Double Agent

Sins of the Father

The exchange happened just before midnight, on a quiet road in the hills. Dash had arranged for Doc to take Daya's body and keep it under the radar. He'd keep her safe, prepare the body and get all the papers we'd need to take her with us when we left, and give her a proper burial. There were no half measures for a fallen family member, and she'd be out of the grasp of the FBI or anyone else who'd be coming after us now. Once we'd handed her over, we both sat in the car in silence, the events of the night rendering us both speechless. A little over twenty four hours ago, everything was fine. My cover remained intact, Daya was alive, and I still had everyone that I cared about in my life. Now it was all a mess, and the way forward was marred by a fog of uncertainty.

"It would have been so much worse if you hadn't have come along." Dash finally spoke, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you out back at the house."

"You had no reason to. I know I hurt you, betrayed you even. But I didn't want to, I never knew how involved I'd get, as soon as I did, I tried to help you, but I shouldn't have lied."

"Maybe you should."

I turned to face him, he looked tired as he stared pointedly ahead.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"If you hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten to know you. I wouldn't have let you get as close as you did." He looked my way, his hand moving across the center console and landing on top of mine. "And I'm glad you got close." He said softly.

"Me too."

My phone beeped as a text message came through.

"It's Luke." I announced, reading it from the screen. "He wants to know where we are."

I tapped out a short reply, and we set off, this time to join the others.

Four-Twenty-Six Crescent Drive was a large manor house situated at the end of a long driveway off of a private road. Like the others before us, we parked in one of the garages and entered the house via an internal door, coming out into a vast kitchen that was even larger than the one at the mansion.

"Luke?" Dash called.

The sound of movement greeted us as the others came flocking out of a nearby room.

"Thank God you're okay." Luke sighe, rushing his brother and dragging him into a one armed hug.

He paused as they broke apart, his eyes skipping to me, before he pulled me into his embrace too. "Thank you." He whispered.

I saw Sage hanging back, her eyes red and mascara tracks across her cheek.

"Sage, I'm so sorry." I said earnestly, taking a step closer to her.

After our last encounter, I wasn't sure how she'd feel about me being there, but it soon became clear as she crossed the room, and wrapped her arms around me.

"You stayed with her. Thank you."

Her voice was barely above a whisper, and hoarse as though she'd been screaming for hours on end. I returned her hug, my heart breaking for her after what had happened. Eddie came over next, with a brief hug of his own.

"Where are the others?" Dash asked, noting the absence of the others from the warehouse.

"I gave Rico the papers and sent them to the airport. They played their part, it's time for them to get out." Luke explained.

"Good."

"Where's Daya?" Sage spoke up.

"Doc's looking after her. He's gonna get her ready to come with us. We're taking her home."