Crossing the Line

by Meghan Rogers

  Simmonds kept his face neutral, but his pupils dilated a fraction. “That’s classified.” My eyes narrowed in irritation and he sighed. “Jocelyn, I knew both of your parents very well. The three of us were among the IDA’s first agents. We helped get this place off the ground. And before that we worked together at the CIA. There’s a lot about them I can share with you, but I cannot discuss the work they did here.”

  “There has to be some information you can give me.” I pulled my fists tight against my sides. “I thought I knew what happened to her, and I don’t. I need something to go on.”

  Simmonds considered me carefully. “I can tell you that the work she did during those four years was in the development division,” he said. “But that’s it.”

  I met his gaze. I was still annoyed he’d kept this from me, but I believed right now he was telling me all he could. I ran a hand over my hair. “If it was development, then that has to be what KATO used her for.” It was all adding up.

  He tipped his head to the side. “I know you found your way around that facility. Do you really think she was in there and you had no idea?”

  “At that point, yes, I do,” I said. “I was eleven when she died and still afraid of them. They could have had her in the room next door and I never would have known.”

  He was quiet for a moment, then said, “If you have any questions about your father, I could try to answer those.”

  I shook my head harder than I meant to. He was out there, they were looking for him, and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to find him. I didn’t know how to be a daughter. And I’d worked for the enemy. I’d already let him down in more ways than I could count. So no. I didn’t want to know any more about him. I didn’t want to know all the other ways I’d disappointed him.

  Simmonds studied me for a moment. “I’m not going to stop you from researching, but I can’t give you anything more,” he said. “And if you keep digging, I’m fairly certain you’re not going to like what you find.”

  I swallowed hard. I believed he was being honest, but I had no intentions of giving this up. “I understand,” I said. “Thank you.”

  I stood up, ready to leave, but Simmonds stopped me. “Before you go, I have a few things I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”

  I sat back down.

  “I’ve been checking in on you,” he said. “Agent Elton and Dr. March have been keeping me well informed.”

  A small laugh got away from me. “I’m betting their reports have a lot of differences in them.”

  Simmonds smiled. “That’s putting it mildly. But at the moment, I have two concerns. The first being about what happened this morning.”

  I shook my head, annoyed. “Scorpion can’t tell me what to do.”

  “That’s not my issue,” Simmonds said. “We’re getting to the point where we’re going to be looking to put you in the field.” I sat up straighter. I hadn’t expected the conversation to go in this direction. “But I can’t do that if you can’t be honest about how you’re feeling. You become too much of a liability if the agency has to worry about you struggling with cravings on an assignment.”

  “You won’t. I’ll make sure it’s taken care of ahead of time.” I didn’t care how eager I sounded.

  “I need to know you can admit it when you’re craving the drug,” Simmonds said. “Until you can, we can’t believe you when you say you’re under control.”

  I pursed my lips, seeing a handful of other issues. “How are you even going to convince anyone to let me out in the field?”

  “That’s my problem,” Simmonds said. “Your job is to be ready when the time comes.”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I can work on that.”

  “Good.” He kept the conversation moving, barely acknowledging how hesitant I was. “Now for my second concern. Agent Elton’s reports spend a lot of time focusing on training room confrontations.”

  “His friends, aside from Nikki, like to push me,” I said before he could finish.

  “That’s not the part of the situation that concerns me. I knew putting you with other agents would lead to a certain level of conflict. My problem is that when talking to Agent Elton, I was left with the impression that you train either by yourself or with Agent Nikki Edwards, is that correct?”

  “Well, yeah,” I said with a small shrug. “She’s pretty much the only person who can stand to be around me.”

  A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “She tends to do that for a lot of people.” He thought for a moment. “Agent Edwards is good, but she’s not the kind of challenge you need if you’re going to be in top form for fieldwork. You’ll train with Elton from now on.”

  My defenses went up. “I’d rather be by myself.”

  “That may be, but you can’t challenge yourself the way an opponent can,” he said. I tried to argue, but he cut me off. “I need you to do this. I’m taking a risk keeping you here and pushing to have you in the field. I need you at your best.”

  I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms. He was right. I owed him. “You think he’s going to go for this?”

  “I don’t care what he wants. He’s the only person in this place who can give you a real workout and who won’t try to kill you if put in that kind of situation.”

  I gave him a doubtful look. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

  “He has the strongest sense of duty,” Simmonds said. “If I give him the assignment, he’ll carry it through.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to tell him or should I?”

  Simmonds stood and walked around his desk. “I’ll handle it. I called him down shortly before you showed up. He should be waiting outside.”

  “Can I stay and watch?” I asked, smiling at the thought.

  Simmonds tried to keep a straight face, but I caught him holding back a laugh. “I think it’d be better if I spoke with him alone. Send him in when you leave.”

  • • •

  I leaned against the wall across from Simmonds’s office, waiting for Scorpion to finish his meeting. I knew he’d be pissed, but if we had to work together, there was no point putting it off. A couple of girls had showed up after a few minutes. They seemed around my age and took it upon themselves to wait as far away from me as they could.

  It was about fifteen minutes before the door was flung open.

  Scorpion’s nostrils flared in frustration, which quickly turned to aggravation when he saw me. “What did you say to him?” The two girls at the end of the hallway glanced, wide-eyed, at each other, before skirting around Scorpion and disappearing into Simmonds’s office.

  “I didn’t say anything.” I shrugged innocently as the door shut behind him. “According to Simmonds, you were the one telling him about my training habits.”

  His shoulders tensed as his annoyance grew. He sauntered ahead of me and I kept pace with him. “We have to do this.” He was practically spitting. “He’ll be checking up on me.”

  “I’m not exactly thrilled about this either,” I said.

  He snorted. “Right. What do you have to complain about?”

  “Do you really think I want to spend time with you?” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I could see I’d surprised him. “We spent the last three years fighting each other. I don’t like you any more than you like me. And despite what Simmonds says, I don’t trust you not to kill me.”

  He kicked his jaw out and laughed. “If I wanted to kill you, Simmonds wouldn’t be able to stop me. And you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really, Travis? So all those times we squared off you just let me go?” He glared at me out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t speak. “China. Russia. Thailand. You weren’t actually trying to kill me there, is that what you’re saying?” Again, he stayed quiet. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

  I yanked on
the door to the training room, but Scorpion came up behind me and shoved it closed. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way.”

  I let my hand drop to my side. “Of course. Everything gets done your way.”

  He shook his head, his irritation increasing. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’ve wanted complete control from day one.” He gritted his teeth, but didn’t interrupt. “Now we’re doing what I say. If you don’t like it, you can fight me over it.”

  He ignored me. “There are private training rooms in the back. We’re going where no one can watch.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “You’re that embarrassed to be seen with me?”

  His lips were pressed together so firmly, they practically disappeared. I was on the very last of his extremely frayed nerves. “It’s bad enough we have to do this; I don’t want to spend the rest of today explaining myself to everyone else. Everything doesn’t have to go my way, but this does.”

  He stalked off down the hall, not bothering to wait for me. I followed him, more because not following would be seen as not cooperating, which he could use against me.

  The private workout room was like a smaller, slightly less equipped version of the gym. The walls and floor were covered with padded gym mats, and an assortment of weapons hung in a case on the upper half of the wall. There was also a punching bag in the corner, as well some other training equipment scattered around the edges of the room. Scorpion had taken off his sweatshirt and thrown it in the corner by the time I had caught up to him.

  He didn’t say anything else, he just rounded on me and rocked up on the balls of his feet, his arms bent in front of him waiting for a fight.

  I followed suit. I wasn’t much for playing defense but, in this case, I wanted to see what he was going to throw at me before I committed to anything. And I knew he was too impatient to wait me out. He lasted all of ten seconds before he threw the first punch, which I dodged easily. I swung a punch of my own, knowing he would sidestep, then I swiped my leg at his knees. He recovered in enough time to jump, but just barely. He hit me hard in the stomach. Harder than Nikki had earlier, and he didn’t feel even a little bit bad.

  I breathed tightly through my nose, pushing away the pain. I couldn’t slow down. I couldn’t show any weakness. He picked up the pace and I struggled to keep up. We traded punches and kicks, dancing across the mat. I lost track of everything—time, space, and even the addiction. Nothing else mattered. He was taking out years of pent-up frustration on me, and I had to fight to find the motivation or endurance to match his pace. I have no idea how long we were going at it before I finally got the upper hand. I grabbed Scorpion’s wrist, turned so my back was to him, then flipped him over my shoulder.

  But he was quick enough to grab my forearm. He slammed into the mat and used his momentum to pull me down with him, twisting me until we were both lying on our backs panting. Simmonds was right. It was the best workout I’d had since I got out of KATO.

  Scorpion didn’t rest for more than a moment. He popped up before I could get to my feet, and grabbed two wooden staffs that were stored on the wall with the other practice weapons. He tossed one at me as I stood, and I caught it just in time to keep it from hitting me in the face. “Let’s make this a little more interesting,” he said.

  I curled my fingers around the staff, shifting uneasily. I was breathing hard, feeling more winded than usual, but I refused to quit. Scorpion seemed faster than I was used to him being, but I could tell I was starting to wear him out. Still, he had caught his breath much more quickly than I had, and he didn’t wait for me to recover. He spun the staff at my head and when I moved to block it, he flicked his wrist and swung at my side. I pulled my staff down, just stopping his from colliding with my ribs. I jabbed it back into Scorpion’s stomach but it didn’t slow him down. He retaliated quickly, striking my side, and this time I couldn’t avoid it. My rib cage throbbed. He hit me so hard I wouldn’t have been surprised if a rib was broken.

  He cut up and chopped at my collarbone, but I dodged it just enough to lessen the impact. My breathing was more labored than ever, and the pain in my ribs was making it worse. He pulled the staff back and pushed it toward me, aimed at my throat. I caught it just in time. The two staffs pressed on each other, and the pain in my side spread through my torso.

  I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood. It was the only thing keeping me from crying out. I struggled to push back as I realized my vision had started to blur.

  Then something flickered in Scorpion’s face and he lifted the staff. I was about to relax when he swung down, swiping at my legs and taking them out from under me. I slammed down onto my back, every muscle throbbing.

  Scorpion pressed the base of the staff into the ground and leaned over me. I could barely make out his arrogant face in between the stars. “Don’t you ever think for a second that I can’t take you.”

  He started to walk away from me, and I swung my staff, hitting his knees and bringing him down next to me. “And don’t you ever think that means you’ve won.”

  He pushed himself off the ground, still pissed, and strutted out of the room. I stayed down, trying to catch my breath and find the strength to move.

  I was way more out of shape than I realized.

  Chapter Nine

  HOW THE DAY ENDS

  My ribs hurt for the rest of the night. I knew I should go to Dr. March—especially after my talk with Simmonds, but it was that same conversation that held me back. I needed to get into the field to get closer to my mission. To do that, I needed to be training with Scorpion, and I needed to develop some level of trust among the other agents. That was never going to happen if I went to March with something like this. There wasn’t anything she could have done for me anyway. I knew enough about rib injuries to know they were only bruised.

  My room came with a small fridge, which had a freezer full of ice, so I strapped several bags around my torso to ease the swelling. The afternoon wasn’t a total loss. I had more power over Scorpion than he liked to think. I could push him, and I knew I could get to him enough to make him snap. I was close today. Scorpion didn’t want this on Simmonds’s radar any more than I did, otherwise I was sure my ribs would be broken. Getting my ass kicked wasn’t exactly how I wanted to use this power, but given time, I’d find a way to make it work to my advantage.

  I still had trouble sleeping in the bed, but that night it felt good to stretch out on something soft. I fell asleep propped up against the wall at an awkward angle and, when I did, I dreamed I was back at KATO.

  “For some of you, this will be your last fight,” one of the other handlers said. I was thirteen and there were ten of us who had been training together. We were paired off. He circled us, barking orders, while the other handlers watched from the side. My handler, Chin Ho, stood staring at me, evenly. This was a fight designed to weed out the weaker trainees. The winners got to become field agents. The losers ended up dead.

  Chin Ho held out a vial for me to see, and I understood. It was more than just my life I was fighting for. It was Gerex.

  A whistle blew and the battle began. I was paired against Stinger, a girl from France. A girl who I had lived with for the past five years. We weren’t close, but we weren’t enemies either. At least, not until now.

  She made the first move, swinging and knocking me back. I punched her in her face, stunning her for a second, before she came back with a low roundhouse kick. She swept me off my feet, then kicked me repeatedly in the stomach. I’d let her get the drop on me. I couldn’t breathe and I knew this was how I was going to die.

  Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chin Ho, still standing against the wall, shaking the vial of Gerex. I needed it. I cared about winning the drug more than I did living. And I would do whatever necessary to get it. I grabbed Stinger’s foot midkick and yanked it out from under her. She hit t
he ground hard. I was in too much pain to get up, so instead I snaked over to her, put my forearm against her throat, and pressed all of my weight into her until she stopped breathing.

  I jolted upright so fast that my side injuries ached as much as they did when I was thirteen. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and worked on leveling out my heart. That had been my first kill. And that night I had been too high to care.

  It was nearly morning, and there was no way I’d sleep after that. I pushed the negative parts of the dream out of my mind and focused on what I could do about it. By the time I was done with KATO, no one would ever go through what I had.

  • • •

  I was ready for Scorpion the next morning, but was surprised when I opened my door. Cody stood in front of me with his arms crossed. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’re mine today, Viper.” His voice was cold and aggressive. “I won’t have the same restraint Travis does.”

  I sighed. “The threats are starting to get a little old.” I gave him a once-over, taking him in differently from how I had before. He was smaller than Scorpion and, based on everything I’d seen in the gym, he was slower too. I could take him easily, even with a bruised rib. “Where’s Scorpion?”

  Cody shook his head once. “It’s none of your business.”

  I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe, doing my best impression of calm. “He’s my designated sparring partner, so I think it’s a little bit of my business.”

  He clenched his teeth. “He’s on a mission.”

  “Good for him,” I said. “But what none of you seem to get is that I don’t need to be guarded. Scorpion is supposed to help me. If he’s not here, I can manage on my own at this point.”

  His lips pressed into a line. “We don’t trust you, Viper. You have to know that. And Travis said that he was supposed to guide you until your first mission. Now, if you don’t come with me, I have to believe that you have something to hide. Is that the case?”