Centipede squared herself to me. “You are asking me to risk everything!”
“All right, one thing at a time,” my dad said, talking over us before another fight could break out. “As far as the mission goes, it looks to me that Misty volunteered to do a job none of you could do, and that you two”—he pointed at Centipede and Venom—“were ready to cut her off the instant it wasn’t done perfectly.” He was wearing an expression similar to the one Travis had after our first mission as partners.
“Yes, that is what needed to be done,” Venom said, bowing her head. “She is a problem.”
Misty opened her mouth to defend herself again, but my dad didn’t give her the chance. “Misty got into that safe and got us intel that we would not otherwise have had.”
“She almost got us caught,” Centipede said. “How can we go into a KATO building with her?”
“It could have happened to any of you.” I had forgotten how much patience my dad could have when the situation called for it. “You’re on a team now. You don’t abandon your team—especially in the field. You help each other.”
Centipede crossed her arms. “You can’t expect me to risk my life for someone—especially someone who doesn’t tell the whole story.” She glared at me.
“What do you want from me?” I asked her. “I needed your help and I was afraid none of you would sign on if you knew the director was poking around!” I hadn’t meant to be so honest, but she had finally pushed me.
The three of them stared at me evenly.
“How long have you known?” Misty asked. Her eyebrows arched, pointedly.
I bit my tongue, wishing I could take it all back. But it was too late. “Since we pulled Eliza out of the safe house.”
Centipede’s eyes narrowed as her anger intensified. “Before you brought any of us into this.”
I swallowed but forced myself to nod. “I needed you on board,” I said. “My focus was on getting to KATO and this seemed like the best way.”
“If that is your goal, I could kill him,” Venom said, with a shrug. “You just have to find him for me.”
“That won’t solve our bigger problem,” I said. Centipede opened her mouth again but I talked before she could. I couldn’t hear any more from her right now. “We need a break.” My dad looked at me sharply, and I shook him off before he could disagree. “Just an hour to clear our heads.” We were talking circles and going nowhere.
He still looked like he wanted to say something, but Nikki, who had obviously been eavesdropping, appeared in the kitchen door. “If anyone is interested,” she said, “there’s training equipment in the basement. I found it while you guys were out.”
Venom considered her for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I would enjoy hitting something.”
“I don’t think we’re finished with this,” Centipede said. I shot her a weary look, and my dad stepped up to back me.
After a tense glare, Centipede followed Venom into the kitchen and toward the basement door.
“Is there room to run?” Misty asked.
Nikki shrugged. “It’s tight, but you could probably make it work.”
She joined the others, leaving me and my father alone.
“I understand what you’re trying to do,” he said, “but I’m not sure you have an hour to waste.”
“We need to be able to go after the serum together and we are never going to get there like this,” I said. “I need to talk to them, but they’re not listening to me. I need a new approach, and I need them not to be here while I think this through.”
My dad nodded. “I guess giving them time to cool down couldn’t hurt.”
“At the very least, I’ll be more prepared to handle them,” I said with a grimace. I really wasn’t sure it would change anything. “For now, I’ll start going over the blueprints. At least that way the hour won’t be a complete waste.”
“All right. I’m going to monitor the situation downstairs. I don’t want Nikki left alone with them,” he said. “I’ll check in with you before we regroup.”
I nodded as he left, appreciating that I could finally hear my own thoughts.
• • •
I had the prints spread across the coffee table. I’d taken the hour to page through them and do my best to get a rough understanding of the building. The deeper I got into this, the more detrimental the disagreement with the girls felt. I needed to win them back. But I knew better than anyone how fragile trust amongst KATO agents was. There was a chance I’d done too much damage.
“You ready to try this again?” my dad asked from the kitchen threshold.
“I’m honestly not sure,” I said.
He crossed the room and sat down next to me, taking in the blueprints on the table. “You know we got so caught up with the excitement earlier, we never talked about what you came away with.”
I smiled lightly. “Yeah, I guess the mission was a success. And we didn’t just get the prints. We also learned that the building has an issue with security.”
“If you can find the flaw, you can use the weakness to get inside.”
I slid back, pulling away from the plans. “Though none of that will matter if I can’t get them on the same page again.”
My dad nudged my knee reassuringly. “You will.”
I glanced at him uncertainly. “What makes you so sure?”
“Well,” he said, shrugging. “They’re all still here.”
I tilted my head, letting his words sink in. “They are, aren’t they?’
He smiled. “Yeah.”
He was right. If they were still here, they had to want this to work on some level. That meant I still had a chance. I scanned the blueprints again. “Still, we don’t have a lot of time. We need to find the security problem and take advantage of it before it gets fixed.”
My dad shifted, running his hand along his jaw uncomfortably. “I’ve been trying really hard to let you do your job here, but I’m not going to be okay with you rushing into a KATO facility—with only KATO agents as backup—because you think you’re on a clock.”
I bit my lip hard, because his concern was perfectly valid. But we needed this serum. There wasn’t time for my fears. “We are on a clock,” I said. “And I can handle it.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to handle it, but I could.
His mouth formed a thin line and I kept my attention on the papers so I didn’t have to look at him. “What’ll happen to you if you get caught?” he asked. “Or if one of those girls downstairs turns you in?” I closed my eyes, desperate to keep my mind away from that place, but my dad pushed. “I believe they want to be here,” he said. “But if something goes wrong, I don’t trust them to help you. If it’s between them or you, they’re going to look out for themselves. Tonight was proof enough of that.”
I thought about Eliza, and of the damage KATO could do. “It doesn’t matter. I can handle myself. We need this serum.”
“It does matter.” Something flared in his eyes, but he quieted it quickly. “You still won’t tell me what happened to you in there.” I tensed immediately, afraid of what might come next. “I’m not asking about it again,” he said, reading me. “You’ve made yourself clear. But the fact that you won’t talk says plenty.”
“I’m good enough to do this,” I said, speaking through my teeth. I needed to do this. KATO was too close to too much power.
“I believe you are. But not rushed and not alone like you are now.” He leaned closer, as if to be sure I heard what he was saying. “I know you’re in this to help Eliza and stop KATO, and I want you to do those things. But not at your own expense.” He met my eyes fiercely. “You may be fearless, but I’m not. And I will not lose you again.”
I drew a sharp breath, trying to sift through the series of emotions that came with what he was saying. It was too much at once, and I couldn’t find the right words—or any words.<
br />
“Whether you find the flaw or not, you need to make a sound plan. Doing this any differently is too dangerous and I will tie you down to keep you here if I have to.” He stood and headed back for the kitchen. “For now, we’ll focus on getting this team back together. But you need to think this through.”
I watched him go, struggling to keep up with everything he had just said, but I did my best to push it aside once his footsteps faded. I had a more crucial conversation to prepare for.
Chapter Twenty-Five
RESTORED
While I didn’t appreciate that my father had threatened to hold me back from an assignment, it meant a lot that he cared enough to try. It also didn’t hurt that he was right. Racing into the facility without a solid plan was stupid. Repairing things with Centipede, Venom, and Misty was the first step to doing this right, and I was prepared to do whatever I had to—even if it meant being completely honest with them.
I stood when I heard them coming up the stairs. The three of them entered the room looking sweaty, but no less angry than they had an hour ago.
I stepped aside, gesturing to them to take the couch.
Centipede crossed her arms. “I’d rather stand.”
She was still looking for a fight, but I wasn’t going to give it to her.
“If you didn’t want this to work, you’d already be gone,” I said, arching my eyebrow. “So let’s sit and figure this out.”
Her lips pursed, but she didn’t move. After a moment, Misty caved and took a seat, followed closely by Venom. Centipede glared at them, annoyed, but joined them with a huff.
Once they were settled, I sat down in the chair closest to Misty.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Jin Su,” I said. They stayed quiet, but I knew I had surprised them. “I was asking a lot from each of you, and you should have known exactly what you were signing up for.”
Each of their expressions held some combination of shock and uncertainty. Centipede recovered first. “I don’t know how you can expect us to follow you anywhere.”
“Would it help if I said you were right?” I stunned her back into silence. At KATO we didn’t admit defeat in any form. Not ever. It was seen as another sign of weakness. And I’d just done it for the second time in this conversation. “I didn’t really trust you. I wanted to, but—” I shook my head. My reasons were too complicated and ultimately beside the point. “But I’m trusting you now. And I’m hoping you’ll trust me too.”
“Must we trust everyone?” Venom asked, glaring at Misty.
Misty’s head whipped around, but I spoke before she could.
“Yes,” I said. “Because the only way we’re going to survive is if we protect each other. We’re teammates, and teammates have each other’s backs no matter what.” I met each of their eyes. “Misty may have been the reason those guards came to that office, but something like that could have happened to any one of us. The only thing that gets you kicked out of this group is betrayal.”
Again, there was another long silence. They were quiet for so long I was beginning to grow concerned. Then Centipede spoke.
“So,” she said, talking slowly. “If I agree to this, how would it work?”
I tried not to smile. The fact that she was asking this at all meant I all but had her. “We look out for one another. If one of us is in trouble, we help—we don’t blame or threaten to cut someone out.” They were watching me so intently they didn’t seem to be blinking. “We consider each other before we act. If something happens and plans need to be changed mid-mission, you don’t make any decision until you consider how it would affect each of us. And we don’t keep intel from each other.”
“That goes for you too?” Misty asked, eyeing me skeptically.
I nodded. “It does.” Obviously, that wouldn’t apply to IDA secrets, but if I had intel that was relevant to them, I would share it.
“Okay, then,” she said, relaxing into the couch.
“If I see someone trying to hurt one of you,” Venom said, “I will stop them.”
“Right.” I smiled lightly. “You should.”
I turned to Centipede, eyeing her pointedly.
She sighed, resigned. “Your terms are acceptable.”
I held her gaze. “You won’t regret this.”
“We’ll see about that after this mission,” she said, shifting forward. “What have you found out about the building?”
I walked them through what little I had worked out on my own, highlighting my intent to find the weakness if we could and build a plan around that. My dad had interrupted us shortly after, suggesting that we work in shifts, with one team studying the prints while the second team rests. This way we’d have people working on this around the clock. He had also proposed himself, Centipede, and Venom for the first shift. I started to argue, but he pushed the issue, and I’d had enough fighting for one day. So I caved and led my group up the stairs while the others got to work.
• • •
It was nearly four in the morning when we went to sleep, so it was almost noon when we got up. My dad briefed me on what they’d found, which wasn’t much. Whatever the security issue was, it was difficult to nail down. However, they were able to isolate a few areas of weakness, if we ended up needing a different plan of attack.
Nikki, Misty, and I got to work at once. We passed pages back and forth, taking turns to make sure nothing got missed. I had done my best to learn everything I could about reading blueprints, but nothing seemed to tip me off to the problem that Jin Su had found.
“I don’t know,” Nikki said after a few hours. We had looked at these blueprints a million different ways, and I was going cross-eyed from all of the lines and symbols. “This security looks perfect.”
“It can’t be,” I said. “Jin Su’s emails were too insistent for that to be true.”
“It’s not surprising that it’s so complex,” Misty said. “It took KATO this long to find.”
I fought the urge to pull my hair out. “We don’t even have days, let alone the years it seems to have taken them.”
A rhythmic beep shot through the room, making me freeze. I isolated the sound quickly. It was coming from the front door. Someone was trying to access the house.
I jumped to my feet and moved swiftly to the weapons case on the other side of the room. I had a gun in my hand just as the door opened. I whirled around, gun out, ready to fire.
“Whoa!” It was Travis. He had his hands up, eyeing me cautiously.
I pointed my gun at the floor and glared at him. “What are you doing here? And why are you sneaking in like this?”
“Yeah, Scorpion,” Nikki said. She had a hand on Misty’s arm, keeping her from joining me at the weapons case. “What are you doing here?” Travis narrowed his eyes in exasperation. “Oh, look at the time! We should go—call Command and give him an update.” Nikki flashed a smile at me and grabbed Misty, pulling her to her feet.
“What?” Misty asked, startled. “Who is that?”
Nikki gathered half the blueprints and pushed Misty toward the stairs. “Just come with me. We have work to do.” Misty was so confused, she didn’t seem to be able to do anything other than what she was told.
I turned to Travis once they were gone, trying to decide how to feel. I hadn’t liked doing this without him, but I also hadn’t forgotten that he was the one who asked not to come.
He shrugged uncertainly. “I heard you needed help.”
“I do need help.” There was no point in denying it. We were dealing with KATO. “But I don’t want to fight you for it.”
His eyes settled on me, his face open and honest. “I didn’t come here to fight. Really.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You know there are still three KATO agents upstairs, right? Venom included.”
He put his hands on his hips. “Can you please not make this hard
er than it has to be?”
I watched him for a moment, weighing my options. On some level, I wanted to be stubborn and send him away, but a bigger part of me hated that idea. So I nodded. “Fine.” I put the gun away and came back to the couch. He followed my lead.
I let the quiet settle before speaking again. “I’m really surprised you showed up. You were dead against it when I left.”
He let out a sigh so deep it could only have been fueled by exhaustion. “Yeah, well, you didn’t seem to want me anywhere near this.”
My forehead tightened. “What are you talking about?”
He squinted at me, like he couldn’t tell if was serious or not. “I wouldn’t blame you. After how I acted, I understand.”
“Travis, I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, racking my brain
He twisted so his shoulders were squared to me. “I said I wasn’t coming and you didn’t put up a fight,” he said. “What else was I supposed to think?”
It never occurred to me he would see it like this. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and lacing my fingers together. “I did want you here. Badly.” I couldn’t look at him when I spoke. I felt too exposed. “But if you didn’t want to be a part of this, I wasn’t going to beg you.” I paused, summoning the strength to continue. “I didn’t like when you weren’t around.”
He squeezed my forearm, and I pulled my eyes up to meet his. “It seems to me like you’ve done pretty well on your own.” He smiled lightly and I knew he was trying to be reassuring, but I shook my head.
“That’s not the issue. I can do a lot on my own. It’s all I’ve ever known.” I swallowed. “But I liked not having to. I liked having a partner and knowing you had my back.”
He closed his eyes for a second and I could see he was starting to understand. “I’m sorry I let this get so bad.”
Enemy Exposure Page 22
