by Cara Wylde
She couldn’t be sure, though. Her logic was sound. The theory playing over and over in her head made more sense to her than anything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
“They practically want me to deliver my team, my own people, to them. Just like that. Just because they asked me nicely. And fucked me twice.” She smiled and huffed while waiting for the light to turn green. “I did enjoy that part.”
Five minutes until she reached 1834 Pandora Ave. Avery didn’t have a plan. She had left her notes at home, on the desk. She wasn’t going to need them today. Today, what she needed was to be Poppy, the actress. Yes, she had to play a part, and she had to play it well because these were hardened agents. Captain Shaw, especially… She could swear that man could read her like an open book. In other circumstances, it would have been a good thing.
She parked her Audi but took her time to get out of it. First, she checked her makeup. Discreet eyeliner, a ton of concealer to cover the impressive dark circles which seemed to cover half of her face, and a nude shade of lipstick. Nothing too fancy. She hadn’t used any foundation, powder, or blush, yet her cheeks glowed.
She sighed. “Yeah, you can tell I got laid. It’s written all over my forehead. In capital letters.”
Maybe she could work with that? But no one would believe her… She went to the party, snooped around, found nothing, then went home with Sean Spencer. His home, that was. It was too risky, especially since she was dealing with people she’d just met yesterday. Who knew? Ben Shaw could have ordered any of his agents to follow her. As she was reluctant about him, he could very well be reluctant about her. She was the only one left from the old team.
Next, she checked her bag, smoothed down her clothes, sniffed herself to make sure she didn’t smell of sex, and finally got out of the car.
“Let the game begin,” she whispered to herself as her heels clicked up the stone stairs.
* * *
“Were have you been?! We’ve been worried sick!”
Lisa jumped from behind her desk and almost hugged Avery before stopping herself.
“Good morning to you, too,” Avery smiled.
In fact, Lisa seemed to be the only worried person in the room. All the others were typing away at their computers or going through various files while drinking their coffee.
Avery nodded at everyone, then sat down in front of Captain Shaw’s desk. The man set aside the file he’d been reading, and fixed her with his cold, serious gaze.
“Well, agent?”
“Well what?”
“Where were you last night? Lisa here called you a hundred times, I believe…”
“Five.”
“That’s a hundred to me.”
The left corner of his lips almost curled into a smile. Almost.
Avery cocked an eyebrow. Could it be true? Did Ben Shaw really possess a sense of humor?
“She left you a message.”
“I replied as soon as I could.”
“That is… ten hours later than we had expected you to check in with us.”
She smiled and shrugged as if that wasn’t her problem.
“I’m not responsible for anyone’s expectations of me.”
They simply looked into each other’s eyes for half a minute, as if they were engaged in a staring game. Simon, the accounting guy, broke the tension by placing a hot mug of coffee in front of Avery. He seemed to have a thing for coffee.
“Thank you, Chen,” Avery said gratefully. She couldn’t believe she had chosen whiskey over coffee earlier. That alone showed how stresses she was. She took a big gulp, then finally sighed, relaxed, and started speaking: “Okay, I was with a friend. He’s more than a friend, actually. His name is Jake.”
“Jacob Matthews, fitness coach,” Carter from IT chimed in while scrolling through a page on his laptop. “Vegan, prefers kettlebells to dumbbells, and has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I have to say, Tonkin, I’m impr…”
“No one asked for your opinion, Bloomy.”
Carter took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s not my name.”
“It is now, Bloomy.”
“Would you stop that?”
“Enough!” Captain Shaw stood up and walked to the closest window. He studied the street through the half-closed blinds. “Go on, Tonkin. Skip right to the part where you tell us why you didn’t report back once you completed your mission.”
Avery sighed. She did her best to look tired and defeated. She slumped her shoulders, looked down at her hands, and spoke half-heartedly.
“Because I didn’t complete anything. The mission was an epic failure. I waited for all the guests to leave, activated the invisibility collar, and hanged around the house and the brothers for what felt like forever. All they did was talk about trivial things, read, and brainstorm ideas for Alex’s next book. Kit read ‘Save the Cat’, and every time he turned the page, he made sure to mention how much of a ridiculous bullshit he thought it was. All I got out of this mission is how Alex’s next novel is going to end.”
“How?” Zadie asked casually.
“And they lived happily ever after…”
“So, another bestseller!” The Dreamland scientist laughed and turned back to her screen.
“I see,” whispered Captain Shaw.
Avery slouched in the leather chair and mumbled: “I got nothing. I didn’t report back last night because I literally hit a dead end and felt miserable. So, yeah… Jake.”
“Your boyfriend.” Lisa stated, as if she just wanted to make things clear before they moved on.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh.”
The IT specialist sounded sad, and for the life of her, Avery couldn’t understand why. It blew her mind how some people liked to live through other people. On the other hand, the SPG had probably stayed up most of the night, waiting to hear from her, and now she was telling them she’d just shagged, nothing special. She almost felt bad for lying to them, but she’d thought things through well enough to know this was the best approach. For now. She was protecting them. And if that meant making Lisa feel bad because her intimate life sucked while Avery was banging a hot fitness coach, so be it. Come to think of it, Carter Bloom seemed more upset than Lisa, anyway. Avery could certainly live with that. The random thought made her smile.
“So, you found nothing of interest at the Walsh Residence,” Captain Shaw pressed on.
“Nada, sir. Not even the tiniest clue.”
“Maybe you didn’t stick around long enough?”
“Oh, trust me, I did! Both Kit and Alex went to bed right after midnight.”
“What about that other writer… Meadow Summer I think her name is?”
What?! The Captain had been suspecting Meadow all along? The guy was smarter than he let on.
“What about her? She was there, yes.”
“She works with Alex Walsh on the film scripts sometimes, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, they work together. Alex tends to go into too many details, and Meadow helps him tighten things up. But she’s writing her own sci-fi romance novels, too.”
“Indeed. And you sensed nothing suspicious about her?”
“No. She was among the first to go home after the brothers’ toast and awfully boring speech.”
“Interesting.”
“I’m sorry.”
There was silence for a couple of minutes. Avery drank her coffee and studied the Captain from the corner of her eye. He seemed lost in deep thought. She noticed how she disliked him less today than the day before, but it might have had to do with how she’d actually spent the night, and not with the man himself.
Alex and Kit… Aedar and Kryan. Someone had to break the silence, because it was giving Avery too much time with her own naughty mind. A familiar heat started within her core and spread rapidly through her whole body. She squirmed in her seat and began playing with a pen on the Captain’s
desk in a failed attempt to distract herself. The smooth surface of the metallic pen, the way her fingers slid over it as she flipped it over and over… “Stop! What’s wrong with me?” She set it aside and straightened her back. How could a stupid pen remind her of last night? Her hand running up and down Aedar’s long, thick cock while Kryan filled her from behind… She closed her eyes, shook her head, and lifted the mug to her lips. There was no more coffee left.
“Are you alright, agent?”
The Captain’s booming voice snapped her out of her mental orgy.
“Y-yes. I’m just tired.”
“More like exhausted,” Lisa chuckled.
Avery threw her an annoyed glance.
Lisa pointed to her own glasses.
“The dark circles, I mean… What concealer do you use?”
Avery furrowed her brows. Lisa Jenkins was such a strange creature. She could see best friend material in her, though.
“Morphe?”
“Girl, you should get yourself a Nyx one! Much better, and at about the same price.”
“Noted.”
Lisa winked at her but retreated behind her computer when she saw the look Ben Shaw was giving her. Suddenly, she remembered just how busy she was.
“Tonkin, you can go home.”
“Thank you, sir.”
She gratefully stood up and smoothed down her dress pants, then took the empty mug to the kitchen.
“You make one hell of a coffee, Chen!”
Captain Shaw’s dark eyes threw daggers at her.
“No more coffee for you, agent. You’re going home now, and you’re getting some sleep. Good, deep, sound sleep, do you hear me? We need you fresh and ready first thing tomorrow. No excuses, this time.”
“Yes, sir.”
She almost felt like clicking her heels and saluting him, but she fought the urge. Sometimes, she surprised even herself. Why couldn’t she take anything at least like… seventy percent seriously?
Avery grabbed her bag and fished in for her car keys. Before heading to the door, however, she turned to Chris Miller, the other Dreamland scientist, and asked casually, as if the question had just popped into her mind.
“Miller, I was wondering… You guys at Dreamland studied and tested the invisibility serum thoroughly before green-lighting it, right?”
“It goes without saying,” he said.
“So, have you discovered any side effects it might cause if one uses it over a period of time?”
“N-no. Absolutely not.”
Avery smiled tensely. Everyone in the room had stopped doing whatever they had been doing and was staring at her.
“What’s this about?” Zadie asked.
Avery shrugged. She pulled her keys out and started walking to the front door.
“Nothing.”
Chris stood up and took a couple of steps toward her.
“Are you… feeling alright?”
“Oh, yes! Just headaches, but I’m sure it’s nothing. Haven’t gotten much sleep lately, and this mission… ugh! Super stressful.” She chuckled and opened the door. “Anyway, thank you guys! See you tomorrow!”
The second she was out the door, she let out a sigh of relief and almost ran to her car. Yes, she did need sleep. What she’d just pulled off in there was deserving of an Oscar.
CHAPTER THREE
The loud, annoying ringtone made Avery moan in her sleep, turn on her other side, and dig her head underneath the duvet to block the sound. It was no use. It wasn’t even a personalized ringtone, just a screechy disaster that had surely been created to wake up even the dead. And it wouldn’t stop!
“For fuck’s sake…”
She reached out and blindly patted the nightstand in search for the phone from hell. In her exhaustion, only having slept for about two hours, she swiped right and dropped the phone on the pillow, certain she had done a good job of hitting the snooze button. Instead of blessed silence, however, Captain Shaw’s harsh voice came through the speakers. Avery jumped, suddenly wide awake, and pressed the phone to her ear. Damn it! It hadn’t been the alarm.
“Y-yes, Captain. Say again?”
“Agent Tonkin, we have a problem.”
She grabbed her other phone to check the time, then yawned so hard that she could barely speak.
“What happened?”
“I think we might have another alien kidnapping on our hands.”
She cocked an eyebrow as she fought with the pillows and the duvet to get out of the bed. On her way to the bathroom, she tripped over a wire. Her bedroom was a mess.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Why are you calling me? I’m undercover, sir, I can’t investigate alien kidnappings.”
“The victim is, Sharon Kander. I believe she’s your… err… childhood friend in ‘Star-Crossed’. She was at the Walsh party last night, but never got back home. Her parents reported her missing half an hour ago.”
“Maybe she went on a date afterward. I know I did, and no one thought I’d gone missing.”
“Jenkins did,” Shaw corrected her. “Kander’s mother said this sort of behavior is unlike her.”
“Mm-hm…” Avery studied her dark circles in the mirror. “As if parents ever know anything…”
“Have you seen anything suspicious last night, Tonkin?”
“I already told you I didn’t. I’m not friends with Sharon. I just met her at the party, exchanged a couple of words, then we each went on our way. If you ask me, she didn’t seem to fancy me much.”
“And you’re certain the Walsh brothers have nothing to do with this.”
Avery grinned. “Yes. I had my eyes on them the whole party. And then some.” She’d had more than just her eyes on them… Was it weird that it felt rather naughty and exciting to have a secret? A tryst no one should ever know about. Not even her best friend.
“Alright, agent. Thank you. I’ll assign the case to one of the FBI agents.”
Avery sighed deeply. She rubbed her left eye and cursed herself for not taking the time to remove her makeup before going to sleep.
“No, wait. I got this.”
“You said it yourself. You’re undercover and cannot risk your mission.”
“No risks. I’ll just ask around, tell everyone I’m looking for Sharon because we decided to go through the script together today. I’m just a worried colleague, nothing more.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to. The Walsh brothers are not responsible, but if something really did happen to Sharon, then it happened at the party or right after the party. There’s no way we can know how many of their guests were aliens on the hunt for fresh slaves.”
“Is this because you feel like you failed last night, agent?”
That piece of insight took Avery by surprise.
“N-no. It’s because it’s not a big deal, and I can do it faster than any agent can get up to speed with the situation and start asking the right questions.”
Silence for a long minute. She knew the Captain was weighing her answer and trying to make a decision on the spot.
“See what you can find, Tonkin. Report back in two hours.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“And be careful.”
Wow! Well, that was another thing she hadn’t expected. Before getting a chance to reply, the Captain hung up, as if he didn’t want to hear it, as if he didn’t want to betray even more that he actually did care about her and her wellbeing. Was it possible that Ben Shaw was, in fact, a big softie?
Avery set the phone on the edge of the sink, smiled knowingly, then proceeded to brush her teeth and wash her face. It would’ve been nice if she had gotten some real sleep for once, but there was no time to waste on silly laments. Yes, the Captain had been right. She felt bad, and she needed this win. But not because her mission had been a failure, but because she had lied to him and to the entire SPG. He was there, at HQ, doing his best to work with what he h
ad, and compared to what Avery knew now, he had very little, and most of that information was wrong, anyway. Until she was sure it was safe to tell them the truth, she needed to appease the strong feeling of guilt that was gnawing at her heart, and redeem herself a bit, at least in her own eyes.
She brushed her hair quickly, tied it up in a high ponytail, then threw some comfortable clothes on and headed out the door. She didn’t have time to concern herself with makeup. Today, the world would have to suck it up and deal with her zombie face.
* * *
First stop: the Walsh Residence. This was the perfect opportunity for Aedar and Kryan to make themselves useful. If they helped her get Sharon back safe and sound, then maybe she’d consider the possibility that they weren’t lying, and they really were invested into saving Earth from the other four alien races. She tried not to get her hopes up just because she wanted to have sex with them again, though, so before ringing the bell, she took a couple of deep breaths, centered herself, and made a promise to keep a clear head. That meant no touching.
A tall, middle-aged man dressed in a crisp butler uniform opened the door and politely invited her inside. Avery knew him from last night and, apparently, he remembered her, too.
“I’m afraid the masters aren’t home, Miss Tonks. But, please come in and make yourself comfortable if you’d like to wait for them. Should I ask Judy to bring you a cup of tea, maybe?” He noticed how pale and tired she looked. “Coffee?”
Avery puffed her cheeks in disappointment, but then smiled and waved him off.
“No, thanks, I’m good. Do you know when they’re getting back?”
“No idea, I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “Maybe you could… you know… call them for me?”
She just realized she had slept with two men, twice even, and she didn’t even have their phone numbers. She doubted they had hers, which was even more hilarious. The aliens didn’t have their pleasure slave’s phone number!
