Fiona and Gage headed to the mall first to find out if the guy from the sunglasses store was still there. Fiona was practically squirming in her seat on the subway, stuck in a mixture of fear and anticipation. At one point, when she was tapping her feet so loudly that she was attracting the glares of other subway riders, Gage’s hand drifted over to her knee, giving her a reassuring squeeze before pulling back. Fiona felt her entire body flush with heat as a result, but when she turned to look at Gage, he was staring down at his phone rather than looking at her. He was infuriating, really, crossing boundaries again and again yet acting so nonchalant and innocent about it, like he hadn’t done anything.

Fiona had a sneaking suspicion that the apology from before, in the kitchen, wasn’t really genuine. Something just felt…off about it. Gage was never really one to apologize. He’d admit when he was wrong, but he never expected to be forgiven. He never begged for her approval. But now, he seemed like he was desperate for her to believe him, repeating the same apology over and over again. It just came off as false. Fiona knew that she should have been offended, absolutely incensed that he wasn’t even sorry for barging in on her while she was showering. But she wasn’t. It’s at least 50% my fault, she thought. I should have screamed at him to leave the second he walked in. But I didn’t. I’m just as bad. She couldn’t exactly justify hating Gage for it when she had been complicit in the incident.

In the back of her mind, there was a gnawing sensation that grew and grew as they got closer to their destination. Nagging thoughts emerged out of the ether of her brain, telling her, You should leave. You should get out of here. You should run back to the countryside where you’re actually a good woman, where you have morals. Here the truth comes out. Here it becomes clear that you’re made of the same dirty, filthy muck as the rest of this godforsaken city.

But she couldn’t. She didn’t have a choice, not really. As long as Tori was still out there, most likely being held captive by a man who was steadily carving into her, Fiona couldn’t rest. She had to keep going, no matter what the price was. Tori and the other girls, the ones The Knife had killed already, depended on her. Fiona didn’t take that responsibility lightly, to say the least.

“Here we are,” Gage said as the train rolled to their stop, the one close to both the Bandits’ clubhouse and the mall that Tori frequented with her friends.

They had to walk a few blocks before they hit the shopping center, and then it took them a good fifteen or twenty minutes longer to find a sunglasses store, right next to an upscale boutique that marketed itself towards teenagers. This must be the right place, Fiona thought, inhaling deeply to calm down and ready herself to interview suspect number one.

There was a young guy with long, greasy hair and speckles of patchy facial hair all over his chin. Fiona cringed a little as she observed him pick his nose. This was the type of guy that Tori was into? Why did teenage girls always have the worst taste in men?

Gage walked ahead of her, approaching the guy first. “Hello, we’re with the police department,” Gage lied, sounding as convincing as ever. Fiona had to stifle a chuckle at the sight of the kid’s face going sickly pale; he was obviously terrified at the prospect of a potential interrogation. “We just need to ask you a few short questions, no big deal,” Gage said a minute later, probably worried that the kid was going to bolt before they could get any information out of him.

“Um, sure, I’ll try to help you out,” the greasy young man said, chewing anxiously at his upper lip with his bottom teeth.

“Do you know this girl?” Fiona asked, pulling out the picture of Tori from her purse.

The kid squinted at the picture for a long minute. “No, I don’t think…oh, yeah, yes! I remember her!” he said.

“When did you see her last?” Gage asked.

“Oh, probably a couple weeks ago,” the guy said casually, shrugging. “She never used to talk to me much. My coworker, Josh, might know more. He used to…he used to, like, flirt with her and stuff.”

“I see,” Fiona said, stuffing the picture of Tori back into her purse. “Is he working today?”

“No, actually, he quit,” the greasy guy said, turning back to the cash register to check out a young woman who was buying a couple pairs of sunglasses.

“Do you know where we can talk to him?” Gage asked. “We just want to ask him a few questions, see where he last saw that girl, that’s all.” Fiona wondered when Gage got so good at lying. It was hard to keep a smile off her face, just watching him work. She never got tired of seeing this side of him, watching him read people and then tell them exactly what they needed to hear.

“I can give you his number if you want,” the kid said, reaching for his pocket to get out his phone.

“Maybe his address would work better,” Fiona cut in. “We’re kind of in a hurry here. Missing person’s case, you understand.”

The kid hesitated for a second, but then he reached below his counter to get a piece of paper and a pen, scrawling out an address in abominably bad handwriting.

Gage accepted the piece of paper before handing it over to Fiona. The address was out of the city, on the outskirts, deep in the woods. She used to go there, in that general area, when she needed fresh air.

 

“Thanks,” Fiona said, quickly backing away from the sunglasses store before the kid could ask any more questions. “Let’s go,” she said to Gage.

 

# # #

It took them roughly an hour to get to the outskirts of the city, taking a cab for the final stretch to reach the area where Josh lived. But they had to get out of the car and walk up a dirt path to find the right house. “Jesus, he must have a long commute,” Fiona commented.

Gage chuckled lightly, but inside, his stomach was churning. He usually didn’t get this nervous, and he didn’t understand why he felt like he was about to throw up. But then it hit him. Fiona. He’d never taken her on a high-stakes assignment like this before. Usually, she did all the brain work, and he did all the footwork.

 

“You should stay here, outside, where it’s safe,” Gage said as they walked through the tree-line, finally spotting the right house in the distance.

 

“Like hell,” Fiona responded, scoffing, like his suggestion was absolutely ridiculous.

 

“Hey, I’m serious,” Gage said, putting a hand on Fiona’s shoulder to prevent her from moving towards Josh’s house. “Things could get dicey. This isn’t a public place. He could react badly.”

 

“And what, you’re equipped to deal with that and I’m not? Have you forgotten which one of us escaped a mass murderer when she was a goddamn teenager?” Fiona snapped, her voice coming out harsh and loud. A second later, though, she sighed deeply and wiped a few beads of sweat off her forehead. “Sorry. That was mean.”

 

“No, you’re right; you make a good point,” Gage admitted. Fiona was much stronger than him. He’d never deny that. But she was also much more special, much more precious, and he’d really prefer it if she wouldn’t insist on getting involved in dangerous situations. You would think she’d had enough of that for one lifetime, but apparently not. “Please, can you just…stay here? For me?”

 

Fiona shook her head, her jaw clenching as she stared back at Gage, glaring at him without blinking. “It’s not going to happen, Gage.”

 

Gage blew out his breath in frustration. But he had to admit, she had some big brass balls, definitely bigger than his. “Alright, fine. But…be careful, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

 

“Well, same to you,” Fiona said grumpily, right before she began marching down the dirt path towards the house nestled in the woods.

Gage quickly followed her, the leaves underfoot crunching loudly as he ran after her. “Psst, slow down,” he hissed to Fiona, grabbing her shoulder to temporarily stop her movements. “I don’t want him to have warning that we’re coming.”

 

“Jeez, fine, okay,” Fiona said, scowling at him. Goddammit, Gage thought to himself. He was really fucking up today, wasn’t he? He was never going to convince Fiona to stay with him in the city if he kept pissing her off all the time.

 

They finally approached the front door, walking more slowly and casually, as if they were just visiting him as friendly neighbors. But Gage knocked firmly on the door, loud enough so that anyone inside the house could hear it. He waited a few moments before knocking again. “Hello? Officer Preston here from the police department. I just want to ask you a few questions.”

 

Bang. A shot rang out above Gage’s head, whizzing through the trees around the house. “Shit!” Gage hissed, pulling at Fiona’s shoulders. “Get down!”

 

“Is he shooting at us?” Fiona asked, and it was clear from both the expression on her face and the sound of her voice that she was terrified. “Jesus Christ.”

 

“Go run to the nearest road,” Gage whispered to her, keeping his hand on her back, feeling her heart pound through her skin and the top of her dress. “Go!”

 

“I’m not leaving you!” Fiona hissed back at him, right before another shot rang out, this time smacking a tree in the middle of its trunk.

“Get off my property unless you have a warrant!” a male voice on the other side of the door shouted.

“Fiona! Please! Just go!” Gage replied back before standing up to his full height and ramming the front door with all of his weight.

“What are you doing? What the fuck are you doing?” Fiona shouted. “Get down, he’ll shoot you!”

“No, he won’t,” Gage said, shoving his shoulder painfully against the front door again, this time causing the hinges to squeak pitifully as a result. “Stay down.”

“Oh, like fuck am I staying down now,” Fiona said, springing to her feet and shoving her weight against the door.

Gage suppressed a groan, barely repressing the urge to shove Fiona back down. But he could never do that. He could never do anything that might hurt her, even in the name of saving her life. It was too important for Fiona to have control over her body. Gage couldn’t tell her what to do with it, not even now.

“On three,” Gage instructed her in a low whisper, gesturing towards the door. “One, two…”

“Three!” Fiona cried out, and they both slammed their bodies against the door at the same time, knocking it off its hinges and sending it clattering inside the wooden house.

There was a young man with short, cropped hair and wide, terrified eyes clutching a shotgun in his trembling hands.

Before Gage could do anything, Fiona ran forward and grabbed the gun out of Josh’s fingers, turning it around and pointing it at him until he sat down on the ground with his arms up.

“What have you done with her?” Fiona asked between pants for air. Gage didn’t know what to do. He felt frozen to the spot, shocked into place by the sight of Fiona in full fury mode.

“Who? What?” Josh asked, and even from a few feet away, Gage could see him shaking, trembling like a little boy under the gun that Fiona was now waving in his face.

 

“Tori! Tori Greenwood! What have you done with her?” Fiona shouted, shoving the tip of the gun into Josh’s chest. The boy winced and whimpered, turning his head to stare at Gage, an unspoken plea in his eyes. But Gage wasn’t in a very charitable mood. He let Fiona keep going.

“Tori. Greenwood. Where the fuck is she?” Fiona repeated herself, her mouth screwed up into the most terrifying scowl that Gage had ever seen on her face. Maybe he’d never really seen her mad before, as this was a sight to behold, something more frightening than any argument they’d ever had.

“T-Tori?” Josh stuttered in response. “The girl at the mall? I just met her a few times. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, like I’m going to believe that,” Tori muttered, sticking the tip of the gun harder into the front of the kid’s shirt. “Gage, search the house,” she said a minute later, still gripping the gun so hard her veins stood out from the rest of her hands and arms, her blood obviously working overtime inside her body.

Gage nodded and began to do as instructed, running towards the nearest hallway and opening every door, looking into every closet and under the all beds before rushing to the other side of the house, searching under the rugs, looking for a cellar door. Gage was sure when he began walking down the steps that he was about to find Tori, but there was no sign of life (or death, for that matter) in the basement.

Gage came back to the main room, where Fiona still held the gun, pointed directly at Josh’s heart. “Where is she?” Gage asked, leaning over the boy to stare directly in his eyes, watching his pupils for any sign of deception.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Josh sobbed out, banging the back of his head against the hard surface of the living room floor. “Please, I don’t know what you’re saying. I haven’t seen Tori in weeks, please, please.”

“Why did you shoot at us, then?” Gage demanded, grabbing Josh by the shirt collar and shaking him a little bit.

“I thought—I thought you were here for the drugs. I…I sell stuff,” Josh said, breathing so hard he could barely force the words out. “It’s in the kitchen, in the cabinet on the left side, you can take it, please, take it, I don’t care, I just…” He trailed off, his face screwing up as he began to weep, his entire body trembling as he sobbed.

“Search the house again,” Fiona said, but Gage could see that her grip on the gun had become looser. She pulled the tip of the gun away from Josh’s body, letting it hang suspended in midair between them.

Gage was tempted to argue with her. He already knew that Tori wasn’t in the house, but he could tell that Fiona meant business, so he set about searching it again, more slowly this time, while Fiona kept watch over the pathetic boy on the floor.

“Nothing,” Gage announced as he finished his second search a few minutes later. “There’s nothing here, Fiona.”

“If I find out that it’s you…” Fiona said, her jaw clenched hard, veins popping out of the side of her pale neck. “If I find out that you’ve hurt those girls, I’ll come back and kill you.” Gage saw Josh nod furiously, clearly terrified of Fiona. “I’m keeping your gun,” she said, finally pulling it away from Josh’s body. “Come on, let’s go.”

They walked back out towards the main road, Fiona slinging her gun over her shoulder after emptying out the bullets.

“That was…that was pretty wild,” Gage commented casually, a little worried that he might set Fiona off by asking too many questions. He knew she was disappointed that they didn’t rescue Tori. For a long moment there, it’d felt so certain, as if the killer had just barely escaped their grasp. In truth, they hadn’t accomplished anything besides scaring the shit out of a young kid for no reason. They were no closer to finding Tori’s captor. They were no closer to saving her.

Fiona didn’t answer him, so after a few long moments Gage reached up and pulled the gun out of her hands, just to get her attention. She glared at him for a second before her scowl fell, revealing how exhausted she looked underneath her bravado.

“Let me hold onto this, okay?” Gage said, taking the gun fully from her now limp grasp. “You don’t need it anymore.”

“I always need it,” Fiona murmured.

“What do you mean?” Gage asked.

“Nothing, never mind,” Fiona said, shaking her head before she began walking faster, heading back toward the city. “Don’t worry about it.”

But Gage was worried about it. Fiona seemed to slip back into darkness so quickly, so easily, just by being surrounded by it. The worst thing was that it didn’t scare Gage. Not really. The only thing that scared him was how much he loved seeing it, watching her transform into the Fiona that he knew and loved. She’s coming back to me, he thought. But at what cost?