Red {Wolf Rebellion I}

Chapter 23~The Hour Is Nigh~

When the hour is nigh, and hopelessness is sinking in, and the wolves all cry, to fill the night with hollering.

-Imagine Dragons, "Bleeding Out"

Chapter 23~The Hour Is Nigh~

My head whipped around to Kat and Cas, "We need to get out of here. He's one of Claret's senior agents," I hissed, glancing at Crimson out of my periphery. He wasn't close enough to pick my face out of the crowd yet, but anywhere I could see him was too close for me. Out of all the possibilities, it had to be him.

We moved away from the bench nonchalantly, merging with a large group of laughing teens. I suddenly felt exposed, wearing what I was. My choice was going to draw attention from any agent that happened to glance our way.

I pulled Kat with me as Cas brought up the rear. We split from the group, ducking into a Macy's storefront. I was too nervous to glance behind me, half afraid Crimson would be within arms reach.

"He shouldn't be here," I murmured as we wove through the women's department. "Agents aren't allowed further than ten miles from headquarters during their downtime." It was mainly for security reasons. If there was an emergency, an agent needed to be able to return to headquarters immediately. "There's no way he can be here."

"Funny, because he is," Cas growled. I could hear the wolf in his voice as he reacted to the sudden tension.

I felt my body tense involuntarily, and I had to remind myself to relax. Don't. He's not your enemy. Focus on the one that is.

We turned a corner to the escalators, and I risked a glance back.

Crimson stood just inside the Macy's doorway, nosing around the front display case innocently, but I could see the way he kept scanning the area, looking for something.

For us.

Then, halfway across the store, his eyes locked onto mine, and I could almost feel him looking through my disguise. A sudden predatory smile crept over his lips as he seemingly spoke into thin air. He had a comm. There were other agents nearby, then.

"Shit. He's contacting another team." Cas said. We didn't stick around to see him take more than a few steps toward us.

He knew, it was the only thing that I could comprehend as we shoved through clothing displays. Of all the places in the city that we could've chosen, and it was the one where Crimson was patrolling. There's gotta be more agents on the way-if they're not already here. Carmine and Shani were probably still halfway across the city.

We were on our own.

We cut toward the east end of the store, heading for another exit. "Get Carmine on the phone," I told Cas. If we could stay out of sight long enough for them to get here, it would be easier to slip away unnoticed.

He yanked one of the prepaid phones from his pocket, fumbling with the buttons, "Dammit!"

Kat was already pulling out her tablet, trying to type and keep up at the same time. "I need time to disable the cameras. We need somewhere to hide."

I nodded, turning to the dressing rooms as Cas finally got ahold of Carmine. He suddenly shoved the phone at me, and I yanked everyone into a empty room.

"Carmine?" I kept my voice low, not knowing how close Crimson was. My heart hammered against my rib cage, the adrenaline not doing me any favors.

"Ruby. You need to get out of there now! We're on our way, but we're still ten minutes out. Someone's just called in every agent in the vicinity, we lost our tail," Carmine's voice was razor sharp, and I could almost imagine how he was driving right now.