The Colt & The Cobra - THE SPECTER SERIES [book six]

Chapter FORTY TWO

Mikki De'lucca

.. 75 Hours Later ..

"You'll be comfortable here, Mikki.. You'll find the place is well stocked with everything you need.." Ellerie somehow manages to sound so matter of fact .. Like she is unbothered by the events of the past few days..

You suppose, why wouldn't she be?.. This kind of craziness is normal to her.. And you can't help but think that sometimes she forgets that it isn't normal for anyone else.. You on the other hand are still trying to get your head around the next phase in her process, since her team of stone-faced men in black had hustled you out of the uptown medical center under cover of darkness and into the back of an unmarked SUV before secreting you away to yet another undisclosed location..

Oh yes, history certainly repeats itself.. You've been here before..
Okay, not 'here' in this particularly crappy apartment.. But in this situation..

"How long do I have to stay here, Ellerie?" You cast a disinterested eye around the safehouse apartment.. With bare white tiled floors and cheap Scandinavian furniture, the place is like the empty shell of somewhere somebody would live.. There is nothing comfortable or inviting about the safehouse, nothing homey or personalised, it is furnished purely for function.. Your new designated prison, sentence unknown..

She pauses by the door to flick on each of the lightswitches, illuminating a simple open plan living/dining area, offset to a small galley kitchen with a bar that overlooks the lounge.. "Well.. I'm not sure.. Until we have some clarification on Agent Reid's whereabouts at least--"

"You're not going to find him." You warn for what feels like the hundredth time now as you brush by her kicking off your boots in the entry..

On the advice of your attorney, you have been cooperating with the Agents of Specter.. Trying anyway.. Though, you don't see much point anymore..

Angelo is sure to have cleaned up his mess by now.. He is experienced in making men disappear.. Oliver it seems will be no exception.. You'll never get to say all the things you'd wish you had said.. You'll never know why he lied to you..
More questions that will be left unanswered and another ghost to reside only in your subconscious..

You know that you should feel more.. More sadness.. More anger.. More anything.. But it just isn't there anymore.. Lacey would probably tell you that your feelings of emotional detachment are a side effect of your new medication and a symptom of your recent experience.. That you should take everything one day at a time.. That things will improve..

Right now, the numbness is your friend.. It's the only thing keeping you from feeling the loss of something you never had.. Someone you never had..

Colt..

"Why do you keep saying that? That we won't find him.. How can you be so sure?" She probes curiously..

"Because if you could, you would have already done it.. You wouldn't be wasting your time with me.. I mean-- Isn't it obvious, Ellerie?" You sigh, so sick of talking to her.. Going in circles with her on the same subject of Oliver.. Over and over.. She and Jake are the same.. They just don't listen.. "Or are you really so blind you can't see it.."

She begins to move about the apartment, opening doors and checking cupboards.. For what, you don't know.. "See what, Mikki? What are you talking about?"

You sit on the stiff little sofa.. "Doesn't all of this feel a little too familiar to you? A missing Agent.. Holding me against my will.. The interrogations.. The working for a corrupt man who cares more about his reputation than you.."