Devil With a Shotgun

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

<Gavin Forrester>

The alarm clock goes off and I slam my hand down lazily on the snooze button. The annoying ringing stops and I sit up, grumbling to myself about how I got the worst night of sleep. Blaze and slick are still snoring in the next bed over and Jeffrey seems to have left the room for some reason.

I rub the back of my neck and go off to the bathroom to shower before everyone gets up. My mind is heavy from the conversation I had with Victoria last night and my guilty conscience won't leave me alone. I feel bad that it took me so long to call her but I have spent the last three weeks exploring every dead-end lead I could find. I even once went to Talon's headquarters but Blaze stopped me from infiltrating it because he knew I wouldn't make it very far. I feel ashamed that after three weeks I haven't found anything and I didn't want to worry Victoria with that fact. My plan backfired, though, because I worried Victoria more by not calling.

I turn on the shower while my thoughts continue to wage a war in my head. The water warms up quickly and I feel a bit less tense as I slip under and begin to wash myself. After at least half an hour, I get out and locate a towel, wrapping it around myself as I look in the mirror.

My brown eyes are surrounded by dark circles, a testament to how much sleep I've actually lost. My hair is overgrown and bedraggled and there's a shadow of a beard covering my chin. My looks on the outside match my mood inside perfectly. I'm tired and completely out of sorts. I wish I'd never even gone out on this quest because I have accomplished absolutely nothing and probably won't.

That dumb address Carter gave me was even a dead-end.

Wait; the address!

I race out of the bathroom, holding my towel tightly around my waist as I reach the pile of duffle bags in the corner. My hands fumble with the one on top which thankfully is mine. I bite my lip as I practically tear the bag apart.

Clothes, shoes, extra bullets and an armored vest fall onto the ground but the very thing I'm looking for stays crumpled at the bottom of it. My fingers shake as I pull out the piece of paper and read the address Carter wrote in his sloping scrawl.

2354 Fairview Drive, Mockingbird Gated Community.

"Gavin, what are you doing? Please try to sleep." Blaze groans and sits up in bed.

"I know where we need to go next." I stand up, the paper clutched in my hand.

"Home?" Slick says hopefully, even though his eyes tell a different story.

"No but this is my last hope. If we don't find it at this address than we can go home." I snap and shove the paper at them.

I know it's been three damn weeks but I need their support right now. If we don't find these files than we might as well hand ourselves over to Talon.

"Okay," They sigh simultaneously and get up to get dressed.

Jeffrey comes back into the room bearing brown paper bags filled with food no doubt. He hands one to each of us and then sits down on the edge of the bed with a solemn look.

"Where are we going today?" He asks with little to no interest.

I hand him the paper Blaze discarded on the other bed and his eyes widen a little.

"Is there something wrong, Jeffrey?" I ask with an edge in my tone.

"Just that this gated community has been closed down for years. It used to be where Talon housed all the people he'd banned from New York." Jeffrey shrugs and hands the paper back to me.