Hazina's Revenge

Chapter 3 - Despair

*Trigger Warning*

“Where are you taking me?” I warily questioned, as we rode the elevator to the fourteenth floor.

“To a room where you can rest,” special agent Dante gruffly mumbled.

I scoffed at the CIA special agent and grumbled, “I won’t rest again until their killer is either behind bars or in a shallow grave.”

He simply shook his head at me, then an uncomfortable silence fell over us until the elevator dinged and nearly made me jump out of my own skin. That made Dante snicker, which earned him a scowl from me.

After walking down several corridors, he finally stopped at a door with the number 1438. Dante had to swipe his personal keycard to get the door to open, then he motioned for me to enter first.

I stepped into the room and looked around in awe. It was set-up just like a room at a high-end hotel. There was a full bathroom, a king-sized bed with lots of pillows, a small desk with a swivel chair, and other accommodations like a single brew coffeemaker and a mini-fridge.

Agent Wilson stepped into the room behind me, then he laid his hand on my shoulder and sympathetically mumbled, “I know this day has been tragic for you. If there is anything I can get for you to make your stay here more pleasant, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”

“Can you bring my parents back to life? Or Tristen? Or Estella?” I muttered in an emotionless tone, despite feeling like I was losing my mind.

“I wish I could,” he sheepishly responded.

“Didn’t think so. In that case, I don’t need anything but the name of the asshole who killed them and a f*****g gun so I can end his worthless life. If you can’t give me that either, then please leave,” I growled, feeling the anger rise to the surface once again.

“Very well, Miss Cleaver. I’ll be posted right outside the door to make sure nothing else happens tonight,” Agent Wilson informed me, then he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

My brain didn’t feel the least bit tired, but my body ached all over, so I headed straight for a hot shower. When I looked at my reflection in the mirror and remembered the wound on my head, I thought better of the idea and decided to soak in a hot bath instead.

While lying with my body submerged in the bath water, I wondered if it was possible to drown myself. After pondering that question for a while, I actually tried, but I couldn’t go through with it.

As soon as I took in that first breath of water, I bolted upright, holding my chest and coughing uncontrollably with water shooting out of my nose and mouth. It took several minutes to get the coughing under control, then I climbed out of the bath and stumbled out of the bathroom with a towel haphazardly wrapped around my body.

The ordeal was the last straw for my body. It couldn’t take anymore. I managed to make it to the bed and climb under the blanket, then it was lights out for me.

I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke up to Agent Wilson forcily shaking me and yelling, “Miss Cleaver! Open your eyes!”

I swatted at his hands and grumbled, “Leave me alone,” then I rolled to my side and fell right back to sleep.

The next time he did it, Dante was the one who got the rude awakening when my fist shot out and landed on his chin, surprising both of us. Right away, I sat up and rushed to mumble, “s**t, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” he uttered, rubbing his chin.

“Please, sit down for a second,” I insisted, patting the foot of the bed.

Dante eyed me with suspicion for a few seconds before he sat down and nervously asked, “Hazina, did you try to drown yourself last night?”

I turned my head, looking down in shame and shyly admitted, “Yes, but I couldn’t do it.”

“Hazina, if you try something like that again, I will have to make you room with one of our female agents,” he warned in a serious tone.

“What if I want to room with you?” I asked, sounding more flirtatious than I intended.

After jumping to his feet, Dante rubbed the back of his neck and mumbled, “I’m sorry, Miss Cleaver, but that is not an option.

Smacking myself on the forehead, I muttered, “That came out totally wrong. I swear, I was not trying to come onto you. The thing is… I trust you. I don't know who else I can trust. You saved my life last night. There’s no way I could have gotten myself to safety when the storm surge came in.”

His light green eyes softened, as he insisted, “I swear, you can trust every agent in this building.”

“Can I really? Somebody had to have given the Solito Cartel the information for them to find my father. I was always under the impression that… that type of information stayed classified to prevent these types of tragedies from happening. How else could they have gotten the information?” I questioned, making Dante have to really think about how he was going to answer.

The silence was deafening until he admitted, “I don’t know how they got the information, but I plan to find out, and when I do… there will be hell to pay.”

“Now do you see where I’m coming from on this?” I asked with my arms crossed in front of my chest.

“Miss Cleaver, you might be too smart for your own good. Do not mention this to anybody else without clearing it with me first,” Dante instructed, with his serious tone returning.

I nodded my head at him, then I nervously asked, “What happens next?”

“We are stuck here until Hurricane Layla passes. Once it is safe to go airborne, we will take you to the CIA headquarters in Atlanta by helicopter. There we will get you set up with a whole new identity, then we will determine where you are going to live under your new identity,” Dante explained.

“Will I have any say in any of it?” I questioned.

“You will be able to give some input, but you won’t have the final say,” he answered, watching me closely to see my reaction.

I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled, “As long as I get to keep my first name, I don’t really care about the rest.”

Dante chuckled at my response, and it was the nicest sound to grace my ears since the morning before when I heard Tristen tell me he loved me for the last time. I wasn’t able to force a smile onto my face, but at least I could find some enjoyment from something.