The Elites

Chapter Eight

 There was a stunned silence for a few seconds that dragged on like hours. Violet smiled at me sickeningly, raising an eyebrow as she waited for a reply. She wasn’t getting one, so I just stood there with my arms folded. Lara had moved closer to me by this point, and I could feel her tensing up slightly. That told me more than words ever could; it still bothered her.

“What are we waiting for?” came a booming voice from a distance. It sounded like Paxley, but a lot of men here had the same snooty voice as he did. “Restrain her!”

Then several things happened at once. Two men either side of Violet began to rush forwards, reaching out for any part of her they could grab. It was clear to me that everyone here recognised her the same way I had; there was a debate at the time of whether I was the right man for the job back in 2009. Apparently I wasn’t.

Violet smirked slightly and clicked her finger. It seemed to echo around the still silent hall like a gunshot – a signal to someone, somewhere.

The moment she did, lights sprung to life from the ceiling; red spotlights. The lights fixed to the ceiling were the only things that made the hall seem slightly modern. There were six of them; each centred on one person. One blinded me, Lara, Will, Blair, Mr Hetley and someone else obscured from view – I assumed Paxley. The lights were excruciatingly bright, and I had to raise my arm to shield my eyes.

“Ooh, that’s a bit bright, isn’t it?” Violet said, the grips on her arm already loosening. She raised her voice to a shout. “Let’s lower the settings a bit, please!”

Instantly, the intensity lowered, and I could drop my arm to my side again.

“That’s better,” she said cheerfully. “Before you do anything you should know there are people stationed everywhere. If your greasy, disgusting hands aren’t removed from me in the next five seconds everyone standing under a spotlight will be shot.”

About two seconds passed before the men finally let go. They exchanged quick worried glances with each other before shrugging and letting go. They looked to Mr Hetley for approval and he nodded. Violet pushed the two away from her so forcefully that they stumbled to maintain their footing. She patted her leather covered arms as if patting away dirt before she stepped closer to where I stood with the other five, four of them also under spotlights. Ashton stood in the dark to my left.

“Thank you very much,” she said sourly, brushing past us with a wink in my direction. I narrowed my eyes pointedly and she chuckled lightly. I turned to watch her as she moved gracefully towards the stage, her heels clacking on the marble floor like alarm bells ringing.

She reached the steps and her footsteps became louder on the wood of the stage. She grabbed the microphone that Will had used for his inspirational speech and tapped it several times, static coming through the speakers. No one dared to say a word.

“Hello, Agents! Old retired guys! Wives who married them for their money! I think it’s fair to say this hasn’t really been your night, has it? I mean, Harry Eastbourne showed up for starts. Then a kid nearly died under a chandelier, I blew a hole in the wall in the corridor out there and now there’s a nice little circle in your ceiling! Oh, and I’m here now. That’s not good, either...

“So let me tell you how this is going to work. I'm not my dad. He was a sort of... civil servant. You all went out for him. So I'm coming out for all of you. So, first thing's fir-”

“You didn't even know your dad,” I yelled from the crowd, and everyone turned from Violet to me in a second. It was so quiet that I probably didn't even need to shout – a whisper would've been heard by all, including Violet up on the stage. “Why would you want to kill us all off?”