Chapter Nine

"Calum, we promise we will help you. You just need to tell us about your gang," Joey said .

"I still don't know what you're talking about! Now can you take me home?" he demanded.

"Listen, Calum, we are just trying to help you so don't sit in this car and demand things. Now read this badge and you can choose to believe us or not, but we will get the information we need even if we have to sit here all day," I said, locking the car doors.

“It says you’re with the FBI.” He said raising an eyebrow. I cringed, realizing I forgot to change it from the last time I used it. I pressed the small button and it resorted back to the legitimate FCA badge. The button allows us to change our badges due to the FCA being a secret agency created by all surrounding ally countries to help keep crime levels under control.

He raised an eyebrow at the change and shrugged, leaning back. "I guess we'll be sitting here for a while then." He put his feet up.

I groaned and leaned my head on the steering wheel. Right now, we were parked in an old abandoned store parking lot, trying to get Calum to talk.

Cole put us in the worst situations. Him being the owner of the FCA gave him huge responsibilities, but he had other agents that could’ve settled this part, even if it does have a connection with our current job. Him being the owner was what we all called him, but he was more so in charge of it. He could do whatever he wanted with the agency, including hand over his title to one of us. It was governed by the military and they wouldn’t interfere or have any problems as long as we continued doing our job as a secret agency. Therefore, it basically made Cole the owner.

"Riley," Joey said, pointing outside of the car with his thumb.

I nodded, taking the car keys out of the ignition. Yeah, I'm not stupid. I remember the basics. We got out of the car and shut the doors, locking them when we were both officially out.

"This kid is impossible," Joey said with a scowl.

"We don't have time for this. I'm calling Matt," I said, taking out my phone.

"What are you going to say?" he asked.

I held up a finger and put Matt on speaker

"Hello," he said.

"Matthew, this child will not talk," I said, letting my frustration slip into my voice.

"Did you tell him you were agents?" Matt asked.

"Of course, we did! He just doesn't want to say a word to us," Joey said.

I looked over at the car to see Calum sitting there with his feet up, and his hands behind his head. I unlocked the door and opened it as Joey continued to talk to Matt. Calum fell back onto the seat, and I stood there with an emotionless face.

"This car is not your bedroom," I said, glaring at him.

"So? If you want me, just drop off that Jamie guy," Calum said, nodding toward Joey.

"Man, I would back off," Joey said, stepping forward.

I could hear Matt still speaking on the phone but no was listening to him.

"Sorry, bro. I didn't know she was your girl," Calum said.

"I'm not his girl," I said. "You need to learn your place, Kayto."

Joey frowned for a moment before he was back to glaring at Calum. What happened next made me want to flip. This kid had the nerve to smirk at me.

I had Calum pinned in a matter of seconds with his face kissing the ground.

"You don't know who the hell you are messing with, kid," I snapped and he struggled, trying to get out from under me.

"Yeah, I'll make sure. All right, bye," Joey said into the phone as he watched our little scene.

"Handcuffs, Joseph," I said and he was about to complain about the use of his full name once again, but quickly stopped when he saw me glaring at him. He tossed me the handcuffs and I quickly clicked them on the kid’s wrists and made sure to tighten them and double lock them. I didn't trust Calum. Not one bit. He was just like the rest of them. That gang had corrupted him.

"So, what did Matt say?" I asked, standing up. Calum rolled over the second I was off him and started to talk but I quickly shut him up by pressing a pressure point on his neck, making him pass out.

"He said to not hurt the so-called poor kid because he is going through a hard time and to be on easy on him. He told me not to hesitate to call him if we need anything,” Joey said, helping me drag the kid’s body to the back seat. After we successfully put him in there, we shut the door.

"Joey," I said, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, Riles?" he asked, looking at me.

"I don't think this kid was forced to join this gang," I said, my frown deepening as I pressed a button the dashboard. It caused a sound proof screen to go up in the back as if it was a limo.

"Man, I love all this cool tech that comes with being agents.” Joey said smiling while shaking his head before he became serious again. “I don't think he was forced either, but even if he wasn't, we need to help him get past the bump in the road, no matter how long it takes," Joey said.

"No matter how long it takes," I repeated. "I don't know what I would do without you." I said, leaning over as far as I could with the seatbelt on and hugging him.

He hugged me back and whispered, "I don't know what I would do without you either, Riles. You're my rock in my life. You hold me together."

My eyes started to tear up but I looked up, blinking to make them go away. I won't cry, I must stay strong.

"I love you like a brother, Joey," I said, smiling.

At first, he didn't respond. Then he pulled away and looked into my eyes and said, "I love you, too, Riley."

We stared at each other for a long moment.

"Okay, enough with all this mushy stuff. We're secrets agents, not two people from some reality show," Joey said.

"But this is always the best part," I said jokingly, and he laughed.

"Hey, um, Riley?" Joey said nervously about an hour later after we were already on the highway. He pressed the button and let the screen go down only enough so he could peak in the backseat to see if Calum was awake yet.

"Yeah?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the road. My eyebrows furrowed a little when I noticed that Joey was nervous. What did he have to be nervous about?

"Erm... we probably should've checked on Calum before we left or throughout the ride..." Joey said slowly, trailing off.

My eyes narrowed a little as I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

'Why?" I asked, trying to not let my anger show as I was thinking the worst.

"Calum isn't in the back seat anymore," Joey said.