Chapter 8
I stood there, dumbfounded, my mouth agape, my eyes wide until a loud buzz filled my ears. My phone vibrated on the floor in the bedroom. I quickly ran over to it, picked it up, and answered the call.
‘Hello?’ Lucas asked.
‘Hi….’ I replied, as I started walking downstairs.
‘You want me to pick you up? Now?’ He asked again.
‘Yes please. Meet me at the end of the road in 10 minutes.’ I replied rapidly then hung up. Luckily, most of the people had gone outside to the side of the house to see the body so I silently slipped out the front door. My shoes clattered against the pavement and they rubbed uncomfortably at my heels. I bent down and took them off, held them by the straps then bolted down the road, cautious of the sirens that now approached. I stood awkwardly at the end of the road after I put my shoes back on and leaned back on the road sign. The sirens were ever closer now and in a few minutes they would have to sail right past me. I gulped. I needed to look natural, and hopefully Lucas would be here in a minute. I fiddled with my hair and pulled my skirt down lower. Even at 10:30pm the sun was only just setting but the air had a slight chill to it. I bit my nails as I anxiously waited for the car to arrive. My mind fluttered to Tyler …the way he looked just after he’d killed Stevenson.
I was suddenly brought from my daydreaming by a car horn. Lucas pulled up right beside me and I swiftly jumped in. Then the police cars passed us, the sirens blaring, the lights blinding.
‘What the…’ Lucas started as his eyes followed the cars to the house.
‘Just drive’ I cut him off abruptly. He nodded slightly, turned the car around and drove away. The rest of the 10 minute drive back to my house was spent in complete silence. He shifted awkwardly in his seat and I stared out to the road, refusing to let my eyes tear away from the tarmac.
He pulled up at my door and turned the car off. I got out and walked up to my door, rooting around for my keys. I was aware that he walked behind me and made his way round to the door. He was now right behind me. I coughed as I sorted through my key rings to find the keys, my fingers shaking gently.
‘Darcey..’ Lucas said softly behind me.
‘Mhmm?’ I turned around, my back pressed against the door.
‘Well umm,’ he cleared his throat and stepped forward until he was closer. ‘I’ve been meaning to say something to you…’ he scraped a hand through his brown hair and fixed his glasses. His green eyes shone through them.
‘I really need to get in…’ I said shivering. ‘Maybe you can text me.’ I gulped. This was so awkward.
He blinked and retracted, as though hurt or rejected.
‘Um..yeah, that’s…. yeah ok.’ He replied, stumbling over the words.
I quickly turned around and shoved my key roughly into the door, turned it and rushed through. I shut the door behind me and kicked my shoes off. I stopped and waited for the sound of the engine that soon faded away. I sighed and retired to my bedroom. I striped off my clothes and put on some more comfortable pyjamas, then went into my wardrobe. I turned my computer on as I tied my blonde hair up ready for bed. The screen burst into life and I typed in my agent code and password. My profile appeared on screen, my picture and my information and below was the list of all of my suspects. A tiny icon in the top left hand corner popped up. One new e-mail had only been sent a few minutes ago. I had a bad feeling about this. I pressed open and read,
‘Darcey,
It has come to our attention that you have been improvising. Luckily the people you have killed have been on your list. Though, did your training fail you? Did you not think that three killings in 3 days would attract attention?
Well, it has. We do not want you to kill any more people that we do not assign to you directly. Improvisation is fine once in a while but not frequently.Do not deny killing Stevenson and Lafferty. As usual, we have been tracking you and have found you at both of the crime scenes at the time of the killings. By killing Stevenson and Lafferty, you have gone against TAG protocal and disregarding everything you have been taught. Remember, our priority is to keep suspicion to a minimum. The group have now become very wary and have started to plan something which we are not quite sure of. Having lost three major people in their group in 3 days has certainly attracted attention. We are very disappointed in you.
Therefore, we are keeping a close eye on you from now on. If you do not keep to your assigned kills, your position in TAG will be terminated, no matter how valuable an asset you are. As you already know your next target is Tyler Pritchard. You have exactly one week to kill him.’
