by S. E. Weir
He dislodged his arm and stared at the man with a frown. “What the hell was what about?”
“That whole display with almost everyone being tied,” Jack ranted. “Is she making a mockery of our training? Does she have it in for someone? She doesn’t like Cade and Jasper for some reason. And how the hell did she pull it all off?”
Shaw held on to his patience. “If you mean Phina, how should I know? I’m not in her confidence.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “You certainly keep your eye on her enough.”
Shuttering his expression, Shaw barely kept his hands from clenching. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“Of course not.” The beta agent appeared to calm, although the light in his eyes made Shaw nervous.
“Well, then.” Shaw glanced around and caught sight of Cade and Jasper speaking intensely. He continued to watch them as he threw over his shoulder, “If you’ll excuse me, there’s something I need to do.”
The devoted man guided his chosen tool down the corridor and into an unused training room.
“What is this all about?” Cade demanded.
The man stared at the trainee in disgust. Cade’s arrogance compared to his usable skills was laughable at best. Still, there was a reason the devoted man hadn’t done anything about him yet.
“I have a proposal for you. Tomorrow it will be announced that Phina is the winner and you will be dismissed from the program.”
Cade scowled, his face turning red. “That’s total shit. She doesn’t deserve to win, and I don’t deserve to leave!”
“Well,” the devoted man drawled, “these decisions are based on results. However,” he added before Cade interrupted, “the proposal I have would neatly solve this problem for you.”
The sullen trainee scowled and asked, “What’s your proposal?”
“Kill Phina.” The devoted man felt a pang in his heart, but he firmed up his resolve to follow the direction of his Empress. “Make it look like an accident if you can. If you succeed, then I’ll fix it so you will be a Spy Corps agent.”
Cade smiled triumphantly.
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base
Phina took a relieved breath as she pulled away from the celebratory crowd. It felt like everyone wanted to talk to her about her skills, the exercise, her disguise, her relationship with Link, and a thousand other things she didn’t wish to expand upon.
Not only did the questions make her feel uncomfortable, but so did the constant sharp and probing gazes of the other agents.
She was worn out from using Etheric energy throughout the exercise. Phina had only used her speed and a clever mind trick Sundancer had taught her that hadn’t worked on everyone. Still, she needed some rest before she went out later to scan the last few minds, including Shaw’s.
It had been extremely satisfying to use her hacking skills to set up a tracking program so she could monitor the locations of the three trainers as well as the trainees. She could finally admit that Alina’s attempts to get her interested in makeup had also had their use.
Shade had told her that putting a block on her tracking capabilities just for Phina was not permissible. Completely changing her appearance with a few products her best friend insisted she always carry had been a stroke of brilliance. Sneaking around the base unseen had given her a thrill that she usually only got when she was flying on the bars or spending time with Todd.
All of this had further solidified her decisions about the future and what she wanted it to look like. Once all this was over, she would need to have a long talk with Link that he may not be happy about. That was all right with Phina. The man needed a reason to stay on his toes.
She turned the corner of the corridor leading to her room and almost ran nose-first into somebody. Phina took a step back just in time to avoid a collision, but she couldn’t miss the rank smell of stale sweat. Lifting her chin, she saw Cade blocking her way and scowled.
“Something you want to say?”
The trainee shook his head as a slow vengeful grin spread across his face. “Eat this and die, bitch.”
Several things happened so quickly that an observer might have seen them occurring simultaneously. Phina registered a knife—real, not a practice one—heading for her face and moved. In her tired and shocked state, she felt a bolt of panic that Cade was actually trying to kill her and pulled hard on her connection to the Etheric. Energy flooded her brain and body, urging her to preternatural speed as she dodged the knife. She heard someone call out behind her, and while the words didn’t register, the alarm in the man’s voice did.
Not wanting to have someone at her back while she fought, Phina grabbed Cade’s hand and wrist to take control of the knife. She kicked him in the groin, causing him to crumple. As he went down, she dislocated his knife arm and side-kicked him in the head, sending him crashing into the wall across the hall.
Phina heard footsteps approaching and turned, half-crouched with the knife she had removed from Cade’s slack hand raised defensively.
“Wait!” Shaw stopped a few paces away with his hands up, surprise and wariness on his face. “What’s going on here, Phina?”
“You tell me,” she demanded evenly.
When he frowned, Phina opened her mind to scan his surface thoughts. Unfortunately, they were racing along with his heart rate and were difficult to follow.
What’s she asking... Put him down so fast... Had a knife? Must have been a good reason... Never seen... Trust... Do something...
Struggling to keep her expression even given the rush of energy still flowing through her and the confusion in his mind, Phina interrupted what he would have said with a wave of the knife.
“You just had a thought that there must have been a good reason. Who were you thinking about?”
Surprise flashed over his face. “You, Phina. You aren’t the type to attack people without provocation. Want to put that knife down and tell me what happened?”
“Not yet.” She surprised herself with how calm she felt.
Shaw’s expression flashed with annoyance, but he nodded. “All right. So, what’s going on here?”
“Cade decided to kill me.”
Phina was startled to see the cold glare Shaw tossed at Cade before his gaze softened again. “Are you all right?”
She waved her free hand at herself. “As you see.”
He nodded and glanced at the knife. “Can I put my hands down now?”
Phina pressed her lips together as she considered the agent. “What would you say if I said someone else had sent him after me?”
A flash of rage contorted his face before he regained control. He slowly lowered his hands as he replied. “I would say that’s interesting and I’m listening.”
The noise from the crowd Phina had tuned out echoed down the hall, causing her to remember they were in the open.
She stood and backed away, then gestured at the unconscious Cade. “Bring him. We should have this conversation privately.”
Shaw nodded and reached for Cade’s arm, then followed her as he dragged the limp body behind him. Phina smirked when she noticed he didn’t show much care in protecting Cade from bruises as he hauled the man through the doorway of her room.
Phina kept Shaw in sight as she pulled out a length of thin rope and tossed it to him. “Tie him up, please.”
Shaw caught it and glanced at the rope in his hand before raising his gaze to her. “Is there a reason we need to tie him up instead of taking him to Holding?”
“Yup.”
He stared at her, waiting.
“I’ll tell you after you tie him up.”
Shaw considered and nodded. “Fair enough.”
Once Cade had his arms and legs trussed behind him, Shaw leaned against the wall by the door and gestured. “Please explain, now. I’m attempting to convince myself that I have a good reason for not following procedure here.”
Phina took a deep breath. “I’m not just here as a trainee for Spy Corps.”
>
He nodded, studying her speculatively. “I had been wondering about that. So, what did bring you here?”
She spoke flatly. “I’m on a mission.”
Before Shaw could question her, she spoke up. “Shade, please confirm this for Agent Shaw.”
“Hello, Agent Shaw. Seraphina Waters is here with permission and approval for the objective of the mission.”
“All right.” He relaxed when he recognized the voice. “Shade must be the base’s EI, but surely if you are on a sanctioned mission...”
Phina interrupted him while holding his gaze. “Shade, please tell Shaw the mission code.”
“The mission code is top-secret, Empress’ Eyes Only-slash-Alpha-One-Priority-Black.”
His face paled. “You are on a mission that only the Empress and the alpha agent know about?”
She gave him a short nod. “Yes.”
“How can there be something that big going on in Spy Corps and we don’t know about it?” He shook his head in confusion and anger.
“There’s a traitor here,” Phina told him, maintaining eye contact and keeping a read on his mind. “Someone has sold the Empire out, and if I’m right, has both directly and indirectly caused the deaths of many citizens.”
Shock filled his face as Phina leaned forward. “And before we go any further, I need to make sure that traitor isn’t you.”
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Dining Room
Link had been amused throughout the night. He always got a kick out of how everyone interacted: the more senior agents were either loners or highly social animals, and the newer agents vacillated between amusing attempts to be smooth like James Bond and wide-eyed awe at the stories the older agents told. All fodder for the laughter mill.
However, he also felt an odd sense of nostalgia, as if everything would change after tonight.
Strange.
He enjoyed the blend of delicious scents wafting from the kitchen until a bright flash of a smile caught his attention and caused him to begin to brood.
Ah. Masha.
Her dress uniform fit her body in ways he wished stuck only to his nightly dreams. Only young men had the luxury of daydreams, and he hadn’t been young in quite some time.
Riling the woman had become one of his favorite pastimes. The brunette was spectacular when she had a mad on, her eyes bright and fiery, her strong but curvy body...
Ah, well.
He purposely turned his head away. Not for the likes of you, old man.
Link searched the crowd for Phina, wanting to give her one last congratulation before he headed up to his chambers to sleep. Or perhaps to the office to catch up on current and future missions, he hadn’t decided.
When he couldn’t find her, he frowned and searched more thoroughly. Then he pinged Shade through his implant.
Shade, I can’t find Phina. Do you have her under surveillance?
She is currently in her quarters with Agent Shaw and Trainee Cade, the EI responded.
His face contorted in surprise before shuttering his emotions. Masha frowned at him in concern and walked over. Before either of them could say anything, a drop in the volume of conversation caused them both to stop and glance around.
A familiar figure had stepped onto one of the tables and stood with an air of enlightened authority.
Link put two, three, and five together to make ten. A dismaying, disillusioning ten that scored his heart in the middle.
He shook his head and murmured, “Bloody hell, Phina. This couldn’t possibly be any worse.”
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Phina’s Room
Phina thought she knew which way the wind blew when she saw devastated fury cross Shaw’s face.
“You are telling me that we’ve had a traitor here at Spy Corps, giving our information to our enemies?” he snapped angrily.
“That’s about the size of it.”
“How long?”
“It’s only speculation at this point, but if I’m right, it’s been years.”
Shaw blinked and took a breath as he glanced at Cade on the floor. “So, not one of the trainees.”
“It’s not very likely,” she agreed.
“Which is why you said earlier you thought he had been sent.”
“Yes.”
He fell silent for a few moments as he thought before turning his gaze back to her. “You obviously don’t know who it is since you said you had to make sure it’s not me.”
Phina spread her hands. “I’ve checked out everyone except a handful of people, but as far as suspects who had access and means, it’s a short list.”
His gaze turned intent. “How short?”
She gave him a thin smile. “Pretty damn short.”
“All right.” He lifted his chin. “What do I need to do to prove I’m not the traitor?”
Stepping forward, she stood in front of him as his gaze remained trained on her. “Do you trust me?”
With his life. “Yes.”
“Will you let me do what I need to do to prove it one way or another? Even if it feels like a violation or makes your skin crawl?”
Confusion and puzzlement crossed his face before clearing into determination. “Do whatever you need to do so we can find this bastard.”
She nodded at the bed. “Sit, then.”
Confusion crossed his face again though he did as directed. “What does it make a difference if I’m sitting?”
“Because if you are aware, this can be disconcerting,” she told him.
He did as she asked. “What now?”
“Hold still.” Phina didn’t have to, but she put her hands on either side of his head and held his gaze as she opened her mind to his to do a deep scan. She still felt a bit jittery from the pull earlier, so energy wasn’t a problem.
Shaw was startled when he realized what was happening. “Oh, shit!”
Phina didn’t answer, her mind focused on his thoughts and memories. His present, and what had happened today. His childhood growing up with his mother after his father had died during a skirmish with rebel Yollins when the Empire was still young. His time as a Marine and his relationships with Todd and Felan. His first kiss, his last girlfriend. His memories of his father and the memories of training with Link, Jack, and Masha. Training his own students, training her.
Flowing through it all was the dedication to his duty and love for the Etheric Empire his father had died for, his determination to take care of and protect his fellow soldiers and agents—especially those he cared about, his sense of honor, and his respect for the position he held, thinly-veiled impatience and disregard for those who disrespected others, the responsibility he felt for training agents to be prepared so they wouldn’t die carelessly and needlessly, his love and respect for his mother, anger, sadness, and disappointment that someone would betray them all by turning traitor, a flare of rage for whoever sent Cade after her, and—
Her face showed shock and surprise as she withdrew gently and dropped her hands. She took a few unsteady steps away from him.
“Are you all right?” Shaw asked.
Phina nodded jerkily. “Shaky, jittery. It takes me a minute to...” she waved a hand and grimaced, “feel completely myself and compartmentalize. I was already zinging from the encounter with Cade.”
He nodded but remained silent and watchful.
“Shaw...”
Pressing his lips together grimly, he shook his head. “Later. Do you have what you need to be sure the traitor isn’t me?”
She gathered her thoughts, running through her sense of him again. Then she carefully packaged it together as Sundancer had shown her and sent it to the back of her mind. “It’s not you.”
He stood, visibly steeling himself before meeting her gaze again. “What is your next step to finding this traitor?”
Phina assessed him, although she purposely kept from reading his thoughts again. “Can I talk you into letting me handle this?”
“If you did what I
just think you did, you should know the answer to that, I imagine.”
She nodded, turned to Cade, and knelt. She didn’t need to put her hands on his head as she’d done with Shaw, but she did so anyway. The action helped her focus on what she was doing, and she needed that focus after everything that had happened.
Her lip curled in disgust as she read his mind. She did a deep scan but focused on his recent memories.
Shaw’s voice broke her concentration. “What is it?”
“Shh.” Phina shook her head. “Need to focus.”
He fell silent, and she continued to examine Cade’s consciousness as it flowed past her. She withdrew and shook herself as if she could throw off the memories she had seen and the feel of his mind.
Phina stood and closed her eyes, bringing his most recent memories to the forefront of her mind to be cataloged. Again, she packaged them and placed them in the back part of her mind, where she didn’t need to touch them anymore.
Phina opened her eyes to see Shaw focused on her in concern.
“What is it?”
Before she could answer, she heard Sundancer’s agitated voice. Phina, come quickly to the dining room and lounge. It’s bad and getting worse. Bring everything.
She straightened in alarm and dashed around the room at full speed, gathering her hidden weapons and strapping them on. She grabbed her tablet and everything else she had stowed away for this moment.
She was moving toward the door when Shaw’s urgent words penetrated her alarm.
“Phina! Damn, she’s fast. Phina! What’s wrong?”
Turning to face him, she let her alarm, fear, and anger show. “I know who the traitor is, and we’re all in trouble.”
Shaw’s eyes hardened even as he cursed and shook his head.
She gestured impatiently at Cade. “Follow me to the dining room quickly, and bring him.”
Without waiting to hear his response, Phina turned and ran as fast as her enhanced body would carry her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gaitune-67, Spy Corps Headquarters and Base, Dining Room
Link’s heart sank as he heard the words coming out of the mouth of one of his oldest friends.
