"How long?" Tara asked, glancing at the mirror.
"Five minutes," I said.
"Do you think they followed us from his house?" she ignored the yellow light. The guy remained on our tail.
"It's possible."
"Okay, what is going on? Do you know who they are?"
The garage incident slipped into my mind. I remembered the shutters, and the strange car.
"I think it's the same people that hired Elliot," I bit my lip.
I didn't have my gun with me, so I peered into the backseat. No guns.
"Glove drawer," she pointed.
I grabbed the Springfield EMP pistol and checked if it was loaded. It wasn't the type of gun I usually used—I was more of a Glock 17 girl— but it'd do.
"You're not gonna shoot at them in the middle of the highway, are you?" she asked.
"Do you have a better idea?"
She bit her lip and stared at the mirror. "I could lose them."
"You are a terrible driver," I said.
She tightened her seatbelt. "I've been practicing."
She stepped on the pedal, and I hurriedly tightened my seatbelt too. My phone pinged and I checked it.
'I'm sorry.'
Damon. Not now.
"Look out!" I yelled when we changed lanes and faced an incoming truck.
Tara swerved to the right, the impact banged my head against the window, and I winced in pain.
"Sorry."
"You'd think with more practice, you wouldn't send us crashing into a truck," I snapped.
"I don't see you helping," her tone mirrored mine.
I sighed. "That's it. I'm gonna kill these assholes.
She glanced at me. "There's more to this mission, isn't there?"
I turned away quickly. "What makes you say so?"
"Cause you won't look at me and there are people chasing us right now!"
It wasn't that I didn't trust her, I just couldn't reveal the real reason because of Tony.
"Yes, there's more but I can't-."
Wait.
I remembered the pictures. I couldn't exactly tell Tony I was caught kissing Damon in a garage. But Tara, she could help. She knew about me and Damon already so maybe she could get rid of the pictures.
"Can't what?" she prodded.
"Later."
I peered at the rearview mirror. "I need you to lose them, Tara. Can you do that?"
She stepped on the pedal and I grabbed the handle for support. I could see the traffic ahead but she didn't stop. I glanced at her anxiously and when it looked like we would collide, she took a hard left into the other lane, causing the other cars to stop and pile up, almost causing an accident.
I stared at the grey Chevy as we drove past, the windows were tinted just like the car from the garage.
"Do you recognize the car?" Tara asked.
"The windows are tinted, just like the one from the garage," I said.
"You think it's the same person?"
I nodded. "Yes."
She sighed. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
My phone pinged. Tony.
'My office.'
I glanced at Tara frantically. "Did you get rid of the video of me and Damon?"
"You mean the one you were riding his brains out?" she smiled.
I had no idea how she could make a joke in that moment when I was freaking out. What if Tony saw the video?
"Relax. I cut that part out. I figured you wouldn't want anyone seeing the both of you having wild sex," she said.
"Really?" I was touched.
I'd expected her to freak out or get mad at me, but she was surprisingly okay about all of it.
"Of course," she glanced at me. "I have the video engrained in my memory anyway."
Her lips parted. "Tell me to stop."
My cheeks flushed.
"Don't stop. Don't stop Damon," she moaned.
"Tara!" my face felt like fire.
She busted out laughing. "You should see your face."
"You're not gonna let this go, are you?" I shut my eyes and hid my face in embarrassment.
"Never." Her cackles made me shrink further in the seat.
I couldn't jump out of the car soon enough as she pulled into the agency.
"Ooh, right there," her voice trailed after me and I hastened my steps.
I turned to face her when we were almost at Tony's office. "Tara."
"Okay, I'll stop. For now."
I sighed and opened the door without knocking. Tony paused when he saw Tara behind me.
"She needs to know the whole mission, Tony," I said.
"No, she doesn't," he stood up.
"We were just chased by God-knows-who and almost died!" I yelled. It was a bit dramatic, but I needed to sell it.
I needed Tara's help to find them before they found me.
"What?" he asked.
"Someone's been following me for a while now," I took a seat.
"At first, I thought it might be a coincidence," I paused when I remembered the shutters.
I couldn't tell Tony about the pictures, so I had to come up with a lie.
"But I've been sensing someone following me for a while now but today, someone trailed us from the moment I left-," the words hung in my throat.
I almost let it slip. He leaned closer.
"From the moment you left where?" he prodded.
There was something strange with the way he looked at me, I couldn't point it out.
Did he know I spent the night at Damon's?
I dispersed the thoughts quickly. There was no way he'd let me live. He had a reputation for dealing with traitors.
"From the moment I picked her up," Tara chimed in. I shot her a look of gratitude.
Tony studied me quietly. I tried not to look guilty as I met his gaze.
"Okay," he stood up.
"You can tell her," he glanced at Tara and smiled. "She seems to know almost everything anyways."
The hair on my arm stood up. Something was wrong. Tony was hiding something from me.
"Thank you, sir," Tara smiled.
Tony waved her off and sat opposite me. "How was dinner?"
"As great as a dinner with a terrifying mafia would be," I said.
"Did you find his weakness?"
"Not yet. But I succeeded in planting the bugs," I reported.
"Anything else?"
"Alan wants Damon to take over the West."
That piqued his interest, and he leaned in.
"Interesting," he stood up. "Why does he want to hand over the West to his son all of a sudden?"
His eyes peered into my soul. "The weak one at that."
I folded my fists in anger.
Damon wasn't weak. He was the strongest person I knew.
But I couldn't exactly say that, nor show how much it affected me to hear him call Damon weak.
"Beats me," I shrugged nonchalantly.
He studied me for a few seconds, his eyes gauging my every movement.
"I take it that didn't go well?" he asked and my heart skipped a bit.
Did he notice I was mad?
"With Niall, Damon's stepbrother?" he clarified.
I sighed in relief.
"No, it did not."
It was the only reason I had sex with him in the first place. I couldn't turn down those huge sad eyes.
"And what did Damon say?" he asked.
"Oh, he pretty much told Alan to shove the entire West in his ass," I smiled.
"Now, that's a problem," he said and I stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Make Damon take over the West," he stood up. "Do whatever it takes to make it happen."
I was good at seduction, but I doubted even I could make that happen.
"Tony, I don't think that's possible."
He smiled. "Now, don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you can make it happen."
"But-."
"You're dismissed."
I stared at Tara but even she looked confused.
"What's going on? Why does the mission keep changing?" she asked, but my thoughts were too scrambled to answer her.
"First, he wants you to kill Damon, then he wants you to get close to him. And now, he wants you to help Damon take over the West? Why?"
I stopped and stared at her. "Cause it's personal."
"What do you mean?"
I sighed, grabbed her arm and led her to the bathroom. I opened the stalls to make sure no one was peeing and turned to her.
"Wes is dead."
Her eyes widened in shock. "W-what? How? When?"
"A month ago. Alan had him killed."
She closed her jaw. "You mean Alan River?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course, I'm talking about Alan River."
"And you fucked his son?!" her voice raised an octave, and I covered her mouth.
"Yell it from the roof, will you?"
Her mumbled words made me retract my hand.
"Oh, this is fucked," she paced.
"Tara," I called.
"This is more than business, Mia," she faced me.
"You're in love with the son of the man who killed Wes," she whispered fiercely. "That's treason."
"You don't think I know that?!"
"Oh my gosh," she resumed her pacing. "You know what Alan does to traitors."
"I know. It's why I didn't wanna tell you in the first place."
"Fuck."
Tara was spiraling, and I had not even told her the evidence of my betrayal was out there in the wild.
"Okay, we can fix this," she stopped pacing and stared at me.
"All you've gotta do is give each other some space. Feelings fade, don't they?"
I shook my head. "Alan wants me to convince him to take over the West. I can't do that by ghosting him."
I paused. "Besides, he told me he loved me."
Tara held her neck in shock as she counted back from ten. There was no better time to tell her the last news, let it all out.
"Remember the other day in the parking lot?" I asked.
She stared at me warily. "Yeah?"
"Well, something happened," I paused.
I didn't think a day would come where I would be terrified of the 4'11 woman in front of me.
"Damon and I kissed, and someone took pictures."
She advanced towards me slowly and I took a step back.
"You are telling me that proof of your betrayal is out there in the hands of God-knows-who?"
Wow. Took the words right out of my mouth.
"Yeah."
"Oh, we're so dead."