by Pema Donyo
He pointed to my rubber band. My eyes widened. I felt for it, realization washing over me. My hair fell in wild waves around my face as soon as I threw the rubber band to the dirt floor. The breeze was less fierce here near the base of the hill. My dark tresses swayed against the wind and formed a curtain around my vision of Tristan.
He clucked his tongue. “Now, now, that’s not going to help anyone.” He tucked his hands behind his back as he walked toward me. “What news do you have?”
“You hurt my best friend.”
He winced. “Yeah, heard one of them was shot. Definitely not my fault. I told them to go easy, but you guys got away anyway. At least we got the targets out of the way.”
“Who were they?”
“Mother, father, daughter. All next in line for a family fortune another younger brother wants dead. Younger brother’s facing an investigation while the mother, father, and daughter are somewhere safe.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d done something right. I bit my lip as another thought crossed my mind. And sent my best friend into a critical condition in the process.
“Just guarantee me none of the CO agents are hurt in future missions.”
“No can do.”
I glared at Tristan. “They’re your men. Why not?”
“CO agents are murderers without a cause, kid. Murderers who kill others for no reason don’t deserve to live. You defected; they didn’t.”
“You’re wrong. They have a cause. It’s what they’ve been trained to do. It’s what they’ve been told to do.”
His tone remained nonchalant. “So they’re brainwashed.” He shrugged, and my fists clenched.
“No, they’re not brainwashed. They worked hard to train; they put so much effort and energy into exceling at their job. They just want to stay safe and keep the CO agents they care about safe.” Adrian’s speech somehow entered mine, unbidden but true. My voice gained strength, and I lifted my chin with defiance. “I’ll give you the information you want to know about CO. I believe CO should be destroyed. But you have to understand why they kill. They don’t kill without a purpose. No one does.”
Tristan stared at me for a few minutes. He seemed to be considering my words. After a few beats of silence, he spoke again. “Executive?”
“Got it. Training starts after my birthday.”
“Meaning?”
“It’s going to take a while.”
“All right. I’ll meet you about it soon enough. In the meantime…” He walked closer to me until our faces were inches apart. “You can tell me the news you know about Adrian’s plans. What does he have in mind for CO?”
“He wants to start families for CO members. Parents will give stability to their kids and encourage them to kill. Or so he hopes, anyway.”
Tristan nodded. “Did he say if he was still keeping the assassins under eighteen?”
“I assume so.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“You look sad. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Well, our relationship is in turbulence. I told him he had me in chains; he has a newfound power complex; I’m wearing his tuxedo jacket. Somehow, I didn’t think those were the kind of thoughts Central Intelligence wanted to hear.
“I’ve told you all I have for now.”
Tristan pressed his lips together. “There’s something else I need to know.”
“What is it?” I shivered in the cold even beneath Adrian’s jacket. Images of a warm bath entered my mind, turning on my heater, maybe watch reruns of a 90’s historical drama…
“How do you feel about our relationship?”
I raised an eyebrow. “We work well together. I’m grateful you’re around.” Was there a right answer to this question?
“I’m glad I’m around too.” His voice sounded like a rasp rather than his usual flirty retort. “I’ve never met any girl like you.”
I searched for his sign of approval at my report for the CIA. His line of vision narrowed at my lips. My breath quickened. “Tristan, everything all right?”
“Everything’s perfect.” He leaned toward me and cupped my cheek. Before I could process the reality of the situation, his chapped lips collided against mine. He entangled his fingers in my hair as he continued to crash-land on my mouth without warning.
I pushed him away. My breath came out in ragged gasps. What on earth was he doing?
The sound of a twig snapping turned my attention away from the desire-driven gaze of Tristan to the source of the sound. A figure stepped out from behind a tree – the last person I wanted to see right then.
“No, it’s not what you think.” I shook my head. “It’s not what it looks like!”
“You!” Tristan launched himself at the figure, but the man picked up the CIA agent and threw him against the tree trunk. Tristan’s unconscious body slumped against the base of the tree.
Punches and kicks of rage flew through the air. Groans accompanied the sound of blows pounding against flesh. A stream of blood leaked from Tristan’s shoulder, the same place Lucy’s injury lay.
“Stop! Stop this!”
Adrian spun around and narrowed his eyes at me. His fists clenched in unbridled fury and Tristan’s blood covered his right fist.
“Is this the reason you were trying to break up with me?” He spat at the ground. "Is this why you said we’re not good for each other anymore? You’re good with him?” Adrian punched Tristan again at the last him, as if he could push out Tristan from existence with his blows.
I placed myself between them. I pressed my hands against Adrian’s chest, covered in the crisp oxford shirt. “Don’t do this. He’s done nothing to harm you.”
“He kissed you.” The possessiveness in Adrian’s voice startled me. I’d never seen him so provoked by jealousy before. “This is why you left the dance. This is why you wanted to leave me.” He threw out the sentences like statements of fact before I could convince him otherwise.
“Why did you follow me?”
“I was worried about you.” He shook with anger. There was something oddly vulnerable in his eyes even while one fist remained covered in blood and the other stayed clenched. “The hill isn’t safe at night! Then I finally find you, and you were…”
Oh no. He knew. He heard everything and he knew and I was dead. Alarm bells rang in my head.
I prepared myself for another emotional blow. But none came.
“You were kissing him!”
I blinked. He hadn’t heard me revealing information about the missions; he’d seen me kissing Tristan!
I tried to keep my voice as light as possible. “Adrian, we need to talk about this.”
“You were right. We used to be closer than this.” Adrian swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “We’re done. You cheated on me. I was so… I did it all for you. I did it all for us! And you’ve been cheating on me.”
“I haven’t!”
Adrian shook his head. His look burned into my soul. It was a glare of complete and utter disgust.
The knife wound? Nothing compared to the feeling of being loathed by Adrian King. I would take a million stabbings any day over the chest-crushing feeling of Adrian’s disgust.
He walked away from me, leaving Tristan slumped on the ground and me to remain in my regret.
CHAPTER EIGHT
October, 2013
From the Covert Operatives Training Manual for Executives
Mission Statement: Executives of Covert Operatives provide security and information for active assassins. Interaction with clients will be based around determining a contract for the client. All schedules of assassins, transportation, and needs of the client regarding a contract will be addressed by the executive in charge of the contract.
Lucy laughed as she threw back her head and nearly knocked over the lava lamp placed next to her bed. “He did not say so, Jane!”
�
��I swear he did.” I moved the lava lamp closer to her and farther away from the edge of the desk. “The author signed my book and said to me, ‘I tried to name a character Jane once. The character was so boring, I stopped writing.’”
Lucy wiped away the tears from her eyes. “But you’re not boring at all!” She clapped her hands together, her mind made up. “I swear, I am joining you next time at the book signing.”
I felt my smile fade, so I tried to plaster it back on. “You’ll be out of here in no time, Luce.”
The beep from Lucy’s monitor chimed in, as if trying to agree with me. Her wrist connected to the machine through plastic tubing. It stayed inserted into her vein as a reminder she couldn’t leave yet. My eyes flickered over the spot where the tubing entered her wrist and braved my cheerful expression further. “Don’t worry. You’re nearly recovered.”
“I talked to one of the other executives. She organized my entrance to university for the spring semester!” Lucy’s face lit up with excitement.
My chest ached as I heard her gush about the future I wanted. But I pushed the jabs of jealousy aside. She’d been through so much, and at least she’d stopped being sad about losing the executive position.
“Hey, isn’t your training class starting in five minutes?”
“Yeah it is.” I peered up at the clock, pretending to be shocked at the time. As if I hadn’t tried to stall as much as possible before entering the class. “I’ll be fine. See you later today.”
Lucy blushed. “Dave’s coming over later today, so I might be busy.”
“Have fun then!” I called as I left the room. So even Lucy had found love now. Good for her. Better her than…
I stopped in my tracks. I’d tried taking a different route to class every day and pure coincidence still managed to track me down and embarrass me?
Emma flipped a portion of her hair back as she giggled at something Adrian said. She ran a hand down his shoulder and batted her lashes at him.
I couldn’t help it. I snuck a glance at Adrian. His jaw was set, and his eyes were steel. But he listened to Emma with attentiveness and nodded as she talked to him. Adrian wore the same expression all the time. Well, when I did see him, which was either during school functions where he had to make an appearance as the next CEO or whenever he happened to walk the halls.
I walked across Emma and Adrian’s path, my bag slung over my shoulder in their direction. Emma blinked at me, her expression not hostile but dismissive. Adrian didn’t even bother to make eye contact. He brushed past my tote bag, knocking it off my shoulder a bit. With a polite “Sorry,” he continued, in step with Emma on the way to the executive offices.
I sighed and adjusted the strap of my tote bag. It was like we’d never known each other. It was politeness whenever we met, nothing more except a quick “Hello” or, to really push the envelope and get friendly, “How are you?”
I straightened my shoulders and followed their direction. I passed by the executives in business suits and pressed the folds of my own pencil skirt self-consciously, aware I had to look as business professional as the rest of the adults I belonged with.
I focused my gaze on the retreating forms of Emma and Adrian. Okay, so it hurt for me to see them together. It hurt a lot. Like, threatened to go to my pillow and cry hurt. But it was a different Adrian, I tried to tell myself. It wasn’t the same Adrian I fell in love with. He’d chosen Emma. He wanted Emma now.
Or at least so it seemed, since he walked her to class every day.
I passed by the glass walls of the executive cubicles and headed straight for the classrooms at the back of the building. There was a metal door requiring my palm print, and right as I’d opened the door Dave Payne showed up behind me.
“Hey. What’s up?” Dave nodded to me, giving me the cross between friendly greeting and acknowledgement.
“I’m stuck on the Louis case study. Can’t figure out how to underwrite the value of the deal, considering it’s international but so easy, you know? Have you figured it out yet?”
“Nah, still on the Pinkerton case study.” Tristan shrugged. “You’ll figure it out. You and Emma are the fastest ones in our class for those case studies. George is gonna assign you guys a real contract soon for sure.”
I grimaced. Professor George had talked about giving two of the students a real contract for the past week. Even as I stayed wary of CO’s work, I loved the legal aspect.
I’d learned to master the art of contractual language and determine the right way to draft a contract, and Emma had as well. Somehow every executive training class morphed into some twisted competition between me and Emma. I didn’t want to start any more drama between us, but I needed to get the contract. Ever since I’d been locked out of active service missions, I had no information to relay back to Tristan.
Not that Tristan was in any rush to see me again since commencement. I hadn’t seen him at all, actually, in the past month. Training homework drove me crazy with finishing last-minute essays at three in the morning and midnight coffee runs to study for an exam on contractual language.
Dave held the door open for me. I thanked him, and he continued to hold the door open even as I froze in the doorway.
Because there, at the front of the class, talking with Professor George, was none other than CIA Agent Tristan Morelli.
Except the professor seemed pretty happy talking to Tristan, happier than a professor teaching how to write contracts for assassinations should be when talking to a Central Intelligence agent who wanted nothing more than to see his destruction.
“You okay?” Dave asked. I forced myself to move out of the doorway and into an open seat next to Jenna.
Okay? I was most definitely not okay. I tried to avert my gaze from the front of the room. Instead, I pulled out my binder from my bag and pretended to search for a paper which didn’t exist.
I swallowed and continued to look through my binder. Maybe if I kept pretending to look for something not involving a smirking and surprise-kissing Italian American agent, he wouldn't see me.
“Jane Lu, no?”
My back stiffened. No hope now. I glanced up to meet Tristan’s gaze as if seeing him for the first time. “Correct. And you are?”
“This is Javier Medici.” Professor George patted Tristan on the back with a hearty chuckle. “Javier, you got it right. This is my star student, Jane Lu.”
I felt the heat from Emma’s glare radiating at me from across the room. I didn’t need to turn in her direction to know she was already burning with rage.
“I wouldn’t say star student, Professor. Emma’s the next best.” Ouch, not how I’d wanted it to come out. I felt the heat waves of hatred magnify. “I mean, the best. Of the class. Pretty much.” I bit my lip. Why was Tristan still smirking at me?
“Jane Lu, I am myself Javier Medici, and I am representative for Harry Croyden. Mr. Croyden is interested in your help.” Tristan’s Italian accent was laid on so thick, for a second even I thought it was real. Dang, the guy was good. He’d even grown some facial hair, so he appeared older than when I’d last seen him.
“Jane, I told you I wanted you to manage a case. Harry Croyden is one of Italy’s wealthiest billionaires, and he needs some help in negotiating a contract. He wants new blood, someone fresh for a creative mission. You’re it.” Professor George trembled in excitement. The man was even more eccentric than Marty. But this time, he’d gone crackers. Me, managing a contract with only one month of training? Why me instead of Emma? And who had run a security check on Tristan, anyway? Even with some new stubble, CO background checks were clearly slacking.
“Of course, Mr. Croyden hopes hiring a new trainee to negotiate contract shall save him some money, no?” Tristan glanced at my professor, and Professor George nodded.
“Most definitely.” Professor George waved his hand in dismissal. “I need to confirm it with the other agents.” He gave me a thumbs-up. Sometimes, the man was truly a giant kid who just loved talking about murder. “
This case comes a bit earlier than I expected. But you’re ready. I’ve no doubt.”
I widened my eyes at Tristan, who still smirked at me. No one else in the room seemed to think it was weird though, since I felt Dave give me a pat on the back and a “congratulations” like receiving a contract was the best thing in the entire world. I inclined my head at Professor George. “Can I talk to you alone, Professor?”
As soon as I closed the door behind us, I seethed, “Professor, who is this Javier Medici?”
“Who he said he was. He’s a representative for Harry Croyden. Croyden wants to save money during his assassination, and he wants the best trainee to handle the case. I told Javier the best trainee was you.”
I placed my forehead against one of my hands. “But how do we know this guy works for Croyden?”
“Croyden recommended him to us. He stopped by with Javier.” George’s voice babbled on with pride in his voice. “I’m so thrilled for you. This is a fabulous opportunity. Internships don’t usually start till the summer, but you get put on the job now! Granted, the pay is a fraction of the price, but it’s such an honor to be considered this early.”
Tristan was besties with Italian billionaires? I heard a knocking on the glass door and glanced over my shoulder to see Tristan. He opened the door and joined Professor and I, forming a triangle.
“Will you be able to, how you say, finish the job, Miss Lu?” The Italian accent was flawless. The plan was not.
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea, Mr. Medici.”
“Trust me, Miss Lu. This is exactly what you need to do to get to the future you want.” There was no mistaking the clarity in Tristan’s message. I snuck a look at Professor George to see if he’d caught “Javier’s” out-of-character slip. Nope.
“Wonderful!” Professor George clapped his hands. “The plane for Rome leaves next week.”
“Rome?” I cried, holding onto the door handle for support. At least the news I was receiving couldn’t get any crazier.
“Ah, and your new, how you say, I do not know the English for it… boss? He is coming as well.”
