My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (43 page)

              No one succeeded in slipping poison to me. Having lived in danger for all these years, I knew better than to be so easily dispatched. I gave myself the poison, and McKenna had the antidote. She was the only one aware of my plan, since I could only trust her with something of this magnitude. I would appear dead to my enemies, and having convinced them that I was out of the picture, I would be revived after they were taken care of.

              The rift in the Crew had been going on for a couple years now. We disagreed on a number of issues. Some of the men wanted me to help them out in the human trafficking business, but there are some lines I don’t cross. McKenna warning me that she would leave me if I ever joined certainly was another factor. I was aware of some of the pigs ogling McKenna and wanting her for themselves for a long time, and I wanted them dead. And of course, once some people got enough money and power, they forget the people who worked with them to bring them to such success. They lose sight of their friendships and think it’s acceptable to betray one another. That attitude sickened me. I predicted it, though, and so I came up with this plan.

              The wedding was an ideal opportunity for an ambush and a war to break out. McKenna worried that it would happen, and her fears came true. She was kneeling over me, cradling my head and kissing me. I could begin to make out blurs, then the beauty of her face became clear again.

              “It worked!” she cried through her tears. She kissed me so hard that I couldn’t say anything. We hugged and kissed for a few more minutes, then I tore myself from her.

              “You did good, Addy,” I smiled. “The injection reversed the poison. Now update me on what’s going on.”

              She grimaced. “Good news is, Snarl and Clagney are dead. The battle is still going on, but we have an opportunity to get away on our sub. The bad news is that we better go quick, because Interpol has paid us a visit.”

              I didn’t believe it. “Interpol? How could they have found us? Aren’t the shields up?”

              “I don’t know!” she exclaimed. “They’re still up, but they still found us! Someone must have given them the coordinates!”

              It must have been someone in the Crew. They decided to sell us out. “Maybe someone betrayed us,” I said. “But no matter. We’ll escape, and it’ll finally be us two.”

              “Plus one,” beamed Addy as she clutched her still-flat stomach.

              “Yes,” I beamed back. “But before we go, let me give the world a final gift.”

              I strolled over to a computer and pulled up the screens I wanted. I had access to the world’s nuclear warhead supply through my hacking. The American, Chinese, Russian, British, Indian, and French arsenals were all at my fingertips. I authorized the launches of all the missiles. The world would soon feel the pain and power of Jake Strider.

              “Let’s go,” I grabbed McKenna’s hand. I put my left arm to hook her legs and used my right arm to scoop up her back. “Our married life starts now.” I ran and carried her downstairs to the submarine. It was a small vessel that was ideal for remaining undetected.

              We ran through the halls and rooms at breakneck speed, pausing only when we saw Ada. She was swaying and bleeding, and struggling to stay conscious.

              “Stop!” Addy shouted. I waited. “Ada, will you come with us? We’re escaping. We’ll be safe elsewhere. I didn’t really want to do this, but if you want, you can join us. Especially since we just launched the missiles.”

              Ada shot up her head and stared at us. “Missiles?”

              “Nuclear missiles aimed for cities around the world,” explained Addy. “To teach the world not to play with us. Are you coming?”

              Ada said nothing. She looked like she would collapse at any moment. Then she walked up to me, slapped her hands over my arms, and jammed a syringe into my right arm.

              “Get off!” I punched her in the face and she fell over. I continued running and approaching the submarine. I could see the boots and assault rifles of troops around some corners. We had to hurry.

I finally reached the lowest level , where the submarine was stationed. We got in and I started it. We were free again. The
Addison
was gone, and Ada and Sabina were probably going to die, but I didn’t care. I had McKenna, which was all that mattered.

Chapter 12 – Sabina

              I went unconscious just a few minutes after the Interpol Special Forces found us and flew us away from the wreck. The day had been by far the most exhausting and emotional one of my life. I never felt this much adrenaline coursing through me. Ada, despite my best efforts to treat her injuries, was bleeding profusely from multiple parts of her body. Anyone who saw her in that state knew that she was going to die any moment. Somehow, though, Ada clung on. She was the sort of badass who wouldn’t give up living just because she was seriously wounded. Interpol medics did their part too, patching up her wounds and performing every procedure in the medical books to keep her alive.

              I found out all about it after I woke up. I had been running on fumes for hours. After being ambushed, shot at, punched, and almost killed more times than I can count, I couldn’t go on. I collapsed on the chopper, and the next thing I remembered was lying in a soft hospital bed with three or four nurses staring at me.

              I started seeing nothing but blurry blobs, but I gradually got my brain to register that I was in a hospital, and that I was still alive. I knew that me being here and conscious was insanely lucky. I didn’t say that, though. I had something else bigger on my mind that I had to let out.

              “Where’s Ada?” I mumbled out. The painkillers I was on made me speak woozily, but the staf understood. A doctor who was in the room but out of my limited field of vision came over to my right side.

              “Welcome back, Ms. Valdivia. It’s good to see you awake. We were unsure for some time if you would ever wake up,” began the doctor, a lean and lanky man with a brown beard and glasses. “You’ve been unconscious for some time. Recent events were obviously very stressful for you and your partner. You’ve been sleeping for nearly a week. I must admit, some of us were growing pessimistic that you might not recover consciousness.”

              I didn’t know how to react to his comments. Besides, he didn’t answer my question.

              “Where’s Ada?” I repeated with a bit more loudness, which was all I could muster. “Is she still alive? Are you treating her?”

              The doctor put his hand gently over mine. “Ms. Bose is hanging on. As you may recall, she was in considerably worse condition than you were. However, you will be glad to know that she is likely to survive her injuries. They were more intense and debilitating than any that we at Walter Reed Army Hospital have seen. But she is recuperating slowly, and you will get to see her in a few days. For now, your duty is to rest and recover your own health. You should be able to get out of bed in a couple days. Ms. Bose, on the other hand, faces a tough road ahead of her. The devices she removed from her body nearly paralyzed her permanently. She’ll need extensive physical therapy and rehabilitation in order to regain the same level of movement and fitness she previously had. I’m sorry to tell you this, but it is the reality.”

              If the drugs let me, I would’ve let my anger and pain come out much more fiercely. It wasn’t fair to Ada. She risked her life to save me and to free herself from CASS. She didn’t deserve to be maimed. It was awful enough that she came close to dying. My most recent image of Ada in my mind wasn’t the tough, funny, and cool lady I considered my best friend. She was a bleeding, barely breathing, buckling body that could almost be called a corpse. Right now, that picture was seared into my brain. I didn’t want that to be the last scene of her I ever saw.

              As the doctor predicted, I got better pretty quickly. I had a few broken bones and some deep cuts, but nothing too life-threatening. As soon as I left my bed, it didn’t take me long to walk and move as well as I used to before the wedding. What was even more precious to me was that I was no longer taking those pills Jake made to me take. That meant that over the next two weeks, the pregnant symptoms I’d been forced to live with slowly faded. Without new doses to keep the hormones in my system, I saw my belly shrink back to its flat form, my periods flow again, and my breasts go back to their smaller size, among a ton of other things. Everyone in the hospital initially was sure that I was pregnant, and that I was carrying Jake Strider’s baby, but I explained the truth to them. It felt amazing to have my body back. It was a sign that my ordeal was finally over, that I owned myself once again, and that no man, least of all Jake, controlled and used my body for his pleasure.

              On my fifth day after waking up, I finally complained enough that the nurses took me to see Ada. We had to go to an isolated wing of the hospital and pass through three checkpoints with scanners and armed guards. I was confused and worried by all this security.

              When I saw Ada, I felt like sinking to my knees and sobbing. She wasn’t moving at all. Her eyes were closed. Those brilliant and naughty eyes that were always full of ideas and secrets were suppressed. Almost all of her exposed flesh not under the hospital gown was covered in bandages. I could see that her skin was cracked and bruised. Nothing about her looked healthy or vibrant. If it weren’t for the tubes and beeping machines she was hooked up to, Ada would’ve made a perfect cadaver.

              But the worst thing about the setup was clear to me when I noticed Ada’s wrists. They were constricted in handcuffs that connected to the sides of the bed. Even if Ada were awake, she could never get up.

              The doctor who woke me up happened to be in the room. “Ms. Valdivia, you’re here. I didn’t expect to see you here today, but you’re welcome to visit Ms. Bose.”

              “What’s her condition now? Why isn’t she awake?” I demanded, trying to stay calm and not cry. “You said she was no longer in a coma.”

              “We’ve just given her another injection of a sleep aid,” explained the doctor. “She needs all the rest she can get.” He then lowered his head so that his chin came close to his throat, and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “There is, um, another reason for this. The Department of Justice has explicitly requested that she be regularly sedated and prevented from moving.”

              “What?” I had no idea why this was happening. “But she’s not a criminal. She’s a hero. How come I’m not handcuffed to bed?”

              The doctor shuffled his feet and looked very ill at ease. “That is a question for your superiors. It’s not one that I’m qualified to answer.” He turned his back to me and continued reading some charts.

              The next day, I met with the people who had given me the mission in the first place. It felt like at least a century since I last saw them. I knew it was only less than a year, but everything I had been through made my life and the people who were in it distant and almost not real.

              “First of all, Agent Valdivia,” started the DEA director, “we want to congratulate you on your valiant efforts on Operation Crew, and the extreme risks you took to perform your duty. We know that you have suffered some serious losses and endured some traumatic events. We recognize that it will take you a long time to process the hardships you went through.”

              “Cut the crap,” I snapped. I wasn’t in the mood for polished official rhetoric today. “What happened after the explosion and the Interpol raid? And why do you have Ada imprisoned here at the hospital?”

              The director shifted uneasily in her leather swivel chair. “Your efforts and sacrifices have not been in vain. You will no doubt be pleased to hear that after you and Agent Bose were evacuated, Interpol dispatched all surviving enemy combatants onboard, and arrested all who surrendered. Three Crew officers are confirmed dead, while another three are in custody. In one operation, we were able to severely damage the leadership structure and activity of the Crew.” She folded her hands and smiled.

              “But what about Jake, the big guy?” I asked. His status was looming in my head. “The last Ada and I saw of him, he and his newlywed wife McKenna were getting away on a submarine.”

              “Ah, yes, Mr. Strider,” said the ATF director, shaking his head. “He’s a slippery one. The bastard and his bitch made a successful getaway, and from the intelligence you sent us, they’re the brains of the Crew. They were planning for a bloodbath on their wedding day. Looks like they made good preparations to escape.”

              “Not so fast,” chimed in the FBI director, speaking for the first time so far. He triumphantly fished out a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket. “I just received this briefing early in the morning when I arrived to work. A multinational military force apprehended Jake Strider and McKenna Addison approximately 24 hours ago on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. The pair were sure that no one knew where they were, so NATO, Interpol, and the UN had the element of surprise. They’re being flown to the States for safekeeping.” He passed the paper around to let us read, and looked very smug. “Not all agencies have the most reliable access to intel,” he said as he beamed happily at the scowling ATF director.

              “How did this happen? They’ve never been caught, and never this easily,” I wondered aloud.

              “The report mentions that Jake was tagged with homing devices in his body. He wasn’t aware of it himself. He’s never had the devices in him, so he must have come into contact with them recently. The nanodevices were injected into him and left in their submarine as well, so tracking the two of them was absurdly easy,” explained the FBI director.

              “So there you have it, Agent Valdivia,” declared the DEA director. “The Crew, for all intents and purposes, has ceased to exist. Its principal members have been either arrested or killed. The organization is in a panic. It’s too early to know for sure what the consequences are, but your mission is for all intents and purposes at an end as well, and not just because of the violent events onboard the
Addison
. Unfortunately in the midst of the chaos, Strider was able to activate a number of nuclear missiles that struck major cities around the world. Millions are dead, with casualties rising every day. We have no resources or support from the presidential administration to continue Operation Crew, even if we wanted to. All government agencies are being tasked to contribute to the global relief and aid efforts to repair cities, find missing persons, and clean up the damage.” She sighed deeply and massaged her temples. “Many of us have lost loved ones due to the attacks. This is not what we envisioned when we thought about bringing down the Crew.”

              “I’m sorry,” I said very softly. It was all I could think of that was appropriate to say at the moment. “I didn’t want it to happen. But we had no way to stop it. Jake is insane. He’s capable of doing anything and hurting anyone to win.”

              “We don’t blame you, Agent Valdivia,” replied the ATF director. “Eyewitness accounts suggest that you’re not guilty of any wrongdoing. However, we have reason to believe that Agent Bose was acting as a defector and betrayed her nation and government to help the Crew.”

              Now I couldn’t contain myself. “What? That’s complete and utter bullshit! Ada never betrayed us! She would never do anything like that.” I was hissing and seething. “I was with her the whole time. Neither of us are traitors. If you’re going to punish her, you might as well punish me,” I glared as hard as I could at my superiors.”

              The FBI director held up his hands, as if to deflect my angry words and glare. “Now, now, Agent Valdivia, let’s think about this rationally. You were in a high-stress situation, with a million things happening. Isn’t it possible that you weren’t able to know what Agent Bose was thinking, and that you weren’t aware of her true intentions? Besides, we have multiple eyewitnesses testifying that they saw Agent Bose attacking and helping McKenna Addison subdue you. We know from the intel reports you both sent us that Agent Bose was close to Addison. Thus, we’ve decided for now that we can’t trust her. She needs to be kept under surveillance until we reach a conclusive understanding of her allegiance.”

              “Don’t give me any of that,” I snarled back. “Ada was undercover. She had to play along and keep McKenna convinced that she was on her side and that we weren’t agents. I wouldn’t be here today if Ada didn’t play her part so well. And to be totally candid, yes, Ada was close to McKenna. They did get along really well, way better than I did. And I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy being with the Crew.” I noticed my voice growing quieter and more uncertain, and I wasn’t looking at their faces anymore. I stared down at a knot in the table. “Jake and McKenna did treat us well. It was fun traveling with them and living with them in their world. We talked about – ” I sighed and made myself continue, “defecting. We considered it. We got swept up and hooked on the Crew. But we never actually betrayed you, or the United States. We stayed loyal. Because we saw what the Crew was capable of, and how evil they were. They were destroying the world. So we kept our morals, and we didn’t let ourselves become another McKenna. Everything she did, she did while thinking only for herself and Jake. But we never let ourselves sink to her level of selfishness. We didn’t let ourselves fall for Jake. We did our jobs, and we almost got killed doing them.” Letting out my bottled-up feelings was tiring. I noticed myself getting lightheaded and panting harder. I still wasn’t fully recovered.

              The directors were trying to stay stolid. I knew, though, that they were mulling over my words.

              “We’ll meet again soon, Agent Valdivia,” the DEA director said as she got up with her colleagues. “In the meantime, rest and recover as much as you can. You’ll be very busy as soon as you get better. Along with the medals and commendations the president and Congress are giving you, you’ll also start on your next assignment.”

              “Which is?” I asked.

              “Coordinating disaster relief efforts in the United States. Cities across the nation have been razed. You’ve been promoted to the new position Secretary of Disaster Recovery for the DEA. You’re getting a raise, a new office, and a lot more responsibility. Welcome back, Secretary.” She patted me on my shoulder and left.

              My struggles were just beginning. I had to attend countless interrogations and be subjected to endless questioning from the FBI, ATF, and DEA about everything I did during my infiltration. I was forced to share my most intimate secrets and thoughts. These were things that I only told to Ada, and even she didn’t know about them all. Over and over, I told the investigators that I never defected, that I wasn’t a mole sent to infiltrate the government, and that Ada and I were always on the same side. Even when Ada wasn’t brought up, I made sure to mention her. During every round of questions, I told them that Ada was a loyal and heroic agent being unjustly imprisoned. I was painfully aware that the interrogators rarely believed me on anything. Their expressions ranged from contempt to amusement when I talked. Detailing my sexual episodes with Jake was the most awkward experience of my entire life, but the interrogators insisted on learning everything, which meant that I not only described Jake and McKenna’s hacking strategies and massacres of enemies, but also how I sucked Jake’s dick and how he ravaged my faux-pregnant body. I was in official detention for a month.