Dino by Jaime Lewis
Chapter FOUR
Agent Hurts stood next to Agent Gabbert as they took in the aftermath of an attack that resulted in a bloodbath. It had occurred just moments before Agent Gabbert gave his team the order to move in to take Petro into custody.
Hurts couldn’t believe the scene he was looking at. It looked like a war zone with bodies strewn throughout the hallway. But from what he saw, there were no signs of Arianna or Demitri, which concerned him.
Another agent from Gabbert’s team walked up. “Petro has been identified as one of the victims.”
Agent Gabbert threw his hands up in the air and cursed. “Fuck!”
“What about Demitri Barros? Any word on his whereabouts?” Hurts asked the other agent.
“No. None of the bodies matched his description.”
“Do we know what started this? Any witnesses?” Agent Gabbert interjected.
“We have two witnesses who said they saw Petro and a few of his men hanging around that room over there.” The agent pointed to the opened door on the left. There were bodies inside there too. “A few moments later, two of the men entered the room. Demitri was said to be inside. We do have one of Petro’s men in custody. He is already singing like a canary to the investigators. He claims that Petro had wanted revenge for Demitri setting him up a few months ago.”
“Was Demitri alone?” Hurts asked, wondering if Arianna had been inside when the attack began.
“No. A member of the staff said that he was with one of the models.” The agent looked down at his notepad. “The guy said her name was Anna. But we have another witness who said they saw a woman matching the same description exiting the castle with Enzo Makris after the attack took place. So, we aren’t sure if she was in the room with Demitri or not. And, nobody can locate her or Enzo Makris.”
Agent Gabbert’s face turned red as he spun around toward Agent Hurts.
“Your agent has some explaining to do.”
Agent Hurts held his hand up to stop the bullshit spewing from Agent Gabbert’s mouth.
“We both know that Agent Roland had no idea what your team was planning tonight. And if I remember from our earlier conversation, you said so yourself that Agent Roland was a trained agent and should be able to take care of herself.
“She was seen leaving a crime scene with a known criminal. That won’t look good for her when the review board hears about this.”
Agent Hurts just stared at him. He knew that under normal circumstances, any agent would be investigated for mingling with a criminal such as Enzo Makris. Still, there was so much more to this case that Agent Gabbert wasn’t privy to, and unfortunately, Agent Hurts wasn’t in a position to explain it to him, so sitting there trying to defend Arianna would be like beating a dead horse.
“You are entitled to your opinion,” Agent Hurts told, Agent Gabbert.
Agent Gabbert laughed sarcastically. “My opinion, huh? Well, we will see how my opinion affects Agent Roland’s future role in the agency.”
Agent Hurts ignored the threat, knowing that he would have Arianna’s back if Gabbert tried to take her down. He turned toward the other agent and asked, “What about Miles? Has anyone seen him?” The agent shook his head, and Agent Hurts had a bad feeling that greed had caught up to the young agent. Miles had been sliding down a slippery slope the past few months. Arianna had voiced her concerns regarding his behavior, but they were too far into the assignment to pull him out. It would leave too many questions to answer.
He’d worry about Miles later; right now, he needed to find Arianna before Agent Gabbert got hold of her.
He felt his phone vibrate, and he answered. “Hurts.”
“The swan is asleep in the country. The feathers are a little ruffled, but it’s safe,” the voice on the other end said before the line went dead. Agent Hurts took a deep breath and exhaled. Hearing firsthand that Arianna was secure took a little of the weight off his shoulders.
