Demons Grasp

Chapter 8

"I'm going to need a minute" I say getting up. There is a bathroom on the far end of the room. I walk there on shaky legs. Once inside, I lock the door and put down the lid of the toilet and sit down on it. I massage the bridge of my nose and my forehead, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down.

But it does not help. Seeing Jake like this shocked me. I knew that the people he was hiding from were dangerous. But the true extent of his situation just hit me like a sledgehammer. I still blame myself for him coming out of hiding to see me. And now I have dragged so many more people into this.

So I let it all out. I start to weep, tears rolling freely down my face. I do not know how long I have been sitting here like this. But along with my tears all my fear and despair well out of me until all that is left inside of me is anger; Red, hot, blistering rage. It is time to get my shit together.

If they think that threatening me is going to scare me away, then they are dead wrong. Jake does not deserve any of this. Neither am I or any of the people outside. I will do anything in my power to prove this and finish what Jake started. I will get back the man I love. Or die trying.

I get up and walk over to the sink to splash cold water into my face. There is a soft knock at the door and I hear Tess' voice. "MC? Are you okay?" I unlock and throw open the door. Startled, Tess jumps back. "Yes. I'm okay. Let's start." I give her a smile which, judging from her face, must have not been very convincing.

I spot Max standing in a small group hunched over a laptop. While approaching him I finally take a closer look at him. He is tall and lean. His hair must have been dyed some shade of blue before but is faded now. The harsh and dismissive expression on his face, that I saw when Tess talked to him earlier, has made room now for pure focus.

When I reach them he looks up. "Ah, there you are. MC, right?" I nod. "How bad is it?" I ask. He scoffs. "Those people are not as smart as they think they are. We were able to gain quite a bit of information from the connection. We might even be able to trace them. Dylan here" he nods at the man sitting at the keyboard "is hot on their heels." I give Dylan a small smile. His short-ish, dark hair is in a bit of an unruly mess. "Hi Dylan." He barely looks up, responds to me only with a quick, two-fingered salute and goes right back to typing.

"Hey, I'm Maya" the woman to Max' left speaks up. She is almost as tall as him. Her eyebrows, nose, lip and ears are heavily pierced. "And this is Flex" she continues. Flex reminds me a lot of Dan with his barrel-chested appearance and a well-maintained beard. His long, wavy hair is in a ponytail. He greets me with an abrupt up-and-down movement of his head, sort of like an inverted nod.

"We will be taking care of the offense, while the others" Max gestures around the room. "Check our systems to assess any issues caused by the hack and reinforce our defenses."

"What can I do?"