Chapter Twenty-Four

Ethan

"Look at you," Harry said in a sneering, disgusted voice, "you're a fucking pathetic loser who's trying to make up for his tiny dick by holding a big gun to innocent, defenceless people's heads."

He was going to push Kyle or Stephanie too far... I could feel it. But I think he was too far gone in his bitterness and ultimate quest to destroy everyone and anyone associated with Michael and Dawson to notice.

I think I was too far gone, too. But I was far more subtle in my rage – at least for now.

"Harry," I warned him quietly. I could see the vein in his forehead pulsing and his anger was killing me. He was so affected by this, I couldn't stand it. I wanted more than anything to kill both of them right now, but I knew I couldn't.

Kyle's cheeks went red with anger. "I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance, you asshole! If I'd known you were wearing a bulletproof vest I would have aimed for your stupid fat head!"

My eyes snapped from Stephanie to Kyle in an instant.

Any hesitation and fear I'd been harbouring for Harry's reckless taunting flew out the window. Anything other than the deadly crash of ferocity that hit me the second that blonde bastard uttered those fateful words was irrelevant to me.

I was gone beyond being sensible and careful around these people. My mind was too far gone to even consider the two hostages. All I could think was 'he was the one who nearly took Harry from me'.

I was right back in Hugh's old sitting room, on my knees and sobbing at what I had thought was Harry's dead body.

"Oh, great comeback, Kyle! What are you, five? Did you seriously call my head fat and stupid? You're a fucking moron!"

My eyes flashed from Kyle's face to Harry's for a moment, incredulously. Was he going to ignore what Kyle had just said? Did he seriously care more in winning an insulting match than confronting the person who tried to kill him in cold blood?

Kyle was the reason Harry had been in a coma. This motherfucker's cheeks were reddening so fast, I knew that he knew. He knew my deadly stare was directed at him. I wondered if he knew I was going to kill him. I wanted to witness the life being stripped from him the way he had tried to do it to Harry.

The way he had done it to Grant Jefferson and the nurse lying to the left of me and God only knows how many others.

Stephanie kept flickering her eyes to me nervously as Harry and Kyle continued to argue. It seemed they had thought they had gotten away with it; now that Harry hadn't noticed.

They were so very wrong.

"Everyone quiet!" I roared, my voice shaking. I couldn't control the rage within me – I knew this scene would haunt my dreams for weeks if I made it out alive. I had never envisioned these two having such a key role in this.

Kyle and Stephanie's reddening faces turned a shocking pale quite quickly.

Harry still didn't get it. I wanted to smack him and hug him at the same time – he was being his usual moronic self but I was finally able to get justice for him. I struggled to hold onto the anger towards him now – not when my mind was suddenly dragged back to the past. Not when I still felt so overwhelmed that he was even still alive.

"Repeat what you just said," I snarled to Kyle when he continued to give me that fake confused and cocky look. I wanted so badly to wipe that cockiness off of his face with a bullet. But the tiny part of my brain that held any rationality controlled me. I had to think of the doctor and the nurse.

I had to be strong.

"He just called my head fat and stupid, Ethan. I've heard worse."

I couldn't redirect my eyes to Harry from Kyle's face to inform him of what the hell was going on. He would surely figure it out in a minute, anyway. I was too angry. The rational part of me held me back from killing him – but it didn't control the lividness running through me.

The look I was directing towards Kyle was murderous. And that was no exaggeration.

Harry suddenly gasped and I knew the penny had dropped. I wasn't even going to calm Harry down, if he needed it. If he wanted to put a bullet in Kyle's head, I would be ready to take out Stephanie instantly.

"It was you who shot me at Hugh's house that night... You've been a busy boy, it seems..."

Harry was in awe and I knew then that he wouldn't kill Kyle. He didn't need any reassurance from me to control his anger, like I needed from him at this exact moment. He still held regard for the hostages that I knew I should be prioritising. But it was so damn hard. I was ashamed of myself but I couldn't see past the blinding rage of coming face to face to the person who had brought us so much despair.

Of course Harry wouldn't think of calming me down; I was Ethan Moore and I always held myself in a calm, confident manner whilst on a mission. There was no way I would ever stray from my usual self. But I was starting to scare even myself with my finger trembling over the trigger.

I was trying to control my breathing and I knew Kyle was getting scared but trying so desperately to hide it. Stephanie even gulped. What absolute amateurs.

"Yeah. It was me. And you weren't so confident then, were you? You were shitting yourself!" Kyle began talking more cockily and proudly than before.

My anger levels were soaring and I didn't think I'd heard my heart beat as loudly as it did now in my ears. My finger was shaking over the trigger as my rationality began to waver. He needed to shut up and fast. I wasn't going to be able to stop myself.

"It was so funny to see how scared your little face –,"

He didn't get a chance to finish. My little remaining control flew out the window and before I knew it, my finger pulled the trigger.

Bullseye.

Stephanie yelped and jumped as Kyle's body fell to the floor in a heap. I turned the gun to her but I didn't get a chance.

BANG.

Harry had a bullet in her chest before I got the chance to finish the job.

I breathed out shakily. I was shocked at how reckless I was acting – I had let my anger get the best of me and that usually was Harry's field. I was always the sensible yet ruthless one. I was damn lucky that these were such amateurs. Otherwise, that nurse would be dead.

I'd put her life on the line.

Dr. Rushman put his hand to his chest, breathing heavily. "My God... I thought I was a goner."

The nurse had rushed to her dead friend's side and started sobbing.

"Shh, shh! You have to be quiet. There are still five of them left – you two need to hide and fast."

Harry was acting so practical and calm. He even calmed the nurse down and took her hand, leading her to the door. I could tell Harvey was talking into his ear, telling him where they should go.

I slumped against the desk behind me, my hands shaking. We had just killed two people we had once come to like. People we had only just found out were ruthless, moronic killers. The people responsible for so much grief in our lives were now dead.

But I didn't feel the relief I had longed for. No – I wouldn't feel relief until the rest of them were dead.

"Okay – okay. Right, go to your office doctor and climb into the air-vents. I'll give you this and listen to Harvey – he'll lead you to a room. Hugh and Jennifer are in there – you'll have to climb down into them and make absolutely no noise. Crawl as silently as possible – otherwise, you might be heard. Okay?"

Harry handed over his earpiece and I wanted to object. Except I knew it was the right thing to do. These people were innocent and purely collateral damage. Harvey would lead them to safety through the vents. Harry and I could manage just fine without his assistance. We'd have to.

The doctor hugged Harry hard and gave me a nod as he ushered the still crying nurse out of the cafeteria and down to his office.

Harry gazed over at the dead bodies on the ground, an unreadable look on his face.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, standing up straight again. The anger towards him was gone, for now. Now, we were partners again – we needed to be one-hundred percent there for each other if we were going to survive. And we had to survive.

I couldn't watch Harry die.

"For what?" he said in a daze. He slotted his gun into his holster and brought his sad eyes to mine.

"Why are you sad? They were such bad people. Look what they did to you," I said, not understanding.

Harry shrugged, composing himself. "I guess I just can't stop thinking about the fact that those two little girls are orphans now."

His compassion killed me. I wanted to take him in my arms right now but I didn't. We couldn't get soppy – not in this deadly situation. But I worried that my anger towards him would be the final thing he remembered of me, if anything were to happen.

I worried our final moments together would be tainted by my anger and betrayal and his guilt and sadness.

"Those girls are better off parentless than with those two excuses of humans. Okay? We didn't take away good people from their children – they were monsters. And they would have easily taken Dr. Rushman and the other nurse away from their families. They wouldn't have blinked in taking us away from each other..."

Harry flashed his eyes to mine. He got that hopeful look in his eye whenever I said anything warm or normal to him. And his big eyes were getting to me with every look.

"You're right."

"I know I'm right," I smirked slightly.

A small smile lifted his face.

We looked at each other, glimpses of smiles on our faces before the hard reality hit us again.

"We need to keep moving..." he said reluctantly.

"Without Harvey... I know it's selfish but I wouldn't have thought he'd choose to go with the doctor and the nurse over us." I spoke frankly but I was honest. It was quite reckless of Harvey to tell Harry to give the earpiece to Rushman. Now, we were blind again. We couldn't see through walls – we didn't know what was around every corner.

Harry cleared his throat, walking to the door. "Well, um, he didn't exactly..."

I frowned, urging him to continue. I didn't like the sound of this.

"He was shouting down the earpiece at me when I was giving it to the doctor. He didn't want me to give it to them. But I knew that if I didn't they would be stuck down here. And if we didn't make it out alive, they would definitely die by the bastards left behind; tortured, probably."

An argument lodged in my throat as I comprehended what he said. Yes, he'd made another decision for us without consulting me. But I was beginning to realise that every decision Harry made he believed in. He never wanted to hurt anyone; especially not me.

It was easier to accept this in the current situation we were in; I didn't have any room left in me for more anger and resentment.

I nodded and didn't respond, following him to the door. We needed to be careful from here – the gunshot noises could have travelled and alerted the others to our positions. Harry looked around the corner before nodding.

"It's all clear. After you," he held the door open for me, not looking me in the eye.

I went to walk past him but once I was beside him, I stopped. It was as if time had slowed and it was becoming clearer to me that once we left this room, there was a very high chance we would never have a moment alone again.

He still didn't look at me. I turned my face to look at him properly but he still wouldn't lift his eyes to mine.

"Look at me," I whispered.

Finally, he raised his eyes to mine. They had tears in them.

"I really am sorry – for everything. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to save you – us. I love you so much and I just want you to know that before we leave this room," his voice wobbled at the start but by the end, he had collected himself and started speaking strongly. As if he was giving himself the motivational speech he needed to go on.

It felt like he was saying his goodbyes. And that didn't resonate well with me. Over my dead body would anyone harm Harry – I would happily take another bullet for him, like I had all those years ago in London.

I thought back to that time and wished I could turn the clocks back. That I could warn myself of what was to come. I could have left the agency with Harry and we would be happy somewhere nice and sunny where there would be nothing but love.

I was shocked at my soppiness but I had this overwhelming feeling in my gut that someone I love was going to die. And right now, the only person I could love was Harry. Nobody else mattered.

I didn't respond by words to Harry's apology. Instead, I quickly leaned in, closing my lips over his and kissing him gently. He whimpered slightly under his breath as our lips met. We leaned on one another, my hand cupping his cheek so I could control when we would stop.

It was a silent agreement to put the past in the past. Now, we had to look towards the future. And we would do it together.

Far too quickly, we had to pull away. His eyes were heavy and tears were still streaming from them. There was so much we wanted to say to each other but there was no time. We both knew, though. He knew exactly what I wanted to say to him and I knew exactly what he would say to me.

The unsaid words spoke louder in our actions and the way we looked at each other.

He looked at me and I looked right back. We both wanted to wake up from this nightmare but we couldn't. So the only option was to face it together.

"Come on, then," he said quietly, walking out of the door ahead of me.

We walked back down the long corridor from the hospital, our guns never leaving our hands or fingers never leaving the triggers.

I felt naked without Harvey to guide us.

My breathing was rapid and my heart was pounding – Harvey had definitely given me the peace of mind to walk around this damned mansion with some form of confidence.

But now, we didn't know what monsters hid behind each corner.

We reached an intersection. Left would bring us through to the dining rooms and right would bring us back the way we came towards the main living room area. Harry automatically went left.

I had never been so scared in my life and it unnerved me. I never let fear into my mind during missions. But it seemed the roles had reversed – Harry was striding before me, a determined look in his eye. My hands were trembling.

My gut feeling was undoing me. Please don't let anything happen to him.

The door into the dining room was closed. Harry placed his ear against the door, listening. He nodded to me, telling me he was going to open the door.

I gulped.

He opened it with one swift movement – opening it slowly could give anyone inside an opportunity to prepare themselves.

He walked in, eyeing every corner, aiming his gun towards them accordingly. The room was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief. My relief didn't last long, however.

We suddenly heard footsteps. Running. It was coming from behind me. I was half in the room and half out in the hallway. I quickly followed Harry, ensuring I closed the door slightly leaving it ajar. I couldn't risk making noise by closing it – we needed to make a plan, and fast.

Harry's eyes were darting around the room. My stomach was churning at who's steps could be coming our way – Michael Taylors? Dawsons? All I could do was stare at Harry as he frantically tried to think of what to do.

We had the advantage of being behind a closed door – we could shoot this person on sight. But what if it wasn't a bad guy? What if it was one of our own? Plus, the shot would echo around the mansion. The hospital wing was more secluded and we had had a chance of our gunshots going unnoticed.

But not here – not in the very heart of the place.

The footsteps were coming ever closer. Why wasn't my brain working? Why couldn't I help Harry? He wasn't even trying to snap me from my petrified daze. It was as if he knew. Finally, his brain seemed to come up with a logical answer – or so I hoped – as his eyes lit up when the focused on something in the room.

"There – there's a broom cupboard! Get in there, quick!" he urged. I followed where he was walking, my heart beating in my ears. How was I crumbling so easily? I was a liability to Harry at this stage.

There was indeed a dark brown door situated at the back of the room. It blended in so well with the walls and furniture I had never noticed it before. Harry opened it and he glared at me to follow him.

It was the tiniest of spaces but we would fit.

The footsteps were nearly at the door now and I was still standing in the middle of the room. Harry was nearly jumping up and down to get me over to him. I numbly walked over, knowing we were trapping ourselves but also knowing we had some form of advantage. That was, if we went unnoticed.

The footsteps were nearly at the door.

I pushed Harry into the cupboard first. I wouldn't let him have such easy access to the door that he could burst out if he saw Taylor. I had barely pulled the door shut when the footsteps entered the room.

We barely fit into the tiny space and Harry was pressed up against the wall, his face pressed against my shoulder. He was breathing calmly and evenly. The complete opposite to me. It worried me that he had no fear – that the fact that today could be the day he dies had no effect on him.

Had he given up hope? Had my words in the car on the way to the airport convinced him that he had nothing left to live for anyway? No – our moment in the hospital must have showed him that nothing could keep us apart. Well, apart from him going on a secret undercover mission.

The man in the room's breathing was erratic and he was out of breath. It sounded like he was even crying.

I moved to press my ear against the door but instantly regretted it. In all of my haste I hadn't shut the door properly and it now stood slightly ajar. If anyone looked over here there could be a chance I would be spotted. There wasn't any room to push in any further – I just had to pray that luck would be on my side.

Harry started cursing quietly, trying to move back. But it was futile and he could risk making noise by knocking a broom or something so I craned my neck to whisper to him to stop.

He stopped but his body had tensed considerably. It seemed that now that I was in a vulnerable, dangerous situation he was becoming concerned. I wanted him to care about his life too – not just mine.

One advantage of having the door open was that I had a slight view of the room and more importantly – who was in it.

Nathan, my most promising understudy over the past few months stood there, shaking. I frowned, not understanding. It seemed like he was trying to calm himself down but he was just getting more erratic.

I didn't have one ounce of concern for him. It was his fault that we were in this situation – he was the reason Harry and Hugh had had to go to Australia. Nobody else could because we didn't know who the mole was. He had led our two biggest enemies into our home and would have watched us all die.

He could still have that opportunity. It was far from over.

A frightened cry left his mouth and I became even more confused. What was he so scared of? Why wasn't he armed?

Harry try to stand on his tippy-toes to get a look but gave up, muttering under his breath once he saw it was Nathan.

I was trying to understand why he was becoming more and more petrified when I heard it. More footsteps.

The steps were lighter now and a lot less chaotic. I assumed it was a woman.

Nathan started pacing around the room, obviously looking for a hiding place. My breathing stopped. If he came over here we were screwed. I had pulled the door in slightly so that only a fraction of the door was open. But I could still see out. And if someone looked close enough, they could see me, too.

Nathan started sobbing as he stopped pacing and just stood shaking, awaiting whoever was coming. There was another door out of the room but when he had tried to frantically open it, it was locked.

"P-please! Don't kill me!" he sobbed. The other person was in the room now, too. He was a snivelling mess and nothing like the strong agent I had once believed. He was a coward.

"Aw sweetie, what makes you think I'm gonna kill you?" An American female voice answered back. I couldn't see her properly but from the way Nathan was moving, it seemed she was walking towards him. The voice was familiar but at least I knew it wasn't Kim. I couldn't face her yet. Was she even still alive?

"P-please. I did everything you asked! I'm on your side!" He was walking in a circle and while his back was to us when the female first entered the room, he was now standing where he could spot me if he wanted to.

It seemed that Taylor and his gang had gotten all they wanted from Nathan and were now going to 'dispose' of him.

"Should we help him?" Harry whispered uncertainly.

I didn't answer. I didn't know what to do – yet.

I couldn't recognise the female because her back was to me. She was aiming a gun at Nathan.

"I'll ask again – why do you think I'd wanna kill a sweet lil' thing like you?" she drawled, teasing him. I think he peed his pants.

"B-because you're a-aiming a g-g-gun at m-m-me," he cried. He was like a distraught little boy and I was becoming seriously unsure. Should I help him? He had become almost a friend over the past few months – I had seen a bit of myself in him at one stage.

But look at what he had done to us.

The woman looked at the gun in her hand, as if she hadn't noticed it. "Oh yeah – that's right!"

I knew then it was a matter of moments before she shot him. My hand was on the door to burst out.

I took a breath, looking for an answer. I pushed the door slightly, two different voices in my head screaming at me, telling me what to do.

When I pushed the door, Nathan's eyes instantly met mine – we was sobbing but hope ignited in them when he saw me.

I stared back at him. My body wouldn't move. I couldn't force myself to walk. He had caused so much despair.

"Ethan – what are you doing?" Harry whispered, confused.

When Nathan realised I wasn't moving his eyes filled with terror again. "Please! HELP M –," he started to scream at me but he was cut off.

BANG.

The woman shot him before he could make any more noise. He was silenced immediately, his lifeless body dropped to the floor. I felt sick – I had watched a young boy die. I had let him die.

The woman hadn't noticed we were behind her – she must have thought Nathan was screaming at her to help him.

I was now standing out in the room, behind this woman who I couldn't identify. I had jumped out when the gunshot went off and the noise of me walking into the room had been hidden by the noise of the gun.

I took my gun out and started walking towards her. She was laughing quietly to herself as she looked at Nathan's dead body. His lifeless eyes were still wide open in terror.

I raised my gun to the back of her head, walking quietly up behind her. I was being impressively quiet until my foot walked over a creak in the wooden floors. I held my breath.

She must have heard me as she stopped laughing in an instant.

Shit.

She went to swing around but I had the advantage. I shot her shooting arm, resulting in her dropping the gun instantly in her hand and screaming in pain. I wanted to see who it was before I killed them – I wanted to look this person in the eye as I killed them for wreaking such death and destruction in our lives.

She dropped to the ground, clutching her arm in agony. Once she was facing me I recognised her immediately.

Harry did too, seemingly.

"Oh look! It's Big-Tits," Harry exclaimed from directly behind me. I hadn't even noticed he had left the cupboard too.

She was squirming in pain on the floor, her furious eyes flickering between us. I kept my gun pointed at her.

"You're in the wrong place, gentlemen," she spat at us as she recognised us, her breathing ragged as she tried to conceal the pain she was in.

"No – I think this is exactly where we're meant to be right now," Harry retorted.

"I would disagree. Your place is in the main living room with your Daddy," she was smiling like a maniac as the blood gushed from the wound in her arm. She looked like a psychopath, the way her eyes were widening and gazing at us.

"Oh don't worry – we'll get there soon enough," I spoke up, my eyes narrowing.

"Well, you'd want to hurry. Because he has your big brother," she squealed at Harry, laughing hysterically. I could tell by Harry's change in posture that he believed her.

"Don't listen to her, Harry. She's bluffing!" I snapped, aiming my gun at her head. She was undeterred, though.

"And unless you get there in the next few minutes, he's gonna blow his head off, darling!"

Harry's face paled.

"Don't listen to her! She's lying because she knows she's a dead woman – Hugh is safe!" I could tell she was lying. I just knew she was. But when it came to Hugh, Harry took no chances.

Big-Tits opened her mouth to add more fuel to the fire but I silenced her instantly but a bullet to the head.

The sound of the gunshot rang through the room and Harry jumped, his accusatory eyes slamming on me when she slumped to the ground, dead.

"Are you crazy?! She could have helped us with information!" Harry started to argue with me. He was definitely not the cool and collected man he had been minutes ago – not when someone he loved was apparently in danger.

"Harry – she was bluffing. I promise you she was. My gut tells me –,"

"I'm sorry, Ethan. But I can't take any chances – I just can't. What if they found them? What if they have Jennifer too?" his eyes filled with tears as his mind filled with possibly scenarios as to what could be happening to them right now.

"We need to stay calm – we can't go barging down to the living room – it would be a suicide mission! We need to formulate a plan!" I put my hands on his face, trying to urge him to agree with me. But I could tell I was going nowhere.

He had already made up his mind.

"Nobody else is going to die for me – and especially not the people I love. I need you to stay here," he started walking towards the door, a quick, urgent pace in his step.

I swallowed back another argument and instead just followed him. "There's no way you're going alone."

His eyes, still full of tears gazed at me. "This could be it, though."

"I know."

He nodded, knowing he couldn't talk me out of this. We would face this together, no matter what.

We started running down the hallway towards the living room.

Okay, so this is chapter twenty-four of Undercover and I'm soooo happy it's finally finished! I think this has been the longest I've not published in this story so all I can do is apologise!

I hope you enjoy it, as always, and I really really realllllllly love reading your comments! I often reread the entire story on my iPad just to see all of the extra comments left by new readers throughout the story and I love it.

I have added 'Skyfall' as the song for this chapter as the line 'we'll face it all together' really captures the essence of this chapter.. I'd really recommend after reading this chapter to just listen to the whole song :)

By the way, I have hit 160K reads on this – I'm so truly humbled and gobsmacked. Thank you all so much for your loyalty and patience!!

ALSO – I have made a poll that I hope you will all complete as it will be quite interesting ... the poll is on a question some of you may or may not have expected and it will probably upset quite a lot of people....

At least one other death will occur and I CAN tell you it will be on our side that the death happens (our side being on Harry and Ethan's, not Taylor and Dawson!)

So I have made a poll where you make your guesses on who you think will bite the bullet next... This should be interesting ;)

I have posted the poll on my page in my most recent conversation list and also as an external link on this chapter so PLEASE take it!

Until next time, lots of love

-O x