Chapter Five
Max
I woke up on Friday morning with a heaviness that I hadn’t expected to feel. I thought I’d be excited or relieved, so the heaviness that weighed on my shoulders was a huge surprise. It was an uncomfortable feeling and one that I couldn’t shake off. It didn’t help that I had hardly slept the night before. The two cups of coffee I had hadn’t helped, either. Coffee usually calmed me down and set me aright, but today it had just made me more anxious. I was in the van with Madison now, discussing what was going to happen. I was glad that we were at least talking again, and that we were doing what we usually did—triple checking everything until we felt confident.
“I shouldn’t have had that coffee,” I said to her. “I’m feeling so nervous.”
She chuckled. “It’s not the coffee. You would’ve felt nervous with or without it. Don’t worry about it, Max. If you weren’t nervous, I’d be more worried. And you’ve been nervous before. Hell, remember your very first day out there? You were petrified. But the moment you are with them you immediately go into character. So, I wouldn’t worry about anything.”
“I’m glad we’re talking again,” I said. Having her on my side always made me feel better.
She smiled. “I can’t stay mad at you too long. You know that. Anyway, maybe you were right all along. There’s nothing to worry about. The time has come, and it’s obvious that nobody has said anything. Everything is going to go according to plan just like we always wanted it to.
“I think you’re right,” I said and felt my confidence slowly creeping back.
“That’s the Max I know and love,” Madison said.
“What? You love me? And you’re telling me now?” I teased.
She groaned. “You’re impossible. Now, let’s go over the drop off one more time. The moment you’re inside, we’re going to get our team to surround the place, but we need to make sure that you are in a safe enough place to not get hurt.”
I nodded. I liked this side to Madison. She was like me in so many ways when it came to our profession. Some of the other team members got annoyed with us because we always felt the need to go over things a million times.
“Okay, let’s go over it again.”
We planned the entire process down in an almost minute-to-minute procession. Of course, a lot of this was speculation because we couldn’t know exactly what was going to happen. But we could get close to it. Just in case, we went through a few different scenarios and planned what I would do in those situations. By the time we were finished, I felt good.
“Thanks for going through this with me, Madison. We make a good team, you and me. Such a good team that if you want to take my place, you’re more than welcome to.”
Madison laughed. “Uh, no thank you. Now, make sure you don’t get shot.”
I rolled my eyes. “I never do.”
And just like that, I was making my way over to the den with Madison listening in on me for the very last time. I still remember how nervous I had been the first time. We’d hidden the microphone so well on me that it was impossible to tell without literally stripping off my shirt. Even then, it was hidden in a seam. To an untrained eye, you would never know. I was almost certain that they could check me out and tell me that there was nothing on me. That was how well everything was hidden. Nevertheless, it was something I worried about each time. I patted the microphone nervously and then chuckled to myself as I imagined Madison cringing at the sound that was coming through her speakers. She’d told me once that I would do it often in the beginning, and the sound was elevated on her side. I did it every now and again now just to mess with her. The thought of her getting annoyed by it actually put me at ease.
I made my way into the den and saw Shell, who ushered me into a van. It was the first time that we had driven together as we’d always done our meet ups in the same place. I had no idea why things were different this time, and I wasn’t sure if I should ask him, or if I should just let things slide. I tried to figure out which one made me seem more trustworthy. Finally, I decided to just ask.
“Where are we going?” I said in what I hoped was a calm voice.
“We’re going to an old abandoned warehouse. It’s our backup in case anything goes wrong. The boss changed the location.”
“Why would anything go wrong?” I said, and I swear I could hear an edge of nervousness in my voice. I forced myself to stay calm.
“There’s a chance there might be a rat in the group. I don’t know too much about the situation. I’m just following orders. But if there is a rat, then it’s obviously best that we meet somewhere else. Thankfully we were smart enough to have a plan b.”
“Thank god for that,” I said. I was glad that Shell wasn’t looking at me, because while my voice said one thing I was sure that my eyes said something else. I was sure that if he just looked into my eyes for a few seconds, he would see that I was lying. We drove for about fifteen minutes, and with each passing minute, I felt more and more nervous. Madison had been right all along. Someone in our team had let word out to the boss, and now we were in trouble. I had fucked up.
The worst part was that everyone was waiting for me at the location that I had told them to be. My only saving grace was that Madison had been listening to this exchange and would know that things had changed. It wasn’t just a microphone that I had on me but also a tracking device. She’d be able to get to this location if everything was in place. I just prayed that nothing had been tampered with. If someone from our team had tampered with the tracking device then there was no way of her knowing where we were going. The thought of being all alone out there made me break out into a sweat.
We clambered out the van and made our way to the warehouse. There was absolutely nobody else around and when we got inside, I felt nervous at the thought that they would see Madison and the team arrive. I wasn’t sure how she was going to hide, and I desperately wanted to make my way inside. The moment we walked in, I saw that there were already few people inside. How they had gotten there and where their cars were, I had no idea. I noticed a tall man walking up to four men and could tell immediately that he looked different from everyone else. For one, he was in a suit. And there was an air about him that screamed of authority. I knew immediately that I was getting my first look at the boss. I could see the way the four men responded to him that my assessments were correct. Shell and I walked towards them.
The boss didn’t introduce himself to me. Instead, he moved to the outer edge of the circle and addressed us. He had soft features, and an almost squeaky voice, and in any other world, he would come across as somewhat nerdy. He wasn’t nearly as scary looking as Shell, and yet seeing them side by side I was far more intimated by the boss than I was of Shell. I had no idea why.
“There’s a rat in my unit,” he said immediately, and I felt my heart race quicken at his words. “A stupid little rat that thought he could get away with it.”
We all looked around nervously at each other and then looked back at the boss. In one swift movement he pulled out a gun, and we all gasped. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I felt the room start to spin around me and I had to force myself to breathe and stay in control. Of course, the boss had a gun. He was just trying to scare us. That’s all. He slowly pointed the gun at each and every one of us and then surprised us by pausing at Shell. I saw that Shell seemed confused by this.
“I want you all to know that I don’t take kindly to rats,” the boss said. The gun was still pointed at Shell.
“I . . . I’m not a rat,” Shell said in a small voice that I had never heard come out of him before.
“I know,” the boss said and then fired the gun anyway. We all jumped in fright as Shell fell to the floor. We all desperately wanted to run away, but we were too frightened. So, we all stood in place, staring at Shell’s lifeless body. I couldn’t believe that the man that had just driven me to the warehouse was now dead on the floor. I heard the man next to me let out a small whimper. I didn’t blame him. I wanted nothing more than to burst into tears myself. I didn’t like Shell, but I didn’t want to see him dead.
“So, Shell says he wasn’t a rat. And I believe him. Of course, I do. Shell wouldn’t do that to me. He was loyal to me to a fault. So, why did I shoot him? Because he was the one that made us keep the rat around. He might not have known what he was doing, but that’s not good enough. It was his job to know. Shell is the one that let the rat in. And I will not have anyone on my team who doesn’t know what’s going on. I put all my trust in Shell.”
Suddenly the gun was pointed at me. I didn’t say anything. I was barely breathing at that point. I also wasn’t surprised. I knew that the boss had figured out it was me.
The boss laughed. “You silly man. Did you really think I wasn’t going to find out? Well, I have something even better to show you. Bring her out!” he yelled.
I turned around and cried out when I saw a man holding Madison with a gun pointed at her head. Her eyes were large, and I’d never seen her look so scared before. I knew that it was all my fault. She had warned me not to say anything, and now she was skirting on the edge of life and death because of me. I felt sick at the thought of it.
I needed to do something, and I needed to do it fast. I had a gun stuck into the inside of my jeans. It had been a huge risk bringing the gun in this time and one that we had debated on for a long time. But we figured they wouldn’t search me after an entire year of getting to know me. I was glad that we had made that decision now. I wasn’t sure if I could save myself, but I was definitely going to do everything in my power to save Madison. With a flourish, I pulled out my gun and shot the man that was holding Madison. At that exact moment, I heard another shot and felt the bullets hit me. I yelled out in pain and shock, and just before I passed out, I saw a blurry vision of the rest of my team running through the doors and the boss running out. Then, there was nothing but darkness.