“We need to talk,” Jack announces.
“Maybe this is going to be more fun than I thought it was going to be?” I jest, and he smirks wrapping his arm around me in a comforting gesture as he leads me away from everyone else into another, quieter and much smaller room. He steps us over to a set of low sofas, and I like that this area still has a view of the warehouse so we can see the SO7 beginning their exercise once more. It’s not long before the noise of paintball guns are exploding once again in quick succession. I’m sure this old antiquated building can’t take too much more of this, the crumbling bricks and mortar disintegrating with every pelt of a paintball.
I wish I could be watching, paying close attention, but I know talking with Jack is more important. So I turn to face him and give him my full attention.
“Everly, you know you mean a lot to me. You’re like the daughter I never had. When you and your mother took care of me after my incident with Camilla and her cronies… well, I can’t thank you guys enough. But this life, Agency life, it comes with a price. I died once. Kind of. Lost a leg. You’ve seen me at my worst. You’ve seen what this place can do to an agent, to their families, so I have one question for you. Why do you want to be here?”
Taking a deep breath, I steady my shoulders. Pride running through me. “I’m here for my dad.”
Jack sighs, as another long drawl of gunfire echoes through the warehouse. “Well, that’s not enough. Certainly, that’s an honorable reason, but you have to be willing to risk everything for us… for your team, for your country. We don’t want you doing this just to honor your father, Everly. As great as he was.”
Furrowing my brows, I shake my head slightly confused. That reason—it’s my primary purpose. To make my father proud.
“You have a lot to learn before I’m willing to place you anywhere near the deep end. You can see from watching Luca today that even the most highly trained agents can falter. If this had been the real deal today, Luca would be dead right now. And I know you’re not naïve, but you have been sheltered. There’s a lot you haven’t seen, and even more you don’t know.”
“I want to know, though,” I blurt out, my stomach filling with anticipated tension as the firing in the warehouse becomes critical.
“Then we’ll start from the beginning,” he says.
Suddenly, an explosion rocks through the warehouse shaking all the walls in the room. Jack and I both stand up, looking out over the viewing area to see a plume of smoke coming from one of the hallways as the explosion softens.
A single voice echoes through the noise. “My bad,” Luca calls out making me wince.
Jack groans out loud while running his hand through his hair. “I better check this out,” Jack huffs.
We head for the door then rush down the stairs, the smell of smoke permeates every crevice as I cough slightly covering my mouth with one hand and fanning the air in front of my face with the other.
We see the team at the end of the course. Luca’s gripping what looks like a mannequin that’s badly burned with one arm fallen off as he sports a massive grin on his face.
“I got him, Boss,” Luca calls out, and Jack raises his brow.
“Umm… not sure I’d call it a successful capture there, Luca,” Jack quips.
Luca looks down to the blackened dummy and furrows his brows. “You said to capture the civilian, and that’s what I’ve done. I win.”
I pull my lips in by my teeth trying to hide my smirk and to stop me from giggling.
“Luca, the civilian is incinerated and has one arm blown off. I think it’s safe to say the civilian is not happy with you right now.”
Luca tilts his head and sighs. “You simply said capture, you never said in what state. If you wanted them unharmed, you need to be more specific, Boss.”
Jack shakes his head and groans. “Lord help me.”
“Besides, he was a bad guy. On an opposing team. He needed to be taken out.”
Jack raises his brow in I’m not sure whether it’s amusement or aggravation, as I try to hide my continuing smirk. “Oh really? How’d you figure that one, Luca?”
“My gut feeling. All-rounder EPS. I know these things. Plus, he’s wearing a Phillies baseball cap in Washington DC, that’s gotta mean he’s a bad guy, right?”
Kace walks up behind him and slaps him upside the back of his head. “Just stop talking,” Kace groans as Luca’s head snaps forward with a jolt.
“What?” Luca moans with a whine.
“My team is done. We’ve had enough. I need to call it before the rest of them make Luca look like that dummy,” Kace growls pointing to the burnt and armless mannequin.
“Oh, burn,” Luca sasses licking his finger and then pressing on the dummy as Tanner groans and storms off. Blair grimaces and takes off after her. Then slowly, the team walks off one by one leaving Luca here by himself, with his dummy, me and Jack.
“Same time tomorrow?” Luca calls out, but none of his team says anything in reply. They all just keep walking.
“Maybe you should take the day off, pretty boy. Three shots to the stomach has got to hurt. Maybe you should be home licking your wounds?” I tease as Luca’s broad smile finally falls to a frown, and he slumps his shoulders. He looks to me, all his humor gone as his eyes bore into mine. He actually looks sad.
“Yeah… maybe,” he sighs dumping the dummy to the floor and walking off.
I furrow my brows shocked by his sudden demeanor change. As he steps away from me, he rips at his red vest, and it falls to the floor like a lifeless scrap. It’s like watching his emotions slip from him as he gets further away.
The sudden change, dramatic.
Gone the cocky, fun loving, egomaniac.
Now replaced with a somber, sad, shell of a man.
What on earth?
Red fills the drain, running in rivulets as it mixes with the hot water belting on my chest and stomach. Sure, I was wearing protective clothing, but that paint gets in every nook and cranny when you’re hit, not to mention the fucking bruising that’s littering my skin right now. Those sons of bitches hurt like hell when they get you.
So not only am I sore and tender from the paintballs, but my ego took a bashing too. I can’t help but feel like a complete failure. I’ve always been able to use humor to cover my mistakes. It’s been my way to cover my shit up all through life. But I know I fucked up today, over and over again. My mind just wasn’t in the game. But like always, I used humor in an attempt to get through the pain I’m trying not to feel.
As I remember it hits me again, like a ton of bricks, and I let out a loud sigh while I turn off the water and stepping out of the shower.
Sniffing, as I dry myself, I think over today. Over every mistake I made. Over the look of disappointment in my team’s eyes. Over the guilt I feel. Over those words Everly said to me.
Everything’s fucking getting to me today.
I shouldn’t let it.
But sometimes it’s harder when you’re home alone to put on a brave face and act fine when there’s no one here to act for. What’s the damn point?
After drying off, I head out of the bathroom and walk into the bedroom. The small piece of paper catches my eyes again, and a shudder runs down my spine. I stare at it. Not for any reason. It won’t change anything. The past, the future, nothing will change by staring at it. It won’t stop what’s happened.
All it is, is a single piece of paper.
But it holds so much.
Walking over, I glance down wracking my jaw from side to side in agitation as I read over it once more.
Bellmont, Lee Anna. Passed away peacefully on Sunday. Loving wife and mother…
Letting out a scoff, I can’t help but think of how far from the truth that last part is.
Loving mother? I don’t think so.
Swallowing hard, I get dressed as my chest feels heavy. I don’t want to be alone right now, I need company, so I’ll head next door to see if Kace and Lily are home. The SO7 all live o
n the same street now.
Walking over, the sunlight is going down in a beautiful sunset, as birds sing their final songs for the night. A slight wind is in the air, and I smile loving this time of year. Walking up the steps, I arrive at the front door and quietly open it. I don’t knock or anything. Instead, I head straight to the smell of something fantastic cooking in the kitchen. Making my way there, I notice Lily’s at the stove.
She looks up smiling wide and tilts her head in a slight mothering gesture. “I’ve been expecting you,” she beams.
I grin. “Oh Lily, I knew you loved me. But really, I’m Kace’s best friend, we couldn’t possibly,” I joke.
She rolls her eyes and throws a kitchen mitt at me as I move over next to her, and she looks me in the eyes. “I heard you had a… not so good day today?”
Shrugging, I sigh, leaning back against the bench top sniffing the air and taking in the marvelous smells of her home cooking. “Meh. Nah, it was okay.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks kindly.
“I don’t know why everyone was freaking out. It’s all shits and giggles till someone loses an arm.”
She furrows her brow. “Wait! What? Someone lost an arm?”
I shrug. “Yeah, just some dummy.”
She purses her lips and huffs. “Umm… whether they’re stupid or not, losing an arm is not really something funny, Luca.”
I smirk. “No, a dummy… like a fake person… a mannequin.”
“Oooh… well then, yeah… that’s not sooo bad.”
“See… you get it.”
She raises a brow and smiles weakly patting my shoulder. “How ‘bout I get a beer and some cookies?”
“I do love your cookies. Oh, ah… hey. Where’s lover boy?”
She brings me over a beer. “He’s in the yard with Clover. Kace is trying to teach her how to stay.”
“How’s that going?” I ask with a chuckle.
“For a three-month-old puppy, it’s going… okay,” she chuckles with a giant smile that tells me more than her words do.
Nodding, I grab my beer heading for the back door. Stepping out into their big backyard, I hear Kace command, “stay.” I step further out, then see Clover, the little ball of golden fluff. She spots me, and instantly her small eyes brighten as she jumps heading straight for me.
“Clover. No. Stay. Clover. Bad girl,” Kace calls out as I squat down and she bolts right for me. I chuckle as she jumps up into my arms and licks my face.
“Good girl, Clover. I knew I was a ladies man,” I chime.
Kace groans while walking over to me, his footsteps thumping on the grass. “That’s the second time today you’ve foiled a plan.”
My legs give way as I fall on my ass with a dog on my lap. “I can’t help that I’m just so—”
“Needy? Attention seeking? Reckless?”
“I was going more for… kickass, fucking awesome, getting the job done. Albeit in a roundabout way, but still getting the job done.”
“So getting someone blown up, pretty much dead, is getting the job done?” he blurts back at me.
Scoffing, I huff. “Lay off, man. So I wasn’t on my best game today. I get it, okay.”
Kace sighs and moves in sitting beside me. “We both know why.”
I cuddle into Clover as she licks up the side of my face. “Just don’t start with me. I don’t wanna hear it.”
Kace shrugs. “Maybe you do need to hear it.”
“She’s not part of my life anymore. So it doesn’t fucking matter—”
“If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have killed a dummy today.”
“He wasn’t a dummy, he was a Phillies fan.”
“You can’t cover everything with humor, Luca. At some point, you have to face up to what’s going on.”
My muscles tense up and I shake my head cuddling Clover a little more for comfort. “I let her break me once, and I won’t let it happen again. So let me deal with it how the hell ever I want to deal with it.”
“You know this is our chance to prove ourselves. So you need to do what you need to do and figure it out before we’re shut down and shipped off to some Army base across the other side of the country,” Kace argues.
“You know… if I don’t get my shit sorted out, I’m going to lose the only family I have left, the SO7.” I need to figure out how the hell I’m going to get my head right. Do I need to confront this shit head on, or pretend I never saw my mother’s obituary? I need to figure it out soon because if I’m off my game my actions affect not only me but the entire Agency.
“No matter what, you’ll never lose us, man.” Kace moves in and bumps his shoulder to mine in a show of support. “So… what are your thoughts on Everly?”
I shrug, trying to play it cool. “She’s cute. Not really my type, though.”
“Yeah, because she doesn’t want anything to do with you… smart girl,” Kace teases.
“Oh, she wants me. She just doesn’t know it yet. She’ll come around,” I smirk.
“So you do like her?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t say that… I don’t like anyone.”
Lily walks out and chuckles. “You like me.”
I grin and nod. “You’re an exception to the rule. Plus, I have to like you, you’re kinda like the sister I never had.”
“I’ll take that. Dinner’s ready. Luca, you’re staying right?” she asks, and I smile.
“Me… miss your home cooking? Never!”
Knowing that Axel’s childhood friend Kenzi is still out there somewhere, being held by the Sinclair Syndicate, is hard. I don’t know Axel all that well yet, as I haven’t spent much time with him. But from the time I’ve had with him, I know Kenzi means the world to him. And the fact that she was taken all those years ago has severely impacted on him. When Axel found out that Lily’s brothers, Ares and Ezra, belonged to the Syndicate and that they had her, well, needless-to-say shit got real, real fast.
It’s good to have Ares and Ezra on our side, working with us as double agents. They provide us with intel on the Syndicate as they continue to work for them. They both despise being part of it, but they were born into that life. I feel for them, but they’re at least trying to do the right thing by helping us with Kenzi, as much as possible, without being caught by their own family.
Right now, I’m at home trying to get all my shit together to take to a meeting at The Agency so we can verify Kenzi’s whereabouts. I have some excellent intel I need to share with the team. So as I’m packing all that I need into my backpack. My bedroom door creeks open, and I spin around in surprise to see my mother peeking her head through the door.
“Mom, you can’t be in here. This is classified documentation.”
Mom rolls her eyes and looks away as I scurry in a panic to pack it all up. I quickly place it into a folder then stuff it into my backpack.
“Oh, c’mon, Everly. You of all people know you shouldn’t be bringing classified material home.”
I pause, pursing my lips. “I’m not bringing it home, Mom. I’m working from home. Searching for information here… from the net, and taking that intel into work.”
Mom steps into my room a little further and raises her brow. “Then who’s classifying said information?”
“Well… I guess it’s not exactly ‘classified’ per se…” I use air quotes, “… but… it will be.”
She slumps her shoulders. “Everly, are you sure you want to get involved with The Agency. I know it was your father’s dream, and I know you will be great at it. But honey—”
“Mom, I gotta go. I’m gonna be late.” Grabbing the last of the paperwork and files, I push them into my backpack and rush up to Mom to give her a kiss on the cheek. She weakly smiles, and I race past her heading down the stairs to drive into The Agency.
Getting in my car, I place my backpack on the passenger side floor and lock my doors. Pulling out of the drive, I make the short trip to the National Museum—the cover for The Agency—where
our headquarters are located underneath. The museum is a fully functioning facility with dinosaurs, relics and all the stuff you’d expect to see at that type of landmark, but in actuality it’s a front. As you drive into the underground parking garage, there’s a specific elevator that gains access to the basement facility which holds The Agency, behind and beneath the museum.
It’s the perfect front, and no one suspects a thing.
As I drive the Washington DC streets, I can’t help but think about how everyone thinks I’m doing this job only for my dad. When in reality I’m doing this for me as well. Everyone always thought I was only capable of being that girl, the bubbly cheerleader with no brains, but I’m so much more than that.
I’m smart. I’m sassy. Sure. I know my way around a handgun, courtesy of my father. But the real Agency stuff, well, all that stuff I’m going to need training for, and I hope Jack is willing to give me the opportunity and spend the time getting me up to speed. Because I’m sure as hell willing to learn. I want this. Not just for my father, but for me. I want to serve my country. I want to protect the people. I want to help people. People like Kenzi, who can’t fight for themselves. People who need Operatives from The Agency to step in, and render assistance when in a crisis. I want to be a part of this, especially when you have antiheroes like Camilla who nearly took down the entire Agency with her underhanded repulsiveness. She’s Kace’s mother, and I feel bad for him. Not only was she the Director of The Agency, but she was also the woman who singlehandedly caused the collapse of The Agency to the point where it wasn’t functioning. She was a double agent and basically a terrorist in her own country, working against the USA, forcing mission failures, and having the SO7 operating for the enemy without them even knowing about it. The team took it hard but now Jack, who also happens to be Kace’s father and Camilla’s ex-husband—who Camilla tried to have killed—is in charge and everything’s back on track for The Agency. The impressive part about all this is, Camilla was found guilty and is currently in The Agency jail under close supervision and monitoring. I want to be a part of the new wave, a part of the uprising of The Agency and bring it back to its former glory days.
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