“Did he fill you in?” I asked him.
“I thought we had twenty or so hours left?” he asked.
“If you try to corrupt or change the program, it cuts the time in half. So if we can’t kill it from this end, then start hacking into the journalist’s computers. Set up the virus from their end and killing all incoming mail, along with anywhere else he planned on sending it,” Mel said to him as we ran past him and up the stairs.
Neither of us spoke. We went straight for her guns in her closet.
“Liam, call Coraline,” Mel said, and I froze as I was placing the magazine in.
“No,” I told her. I knew what that meant, and I was not going to accept it.
“Fine, then I will,” she said as she pulled out her phone.
“Mel, we’re going to get through this—”
“Do you know that for sure?” she snapped at me as she rose. “Because I don’t. This isn't the way this was supposed to go down! We planned for every motherfucking bullshit asshole move he could have made! Everything but this! We have eleven hours, Liam—”
“Don’t you think I know that? I saw the fucking clock, Melody. I was there, but there has to be a way we get out of this. I will not accept that he is smarter than us! We will fight, or we will die. I thought that was the code we lived by!”
“It was, until we had a son!” she screamed at me as her face turned red and her whole body shook. “I know how hard it was growing up with one parent. You had them both, but Ethan will have nothing and no one. He will have to spend the rest of his life in hiding, and in shame. Excuse me for one moment while I deal with my goddamn human emotions that you were so hell bent on making me feel. Excuse me while I try to think if going out to fight is worth giving up the chance to run away with you and our son! Give me a goddamn moment, Liam!”
She pushed me out of the way already dialing.
“Coraline—Coraline shut up and listen to me damn it.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “I want you, Evelyn, and Ethan all packed and ready to go in the next hour. Jinx will be there soon—No, just bring enough for a long flight, but not enough to weigh you guys down. You’re running. I don’t have enough time to explain, just get it done and make sure that no one stops you. Can I hear him for a moment?”
My head hung as I heard her voice crack when he must have gotten on the phone. Squatting down, I lowered the glock as she spoke.
“We’re really going to have to teach you how to say ‘Mama,’” she muttered into the phone.
He must have said ‘Dada’ again, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of him for that. Each time I heard it, I was surprised and ecstatic all over again. What if I never heard that again?
Run. We still have time to run. We would be ghosts by the time this hit the news.
“Dada.”
Mel placed the phone at my ear. I glanced up at her, but she didn’t look at me.
“Be safe, Ethan. We’ll be with you soon, I promise,” I said to him.
“Daddddaaaaa.” He giggled not understanding me.
Saying her goodbyes, she hung up before she came over to me and began loading the guns in her hand while she placed two spare magazines at her back.
“Do you want to run?” I asked her seriously. “Because if you do, I will. I’ll walk away right now and spend the rest of my life with you and our son in some cave, if that’s what you want.”
She put her head on mine and we were silent for a single moment because that was all we had left to spare.
“He doesn’t get to win like this. We aren’t going to prison,” she whispered.
So it was decided. We were going to fight. And if we didn’t stop this, we were going to die; either by the police when they came, or by our own hands.
THIRTY-THREE
“This is your life and it’s ending one moment at a time.”
—Chuck Palahniuk
MELODY
I took a deep breath as I stepped out of our car and headed towards the federal building. It seemed as if everything and everyone was working against us. Was this really how our lives were going to end? Was this karma? Were we being tortured for all of our sins before we died?
With each step across the white gravel and towards the building, my heart hammered against my ribs as the warm summer wind cut into my face like the dull blade of a butter knife. I could feel the beads of sweat that crawled down my face, neck, and breasts and the story that was our lives played out in my mind—the first time I met Liam; the first time I shot him; the first time we fucked followed by the first time we actually made love; our first kill together; our first miscarriage; and our first child.
The sun felt like a giant interrogation light on my skin and I moaned softly to myself in disgust. Never had I hated the sun as much as I did in that very damned moment. I felt so exposed, you didn’t do this type of shit in the day—everyone was awake, alert, moving around.
“We have nine hours left, Mel,” Liam’s voice sounded via the earpiece I’d donned. I knew that we have nine fucking hours; I’d watched the time fly by as we were stuck in rush hour traffic. It was a different type of hell being powerless in a car as time flew by. A whole motherfucking hour, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought that Avian had planned that as well.
“Your purse and ID, ma’am,” the security guard said at the entrance.
I gave him both, and as I stepped through the metal detector, another woman patted down the sides of my dress.
“State the nature of your visit.”
“I have a meeting with Director Doers,” I lied.
He nodded as he handed me my bag and ID. “Sorry for all the extra security, Mrs. Callahan. With the ongoing threats, we have to be thorough. Just head to the front desk and they’ll let you through.”
“Of course, I completely understand.” I smiled, as I tucked the bag under my arm and walked to the black counter that sat before the elevator bank. When we’d first returned to Washington, we’d planned to break into the J. Edgar Hoover Building. I’d known that I needed to have a look at Avian’s computer, considering that I couldn’t hack it from the outside. However, our plan relied on only the night staff being here, not every goddamn agent.
I had walked across enemy lines and into their territory.
“Welcome to the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Mrs. Callahan. I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it. Your husband is already upstairs.”
“I came straight from the spa. I’d completely forgotten about this meeting,” I giggled.
“That’s alright. Ms. Mina Sung has already cleared you both on behalf of the President. However, as I told your husband, Director Doers has not yet arrived,” the woman said from behind the counter.
I didn’t want to have to use the President or Mina for this—it was messy; however, there was no way we could break in without drawing unnecessary attention.
“That’s alright.” I leaned against the counter. “He told us we could just wait in his office. Is my husband there now?”
She frowned. “I’m sorry, ma’am, that’s against protocol.”
Who gave a shit?
“Sarah,” I read her nametag. “Does he need to call you or something?”
She sat up straighter. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Even if he were to call me and grant permission, I wouldn’t be allowed to do so simply because it’s against protocol and I could lose my job. The best I can do is give you a pass to go up and wait with your husband.”
“Thank you.” I took the pass from her and walked slowly towards the elevators. When her gaze moved to someone else, I shifted, and moved towards the sterile looking hallway that led towards the bathroom.
Checking under all of the stalls to make sure I was alone, I pulled off my pearls and quickly slid each jewel into the air vent.
Dear God, let this work. It had to work. It was our only chance.
I walked back to the elevator bank as calmly as I could and I saw, much to my relief, that her attention was already focused on a ne
w arrival. The elevator doors opened and I got on.
“Hold the ele—” someone yelled as the doors began to slide shut, but I didn’t bother.
“Is it done?” Liam asked in my ear.
“Yes. I’m here,” I whispered.
When the doors opened, I saw him sitting in the front hall, as agents continued to work behind a separate glass door. Behind it, rows of grey cubicles occupied the space.
“How long do you think we’ll have?” I whispered, as I took a seat beside him.
“For them to clear the whole building? A few hours if we’re lucky. Do it now.”
Pulling out my phone, I dialed 411.
“Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, can we get you anything?” a man with files tucked under his arm stopped and asked.
“No, we’re fine, thank you. You all look busy enough as it is,” Liam replied.
I didn’t pay attention to his chatter. Instead, I stared at my watch.
“It’s starting,” Liam whispered and I followed his gaze to the air vents. The white smoke started to spread like the plague. It was slow at first. Then it began to pour in through every vent. It wasn’t deadly, but they didn’t know that.
“Sound the fucking alarm already,” I hissed under my breath.
I didn’t have to wait long before it went off.
“CODE BLACK! Everyone move to the stairs!” a man yelled as the smoke now rushed in.
Visibility was almost non-existent, and Liam and I were forced to trail our way along the walls. He and I didn’t speak, choosing instead to focus on the shadows of room as we moved through the offices. Avian’s office was locked with a keypad; however, we knew most of the codes already. Entering the code, Liam held the door open for me.
Liam moved over to the desk and stood on it in order to close off the air vents within the office. Then he lifted the window open.
Sitting at his desk, I noticed all the awards and photos of him with people of prominence; presidents, world leaders, the Queen of motherfucking England, even the goddamn Pope. He was willing to throw all of this away…that was how much he hated us, how much he wanted to destroy us…insanity must really run in my family.
Self-righteous son of a bitch.
“Declan is on.” Liam came up behind me as I began the monumental task of attempting to hack into the computer.
“How’s it going, Declan?” I asked as I logged into Avian’s mainframe.
“Slow. There are too many names and not enough fucking time for us to go through all of them and stop it individually. Please for the love of God tell me that you’ve got the right computer.”
My heart began to race as I found the program. Could it really be this easy?
“I think so—”
The moment I opened it, the timer once more spun out of control. What had once been a little under nine hours, reset itself to a little over four hours. It was like being slapped in the face and having my heart ripped from my chest.
“Goddamn it!” Liam hissed beside me.
“You guys need to get out of there now, that isn’t the right computer, and all of Washington is about to descend on that building,” Declan said.
I didn’t want to touch it. I couldn’t. But where could we run to if we didn’t finish this? We had known this coming here, and yet we’d backed ourselves into this corner.
“Try again,” Liam said to me.
My hands were on the keyboard, and the lines of code streamed past the screen. It was a maze of traps, some I could see, others were hidden, waiting for me to fuck up so the damned clock would divide itself once more.
“Mel, try again,” he said.
With an almost silent click, the timer spun out. Two hours, two minutes. It was as if it knew my every move before I did. Like Avian was taunting me through the screen.
“We aren’t going to win this one, Liam,” the words came from my mouth and never in all of my life had I felt like such a failure.
There was a silence between us as the sirens blared outside.
“I know,” Liam finally said, “but we don't give up, we fight this until we can’t. Declan, can you still hear us?”
“Yes, Neal is here listening in as well.”
“Did Ethan catch the flight?” I kept my voice tight.
Stop being a coward, Melody.
“They’re all airborne as we speak,” Neal answered. And with that, the fear was gone. I’d accepted the situation and I refused to break.
“Good, you should have an hour or two after this becomes public. Pack up and leave,” I told them.
“What about Avian?” Neal shot back.
Screw him!
“Leave him there, this is what he wanted. When the police come looking, they will find him as well.”
There was a short silence before Declan spoke up.
“What about you?”
Liam pulled out his gun, and emptied the magazine until only one bullet was left. “Don’t worry about us brother.”
“Liam, we still have two hours. We can still do this!” Neal yelled as he registered what we planned to do.
Liam looked to me and nodded.
There comes a time when you have to accept your defeat and understand that you were not untouchable. That there would be someone even more ruthless than you were. That somehow, someway, some fucked up miserable way, the world had to reset. We’d had a good…a great run. We would be forever remembered. Chicago, hell the whole damned country, would never forget us.
“Mel, what the fuck are you doing?” Declan yelled as I clicked into the next trap.
“I’m ending the torture,” I told him, as I clicked on the bomb. Two hours became twenty-three seconds.
“Have you both lost your fucking minds?” Neal screamed.
“Goodbye, my brothers,” Liam told them before he cut the line.
Taking my earpiece out, I pull out my gun, as Liam had done and I took out all but one bullet as I stood up to face him. We looked each other dead in the eye, his green eyes seemed to pierce right through me.
Twelve.
“I’m not a fan of the fedora,” I said as I held the gun to his head.
Eleven.
“Brown isn’t your color,” he confessed, his gun only inches from my face.
Ten.
“When I first met you, I hated the fact that I was going to have to kill you because I thought you were attractive.”
Nine.
He grinned; I loved that grin. “I just really wanted to fuck you.”
Eight.
“I knew that already.”
Seven.
“I know you knew, I just had to state that out loud. By the way, you were the best shag I’ve ever had.”
Six.
“You fucking bastard,” I said even though I couldn’t help but snicker.
Five.
My heart sped up as the grip on my gun tightened.
“Did you ever want more kids?” he asked, swallowing slowly.
Four.
“I hadn’t really thought about it. I wanted to be a better mother to Ethan first. He was finally starting to accept me,” I whispered.
Three.
Stupid goddamn tears.
It took all my effort to fight the onslaught of tears as my resolve crumbled. He reached up and wiped them away with his thumb.
Two.
“I’m not the fucking emotional one in this relationship.” I smiled at him.
One.
“I love you, Melody Nicci Giovanni-Callahan.”
And we pulled the trigger.
THIRTY-FOUR
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
—Mitch Albom
LIAM
It took a cold son of a bitch to look the love of their life in the eyes and then put a bullet into their skull. I knew from the very moment we spoke about this that I wasn’t going to be able to do it. However, I was shocked that she also seemed unable to do it as well. She stared at me, her gun still raised and hot from the bullet sh
e’d fired into the wall behind me, while my bullet remained lodged in the picture frame behind her.
Dropping my forehead to hers, we stood there for a moment as we breathed in each other’s scent. Were we weak for not killing each other, or did that make us strong? I couldn’t tell anymore. I felt dead inside, but I still had her and that was all that mattered.
“You didn’t give me a chance to say, ‘I love you too, Liam Callahan,’” she whispered.
I wanted to smile, but I couldn’t. This was the end. Pulling away from me, she turned to the computer. The numbers on the timer were all set to zero.
“We should go,” I said to her just as all the data started to scramble, and all the files on the drive were sent off to the various journalists.
“What the hell?” Mel muttered before sitting down.
“Mel, we need to—”
“The files are deleting themselves,” she whispered,
My heart took a thumping beat. “What?”
She tried to type, but the system immediately locked her out and the pages, the pictures, accounts, everything that he had on us, erased itself. It was like watching the end of a solitaire game where all the cards were spread out before they disappeared completely.
“Did you do this?” I asked her.
“No. There was nothing I could do. The program was beyond me—”
She stopped when a video screen popped up and all of sudden, there was Aviela with a large grin on her face and a glass of white wine in her hand.
“Having trouble there, Father?” she snickered. “I wish I could see your face right now. Oh my, you must be ready to explode with rage. You probably want to beat the hell out of me. Stab me a few more times, lock me up in a hole until I behaved accordingly. It’s a shame; you have most likely killed me by now. Physically killed me at least. But I don’t care, I’ve been dead for a long time and I’ve taken your shit for even longer. I may not be strong enough to destroy you, but I damn well will not make it easy for you to obliterate my daughter.
“That’s right—if it came down to her or you I will always choose her. You thought you could somehow change that? And I let you believe that I didn’t care, I shot her, almost killed her family members, just so I could have this one moment. This one victory. Everything you’ve ever made me collect on her is here. My life’s work—the only scrapbook I have of her—and I’m erasing it. There are no copies to be made, I’ve code stamped them all to delete when this went off. Do your own fucking dirty work, you sick, stupid son of a motherfucking bitch. Checkmate, Daddy.”