393 Identity 6

The sky became darker and the rain became heavier outside. Despite her situation, Katherine found comfort in the fact that at least the clouds were crying for her.

Dramatic? Pfft. Better than getting stuck here with Gus for the past—she didn't even know how long she had been there. She lost track after waking up. With this cold weather, she'd very much prefer to be curling up in bed. Possibly with Damien. Gosh, this kidnapping made her have so much time to think about things she wished she had at the moment.

For the past few minutes, she'd exhausted herself thinking about why Augustine was doing this to her—rather, why Shadow was doing this to her. The only conclusion she came up with was that this was a test. Parker must have thought that capturing her would prove something. Katherine thought back to before she lost her consciousness while at the Crown Hotel. If she had fought with Gus and escaped, he could have reported back to Parker and told him what happened.

If that happened, who knows where she could be at the moment. Probably hiding from the hundreds of assassins that Parker would have sent to cancel her. And most likely a 'cleaner' to do the nasty job of finishing the work, making sure there's no trace of her corpse anywhere. 

She had once witnessed a cleaner do the work and she gagged at the sight of it, suddenly feeling pity for the one being canceled. She swore she had nightmares for a while after that.

"Tell me what's your name." Gus's voice sounded lazy, snapping her out of her wild thoughts.

Katherine sighed. Her arms and legs were already sore as she had been standing and tied up for god knows how long now. She was tired, cold, and already annoyed.  "We've been over this a billion times—"

"And we'll keep doing this a billion times more. Stop complaining." He was insistent, though his voice was still lifeless—as if doing this was beyond him and a waste of his time. "Your name."

"Like I said for the first hundred times. My name is Katherine Young. Daughter of—"

"Your name."

"Oh my god. Will you just kill me instead?!" Katherine didn't know what Gus was up to by asking her name over and over again. She was hungry and irritated and her whole body was aching. It was probably past noon by now and her stomach growled as a complaint.

Gus laughed, his deep voice reverberating in the entire space upon hearing her snap at him. If he thought this woman in front of him was different from the woman he knew back then, he could certainly see some similarities between the two now.

For one, she has a smart mouth. Two, she's easily annoyed. Three… Well, he was still about to find out.

Already standing up before she even finished her request, Gus grabbed a bottle of water from his bag and unscrewed the top. Carefully, he tipped the water bottle and helped her drink from it, noticing her dry and pale lips. Did he overdo it? He pulled the bottle back after letting her sip a little. Captives shouldn't be left satisfied.

Though still feeling parched, Katherine uttered a 'thank you' and earned a scoff from him. He had gotten even cockier over the years. 

When she sensed that he had walked away, she continued to subtly twist and turn her wrists. The heavy-duty duct tape lived up to its name and she could only wish that there was some progress there somewhere, hoping that if she sweats, it could probably help loosen up the adhesive.

"Your name," he demanded once again as soon as she sat down.

"Honestly, buddy… mister… whoever you are… I don't know why you're doing this. Is this part of some kinda kinky stuff or something? You wouldn't sell this to foreigners, would you?" Her head was pounding and she was slightly feeling sick—probably an after side effect from the sedative that he injected her earlier. But talking was the only way she thought could help her stay up. She was debating with herself—wanting and not wanting to shut up. How long has it been? Because it felt like an eternity already.

"You have a very wild imagination. Just like someone I used to know." Gus stared at her, wondering what this rogue agent was thinking.

"Really? Tell me about this person you used to know… Was she pretty? This person is a woman, right?" Her interest got piqued.

"Oh, she was pretty alright. Really skilled too… Probably one of the best."

Katherine didn't respond and waited for him to continue as she felt like there was a 'but' in there somewhere.

"But… She's blind. Sometimes selfish. Really sensitive. Irritable—"

"She sounds like a bîtch," she remarked. "But the way you describe her, why does it seem like you like her?"

Gus narrowed his eyes at Katherine and Chris's words rang in his ears: "Did you like Agent Queen?"

Perhaps. Whether he did or not, this woman in front of him was no Agent Queen. For him, she died during the first Castle's explosion. So it shouldn't matter. 

"Your name," he muttered again, diverting the strayed topic back.

Noticing Gus's reaction, Katherine silently sighed and kept her mouth closed tightly. She decided that she wouldn't utter any more words.

…

Meanwhile…

A few black SUVs parked at the roadside waiting to receive the possible location of where Katherine could have been taken. Damien sat in the front seat with an unreadable expression. His hair was disheveled from the countless times that his fingers had run through it in frustration.

He had removed his coat and was only wearing a black dress shirt with the top button undone and sleeves rolled to his elbow. In his hand was his phone—and he had been staring at it for the past few minutes waiting for Styles's survey results. He, along with his men, had been sitting in the vehicles—at the location where Katherine's tracker lost its signal. 

"I found three within twenty kilometers from where you are. You'd have to split to cover more grounds. I'm sending the coordinates directly through your cars right now," said Styles. And in the next second, three locations popped up as destination options on the dashboard screen.

Damien read the names while Styles added, "I think your best bet is the first location. It's a construction site. I checked the city's cameras to track the car he was driving before he left the city. Though I lost track when he entered the outskirts, this was the only place that made sense. I could be wrong and he might just be diverting... Your choice, Boss."

Noting what Styles said, Damien's instinct was also telling him to choose the same. The rain poured down heavily on the roof of the SUV and the sky above them roared, seemingly angry at the creatures on earth. He tapped a button on his earpiece and addressed his men, "Follow the coordinates on your dashboard. Noah, you take the one on the northeast. Gideon, southeast. We'll head to the northside. Let's move."