Undercover: Book 4 — Chapter 17

Claire’s Point of View

It was dark and it was hot. The heat was consuming me and the water at my feet was starting to burn me. Where are my heels? Where am I? Where’s Liam?

There was a stinging in my arm but the darkness made it difficult make out what it was. An IV maybe? Why would I have an IV?

“Hello?” I called out, hoping to see another figure in the darkness.

“Anyone here?” I yelled, trying to ignore the feeling of my own sweat trailing down my face and the rest of my body. I felt like I was suffocating. It was too hot in here.

“Liam?” I mumbled before feeling myself slowly lose consciousness again.

***

It was dark. It was hot, too hot. The water was now at my knees. How long have I been out? Was I going to die? Why am I tied to this chair? What happened? I had so many questions, yet I couldn’t get myself to ask them.

“Liam?” My voice sounded almost foreign since it was dry, lacking the taste of my own spit. My body was exhausted, yet I still used every part that I could as I tried to shake the cold, metal chair. I needed to leave. I needed to get back to Caiden. This was a bad idea. I should have listened to him, I really was going to die.

Two loud dings sounded through the room before lights above me started to turn on. My eyes took a minute to adjust to the new light, but I took the opportunity to look around me. It looked like I was in a warehouse. As I thought, water was filling up around me, the source unknown. I noticed there were glass windows at the top on the front and the back of the building. The window in front of me had multiple people sitting there, watching me.

“W-who are you?” I yelled, my voice cracking. They talked among themselves, not one answering my question.

“Tell me now, dammit!” I yelled, my voice coming out a bit clearer.

“Claire Martez, age twenty-eight, 18 weeks pregnant. She is a well-known fashion designer who first became well known for her travelling around the world giving speeches about a dead boy named Edward Sterling. Also, she is the girlfriend of Caiden Anderson, CEO of his company and ex-member of Jackson Farone’s old gang,” a feminine voice announced into a microphone. I stared at the woman with curiosity since she knew such small details that most people didn’t know.

It was true, the way I got over my best friend’s death was by sharing his story, saving many lives in the process. It was only a few months, but multiple people stuck with everything I did because they were inspired. The fact that they knew about Caiden’s past too is what confirmed the fact that they were from Jackson’s gang.

“So what? Your plan is to just drown me?” I yelled, still getting no response. My eyes skimmed through the people in the room, waiting for a response. My eyes stopped when they landed on the figure in the corner of the room, looking down at me from the glass.

“Explain to Ms. Martez what will happen to her,” the man spoke, his voice sounding through the room.

“Your body will slowly start to be consumed by the water and at first, you will hold your breath and after about a minute, maybe two at most, your will have no choice but to exhale and when you do, your lungs will fill with water. You will try to swim up to get air, but the chair will stop you from doing so. You’ll slowly start to feel your body shut down before you are knocked unconscious. After that you will be dead, and after about four to five minutes you baby will be as well,” the woman said with no emotion in her voice.

“I don’t even know any of you. Why do I deserve to die?” I yelled, feeling the fear fill my body as I felt the sides of my dress getting wet, along with my thighs.

“Explain to—”

“How about you tell me! Stop having everyone else do your damn dirty work,” I hissed. A small smirk flashed on his face before he walked over to the mic, bending down just enough to speak into it.

“Well, darling, I was hoping you’d be smart enough to treat the man who holds your life in his hands with some respect, but I see that may not be possible for you,” his deep voice said as he kept a confident look on his face. If this wasn’t a life or death situation, I would probably appreciate how handsome he was.

“Where’s Liam?” I demanded.

“Dead.” The words slid off his tongue seductively, making me look at him with disgust, with hatred. He made it sound like death was such a pleasant thing.

“You’re lying,” I responded calmly.

“Am I?” he asked just as calmly. “Would you bet your life on it?”

“Yes, actually I would.”

“You’re brave, too brave.” The smirk slipped off his face and suddenly he was serious.

“Bring in Liam,” he called out, and two men brought him out. I watched as suddenly the glass started to move, going up in one area, almost like a garage door.

“Looks as though I was right,” I said, keeping my eyes on Liam. He was too close to the edge. The guys pushed Liam’s body forward but quickly grabbed him before he could fall. I fought to get out of the chair but my hands were tightly cuffed behind me.

“Just let him go. It’s obvious you only want me so just l-let him go,” I said.

“Awe, now she’s begging.”

“Your name's Jackson, right?” I asked. He looked surprised.

“That woman said your last name is Farone so you must be Jesse’s brother. Why would you try to kill someone your brother cares about?” I asked him.

His face hardened.

“That’s not any of your concern, and this has nothing to do with anything we’re talking about.”

“Are you sure? You seem to be getting worked up about him,” I said, causing him to slam his fist on the desk.

“Kill him,” Jackson said, looking at the men holding Liam.

“Wait.” He paused before looking at the woman from before. “Remind everyone here how Edward Sterling died again.”

I stared at him confused. What did Eddie have to do with anything?

“Edward Sterling, or as he liked to be called, Eddie. Eddie sliced his own throat open on top of the boys university and end up choking on his own blood as he dropped to the ground, breaking most of the bones in his body in front of the school. They declared him officially dead, all due to a suicide.” Her voice was once again monotone as she told the story of my old friend.

“Claire, you can confirm that story, right? I mean you were there after all,” Jackson said, causing my look of disgust to return. “Why don’t we take a minute to relive it?”

He pulled out a knife, throwing it to one of the guys holding Liam. The man released him, removing his hand from his mouth, and he caught the knife perfectly.

“Liam, is it? How about you do us a favor and bring this right across your throat? Don’t forget to fall towards the water, though, I’d rather not have to deal with blood on the carpet.”

“Go to hell,” Liam hissed.

“You’re disgusting. We’ve done nothing to you. Don’t you dare hurt him.”

“We won’t be doing anything. We can’t control it if he brings a knife across his own throat,” Jackson said nonchalantly as he shrugged.

“He would never.”

“It’s him or you, Claire.”

I glanced down at myself to see the water already halfway up my stomach.

“Why are you doing this?” Liam asked.

“It’s always the same questions all the time. It’s pretty infuriating actually.”

I watched as sweat dripped down my nose from the humidity. I needed to think. I could get out of here. I tried pulling at the handcuffs that were underneath the water but it was no use.

“You don’t want to kill us,” I blurted, causing all eyes to focus on me. Liam narrowed his eyes at me, trying to understand where I was going with this.

“Oh, and why is that?”

“Because I know things, more than you. You were in prison for years, right,” I confirmed before continuing, trying to ignore the panic rising in my chest. “W-well in this past year I’ve got to know your brother q-quite well.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You hate him. I have information on him. I could be your own personal spy,” I said before wincing. He wouldn’t buy this, right? I am probably dead.

“I still don’t see the need for your friend here,” Jackson said looking at Liam. I let out a shaky breath before continuing.

“It’s a package deal. You won’t even get a sentence out of me. Besides, go to hell if you even think so much about killing him,” I told him.

He smirked.

“You got nerve threatening me while both you and your friend are in a close to death situation.”

“It’s a risk that I am willing to take,” I said, giving him a challenging look. “Look, I’m not threatening you. I’m just letting you see your possibilities before you do something you regret.”

“Calla, go ahead and cancel procedure one. We’re going with protocol three,” he told me. I looked at Liam, who was panicked.

“What’s protocol three?” Liam asked, and suddenly I felt a bit queasy and looked down to see liquid being pumped into my body. I glanced at the IV, frowning.

“What are you putting in me?” I asked, suddenly feeling fatigue. I didn’t like this feeling, this feeling of hopelessness, this feeling of death.

Beep, beep.

My eyes started to become heavy, too heavy to keep open.

“Claire! Stay awake,” Liam yelled at me.

“Claire, you have to stay awake! Keep your eyes open.”

His voice started to sound farther and farther away, and soon I found myself once again unconscious.

***

I blinked slowly, my eyes adjusting to the light. “What are you doing?” I mumbled, not sure my words were coming out as English.

“Shh, don’t talk,” the man told me, my body suddenly lifted into the man’s arms. My eyes were blurry, barely making out the face of the stranger.

“Let go of me.”

A door was suddenly pushed open and a cold breeze hit me. I couldn’t control my shivering body as my wet dress clung to me. We entered another room before I was suddenly tossed on a couch.

“Where’s Liam?” I demanded, my voice less groggy and my eyesight clearer. Jackson leaned back in the chair he was sitting in behind a large, brown desk.

“Leave us,” Jackson said, waving the guy away before looking at me.

“You wake up and you’re not dead or underwater and your first thoughts are where is your friend? Pathetic.”

He spat, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s called having loyalty to someone, something you probably won’t ever know.”

“That tongue of yours will get you killed one of these days.”

I couldn’t resist letting a smirk crawl up my face.

“Funny, your brother said the same thing.”

Jackson threw a glass beer bottle towards the wall, just barely missing my head.

“Sweetheart, stop testing me. I don’t find it cute. It’s rather annoying actually.”

“You never answer my question. Where is my friend?”

“Dead.”

“I’m going to ask you again and this time, you’re going to give me a real answer.”

“That was a real answer,” he replied, a smirk sliding up his sickeningly handsome face. Why did the bad ones always have to be handsome? It’s these family genes I swear.

“Well, where are my shoes at least?” I asked, making it sound like I was just being curious. In reality, that was the one thing keeping me semi-calm.

“Oh, sweetheart, do you think I’m honestly that stupid?” Yes. “I know those agents. I know this was a setup, and after doing a quick scan it only confirmed what I already knew. They put a tracker with you. In your shoes to be exact.” My blood ran cold at his words. This guy was smarter than Riley anticipated.

“You’re interesting,” Jackson said, looking at me carefully after a moment of silence.

“So I’ve been told,” I retorted, crossing one leg over the other. I bit my lip as I tried to not focus on the fact that Liam could potentially be dead and I could be next.

“So how long do you plan on sitting here and staring me down?”

“Claire Martez.” He licked his lips, making it sound as if he was just testing out the words on his tongue. “I don’t understand the appeal of you besides the simple looks.”

“I could say the same for you,” I said watching as his eyes followed the small movement of my dress moving up as I moved an inch on the couch.

“Prison did me well,” he replied, standing up and walking to the front of his desk, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m not really into the whole small talk thing with someone who tried to kill me and my unborn child, so I’m going to have to cut this short,” I said, standing up as well.

“How cute, you think you can just come and go. I hate to be the one to tell you but that’s not how this works. I mean you can always come. I just can’t guarantee you’ll get to leave alive.”

“You seem to have lots of empty threats and some very unappealing pet names as well.”

“They’re not empty and keep giving the seductive looks and you really might not leave the room,” he said, pushing himself off the desk.

“Seductive? I have a boyfriend, the one I’m sure you’re going to try to kill eventually as well.”

He moved closer to me, our bodies only centimeters away from each other.

“Boyfriend, is it? I’m sure you miss the feeling of a random guy pressed up against you. No feelings, no emotions, just sex, just fucking,” he whispered in my ear slowly and seductively.

I cleared my throat, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sweetheart, I know you would sleep around from time to time before you got tied down. I mean you slept with Leon – he’s not exactly the definition of a good guy.” His stubble scraped the side of my face, making my breath catch in my throat a bit. “I could see you fitting in here. You’d like the drugs, the parties, the sex.” He emphasized each word carefully before pulling away so his face was even closer, his lips too close to mine.

My eyes searched his dark ones. “I think you should lay off the marijuana for a while, you seem to be imagining things.” I slammed my knee into his “special spot” and watched as he gasped for breath, stepping away from me as he leaned over.

“Hurts like a bitch, huh?” I asked stepping away from him.

“You little—” he gasped out and I leaned down so I was inches from his face. I put my right hand on his face, my long acrylic nails digging into his face as I squeezed his cheeks together a bit.

“Bitch,” I finished his sentence for him before stepping back and bringing my foot up and hitting him directly in the face, causing him to fall back. I slammed my fist into his face directly after and surprisingly he was knocked out cold after the one hit. It was a good day to wear some rings.

“And to think Caiden thought I couldn’t take care of myself. Look at me, 18 weeks pregnant and still workin’ it,” I mumbled to myself as I searched through Jackson’s desk drawers. My eyes landed on a pistol, and I hesitantly picked it up. The foreign object felt strange in my hand. I quickly went through the basics of using a gun. Thankful it was fully loaded. This is why we watch shows like The Walking Dead.

I looked around the room carefully. Jackson was a gang leader or, heck, maybe even a mafia leader. I mean how else would he have so many men and guns already. He wasn’t even supposed to be getting out of prison for another week or so.

“C’mon Claire, think,” I muttered, looking around trying to find something, anything out of the ordinary. He had to have another escape route in case something went bad. I couldn’t just walk out the office door, he most likely had men out there guarding it. My eyes landed on the piece of wood that looked just slightly different on the wall. The lines were going the opposite way compared to all the other pieces. I moved a small cabinet to the side a bit and poked the wall.

Stop being a baby and feel for a handle or something.

I actually listened to my conscious and felt around that area. My hands stopped as I felt a little handle. I pulled it up and a door opened. The path was dark but I knew I had to suck it up.

Yes, because going into a dark path with no shoes and no light is always the best idea.

Do you have any better options?

Just hurry up before you get caught.

I pulled the door shut behind me and walked down the path, my hands on the wall around me to make sure I didn’t trip. You know when it’s three in the morning and you really start to overthink things? Yeah, that was currently me in the life or death situation.

‘Why the hell is my stomach so fat? Man I could really use some yogurt right now and please don’t accidently trip and get yourself shot with this gun’ were the three thoughts that kept running through my mind. Oh, and why hasn’t Caiden proposed to me? I’m having his child, yet he still won’t put a ring on my finger.

About two minutes later my head bumped into a wall, signaling the end of the path; I opened the door and found myself in a hallway.

“What the hell?” I mumbled. Who would make an escape path and not make it go outside? I rolled my eyes at his stupidity and slowly walked down the hallway, the gun carefully in my hand.

My eyes landed on a door towards the end of the hall, and I hesitantly went to it. There was no window to look inside so I wasn’t positive whether I was about to walk into my death or my freedom. My free hand slowly turned the doorknob to the metal door.

Squeak.

I winced at the sound and made my way into the lit up room. There were jail-like cells everywhere, every single one filled with different men and women.

“Claire!” Liam yelled, and I ran to the third cell down on the right side. I sighed in relief at Liam’s clear face. He wasn’t dead.

“Hey, babe,” a guy yelled, his voice raspy making it sound like he smoked five packs a day. “Why don’t you come over here and ride on a real man.” Ew.

“C’mon we have to get you out of here and get back to the others.” I told him and he nodded.

“How’d you escape?” he asked.

“I am one badass pregnant woman,” I said.

He shook his head at me smiling.

“Let’s hurry,” Liam suggested. I nodded Who knows how long Jackson will be out.

“I need a key,” I told him, looking down at the lock.

He silently swore before looking around the cell.

“I got it,” he said before holding out his hand. “Give me your hair pin.”

I frowned. “I don’t have one.”

“You always have one.” Liam stared at me like I was crazy and I shook my head.

“They took everything off of me beside this dress,” I said, causing him to slam his fist against the concrete wall in the back. It was true while I was out they took my heels, pins, and even my phone.

“Find my shoes,” he said suddenly, and I raised an eyebrow, confused.

“They didn’t take them out of this room. They’re black dress shoes. They open on the heel.” I sighed and walked towards the opposite side of the room.

I opened multiple cabinets and frowned when I only found clothes hidden in a basket. What did they not believe in shoes in this place? I opened the last cabinet and a bunch of shoes came tumbling out. Great. There were plenty of heels and tennis shoes and thankfully only three pairs of dress shoes. I probably looked like an idiot trying to open the bottom of a shoe – either that or very drunk. Speaking of that, I’ve never been truly drunk. When I get out of here I don’t think it would be a bad thing to try since Caiden seems to like it.

You’re pregnant.

And people wonder why I’m in such a bad mood all the time.

“Found it!” I yelled and grabbed the shoes and headed back to his cell.

“Hey, help a girl out. Let me out of here,” a girl said, suddenly grabbing my arm, her long nails digging into my arm as I walked past her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. Please let me go.” I looked at her with sympathy, and she only glared at me.

“Fucking bitch,” she hissed releasing my arm. “I hope you get caught.”

I snorted at the quick change in her behavior and only hurried to Liam’s cell. “Give me the right one.” I handed it to him, and he quickly turned it to the bottom and pushed down on the inside of the heel and suddenly the front part of the shoe opened and I looked at him in amazement. It opened a completely different part. How do agents fit so much in the bottom of a stupid shoe?

I watched as he pulled out a very similar pen that Matt used earlier, or yesterday, or whatever day we were taken. Liam took off the back of the pen and pressed the side, causing a little drill to spin.

“Put this in the lock.” I did as he said and placed it in the lock. A small crunching sound was heard after a minute, causing me to stop. Liam opened the door and grabbed my hand, preparing to run.

“Wait!” I gasped.

He paused, looking at me like I was crazy.

“The gun.”

I ran back over to the shoes and picked up the weapon I left sitting on the floor before running back. I handed him the pistol, causing him to send me an impressed look before we carefully left the room.

We stayed silent as we ran over to an elevator on the opposite end of the hall. He pressed the button before putting his finger to his mouth, signaling for me to stay silent.

“This will make them think we’re here,” he answered. He walked me over to a door that read “stairs.” I quickly followed him down three flights of stairs before pausing.

“You’re killing me here,” I told him, leaning against the rail, my other hand on my stomach.

“Claire, we have to keep moving,” he said seriously, causing me to glare at him.

“You don’t think I know that?” I hissed causing him to sigh in irritation. “My back is killing me.”

“We’re almost there. Just one more flight till we’re to the garage.” He encouraged me and I rolled my eyes before heading down the twelve more stairs that lead to the garage. Liam peeked through the little window and nodded at me, telling me it was clear.

“We don’t have any keys,” I reminded him.

He pointed to behind me where different keys hung on different hooks. Theye were all labeled underneath. “How fortunate,” I said sarcastically. Liam grabbed the keys to a nice, sleek, black Porsche, and we both got in.

“How do they have this many cars? Did he even go to prison?” I thought out loud, silently enjoying the feeling of sitting again.

“That’s what I’m starting to wonder. He’s out a week early, and he has too many people on his side. Even Jesse took a week or two to get back into everything,” Liam noted as he pulled up to the garage door that automatically opened.

“Don’t you find it strange that we got out that easy? I mean I knocked Jackson out, but he should’ve been up in five minutes tops,” I said, looking at the unknown area. There was a red and white bar that stopped people from exiting and there was a man standing there in an all black suit with a gun.

“Do we run it?” I asked, and Liam looked at me amused.

“Would you run it?” he asked and I shrugged.

“They do it in GTA, and it works out fine for them.”

“That’s a game Claire. The windows are tinted. If he wasn’t notified of any problem he’ll probably just let us go through when we stop.” I chewed on my bottom lip nervously as Liam moved again and stopped right in front of the bar. The man looked at the car for a minute before pressing something that caused the bar to slowly go up. As soon as it was up enough Liam pressed on the gas causing us to skid a little as he made a quick turn out of here, leaving black skid marks.

He glanced at me, a cocky look on his face, yet I still frowned.

“That was all too easy. Why would they just let us go?” I asked.

“We’ll worry about it later when we get you safely home.”

After a few minutes of silence, a red car from afar moved to our side of the road and started driving right towards.

“Liam,” I asked looking at the car with fear.

“What are they doing? What are you doing? Liam, move!” I yelled as both cars drove toward each other at a fast speed.

“Put on your seatbelt and shut the hell up!” he yelled back.

I stared at the red car with fear but listened to him since he did the same. I closed my eyes right before I felt the car swerve to the right before the breaks were slammed on. My head flew to the right and slammed against the window, not hard enough to break it though. My eyes flew open at the impact, and I looked over at Liam.

“Are you fucking crazy?” I yelled.

He leaned his head against the back of his seat before looking at me.

“You hit your head, are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded, only feeling a small bump.

“Who the hell was that?” I asked, looking at the back window but not seeing any sign of the red car. That’s weird, I thought before looking at Liam. You know when you’re watching a movie and just before something bad happens the scene turns into slow motion? Yeah, I felt like I was living that scene as the familiar car slammed into Liam's side causing my head to hit against the window again causing it to shatter from the impact. I groaned in pain and looked at the large brown pole on my side that stopped the car from flipping.

I didn’t realize I was screaming until I ran out of air and the sound cut out from my throat. I looked over at Liam and saw his head leaning on his right shoulder, eyes closed, and glass all over his lap, blood leaking from the left side of his head. “Liam?” I whispered as my own eyes started to feel heavy. I felt the side of my head with my shaky hand and found blood leaking out of the top of my head.

I looked through the front window with my blurry vision to see a tall figure walking towards the car, “Caiden?” My eyes began to shut on their own accord. I guess a little sleep wouldn’t hurt.