by Celia Crown
“Everything stays in this room.” Matt locks eyes with me and I nod in understanding.
The girl, albeit very hesitantly, raises her small hands up to the headpiece and takes it off. It’s nothing too dramatic but my breath shudders in my chest at the messy mop of brown hair and brown doe-eyes.
Her pouty lips set in a frown. I resist the urge to kiss her, to run my hands in her hair.
She sets the mascot onto her lap and picks at the fur, “Everything?”
“Everything,” Matt confirms, and she nods gullibly.
The CIA is known for deception and she is a sheep in a wolf den, a burst of protectiveness hits me so strongly that I swallow back a growl at her naivety.
“Who are you?” I narrow my eyes at her.
She swallows and smiles sheepishly, “Uh, Camille?”
“Are you telling or asking,” I grunt.
She turns her eyes to the man beside her and I bark at her, “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”
“I-it’s Camille!” she nods her head quickly.
Suspicion claws at my analysis of the girl and I set my face in a furious glare that scares the shit out of her when she visibly bites back a squeal of fright, pushing her chair back until Matt stops her.
“I swear!” she hiccups and whines to Matt behind her.
“W-why’s he so mean?”
He simply ignores her, holding her chair so she doesn’t run him over.
“This is Grey, your biggest headache.”
She gasps and spins around, I catch a glimpse of betrayal in her eyes as she stammers in that sweet voice.
“Mattie, how could you just tell him that. I don’t want to get arrested or tortured! I’m tender!”
He forces her back around and I wheel my chair to sit in front of her, she’s trapped between the both of us with no escaping.
Grey is my biggest nuisance, but that mysterious identity became my second concern when the terrorist attack hit us. Before that, not one of my people had been closing to cracking down the mastermind of the internet. Grey is legendary in the darknet, any information can be found with the right price and she is the best one to go to when customers want guaranteed success and truthful information.
Grey is that frightening.
An independent entity; neither good nor evil, a variant on the continuum of black and white.
People are split in the middle, loving her service she provides in absolute discretion and the other half hates that she can invade privacy with a single stroke on a keyboard.
She makes my job much harder, hiding the names of those who use her service to get information. After they get the information, we have no way of tracking them or know if anyone has brought her service.
The CIA is in the dark when it comes to Grey, and I have harbored a resentment, yet I admire the immense knowledge she holds. It’s a type of talent that the Secret Service and Interpol would love to get their hands on.
To hell with them, I have her now.
“Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me.” I stare into her big eyes, fluttering lashes worriedly avoiding mine.
“I didn’t do anything,” she murmurs, smoothing down the white fur on the panda head.
I wrap my hand around her jaw and pinch to let her eyes meet mine. A whiff of something floral hits me as I lean in, feeling a thick swallow in her jaw when she whimpers.
“Thanks to you, we have no way of tracing criminals.” I glare at her, disappointment filling my voice as she tries to wedge her fingers between mine to ease the tension from the strength I’m using.
This girl, barely legal. Camille. Grey. One of the same, I have no doubt she is the one, Matt is one of the most trustworthy men in this government setting. Just in case, I want to test her because I can’t let my people fall into danger.
“Ask her anything, she will most likely know,” Matt suggests, pushing her chair closer so that our face is right in front of each other.
Her breath hitches, “Mattie, no.”
Matt can’t help her, she is going to listen to me if she knows what’s best for her.
I am not a kind or gentle man, I have interrogated many proven criminals to get information. My hands have been dirtied a long time ago, blood and agonized cries don’t bother me as much as it used to.
“October twenty-sixth, you created a code that blacked out three of Syntax International Bank branches.”
That was the time where the thief made off with ten million in cash, and they have been caught because they were stupid enough to brag about it on the darknet.
I never understand the stupidity that comes from criminals, especially when they had the chance of getting away with it.
“Answer him, Camille.” Matt’s voice cuts in.
Her eyebrows knot and she whines, “I plead the Fifth.”
“You have no rights here,” I tell her, and it’s the truth.
This space is closed off and no matter what she does, she is stuck here until I give the code into the system to lift the lockdown. I won't do that unless I am satisfied with the information I have on her.
“It’s so self-incriminating,” she murmurs, leaning back from me.
I glower deeply, “Now.”
She stutters in fear, “Some nameless man paid me one million for a code to knock out a specific security system, he wanted something that would leave the security tapes rolling for days before anyone knows that it’s a loop made from digital people. The iris system to the vault is hackable with that programming.”
That is a piece of information only a handful of people know, and they are all vetted for, so it can only make sense that she is Grey.
Camille whimpers, lifting up the panda head to half of her face and glancing at me with watery eyes, “Am I in trouble?”
“You committed a crime,” I said, uninterested at the guilty look on her face. “But, I will overlook your crimes under one condition.”
Her reaction is quick, and she sits up straight, paying close attention with that eager puppy look. Her attention feeds the desperation in me to have her constant interest, with a little tweaking, I can get her to be dependent on me.
Right now, she’s too free-spirited. I want to tame that freedom in her, so she will rely on me for everything. This twisted thought comes out of nowhere, I should be alarmed and cautious of her as she could be an enemy, but deep in my heart, I don’t give a shit.
“What is it, what is it?” she impatiently whispers as of she’s asking something very private between us.
“You work for me.” my proposition jerks her head back and she blinks with a conflicted look on her face.
She glances back at Matt, he remains passive at her inquiring gaze and I know he’s thinking that this is the best course of action. He may be a former CIA, but no one is truly retired from this field of work. Matt is going to do work on his own, flushing out the rest of the terrorist cell in his own methods that is too dangerous to have this girl with him.
“Mattie?” she says softly. “I don’t want to stay here.”
He looks down, “You must. Our country is under attack and you need to find out who is the mastermind.”
She meekly sighs, “I’m not that smart.”
Matt jumps in quickly, “You may be the first to die on the streets, but you will always be the winner in zeros and ones.”
Camille opens her mouth and shuts them, speechless as she turns back to me. She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t say what’s on her mind. She decides to go on a different route, to avoid the attention on the panda head when her hands squeeze around it.
“I can’t tell if you just complimented or insulted me.”
Matt clears his throat, “Take it however you see fit.”
He stands and put his hand on her shoulders when she makes a motion to stand too, I keep my hands on the chair handles to trap her escape from me. I can outrun her, overpower that fragile body, and I can outsmart her if her hands aren’t on a keyboard.
She’s vulnerable to everything else.
Good thing for her is that I am proficient in the areas she isn’t.
“W-where are you going?” panic seeps in her voice as she turns her upper body to look at him, shifting those perky tits to my face.
“I have matters to attend to, Mark will be your guardian for now.” Matt nods to me.
“You’re leaving me? Then, what’s this? Am I going to be tortured? I’m scared!” she whimpers wetly.
“You will be here tracking down the remaining terrorists. Do not worry about the legalities, I will have that taken care of. You have immunity from prosecution, and if the U.S. Attorney wish to bring charges against you, then they will have to find evidence of your crimes.”
Matt has a point, even if she is to be arrested, she hasn’t left any proof she even did anything illegal. It’s all speculation and rumors drifting in the darknet; people knew she did these things, but they have no definitive proof that she did them.
“Chain her,” Matt suggests, ignoring the indignant cry from her pink lips.
I cock an eyebrow at that. Her little wrists in chains would hold her down on my bed when I ravish her body, but that’s not what he has in mind.
“She knows how to hide.”
I don’t intend on letting her go unsupervised, national security aside, I have no confidence that I will be able to look away.
Getting my hands on her soft body is like touching a slice of heaven when she tries to get up to chase after the man. I growl lowly in my throat to warn her to stay put or else her ass will be on my lap, I don’t think she’s comfortable enough to do it yet, but I will do it if she forces my hands.
I use my free hand to tap the button below the meeting table, and everything begins to return to normal; the metal shield reverts back into the one-way window, the electronics go back online, and the door unlocks.
Matt walks out, leaving Camille in my grasp.
“When can I leave?” she asks tentatively.
I don’t have a definite answer for her.
Chapter Three
Camille
There are three things that I know since I came into the CIA headquarters yesterday. One, the rough-looking man has a bedroom connected to his office. Two, I didn’t do anything at all last night other than going to sleep with the man sitting in his office to block my exit. He didn’t outright say it, but I can tell that he’s sleeping at his desk just so I don’t try to escape from a whole building filled with roaming CIA agents. I’m good at making myself hidden, but I suck at any spy tactics.
The third thing I notice the moment I woke up is the man leaning over me, he’s the devil hidden in a stunningly sexy façade. If I wasn’t in an unfamiliar place, I would have swooned over how handsome he is and how my eyes are gifted such a presence in the early morning.
I’m not that lucky because he had demanded me to get up from his bed and took my elbow in his big hand to yank me up when I was still half awake.
He doesn’t have to be that rough, I know he has this macho man feel to him, but he’s so rude.
As if all of those aren’t bad, may I add that there are more people in his office with that identical face of a grouch. All in fine suits, the status of importance radiating from their authoritative figures.
I’m a girl who is barely legal, being in a room with people much older than me is bound to have some effect on me since the scariest person I have met was Mattie. Adding him in the room with my new guardian, Mark Hansen, I am in sensory overload.
Fear is the most dominant.
“Sign this.” Matt takes out two pages of stabled paper and sets it on the meeting table.
I see words, but I have no idea what they mean.
“I don’t want to sign this,” I said, and self-preservation kicking in as I feel eyes on me.
“It is for your own protection,” Matt said, fishing a pen out from his briefcase as he explains what the paper means.
“When you sign this, you have full immunity from prosecution. Any crimes you commit will be negated and no government agency will be able to touch you.”
I look up at his face, my body feels too exposed with my loose shirt and shorts. My socks barely cover anything as I curl my toes inside my pink slippers. He brought a loaded suitcase with my clothes and personal items in there so it’s safe to say that I will not be leaving this place soon.
“Uh, what will I be doing?” I ask, shivering from Mark’s heated gaze on my back.
“Purging,” Matt says like he is asking me to mow the lawn.
“Sign first, this is a matter of national security.”
I trust Matt even though it is my life that I’m signing over since it’s also my identity that they are using. Matt wouldn’t trick me into something that will eventually hurt me, and he always has my best interest in mind. He may look like a man who doesn’t care much about life, keeping his cards close to his vest, but he is the most standup man I have met.
This is another form of protection just in case anything happens to him.
I don’t understand what half of the things I’m seeing on the papers, but Matt says it’s okay, so I sign it. They can’t find my identity anyway, I take a lot of precaution when it comes to my privacy.
“These ladies and gentlemen are directors from every prominent agency, they are here with their signatures on the immunity contract as they will be held liable if they violate this deal,” Matt explains; however, he also doesn’t explain away the smoke of confusion in my head.
“Okay?”
“They have been briefed in this unique situation, your skills as Grey will be a great help to the purging. You will be flushing out all the corruption in this government, there will be another attack coming as the terrorists have announced it. We tried tracing It, but it was printed on newspapers with cash payment.” Matt takes back the papers, showing it to the line of people on the other side of the meeting table.
No one is seated, and I don’t want to be the only one sitting so I remain standing. I look like a midget around a wall of titans, and one of them is always fighting for my attention and Mark must know the effect he’s having on me since I’m trying very hard to not look at him.
He’s too attractive.
“The first attack on our soil comes from someplace within the government, however, it is a very large sector that we have no way of finding the unsub. We did manage to break one of the captives and she had let it slip in her words that she had insider information.” Matt clips the suitcase shut and curls his fingers around the handle.
“It is a complex situation, I prefer to keep you out of the details. This way you have plausible deniability.”
I furrow my brows, using this chance to get a good look around the people in the room. The office is on lockdown mode again, and no one seems bothered by the slightly claustrophobic feel going around.
Every government agency abbreviation is in the room, all with their own thoughts running through their mind as they stare at me for any way to understand me. A girl who is way too young to have the maturity in her to understand the concepts and things at stake for the country. And a girl who is supposed to be the notorious hacker that everyone hates and loves simultaneously, the government hates me for invading the privacy of others with a couple of strokes on the keyboard.
They fear that I have their information, and they should fear because it’s my insurance policy.
“They trust me to pick at their secrets?” I grimace.
Matt states plainly, “They don’t. They know the risks of letting you into their systems, however, they also understand that you have been in their systems already.”
I open my mouth to deny when he talks over me.
“You have all their personal information and skeletons, they believe that having you as their ally is worth the risk of being your enemy and being subjected to a wave of attacks that will be detrimental to the country after a terrorist attack.”
I clear my throat, pu
tting my hands on my hips and my palms pinch the shirt to ride up my thighs.
“Allegedly, Mattie. They can’t prove anything.”
Matt agrees, “It’s that allegation trait that keeps you protected, your other criminal allegiances will do whatever to protect their revenue. Without you, they will have to search for another form of anonymity that will never be the perfection you offer.”
I purse my lips, raising my eyes at his slick mouth. “Oh, really. Flattery isn’t going to make me self-incriminate.”
“You don’t have to say anything, everyone knows.” Matt smiles, that charming expression on his face means I have no say in this.
Not that I had any in the first place.
“How dark are you planning on keeping me in?” I ask.
Since I will be left in the dark on many things, I want to know what I can know just so I can cover my butt if a fire is lit under me.
“You just focus on flushing out traitors, you leave the rest to us.”
I make a noise in the back of my throat, “That’s it? No other information?”
“I prefer you have an unbiased view of this circumstance. Anything you find with connections to terrorism will be reported to Hansen, he will oversee your work. I trust you, but others do not. This way, we can avoid conflict over boundaries.”
Then all hell broke loose. The men and women at the table talk over each other, demanding from having a piece of the credit from me to their security being too vulnerable in my hands as I will be the downfall of the country.
I have no interests in world domination or any other schemes going on, the only reason I’m agreeing to this is that I also live in the United States and I want to be safe from the next attack.
Matt is the main reason why I didn’t say no to this whole ridiculous ordeal.
Mark will be my primary guardian, which means I will be spending most of my time with him and judging by the look he has on his when I turn to him, I need to get used to his stares.
Something dark is brewing deep in his eyes, simmering in the hues of a copper shade when the artificial lights hit him on a certain angle. I’m pretty sure he has dark brown eyes, but I could be wrong since I didn’t get close enough to romantically stare into his eyes.
