Life, Lies and Really Hot Spy Guys

Chapter 8: I lied

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After Toby and I got back to the hotel, I was able to lie easily to Toby saying that I wanted to sleep alone. I used my freshly stitched arm as an excuse and luckily he took it as the truth. I had never had a reason to lie to Toby, but recently, I had been lying more to him. And sadly, I didn't even feel bad about it. Maybe because deep in my mind, I knew that he was lying and hiding things from me.

I looked around the café that I walked into and smoothed out my dress. I could feel myself shake slightly out of excitement and nerves. This was my first real lead to get more information. But a part of me was scared where all this information would lead me to.

I scanned the shop and quickly saw Raffaele sitting at a lone table drinking a lemon aid. He made eye contact with me and nodded as if to say hello. I smiled lightly as I walked over to him and took a seat across at his table. The cold vinyl of the seat made me shiver on contact.

"After the shoot out, I didn't think you would come. You must really want answers," he said.

That was an understatement. I was dying for answers. I would do anything to get to this meeting. "I do."

"Here, it's hot; got you a lemon aid," he said handing me a glass filled to the brim.

I took it then eyed it carefully, wondering if it was safe to drink. But as I turned to look at him, something told me that I could trust him. "Thanks," I said and took a sip.

He put his head in his hands as he leaned over the table to get closer to me. I shifted in my seat awkwardly. No one had looked at me with such intent as he did now. "What do you want to know?"

"What did you work for? What do they do?" I asked.

He leaned back in his chair and frowned as he thought about what he was going to say. "It's an offset of the CIA, they have a little more freedom then you guys. They can color outside the lines. They goes by many names, MIA but I like to called them 'Death'," he chuckled cynically, as if remembering something he didn't want to.

I soaked in his words like a sponge. I had never heard of them before. I was sure if he was telling the truth or not. But then again, why would he lie about this? He had no skin in the game, he had no conditions. Why would he make this up? "Why did you quit?"

"Because, the lines were getting too blurry. It didn't feel right anymore. I joined to help people. But people were 'disappearing'," he shook his head, "I couldn't be apart of that."

I could see the pain in his eyes. It was obvious that he suffered more then he wanted to share because of them. "Why did you change your name?" I asked. My mind was flooding with more questions. It felt like I was going to explode if I didn't say them as soon as they came to my mind. 

"I went into hiding because everyone that has left MIA have either died or disappeared. I am afraid for my life here," he said as he looked around the café, fearing someone was watching us. "My new name is Zach Gray."

All of this seemed so insane to believe. But a part of me told me that this was possible because I had heard of crazy things before. I wanted to believe him because I had no reason not to. But I knew that I should approach everything with caution. "Do you know what happened to Lucy Sanders?"

He twisted his face as if the name was nails on the chalk board. "I did. She died a week ago. But I know the company killed her."

I nodded as I was silent for a moment. I tried to soak in every word he said, fearing that I wouldn't see him again. One thing that I couldn't figure out was if Raffaele was such a good guy, why was he in a gang? "Why are you working with a gang?"