He pivoted to a stop in front of the training facility. “Yes,” he said. “I understand why you brought her in. What I don’t understand is why you won’t fix it.”
I grabbed him. “I can’t fix it! If I cut her out, she goes to KATO with everything.” I arched an eyebrow. “Unless you’re suggesting I kill her.”
“I’m suggesting,” he said through gritted teeth, “that you shut this whole thing down.”
“This isn’t the first time a mission hasn’t gone as planned,” I said. “It shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”
“Usually when missions go wrong they don’t involve handing an unvetted enemy access to the IDA! And this one in particular has given us every reason to believe she can’t be trusted.” The vein in his neck started to throb. “If you have a different way to get rid of her and modify the plan, I’m all ears, but that’s not what you’re talking about right now.”
“She knows too much!” I couldn’t hide my frustration anymore.
“Which is exactly why you need to end the whole thing.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not after all the work we put into this! The intel is too good to waste, and all of the girls are on board—including Venom. I’m not throwing that all away because you’re panicking.”
“This isn’t panicking. This is being smart!”
“It’s playing it safe,” I said. “And we won’t beat KATO that way.”
“You won’t beat KATO at all. You’ll be high in their basement.” I felt like he’d just slapped me, but I didn’t let it show. Because yes, that was my greatest fear, but I wouldn’t let that fear get in the way of bringing them down.
“I know the risks.” I spoke slowly to keep my anger in check. “And I’ve got it under control.”
He laughed in disbelief. “Then you know what? If you’re so sure, I’ll let you take it from here.” He yanked the door to the training facility open and left me without looking back.
I stood there for a few minutes in shock. He couldn’t possibly have just quit the operation. Was that even something he was allowed to do?
I hurried inside once my brain started working again. I needed him to hear me out, but I realized very quickly that wouldn’t be happening now. The afternoon workout was in full swing, and the last thing that would help this situation would be a fight in front of every active agent in the IDA. I spotted Travis easily, pounding a punching bag on the other side of the room. He almost never used a punching bag.
“What’s up with him?” I glanced to my left and saw Nikki had sidled up next to me.
“He’s really angry with me,” I said.
“Were you wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head. “He doesn’t agree with my approach to something.”
Nikki grimaced. “He can be such a noodle sometimes. Give him time. He’ll get over it.”
“I don’t know about that.” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “I think he took himself off the assignment we were working on together.”
Her head snapped in my direction, eyes wide with disbelief. “He couldn’t have meant it.”
“It sounded like he did.” I bit my lip. “Is he allowed to do something like that?”
“Well, he can ask for anything he wants, but Simmonds would still have to agree to it,” she said. “He’ll cool down before it gets to that point. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”
I looked back to Travis, who was taking his anger out on the bag, and I hoped Nikki was right.
Chapter Nineteen
THE LAST PIECE
I gave up on trying to talk to Travis. He wasn’t receptive to what I had to say, so there didn’t seem to be any point. I had a hard time sleeping that night, which resulted in me being the first one to the observation room the next morning. I thought over everything Misty had told me as I watched Eliza through the glass. She sat crossed-legged at the bottom of the bed, her back resting against the rail.
I breathed slowly through my nose as I studied her. She looked calm, but I was sure it was an act.
I only managed fifteen minutes of peace before the door opened behind me. My dad walked in with a cup of coffee in each hand. He held one out for me. “I usually stop on my way here,” he said. “I thought you might like one.”
I eyed it wearily. “Coffee’s probably not a good idea for me.” I didn’t really know whether caffeine would affect me, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
“It’s herbal tea,” he said. I arched an eyebrow at that and he smiled lightly.
“Thank you.” I tried not to act too shocked as I took it from him.
He nodded once. “You’re welcome.”
My dad had said Simmonds had given him the basics of my life since I’d come to the IDA. I guessed that included the side effects of living without Gerex.
I looked back to Eliza as I took a sip, embracing the way the tea scalded my throat. I needed this to work. I’d pulled three KATO agents into this mess. I couldn’t let it all be for nothing.
“You’re worried,” he said. It was an observation, not a question.
I closed my eyes for a beat. “I really need her to talk.”
“She will.” There wasn’t a trace of doubt in his voice.
I wanted to ask him how he knew, how he could be so sure—but the door opened before I could.
Simmonds and Travis entered, ending whatever moment my dad and I were having. Travis looked at me but didn’t speak. I swallowed, hating this place we were in. But I didn’t know what to say to fix it.
I put my focus back on Eliza as we waited for Dr. March. Eliza tugged at the chains that held her in place. She seemed pleasantly curious about them. I thought about the girl Misty had described. That girl had fire and fight—enough to openly square off against a KATO handler. The girl in front of me just looked lost.
Dr. March met my eyes when she came in. “Whenever you’re ready.” Her gaze was steady and firm. After the last exchange, I knew she was uneasy about what this might trigger. But I wasn’t worried about myself. Not this time. I knew more about Eliza going in than I had in the past. At this point, I was more concerned that if I didn’t get Eliza talking, it would mean that not only was my team a lost cause, but Eliza as well.
“Does she know about her father yet?” I asked.
Dr. March shook her head. “We tried to tell her a couple more times, but the second his name came up she shut us out.”
I nodded. It was a card I hoped I didn’t have to use, but I was prepared to. She needed to know, and I needed leverage.
Dr. March led me back to Eliza’s door. The guard stepped aside when he saw me, and Dr. March let me in.
Eliza’s head snapped in my direction when the door opened. This time, Dr. March stayed in the hallway, letting me be Eliza’s sole point of contact. She sat up even straighter when I crossed the threshold. I took the chair—a new one—from its position at the foot of her bed and pulled it around to the side, angling it so I could see her. I also made sure she was positioned toward the window so everyone could see her face. She glanced behind me briefly, like she knew there was a room full of people watching, but she didn’t ask any questions.
Eliza looked more worn-out close up, but she also seemed surprisingly alert and engaged. She was taking a series of slow breaths, like she was terrified of what I was about to do. This was something I more than understood.
“I’m sorry about last time,” I said. She didn’t move a muscle, not daring to trust me. “But I need you to be ready to talk.” I kept my voice light and cautious. I had to approach this whole situation differently from last time. I didn’t want to make her any more defensive or on edge than she already seemed to be.
She stared straight ahead, being careful not to make eye contact. “I can’t talk to you.” There was ice in her voice. I knew coming in she wasn’t going to make this easy.
>
I bit my tongue, trying to keep from getting frustrated with her. “You need to tell me what they did to you. Because whatever it is, they’re going to do it to other agents too.” She squeezed her eyes closed tight, like she was trying to shut out the world. “They’ll do it to Misty.”
Her eyes snapped open. “How do you know that name?”
I scanned her face. Did she really not know? “You kept saying it.” She scrunched up her nose, looking startled and confused. I continued. “I talked to her a couple days ago. She’s helping us.”
Eliza blinked a few times, like she was having a hard time processing everything I was throwing at her. “She is?”
I nodded. “She said—she said to tell you not to let them take your light.”
Eliza inhaled sharply at that and slid away from me, pressing her back into the foot rail. She rocked gently back and forth, muttering like she was struggling with something internally. Then she forced herself still and met my eyes. “I can’t tell you.” Her voice was different this time. Like it hurt her not to be more helpful.
I took a breath, giving us a beat. I wanted this to go slow and quiet so she would separate it from both last time and from KATO. “At least help me understand. I know Misty meant something to you.” She sat tense and stubbornly quiet. We didn’t have time to draw this out. I hated what I was about to do, but I didn’t have a choice. “How can you keep their secrets after what they’ve done to you and your father?”
Her hands moved to her ears just like Simmonds and March said they would, but I was ready. I was out of my chair in a second, catching hold of her wrists before she could shut me out.
“Leave. Him. Out of this!” she yelled at me, but I didn’t back down. I shifted onto the bed, sitting in front of her with one knee tucked under me so we were eye to eye. “He’s already in it.” She started shaking her head again. “Eliza—” My voice cracked and I bit my lip, taking a minute. Then I found her eyes. “Eliza, they killed him.”
She went rigid in front of me, searching my face, looking for any sign that I wasn’t being honest. I was shattering her. “No. No, they can’t have.” She pulled her arms out of my grasp and shook her head hard and fast. It was the kind of thing a small child would do to escape an adult. But I wouldn’t give her any space. Instead I shifted closer, coming just short of touching her. “They told me if I listened they’d let him go.”
A pit dropped into my stomach, and I fought to keep myself from shaking. “Eliza, you’ve been with them for over a year. Do you really think they would let someone go?”
She held my gaze for another moment, then everything seemed to snap into place at once. She curled into a ball, burying her face in her hands. She was on the verge of hyperventilating. I leaned forward and dropped my head so it was right above hers. “Hey.” I put my hand on her back. “Take a deep breath.” She did what I said. In fact, she took several. And eventually she had gotten it together enough that I was sure she wouldn’t pass out. When she started to sit up, I slid back a few inches, giving her some space.
“When?” Her voice was hoarse and I knew she was still in shock.
“About two months ago,” I watched her closely, gauging her reaction.
She thought for a second, then shook her head. “That’s not possible. They threatened him just before you took me.”
I met her eyes evenly. I had an idea what she was feeling, because I had felt it with my mom. The only feeling I had no context for was how abrupt this was. I had been prepared—or at least, as prepared as I could be. “They were lying.” I took care to speak as gently as possible, though I couldn’t be sure it mattered. “I was in KATO’s headquarters. I located him in the morning and he was alive. One of our agents went to retrieve him a few hours later and they had killed him.”
She looked away from me and I could practically see her mind trying to understand all of this. Then she leaned forward again, pressing her palms into her eyelids. “I knew. They didn’t tell me but I think I knew.”
I dipped my head low so I was closer to her. “If he was the reason you were holding out, we really need you to talk to us.” She looked up at me. “What did they do to you?”
She was breathing deeply again. Like she was doing her best to keep from falling apart. Then she shook her head. “He wasn’t the only reason. I still can’t tell you anything.”
I let out a long frustrated exhale, then pushed myself off the bed and started pacing. “How can you still be loyal to them?” I asked, snapping at her. I immediately felt bad about it, but we didn’t have the luxury of time.
“I didn’t say I don’t want to talk,” she said, firing back. Her voice was stronger and more forceful than it had ever been before. I liked it. She met my eyes with a fierce, determined look. “I said I can’t.”
I tilted my head to the side, studying her. “What exactly does that mean?”
She stared at the wall over my shoulder, her face contracted in deep concentration. “All right,” she said. “I’ll tell you what I can. But I don’t know how far I’ll get.”
I looked back at the mirror, hoping they were all ready for this. I didn’t know what to make of it, but she was finally opening up. I wasn’t about to slow her down by asking questions.
“I can only say this once. So, I need you to listen.” The more she talked, the more afraid she looked. Still, I nodded.
She took a deep breath, gathering her strength. “Gerex wasn’t the only thing KATO injected me with,” she said. I sat up a little straighter, feeling slightly more panicked.
“What do you mean?” I scanned her, trying to work out if she was either lying or hurt.
“They put something in me—a different injection.” She hunched over, and I noticed her heart monitor start to spike. “If we start revealing secrets,” the monitor went even faster, and Eliza leaned forward farther, holding her head in her hands in obvious pain. “The pressure builds—” The monitor started beeping at an alarming rate. I was sure it was due to her pain, but it seemed to be entirely too fast regardless. She started to talk again, but I grabbed her hand before she could.
“No, no, no,” I said, sitting back down on the bed, closer to her. “Don’t say anything. Don’t give us anything else.” She took a series of slow breaths, battling through the pain, and clearly pushing any memory of what she was about to say out of her mind. She was shaking so hard, and I knew it was out of fear.
I slid even closer to her and tugged her arm, trying to pull her to me, but she yanked away. Tears leaked down her face, but she didn’t wipe them away. “It’ll make it worse.”
I nodded slowly and shifted away from her. I didn’t understand, but she had to have her reasons. “We’re going to figure something out,” I said, glancing at the window, at everyone behind it, hopefully making it clear that this was not just a suggestion. This was a clear-cut mission.
“Where did they inject this one?” I asked.
Eliza didn’t speak. She just pulled her hand up and rubbed at the base of her skull, right inside her hairline. I came around her a little bit more and pushed her hair out of the way so I could get a good look. Buried beneath the mess of waves was a small red bump. If she hadn’t been there to point it out to me, I never would have found it, let alone thought twice about it. She sobbed silently and I struggled not to reach out for her. The whole thing made me sick to my stomach.
After a few minutes, Dr. March came in and gave her something to help her sleep. I disappeared quickly out the door, feeling suffocated.
I walked past the observation room, not even stopping to glance back when I heard the door open. I moved swiftly through the lobby and out into the hallway, walking briskly to the large window at the end. It wasn’t the air I needed—it was the space.
I put my back against the wall next to the window and doubled over. This was different from a craving—though I could feel that too—this wa
s more like a physical sickness. They had messed with her brain. It made perfect sense. KATO had been pushing drugs into its agents for years. I thought they couldn’t get any worse, or any more terrible, but they had. If they had the ability to change how people thought and reacted—
I gulped down air but I couldn’t seem to get enough. No matter how many breaths I took it felt like my lungs couldn’t hold on to anything. I felt dizzy and sweaty, and I couldn’t figure out which was more severe.
Big black boots appeared in front of me. I knew it was my father, and I attempted to turn away from him.
“Jocelyn.” He tugged at my arms, trying to get me to straighten, but I couldn’t. “Sweetie, I need you to listen to me.” I pulled away again, but he put a hand on each shoulder, holding me tight. “Come on, you’re going to hurt yourself.”
He forced me straight and I swayed. I gripped his upper arms to stabilize myself.
“Good,” he said. I looked into his eyes and I realized they were the same color as mine. “Now, I need you to breathe when I do, okay?” His breaths were slower—too slow—and I found it impossible to match. “Let’s go, you can do it.” I tried again, and this time I got closer. He held on to me, coaching me for another few rounds until my breathing leveled.
“You did good, kid.” He held on to the back of my neck, refusing to let me look away. “You did real good.”
“They got—in her head.” I could barely get the words out.
“I know.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “And we’re all going to talk about that as soon as you’re ready.”
I nodded. “Can we just stay here for another minute?”
“We can stay here for as long as you need.”
I leaned back against the wall, and for the first time I was truly glad my dad was there.
Chapter Twenty
TRUTHS
My father and I moved back into the observation room when I had calmed down enough. Even though my head seemed to have cleared, I was still rattled to the point that my insides felt unstable. Simmonds stood near the door with Dr. March next to him, going over Eliza’s file. Travis was on the other side of the room, tucked in the corner, his forehead rested on the glass so he could still see Eliza.
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