Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

twenty-five

It had been hours since Emily's blow up in Director Shaw's office, but Chase couldn't stop thinking about it.

On one hand, he was angry with her for not only jeopardizing the integrity of their entire group but also risking her own freedom. Who knows what Crane would have decided to do with her had he discovered her snooping around his penthouse?

At the same time, he couldn't help but admire her determination. She saw an opportunity to help the team and she took it. It was reckless and naïve and irresponsible. But she had been right about one thing; at least she was doing something.

For the past few days, he hadn't been doing much of anything. He was just going through the motions. Everything had slowly fallen into a mundane routine; boring and tedious. There wasn't anything to do. The Primes who attacked Crane's rally were nowhere to be found and there were no other missions for them to go on.

They had no other option but to sulk around The Acropolis.

Whenever Chase closed his eyes at night, he saw Holly's face. He saw her bright eyes and her warm smile. He saw her gravestone. He saw her still body in the hospital when he and Director Shaw went to confirm the body.

The images never went away. As a result, he rarely got any sleep. Even with Stella staying over most nights, he couldn't get the pictures out his head.

Emily was right. They needed to be doing something. Anything. Holly wouldn't want them to be sitting on their hands, waiting for something bad to happen. They had to grab their situation by the scruff of the neck and take it head-on.

Crane needed to be taken down, and they needed to be the ones to do it.

He glanced down at Stella, who was asleep beside him. The moonlight outside shone against her bronze skin, the shimmering, silvery light making her look like an ethereal angel. Her nostrils flared cutely as she breathed. Her silky hair framed her face with a few loose strands falling into her closed eyes.

There was no way she would go for it. She had made her stance on the entire ordeal clear.

While he respected her opinion, he couldn't shake the feeling that her judgment of Crane was off. And she was usually a great judge of character. But the senator was a clever man. He was a manipulator. People only saw what he wanted them to see.

But not Chase. He saw right through his act. And he was going to punch a hole right through it.

And he knew just how he was going to do it.

He just needed to see someone about his plan first.

With a small smile on his lips, he planted a soft kiss on Stella's forehead before quietly climbing out of bed. He slipped into a pair of sweatpants and tugged a hoodie on over his bare chest. After grabbing his navy-blue Atlas cap from a nearby chair, he exited the room and carefully pulled the door closed behind him.

#

Chase managed to catch Director Shaw just before he was about to leave The Acropolis. It was perfect timing too, as he wasn't if he could go on with his plan without consulting the man first. Unlike Emily, he had enough respect to ask for consent before doing something that could get them all in hot water.

Director Shaw had been halfway through the hangar, making his way to a black Audi parked near the huge, metal walls shielding the rest of the compound from the massive waterfall outside. The sound of the water crashing down onto the rocks below could faintly be heard through the thick barriers.

Apart from a few custodians and security guards working the night shift, no one was in the hangar. Most of the Atlas agents had either gone home or returned to their dorms within the compound.