Everything Started Here With You

Innocent Bystanders

"Within each person's heart is a dark basement. If you look away or stand by, that darkness thickens. You must summon your courage to go down and turn on the light. If you're scared to go alone, you can hold someone's hand."

-- Kill Me, Heal Me

"Whatever happens from here on out is my fault and I don't plan on apologizing for anything if you're expecting me to," Wayne said. "Is there anything you want to know before you leave?"

"Not really," I said. I never wanted to know what Wayne was up to.

"Could you tell Paige I said hey?" Hayden asked. "I didn't get to see her at the gala."

"Whatever. Now go."

Wayne slammed the car door shut and Hayden sped off without another word. Now that I think about it it's weird that Wayne wanted to get dropped off in front of the hospital. I couldn't tell if he was packing, but if he was then he was ruining his own life. We left LA early this morning to be his getaway driver and now he's wanting to get into more trouble? I'll never understand how he thinks.

Before we could get that far from the hospital I spotted Luca's car pulling in. Or I think it was Luca's. Not many people I knew around Palm Springs owned a white Bugatti Veyron. I wonder what he was up to also. He hadn't been very kind to Lexi in the past couple of days. Was he really going to visit her? Or was it an interrogation.

It didn't take us long to get to Cameron's hideout, so I wasn't surprised to see all of our men out front talking. They spotted us pulling in and came to the car. I got out and looked around. After all these years, I still didn't trust being around this place. No telling who else knew about this place.

"Agent Carson, how's everything around the building?" I asked.

"Fine. I had Folsom go inside and start wiring everything in," he said. "Lewis got hurt on the job so he's in the hospital at this point. Is there anything you want me to do?"

"The trapdoor. I remember there being a trapdoor that led to the basement. Do you know where it is?"

"One of the men found it while we were scoping out the place. Do you want me to show you?"

"Show Hayden. I need to get something else done."

Hayden didn't say a word and followed Carson into the building. I looked at the building myself and sighed. It didn't look much different than it did all those years ago, but you could clearly see the age. Being here for only a day was torture enough.

"Standing here won't help you figure out anything."

I jumped in surprise and almost fell backwards. Jackson caught me and smiled. I forced myself not to blush and instead scowled at him. Really? I thought he had gone overseas already. I would have been.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just getting ready to set up here with you guys," he said, like it had always been a part of the plan. "I need the office that's in there. Luca's going to want to talk to me."

"...Luca's not part of the plan."

"He is now. I just want to have a little talk with him when he realizes his family is missing."

"What do you mean when his family is missing? We don't have them," I said.

"Soon. Now show me the office." Jackson smiled down at me. I stood up again and huffed. This man.

We marched into the dimly lit building. Things were coming apart, but I wasn't complaining. We would be out of Palm Springs in a matter of hours. I wouldn't be coming back to this place even if my life depended on it. It was creepy and dank. Who would even come in here to hide anyway?