As it turned out, Travis had more patience than I gave him credit for. We were down the hall from where Josh was being held and he still refused to let me do this by myself.
"What if I update you on what happens after?"
"No," Travis said. "I'll update you."
"There won't be anything to update because he's not going to talk to you! You're going to scare him into silence," I argued.
Travis only shrugged. "I think I can make him talk."
"You're not going to shoot him."
He gave me a look. "Did I say shoot?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, I wasn't stupid. Travis sighed.
"Why does it even matter?" I asked.
Travis spoke to me like I was a child then, "Because he's in the Casey house. It's my job."
Okay, so maybe that was true.
"Then send Ben or Finn in. You personally don't have to go in," I said, poking him for emphasis. "You could blow your entire cover and make things ten times worse. I'm trying to help you here."
He grabbed my finger with one hand, lowering it away from him.
"No."
I huffed and went to his bedroom where my things were. I placed the now cold tea down on the top of the dresser and grabbed my old purse out from the drawer that I had seen earlier.
"Make yourself at home," Travis said, raising an eyebrow as he leaned against the doorframe.
"It's mine," I defended but I had a feeling he meant the fact that I knew exactly where it was. He knew I'd gone snooping earlier.
I grabbed my clothes I came in originally and wrapped them loosely around the camera before shoving them into my purse. I couldn't just waltz into the hotel with a camera in plain view.
Glad to have my hands free, I ran them threw my hair as I thought. Travis stayed perched where he was.
"How about I go in for five minutes and talk to him alone and then you can come in?" I offered because he seemed to be saying no to anything else I offered when I was just trying to keep him from getting arrested.
"I get to talk to him when I come in," he countered.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to speak to him? He's going to hear your voice."
Travis scoffed. "He doesn't know what Travis Miller sounds like."
I didn't think this was a good idea but I also didn't think him going in alone to talk to Josh was a good idea. At least this way, I got to talk to Josh and I would be able to make sure Travis didn't shoot him.
"You're going to get arrested," I said, walking out of the bedroom.
Travis trailed after me. "Will you be putting the cuffs on?" he asked.
I turned to look at him and he only winked. I stopped outside of the room they had Josh in and Travis gave me a cheesy smile before continuing down the hall. I waited until he was far enough away before entering the room.
Josh was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. As soon as the door opened, he jumped to stand up, on high alert.
However, he relaxed when he saw that it was just me. Meanwhile, I was freaking out in my head while I tried to figure out how I was going to go over this with him. There didn't seem to be an easy way to ask him not to say anything without making it look like I was with the Casey's.
"You okay?" he asked, coming up to me.
I nodded. Technically, yes I was.
"Are you?"
"Yeah. My arm hurts but I'll live. I guess I should be thanking them but it doesn't seem right so I'll just thank you instead."
"Me?" I asked, caught off guard.
"Yeah, she said they only stopped because of you. I don't know what happened when you were here years ago but if it keeps me alive..." he trailed off before laughing nervously.
I went to sit on the edge of the bed. Breathe in. Breathe out. I could do this. "Are you going to tell the team?"
"What?" he asked, taking a seat next to me.
"Are you going to tell them about your stitches and Annabeth?" I asked.
He looked like he was deep in thought for a bit before he opened his mouth. "I want to talk to Dylan."
"About this?" My nerves went crazy.
Josh hesitated. Hesitating was never good. "About the hospital. About the kid and what you said, I've been thinking about it."
I looked at him in confusion. What did that have to do with any of this?
"I didn't have the balls to say what you did but I kept thinking about when they recruited me. My sister had gotten shot back home and I was angry. It was a horrible situation and I started training to join the police. I even considered joining the army. I just wanted to do something. And then the special ops showed up and told me I could get justice for my sister but they haven't even touched the case to this day."
"That's terrible, Josh," I said trying to sound as sympathetic as I could while trying to glance around for a clock.
He shrugged. "It's life but after how he treated you when you ran off, I've been thinking I want to talk to him. Asking about my hometown. Ask him about recruiting."
I nodded. At least he wasn't planning to immediately talk to him about what was going on right now.
"So about-" I started but he cut me off.
"Where are we, Carson? Really, where are we?" he prodded with wide, curious eyes.
"I don't know, Josh," I lied.
"Holy shit," he said and clasped a hand over his smiling mouth like my answer told him where we were. "I think I know where we are. Can you believe it?"
Yes. I can believe it.
"This is incredible," he gushed.
It wasn't.
"We're in," he started.
"Josh, you need to listen," I tried to start again but he wasn't listening.
"-The Casey headquarters. This has got to be where we are," he finished.
"Josh!" I yelled, because he was using up all of our time on these stupid questions.
He barely had time to focus on me before his attention was brought to the door slamming open and shut. Travis stood in the now closed door, covered head to toe in black. Black shoes, pants, hoodie, gloves. He had a different mask on from earlier. This one was cloth and had a skeleton on the front of it, which wasn't amusing considering his current 'status'. His hood was over his head, even though none of his face was even showing.
All traces of his warm skin were gone. But none of that was what had me angry.
What had me angry was his gun pointed directly at Josh.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"You screamed," he said lowly and I could tell he was back to the Travis I first saw in the field. The one whose voice held no emotion.
"And you said you couldn't hear through these walls," I said.
He didn't lower his gun as he answered. "Some."
Josh stood there against the bed with his hands raised, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
"I was told I had five minutes," I argued.
Travis ignored me and focused on Josh. I watched as his head moved up and down, seeming to size him up.
"What?" Josh asked, seeming annoyed and probably a little desperate to stop having the gun pointing at him. "What?"
"What are you going to tell your boss?" Travis asked slowly.
Josh shrugged and I held my breath.
Travis took another step towards him. "I can make this really simple," he said.
Josh clenched his jaw and took a step back. "What do you want me to tell them?"
"Nothing," Travis threatened. "Absolutely nothing or you'll get a bullet in your head the second you open your mouth."
I could see the fear flicker in Josh's eyes and I didn't blame him. Travis reminded me of Cameron when I first met him. Or any time basically. I was so scared of the man I could barely say hello to him. And somehow, like it was as easy as nothing, Travis was able to flick a switch and just his voice alone made Josh fear him. Well, and the gun.
But Travis was threatening a trainee for the special ops and I was here as a witness. If Josh ever figured out who Travis was, he could use everything he was saying right now against him and pull me in for questioning or send me to jail for trying to lie about it. Holding a gun to Josh's face wasn't the best idea if he wanted to stay out of jail in the long run.
I stepped up to the side of Josh and looked at Travis.
"Put the gun down," I said.
Travis turned his gun from Josh and pointed it straight at me. "Sit down."
I clenched my jaw and glared at him. This was going great. If it wasn't for his voice, which I hated at the moment, the fact that this masked figure was pointing a gun at me would've had me just as scared as Josh. But I knew it was Travis as he clicked off the safety and I narrowed my eyes at him before starting to move to sit down. I knew he wouldn't actually do anything.
The only issue was, Josh didn't know that.
Josh lurched forward, shoving Travis' arm to the side and jumping on him. He hit him in the face and it was like Josh had hit me directly in the stomach instead. Travis had done such a good job of staying bruise free. Travis tossed the gun to the side and I quickly scooped it up, clicking the safety back on.
"Josh," I called. "Stop it."
Josh didn't listen and went to hit him again but Travis caught Josh's wrist in his hand before he had a chance to punch him again.
"You only get one," Travis said lowly, like a warning.
I watched as Josh tried to get a hit on Travis with his left hand but it was difficult for him and Travis easily caught his wrist again. I saw Josh trying to move his arms but Travis had a solid hold on them. I couldn't help but think back to when Josh claimed he was tougher than most of the guys here.
Josh, meet Travis. Apparently almost died six times. Believed to be dead. Current head of the Casey Gang. Best sniper in the city. My boyfriend. That half pint you claimed you were stronger than.
"Are you done?" Travis asked.
Josh stopped fighting and stood up with Travis still holding onto his wrists. When he did let go, Josh just tried to land another punch but this time in Travis' side. Maybe he thought we were being held captive. Or he didn't realize that I had the gun now. Either way, Travis barely fell over from the hit and kept blocking Josh's oncoming ones.
Travis was careful not to hit Josh, which I appreciated. I couldn't explain Josh's bloody face to my bosses on top of his stitched up arm, if Josh decided to not say anything. Josh went to punch Travis and Travis grabbed his fist, twisting Josh's arm so it was now positioned behind his back and Travis had the upper hand. He put more pressure on the arm he was twisting and Josh bent his knees slightly, in pain.
"My girlfriend's not going to like my black eye," Travis said, pulling tighter on Josh's arm. His sentence sounded like he should've been annoyed but he said it just like he was staying everything else. Calmly. Collected.
I knew it wasn't fair to Josh, they both grew up in different training environments. But at the same time, I didn't care.
Every time Josh corrected me when I used Cameron or Travis in the present tense and he just had to remind me they were dead when we first got here popped into my head. Every time he refused to listen to me when I had an idea. Every time he insulted me when we were back home and training.
"Okay, okay!" Josh yelled, snapping me out of my daze.
Travis let go of his arm and Josh stepped quickly away, grabbing his shoulder and rubbing it out. He moved to stand by me.
"Josh," I said quietly. Their heads snapped to me. Finally I had his attention. "If you tell Dylan, he's probably going to send me home. He won't care if it was to help you and your arm."
"And we'll have the cops on our ass," Travis added. "So I'll shoot you."
Josh nodded, probably out of fear. "I won't. I won't say anything."
I looked at Travis, waiting to see if that was good enough for him. It seemed to be because he nodded his head towards the door while looking in my direction.
"We'll get your stuff and go," he said. My heart dropped. I knew I'd have to leave soon but I didn't know I'd have to leave this soon. I wasn't ready.
I walked with him out of the door and he shut it while we headed towards Alex's room.
"I would have gotten him to agree," I said under my breath. "I can't believe you aimed your gun at me."
"It's empty," he said, his voice still cold.
I flipped the gun around in my hands a few times before taking out the magazine. Sure enough, the cartridge was empty with no bullets. He took the gun from me, putting it back together and putting it wherever it was supposed to go on him. Though I didn't think an empty gun had much use for him.
We entered the room and I grabbed my old purse. He stayed at the door, looking stiffer than he did earlier.
"I don't like when you wear those clothes," I said from my spot in the middle of the room.
"Okay," he said, his tone sounding like he didn't care one way or another.
"You shut off," I said.
Travis groaned. "That's the point. Can we go?"
I narrowed my eyes. "So that's it? I don't even get to say goodbye to you? Because I sure won't be able to as soon as we're out there and Josh is around."
"I'm about to drop you off with the organization trying to arrest my friends while having to trust that imbecile doesn't rat you out. I'm not in a cheery mood," Travis snapped.
I bit my tongue to keep from arguing back at him and walked the few steps to get closer to him. Wrapping my arms around him, I hugged him. He didn't respond at first, in fact, he just tensed up. I just hugged him tighter.
After a few seconds, I heard him moving some things before I felt his lips on my forehead. I looked up and he'd moved his mask up to the top of his head. He wrapped his arms around me before kissing me.
"I'll see you soon," he promised, his voice warm again.
When we went back to Josh's room, I saw two more figures dressed similarly to Travis. However, they just had bandanas over their faces and I could still see their eyes. A black bag was placed over my head, blocking any sight. However, just as soon as it came, it was gone.
I looked around and noticed now only Josh had the bag on top of his head. Travis pushed him out of the room and I followed.
"Come on, little package," Finn said underneath his bandana as he walked next to me, winking. "Gotta make sure you don't see where you are," he added, winking about five times in a row.
I held in my laughter.
Josh turned his bagged head back towards us at Finn's voice but Travis jerked his arm to keep him walking.
"He's going to know it's you two," I said quietly, under my breath to Finn and Ben.
Finn shrugged while Ben held the main door open. Travis and Josh were already outside.
"He already knows we're in the gang," Finn said like he was telling me a big secret.
We got into the SUV, with Ben driving, Finn in the front, and Travis in between Josh and I in the back seat. It was awkward. At least for me it was as I glanced over at a hooded Josh and then to my masked boyfriend, while I held the hood that was supposed to be on my own head in my hands.
Travis made no attempt to hold my hand during this car ride and I didn't blame him.
When we got close, he removed the bag over Josh's head and reached into his hoodie pockets. Josh looked around, trying to get his surroundings. His eyes landed on me to make sure I was okay.
"Here," Travis said, handing our phones back to both of us.
We stopped a few blocks away from the hotel.
"You can walk from here," Finn said.
"And if you say a word, I'll kill you," Travis promised.
We both exited the car and it quickly drove off. We didn't talk much the rest of the way. I think Josh was trying to process everything. I personally didn't want to talk, worried he'd start asking me questions.
So when I got up to my hotel room and buzzed myself in without any word from Josh, I was relieved. I quickly fell into my bed, hoping to find sleep. And I did. For a few hours. Until the rest of the world woke up and there was a harsh pounding on my door.
I opened it and found Dylan, Owen, and Josh on the other side. My heart sank as Josh looked everywhere but at me. I started biting my lip as I let the three men in.
"You care to explain why you had Josh running around the entire town looking for you last night when you went running away like some child?" Dylan spat as soon as the door closed.
I felt my shoulders relax instantly. Good, this I could handle.
"You know why."
"Lacey," Owen said, stepping between the two of us. "Communication is very important to this team. We didn't know where you went. We didn't know where Josh went. Whenever we called, it went straight to voicemail. We didn't know if we needed to send a search team out or not."
"Did you?" I asked.
"Would you have felt special if we did?" Dylan asked. So he still wasn't over our argument.
"Maybe," I said with a grin.
"We can't have two trainees missing just because you can't handle how the job works," Dylan said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. My whereabouts flashed by in my head. The fact that the second I crossed into Melkin, I had Jay by my side specifically just to watch me. I had been with the top members of the Casey gang within the last few hours. All of whom, Dylan wanted more than anything according to his list of targets in the conference room. I clenched my jaw at the asshole in front of me as he pushed around Owen to look at me. He knew absolutely nothing.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he shot out.
I tilted my head to the side. "Nope," I said, popping the 'p' which only infuriated him more.
Owen saw this as a chance to intervene again. "You're our two top trainees. We can't afford to have anything happen to either of you."
He was right, he couldn't afford to have anything happen to either of us. We knew more than they knew. I knew more than anyone knew and Dylan was mad.
"We've both decided it's best if you sit out missions for the next few days," Owen said.
"So I'm on house arrest again?" I asked.
"I wanted to send you home, you should be happy," Dylan said.
"What about Josh?" I asked, wondering if he got punished for coming to find me.
He looked at the ground and he moved he wiggled his hand as if to say 'eh'. Maybe he didn't have it for as long as I did. Or whatever it was, it wasn't as bad.
"That's none of your concern," Dylan said before leaving.
Owen gave me a soft smile before leaving.
Josh ran close to me for a few seconds, sparing a glance over his shoulder at the retreating bosses. "They're picking and choosing my days based on the missions that day," he said before disappearing out of the room.
Ah, so they're going to exclude Josh from all of the fun ones most likely. Any that he would want to go on, he won't be able to go on. He'll probably be stuck doing surveillance, sitting in a car all day long.
I locked the door behind them and crawled back into bed. They didn't exactly check in with me last time I was on house arrest so I doubted they would this time. I wasn't going to just sit in the hotel room the entire day and night just because Dylan was mad I argued with him. I fell asleep shortly after, finally able to catch up without any interruptions.
By the time I woke up, it was night. I'd slept through most of the day but I felt much better. I stretched and stayed in bed for a little bit, enjoying the refreshing feeling. I ordered room service, not knowing how starving I was and got changed. After eating, I took the clothes out of my purse, put some miscellaneous things into it so it didn't look suspicious that I had a bag with just a camera in it, and exited my room. I figured most everyone was asleep, so I made my way down to the conference room.
Opening the door, I was right. I turned the light on and not a sole was in here. I quickly got to work, taking photos of anything that looked important.
Once the hours passed, and it felt like people might start to wake up, I put everything I had touched away. I turned the lights off and quietly shut the door behind me. Walking through the hotel lobby, I glanced into the breakfast area. No one was up yet and I made a mental note of that. I returned to my room for the day, not trying to push my luck and just waiting to see if they did in fact, check on me at all.
They didn't. Which made me glad.
I ended up falling asleep at some point during the mid-afternoon, practically forcing myself to, and woke up around one a.m. I repeated last night's actions, going down to the empty conference room to take more pictures. And much like in the morning, I was out before anyone was up in the breakfast area. I took that as my cue to leave as I swiftly walked out of the main doors and down the street.
I pulled out my phone and this time, I memorized the walk before I even got to Melkin's wall. I hopped the wall and it seemed like I even beat Jay up. I would have no one to tell me no this time.
And that's how I ended up standing outside the Casey mansion gates.
I grinned. They weren't locked. They didn't need to be.
Who, with ill intentions, would walk in? The house was being watched so if you weren't someone that was wanted, you were going to be met with opposition quickly.
A few men outside the house waved or nodded at me as I strolled up and I returned the gesture. Entering the house, I nearly ran up the stairs to the room Travis' spent his nights in. They said they were awake during the night so they would be sleeping during day, logically, right?
I opened the door and was met with the room in the exact same state I left it in. Annabeth's was also empty.
A random member was walking down the hall and I stopped him.
"Where's Travis? Or Ben? Are they here?"
The guy shook his head. "They don't really stay here much."
Right. I should've known. They probably have a house somewhere else.
I groaned and went to look again at Travis' room. I straightened out the bed sheets so it was made and when I went to turn off the light, I hesitated.
I left it on, shutting the door.
No one came in that room except for Travis. If he was in there later, I'd know.
So I went back to the hotel and my days repeated. Wake up at night, take pictures, go to bed in the afternoon, start all over again.
Occasionally, I would stop by the Casey house while I was out and about but the light was always on.
Until the morning I opened the door and it was dark.
My heart leaped in its chest. He had been here. He wasn't here currently, but he was here. He was okay still, and that was enough for me.
I nearly cried at the light switch and crawled into bed to sleep under the messed up covers. I felt like such a baby.
When I woke up, I fixed the bed and left the light on before leaving, a giant smile on my face. House arrest wasn't so bad after all. Who knew?
The next night, I noticed two things.
One, was that when I was taking pictures of the property records for Ben, a handful of documents were missing. This included all of the potential houses for the Casey houses which left me unsettled. Either they were currently investigating this, or someone was holding onto them for some reason. I couldn't figure out who or why. But as I scanned at some of the other Casey files, I noticed a lot of other documents that I had recently taken pictures of were currently missing, too. I focused on trying to take as many pictures as I could that night without making a mess before more went missing.
The second thing, was that Travis had been in the Casey house again and shut off his room light. My heart warmed.
The night after, I was on my way out after finishing the last of the pictures. It had been about a week, maybe a week and a half since I started this and was put on house arrest. My time schedule was messed up and I didn't track it in my calendar. Most of the time my phone was dead.
To make sure my phone didn't die yet again, I ran upstairs to get my phone charger amd was on my way back down the stairs to head out to Melkin. I always took the stairs, less chance I would run into anyone making an ice bucket run or something, when I ran into a familiar face. One I didn't think I would ever run into in the hotel staircase. I took a few steps back up, confused on where I was for a split second.
Jay stood there, looking up at me in confusion as well, with two guys almost just as big as him on either side of him.
"Hello, Jay?" I asked, eyeing the three of them. Was he mad I had been sneaking into Melkin without his babysitting?
"Miss Pain-in-my-ass," he said cordially.
I rolled my eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Business unrelated to you and your people," he said.
My eyes lit up, "Your actual job?"
He cocked his jaw to the side, knowing I meant something other than babysitting. He came up the stairs until he was eye level with me.
"Yes."
I leaned in closer, patiently waiting and urging him to go on.
"We collect things from people who owe them to us."
My mouth made an 'o' shape. "So you intimidate people into paying you?" I asked curiously.
His build certainly made it seem like he would be good for that.
One of the guys behind him found that amusing and covered his mouth to stop from laughing.
"Sometimes we intimidate. Sometimes we use other means."
"Can I come?" I asked, eager to do something.
"No," he was quick to say, walking passed me.
His two sidekicks followed him and I had to lean against the railing so they could pass they were so big. I followed up the stairs after them. We passed my floor and kept going.
Once we were outside of the correct level, he stopped, annoyed I was still following.
"I won't even say anything. I'll be good," I said, still on the last few stairs.
He was on the top of the landing and towered over me even more than he usually did. He glared down at me, looking much like Travis did whenever he was all business. But I didn't move.
"You don't scare me," I whispered, obvious to what he was trying to do to get me to run away with my tail tucked between my legs.
Travis didn't trust many people. It was easy to pick up on watching him fight. If he had a problem, he called his close friends. Never any other gang member. He made sure I barely even saw any other gang members when I was here the first time. If Travis trusted him enough to put him in charge of babysitting me, there wasn't anything that could make me not trust Jay.
"I should," Jay said.
I shrugged.
After a few more seconds, he turned away and opened the floor door. "You can stay outside of the room."
Yes.
I quickly regretted it. Jay and his team were practically torturing this random guy who just happened to owe the Casey's money on the other side of the hotel door. They were being quiet about it though so no one would hear. They were skilled, which was worrying. Travis sent some skilled torturer around to babysit me? It didn't take long for me to step away from the door and wait for them.
Jay and his team exited shortly after. He had blood on his shirt.
"Did you get your money?" I asked, eyeing the red.
He nodded.
"Is he alive?"
He nodded again. Thank god.
They started walking towards the staircase and I followed.
"Are you coming over?" Jay asked me accusingly. "You keep sneaking into Melkin while I'm working. Might as well escort you while I'm here this time."
I felt like a deer in headlights, caught in the act.
"I mean, if we're all going that way..." I smiled innocently, using a soft voice.
"God dammit," he said before sighing, like he expected me to say no. "Let's go."
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Note: I'M SO TIRED (hopefully there's no horrible spelling mistakes in this but I'll probably have to reread it in the morning when my eyes don't hurt). I hope you guys liked it. I'm so anxious to get these next few chapters written because gahh I enjoy writing them just as much as you enjoy reading them.
Have a great rest of your day! I love you all!