Opaque

42 | Fear

"Fear cuts deeper than swords." ― George R.R. Martin

Chapter Forty-Two

I didn't know how long I stayed silent, mentally piecing the newfound clues together in harmony, but eventually Mia seemed to get paranoid about my sudden change of behavior. She snapped her fingers in front of my eyes until I blinked out of my reverie and connected with reality.

"Are you okay, Angie?"

I nodded. "I was just thinking."

Her arms no longer crossed, she wrung her hands. "I know that it's your job to put criminals behind bars, but Axel is just human. We all make mistakes and I didn't really want to put him in trouble."

"Look, Mia, I can't promise I'll keep his criminal record a secret or that he won't go to jail for committing illegal activities, but if you take me to him and I find him innocent in context to the case I'm currently working on, then I'll leave him alone."

"Really?" Her eyes were twinkling again.

Either Axel was a good friend of hers, or she liked him. Both reasons seemed rather surprising to me as he didn't seem like the type of man girls fell in love with. With his height and bulging muscles, he was the type of man girls ran away from. The man everyone was afraid of.

"Yeah, but I can't promise he won't ever get caught. We all make mistakes, Mia, but whether we choose to continue making those same mistakes or stop once we know its wrong is what defines our personality. And, besides, some mistakes are bigger than others, and for some of them, we need to pay the consequences, or else we wouldn't know what we did was wrong. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"I know he's going to get caught eventually. I just rather it not be me who puts him behind the bars."

"That's understandable."

"So assuming you wanted to know about him before, when are you planning on meeting with him?"

I smiled, leaning against the walls.

"Well, we didn't have the best first impression, so I don't think he'd be up for chit-chat with me."

"Yeah, he didn't like you, so I never bothered telling him you worked for the FBI. He would've probably become very paranoid and done something rash."

"It's good you didn't mention it. This way, it'll be a surprise and hopefully I'll get some truth out of him before he closes up. But in order for me to even get him to talk, I'm going to need you."

"Me?" She said, her voice high pitched out of surprise, pointing at herself.

I nodded. "Yeah. How else do you think I'm going to be able to talk to him? Assuming that the two of you are friends, it shouldn't be too difficult for you to get him to meet up with me."

She hesitated. "I guess I can bring him to you."

I shook my head. "No, you're going to bring me to him."

She thought about it for a few seconds, more likely than not, mulling over the pros and cons of the decision.

"Okay, I'll do it. But on one condition."

"Which is?"

"You will not arrest him while we are the dojo in front of witnesses if you find out that he's guilty."

I stretched out my hand, for her to shake, and smiled.

She clasped my hand and we shook. A deal made.