Under the V.E.I.L:Book 1

"You ready?"A ragged breath left my lips.
"Yeah. Let's get this over with."He sighs and types the number into the keypad. He presses the green call button and places it flat on the table.

It rings several times. Each ring feels like an eternity. We both just sit there and listen to the ringing sound that eventually got irritating.
And then the line clicked.

"Hello."It was Elliot.
"Um...Hi Elliot. It's Lena and William here."I start to hear loud rustling from his end of the line.

"So you've made up your minds?"He speaks in a more hushed tone.
"We want to help you."William says reluctantly.

"I...I never thought you would call. Thank you so much for helping us. I can't even describe in words how grateful I am."He sounds like he's tearing up.
"Elliot. For us to help you, you are going to have to give us as much information as you can. You and Jason probably know him the best. Particularly Jason."

"Right. The information we have to tell you isn't something to be said over the phone.How about we meet at the lab we met at the other day? Tomorrow night if that works with you." I look at William and he nods.

"We'll be there."
"Great."The line cuts and I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding.

"You know there's no going back now."
"I know. But my gut tells me we're doing the right thing."

****

We made it to the lab. I was shaking. The questions were swarming me. What if they betray us? What if they're doing this for Tyrique? What if he's there right now waiting for the right time to kill us? Gosh what has my life become? When did it become so complicated?
We were walking through the hallway trying to find the room we were in last time.

"By the way have you heard from Liam? I've seen him come in but he's been MIA. I text him but he never replies. It's weird. He's usually the anti social type but he's never been that quiet."I sort of forced myself to forget about Liam. I really couldn't but I tried.

"He ignores everyone on a regular basis but he's too quiet.I'm can't be the only one who's seen his abnormal behaviour.Now that I think about it he's also been ignoring you which is weird because he practically loves you."
I take a deep breath and try not to lose my cool.

"I haven't really spoken to him since..."I trail off not knowing how to explain the situation. "It's complicated."William halts. He turns to me looking baffled.
"You two got into an argument?Is that what's been happening? Is that why you've been so down lately?"I keep my head down.

"Now everything makes sense. How long has this been happening?"
"Two weeks."I mutter under my breath.
"Two weeks! Have I been blind? What even happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."I try to continue walking but William grabs my shoulder to stop me from walking.
"You can't keep running away from this Lena. You need to talk about it. You've been so down recently and it's breaking you."I take a deep breath trying to compose myself.
"I'm scared. I'm terrified that he's going to get hurt again. That I wouldn't be able to protect him. If I stay so close to him he will be in danger. I can't...I cant do that to him. I can't bear to see him the way I found him in that warehouse."A tear rolled down my cheek. I'm surprised it was left at that and not me being the hysterical person I am.

"Hey. Do you remember the job we're doing? We're working for a damn secret police force. This whole job puts us in danger. Including Liam. And remember you saved him. You made sure he made it out alive. Your orders Lena, your orders got him out of there alive. So I don't want to hear you blaming yourself for what happened. Because you will never be at fault for any of what happened. Do you understand me?"

"But Will-"
"No. I don't want to hear it. You're speaking like you've attempted to murder him with your gun. He's a whole different person around you. I've know the guy for four years and he hasn't showed me a genuine smile since.When he met you even I could see a huge difference. So I am not going to listen to you blame yourself for something that wasn't even in your control."More tears flow down my cheek.

He embraces me with a warm hug.I pull away not long after.
"We should get going. They're probably waiting for us."He nods and we turn around to walk.When we turn the corner we bump into Jason and Elliot.
"There you two are. We came searching for you two."

"We got lost. We couldn't find the room."Elliot nods but he seems a tad suspicious.
"Right well this way."He points in the opposite direction and we turn and walk.
We walk into the room and take our seats.

"Right so let's get started."
"Okay. So here is all the information we have gathered about him so far."He rolls out a large roll of paper.
It was a whole report of his activities and history.I skim read through the report.

There were many details such as the location of his experimentation lab and his life while Operation Blackthorn was ongoing.
"Seems like you came prepared. What is your plan?"

"Well we don't want to rush things. If we rush things we will all be put in danger. We have to hold more of these meetings in order to come up with a stable plan. But I also have to warn you. Ever since you shot him he's been plotting. And I really think you should watch out because he could strike anytime. It seems he's also very updated on whats happening at V.E.I.L. So do watch out."I freeze.

"What do you mean he's updated at whats happening at V.E.I.L?"William stands up in shock.
"Well that's how he found out that you guys were digging into Operation Blackthorn. He seems to have an accomplice at V.E.I.L. At first we thought it was the head of V.E.I.L aka his brother. But when we took a deeper look he had no involvement with anyone in V.E.I.L. He knew no one there. And he cut ties with his brother after he resigned as head and ran off to working full time at the lab. There were no phone calls he was taking either and as far as I know he hardly even touches his phone. I'm basically his messenger."I let out a heavy sigh.

"How could he have found out about us looking into the mission? It makes no sense."
"I'll try my best to figure it out. The last thing we want is for you to be in danger. Just one more thing. Is Mr Kaya going to be joining these meetings anytime soon? He seemed pretty involved when he got kidnapped."I shut my eyes in frustration.

"He will be joining us soon. But he is aware."Jason nods at Williams answer.
"Well if thats all we'll be heading out. Do call us and update us when we can meet soon."
We walk out of the room.