Operation Leap of Faith

Chapter 8

Present day - USA, Minnesota

The Apple felt weird under her touch, always warm despite being made of gold. Shrike had no idea why James had called it the Apple of Edenthough; the orb looked nothing like the fruit it was named after.

She played with it, making the orb twirl under her fingers, while she thought about the events of the day. It had been a horrible clusterfuck. Shrike scowled, as if the Apple was at fault. No, the artifact probably had been the most useful piece in that disaster. She still had no idea how it worked, but she knew she wasn't looking forward to returning it.

"Hello? Layla?"

Not bothering to get up from the crate where she was sitting, she just yelled "Here!" and waited for Damien to find his way among the empty shelves. It didn't take him long, and she got to see how he stumbled on one of the crates and nearly fell down. The way the man looked at her when he saw what Shrike was playing with was priceless. So Damien was afraid of the little orb, that was smart of him.

"Couldn't have we met at the house?"

She ignored Damien's bitching, fixing him with her best steely glare. The chalet was just a fancy place to meet, while this warehouse was her turf. Nobody came here without her express permission. Not that she needed to explain her motives to anyone. "Did you do what I asked for?"

"Yeah, I couldn't reach neither Idri, Gia and Klaus, but the rest are all accounted for."

Well, this potentially reduced her list of suspects, although not by much. She hummed absentmindedly, still playing with the Apple. Perhaps she should go back to considering everyone a suspect and just use this thing on them. If it could be used to control someone, it could also be used to make them tell the truth. It somewhat spoiled the fun of traditional interrogations, but she was opting for efficiency right now.

"Why do you look so gloomy? We got what the Boss wanted, and you have your new toy."

"Three of our men died," Shrike reminded him, more contemplative than concerned or angry. "We keep losing people, and recruiting is such a fucking hassle."

"It's always been like that," Damien shrugged. "In fact, we used to have more casualties than we've had lately."

"Yeah, because we had a snitch." Shrike looked at Damien, waiting to see if he would connect the dots himself, but it seemed like it was asking too much. "Think for once in your goddamn life! How do you think the SWAT found us so quickly? This boring hellhole barely has any police presence, that's why we chose it! And suddenly the fucking SWAT appear out of nowhere, even before than the normal police arrive to the scene?"

"But we already dealt with Johnny," Damien was trying, bless him, but he kept missing the mark. "Did he mention any accomplices?"

"Nah, he didn't." Shrike tapped her foot on the ground, smirking at the solid sound it made. She had done a good job filling up the hole, it looked smooth as always, and nobody would ever suspect where Johnny was. "When I was done with him he had told me every little detail of his sad life, and he didn't have any sidekicks."

"Then it's just bad luck?" Damien asked confused, trying to keep up with Shrike's line of thought and failing.

She made a frustrated sound, her nails scratching over the surface of the Apple instead of doing so on Damien's face. She knew there was a traitor in the group, it was the only explanation, and she always trusted her gut feelings in these cases. Logically speaking, it could be anyone, except for Damien. He was loyal to a fault, and his brother was also working for the cause, he would never do anything that could potentially endanger him.