The Hunted

Chance

Two days later, Servant Hope's office was packed as people selected their weapons and grabbed finalized copies of the route to study for the raid the following night. I hung back against the back wall, watching them all with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

It was too soon. The planning had been rushed. There wasn't much time, though. The Guardian's were eventually going to take action against the Place of Worship. They'd find a way around the law and we all needed to be gone before then.

This wasn't something that should have been rushed, though. Without the Alvar brothers, we still would have been in the planning stage. They had taken over as soon as I had brought them upstairs to speak with Dillon, who had welcomed them with open arms. Derek, however, was not so pleased to see them.

"They're still murderers," he told me in a low voice after he had pulled me off to the side.

"I'm surprised you care," I replied. He cast his eyes to the ceiling before looking back down at me.

"Of course I care, Belle. How can you trust them?"

"How can I trust you?"

His jaw tensed. "I had to keep those things from you and you know it."

"Maybe, but what other secrets are you keeping from me?" I asked. "I trust them, Derek. They've been targeting the Elders for years. They've evaded capture all that time. They had something to offer and I'm going to take advantage of it."

"You're rushing through all of this, Belle. First the livestream, then breaking the Leader out of prison, and now you want to let those two help us?" he questioned with a shake of his head. "You need to slow down and think about what you're doing."

"I know what I'm doing and we really don't have the time to slow down," I hissed. "We both knew that the livestream wasn't going to be a total success. At least if we have someone to lead us after the Elders are stopped, then we stand a chance at convincing more people to join us. It's something that we just have to do."

"It's a death sentence."

"So is a rebellion without proper support." I backed away from him. "I have to go. We're running out of planning time and I can't be wasting time arguing with you."

I had walked away from him and we hadn't spoken since. Derek and I had fights in the past, but we always made up after a couple of hours. We understood one another. It was why we had worked so well on the hunt for the Chameleon Agent. This was something different. Something I had never experienced before.

I sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing my arms over my chest as I watched Jordan, who had snuck in the previous night, pick up a pistol and raise it up level to a picture across from him. Derek was there, too, pawing through the guns himself. I knew that the only reason he was there was because he felt like he still had to protect me. Keep me safe. I wasn't going to chase him away. His marksmanship was a valuable asset to our ragtag group.

That being said, we did have a good group of people. Three civilians. A Security Agent. An Intelligence Agent. Two Guardians. Instructor Adams. The two Chameleon Agents. An Executer. Jordan. Myself. Thirteen people were more than I had been expecting. What was even better was they were all able to fight. The three civilians had been with Dillon for two years now and learned hand to hand as well as weapon combat while with him. Rose, the Intelligence Agent; Caleb and a man in his mid thirties were all well-trained Guardians. The Agents all knew how to fight because of the required training in school. Derek was perfectly capable of defending himself. And, Jordan was a former Officer of Justice as well.

"What a group," Farris said as he slipped out of the throng of people, his own gun hanging on his hip in a holster. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall next to me. "What's wrong?"