Vortex

by Julie Cross

  I told her everything that had just happened with Stewart, Dad, and Marshall. I was pretty sure Kendrick would take it better than Stewart had, but her reaction surprised me.

  “What an immature bitch. Seriously, is this junior high?”

  I threw my hands up. “Exactly what I said.”

  Kendrick had this look of deep concentration, then she sat up really quick and grinned. “Oh, my God … I know what your task is.”

  I perked up a little, guessing this had nothing to do with more mountain-climbing, which was what I thought she might go for, given our mountainside conversation about acrophobes this morning. “Beat Stewart at a silent defense match? Blindfolded, maybe?”

  She shook her head but kept grinning. “You have to kiss her … like, in front of everyone. Total hard-core make-out session.”

  I rolled my eyes. “First of all, she’d kick me in the balls before I could even get close to kissing her, and second, I don’t see how this is a challenge. I’m not afraid to kiss people, and it’s not going to make me a more trustworthy partner … or a better agent.”

  Kendrick got up and walked behind me, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Someone has got to put this chick in her place. She’ll spend the rest of her life dangling every embarrassing moment over your head, like collateral. ‘Oh, Junior, when did you get your braces off? Let me tell everyone what your bare ass looks like,’” Kendrick said, mocking Stewart’s current French character perfectly.

  This sales pitch was getting better and better. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”

  She spun me around to face her. “You’ve got to walk up to her and just … kiss her and show her who’s in control. The girl thinks she owns you. Personally, I’m sick and tired of listening to her.”

  “That’s kinda … anti-girl-power, isn’t it?”

  She considered this for a minute before answering. “In this case, it’s necessary. And you’re not a little kid anymore … that’s how she treats you. It’s got nothing to do with gender. She’s, what, a year and a half older than you?”

  “What’s Marshall going to think when you tell him my assigned task is to kiss someone?”

  “I don’t care what he thinks. It’s his fault for leaving it so open-ended.” She yanked me up off the chair. “Let’s go now before you chicken out.”

  “Maybe now isn’t the best time. I think I’ll just end up punching her.”

  “That’s not nearly as interesting as kissing. Come on. She’s probably in the workout room.” She was already dragging me out the door. We had to go down three hallways to get to the large exercise facility. Stewart was in there, practicing self-defense moves on the mats with Agent Parker. I started to walk into the room, but Kendrick held me back. “Wait, you’ve got to get into character. Be sexy.”

  Apparently I wasn’t that already.

  We both looked into the room after hearing a loud thud. Stewart had just thrown Parker, who was way bigger than me, flat onto his back and was laughing at him as he struggled to breathe.

  “I can’t do this,” I mumbled.

  “Yes, you can.”

  I shook my arms out like a fighter entering the ring. This is a test. Just another test. Besides, I’d had to flirt with women as part of CIA training. It’d gotten me access to government data I wasn’t supposed to have in China, and, once, free ice cream.

  Kendrick nodded her encouragement. “You totally got this. Just slip into that character and you’ll never have Jenni Stewart bitching at you again.”

  Now, that was a prize worth winning. Assuming it worked. I headed in Stewart’s direction, but then froze up and turned around again. “I’m not sure I’ll like this enough to fake enjoyment.”

  “Come on, you’re a freakin’ guy, pretend it’s someone you don’t have the urge to vomit all over.”

  I laughed a little and turned around. Pretend, pretend, pretend. Been there, done that. Kendrick slipped in behind me and jumped on a nearby treadmill. Every single trainee was under the age of twenty-three, and never had I seen any attempt to get close to Stewart other than self-defense. Stewart stuck out a hand to help Parker up and then pulled it away at the last second and kicked him right in the stomach. Honestly, I was surprised he fell for that.

  She finally noticed my presence. “Junior, did you come for a little match, or do you only release your frustrations by throwing things in your room like a two-year-old?”

  I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus on the goal. “Sure, I’ll have a go.”

  “Excellent,” she said, with her evil-agent grin.

  Kendrick coughed loudly behind me. She must have thought I was deviating or chickening out.

  Stewart stood in front of me, her face full of energy. She lunged forward but I got my arms around her and started to lift her off the mat. I put her down seconds later, with a heavy sigh. “Sorry, I can’t do this … not like this.”

  “So, I win?” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess.” Channeling the player guy I used to be, I moved close to her. “I’m sorry … for getting pissed off. You did the right thing, turning me in.”

  “I knew you’d see it my way.” She turned a little toward the other agents on the equipment, probably to make sure everyone had heard my fake apology.

  I grabbed her hand and tugged. “Wait … one more thing.”

  It’s just meaningless kissing. The emotional still-in-love-with-the-girl-I-couldn’t-be-with part of my brain stayed shut off, as it had been for weeks now. The agent in me knew Kendrick was right. Revenge came in many different forms.

  My hands slid down the sides of her neck and the smallest amount of confusion flickered across her face. “What are you—”

  I didn’t let her finish. And it wasn’t a soft gentle kiss. It was a manly, controlling one. I knew my inner agent was still switched on when I recalled exactly how many seconds we had been kissing: twenty. No punching. No resistance. Her arms stayed completely limp at her sides while mine wrapped tightly around her, and she let me. In fact, she was the one to stick her tongue in my mouth. Seriously?

  I waited until forty seconds had passed, then I moved my mouth to the side of her neck and whispered, so only she could hear, “That’s what you get for calling me a little boy.”

  I released her so quickly she nearly fell over, then I strolled out of the room like this was something a badass agent like me did every day. Kendrick was right behind me, along with Parker.

  “You are beyond awesome!” Kendrick said, slapping her hand to mine. “Oh, my God, I wish I could have recorded that.”

  “Dude, you’ve got balls,” Parker said. “And she could have twisted them in a knot.”

  I groaned, imagining what could have happened as a result of getting that close to her with my eyes closed. “I know, seriously.”

  “I don’t know if you noticed, but she didn’t exactly shove you away. It looked mutual to me,” Kendrick said. “Maybe all the training and observation skills have kept us from going for the most obvious answer: you like someone, so you act like you hate them.”

  “I thought that was only grade school kids,” Parker said.

  Kendrick was right, I did feel like Stewart finally got a little dose of the torture she’d forced on me for months.

  Loud sirens boomed from inside the walls and red lights flashed everywhere. The three of us froze in the middle of the hallway. There was only one reason for red lights.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  JUNE 8, 2009, 3:00 P.M.

  “We’ve just intercepted a death threat targeted at the chancellor of Germany,” Marshall said, pacing back and forth in the giant common room. “There’s reason to believe the EOTs are behind this. We have exactly two hours to prevent the murder of one of the most important political figures in the world.”

  “Excuse me, Chief,” Agent Freeman interrupted. “Can you tell us anything about the source?”

  Chief Marshall’s eyes rested on Freeman, like they were conversing silently. “I’m sorry
, I can’t reveal that information at this time.”

  “Will all of us be in the field?” another trainee asked.

  Marshall shook his head, and I could practically hear the silent groans no one dared to utter aloud. Everyone was itching for a real-life assignment, even me.

  “Since we’ve never seen more than three or four EOTs at any given time and because this mission should be fairly simple, we don’t plan to complicate things further by charging in with the entire division. Agent Meyer Senior and Agent Freeman will each lead a team of two,” Marshall said, and a few agents did groan out loud this time. There were fourteen of us. Most likely my incident from earlier would eliminate my participation, but a lot of others would be left out, too.

  I relaxed a little, letting my heart slow down. No reason to panic if I’d just be sitting on my ass looking up shit in the Communications Room. I leaned back against the wall and Kendrick did the same, then whispered to me, “Look at the bright side, I saw that guitar in your room … You can entertain me while I record data. Maybe we can write a depressing song about secret agents who never get picked.”

  I rolled my eyes at her, but attempted to smile, since she was obviously just trying to be nice.

  Marshall turned to us, scanning his eyes over the group. “Agent Freeman will take Stewart and Parker,” Marshall said.

  More groans.

  “Shouldn’t I be going with my partner?” Mason asked. “What about the potential for explosives in this situation? I have the highest marks on all the deactivation tests—”

  “Not this time,” Dad said.

  Mason’s freckled face turned a little red, but he didn’t give up. “But what if—”

  “Sorry, Mason,” Dad interrupted, more firmly this time, ending the conversation.

  “Agent Meyer Senior will take Agent Kendrick…” Marshall hesitated and turned to stare at my partner. She straightened up immediately, her jaw practically dropping. “And the other Agent Meyer.”

  Now my heart had returned to pounding. More like beating its way out of my chest. Good thing we aren’t hooked up to the torture chair anymore. The first person I looked at was Dad. He didn’t even make eye contact and his face was completely unreadable.

  “The rest of you will remain here doing routine surveillance and monitoring the mission’s progress.”

  The groans came out louder this time because the decision had been made. They didn’t have anything to lose. I was still holding my breath and Kendrick wiped her sweaty hands off on her pants. Parker and Stewart, however, looked excited and confident. The complete polar opposite of Dad’s team. Poor Dad.

  Dad turned to the four trainees assigned to the field. “Change into something that blends in with typical tourists. You’ve got three minutes.”

  This was really happening. Not the fake staged missions I had participated in over the last three months. But the real question was, why did Marshall choose me and Kendrick over some of the others who had more well-rounded skills? I knew he had a very specific reason. I just didn’t know what that was.

  One thing I had learned after three months of training was that almost every task or assignment revolved around mind games. Question everything and everyone.

  * * *

  Kendrick and I stared at the beautiful castle in front of us, lit up for the nighttime crowds.

  “My first trip to Heidelberg, and of course I’m working,” she said with a sigh.

  The Heidelberg Castle sat up on the side of a hill, and the majority of it was open on top. Several sections had been destroyed and rebuilt after being set on fire during a war and then hit with lightning on a completely separate occasion. Today wasn’t the first time this landmark had been part of a war zone.

  We both moved so we were on either side of Dad. I could see Freeman leading his team to the opposite end of the castle.

  “The chancellor and her family arrive in exactly twenty minutes. They’ll head to the northeast corner and work their way west,” Dad said. “No guns unless it’s the last straw. Our goal is to tiptoe in and out completely unnoticed. Got it?”

  “Yep,” we both said.

  “Good, now get to your first positions and don’t move a muscle unless I give you direct orders, understood?” Dad’s eyes paused on mine. A warning.

  “He doesn’t want you here,” Kendrick said as we walked away. “I can tell.”

  “Yeah, I figured. Marshall’s probably punishing him for helping me sneak out earlier,” I said. “And he knows all the agents left behind will be pissed at me for getting picked.” Kendrick and I paid the entrance fee to get inside the castle and took our time, drifting casually to the assigned location.

  “What about you? Are you glad you’re here?” I asked her.

  “Honestly, I feel like I’m gonna barf,” she admitted.

  The hardest part about these assignments was that we couldn’t just call up the chancellor’s office and tell them it wasn’t safe to come here, because then the EOTs wouldn’t show up, either. Which would mean we wouldn’t know where to find them and they’d just plan another attack on the same person and we wouldn’t know about it. It was more effective to let them get as close to success as possible, then stop them. But also more risky.

  Both of us leaned against the castle wall, breathing heavy, waiting as the light drizzle of evening rain began to fall. We kept perfectly still as Freeman reported to everyone that the chancellor had arrived with her crew. A few minutes later they drifted past us. Eight subjects altogether. And there were only six of us to protect them.

  Kendrick stuck her hand out, feeling the raindrops hit more frequently. “I think they’re here.”

  “The EOTs?” I asked. “How do you know?”

  Her eyes were focused on the sky now. “The rain, you know—” Her head snapped forward and she stared right at me, eyes huge, then she looked away, mumbling, “Shit…”

  I remembered the storm that had hit so suddenly when Dad, Holly, Adam, and I were on the boat before I left that other timeline.

  “Wait a minute,” I said, grabbing her arm. “What about the rain? Is this something from your specialty classes?”

  She looked at me again with fear in her eyes. “Jackson … please don’t—”

  I shook my head, turning my focus back to the area we were supposed to be monitoring. “Forget it … don’t tell me.”

  And I’ll just figure it out later when I have time to think. There must be a reason they were trying to keep this from me.

  Stewart was next to shout through our earpieces, in muffled French. Water had run into my ear and I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but I could hear the slight panic in her voice.

  “What did she say?” I asked Kendrick.

  “There’s an explosive … on the north end … something she’s never seen before.”

  My eyes met Kendrick’s and I knew there was no avoiding it. Dad couldn’t leave us pressed against this wall any longer. Sure enough, he ran up behind us and didn’t even stop, just called over his shoulder, “Go … both of you.”

  He didn’t need to tell me twice. The rain fell in giant sheets as we tore through the outdoor corridors.

  “Okay, so I guess they should have picked Mason,” Kendrick shouted over her shoulder.

  “If you can figure out that torture chair, I have a feeling you can deactivate bombs just fine.”

  As we ran north, Stewart’s face came into view as she flew toward us. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked her. “Who’s working on the weapon?”

  “No one, I followed—” she started to answer, her face flushed with fear.

  Freeman, Dad, and Parker came up behind us. “Who’s with the explosive?” Freeman asked immediately.

  “I followed protocol and waited ninety seconds. No one responded. The fucking thing is made of some weird shit!”

  Dad raised his hand to stop her and swept the area with his eyes. “All right … Kendrick, go with Stewart and get Mason on the phone if you have to �
� Jackson and I will head west, and Freeman and Parker will stick with the chancellor.”

  It was both amazing and a relief to see my dad in action … the leader. “How did it get here? Didn’t someone sweep the entire place an hour ago?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t here an hour ago,” a familiar voice spoke from behind us.

  All six of us spun around to face the large brick wall, drawing our guns in a swift mechanical motion. But my grip on my pistol slipped as I stared through the rain at Thomas and about eight others beside him. My eyes fell on the red-haired woman to his right.

  “Cassidy,” I mumbled under my breath. I felt Dad’s eyes on the side of my face for a second, and then he moved closer to me. I wanted to look at this woman and not feel anything. No connection. Because I had a feeling that was what Dad wanted. But she looked so much like Courtney … it was hard not to feel anything.

  “Why are there so many of them?” I whispered to Kendrick. She shook her head, and her hands held steady on her gun. “And they’re not all in the database.”

  Thomas turned his eyes on me and gave a stiff nod. “Jackson, nice to see you again. I had hoped it wouldn’t be under these conditions, but … it’s always fascinating to see how Agent Meyer’s only son is turning out.”

  He put a slight emphasis on the word “son” that only Dad and I would pick up on.

  “Quite a large group you’ve brought,” Agent Freeman said, then he turned his attention to the chancellor and her crew, who I just noticed were standing behind us, recognizing the threat but unsure what to do. Before anyone could move again, a bolt of lightning crashed down onto a nearby tree and the thud of a heavy branch falling onto a piece of the castle momentarily jolted our attention from the scene.

  My heart pounded and I could hardly breathe, knowing we were outnumbered and this was obviously a bigger deal than Chief Marshall had speculated.

  “Don’t move unless I tell you,” Dad hissed into my ear.