Single Lady Spy 01 - The End of Me

ways?
    Christ.
    She moaned again, “Oh my God, Gustavo… please!”
    I reached for the curtain to the dressing room and ripped it back fast.
    Her hands were tied to the roof with blood trails running down them. Her face was beaten. Servario’s hands were cut from hitting her. He looked back with a savage expression , “Get out.”
    I shook my head and fought the motherly urge to dive in front of the blow he gave her, with the back of his hand. She cried out again, shaking her head and sniffling. “Please, Evie, help me. Please. I swear, whatever you think is missing or whatever, I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t do that to you, Gustavo.”
    Servario shoved me back and closed the curtain. The look on his face was scarier than anything I had ever seen. His eyes were completely black.
    She cried out moments later.
    I jumped, stepping away from it. My back pressed against the wall.
    She was innocent. I was wrong. I had a terrible feeling.
    I sunk to the floor, shaking and forcing myself to listen to each strike.
    He could beat a woman that badly?
    I didn’t know him.
    She screamed in a long series of shrieks and bleats like a sheep. Whatever he was doing, was bad.
    “FUCK YOU!” she screamed.
    I could hear him speaking in low, hushed tones.
    “EVIEEEEEEE! EVIE, SAVE ME!” she screamed and sobbed.
    I didn’t know I was shaking, until I felt the still of Coop against me. He wrapped around me, holding me tight to him. Instead of stopping the madness, he carried me to a row of seats and sat, holding me like a child. I was cradled against his chest. But even the distance couldn’t stop the screams.
    “We have to help her. I was wrong. I was wrong. Please,” I pleaded.
    Coop shook his head, “You didn’t do this, Evie. If he suspects her, then we have to let it play out. We need to know who we’re against. Without her, we’ve got nothing.”
    I felt tears streaming down my cheeks, “What if she’s innocent?”
    He shrugged, “There is no magic pill to determine that. Torture is the best way. You’ve been trained, you know that.”
    I crawled off of him and sat in the chair next to him, “I haven’t been part of this world for a long time. And technically, I was never part of anything like this.”
    The screaming never died down for a long time.
    It started to dull in my mind though.
    We flew for a long time before Servario came out. He had blood spatter all over him. He sat next to Coop and I.
    “I have a list of names and a location for James.” Servario’s voice was distant and disturbing.
    I looked at him, “Is she… dead?”
    He shook his head, “No. I’m not done with her. He stared forward at the wall in front of us with the huge, blank, flat-screen TV on it.
    Coop was the one to talk first, “Sorry man, that’s rough having to do that to a girl.”
    Servario clenched his jaw.
    I looked down and waited to get off the plane.
    We touched down in the dark again. It felt like we were always in the dark.
    Servario never tried to touch me or talk to me.
    When we landed, a helicopter was waiting for us on the tarmac. We were boarded on it, when I got my first glimpse of Roxy. Her eyes were swollen shut. She was a mess—fat lips and cuts. Her hands were wrapped in soaked bandages. He dragged her from the plane and shoved her in the back. Her blonde hair was ratty and missing in parts.
    Luce and Coop shared the same blank expression, whereas I imagined Jack and I were both horrified.
    He looked at me, terrified.
    I nodded.
    We were somewhere warm still. We flew down a coastline, rocky and beautiful. I was lost, completely.
    I forced myself to see the stunning things, and not the dying girl in the back, who used to be stunning.
    The helicopter circled a huge house. It landed on a large, cement pad.
    James was walking down the path from the huge house. My breathing stopped completely, as my heart pounded out of my chest. I felt my face flush. Coop covered my hands with his, “No.”
    I looked at him.
    He shook his head, “No—to what you’re thinking or feeling. Shut it off.”
    I tried, but my kids’ faces were all over his. My kids, who I hadn’t seen in, what felt like an eternity. My face pinched and balled. I fought tears so hard it hurt.
    I sniffled and sighed, “I can do this,” I whispered.
    We landed. James didn’t look up. He walked until the door opened.
    Then he stopped, stared and then frowned. His girlfriend was tossed from the helicopter first. Servario had a gun drawn. He