Chapter 34

“You have it, Francis. You got what you asked for.” Rainer walked in to the conference room, grin hanging stupidly on his face. I didn’t have to wait long to ask what it was all about before my words were taken up by my very-amused brother hanging in the corner in his usual fashion.

“What exactly did she ask you for, then? You to get a life?” He teased, bringing chuckles around while I shot him a glare for making fun of our ‘friend’. In a sense, I was trying to show that I was on Rainer’s side, on the side of the FBI. After returning from our home, after renewing my motivation to work everything out for myself in NYC, I had come back with the determination to work doubly harder, to be twice more successful so that news about me could travel to Jeremy faster.

And hopefully, he would come back.

“No, but she asked me for your life.” Rainer retorted quickly, taming down his grin with effort as he passed the envelope to me. It wasn’t like him to run in the middle of a meeting like this, knowing that we were yet on another small case. Whatever it was; it must have gotten him really worked up, for Rainer Clarke was totally another man inside and outside of the Bureau.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Hayden rolled his chair over to my side, peeking over my shoulder at the same official paper that I was staring at.

The words jumped at me, the signatures at the bottom of the page approving it plainly taunting me. This was what I had been waiting for all this while. This was what I had been aiming for since touching down on NYC. This was what my conning had come up with. My long con was coming to an end.

“Is this… what I think this is?” Hayden sounded as shocked as I was, the disbelief in heavy in his voice. I had never really told him about my request for myself, Annabel Francis, to be handling him, only expecting to surprise him afterwards. Still, I hadn’t expected for it to go through so quickly.

“This is exactly what you think it is. Congratulations, Seyfried. You have a new handler. Quite literally, your life is in your lover’s hands now. You’d better watch what you say around her now inside and outside the office, if I were you.” Rainer held on to his smile slightly, as if glad of what he had done. Yes, I understood that it had been his encouragement that the upper management approved of Barrett’s request but…

“I can’t believe this!” Hayden slammed his hand on the table, jolting us all as eyes turned to see his blackened face. “And none of you told me a thing about this!”

The air of celebration was broken with his pissed off declaration, and while I wasn’t sure if he was truly pissed off, it was still working for our cover.

“Hayden, I know I should have told you about this before, but I-” I tried to explain myself, but he didn’t give me leave as he glared at me.

“But you only want to hold me in your grasp, don’t you? I know what you’re thinking, Anna! You think Hayley’s going to steal me away from you, so you want the Bureau to protect you by making Rainer give you the reigns over me! You’re trying to chain me, Annabel, and I know it.” Hayden warned, but there was a glint in his eyes that made me relax a little.

It was all a show –Hayden’s show. He was telling me subtly to play along with him, and for the sake of being his ‘girlfriend’, I guess I needed to.

“I’m not, I just thought it would be better to-” I started again, sounding pleading as I tried to hold on to my ‘boyfriend’s’ hand, only to have him shake it away.

“I know what you’re thinking, Anna. Dorian’s backstabbing, Jeremy’s leaving you; they’re not going to do any difference to me. Hayley isn’t going to do anything to me, Anna. I thought you knew that.” He swiped away another my desperate attempt to get to him, putting on his hardened, pissed off expression that he first gave me when he realized that I, his sister, was back in NYC.

“Seyfried, that’s not what Francis is thinking. She just wants to-” Rainer tried to put in some sort of defense, but Hayden was on a roll. I was quite surprised by his spur-of-the-moment action, but he had found no better situation than now to make tensions.

“She wants to chain me, and you’re no different. I thought you were my friend, Rainer. I thought you would hold on to me and never let me run. I thought you were confident that I would never slip from your fingers. How can you let me go now?” Hayden’s anger was channeled to his handler –his ex-handler now –and Rainer seemed taken aback by the sudden explosion of anger at him.

“I’m not trying to let you go, Hayden. I just think Annabel would be able to hold on to your better. Barrett thinks so too. The request wouldn’t have gone through so quickly if she wasn’t so capable, and if the chemistry between the two of you hadn’t been so obvious.” Rainer tried to vindicate himself this time, but it obviously wasn’t working with a pissed off CI.

“It doesn’t change the fact that you let me go, Rainer. You’re just like Hayley. She left me seven years ago. You’re leaving me now.” The accusation was so strong in Hayden’s voice that I would be doubly hurt if I still thought Hayden hated me. But I knew better than to read deeper into Hayden’s lie now, as I pretended to be as shocked as Rainer was.

“I’m not leaving you, I’m just passing you over to Annabel!” Rainer declared a little incredulously, seemingly unable to see things the way Hayden saw it. That was probably his problem. Rainer always thought he knew my brother well. In a sense, he did. But Rainer would never know my brother well enough to know that this young Seyfried still hurt and was guarded against the people around him.

My leaving him had done that emotional scar, and it was obvious –to a certain extent –that he was still wary of anyone close to him leaving him.

“You don’t understand. It’s not about passing me to Annabel. It’s about how easy you are to let me go. You’re just like Hayley. She just packed her bags one day and let me go without looking back. You’re doing the same. Just throwing that piece of paper to Anna; you’re getting rid of me. I won’t be surprised if you tell me that you’re leaving tomorrow.” Hayden accused, the explosive anger so obvious in his eyes that I was beginning to get a little worried. Did he really feel so strongly about me taking over? Perhaps I should have asked his views about it earlier?

“What are you talking about? I am not leaving tomorrow!” Rainer asked, but Hayden shook his head.

He withdrew a card from his pocket, and showed it to Rainer, to us. It was a simple Ace of Spade, but it took a short while for it all to sink in.

“I was going to give this to you, Rainer. I thought you were deserving enough to hold a card of Spades. I thought you could be my Ace.” He said, and before anything more could be said, he tore the card in two, slamming the two pieces on the table.

“But you’ve showed me today. You say a Seyfried runs fast.” Hayden ran to the door, pulling it open, but stopping at the doorway. “You will see today how fast I can run.”

“Hayden!” Both Rainer and I called worriedly after him, but the man had no more cares as he ran out of the room. We could only follow helplessly with his eyes as my brother/’boyfriend’ slid quickly past the closing door of the lift and disappeared.

“Boss…” Yuri broke the awkward silence shortly after, exchanging a look with Ryan as if unsure if she should talk. “Seyfried just cut off his tracking anklet. We’re tracking his microchip, but he’s currently at a clinic.”

“He’s having his chip removed. Get the team down now before he goes off radar. We need to get him back before he goes missing.” Rainer sounded still in shock, but at least his rational mind was working right.

“It’s too late.” Ryan put in after a second, checking the display on his phone. “He just went off radar.”

“Go to the clinic and try to get any records or anything on him.” Rainer replied mechanically, but I stepped up quickly.

“No, there’s no point. I know Hayden. He’s just angry and pissed off. He still hurts from Hayley’s leaving him. Jeremy got to the both of us. He just needs some time to keep his emotions in check.”

“But he knows that removing the anklet and microchip will land him back to where he started and he still did it willingly.” Rainer argued, but I could see from his face that he cared enough for my brother to look worried about it.

“I know. Give me a day. I’ll find him. Let me talk to him. If I can’t by tomorrow… then we bring him in by force. I’ll revoke whatever that’s processed, and you hold Hayden again.” I promised quickly, packing my items.

He looked ready to argue, but something stops him. By natural rights, the Agent Clarke that I first met just a few months ago would have put on his poker face and insisted that we work by the book, by the law, by the system. But the months have changed this man. The months have changed this man into someone I wanted him to be.

But there was still a pang in me. While I’d accomplished something, I’d lost something too. Hayden had lost something.

We’d both lost a man in our lives whom we could trust to never turn his back on his cause, on his sense of justice. We’d lost Rainer’s conviction to hold true to his loyalty to the Bureau.

“Go, then. Bring Hayden back, and make it quick.” Rainer resigned, and left with his shoulders slumped, as if he had been the one to spoil everything.

Watching him, it made the difference. I looked at the Ace of Spades on the table, torn in two.

Once, our father had been the one who held on proudly to the Ace of Spades. As the biggest, the head of the house, Matthew Seyfried declared himself the Ace of Spades. From young, Hayden knew the man with the Ace of Spades as a father figure, a friend whom he could trust.

And he’d wanted to give it to Rainer. It only explained exactly how close my brother felt to this man.

And I’d come in.

I looked at the official paper in my hands, complete with the signatures.

I’ve come so far now, and achieved what Hayden and I had set out to do.

But what had it cost?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“That was quite a show you put on back there.” I spoke through the phone, a little heady rush of feelings to my head. I could feel that things were beginning to wind down, but I was still wary. Up till now, my journey in relieving Rainer Clarke off the contract was just too easy. I’d expected for the FBI to put up more of a fight.

I’d expected Tyler Yule to put up more of a fight.

“I am a Seyfried. I was taught from young to make a scene and run away.” Hayden laughed in reply, and it became clear to me that none of his acting had been relatively directed to me. Internally, I breathed a sigh of relief, though I didn’t let it show. There was no point letting Hayden know that I was still afraid of his losing his trust in me.

“Are you ready to run, then? It’s been years since you last ran from New York City. Are you prepared?” I asked, easing the car down the brisk traffic.

“Ready as ever. How many times do I have to remind you that I am a Seyfried?” I could almost hear the grin in his voice. It was nice to know that at least he didn’t blame me or wasn’t pissed off that I didn’t tell him about my request to have him removed from Rainer’s control.

“Where are you now? I’ll come to you.”

“The one place that Rainer wouldn’t think to check: his own home.”

I slammed on the brakes, earning blaring horns behind me as I gripped tightly on the wheel. “Dare I ask if Neal is dead yet?”

I heard a snort, and then my brother stretched the phone from his ear. “Hayley wants to know if you’re dead or not.”

Distantly, I heard a muffled reply from a certain ex-boyfriend of mine which sounded like some sort of acknowledgment.

“You heard that? I gagged him up, so you’ll have to come in and see what horrendous things I’ve done.” Hayden teased, but it was obvious that he was on a good mood, which meant that Neal was in a safer place. While I wasn’t all that concerned about Neal and his wellbeing, I was still concerned about my brother doing something stupid to that ex-boyfriend of mine when I wasn’t around.

“I’m coming over. Just give me a moment.” I promised, and left the conversation at that.

Checking in on news of my informant on the street garnered no new information about Jeremy’s whereabouts, but she did tell me that she’d heard about Tyler’s sudden appearance again. I would be wary about his appearance again in NYC with the long break after Dorian’s defection, but today I was too excited to dwell too much about it as I rushed over to Neal’s.

Quite surprisingly, for the very first time in my life, I walked into the room to find my brother and my ex-boyfriend sitting comfortably and sharing a bottle of wine between them as if they were newfound best-buddies.

The similar look of joy when I arrived was eerie as I looked between them, somehow finding identical facial expressions.

“Are you going to declare yourselves soul sisters soon?” I asked warily before they looked at each other in alarm, then similar faces of disgust appeared on their faces, looking –ironically –identical again.

“I have no desire to want to be him.” Hayden emphasized the disgust in one syllable, but Neal merely offered silence and rolled his eyes, as if he couldn’t be bothered about what my brother thought of him.

“Nevertheless, this is a cause for celebration!” Neal picked up the wine bottle, pouring a good measure in an empty cup before offering it to me.

“Not so fast.” I warned as I drew the precious piece of document from the envelope that I’d brought along. “It needs a few more signatures.”

With a grin, Hayden grabbed a pen off the desk nearby and signed quickly on an empty line to chart his approval of the official paper. Technically, there wasn’t any real need in his or my signing, now that we planned to use this paper to approve of his departure. Still, there was nothing more satisfying than closing a case –and closing a con –with a signature upon a piece of written official paper.

This was going to go down as a legend. In the future, Criminology students who had a fetish about Seyfrieds like Rainer Clarke would have something more to study. They would know to study the time Hayley Seyfried infiltrated the Bureau and removed her brother from his chains. They would know to study Annabel Francis.

I grabbed the pen from my brother, staring at the empty line there, waiting for my signature of approval. Once I signed this, it was over. Hayden would be out of the FBI world, and soon, back into conning with me. We’d look for Jeremy, and the three of us would go out there and do a large con that would take the world by storm.

“Go on, Hays. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for.” Hayden urged, but I gripped the pen tightly. I had done bigger cons than this, but this con had been the hardest by far. Once I signed this…

The phone rang.

I don’t know why, but I was relieved to be saved by the phone as I dropped the pen quickly, muttering a short excuse to pick up the call despite the fact that I wasn’t expecting any calls at all.

“Hayley, my favorite woman on The Circle! How are you doing? I heard great news from the Bureau.” Tyler’s voice came through the phone, and almost immediately I felt every emotion of joy seep away.

“I’m doing great. What news have you heard? Certainly the Bureau is teeming with new information every now and then.”

“Nothing much, just news that Agent Francis seems to have received promotion in the sense of holding the contract of Hayden Seyfried.”

“She has, has she now?” I asked, sounding faintly surprised. If Tyler was playing this ignorant game, then I could play the same game too.

“Quite apparently. I imagine that the two of them must be out celebrating her success now. I called in to check if you were okay with it.” Tyler asked, still sounding amused. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at, but Tyler never called unless he had something to rub in to me. Tyler only contacted when he’d found his new weapon to harm me with, and I usually ended up serving his ass up on a plate.

This time… I wasn’t so sure if I could do the same –considering that it was Hayden at risk now.

“I’ve settled my differences with her, don’t you worry. Annabel and I are getting on fine.” I cut the conversation shut quickly, but Tyler seemed to have some sort of invisible chip over me that I wasn’t aware of, and that made me second-guess myself into keeping the phone connection line still open.

“By the way, did Neal ever get around doing what I told him?”

“If you told him to appear before me and explain the seven years gone, then he did.”

Tyler yawned. “I told him to destroy you, or I would destroy him and his half-brother. No hard feelings.”

“None taken.” I replied pleasantly despite the fact that I was having a hard time to refrain from grinding my teeth. “It seems like Neal has taken his choices with me –like he always has been.”

“Yes, it’s quite a pity to see Dorian backstabbing you like that, isn’t it? But don’t you worry too much about him, darling Hayley. He’s quite done.”

It set a little alarm bells ringing, but I knew better than to lose my composure around Tyler. Even if we were communicating through the phone, there was no saying where Tyler was. He could be watching me with binoculars from the building opposite, or watching me from some unknowing spying camera. All I needed right now was to put on a show –which was an easy thing, considering I’d been holding down the alias of Annabel Francis for so long.

“What do you mean he’s quite done? I’m not quite finished with him yet.” I enquired pleasantly, but Tyler only laughed as if I’d told the biggest joke on Earth.

“Oh Hayley, Hayley, you poor poor girl! Did you never hear?”

A strike of electricity jolts through me and I gripped the phone tighter. Before me, my brother and ex-boyfriend’s face grew worried, and there was no question at the expression I was showing to them.

“What did you do to him, Tyler?”

“Why, he was shot only yesterday in Miami! They found his body with two gunshots –one in his head and one in his heart. Witness saw someone with faint blonde hair bringing your Dorian away from the rainy street to the warehouse, but the blonde-haired guy wasn’t around afterwards.”

My heart dropped.

“Are you telling me… that Dorian is dead?”

Tyler snorts once, and I could almost hear his indifference.

“You haven’t heard the best yet. Miami FBI IDed the blonde guy as a certain hospital-runaway from New York. Something about third stage brain cancer… hmmm, come to think of it, wasn’t there someone we know who seemed to have caught such an unfortunate illness?”

I very near crushed the phone within my palms, but it was by pure restrain that I kept everything together. I couldn’t pinpoint where Tyler was, and until then, I would keep myself controlled. I couldn’t show him that he was getting to me, or Tyler would be more emboldened.

“Do you mean to say that you have Jeremy?” I asked quietly, and Tyler only laughed.

“Oh Hayley, you poor darling! Don’t worry too much, though. I’m keeping Jeremy alive, but he doesn’t seem ready to hold on for more, so I would worry if I were you. And about Dorian? I thought it would be best if I offered to help to have him buried but it seems as if the body was ‘lost between the shipping administrations’. I’m really sorry.”

There was nothing apologetic in that voice, only contempt and heavy sarcasm. The anger that began to boil within me couldn’t even be put to words. I couldn’t believe I’d neglected Tyler for the outlook of something as minor as to dealing with the FBI. Why was I so proud of getting Hayden out, when all I needed to do right at the moment, was to tackle Tyler, and finally remove him from where he’d been staying on for too long?

“Of all things, Tyler, you should never have attacked a woman by using the people around her. Have you never heard? The wrath of a women is the worst.” I kept my voice dangerously pleasant, but it takes someone who knows me well to know that I am keeping very tight control, and might explode and go crazy anytime. This is usually the time where my emotions are squashed, and all I feel for anyone and anything is… nothing.

“Attack you? How can I? You are my favorite fellow member on The Circle! I am merely punishing your ex-boyfriend for not doing according to my wishes. You see, pets need to be shown punishment. I understand that Hayden’s been disobeying my task for him too.”

“Save the crap. Tell me where you want me to be, when and what I have to bring along.”

“Easy.” I heard the word accompanied with a click of what I could only assume to be the safety of a gun going off. “I just want you, Hayden and the contract of his freedom from the FBI. I told you all I all is one Seyfried in the con world. So it’s either you or your brother. It’s easy, really. It’s just that no one really is up to listening to me these days. What naughty kids.”

“When and where?”

“I will be waiting at Portsmouth Warehouse 7 in six hours.”

“I will see you there. But in exchange, I want Jeremy… and Dorian’s body, or whatever remains you have of him.”

“You have a deal. I’ll see you, then.”

Quick as the call came, it ended. Shell-shocked, and finally able to let loose the tension that had been stringing me high, I dropped the phone and collapsed –thankfully –to the nearby couch. My brother and ex-boyfriend had heard one side of my conversation, but they understood enough to keep silent, watching me with worry as if I would break down.

I felt like it, but there was no point harping over the death of my darling student. Poor Dorian; I never got the chance to apologize to him for my harshness. I never got to make up the soured relationship and now he’s… gone.

But there was no point mulling about it. Yes, I was allowed to mull over it, but not now. Not while Jeremy laid perilous between life and death. Cancer must have already riddled the man so, and Tyler’s treatment of him must also not be the best. I needed to maximize everything I had in these six hours, to make sure that Jeremy would come out of this safe.

“Hays?” Hayden asked after a long while of tensed silence, peering at me as if I’d just sprouted new horns.

I looked between the two men staring at me worriedly. I’d started out as a con with them. I’d evolved over the days, and while they’d improved, they were still here, still the same. I had never worked with both of them together at the same time –considering Hayden’s disapproval of Neal –but it had to work this time.

It had to work.

“I need the two of you to do things for me.” I rubbed the tears quickly from my eyes, determined to make things right. No more of Tyler messing things up. It was time I finally revealed my secret weapon. It was time I finally did something to remove Tyler from The Circle, instead of the other way around happening.

“We’re at your command, Hayley. Anything.” Neal reinforced the idea as he wheeled over to my side, placing a comforting hand on my thigh. I barely mustered a smile, still determined.

“Then from now, I will declare the start of Mission: Yule.”