Strong For Too Long Trilogy ✔️

05. Meet and Greet the Oh-So-Delightful

CHAPTER 5: Meet and Greet the Oh-So-Delightful
(Aaron's POV)

"Welcome to The Phoenix Movement, Mr Westlake. It's good to have you on board."

His words left a bitter churn in my stomach as the door to one of the black SUVs opens in the back passenger side, revealing the same green-eyed, blonde-haired male I recognised was the only one to kneel before Olive's grave, the only one to really shed any emotion, besides a stoic, cold demeanour. He types away on the laptop placed against a folded out table behind the front passenger seat. I slide in when I catch Tobias sitting at the back, arms folded as he gives me a stoic look.

I take a begrudging seat behind the driver's side, while Agent Soren takes one, "Where are we headed?"

"Only senior staff may know the location." His voice sounded different than I would have expected, part Russian accent yet, he held a British tongue. I glance down when I see a slight tattoo in a strange 'Dragon' design on the inside of his wrist, hidden by the suit he sports. I turn away from him, towards Agent Soren, who gestures forward to the driver.

I turn over my shoulder, "What did you agree to, Tobias?" I whisper harshly, using his first name when he prefers 'Deign'. I used to prefer 'Wes'-and yet I haven't been called that name since...her. I close my eyes and turn away when he refuses to answer, pinching my brow, a headache forms on a sharp end close to my brow as I lean my head back on the seat, looking out-it was still pouring down with rain and the wind picked up too.

"The death of Olive Crane hit the many of you new agents to the brink of insanity. Have you heard a of a man named 'Reed', Mr Westlake?" He asks me, Agent Soren sits there comfortably, I trail my darkened cognac brown eyes towards his azure blue ones, narrowing mine exponentially.

"He was with her when she was shot?" Tobias says behind me when I am unable to form words, let alone letters, forming a sentence was tightened by the constricting muscles straining against my neck as the man next to me, hands me a file.

Agent Soren nods, "He was. An ex-con of our own. An agent of a tidy background and yet, he still formed an alliance with a mad man who snapped at breaking point. Aster Pierce has been on our radar for a long time, ever since Cassandra Crane's death, we knew he was plotting something against the agency's back, but Olive's threw him over the edge. He's targeted our Russian unit in Moscow and is rumoured to be on the move for our team in Paris. A decoy team I've placed while we employ you, Mr Westlake. We understand you share the same sentiments against the man who killed your mother, who revealed Cassandra to be a double agent for an American intelligence agency?" He questions, bombarding me with both new and old information.

I furrow my eyebrows, opening the file to meet pale grey ones, a male, around six foot one, with short black hair, a stoic expression for the camera shot, I narrow my eyes, "This is who Pierce met with, when he and Fern made...Olive join them?" I ask slowly, painfully slow when I murmur her name, that damn beautiful name of hers that won't ever slide off my lips without that feeling in my chest.

A burning feeling.

An eruptive movement low in my chest as I flip the paperwork closed after reading more of his background. Why was he, a man who served his country with purpose, turn on them so easily?

"Because he was aggressive, our motto is to always work together in a team, he wasn't fit for it and yet still managed to take a role over Venus. They were our best comrades, four males, two females. Eliza Freight, Terrence Woodland, Bolton Sphere, Reed King, Loren Storm and Silas Tame. Silas Tame was our infiltrator, a peacemaker in the group and that was something Reed despised. Silas was there when your girl was shot, Aaron." He says to me, eyes staring forward, but he glances over his shoulder.