Undercover: Book 4 — Chapter 21

Claire’s Point of View

“Claire Martez, will you do be an honorable favor by taking this ring and agreeing to spend the next ten lifetimes filled with mysteries and who knows whatever else married to me?” He asked staring at my tear-filled eyes. My mouth opened and closed a few times before I slammed my lips on his. He held the box carefully in one hand before wrapping his free one around my body, placing it firmly on my back. He didn’t hesitate to respond, kissing me with just as much force.

I pulled away, staring into his eyes that were filled with such a strong emotion. “I—yes. Just yes,” I whispered in his ear, pulling back.

He grabbed the ring and carefully slipped it on my finger.

“What on Earth? How much did you spend on this? It’s gorgeous,” I asked.

His signature smirk appear on his face.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just say that’s probably going to be your wedding ring as well. But we can still buy you same wedding bands of course,” he whispered in my ear, causing a slight shiver to run up my back.

“I love you so much,” I said, hugging him. His eyes widened in surprise. It wasn’t often we hugged anymore. We kissed and all that but just hugging was strange. He decided to follow my motion and wrapped his arms around my figure as well.

“I love you too.”

“Great. Now I can finally hear you stop whining about how long you have to wait for him to propose,” Nathan said, causing me to pull away and look at my friend.

“Shush.” I rolled my eyes and slapped his chest, causing Nathan to only chuckle.

“How adorable,” someone said sarcastically, not caring they were interrupting. We all faced the person only to see it was the waiter.

“Excuse me, is there a problem?” I asked politely.

“I’m guessing it’s because none of you know me. I guess since none of those agents are here, which is probably why,” he stated before simply shrugging.

“Who are you?” Caiden growled, positioning himself in front of my body.

“The name’s Christopher Hall. Most people call me Chris. Now, down to business, alright?”

He stated it more as a question as he ushered everyone away.

“Glee and friend leave. This doesn’t concern you,” he said, waving his hand.

Nathan glared at him.

“I’m staying,” Nathan hissed after everyone else left and Nick agreed.

“Very well.”

He looked back to see we still didn’t move, causing him to let out a sigh.

“Five seconds. You have five seconds before I click this single button causing every song bomb I placed on the outside of this building to blow up,” he said, holding a remote, his finger hovering over the red button. This immediately made me move.

I took my original seat at the table as did Caiden.

“I don’t do well with ultimatums so speak fast,” Caiden hissed, causing the guy to chuckle.

“I’m here to pass on a message,” the man said as his face went serious.

“What is it?” I asked.

He pulled an envelope from the inside of his coat before opening it.

He cleared his throat before he began reading the message.

“Dear Claire,

Clover is crying and this time it’s my fault. Clover once liked games, so I thought we’d play another one. It’s called let’s find the mouse. The mouse is Clover. Here’s your one and only hint, she’s not at home.

Looking forward to our next touch,

Your one and only friend. Xx”

“What was the purpose of you delivering that?” Nathan asked.

The man smirked.

“This,” he said, before clicking play on his phone. In the corner said the word ‘live’ in bright red letters. Suddenly a woman appeared on the screen. Her blonde hair was covering her face, there were streaks of red in it, but something told me it wasn’t hair dye. Someone yelled something in the background, the voice unrecognizable. The person looked up, and I let out a loud gasp, my hands flying up to cover my mouth.

“Clover,” I whispered.

“H–help,” she screamed, her voice cracking. She was bloody, all bloody.

“Where is she?” Caiden hissed, grabbing his shirt and lifting him up. His phone dropped on the table, but I kept watching. Her mascara was all over her face, and her eyeliner was smeared. She was in nothing but a sports bra and capri like leggings all soaked with blood. Was it hers?

“Now, I can’t tell, but if you take a number I’m sure my boss will get back with you as soon as possible,” he insisted. In response, Caiden didn’t hesitate to slam his fist right into his face.

“Oh my gosh! Excuse me, sir! Release him immediately!”aA waitress yelled, setting the food Caiden must have ordered on the table.

The sickening sound of a fist slamming into a jaw was heard before Caiden dropped the man to the ground. The waitress ran over, immediately checking for any physical injuries. I looked away from the scene and focused directly on the phone once again only to find the phone screen completely black.

“No, no. C'mon,” I muttered while repeatedly slamming my finger on the screen and pressing all the different buttons.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Nick asked.

I shook my head feeling tears well up in my eyes.

“The phones off. We lost connection. Dammit!” I hissed shaking my head. I pulled out my own phone and sent a quick text to Riley explaining what was going on. Just as the message sent, police officers came rushing in.

“SPD! Everyone put your hands where we can see them,” one ordered, and the officer next to him kept his eyes on the guy on the ground all while keeping his gun pointed at us.

It didn’t take long for us all to be in handcuffs and in the back of a police car. All of the officers talked quietly in a circle outside the cars, so I took the chance to talk to Caiden who luckily got put in the same car as me.

“What are we going to do?” I asked him, causing him to look over at me instead of the officers outside.

“About Clover? I don’t know. I can’t even name one person who would think about taking her,” he said, shaking his head, the frustration showing on his face. I knew he wouldn’t admit it, but part of him would care if something happened to her. It’s hard to not gain some type of acquaintance relationship with someone when they live with you.

“That woman Katy. She always comes to my galas, and she’s always at the ones I attend as well. It could be a coincidence, but Clover once told me about her being sabotaged by the girl in high school,” I said.

Caiden thought about it for a moment.

“There’s a small possibility it’s her, but I don’t want to put all of our money on that,” Caiden said.

I nodded in agreement.

“She must be in so much pain,” I whispered thinking back to all the blood on her and the look of horror plastered on her face.

“Jesse deserves to rot in fucking hell,” Caiden hissed, his hands still clenching into fists.

“All of them do,” I agreed after a minute. This wasn’t a game or a movie; it was real life with real drug dealers and assassins. How did I get here? How did I get to life of regular death and constant tears? On top of it all, I’m pregnant. Why does my luck keep turning into the burning coals in hell?

Two officers suddenly got into their sides of the car and started the engine up. All the police cars left the parking lot, turning left to head towards the station. Ours followed but turned right instead.

“Hey, police station is the other way,” Caiden said loudly, noticing the same thing.

“Shut it. We’re going to pick up one more person,” the officer said.

“There’s no more room back here. Get someone else,” Caiden hissed back, causing the officer to turn around and glare at him.

“Son, I don’t care if you are some hot shot business owner. You assaulted a man and you will get your jail time, but first, we have to do our jobs and pick up one more person,” the officer snapped before turning back around in the passenger seat.

Neither of us said a word as we watched the sights of Seattle pass us. I didn’t question it as we stopped at an old gas station. Thinking we only needed gas, it wasn’t until my door opened, and I was pulled out by my arm that I became worried. I looked at Caiden with fear in my eyes.

“If you don’t let her go in two fucking seconds, I swear—” Caiden started, but the door was slammed shut. Caiden response by slamming his foot on the door.

“Ah, boyfriends. So very needy,” a woman said, stepping out of black vehicle. Her brown, curly hair cascaded down her back as she shook it when she stepped out of the truck. I quickly realized it was the same woman from earlier.

“It’s you,” I said, staring at her with accusing eyes.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you face-to-face, darling,” she said, her blue, cold, calculating eyes not matching the smile plastered on her face.

Caiden suddenly stopped kicking and yelling threats as the woman came in his sight. Before I could look to see if he was okay, the woman slapped me across the face.

“If I talk to you, I expect a response,” she hissed before looking at the officer behind me. She held out her palm, her long blood red nails standing out as he placed a set of keys in her hand. “You can go,” she ordered.

“Yes, Madame,” he said, nodding before he left. I didn’t turn at the sound of his car door shutting or the sound of the car engine slowing distancing itself from me since the woman's hand was holding my face, forcing me to look at her.

“I’ve never had a doll before. I always thought they were too disobedient, but I think you’re smart. You should learn quick,” she said. smiling at me before grabbing my arm and forcing me to walk to the car. I didn’t put up a fight, and I didn’t want to risk my future son’s life again.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ll take good care of you,” she said before shoving me in the back of her car and slamming the door.

***

Riley’s Point of View

I stared at the computer blankly. My brain trying to comprehend everything that was currently happening.

“You’re going to have to take me through this one more time, so Clover is missing and so is Claire. Nathan and Caiden are in jail. Andrew hasn’t been heard from and another club blew up?” I asked and Matt nodded.

“How did this all happen in less then twenty-four hours? Can someone please explain this to me? Rachel, you were watching over Clover, so explain to me what exactly went down with her,” I demanded, standing up straight and looking at the brunette. My arms crossed over my chest as I stared at her, waiting impatiently for a response.

“We were at her photo shoot, and she went to change so we can go, and when she didn’t come out after five minutes and wasn’t answering, I picked the lock and went in. Window was open and she was gone,” Rachel said frowning. I nodded and turned to look at Emily.

“Update on what happened with Claire?” I asked.

I watched Emily’s current frown deepen.

“Caiden was proposing, so I made sure to especially keep my distance at the restaurant, but things went south. Cameras got interrupted, and I went inside, but cops were blocking every entrance and refused to let me in even after I showed my ID. So I finally knocked the few out, but by the time I got in they were are in cop cars and heading out. After that I lost sight of her,” Emily explained.

They both seemed liked reasonable excuses, but they didn’t exactly help the problem at hand.

“What are we going to do first?” I asked, looking at them both. I already had an idea in my head, but if I was going to lead this mission I needed to make sure they were still learning something as well, trainees or not.

“We can track cell phones,” Rachel suggested.

“No signal,” Joey immediately responded.

“Riley can go undercover and get an update on what’s been going on with the gang,” Rachel suggested directly after.

“And if I find nothing?” I retorted.

“We hack into cell phones and we track every single camera and phone record from all the places Jesse and the lead gang members have been,” Rachel said, causing me to smile.

“Go do exactly that then, Fayee,” I said, calling her by her maiden name. Rachel nodded and headed off to the other computer next to Matt.

“We can try to hack into the restaurant cameras and see what we can salvage from those,” Emily suggested.

I bit my lip thinking about the idea.

“And if those don’t help?” I asked curiously.

“We hack into the police station records. It’s risky and if caught we could get in quite a bit of trouble, but we have three lives in danger,” she told me.

My lips curved upward. We’ve all grown so much as agents it was such a rush to do it all again.

“Get on it then,” Joey said.

Emily nodded, grabbing her tablet off the charger.

“We’ve got a pretty good team don’t we?” Joey asked.

I nodded.

“It sucks that we couldn’t get any new agents on this. They could’ve learned a lot,” I said, leaning against his side.

“Yeah, but look how dangerous it is. An agent with the same experience as us is in a coma in the hospital. They would be over their heads if they were doing this mission,” Joey said before pressing a lingering kiss on my lips.

“Now, we’ve got a job to do,” he said, flashing me a charming smile.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously.

“Going to see what happened at that club.”

He pressed his lips against mine once more before heading upstairs to get his gear together.

“Do you think we’re honestly going to pull this off?” Matt asked quietly as he leaned against the back of his chair.

I let out a deep breath. “I don’t know. I think this case may be even bigger than us.”

I left it at that before going upstairs and quickly changing into a black tan top, tight jeans, and black high heel boots.

“Riley?” Matt called right before I left.

“Yeah?” I asked already half way out the door.

“Don’t get killed.”

I only sent him a smile in response. Easier said than done.

I took the short drive to the other side of town, parking my car in a random parking lot and walking the rest of the way.

“Oh, look who’s here,” Jacob said, smirking at my appearance. “You’re lucky I took over deals. You owe me big time,” he whispered in my ear as I walked past him.

“Where’s Jesse?” I questioned with narrowed eyes.

“Out.”

“Doing what?”

“It doesn’t concern you, so don’t worry ’bout it,” Leon said, walking into the living room as he stuffed his face with an apple.

“You want to know something funny about Reese here?” Keith asked, placing his hand on my mostly bare shoulder. Before I could even respond he continued. “Not once have I seen her drink or even smoke.” He lifted a blunt up to his lip, smirking at me.

“I sell because I need the money,” I quickly covered, but he wasn’t having it.

“So did our old friend Chris, but look where it got him. Listen Reese, you can’t only build half of a bridge and expect to still make it across the river. You get what I’m sayin’?” Keith asked, the blunt hanging out of his mouth as he talked.

“Who’s rules are these? Jesse’s never mention anything about this,” I said, hiding my nervousness. I didn’t like where this was heading. Even if I left here now it wouldn’t go down well.

“Jesse doesn’t like any of his members sober,” Jacob said, leaning against the wall. “He has his reasons,” he added.

“So what are you suggesting?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Have some of this, and I won’t share this little secret,” Keith said, the glint in his eyes shining as he held a brown packet of something.

“Yeah, I’m good. For all I know that stuff will kill me,” I said, tilting my head up to show my distaste.

“Any drug can kill you. It’s if you’re man enough to take the risk,” Keith said taking a lighter out of his coat pocket.

“What about you, Keith? People do this out of money or just for the high, but you don’t need either, so why are you here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at Keith before I grabbed the glass out of Jacob’s hand. He didn’t complain when I finished the glass.

“That some hard liquor. You’ll be feeling those effects in a minute with a body as little as yours,” he said.

I smirked. I’m an agent, sometimes we live on straight liquor, I thought, but didn’t comment on his ignorance.

“You’re a smart one, I’ll give you that,” Keith said, taking his joint out of his mouth. “I don’t need money. I’m fucking rich and I could easily buy all the drugs in this city, but what’s the point of living that oh, so-great live if you've got absolutely no one,” he spit out before leaving the room. I stared blankly at the spot he was just standing in.

“Someone’s had a bit too much of something,” Leon snorted. “But c’mon Riles, just have something.”

My blood ran cold,”W–what?” I asked.

Leon raised an eyebrow at my sudden frozen state.

“She has some of the homemade beer Jess makes,” Jacob said.

Leon rolled his eyes.

“Riley, don’t be a stick in the mud,” Leon said.

I stood up straighter, setting the class cup on the table next to me. I reached my hand behind me back where my gun was ready in the waist band of my pants.

“The name’s Reese,” I corrected.

“Now, we both know that isn’t true,” he said, shaking his head. “Riley Scott, right?”