Covert Operations

by Sara Schoen

  I just wish I had been the one to end him.

  “I’d be prepared,” Fire Fox warned as he grabbed my shoulder and led me toward a group of agents. “She hasn’t been briefed yet on who you are, and taking the news from your undercover alias isn’t going to go well,” he said with laugh. “Don’t worry, though, she’s injured, and while she could put up a fight, it wouldn’t last long. She has a wound that goes right through her left shoulder, but I’m sure by now they’ve given her something to ease the pain. She’s feisty, though. She’ll be sure to try to give you another knife wound.”

  I gave him a confused expression before I saw Sara and Danielle behind a few of the other agents, as if protecting them in case another cartel member planned to attack them. They didn’t have to worry anymore. Anyone Miguel had ordered here for backup was either dead or gone. No one else would be looking for them except me, but they didn’t know whose side I was on, yet.

  “If I were you, I’d just rip it off like a Band-Aid. She’ll get over it soon enough,” Fire Fox stated as he patted me on the shoulder.

  I turned to look at him in shock as he walked away, leaving me alone to explain my cover and secrets not only to Sara, but to my sister as well. I felt a faint smile on my face as I realized the real reason Fire Fox had become my mentor. He not only wanted to make sure I had someone to go to, but he wanted to be sure I didn’t harm his niece. I had to admit, my father would have pulled a similar move with Danielle. Protective, yet caring.

  As I approached, I kept my eyes on Sara, who was leaning against a car nearby to conceal her pain. She continued to glance around for any signs of danger. With Fire Fox’s warning in the back of my mind, I tried to make a slow, calm approach. It failed. Sara caught sight of me and I immediately tensed, ready to fight. She pulled a knife from a sheath and prepared to attack, even though she wasn’t in shape for another fight. She cringed as she stood, and her hand went to her side as if to ease the pain. Judging from the blood that had seeped through her shirt, she had a bad injury, most likely from the gunshot that took her down or a close encounter with a blade. It had to hurt to move around, but the determination in her eyes told me she’d fight through it if needed.

  She stepped in front of Danielle, her jaw set tight to prevent an outcry of pain, and slid Danielle protectively behind her, waiting for me to make my move. I glanced at the other agents, but they hadn’t seen Sara’s defensive posture and were focused on something else in the distance. I knew this wasn’t going to go well as I stepped forward, offering her my hand.

  “Night Stripe,” I said, hoping to relax her a little bit. Instead, she pushed Danielle farther back. “It’s good to properly meet you.”

  I watched her body slowly ease, but she remained focused on me, waiting to see what I would do. She didn’t notice the other agents were unaffected by my presence.

  “Isn’t it good enough that I know your name?”

  “No, it’s not,” she said.

  The other agents turned to watch what they thought would be a fight, but Demon had other ideas. I don’t think the other agents would have stopped her from attacking me.

  “Night Stripe, calm down. He’s on our side, and you’re in no condition to fight no matter what you say to convince me otherwise. We have to get you back so we can have the doctors look at those wounds,” Demon said, coming up behind me and handing me a wet towel. “I need you to clean yourself up. I can’t have you looking like Marco when the police get here and start investigating more thoroughly.” He glanced at Sara, who appeared as if she couldn’t come to terms with me being on her side. He stepped forward and whispered something in her ear, seeming to ease her mind before he turned and left us alone.

  I lifted the towel and rubbed my hair. I thought it would be useless to get the dye out until I noticed black smears covering the towel. It took a while, but most of the color came out. I’m sure my hair still looked a little darker than normal, but at least it wasn’t jet black anymore. I didn’t even want to know what Demon had soaked the towel in to get the dye to come out. I wouldn’t have been able to get the dye out no matter how many times I showered and washed it.

  “I knew it!” Danielle cried as I pulled the towel from my head. I removed the colored contacts, and threw them aside as she continued to gloat. “I thought it was you! You were too similar, especially with how you spoke around me. You were never really nice,” she mused, allowing a glare to take over her features.

  “But you still spent years searching for me. So that must mean you missed me even just a little bit,” I pointed out as I wrapped my arms around her. “Thank you for never stopping.” I held the hug until she pulled away. There were tears in her eyes, which she tried not to let me see as she turned away and walked past a familiar new friend.

  “Camo,” I said in greeting.

  She nodded to me, but it was clear her attention had been directed elsewhere. She glanced at Sara with a pleased smirk on her face, and one look at Sara’s deadpan expression told me she knew exactly what Camo was going to say.

  “So where should I start, Night Stripe?”

  “How about at the end?” Sara suggested hopefully, looking around as if trying to find another agent to talk to so she could escape the impending conversation.

  “I would prefer beginning with I told you so. I knew it would happen from the moment you brought that file back to the agency,” she said with a smile. Sara groaned and let her head fall in defeat, realizing Camo wouldn’t let it rest. “I saw what you two did,” she said, pointing between Sara and me. “If only you knew who he was! You never would have come up with that plan to use him as your entry. Luckily, you didn’t, so you couldn’t fight it.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sara growled. Her sudden anger had me curious, but clearly she didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t figure out why Camo would be so interested in me, or why Sara seemed displeased about it.

  “About which part?” Camo tempted, her smirk taking over her features. “About the kiss?”

  Sara didn’t respond.

  “About how you didn’t realize Jackson stole Marco’s identity and used it as a cover?”

  Once again, Sara remained silent.

  “Or about the files which you—” Camo fell silent when Sara slapped her hand over her mouth. If looks could kill, the glare Sara shot at Camo would have killed her instantly.

  “We don’t talk about that, Tessa.” Sara spat the name like an insult, but it sounded so familiar to me.

  I looked over to Camo, who attempted to avoid my gaze by looking down at her feet. She scratched at her arm awkwardly as I scrutinized every detail about her I could. Tessa had been the girl I attempted to warn to leave with her father. Tessa was meant to take over her father’s job and work with him, but both were found dead after the raid, or so I had thought.

  “Tessa?” I asked, looking her over. She wasn’t the same girl. She couldn’t be. The Tessa I knew had fair skin, with blonde hair and green eyes, but the girl before me now was dark tan with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her face looked different as well. “You’re not Tessa.”

  Camo sighed, glancing sideways at Sara, as if to say their talk wasn’t over. “I’m Tessa from the Sandtown compound. I worked with my father in trades, and had been, at one point, excited to take over for him.”

  “What changed?”

  “Everything,” she said simply. “They killed my father, and let me believe he’d died by accident. When Night Stripe broke in, they were going to use her as a cover to murder me. Jax meant to shoot me that night and then tell everyone she did it. So when she offered me a way out, and a safe place to be, I took it and never looked back.”

  I listened, allowing the dots to suddenly connect in my mind. Tessa had tracked down Sara as it said in the report, but when Jax announced his plan they must have teamed up for survival. Sara gave Tessa another life, and Tessa got Sara out alive, with the information Sara wanted.

  “Do you know what hap
pened to Ash Crest by any chance?” I asked. “It didn’t happen long after the raid.”

  Both girls fell silent. Tessa looked at Sara, but Sara stared at me, unwilling to answer the question. Her blue eyes were cold, but understanding. She had to be the one who killed Ash. Why else would she clam up at the mention of his name? She wanted to tell me, Demon said she proudly told everyone what she had done, but at the same time she wanted to carry the burden. She didn’t want to put me, another victim, through what she had done. I decided I would try again, when we were alone. Maybe then she’d be more open about it.

  “You knew who I was before this mission started,” I stated. “Tessa clearly knew, so how did you know if they never told you a thing about me?”

  Sara took in a sharp breath, but once again said nothing.

  “Camo said you had a file,” I pressed, taking a step closer to her. “Where did you get the file from?”

  Sara looked up at me, and for a moment I saw the ghost of a smile on her lips, then it vanished. “Earn my trust, and maybe I will tell you.”

  “I saved your life today, how does that not earn trust?”

  “Because you did it as Marco,” she replied easily. “Now you have to earn it as Renegade. That is your name, isn’t it? You let it slip at the park, and by the name I can’t tell if I trust you or not, so you’ll just have to prove to me that you deserve it.”

  “Are you always like this?”

  “Oh, yes.” She smiled. “Get used to it. You’ll be around me more often now.”

  “And why is that?” I asked curiously, unsure of what would happen when we got back to CIRA headquarters.

  “Because now that she has a hot boyfriend she’s not letting you out of her sight,” Camo interjected. Sara straightened her back and looked at Camo as if she had kicked a dog. “You two will make beautiful children one day,” Camo blurted out, shocking both of us, but she had earned a laugh from everyone in the vicinity. Camo had managed to break the tension while I tried to get answers out of Sara, though she would live to regret that joke.

  “You have five seconds to run,” Sara growled under the laughter around us.

  “You can’t be serious,” Camo said with an awkward chuckle. “I was just kidding.”

  “Three…two…” Sara reached out and took one of the other agent’s weapons from his pocket. She leveled the weapon at Camo. “One.” Camo raced off, eventually followed by Sara. “I’ll be right back.” She slowly made her way back to the car, for what I didn’t know.

  Most turned around to watch, waiting to see what Sara would do to catch Camo in her state. No matter what anyone told her, she wouldn’t stop moving. I was sure Demon had already tried. Maybe they shouldn’t have doped her up on painkillers, then she’d have to sit out this one. Now the other agents could see if she would follow through on the threat or if it was all talk. I would have tried to stop whatever was about to happen, and calmed Sara down before she could do anything to Camo, but Danielle had other things on her mind.

  “You’re going to stick around this time, right?” Danielle asked, uninterested in the squabble.

  I glanced at Demon, who laughed, pointing in Sara’s direction. I wondered what Sara could be up to, but at the same time I didn’t want to know either. I hoped he would keep his promise of giving me whatever I wanted after this mission, but I wasn’t sure what my choice would be anymore. If I left I would lose the friends I had made, the sense of accomplishment, and I would lose the chance to get to know Sara, but if I stayed I would lose Danielle again.

  “I hope to stay, one way or another. Just give me some time to figure it out.” I knew that wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it was all I had at this time. “I’m going to figure something out.”

  “You want to stay with her, don’t you?” Danielle asked, pointing to Sara, who had somehow managed to trap Camo by hanging her upside down from a nearby tree using Whip Lash’s whip as the rope. I wondered how she had managed to get that off his belt loop. How had she managed to trap Camo? Then I noticed the knot around Camo’s feet and an extended rope to the back of the car she had been leaning against. At least she never had to lift a muscle. Camo swung wildly from the branch as Sara tied it into place. I couldn’t hear what Camo was saying, but I had a feeling it was nothing but profanities.

  I let out a laugh as Sara turned and left her friend upside down, and walked toward Whip Lash to receive her punishment. I wondered if she knew Demon and Whip Lash had set up their dynamic for what she needed in order to train as an agent. She had the skill, and they gave her what she needed to accomplish her training.

  “Come on. We have to get you home, and then I have to take my new girlfriend out on a date,” I said with a smile. “Maybe then I can get her to tell me what I need to know, and maybe more about herself.”

  “Just make sure that if you stay, that it’s what you really want. It will be a big change,” Danielle said as she glanced around at the agents. She didn’t realize that while I hadn’t lived with them for the last few years, it would be a bigger change to go back home and never see any them again or go out on missions.

  “But the best way to make your life better is to take a chance, and hope it’s for the best,” I said, wrapping my arm around her and leading her toward Demon so we could get her home, and head back to the agency.

  Epilogue

  Two Months Later

  CIRA had settled down with finishing off the Cardoza Cartel’s leading men. There wasn’t anyone to take over, the members had dispersed and were being rounded up, and to top it off the police had arrested Camden. While I was a little annoyed that he got to live out his days in a cell, always around to cause trouble, at least Miguel had died in the fight. If I could have only taken one down, Miguel had been the most dangerous and vengeful. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about him.

  I had convinced Sara to open up about Ash Crest. The similarities between the accidents were obvious, and while Sara said she hadn’t been fully aware of who had done it until Demon told her, she started looking into him. She had quieted down at the mention of his name because she knew he had taken her family away from her. After listening to each other’s stories, we knew the same person had committed the crimes. She didn’t say much on why her family had been targeted, but she had a lot to say about the person who killed Ash.

  “I don’t have a lot to tell you. The files I discovered during my search were all destroyed.” That explained how she knew my name. She speculated that she had gotten too close, and scared whoever had killed Ash. “Whoever is behind Ash’s death got rid of anything that could lead to him, even files about Ash’s targets.”

  While a valiant effort, it wouldn’t stop me from looking for him. I wanted to find out why Ash had targeted my family, and for that I had to track down the man who did it. Sara explained she had a lead, and passed along the information to me before she told me what she remembered from my file. The file held information on my parents mostly, the hit had gone out for them, but she wasn’t sure why. She only knew that Ash preferred to get rid of the family, or only leave one person alive. In my case, they were still looking for me. They were waiting for me to show my face again so they could finish the job. They knew that if they took out Danielle, then I would never reveal myself, and they’d always wonder where I could be. When I asked for more information on her lead, she shrugged.

  “I don’t have a lot on him, honestly,” she had said, seeming uninterested in the conversation. “Just a name.”

  “What’s the name?”

  “Cameron Tyler.” Her answer was curt, to the point. I think she wanted to stop talking about it, but I wanted more information. I needed to find him, she knew I wanted to, and when I did I’d figure out why he took my revenge from me.

  “How did you find him?”

  “Tessa gave me the information by accident. It happened to be in some of the folders I collected from the Sandtown raid. He apparently worked for the Cardozas for a while. I’m not sure why he turned
or what he had against Ash.”

  “How did you and Tessa come to an agreement to work together?”

  A haunted look entered her eyes before she spoke. “We made an agreement that night, one that few people fully know about or understand. I helped Tessa into a new life, and I got the information that had eluded me for years after the crash, but it also sealed my fate. I wouldn’t leave the agency knowing I could stop men like Ash from harming other people. Now there’s no going back.”

  While Sara had found some happiness after choosing to stay in the agency, the pain in her eyes betrayed the sensation that she’d lost her family all over again. She would have been alone if they hadn’t taken her in, and now she had abandoned them. They were hurting, even worse than she had been, because she could distract herself with missions and life in the agency, but she knew they would never stop looking for her. They knew she wasn’t dead, or at least one of them did.

  Alex, Sara’s oldest brother, continued to search. He knew she hadn’t gone hiking, but went along with the story when he found a note and proof that Sara was in danger. He called off the search for her by helping Demon fake her death, but Alex knew she was alive. He just couldn’t find her. There were flyers all over their hometown, letters in the paper, and images on social media begging for information on her. They all went unanswered, and it hurt her to know that she could never tell them.

  I had a surprise for her, but it would have to wait until Demon gave me the thumbs-up. He’d kept his word that after the mission ended, I could get whatever I wanted, and I wanted to stay in touch with Danielle. I wanted to be able to talk to her, whether face-to-face or just over the phone. I wanted to stay here, but I wanted to let her know that I was okay, and that she wasn’t alone anymore. When he agreed, after getting the okay from Sharp Shooter, I took it one step further and asked if Sara could do the same with her adoptive family.