xxxxi. but did you die?

xxxxi. BUT DID YOU DIE?

Xavier glared daggers in Daniel's direction as he sat, tied up with Ace's questionable handcuffs to the chair. Chase, Skye, Ace, and I looked to each other with uncertainty. We were afraid the assassin would murder the man standing before him. The Interpol agent smirked without any fear. His eyes glinted with entertainment, almost, and he ruffled Xavier's dark hair.

There's a death sentence.

Dozens of SWAT and Interpol agents filed through the door. "Oh come on," I groan. "What is this, Shakespeare in the park? I thought we were over these dramatics."

One of the guards stifles a chuckle. I swear I've never even seen any of these guards blink. They were like Buckingham Palace guards, but with AK-47s.

The Director purses his lips. "We were past it. Well that is, before Xavier tried to kill an ally."

"The shitface deserves it," Xavier states. "Interpol is pretty much obsolete, antiquated, antediluvian. Hold up let me dumb it down for the UN of international intelligence."

"That's what I said!" Ace laughs.

The Interpol agents around us stiffen. One of the female agents puts her finger on the trigger of her gun. This rivalry, the epoch of tribalism, was extremely anti-productive. It was like the debate of Xbox vs Playstation, cats vs dogs, Marvel vs DC.

The tension in the room felt like Avengers Civil War but without Christ Evans, RDJ, Tom Holland, and other hot guys.

Actually scratch that. Everyone in this room was extremely attractive. Was there an attractiveness requirement to joining any intelligence agency? And if so, why was I here?

The Director leads us into the briefing room. Or in Xavier's case, carried in by security personnel. All the guards are then asked to leave the soundproof room. The projector slowly comes down and turns on. Manila folders are passed out to each of us to follow along the briefing. Skye helps Xavier flip through the files since he's physically restrained.

Forest green eyes stare back at me from the first page. It's Thirteen, or rather, Ian Lochland, except he's much younger. There's no stubble on the profile. He looks about sixteen in the picture.

There was no evil in his eyes. There wasn't exactly naivety either, but rather, determination. It was the same glint of determination in the eyes of young people ready to change the world. It was impossible to believe that Ian Lochland had become a monster.

My limbs freeze. I catch Ace's concerned golden gaze from the adjacent table.

"I thought you said this case was too personal," Ace asserts to the Director, noticing my discomfort. "Ian—Thirteen hurt Octavia that night."

The Director's eyes flicker to me. "It was. But unfortunately, since the missing sculpture was found in Octavia's house—"

"The shit," Chase exclaims.

"Excuse me?" Daniel says.

"ماذا," Skye spits

"该死," Xavier yells.

"This is what you were doing in North Carolina?" Skye clamors.

"The place we airlifted the sculpture out of was your house?" Daniel screams.

I hold up my hands. "That's enough. I'll explain everything." Well, almost everything.

Ace and I explained everything about our trip—the abridged and slightly fabricated version of course. Daniel seemed to take some offense when we mentioned the part about Ace shooting him in the foot.

The Director also updates us on how he would like us to work together with Interpol. That prospect makes Ace and Xavier both gag.

"How did the CIA connect the Thorned Kings to the sculpture?" Daniel asks. "At Interpol we weren't even sure that this Thirteen person was even real."

"Of course Interpol doesn't know," Ace grins.

"Alright you little dollar store discount pissant," Daniel spat.

"Come at me you garden gnome from Gnomeo and Juliet—"

"Alright you walking billboard for plastic surgery—"

"Catch me outside you fucking shell-less turtle,"

"Shut up. Both of you are acting as useless as room doors that lock from the outside," I roll my eyes. "Besides, Thirteen was once a CIA agent, Banana Bread, so do you really want to play that card?"

"Banana Bread?" Daniel raises an eyebrow. "That's one of the most creative insults I've ever heard."

The Director rolls his eyes and completely ignores the brewing testosterone. "Good question about the Thorned Kings. Remember our friend Ethan Tansin from Kean and Partners? I had analytics look into a possible connection since Thirteen's syndicate was in Paris that night, and we saw a paper trail from the company."

I frown. "That doesn't make sense."

The Director cocks an eyebrow. "What do you mean Miss Snow?"

"Cupcake's right. Kean and Partners usually aren't so sloppy," Ace muses. "After all, through the mainframe data we were only ever able to find Deschamps."

"It's poetic, almost," Skye rubs her temples. "This was Thirteen's message. He intended us to find it. But why?"

"Stickyfingers is right," Chase affirms. "Octavia, do you know any reason why Thirteen would target you?"

"Stickyfingers?" Skye spits. "Listen, you Anderson Cooper look-alike, Just because I'm a thief doesn't mean—" She trails off huffing in Arabic after that. Another death sentence.

I bite my lip. "I can't think of any reason," I lie. "It has to be just to target the CIA as a whole. But now that we're back on this case... Director, the USB. What do we know about it?"

"I don't know what to tell you Octavia. We can't even get past the preliminary firewalls."

Good.

"Let's continue working on this tomorrow," the Director states. "It's best if we all take some time to re-evaluate everything that's happened so far." He stares directly at Xavier as he says this.

Xavier scoffs. "Well at least I have more endurance than the geriatric gastrointestinal patient that is Octavia. I'd be useful in a fight."

"Why the hell did you drag me into this you turd?" I spit. "I'm here for my programming abilities—what's Chase even here for, to consume the world's supply of hot pockets?"

Chase fakes an over dramatic gasp. "Ace is the one who's such an asshole that he has to put diapers on his face."

Ace's golden eyes are blazing with anger. "Since this seems to be a merry-go-round of fucking with one another, Skye—"

Skye returns his soon-to-be insult with narrowed, challenging eyes. She was daring him to insult her.

"Actually Skye's pretty objectively cool," Ace sighs. We all nod in agreement. Even Daniel and the Director affirm.

"That's what I thought Blackwell," Skye smirks.

"I can't stand being with you people for more than an hour," the Director pinches his nose. Everyone has the decency to look sheepish at our piling immaturity. We were as dysfunctional as an elementary school reenactment of the Sound of Music.

"Thanks for coming, Daniel. I hope you... enjoyed your visit," I chime. "Welcome to this dysfunctional team."

Sure Xavier tried to kill him, and Ace shot him, but he didn't die. So where's the harm?

Octavia: "Vote if you know Skye is objectively cool."

Sophie: Thanks for voting in the fiction awards :) We're currently really tight with the other books, so please keep voting if you can to help this book win for best humor! Your vote counts. Banana Bread, Cupcake, and Cheesecake would love you. Next special bonus chapter at 15k votes. thefictionawards