Agent 1 (Book 3)

Chapter 3

Thirteen's POV

A loud buzzing sound echoes throughout the house and everybody looks up at the speakers where it came from.

"What was that?" Cody questions and I hop off the counter, making sure to leave a wide space between me and Angel.

"Someone's at the gate," I reply.

I walk over to the front door and check the security cameras on the small screen above the keypad. I smile before punching in the code to open the gate. The minute the car makes it all the way through I close the gates again.

I'm not going to make the same mistake twice.

"We're going to have company in about thirty seconds!" I call out and I hear footsteps walk up behind me.

"Who?" Cody asks from behind me.

"Two people," I reply as I open the door and step outside just as the car pulls up. "One's welcome, and one's not."

The engine of the car shuts off and Zero steps out of the driver side, Devin getting out of the passenger side. He smiles when he spots all of us standing on the patio right outside the door.

"Look at you, you actually got a haircut." I tease.

He scowls playfully at me. "I blame you entirely for that."

I laugh and walk down the steps, meeting him halfway and giving him a hug.

"I thought you didn't like hugs."

"I'm making an exception," I tell him as I pull away. "How are you doing?"

Devin smiles. "Alright. Apparently, strenuous activity is still not allowed, but I swear I feel fine!" He raises his voice at the end of his sentence so Zero can hear him.

Zero says nothing and I address him coldly. "Zero."

"Agent 13." He acknowledges me exactly the same way before getting in the car and driving off back down the driveway.

"Well, I can see that you've apologized," Devin says jokingly. I scowl at him as Chase and Cody come over and give him a hug.

"Good to have you back man," Chase says and Devin gives him a thumbs up.

"Good to be back...even if technically I'm not really supposed to be doing anything as of yet."

"You'll be back to helping us out in no time," Cody assures him.

Devin falters in his steps for a second as he spots Lily, who's still decked out in her Christmas clothes. He shoots me a look of confusion. I shake my head as if telling him not to ask. He nods.

"Thank goodness," Lily says when she sees him. She hops down the steps and grabs hold of his wrist, dragging him into the house behind her. "I've been so bored, and playing with Angel only goes so far to sustain my boredom."

Devin stops in his tracks but Lily continues to try to pull him after her. He doesn't move an inch and shoots me a horrified look.

"Angel's here?" He questions. His face goes pale when I nod. I bite my lip to keep myself from laughing.

"If you don't start moving I'm going to kick you." Lily states. "And these spikes on my shoes hurt a whole hell of a lot more than they look."

"Miss Marshall please watch your language."

Lily leans into Devin and whispers loudly. "He still tells me please cause he has faith I'm not going to turn out like my brother. Plus he likes me so much more."

"You keep telling yourself that Miss Marshal." Lily scowls at Henri.

"It's true!" She protests. "I'm a perfect angel."

"You only look like an angel Miss Marshall. You are anything but."

Lily sticks her tongue out him childishly before dragging Devin off to who knows where.

"We should really be keeping an eye on those two," Chase mutters.

"No, we should be separating those two." Cody corrects him and I smile.

"Good luck with that one," I tell them. "I dare you to try to get in between Devin and Lily...cause you'll have to go through Angel."

"They walked into the kitchen...please tell me Lily can cook. Otherwise, we should probably get in there before they burn down the whole house."

"I take offense to that," Lily says loudly when we walk back into the kitchen. Angel lays on the floor by Lily's feet. "I can cook."

Chase, Cody, and even Devin look over at me for verification. I shrug and wave my hand back and forth in a 'kind of' gesture. I move cautiously to the fridge and pull out a water bottle.

Lily scowls at all of us when she notices. "I'm hurt you look to Thirteen to answer questions about me. I can cook anything...if it comes in a box."

"Well, that's a step up from Devin so I don't think we have to worry too much about them burning the house down," Chase mutters, taking the seat at the counter farthest away from Angel.

"Burning the house down would be the least of our problems. Those two together would start World War 3." I state.

"That's a brilliant idea!" Lily chirps. "Hey, you still keep the nuclear bombs in the same place right?"

I spit out the drink of water I'd just taken from my bottle and turn to her with a horrified look my face. She just tilts her head to the side with a look of pure confusion on her face, as if she really cannot understand what she did.

"What?" She asks innocently while the boys stare at me, waiting for me to say something. "You do still have them right? I didn't think you'd ever use them...you didn't use them did you?" I barely manage to shake my head in response.

"You have nuclear bombs?" Devin questions seriously as he stares at me.

Lily looks between all of them in confusion. "You guys didn't know that?"

"Well, I don't keep them here Lily." I hiss at her. "And why would I ever tell them, let alone anyone that?"

She shrugs. "I just figured since you seem kind of close to them you would've told them." She says simply as she shrugs again.

"And how exactly would that come up in a conversation?"

"Hey, guys do you want to see the nuclear bombs, warheads, and experimental weapons I keep saved up for a rainy day?"

I groan and bury my face in my hands. I feel four pairs of eyes burning a hole into the sides of my head.

"Why do you have a bunch of nuclear weapons?" Devin asks while both Chase and Cody seem too shocked to talk.

This really shouldn't surprise them.

"Too long of a story," I grumble.

"Oh! I'll simplify it!"

"Lily-" I start in warning but she continues on as if I didn't say anything at all.

"So years ago we were having some problems with several different terrorist organizations getting a hold of some really dangerous weapons. Weapons that could potentially kill millions. Zero, of course, sent our team on the retrieval missions.

"Quite simply we were just supposed to steal the weapons without being spotted and bring them back the agency where they'd be disassembled and melted down, but Zero began to realize we could use the weapons ourselves and that did not sit well with Thirteen or her brother.

"So eventually we'd all get the place we were supposed the steal the weapon from, but there'd never be a weapon. The weapon would be gone before we got there. This happened over and over and over again. Turns out JD and Thirteen were going ahead of us, stealing the weapons and hiding them away where they themselves would disassemble them.

"But it's kind of difficult to keep up with taking them all apart so most of them are just collecting dust till little miss goody two shoes over here has the time to disassemble them herself." Lily finally finishes.

No filter. This girl has no freaking filter.

"I'm honestly waiting for the day one of the bombs just goes off on its own around the rest of them and then KABOOM! There goes the whole mountain and the three others next to it."

"Lily shut up." I hiss.

"That's what Garret and Lydia want isn't it?" Cody asks.

"Yeah," I mutter. "I've let a lot of people die instead of telling them the location of the warehouse-or rather-bunker. What's in that bunker could kill millions if not billions. So if a few dozen people I care about have to die for that location to remain a secret...so be it."

It's quiet for what seems like an eternity...until Lily.

"Oh, so that's why you never told them." She says. "Well that sucks, you basically just said you'd throw them to wolves if it came down to-OW!"

Lily rubs at the back of her head after Henri hits her, trying to shut her up.

"Not cool." She mutters. Her phone rings and looks at the number and smiles. An evil laugh echoes around the room as she answers the phone.

"Yes?...What do you mean? Of course, I sent you to the right address...Yes, it's the one with white roses planted in front...No I was not aware the house was filled with various forms of venomous snakes..." She trails off and sticks her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Let me guess, Agent 1?" Chase mutters and I nod with a smile on my face.

"Well if you didn't get bitten what are you calling complaining to me for?...Yes we're all in the house...You have to go past the venomous snakes...Yes, I already told you it's the right house...Why would I send you to another 'house of horrors' as you call it?..."

"I'm really beginning to feel bad for this guy, and I really hope he doesn't fall for that," Chase tells me.

"Are you calling me a liar?...We are all waiting for you upstairs and it would be nice if you joined us sometime this year..."

"If he is stupid enough to fall for that...I really don't think he'd be of much help to us." Devin says as he comes over to stand by me, making sure to avoid Angel who's still sleeping peacefully by Lily's feet.

"Of course we're not there what are you stupid?...Well at least you made it through the snakes. I'm impressed and judging by the look on Thirteen's face so is she...Yeah, yeah, yeah I'll give you the real address this time...No I did not say that last time...I said I'd give an address, not the address..."

I shake my head and laugh slightly along with Devin and Cody. Chase just rolls his eyes with a smile on his face as we listen to Lily.

"Do you really want to have a contest of who has the more colorful vocabulary you freaking piece of-"

"Miss Marshal," Henri calls out in warning. She smiles sweetly at him.

"You keep cursing me out and it's going to get really ugly very fast...Oh I dare you to call me one more name. You won't even make it up the driveway to the house before I blow you smithereens and do a rain dance over your shitty remains you son of a-"

"Miss Marshal, I warn you against finishing that sentence."

Lily hangs up the phone and stuffs it in her pocket. I smile.

"You're not going to send him the address?" I question, completely amused.

"He can suffer for a while longer in that 'house of horror' before I send him squat." She retorts hotly.

"Who is this Agent 1 guy?" Devin finally interjects and Lily turns her attention to him.

"I don't know. New agent." She says simply as way of explanation.

"What makes you think we can trust this Agent 1 guy?" Cody asks.

"I-uh, I knew him before he was an agent...he's trustworthy...to an extent," I reply to him.

"And I already told you I corrupted him. It's all good." Lily adds it.

"We're all going to die," Devin mutters.