Her heart stuttered, but the spark of hope remained, like a tiny flare illuminating a black hole. “What can we do?”
He reached for the St. Jude medal nestled between her breasts. Pulled it out and focused on the silver oval. “Say something.”
“What … what should I say?” She flicked a glance at the cockpit.
“Say something from your heart.” Gianni continued to stare at the medal with unblinking intensity. Beads of sweat had formed along his hairline. “Something we’ll both remember.”
She ached to reach for him, to brush back his hair and soothe the lines around his eyes. But her hands couldn’t move.
So she did what she could. She clung to the flare of hope, opened her heart, and made a wish. “Run away with me.”
Chapter 33
“Come.” Command sat at her floating desk, hands folded on the shiny surface. Second, in a dark gray suit, stood beside her.
Anika willed herself forward on feet that couldn’t tell the difference between the hardness of the elevator floor and the softness of the gel-padded carpet.
Their eyes skimmed over her and seemed to catalog every detail, from the loose strands of hair that had escaped her braid, to the worn sandals that exposed the tops of her feet.
She had re-entered the nightmare where every movement, every gesture was tracked, recorded, assessed. No place for physical or mental weakness. She had to act and look like an agent back from a successful mission who was ready to debrief and take on a new assignment.
She stopped next to the leather chair that had pulsed with unnerving warmth the last time she had used it.
“Sit,” Command said. “Before you fall.”
So much for pretending to be in control.
Second’s shoe tapped a staccato rhythm. “We tracked you as far as the truck stop. That’s when your chip stopped transmitting. Why didn’t you follow protocol and proceed to the nearest safehouse?” Her words kept pace with the tap-tap-tap of her foot.
Remembering Gianni’s advice before they had landed, Anika returned fire with fire. “Why did you send Salazar after me?”
As if she hadn’t spoken, Second continued, “After you left the truck stop, you proceeded southeast to Red Robin safehouse where you attempted contact with Gianni. Why didn’t you report in to me, as instructed?”
“I believed that Salazar had been sent to kill me. Standard protocol was no longer in play.”
“You were wrong. Salazar wasn’t sent to kill you. After the explosion at Midway, your tracking chip was still active. Salazar knew you had survived. If we hadn’t sent him after you — to retrieve, not to kill — he would have suspected something. We tried contacting you, but you didn’t respond.”
“My ear comm was dead. It failed during the mission. I tried using it to get confirmation of the egress. I barely made it out alive.”
“But you did make it out,” Second said. “With Gianni’s help. Isn’t that right?”
“I don’t understand why you changed solos,” Anika countered. “What happened to Lyon?”
“We believed Gianni was suspicious about the timing of the Lyon mission. So we changed your solo to Midway.”
“Why wasn’t I told that?” Her torso and limbs started to tingle.
“Any potential communication from you to Gianni had to be convincing. He had to believe that you believed your life was in danger. It was better you weren’t informed.”
“What if I hadn’t gotten Gianni’s message? Hadn’t understood it?”
Second’s eyes narrowed. “The computer calculated a sixty-two-point-three percent probability of success.” Her words fell like chips of ice. “That was acceptable.”
“Acceptable?” Anika burst out. “To whom?”
“To me.” Command’s tone was quiet. “Do you want something to take the edge off?”
Anika shook her head. She didn’t want drugs. She wanted answers. “What if Salazar had retrieved me? What kind of discipline would I have been given for yet another failed mission? My reputation was already in the sewer, even before Midway.”
“That’s why we made sure Salazar didn’t succeed,” Second said.
If Anika’s brows could have lifted, they would have. “You made sure?”
“Of course,” Second replied. “Who do you think sent Babbitt?”
“Babbitt?”
“The red-haired vagrant. The one who intercepted Salazar and created the diversion with the truckers. We borrowed her from another U.N.I.T. so Salazar and Mac wouldn’t recognize her.”
Anika’s anger fired up as she recalled Mac’s confession on the plane. “Then what about Mac blowing up the truck? How did you save me from that?” The tingling intensified and spread to her feet and hands. “Did you program me for a piss so I’d be far enough away when the bomb detonated?”
“What bomb?” Second asked.
“I retrieved a fragment from the debris. A prototype.”
“Where is it?”
“In my knapsack. Underneath the false bottom.”
“What knapsack?”
“The one that I had in Cuba. Mac and Salazar must have brought it back.”
“They turned in only the gear and weapons they were given. And Gianni’s bag. No knapsack.”
“That’s impossible. It was lying on the floor of the cottage.”
Command and Second stared at her, unyielding.
She mentally curled her hands into fists. This exchange was getting her nowhere. Without proof, they’d never back down. “When Salazar showed at the truck stop,” she said, “I didn’t know he had been sent to retrieve me. The safest course of action was to proceed with the escape plan. Pretend to be on the run and keep trying to contact Gianni.”
“Once Gianni helped you through the solo, your mission was accomplished,” Second said. “Your orders were to contact us and wait for retrieval at the nearest safehouse.”
“I understood my mission was to prove Gianni had helped me,” Anika said. “The message about meeting at The Truck Stop restaurant was insufficient evidence. Gianni didn’t deliver it himself.” Anika paused, reluctant to reveal that she had gotten the message from Evan.
Did they already know that? Was that why a gaunt-faced stranger with downy whiskers and translucent blue eyes had been sitting at Evan’s station in Hub?
Anika remembered what Gianni had told her on the plane, his guess that Second and Command had already tried to confirm his alibi. “If you check the restaurant’s records for the night of the solo, you’ll find a reservation under J. Jones for twenty-one hundred hours. And if you check the restaurant’s security discs — ”
“Security discs can be altered.”
They had checked. Gianni had guessed right. “And souvenir videos can be patched.”
Command stiffened and Second’s lips pulled taut.
Anika took in a slow breath to avoid rushing her next words. “I persuaded Gianni to meet me in Havana. The message I sent him from The Paradiso in Miami — I made sure you would hear about it.”
“How?” Second demanded.
“I researched the owner, Jorge Lopez. Information is his trade.” Not a blink, not a flicker from either Second or Command at her mention of Jorge. Oh yes, he had found a buyer for the message she had sent from the hotel room.
“So all this time,” Second said, her mouth a scarlet-hued twist, “you’ve been trying to get proof of Gianni’s disloyalty.”
“Correct. Once Gianni made contact, I intended to bring him back.”
“You expect us to believe this?” Second’s perfectly arched brows lifted a fraction.
“You’ve seen the retrieval mission discs.” Anika calculated that the images from the fight in the cottage had already been relayed, reviewed, and analyzed while she and Gianni were flown back. “I had planned a more subtle scenario. But when Mac and Salazar showed,” she continued, wishing she could lift her right shoulder in a casual-looking shrug, “I had to do the takedown right then.”
“Yes, the fight looked realistic.” Command steepled her fingers, elbows on chair arms. “Almost convincing.”
“The bullet was real enough. But Mac and Salazar didn’t believe I was still on mission. So I tried to subdue them and complete my assignment. While I didn’t succeed in that part, I’m back. My mission is over.” She straightened in the chair, jutted her chin forward. “And I want what I’ve been promised. My freedom.”
Her entire body sizzled like a jumble of live wires. Fingers and toes jerked involuntarily as feeling returned. She licked her upper lip and tasted salty sweat. She knew her story was weak, but she resisted the impulse to say more, to over explain, to defend.
Second’s foot had started up another staccato dance on the carpet. She opened her mouth.
Anika’s heart sank. She didn’t think she had the strength for another round.
Command lifted her hand to the silver star on her earlobe. “Fine.” She nodded at Second. “He’s ready for you.”
Second shot a look at Anika that she couldn’t read. Excitement? Triumph?
A buzz that had nothing to do with the after effects of the laser raced up her spine. “He” could refer to any number of people — trainees, operatives, hostiles.
The petite woman strode past her.
The elevator doors hissed open, then closed.
It can’t be Gianni. Medics had been waiting for him with a scanner bed at the final security checkpoint into the complex. He was safely in Clinic, wasn’t he?
Command swiveled away from Anika and reached for something in the low console against the wall. She rose from her chair and stepped down from the platform. “Here.” The commander held out a glass of clear, sparkling liquid. “This will blunt the discomfort, not your senses.” She placed the rim against Anika’s lips and tilted.
The liquid effervesced in Anika’s mouth and evaporated on her tongue before she could swallow. The effect was like magic. Black magic.
Command stepped back up on the platform and settled a hip on the desk’s edge.
The jangling in Anika’s limbs and torso softened to a pleasant tingle and her heart resumed its normal rhythm.
“Bombing the truck wasn’t our idea,” Command said.
The admission startled Anika. Keep your mark off guard, until you’re ready to strike. Is that what Command was doing with her?
“Mac improvised.” Command spoke into the silence. “Not his best skill.”
Command’s words didn’t sync with Mac’s. Whom could she trust?
“What about the intel leak to the First Aryans?” Anika asked. “That I was responsible for destroying their planned attack in Ohio?”
“Intel leaks, both true and false, are unavoidable. You’ve been here long enough to know that.” Command looked up from the glass. “You’ve handled yourself well during this mission. Your ingenuity and persistence were exceptional. Even Second was surprised.” Anika stared as a hint of a smile appeared on Command’s lips. “Not an easy accomplishment.”
“Does that mean I’ve earned my freedom?”
“It means you’ve earned another chance within U.N.I.T.” Command lifted a hand to silence her. “Hear me out. A few more years in the field and you could be eligible for a significant promotion yourself. Perhaps even Command of your own U.N.I.T. Provided you curb your rebellious streak.”
Anika forced herself to count off a few heartbeats. “That wasn’t our deal.” She kept her voice steady. “I want what’s owed me.”
“The top position offers many privileges.” Command picked up the glass and appeared to study it. “Your choice of residence. Unrestricted travel. Some Commands even maintain relationships on the outside. Many things are possible.”
Where was Gianni? Had he already been offered his choice of discipline? Was Second briefing him on the solo?
Command banged the glass down on the desk and pushed herself to a standing position. “What kind of freedom do you think you’ll have once you leave here?” Her voice was granite. “You must know you’ll be caught at some point. You can’t run and hide forever. The attempt by the First Aryans was only a taste of what your life will be like. Even though we’ll change our protocols, reducing the value of your knowledge, they’ll still extract it from you. It won’t be pleasant, and once they’re through, you’ll be dead. Or worse.”
Anika tilted her head and slanted her gaze upward. This was the Command she knew, the talk she expected. “Is this the standard speech for Command recruitment?” she asked. “If so, it could use some work.”
Command’s face shut down. She turned on her heel and walked to the window that looked out over Hub. “Report to Interrogation.”
“Not debriefing?”
“Debriefing is for clean operatives.”
“What then? Will you honor our arrangement?” Anika stood, her sandals sinking into the padded floor.
“Are you in such a hurry to begin a life of running and hiding?” When Anika didn’t respond, Command said, “Very well. But first, let’s see whether the interrogation session and follow-up analysis confirm what you’ve told us. Go.”
Chapter 34
The door to the interrogation room slid open.
Anika lifted her chin and straightened in her chair in the middle of the stark white space. Bring it.
A woman with glossy brunette curls and curves as treacherous as a slick racetrack stood on the threshold.
Anika didn’t recognize her.
“Well, if it isn’t Lady Lazarus.” Sarcasm danced through the woman’s exquisite British accent.
“Evan?” Anika could barely absorb the vision of breasts, hips, and thighs poured into a metallic blue hyper-mini dress.
A seductive smile played across the fine-boned features of U.N.I.T.’s tech prodigy. She strutted into the room on lethally spiked heels. Halfway toward Anika, she tripped and grabbed the back of a chair to save herself, ruining her dramatic entrance.
“Bloody shoes.” She plopped down on a hard seat and looked up at Anika who pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. “Laugh all you want, my sweet, but this camo worked. Especially these.” She cupped the breasts three sizes larger than normal. They almost leapt out of the low-cut dress.
“Been playing with the props in Wardrobe?” Anika asked.
“They are part of my cover,” Evan said. “The mark fell for them — and me — like a sack of plutonium. He’s spilling his guts in the next room.”
“You accepted a sweetheart mission?”
“Second tricked me into taking it. She knows the one thing I can’t resist — a double dare. Must work on that.” Evan rolled her eyes and tugged off her wig. Her own hair lay flat against her scalp. “Can’t wait to get back to normal.” She glanced down at her fake breasts. “Think I’ll hang on to these for a bit longer, though. Mac really likes them.”
“Mac?” The room seemed to tilt. “You and Mac?”
“It’s nice to have someone to play with around here.” Evan shrugged and her breasts jiggled precariously above the dress’s low neckline.
“I noticed a new guy at your station in Hub.”
“I call him Spook. Thinks he’s some kind of genius.” Evan snorted. “Second said it was just until my mission was over. But I think the bitch is trying to teach me a lesson. Because of the special account.”
Anika’s eyes darted around the room and her muscles tensed.
“Don’t worry.” Evan lifted one foot. The room lights glinted on the shiny metal heel. “My newest invention. It disturbs frequencies within a three-meter radius. We’ve got a few minutes while they try to restore audio.”
“Second found out about the account?”
“Had it shut down right after I made that last withdrawal.” Evan continued studying her heel, turning it right, then left. “Hope you enjoyed the bender.”
“I wanted to tell you.” Anika bit down on her lower lip.
Evan twirled the wig around her finger, studying Anika. “That’s okay. I know how things wor
k around here.” She stopped twirling. “Besides, I guessed something was up. Gianni would never let you take a solo.”
“Do you know if a new solo is being planned?” Fear prickled the back of her neck. “Could that guy … Spook, be working on one?”
“Not a chance. I was just over there, checking up on him.” Evan grabbed the enormous breasts again. “Put these right into his face while I leaned over his monitor. Poor bugger turned scarlet. He was working up routine scenarios.”
“I have to see Gianni. Any chance you can get me into Clinic for a quick visit?”
“Gianni’s not in Clinic.”
“What do you mean? I saw the medics take him.”
“They’ve transferred him to D zone.”
Anika recalled Command’s threat about D zone, her chilling comment that exile would be preferable. She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a tense whisper. “What happens in D zone?”
“No one knows. Super classified.” Evan shifted in her seat. Her fingers crushed the wig’s curls.
“Evan … ” Anika gripped the edges of the chair. Some part of her mind registered the feel of cold metal. “Gianni told me Level Threes get to choose between a solo or exile.”
“D zone is reserved for experiments.” Evan plucked a strand of hair from the wig.
“Experiments?” Anika swallowed hard. “What kind?”
“You want my advice? Take your bloody freedom and get the hell out of here.”
“They won’t just let me walk out of here. They’re probably prepping the exile chamber right now.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Your escape from a solo has boosted morale. No one understands how you did it. Word is that you cut a deal with Command.” She quirked a dark-tinted brow at Anika, who didn’t respond. “Yeah, okay,” she continued, “the other agents are saying if you could do it, maybe they can, too. Stupid optimistic fucks, but there you have it.”
“You don’t want out of here? Ever?”
“I’m not like you, my sweet, dreaming of a life on the outside, with a man, a house, kids.” She stopped as Anika sucked in a breath. “Where else can I hack into top security systems, blow up buildings, invent stuff … ” She paused and lifted her shoe again. “Without ending up with a guy like Salazar as my cellmate?”
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