“Just hurry.”
The line went dead. I looked up at Harrison.
“We need a favor,” I said to him. “Can you give us a ride?”
35
Thankfully, Harrison drove a mid-sized crossover, roomy enough for all of us to fit comfortably and agile enough to weave in and out of traffic doing ninety miles an hour. I braced myself against the bench seat, my eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of some terrible accident, but it seemed that Harrison Flynn was no stranger to reckless driving. Whether his skill on the road was instinctive or left over from his time with the Black Raptor Society, it was oddly impressive to watch his thought process as he methodically checked his mirrors and concentrated on getting us to Natasha in time. We weren’t headed to Waverly though. Lauren had provided the address of a Catholic church close to campus. Apparently, with the Raptors’ clubhouse out of commission, Catherine Flynn was in need of a new office for her backdoor deals.
When we arrived at St. Dismas, Harrison screeched to a halt on the front curb. I leapt from the backseat, grabbed Harrison’s hand, and hauled him up the steps to the church. Behind us, I heard Wes and Henry’s doors slam. Then, very distinctly, the mechanical clicks of Wes readying his Glock reached my ears.
We hurried through the rooms of the church, on high alert for any other members of the Raptors who might be awaiting our arrival. With the element of surprise on our side, we were lucky. Except for the echoes of our hasty footsteps, the church was quiet and serene. I caught sight of Olivia, waving at us from behind the altar, and beelined for her.
“Is this him?” she whispered, giving Harrison a once-over. She gave Wes and Henry each a curt nod by way of greeting.
“Yeah,” I whispered back. “Where’s Lauren?”
“In the basement,” she said. She jerked her head over her shoulder to indicate the staircase. “Let’s go, but keep a sharp eye, people. Wickes and Brooks are down there too. For once, we outnumber them, but Flynn always has something up her sleeve.”
We fell into a single file line, following behind Olivia as she led us down the stairwell. I kept Harrison in front of me. With every step downward, he succumbed to a severe case of the shakes, his whole body trembling furiously. I half expected him to lose his nerve and bolt back up to the main hall of the church, but he remained steadfast, keeping close to Olivia’s heels. At the bottom of the staircase, the sound of a conversation floated toward us, and Olivia gave us a silent cue to wait.
“Aunt Catherine, all I’m saying is that she could be of good use to the Raptors,” Lauren was saying. My blood ran cold. It had been a while since I’d heard Lauren use the commanding voice that she reserved for Raptor business, her cold, clean diction cutting through the chilly air of the church’s basement like a sharp knife. Despite having been discovered, she still played the role of the ultimate double agent. Even now, I questioned her loyalty to us before reminding myself that Lauren too had suffered at the hands of the Raptors.
“My dear, I truly do not understand why you continue to question my leadership,” came Flynn’s response. As usual, Flynn remained stoically impassive, as though they were discussing re-scheduling a fundraising event rather than murder. “I gain nothing from this woman’s presence, but she has been a thorn in my side since I was twenty-one years old. This woman is the reason I lost everything, Lauren, including the only man—”
“Actually, Catherine,” interrupted my mother’s voice. Again, I was stunned by the difference in the sound of my mother’s personality. In the past few days, I had only heard Natasha speak in soft, dulcet tones, but she addressed Flynn with a salty bite. It didn’t occur to me that she had such potency in her repertoire, and I couldn’t help but grin as she continued on. “You lost everything due to your inability to look past your own desires.”
“I did what was necessary to uphold the values set upon our society by the original—”
“You did what was necessary to get what you wanted,” retorted Natasha. “You were so determined to do so that you sacrificed the Raptors’ ideals and any shred of decency you had left. Anthony saw that in you. That’s why you lost everything. That’s why you’re so obsessed with this petty attempt at revenge, not because of me.”
“Christ, you really haven’t changed, Natasha,” said Flynn. Her voice had risen an octave. “I’m really going to savor this moment. Wickes, is our cover in place?”
“Yes, ma’am. Brooks pulled the car up out back. As soon as you finish, we can, um, escort her out of here.”
“You mean bury her dead body,” corrected Lauren.
“Lauren, if you’re so concerned, perhaps you should head upstairs,” said Flynn. “I wouldn’t want to upset you.”
“Too late.”
“Fine. Stay then. Wickes? Let’s get this over with.”
Olivia motioned us forward, and like a swarm of ants, we rushed into the basement. Natasha sat in an aluminum folding chair, one leg crossed comfortably over the other. Surprisingly, she wasn’t restrained. Apparently, Flynn didn’t expect her to make an escape attempt.
Wes and Henry leveled their guns at Flynn and Wickes respectively, but Flynn’s line of sight remained fixed between them. On Harrison.
“It can’t be,” she breathed.
“Hello, Catherine.”
“You—you’re meant to be dead!”
“Everything would have been so much easier for you had Natasha actually managed to kill me, would it not?” asked Harrison. He touched his forehead in a brief salute to acknowledge Natasha’s presence. “Natasha, let me preface what is sure to be an enlightening conversation with an apology to you. I am truly sorry for my part in your strife. I do hope you will forgive me. Perhaps, together, we can put an end to Catherine’s tyranny. What do you say?”
Natasha gaped at Harrison
