Broken Trust

by Jill Williamson

  It took me a while, but I came to a river. It was four times bigger than the Echo River and quite swift. I followed it until I reached a bend were a rocky sandbar stretched inland. Glad my parachute was yellow, I spent a tedious amount of time untangling the thing, then spread it out on the sandbar and anchored it with rocks.

  Okay, people. The big yellow grapefruit marks the spot. Come and get me.

  I settled down beside my chute and started to shake a little. I think everything was suddenly catching up with me. Plus my bottom half was soaking wet and I was cold.

  I’d jumped out of a plane.

  A plane.

  I was invincible!

  I studied my surroundings as I calmed down and eventually found a stick and drew in the sand. Time passed by and I got colder. A mosquito found me and called his friends. I set out to kill them all, but quickly ran out of strength to keep that up. I yawned. I was beat. It had been a rough day. I wanted a bed, a dozen blankets, and at least three pillows. The idea of that made me smile. I’d walked enough today. I was going to sit and wait for my ride to show.

  Several hours later I started to re-think that plan.

  REPORT NUMBER: 27

  REPORT TITLE: I Win the Girl of My (Actual) Dreams

  SUBMITTED BY: Agent-in-Training Spencer Garmond

  LOCATION: Somewhere in Alaska by a massive river

  DATE AND TIME: Sunday, August 5, who cares?

  I spent the night on that sandbar and woke so cold and hungry and itchy that I thought I might die. I folded the chute into a long rectangle and wrapped it around myself, then trudged down the north side of the river, which seemed to grow ever more massive as I went. I ate berries, fought the urge to drink the river water, and scratched mosquito bites until they bled.

  I camped up in the weeds the second night, trying to get away from the mosquitoes. They seemed to like the water, so I thought some distance might be a good idea. I built a bow drill and set about trying to start a fire. It took me several hours and many lost tempers, but I finally managed to do it.

  Me man. Man make fire. Fire burn. Make warm.

  It was all very satisfying, but I was ticked off. I wanted to be found! Where were my rescuers? Granted, they had no way to find me without my necklace. And they might not even know I’d gotten out of the plane. But come on! I was wandering the Alaskan wilderness here. Without shoes!

  Once I had a fairly good fire going, I took my chute down to the river and used it to catch me some fish.

  I caught one as big as my leg. It almost knocked me over, it was so massive.

  I had to bash the thing on the head with a huge rock to kill it, and El McWilly’s flintknapped knife saved me the nightmare of figuring out how I was going to skin the thing.

  Turned out to be a salmon. I said before that the trout was the best fish I’d ever eaten. Well, scratch that. That salmon was the best fish I’d ever eaten.

  The next morning, I ate more of my salmon and tried to remember how long it would last before it went bad. Maybe I should have let this big one go and caught a smaller one. As I was contemplating my greed, I heard a motor. I jumped up and ran down to the river. I watched the water, hawk-like, ears perked up, head turning back and forth.

  It had probably been a plane.

  How was anyone every going to find me?

  All rivers emptied into the ocean eventually, right? I’d just have to keep walking.

  The engine grew louder. I turned and saw a motor boat. I waved my arms and screamed. Unfurled my parachute and turned it into a flag.

  I basically went nuts.

  The boat slowed, bumping over the river’s current. It turned and started toward me.

  I was saved.

  ****

  I sat beside Grace at the end of the dock, the two of us looking out over the lake. I could smell the coconut shampoo in her hair. It smelled like home.

  “What was that guy’s name again?” she asked me.

  “Eric Peterson. My hero.” My bush-living, knight in fish-gut-stained hip waders, who had so much facial hair he kept it braided. He had given me a ride to the Skwentna Lodge, where some woman named Sue used her CB radio to call for help. It had taken a while, but an answer finally came. Sue got word that Eric needed to take me up to the Skwentna airport, and when we got there, Bill was waiting with the Beaver.

  “And Luke,” Grace said. “He was your hero too.”

  “Yes, without El McWilly’s rock knife I would never have gotten free to jump out of that plane.” The kid was my new favorite person, second to Grace, of course.

  Mr. S had decreed that we all had passed the wilderness survival training, and he’d given me an extra twenty points for surviving another three nights in the woods alone.

  “Do you think they’ll find those guys?” Grace asked.

  “I don’t know.” There was no trace of the Twin Otter. It was equipped with an emergency locator transmitter, but that only activated upon a crash. Dusty had never had reason to install LoJack.

  “Maybe Mr. Canton will talk.”

  “Maybe.” Apparently, Tebow had thrown Alcan into the lake and kicked out the wolf dogs before taking off with me in the Twin Otter. Mr. S and Kimbal had dragged Alcan to the lodge and questioned him. Blondie and Tebow had promised him $10,000 to help nab me, which I doubted he’d ever see. He didn’t know where the guys had been taking me. Special Forces had finally arrived and taken over the interrogation. They’d questioned everyone. Nick had been in there for a couple hours, and they took him with them when they left.

  “I hope they go easy on Nick,” I said.

  “Are you kidding? He deserves what he gets.”

  “That’s harsh coming from the girl who didn’t want me to call the cops on her dad.”

  She shrugged. “My dad is sick.”

  “And those jerks had kidnapped Faith.” I didn’t hold anything against Nick. It was easy to get swept up with the wrong crowd. And once they’d taken his sister… well, grace always, right?

  I looked at Grace then and pondered her name.

  “It’s so peaceful here, but the mosquitoes drive me crazy.” She lifted her bare feet from the water, sticking her legs out parallel to the surface. Water dripped from her heels. “Look at my legs.”

  I was.

  “I have, like, twenty bites on each. It looks like chicken pox.”

  “Maybe you should wear long pants.”

  “I ran out. Everything is dirty. All I have left are shorts. I know I could wash my clothes out in the lake like Arianna did, but it seems like a lot of work. We’ll be going home in two days, so I’m trying to hold out. Did you wash out your clothes?”

  I made a face. “No way.”

  She dropped her feet back into the water.

  We sat still and listened. Birds chirped, an occasional splash here and there revealed a hungry duck coming up for air as it searched for dinner. Mosquitoes buzzed around us.

  “It’s so peaceful here,” Grace said.

  I looked down at her. “You already said that.”

  Her big blue eyes stared into mine. “Well, it is,” she said softly, bumping her arm against mine.

  The air got tense. We became frozen in this still place. My heart was racing. “Boom clap” kind of heart racing. I didn’t know a lot about girls, but this sure had the makings of a hint.

  Did she want me to kiss her? I wanted to. But I didn’t want to mess this up. I couldn’t. I’d die if Grace stopped talking to me.

  Okay, not really. But it sure felt like I would.

  Stupid girls. They were so confusing! Okay, hold yourself together, man. You got this. You can do this. Just move in slowly. Okay, good. Good. A little closer.

  She didn’t back away.

  She closed her eyes.

  Oh, my gosh! This was actually happening. I leaned down, and I kissed Grace. Her lips tightened against mine. Not only was she letting me touch her, she was kissing me back! This awesome, gorgeous girl actually liked me. The feel of her l
ips made my skin tingle all over, and I didn’t want the kiss to end. I swear, fireworks were going off all around us, just like in a movie. There might have been music too. It was a beautiful thing. Like a dream, but I knew it was real.

  It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like eternity. She pulled away from me, and her feet shot back out of the water, giving us something to focus on. I watched the water drain off her heels, still nervous about what had happened, not wanting to say anything, wishing she would.

  Instead of speaking, she rested her head against my arm. We sat there in silence. I breathed in the smell of spruce trees and coconuts. This was good. Right? I could work with this.

  “Agents Garmond and Thomas.”

  I jumped and knocked Grace’s head off my arm. I glanced behind us. Mr. S was standing at the bottom of the steps to the lodge, arms crossed.

  Uh oh.

  He lifted his hand and beckoned us with one curling finger.

  I glanced at Grace and we both got up. We walked up the dock and stopped two paces from him.

  “It was my understanding that the two of you weren’t dating.”

  I shoved my hands into my pockets. “We weren’t.”

  “But you are now?”

  I shrugged, glanced at her. “I think so.”

  To my delight, she nodded.

  “Okay,” Mr. S said. “Now I get to give you the couples lecture.”

  A couples lecture. I was part of a couple. Awesome.

  “It’s short and sweet,” Mr. S said. “No purple.”

  “Purple?”

  He tapped my chest. “Boys are blue. Girls are pink. When they touch, it makes purple. Got it?”

  “We can’t touch at all?” That did not seem fair.

  “I’d rather you didn’t, but I think you know what I mean.”

  Grace grinned so wide she looked like a cover model. “Pastor Scott says the same thing on youth trips.”

  “Mr. S, come on. I never heard of this purple rule when Gabe and Isabel were going out.”

  “Because I talked to them and they didn’t press their luck.”

  “What if Grace is falling off a cliff?”

  “Don’t play with me, Spencer. If I see this becoming a problem to either of your agenting or to your leadership of Team Alpha, I’ll move Grace to Diakonos. Are you hearing me?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Grace nodded.

  “Thank you. Now, I need to talk to Spencer for a minute, if you don’t mind, Grace.”

  “Sure.” She walked off down the dock.

  I watched her go. My girlfriend.

  Ha!

  “You’re not in trouble,” Mr. S said.

  “Right, okay.”

  “I wanted to inform you that Kimatra Patel was arrested for her involvement in distributing the drugs. She backed up Nick’s story that he didn’t know they were in the candy boxes.”

  “So Nick’s not in trouble?”

  “Not unless you want to press charges.”

  I shook my head. “Did she say who she was working for?”

  “Irving MacCormack. Heard of him?”

  “Director of the Jolt movies. I… uh… met him at the premiere of Jolt IV.”

  Mr. S nodded. “You still working on that investigation of yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “Keep at it.”

  “Really?”

  “Spencer, you did a great job with your assignment. You’ve got good instincts. And I think you’re on to something with the Jolt movies. Just be careful, okay?”

  I nodded, feeling guilty that I didn’t tell him everything right then. “What about Kimbal? Why did that guy call him Liam?”

  “Because that’s his real name just like Jonah is your real name.”

  “Oh.”

  “He relocated with you and your grandma back when all this started.”

  “Our cover is way past blown, huh?”

  “I’d say so. Special Forces questioned him as well, and Prière is still looking into his suspicious behavior the night you discovered the meth lab. I’m sorry I don’t have any more answers for you right now.”

  “That’s okay.” I was perfectly capable of getting answers on my own. Just wasn’t sure how to go about it yet.

  “That’s all, Spencer,” Mr. S said. “You’re free to go.”

  I grinned and trudged down the dock. Sat beside Grace, leaving a few inches between us for Mr. S’s benefit.

  I had a girlfriend.

  Grace Thomas was my girlfriend.

  I was going out with Grace Thomas.

  Me and Grace were a couple.

  I could have said that a million more times, and each time would have thrilled me all over again.

  I had a girlfriend. Now all I had to do was keep her.

  I had no idea how to do that.

  None whatsoever.

  THE END

  Spencer will return for one last adventure in The Profile Match

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  ALPHA GROUP:

  Samantha Floyd, freshman at Pilot Point Christian School, chin-length blond hair, plays trombone, loves drama club, and carries a taser.

  Grace Thomas, sophomore at Pilot Point High School, a gymnast and cheerleader with long blond hair and blue eyes.

  Wally Parks, sixteen-year-old homeschooled senior, Wally inherited his mother’s obsessive compulsive disorder and germ phobias. He loves reciting factoids.

  Spencer Garmond, a six-foot-four junior; ginger-haired, varsity basketball player; grandson to Alice; sarcastic, impulsive, and gifted in prophecy.

  Gabriel “Gabe” Stopplecamp, senior; black curly hair; glasses; son of Mr. S and Kerri; honest, good-hearted; musician.

  DIAKONOS GROUP:

  Drew Lusco, six-foot-one freshman at Pilot Point High School, plays center on varsity football, shaved head, gun expert.

  Luke “El McWilly” Williamson, freshman at Pilot Point Christian School; dirty-blond hair and a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; quick, stealthy, and painfully shy.

  Lukas Rodriguez, sophomore at PPCS; Cuban native; confident; hipster. Works at his mother’s hair salon and as a lifeguard. Good with cars. Speaks fluent Spanish and English. Isabel’s brother.

  Arianna Sloan, junior; small, twiggy missionary kid; lived in France, England, and Japan before moving to the States; loves languages and medicine. Makes her own skirts.

  Isabel Rodriguez, senior; petite; Cuban native with curly brown hair; speaks fluent Spanish and English; loves to sing and work in her mami’s beauty salon. Lukas’s sister.

  Nick Muren, senior; dark-haired, wealthy, arrogant pretty boy; father is a pastor at Cornerstone Christian Church; dislikes Spencer; enjoys acting, partying, and chasing girls.

  ADULT AGENTS:

  Prière, mid-fifties; tall and thin with black hair; wears suits; native of France; never married, former field agent; now serves as a Level One intercessor.

  Dave Kimbal, early forties; tall, pale, and muscular with red hair and freckles; never married; field agent assigned to protect his nephew, Spencer Garmond.

  Patrick “Mr. S” Stopplecamp, late forties; out of shape, pink-faced; bald; tiny double chin; thick glasses; serves as a Level One teaching agent in Pilot Point, California.

  Jeannette “Kerri” Stopplecamp, mid-forties; short, round, with black curly hair and glasses; wife of Patrick; mother of Gabe and identical twins Mary and Martha; serves as a teaching agent with her husband.

  Jean “Sasquatch” Sloan, late forties; tall, dark-haired, French. He is a Special Forces Project Gemini Agent assigned to track and protect Spencer Garmond. Father to Arianna Sloan. He has a twin brother, Christophe.

  ALASKANS:

  Dusty Benson, fiftyish; short, white and black hair; trim mustache; manager of the Bear Paw Lake Lodge, a Mission League training compound west of Skwentna, Alaska.

  Bill Sanger, short and stocky with a trim, graying brown beard and mustache. Pilot for the Bear Paw Lake Lodge.

  Al Canton, late fo
rties; shaggy, bearded mechanic; handyman and sled dog trainer with an affinity for chewing tobacco. Wears bunny boots and dirty jeans.

  John Chiklak, nineteen; baby-faced Alaskan native; chef for the Bear Paw Lake Lodge.

  KEEP READING

  Thanks for reading Broken Trust. If you’d like to learn more about the series, click here.

  Follow this link to add the books to your reading list on Goodreads. And please consider leaving an online book review to help others as they look for books to read.

  The Mission League series

  The New Recruit, book 1

  Chokepoint, mini-mission 1.5

  Project Gemini, book 2

  Ambushed, mini-mission 2.5

  Broken Trust, book 3

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. Growing up in Alaska led to a love of books, and in 2010 her first novel, By Darkness Hid, won the Christy Award. Jill writes fantasy and science fiction for teens and adults. She loves working with teenagers and giving writing workshops, and she blogs for teen writers at www.GoTeenWriters.com. Jill is also a Whovian, a Photoshop addict, and a recovering fashion design assistant. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children. Visit Jill online at www.jillwilliamson.com, where adventure comes to life.

  To be notified of new releases, click here to subscribe to Jill’s Sanctum ezine.

  You can also:

  Find Jill on Facebook.

  Follow Jill on Twitter.

  Email your questions or comments here.