The Syndicate: Darkest Before the Dawn - Part Sixteen by: Enemyoffun Rick Grant has always been in control of his life, whether its living on the streets or stealing to survive. But when things get out of control he finds himself facing off against a very dangerous organization with vicious tactics, persuasive agents and a deadly agenda.

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Author's Note: Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the last chapter. I want to thank everyone for reading and for their kind comments. I've been truly blessed to be able to write in this universe and I want to thank Lilith for giving me the chance. I'd also like to say that stay tuned tomorrow because there's a nice little epilogue that's going to set up some nice things to come. So enjoy!!!

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Chapter Twenty:

I sat on the bed, wrapped in a towel and dripping wet. I stared at the dingy gray wall. Why is it that all hotel rooms have horrid looking walls? The people who designed them apparently had no taste. I had half a mind to hunt down the owner of the Presidium Royal and shoot him in the head. That’s our motel, our home for the last day and a half. It was a little dive; we found it off the beaten path. Mr. Black (call me Gideon) says it’s better to hide in places like this than to mingle in the open. Greg didn’t agree and I don’t really care.

I wonder what Trish would have thought. I tried to smile, thinking about her but it was hard. It was even harder after what we did to her. But we didn’t have a choice.

After fleeing, we spent the night on the run. We drove the van until it ran out of gas. We took to the woods after that. We carried Trish as far as we could but in the end it’s real hard to carry a dead body. Greg wanted to leave her in the woods, some great guy he turned out to be. But Gideon had a better idea. He made a couple of calls. A few hours later, some guy came in a pickup. He didn’t tell us his name; Gideon called him “Doc”. He was a former field medic in the Marines, a Gulf War buddy of Gideon’s. He patched up me, Barry and Rachel the best he could. He didn’t ask any questions.

He took Trish. He said he’d arrange it for her to be found by the proper people. Gideon told him to be discreet and make it proper. Doc gave us some money, told us where we could crash and sent us on our way. The Presidium Royal wasn’t exactly paradise but it was better than the woods. You know how I thought we were in the northwest, I was right. It was actually Northern Oregon, not too far from the ocean, near the mountains. Don’t ask me anything other than that because I don’t know.

After our first night together, we came to the decision to split up. It was a good plan, another one of Gideon’s. He was a good guy, I always thought he was. Before the Syndicate he was in the Marines, after that he went into private defense. The Syndicate recruited him a few years ago, originally as a combat advisor. When he figured out what they were doing he was already in too deep. He said he could have left but then there would have been no one to protect us kids. See I told you, really good guy.

We split into two groups. Gideon took charge of one and Greg took the other. Guess what one I ended up in? It wasn’t like I didn’t want to be with Greg but I would have much rather gone with Gideon. But I understood why I had to stay.

Gideon was going north for a bit. He had a cabin in the woods, somewhere in Canada and a lot of contacts. He took Donovan, Holly, Chloe and the remains of the Deviants. It was a sad parting. We had hugs all around and promised to contact one another once the heat was off us (I’ll get to that in a second). Greg wanted to go east or something. According to him, there were places to hide that he knew of. But we had other plans. We as in me, Barry and Mattie (unfortunately Clara didn’t get a say because she was still out of it). Before they left, Gideon pulled me aside and told me to ditch Greg as soon as possible. He told me not to question him but to trust him.

There was a knock on my door, taking me from my revelry but I ignored it. I ignored all the knocks. I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone yet. After Gideon and the others left, my grief caught up with me. That night I cried myself to sleep. I kept seeing Max and Trish every time I closed my eyes. The crying helped, a lot. The anger and the frustration not so much but I was trying. I have a little crudely drawn picture of Green on the wall; it’s got many holes from my throwing star in it. All of them between the eyes.

“Becca” Barry called from the other side of the door. “You’ve been in there for like two days now. You need to come out, we need to discuss things”

Was that all? It felt like an eternity. It was actually only a week, one week since we put that fucking hell hole in our rear view and didn’t look back. We took Gideon’s advice and prepared to leave Greg just like he asked. But two days later when we woke up, he was gone. He left a note it was addressed but it didn’t help matters. He kept apologizing for something he did. He didn’t specifically say what that thing was but he said it made him see things differently. He left one clue though: he didn’t want to kill him. I knew who he was talking about and it pissed me off that he was too much of a coward to tell me in person.

I also vowed to kill him the next time I saw him.

Why the change of heart? Call it a change in perspective. After Green killed Trish, everything changed. Green was a dead man he just didn’t know it yet. Greg was too if I ever caught him. I made a pact with myself: anyone hurts me friends and they’re dead. No more Miss Nice Girl, no more sparing the psychopaths. I wish I had had this mentality when dealing with Declan. I should have put a bullet in his head but I had been soft then. I know only a week has passed but if I could do it over, he wouldn’t have lived.

So we were alone now. We were four teenagers with about five hundred bucks, nowhere to go and no one to go too. On the run, just like this whole damn thing started. Call that irony.

Someone else pounded on the door. “You have to get out of there, we need to talk. Now!”

That bastard, can’t he see I’m grieving.

I got to my feet, cinching the towel tightly around my body. I stormed over to the door. Dingy motel yes, rooms quite accommodating. We actually rented two. Mattie and Barry were in one and I was with Clara. We had a third one but after Greg left, we let it go. So that’s how Barry ended with Mattie and I ended up with the only person who wouldn’t try to comfort me. I felt sad and happy for Clara at the same time. I’m not sure what was wrong with her, other than she wouldn’t stay awake. After our break out, she woke up in the van momentarily. She was bleary eyed and thirty. Greg gave her some water and then she dropped back to sleep. She’s been doing that periodically but never talking and as soon as she gets something to eat and drink she drops off again. I saw that as a blessing and a curse.

Barry and Mattie were standing there when I opened the door. I’m just glad it was night or a gesture like that would have fried me.

Mattie smiled and threw her arms around me. I pulled them both inside and slammed the door shut. I definitely didn’t want some perv out there scoping me out in my wet towel. Barry gave me the raised eyebrow look but I brushed it off. I was in no mood for anything. Mattie sat on the bed with Clara, stroking her hair. Barry sat in the room’s only chair, wincing a bit as he sat down.

“I’ve finally got the flash drive unencrypted” he said as he placed the laptop on the little table in the room.

I sat on the edge of my bed. First with my legs apart until Mattie made a low grunt in the back of her throat. I crossed them, sighing. Some of this girl stuff sucks.

“So what did you find?” I asked, disinterested.

I wasn’t in the mood for the Syndicate’s dirty little secrets.

“Tons of stuff but that can wait” he said and turned the laptop to face me. “It's this I wanted you to see”

On the screen was a picture of a rather nondescript looking place. I ignored that and read what was underneath: The Center, Threat Access Level Red. I continued reading and the more I read the more my eyes seemed to bulge out of my head. There were more places like the Syndicate out there. No not like the Syndicate at all. The Center appeared to be the complete opposite. It was under Homeland Security, it currently had one fully operating facility and two more currently in construction, the second almost finished. It sounded like a dream come true.

“Is this serious?” I asked, looking up.

Barry nodded. “Read the rest”

I read on. There were a lot of names listed; all labeled as High Target Threats. I skimmed them, barely paying them any attention until I got to one name in particular: Mrs. Fine, no first name and no other information. But it was there, as clear as crystal. I looked up to Barry, he smiled and nodded. The data was for her. Did that mean that Trish had been working for the Center? I tried to see if her name was on the list but of course it wouldn’t have been. I was floored and suddenly everything didn’t seem so bad.

“Do you realize what this means?” asked Mattie, giddy like a school girl.

I nodded. She squealed.

“We need to play this smart now” I said, taking a deep breath. “WE can’t just run out there and wave our arms around, we’re being hunted or did you guys forget that”

Mattie’s happiness died.

The Syndicate didn’t like to let go of its people so lightly. Two hours after our escape, our likenesses were reported on the radio. Apparently we were all escaped patients from a mental institution, perceived armed and dangerous. That was one of the real reason Gideon wanted to split up. He figured two groups would be easier to track than one. So far the only place any of us had gone to was to the motel but it was only a matter of time.

“We need new clothes, we need transportation and we need a destination”

“I can get the clothes” said Mattie

“And it doesn’t take an idiot to hotwire a car” said Barry with a smile.

I was going to ask about the destination and remembered what Trish said. Mrs. Fine’s people would find us. I’m not sure what I think about that.

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I pulled the black turtle neck over my head and groaned.

I looked like a starlet trying to avoid the paparazzi. I could no longer wear the blonde because it was splattered with blood and my shades were smashed when Natasha hurricane Chloe, Barry and I down the hall. So the black wig I wore looked cheap and the sunglasses were so big that they took up half my face. The clothes were all right though. They were not the greatest quality but I didn’t care about that. They were long enough to cover my skin and not made of a thin material. I still could wear my boots and gloves, thank God.

I can’t blame Mattie though; she did her best with what she had: a local general store next door.

“Barry back yet?”

Mattie opened the curtain and looked. “Nope but he said he was going to go walk as far as possible”

I wasn’t happy that we had to resort to stealing a vehicle but we didn’t have many options. After the van broke down, we had debated grabbing a couple of cars then. But Gideon said it would only draw more attention. A part of me wished he was here now. The others were relying on me for guidance and I was just as lost as they were. Gideon seemed to have all the answer even if Greg hadn’t agreed with him. Now they were both gone, all of our friends with them.

‘He’s here”

I put on my coat; even I wouldn’t need it until it got light outside. Mattie ran about the room, gathering what little we had and stuffed it in our only bag. It was hard to believe that only a few weeks ago I was in a situation that was both similar and different at the same time. But all of that been a sham. This was real, this was right. I missed Dell and I even missed Johnny and I’d always miss them. But they were with me where it counts.
We left the room, I didn’t look back.

There was a tan SUV waiting for us, Barry behind the wheel. He was the only one who could be. According to him, he’d been able to drive since eleven. I know that sounds crazy but he did say his father was a car thief. Never too young. I got into the passenger seat and Mattie got into the back. Barry went in and got Clara, she was still asleep as he carried her out. I told him to head south, toward California. If there was a possibility of being found by some secretive government spooks it would’ be way out here. We drove for six hours straight. It wasn’t a good sign for me or the gas tank. We were able to find another motel with a gas station. I reached into my pocket and pulled out Max’s bloody letter.

Time to keep a promise.

Barry filled up the tank and Mattie went to see if she could secure us a room. I went into the gas station’s little convenient store.

There was a pimple faced teenager behind the counter. He looked about my age, wearing a goofy striped uniform shirt. His name tag said Gary. He looked at me as I perused the aisles, grabbing the essentials: food, water, some new envelopes, cheese doodles. I love them and they’re essential as far as I’m concerned. There was a little TV sitting mounted on the wall behind Gary. The news was playing, a couple grainy pictures of us flashed across the screen. I felt my heart beat faster but Gary wasn’t paying any attention. He was looking at me or more importantly my chest.
“Do you know where the nearest mail box is?”

He nodded. “The post office is down the road a bit”

I smiled. I took Max’s letter out, opened it up and put it in one of the new envelopes. He absently took the open box and rang it up, stuffing it with the other stuff in a red plastic bag. I asked for a pen and he absently handed it over. I scrawled the address on the envelope, stuffed Max’s letter in and sealed it.

He gave me a stamp. I smiled and winked.

“You going to the Con?”

I had no idea what he was talking about so I just smiled and nodded.

Mattie was waiting outside the door where Gary waved at me. She gave him a look, waved at him too and turned around slowly, fluffing up the back of her skirt. She was such a tease. We laughed as we walked toward the motel.

“I could only get us one room but it has two beds”

Barry already had the SUV over there and the door was open. When we walked over, Barry was in the doorway, looking into the room with a strange look on his face. I kissed his cheek but he ignored me. Instead he just pointed into the room. I looked inside and saw Clara sitting up in bed, wide awake, the TV already on.

She looked at me and smiled. “This is cool, you guys are famous”

That pretty much did for us. We spent the better part of an hour asking Clara every question we could think of but she could only remember what happened in the mall. Wow, I didn’t realize she missed so much. So we spent the part of an hour explaining everything to her. She cried for Max and Trish. WE all did a little bit. The wound was still too fresh. She was a bit down when she found out that Donovan went off with the others. I told her he did protest but Gideon wanted his help masking their trail. You may find this hard to believe but Donovan used to be Selina Bearpaw, a Native American from Alaska. The wolves actually followed him all the way from up north. It was kind of cool.

After our explanations, I made everyone go to sleep. Clara had no qualms about Mattie sharing with her, leaving the other bed for Barry and I. I shot Mattie a nasty look and she stuck her tongue out at me. I stripped down to my underwear and warned Barry if he tried anything I’d show him it felt like to have my nails in his balls. His face turned green. But he was a perfect gentleman. He held me for several hours and I cried myself to sleep, again.

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We woke bright and early, too early for me.

I put on my pants and outwear before the others got up. Looking in the room’s only mirror, with my hood down, it looked funky to see myself without any hair. My wig was lying on the sink and I looked like a pale bald chick. It was really freaky but kind of liberating too. I know that a lot of girls cherished their beautiful long hair but me I was kind of glad to see it go. I didn’t like how it went but now that it was gone I’m not sure I wanted it back. I mean I want hair; I’m not walking around like the female Lex Luthor or something. But maybe when it grows back, I’ll leave it short. There were a lot of cute girls with short hair and I think I could pull it off nicely.

Clara came into the bathroom behind me, bright and cheery. “You going to be ok?”

I groaned. Not realizing my grief was probably keeping her up all night. “Were you up the whole night?”

She nodded. “But not because of you, I’ve been sleeping on and off for a week”

“You want to talk about it?”

She shook her head. “Not yet but maybe someday”

I smiled and gave her a slight hug. She then mumbled about not having a toothbrush. I didn’t grab her one because I thought she’d still be asleep. I gave her mine and told her I’d get another for myself as soon as we left. That made her happy, I think. It was hard to tell with her. I left her in the bathroom and walked into the main room.

I knew something was wrong. Barry was at the window; Mattie was pulling on her shoes. I listened intently and heard it: the cop siren. It wasn’t far away either. It sounded like it was right outside the door. My mind flashed back to the convenient store last night. The kid did recognize me. He wasn’t nervous because he liked me, he was nervous because he realized who I was. Fuck I’d been too careless.

How long have they been there?” I asked, keeping away from the light streaming into the room.

“Too long” he said, groaning. “They’ve already got the SUV”

I listened again and heard more sirens off in the distance. Son of a bitch. “They’ve got more coming”

Clara walked out of the bathroom and asked what was wrong. I was about to tell her to put some normal clothes on because she was wearing pajamas but then I realized she didn’t have any. Instead I told her to get over to Mattie and keep her head down.

I heard a second car pull up but there was more on the way.

“They’re state troopers” said Barry. “There’s two in the first car and two in the second” HE moved to get a better angle. “And there’s at least three more on their way”

I sighed and made up my mind. “You guys run and I’ll let them catch me”

“You’re out of you fucking mind” said Mattie, walking over and grabbing my hand.

“Not leaving you here, babe”

The babe thing, not liking that much. I glared at him and I think he got it.

We quickly discussed our options. They need my idea. Barry and Clara wanted to stay and fight but I shot that down. We’d only make a mess and make matters much worse for ourselves. Mattie didn’t have a suggestion; she told us whatever we decided she’d go with it. But she did add that she didn’t want to kill anymore. I agreed, except for a certain slimy bastard but he was far from human.

The other cars arrived quickly. Soon there were about ten troopers. It didn’t take them long to interrogate the owner, who pointed them right to our room. I went over the plan once again, it was simple: Surrender and go peacefully. God I’m glad Beatrice and the others weren’t with us. The troopers made everything theatrical of course. They smashed the door in and ran in with their guns drawn. The four of us sat on the two beds, our hands behind our heads. They were forceful when they handcuffed us. We were dragged out one at a time. First Mattie, then Clara, Barry and finally me. The trooper escorting me tried to take my hood off and when I protested he got a little rough. He tasered me and we all know how they works. He seemed real confused when I didn’t fall on the ground and convulse. So when he zapped me again, I fell on the ground and started twitching. I thought it looked pretty convincing and so did he. They pulled me and when he tried to take my hood off again, Mattie shouted that I had a medical condition in which I was allergic to the sun.

That stopped them.

We were put in separate cars. Mine was owned by a big sweaty one, he looked like he’d eaten far too many donuts. I thought troopers were supposed to be fit and healthy. This guy looked like a heart attack on feet. It took them a while to properly search our room. They took our bag and when they found the guns and clips, I think it sent them into frenzy. They were already pretty riled up when they found Reta and the throwing star on me. After tearing the motel room apart, they went over the SUV like it was going to explode.

It was an hour later before I procession drove away. My car was in the lead, followed by the three cars that carried my friends and the last one, who was one of the locals. I’m not sure how long we drove but it got kind of boring. It was hot too, not that I felt it. But I was sweating so I knew it was kind of scorching. The big cop told me I was stupid to wear such a big coat today, it was near ninety. I tried to tell him the heat didn’t bother me but he snorted. Yeah, snorted, like a pig. Go figure.

When we pulled up in front of the police station, there was a media circus outside. There were at least seven news vans, from all over the state. There was also a crowd milling. There had to be at least a hundred people there. I was impressed, I never would have garnered this big of a crowd before. When they took us out of the cars, a lot of cameras flashed and people started shouting at us. It was mainly the reporters, firing questions at us. I ignored them but Mattie looked like she wanted to talk. Her goon pushed her forward though which I think pissed her off.

That girl was seriously attention deprived.

I kept my head down, even when we got into the building. They didn’t take us to cells; they took us to separate rooms. I was surprised to see mine was a typical interrogation room, I felt like I was on a cop show. They handcuffed me to the table and then left. I smirked, finding it kind of funny. There was a glass window behind me and a security camera in the corner. They were watching me, unaware that I could watch them too. I didn’t watch though, I listened. There were two guys behind the glass window, talking about a riding lawn mower. Yeah real titillating conversation there. The room next door I found Mattie and she was chattering up a storm but not about anything they wanted. She told them about her shoes and her skirt and her nail polish.

She was playing the ditzy little girl real well.

Barry was two rooms over and he wasn’t saying a thing. There was a cop grilling him hard but he just sat there, his arms folded in front of him. Next down to him was Clara and she was crying. I’m not sure if they were real tears or an act. The cop with her tried to comfort her but when he touched her she cried some more.

My interrogator was a black woman. She came about thirty minutes after they shoved me in here. She wasn’t alone either; my fat chauffeur was with her. She wore a crisp brown suit, no skirt but pants. Her hair was short and cut close to her head. I kind of liked it. I wonder if I could pull that off. She had a shiny ID bag on that labeled her as a Visitor. Her expensive watch gave her away though: she was a shrink.

“Can you tell me your name, sweetie?” she asked as she passed a cup of water to me.

I tried to grab it but my hands were still cuffed. She ordered fatso to undo me and told him she’d take full responsibility. HE reluctantly did so. I swallowed the water in one swig, well I was thirsty.

“Now can we talk?”

I nodded. There was no point fighting her. I read in one of the books Greg gave me that it was easier to pretend to cooperate in an interrogation because it lowered the interrogator’s guard. I’m not sure if that was true but this shrink lady was not my interrogator.

“My name is Dr. Fox; can you tell me your name?”

So I told her, there was no reason to lie. She asked me a lot of questions and I answered them. I told her half truths and blatant lies whenever possible. She told me that when they ran my photo through the system, I came up as a no one. I shrugged which I think annoyed her. She asked if they could get some prints and I shrugged again. She nodded to the cop and he left the room. While we waited she asked me some more questions. She wanted to know about where I came from, how exactly we all escaped and who exactly started the fire. The news was listing our escape as unheard of and said it was amazing that a small group of children could burn down an entire complex like that.

If they only knew the truth.

We waited quite a while for the fatso to return. She actually ran out of questions. She got up to check and I heard a conversation in the hall.

“You can’t go in there ma’am”

“I’m Homeland Security” said a stern voice.

“I don’t care if you’re the damn Pope; no one goes in there until the FBI shows up”

“Young man, you do not want to mess with me”

I heard the young cop the woman was talking to, scoff.

Then he said something that surprised me. “Where did those other kids come from?”

I heard him draw his gun. He snapped and told someone to get back. I couldn’t see who it was but I heard it. There was a loud zapping sound, the cop screamed but his gun never went off. He dropped to the floor with a thud. Dr. Fox looked like she was going to wet her pants. She ran away from the door, mobbing into the corner of the room. I stood up, waiting for what was about to come. Clearly the Syndicate were about to take us back.

Then I heard more talking.

“Was that really necessary, Kris”

“No put he pulled a gun, what was I supposed to do”

The woman sighed.

Then the other person spoke, she sounded young. “Rita why don’t you take care of everyone out here and then meet us inside”

I didn’t hear an answer but I heard Rita whoever that was, run off.

The two people out in the hall turned the lock and the door opened. The woman who entered the room was stunningly beautiful and blonde. I smiled. The girl that came in with her had long brown hair and was dressed casually in jeans and a shirt. She looked at me and didn’t look happy. The woman didn’t have an expression. She instead looked over at Dr. Fox.

“Ma’am, do you think we can have a moment with Miss Howe”

Dr. Fox didn’t hesitate; she took off out of the room as fast as she could.

“How the hell do you know my name?”

The woman smiled. “We know all about you Rebecca, you and your friends next door”

The woman looked real pretty but she was scary as hell.

I asked how and the girl smiled. She stepped forward and raised her hand. I looked at it and was awestruck when small lightning sparks started to dance across her fingers. I sat down, not sure what to say. I was speechless for the first time in my life.

The woman gave me an expressionless look. “My name is Mrs. Fine, I believe you have something for me”

Photo Credit: MeetMeByTheLake2Nite