A Spy's Home---Book 3: A Friend I've Never Met

Chapter 19

Rory's Point of View

I coughed as I wiped off of my clothing; I pushed myself up to a sitting-up position and peered over at Zylina, who was also in a sitting-up position looking exhausted, and covered in dust.

"You alright?" I groaned, crawling to Luke's side and examining his wounds; he was unconscious, had a bleeding cut on the side of his temple from where he had banged his noggin, and was covered in dust, but he would live and wake up soon enough.

Zylina nodded, and let herself cough a couple times. She then dazly looked at me, and muttered, "Lilian...."

My eyes went wide as the realization hit me like a bullet; if this was a trap, then the mission we put Lilian on might have been a trap too.

"We have to go now!" I exclaimed, getting to my feet. Zylina got to her feet as well, and gazed down at Luke.

"What about him?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of Luke. I knew what she meant by that one question, and I already had a plan of action.

"Take him back to the safe house; clean and patch him up. I'll go get Lilian, and Axel." I ordered, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Zylina stared at me with wide eyes, and for a second I thought she was going to protest. Surprisingly, and fortunately, she didn't argue back; instead, after a moment, Zylina's eyes narrowed, and she nodded.

I watched her take action; lifting Luke into the truck, and getting into the driver's seat in a matter of seconds.

As she turned on the engine, we locked eyes, and Zylina mouthed to me, "Be careful." The only response I gave her was a small nod, before watching Zylina drive off.

As soon as Little Z was out of sight down the dusty road, I got into my own car, and drove towards the business building we had sent Lilian to, leaving the old facility in flames, and behind me.

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Lilian's Point of View

I had managed to sneak into Axel's room, and get the kid, but I had also managed to get myself trapped. Currently, there was an agent cornering me, pointing a gun in my direction

Axel was snuggled up in my arm, terrified of the weapon that he was being threatened with.

"Who are you kid? We all know for a fact that you aren't Agent Z." the agent questioned, but I gave no response; after what they did to me and my family, I wasn't about to answer to these murderers.

"If you're not going to answer, then how about we compromise? Give us the boy, and maybe we'll spare you." he tried negotiating.

I scoffed and answered, "Maybe spare me? Please, I know if I give you the kid you'll kill me where I stand." I tensed when I heard footsteps and voices below me, causing me to tighten my grip on Axel.

"Look, I can obviously see you are skilled; you managed to sneak past most of the cadets, and fight off a few of them," the agent started.

I narrowed my eyes, and exclaimed without thinking, "If you're asking me to join you psychos, then forget about it. You've done enough damage in my life already." When those words came out of my mouth I looked away from him; I couldn't reveal anything else, or he might have put the pieces together.

"Suit yourself." he muttered, cocking the pistol causing me to flinch. Fortunately, some sort of commotion sounded from downstairs, causing my attacker to look over his shoulder for a moment; that moment was all I needed.

I rushed over and kicked the gun from the agent's grasp before sweeping his feet, and punching his temple on the way down; the agent was out cold.

I took a few seconds to catch my breath, and see if Axel was okay; once I was finished with both of those things I snuck downstairs to get out, but I was also curious to see what the commotion that had saved my butt was all about.

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Rory's Point of View

I drove into the nearest parking lot, and sprinted towards the business building as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself. I didn't bother putting on a hood or a handkerchief, since they probably expected me to come.

I saw the unconscious figure of a cadet under the fire escape ladder, and climbed up to the door; it was already unlocked.

I burst into the building, making my presence known to the Academy agents who were on the floor. The cadets stared in shock for a few seconds; I didn't blame them, usually Zylina and I would sneak in, not burst in like I did.

Finally, the cadets came back to their senses, and fumbled for their guns. I rolled my eyes before lunging at the nearest cadet. I stole their gun, placed him in a choke hold, and exclaimed, "Drop the guns or else." Of course I was bluffing; I would never shoot a young cadet, but I needed to get this done quickly.

"You wouldn't do that Rory, you have morals." sneered one agent; I recognized him from my Academy class; used to be a somewhat close friend.

I pressed the barrel of the gun deep into my "captive's" temple, and growled, "You wanna test that, Lewis?" I watched as his eyes went wide at me for using his name, but they quickly narrowed again.

Finally, after several long seconds of silence and staring, Lewis and the others put down their weapons. I then heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs, and only glanced over my shoulder long enough to see it was Lilian carrying Axel in her arms.

"Well, nice of you to join the party." I heard her say, with slight annoyance in her voice. I saw her join me at my side, and I scoffed, "Well, better late than never I suppose."

I pushed the cadet back to the other agents, but kept the gun pointed at them. "Oh so you know each other. Listen, little girl, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into sticking with Rory." Lewis smirked.

"C'mon, we have to get going." I whispered to Lilian; she hesitated to follow me out the door, and for a second I panicked. What if she believed these guys? She would never trust Zylina and me again if she fell for these lies.

Fortunately, Lilian finally followed me out the door, and when I closed it behind me, she grabbed the keys from the ground, and passed them to me so I could lock it.

"Why are you here?" Lilian asked, as we were walking to the car. She had taken off the hood and handkerchief, and Axel was snuggled up in her arms

"I'll explain later, but first we have to get back to the safe house, and-"

"Hold on, what about Axel? He needs to go home, remember?" Lilian cut me off, and I facepalmed myself; how could I have forgotten about getting Axel home.

I examined Axel; he was peacefully sleeping, and I didn't want to ruin the peace he was finally in.

"Maybe we should drop him off at the police station. There's no way Axel is going to remember his address at 3-years of age." I suggested. Lilian switched her gaze back and forth between Axel and me, probably pondering the suggestion.

"Yeah, I think that would be the easiest, but we can't let ourselves be seen by the police. They might think we're the ones who took him." Lilian replied.

After we came up with a plan, we made our way to the car, and drove to the police station to drop off Axel; however, I never told her about our close to death situation, or about Luke getting hurt.

TBC...