"Oh, shit," Xander said, a knowing smile in place as they moved outside.
"Don't," she warned as they went next door to the all-night diner- a tiny little place that looked as dated as most diners did and smelled like old grease and burnt coffee, again, as most diners did.
They took a booth in the back, Xander sliding in across from her and K taking a chair at the end of the table.
"I'm just saying, babe. You're involved with him. That shit is clear enough. And that is going to make this suck all the more," he said, reaching inside his jacket and producing a file folder, sliding it across to her as the waitress walked over. They all ordered coffee and Faith stared at the file, her heart a slamming bass beat in her chest.
"Putting it off isn't going to make it any easier to swallow," K advised, always being more the 'rip the bandaid off' kind of guy.
But she nodded in agreement as she flipped the file open and, on the first page, learned the cold, hard truth about Daniel Faber. Whose name wasn't Daniel Faber. It was Daniel Joseph Harrison. And he wasn't a bartender, from the looks of it, had never been a bartender.
She knew that because right there, staring her in the face was a picture of Daniel Joseph Harrison. And his face was right near the words "special agent" and the acronym "FBI".
"Mother fucker," she hissed, her heart no longer slamming in her chest because she was pretty sure the thing shriveled up and disappeared right then and there.
"Faith don't..." Xander started to try to console. But he was cut off by K.
"He's been working for them for most of his adult life- undercover operations all over the country." See, K wasn't the type to console you. K was the type to slap you in the face with the truth and tell you to learn to deal with the sting because you would never in your life get the luxury of not facing the truth and the pain it brought with it. "He did his longest stint in Navesink Bank, playing the part of V to the public."
"V?" Faith prompted, brows drawing together.
"Yeah, maybe that was a little before your time. You were probably early twenties at the time she was in power," Xander explained with a nod. "V was a skin trader. One of the worst in the fucking business. But because V was female, she didn't want the world to think she was weak so she used Daniel as her face."
Faith's head felt like it was spinning, not any single fact seeming to take root. But one thing did ring a bell. "Wait... Navesink Bank," she said, looking over at K.
"Yeah," he said with a nod. "That's where I sent Maze once I finished training her. To shack up with The Henchmen to keep her safe."
"Funny story," Xander started, then wiped the amusement off his face at seeing the genuine sadness on Faith's face.
"No, tell me," she demanded when he stopped.
"The Henchmen got wrapped up with V a while back. They are actually a reason he lost that job. V took Reign's girl and shit escalated."
"How did shit escalate?" she asked, needing to know the details, needing to have every piece of the very fucked up puzzle.
"Well, The Henchmen and some friends went in there guns blazing and V was never heard from again."
"K," she started, looking over at him, her voice hollow.
"Yeah?"
"What does Reign's girl look like?"
K shrugged a shoulder. "Pretty little thing. Redhead with..."
"A love of guns," she supplied, feeling parts of Daniel's cryptic stories align with the parts they were giving her and seeing the whole picture.
"Hey, you..." Xander started to ask.
"She shot him," she said, shaking her head.
"What?"
"Reign's woman. She shot him during that whole ordeal."
"How do you know that?" Xander asked, genuinely curious.
"He has a healed gunshot wound scar on his chest. Right side, right under the clavicle. He said a redheaded woman gave it to him because he asked her to because it would look bad on him if he walked away unscathed or something. And then he said he thought it instilled a love of guns in her that her husband likely didn't appreciate."
"Well, seeing as Reign is an arms dealer," Xander said with a small chuckle, "I think he'd find that shit almost endearing. But, yeah, that makes sense. If he was trying to help her get out, he needed to get hurt to make it look like he was still on V's side. Fat lot of good it did him since that organization fell apart without V's tyrannical rule. And, you know, losing most of the people in it."