“Jocelyn,” Nikki said, with a note of concern in her voice. “Who was that?” I could feel every eye in the car on me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, still sorting through what I had seen. “That was the director of KATO.” My stomach churned. He had been the assistant director when I was there, but we had received intel that he had taken charge after our invasion. I exhaled evenly. I could have killed him tonight. Should I have killed him? I couldn’t process anything when I saw him—all I could think to do was run.
The silence hung in the air until Nikki broke it. “He was meeting with one of the handlers.”
“They were going over this together when they dropped,” Rachel said, unzipping her sweatshirt. She pulled out a folder, and passed it to me.
It was Eliza’s file. It was labeled as “Python”—her code name—not her given name. But this was different from the one Travis and I had back at the IDA.
The line under Eliza’s picture was the part that bothered me the most.
Subject: 075 Project: 08562
My forehead tightened as I studied it. “I have no idea what that means,” I said. “I’ve only ever heard us referred to as agents or trainees.” Or a few other choice words we didn’t need to get into. I studied the file for another beat. I was starting to develop a theory.
“We’re about ten minutes out,” Parker said. I looked to Nikki, to tell her my suspicions, but I never got the chance. I turned my head just in time to see an airborne projectile hurling toward the car.
Chapter Five
CENTIPEDE
We were spinning through the air before I could get a word out. The missile hit the ground, exploding fifty feet from us, and the shock waves sent us tumbling. We took a final turn before skidding to a stop, the tires somehow finding their way to the ground.
“Is everyone okay?” Cody asked, surveying the front seat and turning back to us. His eyes found Rachel first, who nodded. My attention was on Nikki. She was unconscious, her head was bleeding, and her arm was bent in an unnatural angle.
“Nikki’s not,” I said, completely failing to keep the panic out of my voice.
“Don’t move her.” Rachel leaned over me, feeling for her neck. “Her head’s banged up, but her pulse is strong. We need to get her spine stabilized.”
“Our options are pretty limited here,” Cody said, assessing the situation. Next to him in the front seat, the driver was calling for the second extraction car and a backboard.
Then I remembered what had happened right before the car flipped. I looked frantically out the window, and I saw someone coming closer. “We have another problem,” I said.
A girl was jogging toward us. Once she was close enough, I realized I knew her. It was Centipede.
My muscles stiffened. Centipede and I had quickly become rivals at KATO. She had been the only one who could ever challenge me. I didn’t know where she was coming from tonight. She wasn’t in the safe house—I would have noticed. But that was a problem for later.
Nikki was hurt, and Eliza was unconscious. A car was at least a minute out. We wouldn’t get away. Centipede would kill the others on sight, but I was sure she wouldn’t kill me. After everything I’d done, KATO would want me back alive. They’d want me to talk and they’d want me tortured. They’d want me to pay. I suspected that was the only reason she didn’t try to do more damage to the car—she needed to make sure I didn’t die.
“I have a plan,” I said. I found Eliza’s folder at my feet and pressed it into Rachel’s hands. “I know who this is. I can hold her off. When the car comes, you get Nikki and Eliza and you get out of here.” I paused to meet each of their eyes, making sure they understood. “Get them on the plane and safe, then come back for me.”
Cody gave me a skeptical look. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone with this.”
“I can handle it,” I said. My voice was firm and commanding, but I felt myself getting defensive. “She’s a KATO agent and I’ve fought her before. I know how to deal with her.”
I glanced at Rachel, assuming that, in this case, she would be on my side. My plan got her and the others out, leaving only myself at risk. I was surprised to see she didn’t seem any more convinced than Cody. The only difference was that she didn’t say anything.
Centipede was getting closer and I was losing my patience. “This is the best plan,” I said. “I know what I’m getting into.”
I looked at each of them. Cody’s lips were pursed, but he sighed. “Don’t get yourself killed.”
I climbed over Nikki, kicked the bent door open, and ran toward Centipede, prepared to meet her head-on before she got anywhere near the others.
She came to a stop when she realized who I was and broke out into the truest smile I had ever seen on her face. “Well,” she said, “you are making my job easy.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I doubt that very much.”
She arched her eyebrows at me, shrugging. “I was sent to bring you back, and here you are coming to me. It doesn’t get too much easier.” So I was right, she wasn’t in the house. This was a mission for her. She smiled wider and there was a gluttonous look in her eye. I was sure she was thinking about the extra Gerex she’d get as a reward for bringing me back to headquarters.
I circled her. Her attention was on me and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn’t want her seeing what was going on in the car behind me. And this way, I would know how long I had to hold her off for. I noticed her hand slip behind her back, and I knew she had some kind of weapon. If she couldn’t kill me, it had to be a tranquilizer. I reacted before she had the opportunity, grabbing her hand and twisting her arm upward. I was just quick enough to pull the tranquilizer gun out of her back holster, but then she surprised me. She twirled herself around, ducked under my arm, and reached for the tranq gun with her other hand. She grabbed my wrist, trying to pull it, and me, closer to her. She had my hands twisted up, then kneed me hard in the stomach. I doubled over, dropping the gun. I got myself together enough to kick it far away from both of us. I would not go back to KATO—especially not like that. Not without a fight.
Centipede spun away from the gun, balling her fists and putting them in front of her face, ready to go. I knew she would never turn her back on me, even if it was to get a weapon. She would never give me the chance to pull a gun on her. I hadn’t killed anyone—at least not that I knew of—since I started at the IDA. It was something I was proud of. But Centipede didn’t know that. And the truth was, if I had to choose between letting her live and going back to KATO, I was sure I’d find it in me to pull the trigger. This wasn’t like Chin Ho. She didn’t raise me.
I kept my hands up, not daring to reach for my gun. Making a move directed at anything but Centipede would give her the upper hand. She came at me, attempting another hit to my stomach, but I pivoted away from her. I did my best to protect my left shoulder. It ached slightly, but it was manageable. I needed to keep it that way. I didn’t want her to find out I had a weakness. She threw a punch at my face and I got in one to her chest. It knocked the wind out of her, but slowed her down for only a second. We kept dueling. And the longer it went on, the more I realized I didn’t have the upper hand that I used to. I didn’t feel nearly as quick or as sharp as I should have. I had lost all awareness of what was going on with the others. I couldn’t afford to split my attention. I also lost track of how much time had passed, and I felt myself starting to fade. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up with her.
Just as I was about to cave I heard a car come up right behind me. Centipede took another swing at me and I dodged to the right. Just as I did, a bullet spiraled past my shoulder from behind. It was on course for Centipede, but she saw it coming and hit the ground.
“Raven, let’s go!” It was Cody. He was in the backseat of the car, waiting with the door open. I took advantage of the fact that Cent
ipede was still on the ground, and ran toward the car without looking back. I was a foot from the door when I felt the sting on my right ear.
I didn’t slow down to assess what had happened. I knew Centipede was running for me. I dived forward, just barely making it to the car.
“Whoa,” Cody said, pulling me inside and closing the door as the car sped off.
“I think she hit me.” I felt my ear as I tried to catch my breath. Cody’s face stiffened. “Tranquilizer,” I said, trying not to panic. I may have avoided KATO, but I still couldn’t afford to be tranqed. Dr. March had warned against putting any kind of drug in my system. We didn’t know how my body would react if we did.
The realization spread across Cody’s face as he leaned closer to the top of my ear, trying to get a better look. “There’s no puncture,” he said. “I think the body of the dart grazed you.” He pulled back to scan my face. “How do you feel?”
I breathed through my nose, trying to sort through the emotion, adrenaline, and the beginnings of a craving to assess myself. Relief flooded through me. “I think I’m okay.”
Cody collapsed into his seat, and I thought back over everything we had seen since we’d landed in Russia, struggling to keep myself in check.
• • •
A field medic was working on both Nikki and Eliza by the time Cody and I got on the plane. They were each lying on one of the benches toward the back of the small cabin. Rachel was sitting across from Nikki, watching the medic closely. The engine was already running when Cody and I boarded so we took off quickly.
“Nikki’s stable,” Rachel said the second she saw us, “but she has a head injury and a broken arm.”
“Has she woken up at all?” Cody asked, taking a seat next to Rachel. I stayed standing, craning my neck, trying to get a better look at Nikki, but the medic blocked my view.
“No, not yet.” Her voice dipped a fraction and she pulled her arms in, like she was trying to rein in her emotions.
“What about Eliza?” I asked.
Rachel made eye contact with me for a moment before breaking it. “They’re keeping her unconscious until we get back to the IDA.”
I nodded; that was probably the safest thing. We were in no condition to explain anything to her while we were in the air. I also suspected, based on what I’d seen in that house and the file Rachel and Nikki had recovered, that there was more physical damage done to her than even I had expected. She was better off waiting for Dr. March.
I finally sat down on the bench behind Nikki. I put my back against the wall and pulled my knees into my chest. The mission continued to play in my head on loop. The house full of girls we had to leave behind, how bad Eliza looked, and the director of KATO lying on the ground. Then Centipede.
I bit my lip hard. Facing her didn’t feel like a reckless move, but it was definitely a miscalculation. I’d underestimated Centipede and overestimated myself. I didn’t factor in that she was on Gerex and I wasn’t. If she had actually been trying to kill me, I was sure I wouldn’t have walked away from that fight.
I felt the craving strengthen and did what I could to focus on breathing. This mission was creeping under my skin, making it hard to fight off, especially since my mind was trying desperately to go back further. Back to my time at KATO and the other instances the two of us had squared off. But I wouldn’t let myself go there. I’d freed myself from them. Now all that mattered was moving forward.
A bag of ice appeared in front of my face and I lifted my chin to find Cody feet from me.
“Your jaw isn’t looking so good.” He pressed the bag into my hands.
“Thanks,” I said, embracing the numbing cold that came with it.
He nodded, then sat down across the aisle, facing me and watching me closely. “You’re unreal,” he said, a smile playing at his lips. “And I mean that in the best way. Walking into a fight like that—” He shook his head. “I don’t know if it was the smartest thing to do, but we all wouldn’t have gotten away if you hadn’t.”
I pressed into the wall, leaning my head back and focusing on the ceiling. “I did what needed to be done.” That was how I always operated.
Cody didn’t say anything for a while. He was quiet for so long that I looked up to see if he was still there. He was, and he was studying me like I was the toughest code he ever had to crack. Then he shook his head again and repeated, “You’re unreal.” There was a note of admiration that I didn’t know what to do with.
He left me alone after that, and I spent rest of the flight working to keep myself under control.
Chapter Six
UNWELCOME FEEDBACK
I still felt edgy when I got back to the IDA, but more or less okay. Enough so that I headed for Simmonds’s office first, instead of Dr. March’s. I’d need an acupuncture treatment, but I was stable enough for a debrief and I wanted to get better at managing the cravings.
I was surprised to find Travis waiting in the lobby of the operations building when I got there. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed but straightened sharply when I opened the door.
“Hey,” he said, approaching me eagerly. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my exposed right ear where the tranquilizer dart had grazed it. “Do you know anything about Nikki or Eliza?”
He fell into step next to me as I headed for the stairs. “Nikki’s still unconscious. She’s having some scans done, but the doctors say she’s stable. They’ll know more once the results come back.”
I nodded, feeling a mixture of unease and relief—it wasn’t good, but it could have been a lot worse. “And Eliza?”
“Dr. March was with her,” he said. “I don’t know too much more than that.”
I nodded and massaged the back of my neck, trying to convince myself to relax.
“How’s your shoulder?” he asked, shooting me a pointed look.
“It’s all right,” I said, rolling it. “Sore, but I’ve had worse.”
Travis arched his eyebrows. “You know when you say that, given your past, it’s not saying too much.”
I smirked. “I’m not downplaying it. It hurts, but it’s really not too bad. I was able to keep her to my right.”
He eyed me, trying to work out if I was telling the truth. I must have passed the test, because he moved on. “Simmonds said I could sit in on your debrief, if it’s okay with you.”
“Of course it is.” I turned the knob to Simmonds’s office and started to step inside.
My focus was still on Travis, whose eyes widened the second the door opened. “There’s one more thing I should tell you about—”
But he didn’t get the chance. One very angry voice got my attention.
“What could you have possibly been thinking?”
My head snapped away from Travis to see my father, standing in the middle of Simmonds’s office, his jaw locked tight. In the back of my mind it reminded me of when I was younger. I didn’t remember him being angry often, but when he was, it was really bad. I think the last time was when I had taken my bike out without telling anyone and ended up in the street.
I shook my head a few times, trying to force my clouded brain to clear. He wasn’t finished.
“How could you be so irresponsible?” His voice held a quiet tension that he seemed to be struggling to control.
I felt my guard go up and annoyance start to build in my chest. “What are you talking about?”
This question seemed to make him even more agitated. He started to answer, but Simmonds cut him off.
“Chris.” His voice was sharp and authoritative. “Not only is this not the time, but it’s not your place. She’s my agent.”
But my dad didn’t even seem to hear him. “How could you take a risk that insane?” He was yelling now, eyes bulging. “That was so far off book! You could have gotten you
rself killed! How could you even think about taking on an enemy agent by yourself?”
I rolled my shoulders back and drew myself up to my full height. “I know that agent,” I said. “I discussed the options with my team. I knew what I was getting into.”
“That mark on your ear tells a different story!” He seemed to get angrier the more the conversation went on. “You’re lucky it wasn’t a bullet!”
Travis took a step forward, so he was right next to me now. “Sir, you need to back off.” He squared himself to my father, and while he wasn’t yelling, his voice was firm.
But at this point, I was far too enraged to give Travis the floor. “It wasn’t luck!” I snapped. Because while I had most definitely made a mistake, it wasn’t the mistake he’d thought I’d made. “I knew she wouldn’t kill me. KATO wants me alive.”
“So if you lost, you’d be back with them?” His jaw flexed. “You’re not in any position to make that type of decision.”
“Actually, I was.” I felt my stance stiffen. “I was the one in the field. And I don’t have to defend any of my choices to you!” He had no business criticizing me. Especially when it came to KATO. “I was with them for ten years and you were nowhere to be found. You don’t get to weigh in now!”
“That’s enough!” Simmonds said, coming around from behind his desk. I was sure he’d tried to stop us several times before now, and I had been too focused on fighting back to notice. My father opened his mouth, ready to debate the issue further, but Simmonds didn’t let him. “I have given you a lot of leeway here, but this is my department.”
My dad’s face started to redden. He wasn’t ready to let this go, but I’d had more than enough.
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