He was known as Falcon among the people who were hunting him down, just BOSS to those who worked for him, and Anthony Garbanzos to those who knew his transactions—just like Devin.

The Falcon looked like any typical grandfathers out there—white hair, wrinkled face, bushy eyebrows and a big smile—but that was just that. The guy was too powerful that those who knew him could never picture him as an old man holding a fishing rod with his grandson. But he was not the biggest boss. The Falcon worked for a bigger one, a much powerful one. Devin could not help but bitterly think that he would be giving away to these people the very things they feared the most—the very things that could throw them behind bars for life.

He was sitting right across Devin who was still tied up to the chair. The only other person in the room with them was Burton who was sitting in one corner, looking uninterested. It was a bluff, Devin knew. They wanted him to feel uneasy by being easy on him. He also knew that the other two men were outside the door just waiting for him to run out and kill him. And there could be others as well, he thought. The Falcon would not have come here alone.

“We’ve been looking for you for days, Devin,” the Falcon said with a laughing voice that did not sound happy at all. It actually sounded eerie.

“As I have heard,” said Devin.

“You should not have disappeared like that, you know. I liked it better when I knew exactly where you were.”

Devin wanted to throw Burton an accusing look but the man was hiding behind the damn papers again, probably pretending he was inside a café. Devin did not say anything.

“It was a stupid plan, Burton,” said the Falcon. “Putting him beside that psycho.”

Burton just grumbled something and went back to reading.

The Falcon returned his eyes on Devin. “I have tried to be patient, you know. Because I hate blood. That’s why you are still in one piece. I hate to see anyone drooling and bleeding blood. I can’t sleep whenever I am exposed to so much killing.” He waved his hand in the air as if trying to erase an image before him. “That’s why I work the papers. I work behind a desk. I do the transactions. But I never go to the sites. You can see it now, do you?” His eyes held Devin’s for a time before he chuckled. “But now I am here because I want you to personally tell me where you hid them.”

“Somewhere safe,” Devin answered.

The Falcon pretended to consider his answer before he shook his head at Devin, clucking his tongue. “Devin, you must understand that you are still alive because of me. You have been alive for two years because of me. Because, I have explained, I hate blood. I hate painful screaming,” he said with a cringe. “And right now, I hate to do that to you too. You should have just told Burton the truth a long time ago. Who knows? You might still be alive right now, walking the streets like nothing happened. But you decided to disappear and you won’t tell us where you hid those documents!” He shouted the last three words, his saliva flying across toward Devin’s face. It took him just two seconds to return his calm demeanor but his face was still red. The door opened and two men Devin never saw before poked their heads in to check what caused the shouting. The Falcon raised his hand and the two men closed the door again. “I am sorry about that,” he said to Devin, straightening his tie. “I am just under so much stress right now. As the man responsible for all transactions and reports, it is my duty to make sure that everything is in their proper place. But the documents have been misplaced for two long years and I am getting impatient. The people I work with are getting impatient and my ass is on the line as well. As you might already know, my boss is about to go to trial because of what you did.”

“I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

“You think?” The Falcon asked incredulously. “Oh, of course not. You just stole every file that would land all of us in jail!”

Devin shrugged. “It was on impulse.”

“And you have lost your family in the process, right?”

Devin bit his tongue to contain his anger.

“You are not willing to waste more lives, right? Who was that woman again—Hope? I heard she was a former superstar. She’s on the news a lot lately because of you. But if you don’t cooperate, her funeral will be another big sensation. I don’t think you want her dead, right?” Devin did not answer. He was trying to think of any way out. But he had done that before and it did not work. “I don’t like blood, Devin, but I don’t like prison either. So,” the Falcon said, “before I decide to kill you now, tell me where the files are and maybe you’ll live for a few more days. We need to make sure that you lead us to the right files first before we decide to take them home to Panama. And then we’ll decide whether or not to kill you too. And if we do think you have to die, you have my word that your death will be far less painful than the one you’ll get if you keep on playing games with me because,” the Falcon leaned forward to look him in the eye, “I have no time for games. The people I work with have no time for games.”

The Falcon stood up when Devin kept his silence.

And then he landed back on his seat, his eyes wide open, a gunshot wound on his forehead.

Devin’s breath was caught in his throat as the Falcon slumped lower in the chair, his mouth open. Whatever he was about to say next died with him.

Burton stood up and started folding his paper which now had a bullet hole in the middle. Devin gulped when he saw the gun attached to a silencer.

Burton looked at him with a frown. “What? Come on, you think I would just let them kill you?”

Devin was lost for words. How could things get any crazier?

“Stop looking at me like you’re seeing a ghost. This is your fault,” Burton said, walking over to him. He started to untie the ropes that attached Devin to the chair. “You have to be very quiet and do exactly as I say.”

“You expect me to do what you say after everything?!” he hissed at Burton. He jumped to his feet and kneed Burton on the groin. The man fell on the floor with a thud and a moan and Devin grabbed for the gun. He pointed it down on Burton, his hands slightly shaking. He could never get used to holding a gun.

“You really are an idiot. You know, I should remind myself not to untie the subject before killing the bad guys.”

“Shut up,” Devin hissed at him.

“And I should really teach you how to fight next time,” Burton said before his leg swept Devin off his feet in a flash. He grabbed the gun from Devin almost at the same time. Devin found himself pinned on the floor with Burton’s strength and weight. “I’ll explain everything later but for now, sorry for this—among other things,” Burton whispered before he punched Devin unconscious.

*****

The swelling on her face had greatly improved and she could see everything quite clearly now, especially her mother’s concerned face.

“It’s okay, mom, I’ll be here. You can wait outside,” she told Gina Madden.

Her mother ran her fingers through her black hair, calming herself. She nodded at Hope and looked at the two men who entered the room. They said they were from the FBI and Hope did not rush in checking their credentials earlier.

“This is a classified case, Miss Madden,” one of them said, addressing the distraught Gina Madden. “We need to talk to your daughter alone.”

Her mother nodded once more and kissed Hope’s head before walking to the door. “I’ll be right outside,” she said, giving emphasis on the last word for the two men.

They patiently waited until the door firmly closed behind the woman before they went down to business.

“We were given information that you know Devin Frye and that you had been with him for some time.”

Hope nodded then stopped because her head still ached. “Yes,” she said.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Yesterday evening, the night I came here. Burton and some other guys took us here because Devin struck a deal with them. I get to escape in exchange for whatever they wanted from him.”

Hope was not sure if what she said made any sense to them because they did not give any sign that they did—or didn’t.

“And did they mention where they are going to go next?”

Hope shook her head.

A second of silence before the older guy asked, “What did Devin Frye tell you?”

Hope frowned. “Shouldn’t you be looking for him now? What he told me doesn’t matter! He might be dead by now! Don’t you guys need him?”

“What did Devin Frye tell you, Miss Madden?” the older man repeated.

“Nothing much. Just that he was under witness protection. Aren’t you going to find him? You’re wasting your time talking to me here. I don’t care about whatever case you are working on. I just want Devin safe.”

“We understand your concern Miss Madden,” the younger of the two spoke. “But what Devin Frye had told you is what we are most concerned about at the moment.”

Alarm registered throughout her system. “Why?”

The two men looked at each other. Then the younger one turned to her and said, “Because your life depends on it.”

*****

When Devin regained consciousness, he found himself still lying on the floor. He shot to his feet in survival mode, his eyes frantically scanning the room.

“Relax, you’re safe now,” said Burton from the corner of the room, his eyes focused on a phone in his hand. Devin jumped and was about to attack with nothing for a weapon but Burton looked at him dryly and waved the gun at his direction. “Sit the fuck down before I pull the trigger.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Devin asked, not intending to sit down. His eyes went to the five bodies across the room, all of them piled together. On top of them was Falcon, good as dead.

“It means, Devin, that I just saved your life again,” Burton snapped at him. “You’re going to sit down or not?”

“You expect me to believe you now?” Devin almost shouted.

“You are one lucky bastard, you know that? But you are only lucky because I have your back, you ungrateful son of a bitch.”

“You tried to kill me.”

“They tried to kill you,” Burton corrected, placing the gun on the table beside him. “Just sit down, dammit.”

“I want to get the fuck out of here now,” he demanded.

Burton shook his head. “You can’t do that. Not alone. We have to wait for the others. You will be relocated to a temporary site before we decide what to do.”

“What the hell do you mean?” he asked, feeling dumb and completely lost.

“Please, Devin, just shut the fuck up before I make someone put a stamp on your stupidity. Do you know how much trouble I had to be in just to make sure that you’re alive? And all of them because you thought yourself a hero by saving that girl!”

“Wait, what the hell are you talking about? I don’t understand anything right now. Where do you really stand, Burton? The bad guys or the good? I don’t think I know which is which, actually, because I have been chased by different kinds of people for two fucking years! So don’t blame me if I seem stupid to you! I was half-ready to face death minutes ago and now I am facing yet another unknown and you just sit there calling me stupid!”

“Well, sit the fuck down and let me explain.”

“I ask the questions, you answer,” he said, not sitting down.

“Fine. Just get it over with before they all arrive.”

“Are you with the bad guys or the bureau?”

“Bureau. Stupid of you not to have figured that out already.”

“Then why the hell are you with these guys?” he demanded, pointing at the dead bodies across the room.

“I am on an undercover mission,” Burton answered. “Which is over now, by the way, because I just killed five of their men to save your ass.”

“Undercover? For what? I thought the case was doing okay?”

“That’s true. The case is doing okay. But we still need to make sure that everyone is in their right places when we make the arrests. Well, you can say Falcon is off the list now. It will be hard to track the others now because of you.”

Devin finally gave up and found a chair. He dropped on it and covered his face with his hands. “You were the one responsible for putting me in that neighborhood. You said you knew who Carl was from the very start.”

“Of course, we knew. We knew what he was up to. And the bureau knew. It was part of our cover.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The bad guys,” Burton said, pointing at the dead bodies, “wanted you to trust me with your secrets. We, the bureau, came up with a plan to make it look like I am doing something. We placed you right next to that sick bastard’s home hoping something wrong would happen like you find out who he really was and you get in trouble. We, the FBI, will then help you with whatever you were supposed to discover (which we already knew) so you could trust me more. Do you understand now? We get to make you tell us the rest of your secrets and we get to save Hope Madden in the process. You should have seen our reactions when we found out about her.”

“So you used us.”

“You can say that, yes. But don’t go hurting because of it. You know our priorities.”

“You know a girl died in there, right?”

Burton frowned. “What do you mean a girl died?”

“There was another woman in that house. She died. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” The surprise on Burton’s face told Devin the answer. He scoffed. “Unbelievable.”

“The decision to put you in that neighborhood was a calculated one.”

“Well, your calculations were wrong! Someone died in that house all because the authorities thought they could postpone the rescue!”

“We didn’t know about the other girl.”

“Well, you could have if you just rescued them the moment you found out! Instead, you used the opportunity to play your cards right. But that didn’t go well, did it? Because I disappeared. And why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you just tell me what you were planning?”

Burton shrugged. “I don’t think you would be a very good actor.” When Devin was about to burst out, Burton stood up with both hands held up. “Look, my job is to keep you safe while working undercover. I knew there would be liabilities when I took this job. You should have thought the same when you stole from the mob.”

“If you were trying to save my life, then why did you let a gunman almost kill me?”

“When?” Burton asked sarcastically. “You’ve been around places, you know.”

“When we went back to the apartment.”

“I didn’t know you’d be stupid enough to go back. And they wanted to look through your apartment for any traces of you or your secrets.”

Devin suddenly remembered the key in the sugar container but there was no way he would tell Burton. Not after everything the man had put him through.

Burton’s phone rang and he answered it right away. Devin’s eyes went to the gun on the table but Burton was fast to grab it and holster. “We’re on our way.” He hung up and looked at Devin. “Let’s go. They’re here.”

“What about—”

“Someone’s going to take care of the bodies if that’s your concern. We need to get you to safety first. And we have your duffel bag in the car. Let’s go. Move it, Frye.”

“Wait, just one more question.”

“What? You’re going to ask if we are going to kill you too? Trust me, I want to do that, but I have a job to keep.”

He ignored Burton’s remark and said, “Why did you kill Carl?”

It was time for Burton to frown once more. “We didn’t. He killed himself. That’s what the records say.”

Devin shook his head. “He didn’t. Someone else drove out using his patrol car before we found him hanging a few feet above his garage floor.”

Burton seemed to be less in a hurry to leave now. “We didn’t know of anyone else other than you and that girl being inside that house.”

Devin suddenly had a bad feeling. “Someone else was inside that house. He drove the patrol car out to dispose of the body of the dead girl I was talking about earlier.”

As he looked at Burton’s expression, Devin ran his fingers through his hair. “You mean to tell me there was a first killer? What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?”

Devin was suddenly flying to the door. “We have to go now!”

“Frye! I have orders! You can’t just—”

Devin whirled around to face Burton with purposeful eyes. “If you did not send for someone to kill Carl, then someone else did. And if it was not my bad guy, then it was Hope’s bad guy.”