332 A New Member or a New Leader? 6

Of course, Katherine knew exactly what it meant when Parker asked his agents to look into someone. The man was interested in Damien and he could already be planning on either being affiliated, or have them assassinated. And she was pretty sure that Parker would never associate himself with the Parks.

Feeling like a bucket of cold ice was poured on her back, Katherine's breathing quickened and when she looked at Chris again, all she could think of was to put an end to this. Grabbing the gun that she kept on the side, she got up and in an instant, the gun was already pointed at Chris's head. She was so fast, even Damien didn't see it coming and he was already standing next to her.

The sun was so high up in the sky at half past nine in the morning. But the weather wasn't hot in November, however, Katherine's body felt like it was on fire. She couldn't imagine what could happen to Damien and she didn't dare to. Chris's words from earlier rang in her head –"Next thing you know, he'll walk out of this building and there'll be a bullet on his head. Why would you do that? You have protected him for so long… In the end, you're the one…"

Pressing the cold muzzle of the gun to Chris's forehead, a tear rolled out of her raging, red-rimmed eyes. "What… What the hell did you do? What did Parker order?" She didn't want to believe that Chris didn't want to harm Damien. After all, he placed a bomb in his car almost a week ago. A bomb that could go off while Damien was inside.

Chris looked up at Katherine, perfectly calm as if there was no gun pointing at his head at the moment—as if the cold metal wasn't touching his skin and that at any moment, his brain could splatter all over this nicely decorated posh living room. He looked at her with his clear blue eyes, unafraid, unaffected, and undaunted – because he didn't believe that she had it in her to kill him. No matter how much she hated him for the things he did to her, she couldn't kill him.

When Chris didn't say anything and only stared at her, she was even more pissed, her finger hovering over the trigger and almost pulling it. "Answer me."

Katherine felt Damien's hands on her waist. She had almost forgotten that he was there and as soon as she was reminded, her maddening pulse gradually slowed down. His hand traveled up to her arm—the one holding the gun—and he slowly tugged it away whispering above her head, "Calm down," and placing a kiss on her hair. The gesture was so sweet that it dissipated the anger within her, allowing him to take the gun away from her hand.

Damien didn't stop her to save Chris—heck, he would pull the trigger to get rid of the monster—rather, he stopped her to save Katherine from herself. Even though she didn't tell him, and as much as he hated to admit, he knew that Chris meant so much to her. And if she killed him right there, she might not be able to come back from that.

Katherine believed Chris's words. Stepping away from his vicinity, she walked several steps away as though she was trying to make room for herself to breathe—as if it was going to help her think better. "He sent a low-level agent on a Steward Mission a few days ago," she blurted.

"What?" Chris's head snapped towards Katherine, the surprise was evident in his voice.

"I got rid of the bugs on us when I found out. But I don't know how much they know."

Chris tried to recall if there was any order given when he was in Shadow. He couldn't know every little mission but all agents basically fall under him now. So he wondered and felt uneasy because of how it happened under his nose. "What does he look like?"

"She."

"A female agent?"

Nodding, Katherine responded, "Blond, skinny, early 20s, aquiline nose, big blue eyes."

Chris took in the description and mentally scanned the agents that matched in his mind and very soon, he thought of someone and nodded. "Yeah. Trixie. She's a Level Two. I don't think Parker wants to spy on you… That mission might only be part of his scheme."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe he doesn't buy you losing your memory. So he might have wanted to catch you in the act and see how you would react if you noticed..."

Katherine already figured that much which was why she tried to act with Damien at that time. She drifted her gaze to Damien and the two exchanged knowing looks that only they understood. She swallowed and cleared her throat.

"Now, why shouldn't I suspect that Parker sent you here to kill us?" She waltzed back towards Chris and crossed her arms in front of her, mostly to feel safe and secure.

Debating whether to tell her some truth, Chris contemplated for a bit and weighed his options before settling to tell her what happened recently. He didn't have to prove himself to Katherine but for some reason, he wanted to. "Because he's starting to doubt me."

Her brows furrowed, seemingly interested and concerned at the same time. Parker had always been like a father figure to Chris, trusting him with so many confidential things in Shadow. So how could he start doubting Chris?

"I caught one of my agents following me for three days. I didn't mind it at first since Shadow does random checks on everyone inside now. But after having had enough, I put an end to it and found Gus."

"The Gazelle…" she muttered.

"What?" Damien probed.

"Gus… one of Shadow's agents. We—"

"Gus has a crush on her," Chris interrupted with a teasing smile, remembering the days years ago when the two were still new recruits.

"Shut up." Katherine glared at Chris.

Of course, another stranger had a crush on Katherine. Damien looked at the two, his patience was wearing out.

Ignoring Katherine's bark, Chris continued, "Gus is one of my trusted agents. He's named after 'Gazelle'– fast and deadly."

"Why would Parker send someone to spy on you?" she wondered.

"Because I told him you weren't a threat and now I know he doesn't believe me. So he sent Gus to make sure that I'm not protecting you." Chris's eyes were stern and cold as he spoke the words, looking her straight in the eye as he did.

The tense atmosphere was interrupted by the ringing of Chris's phone. Three pairs of eyes turned towards the coffee table, a phone buzzing on it with its screen lit up.

Picking it up, Katherine's hand trembled when she saw who the caller was. Her reaction told Chris that it was someone she feared. 

With a confident tone, Chris questioned, "That's Parker, isn't it?"