PART 1 VINCENT Chapter 3 (Part 1)
Sabine led the other three down another hall. Marielle fell in step with Liam at the back of the line, biting her tongue as they marched. She’d only been with Valorant a little under six months, but she wasn’t the biggest fan of change, and this one seemed anxiety inducing. Liam, like a big father, had always taken care of them. He even sat with them occasionally and played video games in his spare time. She would never forget the time he’d done so with Mateo after forcing him to clear out an old, dusty room. Although Marielle spent a lot of time counseling each of the agents, she had avoided getting close to several of them as friends. However, in the past few weeks, she’d grown to truly admire and like Liam. “They can’t do this,” she whispered to him as she fell into step at his side. “Marielle, we all knew this was coming.” “Nothing good comes from government.” She sighed. “You know you agree with me.” She looked down when Barbara glanced back at the two of them. They picked up the pace a little to avoid falling behind. “Whether I agree or not isn’t the point right now.” “You’re in charge,” she growled. “Not anymore,” Liam whispered. Barbara fell back a step to be closer to them. “Problem?” Liam cleared his throat and straightened his back, throwing a glance at the folder. “So, what do you know? Did you have time to look it over?” Marielle caught on immediately: drop the subject, talk about the briefing instead. She took in a breath. “A little. Jamie gave it to me moments before I came in.” “We’ve had Chamber for eight days now, today being the ninth. The folder goes more into detail, but essentially he showed up at the charity event we were holding last Friday night. He was spotted running around placing things in random locations, and then he took a shot at me, missed”—Liam paused—“and teleported.” “Teleported?” Marielle’s eyes grew wide. “He’s altered.” She lifted the folder and began leafing through it again. “Exactly.” “Apparently not very smart, though,” Sabine jeered without looking back at them. “He teleported straight into our hands.” She sounded proud. Apparently, she’d participated in his capture. Marielle glanced up from the papers briefly. “Maybe he meant to.” “Why in the hell would he mean to get caught?” Sabine pressed, her tone full of below-the-surface rage she was obviously holding back. Marielle shrugged her left shoulder and flicked that same brow, refusing to make eye contact with Sabine. “I don’t exactly think missing the shot was an accident, either.” “You think he showed up and put on this whole production just to be caught on purpose?” Barbara interjected. “I don’t know. What has he said?” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more? Caliberbook.com
