The Last Hero (Villains & Monsters #2)

Chapter 48

- Early May, 2046 - (Ten days ago)

It was close to two in the morning when Jamie sat down on the floor of his boxcar to make yet another gruesome plan. He stared down at the blood notes on the floor in front of him, thinking carefully.

A week ago, after Desmond had gotten a terrifying call from Pat that he was being watched, they split into pairs. Jamie went with Amaya to go to the university to retrieve the materials for the project—their only chance of beating Simon and Daija. If Pat had been followed, then it was a good chance that storing the equipment at the university wasn't safe anymore.

That's where he found the first note scribbled in blood. "I see you."

The other two teams went to find Pat, but failed. They had spent an entire night searching. Pat wasn't answering the phone, and Jamie vowed to find him, no matter what it took. Though he told the team that they'd look for him together the next night, Jamie ended up going alone.

He checked around the university again, then ended up searching the factory that they met up at a couple of times before. It was a long distance from both their hideout and the university, so he had no choice but to take the car, park it about ten minutes from the factory and walk the rest of the way so he wouldn't draw attention.

That night, he found another note. "5." He also found Pat's dead body, then he heard a bone-chilling laugh in the factory.

He could've sworn it was Tony's laugh.

Jamie didn't return to the hideout until late morning, making sure that he wasn't followed back to the others. Delivering the awful news to the rest of his team shattered him—especially at the sight of Desmond nearly fainting. Pat's gruesome murder followed him like a ghost, and Jamie's didn't stop himself from mourning him. It wasn't fair. It wasn't his fault.

"How many lives is your plan worth?"

That question kept him up, and even though everyone was reeling from Pat's murder, Jamie had to talk to everyone about the notes he found. It was only a matter of time before Daija and Simon struck, and he didn't want anymore people to die.

"All of you need to get to CJ, and then get the fuck out of the city," he told them.

"There's no point, Jason," Victor had said, "You're close to finishing your project, and even if we left, they'd hunt us down and they wouldn't stop until they caught us. We might as well stick together."

Amaya was silent for a few moments, then nodded her agreement. "He's right. Besides, we knew what would happen when we went with you."

He knew they wouldn't have left, but he wanted to try anyway. When he retrieved the final materials for the project and set everything up in a separate boxcar, he got another note that said, "4, " but by then, he had found who had been following him around the city whenever he was there.

To confirm it, he went into town and delivered Hazel's letter to the coffee shop mostly in the open, and he even smiled at the disguised henchman that he passed on the way in.

He spent a while walking throughout downtown Kunross, turning it into a small game. How much about this person could he find out as quickly as possible? The henchman, Evan, seemed excited—so excited to the point he didn't even report to his leaders straight away upon seeing him. He wanted to be the one to take Jamie and his team in, bask in the victory, and get all of the praise and money he could ever dream of.

Finding out all of the delicate details of Evan's life was almost too easy. An apartment further east, a small son who stayed with his Mom most nights, a team of other henchmen that deeply relied on him and followed his lead.