Defector

Another unknown facility hidden away in the greenery of this godforsaken place. Similar, but yet different in atmosphere. I'm free to leave when I wish and no one is coming in to drag me to the locked room at the end of the hall. Even so, I'm not sure this is all real. I find myself squeezing the skin of my upper arm with my pointer and thumb to be absolutely positive this is happening. Elle places a file in front of me and let's me skim through the contents while she sits quietly and patiently across from me. It's thick, filled with all the information she's gathered throughout the years; some of it hers, some of it her husband's.

I glance up at her every few minutes to study her. I'm looking at her differently than I did when she was my landlord. I never had much interaction with her besides giving her money and exchanging looks in the stairwell of the building. She did occasionally visit Bobby's, but not too often for her to be a regular. I always felt she had a familiarity about her which drew me in, but I always wrote it off as just my mind finding connections where there weren't. So here I sit in a room with the mother of the man I love and I have no idea what to say to her. A woman, whom up until this point, I presumed was dead.

"Thoughts?" She questions me after a half hour of silence.

"Is this everything?" I ask still flipping through the pages.

"Oh sweetie, you haven't even scratched the surface. You hold in your hands the best kept secrets. A quick summary of everything you need to know."

"Quick summary?" I scoff at the irony.

"There's something specific I need you to see, but I don't think you're quite there yet. I'll let you flip through those for a bit longer. I'm going to get some water, would you like some?" She offers rising from her seat. I nod feeling devastatingly parched. "I'll leave the door open. I know how you are about closed spaces." She says with a wink and a smile before exiting the room.

I'm not too sure what she wants me to see as all of this is valuable information. Conspiracies, cover ups, traitor information, etc. These people know more about me than I do. The only common trend I found in all of these files is that they are all signed off by the same person. Someone by the name of James Ernest. I have never heard of him and I'm starting to think there is a reason why. From the looks of it, he seems to be the one in charge of everything. Aaron Fierce once told me that his father wasn't actually running things, it seems like it and maybe he wasn't lying. If that was the case then what about Casandra? Is she actually making decisions or is it James Ernest? Too bad he doesn't have a page in this file, but guess who does.

I toss the rest of the file aside as I get to work studying Casandra Biggs, herself. Know your enemy better than you know yourself. From the looks of it, she's always been a bit obscure. She seemed to be one of those children to have tantrums when things didn't go her way and it just continued in her adult life. Add on the daddy issues and sadism and you have the Casandra we all know and hate.

Elle walks back in the room and places a glass of water in front of me. She acknowledges I've thrown the rest of the files aside and am focused on a specific page. She has a seat across from me again and asks who I've decided to read into.

"She's an interesting character. You know from experience." She clears her throat.

"So does your son." I retort swallowing hard. "He was headed back into her care last I saw him." I mention unsure if she knows or not.

"Vera told me. Unfortunately, we cannot make a move until we have permission."

"Excuse me? Permission from who?"

"My boss."

"But you had permission to get me instead." I toss Casandra's file on the table in disgust. "He's your son for God's sake. You should've saved him first."

"You don't think I wanted to? No offence, Ms. Detope, but if I had my way I would've, but for some reason my boss thinks you have a better chance at extracting him than anyone on our team. Logically, he was correct in saving you first. Neuman and Casandra are both lunatics, but one is less severe than the other."

"You're wrong! I could've handled whatever Neuman had in store for me. I have no idea what Casandra has in mind for Logan, but I don't know how long he'll be able to last in there this time."

"Neuman would've killed you. That's why we saved you first." She slaps her hand on the table. "Casandra will not kill Logan. She loves him too much to kill him. She'll hurt him, we know she's going to hurt him, but at least he'll still be alive."

"To what degree? I didn't see the aftermath, but the last time he was with her, he barely came out as a human. It took him a long time to feel something again and not be tortured night after night by the things she's done. It's been two years for me and I'm still not okay."

"But you're getting better. We've seen the progress."

"Who has? Who is watching me?"

"You already know that answer. You've seen the files. We have people everywhere."

She reaches over at the files and pulls out the employee list and points to specific names. All of them too familiar.

Draxer Owens

Azalia Clemens

Gabriel Brestion

Ryan Avery

I stare at the names for what feels like an eternity before I look up at her confused.

"What does this mean?"

"They were employed by us to befriend and get trust from certain traitors. Ms. Clemens was a very tricky case. She was doing well up until we got word that her half sister was kidnapped by Casandra. She demanded her loyalty in exchange for her sister. We let her go with a plan to get her back, but she was killed by Ms. Flint before we could. Unfortunately, we've found ourselves in the same predicament with Mr. Owens. It seems as though his brother was taken about a month ago. Mr. Owens has been struggling with his loyalty knowing what happened to Ms. Clemens."

"What about Gabe and Ryan?"

"Mr. Brestion was one of our first to employ. We knew he was already a traitor, but he really did it for the money. To be honest, Ms. Detope, we don't care about the traitors. We care more about the secrets."

"But why watch certain people? Why me?"

"Your unique disorder is one we've never studied. You've proven to be more valuable than we originally thought when we chose you."

"Chose me?"

"Ms. Detope," Elle sighs leaning back in her seat, "do you really think your car accident all those years ago was a mere accident? Do you think it was fate that sent my son to your aid? My dear, the assignment he was sent on, your accident, it was all set up by us."

"Oh you mean that accident that almost killed me? THAT ACCIDENT?" I rise from seat. "You're telling me our rebellion isn't even real?" She chuckles covering her mouth with her hand quickly apologizing for her laughter.

"Where do you think you are right now? This IS the rebellion." Elle gets up from her seat as well to match me. "Your little rebellion is just the decoy for what's really in the works. I hate to break it to you angel, but you're in it now. So now that you're here, you will wait with us on our orders from our leader. He is the one with all the plans and he will let us know if and when we get my son from that sadistic monster." She snatches Casandra's file off the table, but leaves the rest. "You're free to stay here or wander. Fuck, leave if you want. We know where to find you." She winks at me again before walking out.

I stumble back on my feet as I lean against the wall and hunch over my knees. I take a few deep breaths trying to process this whole ordeal. I never thought I would question the things going on in my life, but the big events in my life were being set into motion by a third party. What else have they been controlling? Logan's name wasn't on the payroll so there's no way he could've known about any of this. What if he did? Would he have told me? Am I allowed to tell him? Am I allowed to save him? Everything around here is hush hush, are there consequences? Is it bad I want to test it? No way am I going to wait for permission to get him the hell away from Casandra.

I stand straight up and grab the remaining files and leave the room. The setup of this building is almost identical to the building Casandra had before I scorched the basement, so I have somewhat of an idea where I'm going. I find myself in the lobby debating to walk out or run. I have their secrets in hand. Will they stop me? I make eye contact with the security guard. He smiles at me and then glances at what I have in my hand. He holds the smile as I casually walk toward the exit. His eyes follow me as I keep my eyes on him waiting to see if he'll make a move. Unknowingly, I walk directly into another security guard who grabs a hold of me. His one hand on me, the other hovering over his taser.

"That won't be necessary, Griffin." I hear a male voice echo through the lobby. The guard lets go of me while simultaneously grabbing the files from my grasp. "She wasn't going to leave with our information, was she?" A nicely suited man appears before us extending his hand toward me. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure." I stare at his hand choosing not to shake it. The guard behind me grabs my arms and forces me to shake his hand. "I'm James Ernest. I am the founder and owner of this facility. It's nice to finally put a face to the most talked about arsonist of this division." He steps to the side and motions me toward the elevator. "Please, let's get to know each other better."

I'm shoved forward by the guard behind me as we make our way to the elevator and cram inside of it. I grip the railing as I'm still uncomfortable in these rising death boxes. It stops on the fifth floor and I follow James down the hall to his office. He tells me to have a seat across from him at his desk. The guard remains behind me as he shuts the door letting silence fall upon the room.

"Phoenix Detope." My name on his lips twists my stomach. I have a bad feeling about him. "Daughter of Misty and Brian. How lucky am I to have you on the team."

"I didn't sign any contract. What makes you think I'm on your team."

"You do want your boyfriend back, right? Tragic that he was taken into Casandra's custody again. On your watch, too. Must be a heavy burden on your shoulders." He smirks almost like he's laughing at me. My heart sinks to my stomach.

"You planned it, didn't you?"

"Planned what? I plan a lot of things everyday. Can you narrow it down?"

"Don't be smug." I command. James looks up at the guard behind me. I peer over my shoulder as he reaches for his taser and steps closer.

"I suggest you watch your tone, Ms. Detope." He leans back in his seat and clears his throat. "I'll be the bigger man and confess. Yes, I planned for you two to be taken in by Neuman. Did I know this meant risking your lives? Yes. But when one of my actual members lives are threatened, there may be some casualties."

"You son of a bitch. You don't own us. We are not your casualties to fuck with!" The sound of the taser registers in my ear and before I can react he presses the prongs to my skin. My body involuntarily shakes as the painful jolts pulse through my body and I flop to the floor semi paralyzed. He leans over his desk staring down at me.

"Make no mistake, Ms. Detope. No matter where you go, someone will always own you. No one is free anymore." He walks around his desk so he's leaning over me. "Now, I need Logan Fierce alive, therefore I need you to play your part. Can you be a good little girl from now on?"