Tattooed

XXVI

The road trip back was a quiet one. Wes' head was in my lap, he was still unconscious but he was breathing and everything seemed to be okay. But we lost two people trying to save Wes so everyone was somber.

"The guards grabbed Lex and Raizel and they told us to grab Wes and run. The girls said the cause was more important. I thought they would just be imprisoned but we heard the gunshots right after." The man, I think people called him Turtle, hung his head. "I was planning on coming back for them."

"We can't win it all Turtle, sometimes we have to cut our losses." Lila said. Her tone was calm but her knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"At least they were together when they died. I don't think Lex and Raizel would have survived being separated in different cells. Being away from someone you love, wondering what's going to happen to them, knowing there's nothing you can do, it can kill you."

I looked at Wes. I brushed my fingers through his long hair and agreed with Lila. I would've gone mad with worry if we had left Wes there.

Wes didn't open his eyes until we were back at the headquarters. The car stopped and everyone filed out and Wes began to stir. I couldn't help but smile when I saw his green eyes flash at me again. It had only been two or three days since I last saw him, but after tonight I felt like I was seeing him for the first time in forever.

"Hey," I said soothingly, "we're at the headquarters, you're safe." Wes slowly moved off of me, he looked like every muscle ached as he moved.

"You're not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to know..." It clearly took a lot of energy for him to talk so I just shushed him and helped him out.

"I think we're going to have a little debriefing inside so I'll tell you everything then." I squeezed his hand. "I'm really glad you're back...and safe."

Once everyone was settled we all began to recount what happened. Robert, the older man with the beard, talked about how he and Lila were watching from the laptop, and how someone must have tripped an invisible alarm or something. Then he said how they didn't see any officers on any camera until the alarm sounded.

"It was definitely weird." Lila added.

Turtle, Corinth and I all talked about what we did, and then everyone turned to look expectedly at Wes. Wes was the one with the inside intel.

We were sitting next to each other on the couch and I laced my fingers between his as he started to tell his story.

"I was out one night and a guard finally caught me." He didn't mention our date, didn't mention it was my fault. "They took me to the prison, ran some background check or something and then led me past the normal cells to the ones you guys saw, with the wide window. This one guy, looked like a doctor, came in and out for some questioning. Asked me about what I knew about our government and history. I played dumb but...I think they know about us, or at least a little bit. I think those cells I was in are for criminals who know too much. I think it's for the prisoners whose memories they erase. They didn't feed me or anything and I don't know if I would have lasted a day longer."

I let out a breath. Everyone else seemed shocked too.

"You didn't hear anything? Any more info about the corruption going on?" Corinth asked and Wes shook his head.

"I don't think it's safe for you to go out anymore." Turtle said, "I think you're stuck with us now Boss." The others bobbed their head in agreement.

Robert cleared his throat. "But we still need someone to actively gather intel." Robert looked at me. "I think that new position should go to Cecil."

"Absolutely not." Wes said firmly. "Corinth shouldn't have even brought her here."

"Wes, Cecil brought us a book. A secret book about the history of our state and the Stratums and it explains so much and tells us things we didn't even know. Cecil said there's even more books like that in the library she works at. I think...I think she can do it. She can find out a lot more."

Wes stared at me as Lila brought him the book. He flipped through a few of the pages. "Tonight was dangerous." He said lowly. "I never wanted to drag you into this."

A part of me was scared. A part of me wanted to say "Wes is back, I'm just going to walk away and pretend this never happened". But it did happen, and as much as I didn't want to ever do this again, I knew I couldn't walk away and pretend everything was perfect. There is so much corruption yet to be uncovered. Now that I think about it, I can't even name anyone who works for the government. It's faceless, and it's doing horrible things, and it needs to be stopped. At the very least it needs to be brought to light.

I held Wes' gaze, trying to communicate that I was strong. "I can do this."