything. Only a few weeks later he approached me with a job opportunity: work for the famous influencer Erica Handler."
This confused Erica, "That wasn't his position to give. My team and I fired and hired everything. There was no outside influence."
Scott nodded, "In a way. Joshua's men intimidated everyone qualified to be your assistant into withdrawing their application. I know you only saw the final five candidates as your team weeded everyone else out so you didn't know about all of the withdrawals. I was obviously the best candidate as all the other ones were morons."
"So Joshua had an eye on Erica for years now?" Zoe asked.
"I don't know. I mean, Erica's face has been on magazine covers for the last decade so it probably was hard not to. Anyway, right before I got the position, Joshua debriefed me on everything about himself, you guys and your history together. I knew about all of the spy stuff. I honestly wasn't surprised Joshua was an evil mastermind. He was freaky like that. The reason he wanted me to be her assistant was so I could watch to see if Erica got suspicious of Joshua during his campaign. The whole Nebraska congressman thing was a great opportunity for him and his evil ways so he didn't want anything to get in the way. I was supposed to be her assistant and spy on her and report back to him."
I could see Erica trying her best to contain her anger. This whole thing made her look like a victim and that's the last thing she wants. And she hates being played and manipulated by the enemy. I could tell she was beating herself up about not catching on and letting Joshua get away with it.
"So eventually I was hired. And from what I heard from Joshua, I thought you would be a cold, mean jerk. But surprisingly, once I got to know you, I realized he was wrong. Erica, I swear, I'm sorry I spied on you. I really liked being your assistant. You were nothing but friendly and I feel really bad. That was one of my favorite jobs I've had. I shouldn't have done it, but I was worried for my family. I'm sorry." I felt bad for Scott. He really looked conflicted. I could tell he was being honest and really did like working with Erica. And from when I met him before, I enjoyed his energy and company but that could be just acting. Erica seemed far from pity and looked at Scott with utter hatred. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that.
"So what did you tell him while you were spying on me?" Erica snarled.
"Nothing important!" Scott said quickly, "He only cared if you were suspicious of him but you didn't even know he was running! Or even that Joshua was back to doing anything. I was convinced while I was working for you that you forgot about him! I told him nothing, well, until Ben showed up."
"Wait," I said, remembering something that happened the first time I met him, "Is that why you called me Ben Ripley? Instead of Ben Randoph?"
"Well I did at first, but then I remembered you said Ripley before so I think I managed to save face." Scott replied sheepishly.
"Wait, hold on, why are you here in DC? Didn't you work from Erica's house?" Mike asked.
"Joshua made me come up here. And he wouldn't even give me a nice apartment! He made me stay in this crappy place! I guess so no one would see me at the campaign event. After Ben came and they were talking, I reported it back to Joshua because I knew he'd kill me if I didn't tell him and he figured out. So he told me to come to DC right after you guys flew to your 'reunion'. Joshua called me to his office and forced me to track you. We knew you went to Illinois, Massachutes, Nebraska and finally Washington DC."
"How?" Erica snapped.
He looked down, "Your credit card. I tracked your transactions."
"Hold on," I said, remembering flying to Nebraska, "When that plane crashed? The one we were supposed to be on? Was that you? Did you figure out we were on the flight to Nebraska?"
Scott looked even more guilty, "Yes that was Joshua. After finding out what flight you guys were supposed to be on to fly to Nebraska, Joshua had someone drain the fuel on that plane. We didn't plan for the fact that Mike would get really sick. That's why I called you after the plane you were supposed to be on went down. Joshua wanted to have proof that you guys were still in the airport."
"Joshua was listening on the call?" Mike asked, "And how do you know my name?"
"Joshua debriefed me on your whole spy school group before I was Erica's assistant. That's how I know your name. And yes Joshua was listening on that call. And I guess since we're being honest now, there was a guy in the airport when Zoe, Ben and Erica flew to Massachusetts. He wanted a picture of you guys? Remember that? His name was Chase? He was working for Joshua because he wanted picture proof that Zoe and Ben were with Erica. Joshua was more than pissed when he realized you guys secretly deleted the pictures and videos off Chase's phone."
I remembered that guy! He was standing next to that teenage girl. I wasn't suspicious of him at the time, I thought he was just a fan. I should know by now that everyone is suspicious.
"So I'm guessing you figured it out. That's why you're here. For the record, Joshua took me off the plan after I messed up with the Nebraska plane crash. He blamed me. So I'm not a part of his nefarious plan anymore. Thank god. Because I wasn't ready to be put in jail." Scott reassured us.
But we had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. We suspected Joshua was up to something but to be honest we had no idea what it was. We just heard and suspected bits and pieces of it. We honestly had no idea what the actual plan was and if there even was one. We had no solid evidence. But it seems like Scott does.
"What are you talking about?" Zoe asked, intrigued.
"Oh you don't know? Wait why are you here then?" Scott looked super confused.
"No we don't," I told him, but very intrigued about what he was going to say, "What is it?"
"Well this is where it gets interesting. And trust me, I'm telling the truth. I have proof."