Bait and Switch

by MC Lee

  Bait and Switch

  By MC Lee

  Sequel to The Shadow Operation

  The Center: Book Five

  When Leo runs into trouble on what is supposed to be a routine assignment, Jack is dispatched to provide backup. Leo has been tasked with befriending high school student Freya Moore, but another student, Ryan Anderson, seems to be targeting Freya too. Or is he more interested in Leo? When Jack discovers Ryan’s real intentions, his life changes forever.

  Secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and Jack finally learns the truth about who he is.

  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  More from MC Lee

  Readers love The Center series by MC Lee

  About the Author

  By MC Lee

  Visit Harmony Ink Press

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  IT WASN’T often Jack found himself alone at the Center; his days were too tightly scheduled, his instructors too demanding, and his handlers too insistent. So it was a relief to walk into the dining room in the early morning hours and find it empty.

  He headed to a table set up under the window and helped himself to a cup of coffee and a bagel, and then he took his customary seat and savored the quiet. But it only took a brief moment for the sense of peace to transform into aching loneliness. Most of the time he could take his mind off his present situation by concentrating on work or training or instruction, but in the quiet times between, he was inevitably reminded of the person who wasn’t here with him.

  When the door to the dining room swung open and Sean stepped in, Jack shot to his feet and stood up straight, ignoring the heavy sigh that escaped Sean’s lips.

  “When are you going to give this up, Jack?” Sean asked, sounding totally exasperated. “I’ve told you a hundred times. This level of formality isn’t necessary.”

  “My guardian has instructed me to improve, sir,” Jack said woodenly.

  Sean waved him back into his seat, but he had barely sat back down when the door opened again and his trainer, Evan, walked in. Jack again stood dutifully.

  “Your guardian hasn’t instructed you to turn yourself into a jack-in-the-box,” Sean snapped. He pointed toward Jack’s chair, and Jack resumed his seat.

  “I’ll do whatever you order, sir.”

  He saw the frustrated look Sean exchanged with Evan, but he didn’t care how pissed off they were. Two weeks ago his whole life had fallen apart, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize his chances of getting it back on track. His guardian had ordered him to improve his behavior, and if that meant treating all of his handlers with perfect respect, then that’s exactly what he intended to do—whether they liked it or not.

  At exactly 0700 hours the door opened again, and Jack once more found himself on his feet as his guardian walked in. He stood to attention, ramrod straight, his eyes trained on the wall in front of him, remaining on his feet even after his guardian had taken his seat.

  “Sit down, Jack,” Sean said testily. “This isn’t a goddamned Army barracks.”

  Jack glanced toward his guardian, and it was only after he had given a sharp nod that he sat back down and began to eat. He more or less tuned out the conversation between his handlers, though he kept half an ear open so that if they called on him, he would have an immediate answer ready.

  Secretly, he was already worn down by the tense atmosphere he had created with his rigid, self-imposed adherence to the rules. But there was no help for it. His guardian had sent his best friend away from the Center, warning that Leo would only be allowed to return when Jack showed an improvement in his results. He was determined to turn himself into the most disciplined, well-trained, obedient soldier in order to get Leo back as quickly as possible.

  “I’m moving this afternoon’s training session up by an hour,” Evan said. “Meet me outside on the track at 1700 hours.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jack replied.

  “That will give you a free hour before dinner. I want you to take your work to your guardian’s office,” Sean instructed.

  “Yes, sir,” Jack repeated dully.

  He kept his head bent and his eyes fixed on his plate, though his stomach did a slow roll at the thought of sitting alone in a room with the man he had known only as his guardian, but who he had recently discovered was actually Michael Palmer, his uncle.

  During his last assignment, an operative from another agency had hacked into the Center’s security system and read Jack’s confidential file. Jack learned his father, John, who had once been an agent for the Center, had been his guardian’s brother. It had been a revelation almost as momentous as finding out his mother, Eleanor, had once been Michael Palmer’s wife, before she had fallen in love with her husband’s younger brother and fled the Center when she became pregnant with Jack.

  After his parents died in a plane crash when Jack was just three years old, Michael had brought Jack to the Center, hidden their relationship from everybody except Sean, and raised him as an operative without revealing who he was or how they were connected.

  Jack glanced across the table at his guardian, still unable to understand why his only living relative had disowned him so completely. He had always treated Jack like a soldier, his strict governance cold and distant. Jack didn’t think he would ever fully accept that this man shared his blood. He refused to think of him as anything other than a ranking officer who demanded unquestioning obedience.

  “I heard from Martin today.”

  Jack’s ears pricked up at Sean’s words, and he lifted his head, unsurprised to see Sean’s eyes on him, even though he was speaking to Jack’s guardian. It was the one subject Sean knew would get Jack’s undivided attention.

  Sean returned his gaze to Jack’s guardian. “He’s prepping his next assignment. He’s swinging by the Center tomorrow.”

  Jack wondered if any of the others at the table could hear his heart hammering against his rib cage. He was desperate to ask about Leo, but he couldn’t choke up the question stuck in his throat for fear of losing the careful control he had built around himself—starting from the moment he watched Leo’s departing back as he walked out of the Center two weeks ago.

  Despite his inability to speak, Sean obviously understood the mute question because he glanced back at Jack and gave him a quick nod.

  Jack felt a sudden, heady rush of joy, although he clamped down hard before anybody could read him further. Even if Leo was accompanying his foster father, it didn’t mean Jack would be permitted to see him. His guardian had made it clear he wouldn’t allow contact until he felt Jack’s work had improved. Still, just the thought that Leo would soon be under the same roof was enough to give Jack hope.

  He stood when his guardian left the room and then slumped back
into his seat, trying to contain the wild emotions surging through him. Sean and Evan continued to talk quietly over coffee, their voices becoming little more than a distant buzz as Jack considered all the possible scenarios of Leo’s return. Even if his guardian permitted a meeting, he doubted he would be allowed to see Leo alone. But at this point, he’d take anything he could get.

  He couldn’t believe how quickly he had gotten used to Leo’s presence in his life, and how painful it had been to watch him walk away. They had barely been together for six months, and much of that had been spent on separate assignments, and yet Leo had slowly worked himself into every corner of Jack’s life until they were tangled tightly together. His world felt incomplete without Leo in it.

  “Can we consider you broken of that irritating habit once and for all?”

  Jack’s head shot up to find that Sean was standing beside the open door and that Evan had already left. He scrambled to his feet, cursing himself silently for slipping up.

  “I was getting whiplash watching you,” Sean said dryly. “Do you still want me to make it an order?”

  Jack shook his head.

  “Good,” Sean said. “Now, if we could just get you to remember that Evan and I have names.”

  EVEN AFTER two weeks, Jack still winced every time he returned to his suite and looked around the stark, empty rooms. His guardian had ordered a reset, which Jack found meant stripping him of everything but the most basic necessities. His computer had been taken away, all of his video games, music, and DVDs were gone, and his TV now only functioned as a two-way monitor so his handlers could check up on him whenever they wanted. The painted walls were bare—the maps and charts that had been the room’s only decoration having also been removed. Even the civilian clothing he’d been allowed to keep from previous assignments had been confiscated and replaced with a uniform of jeans, black T-shirts, and gray sweatshirts. The whole place had the feel of a prison cell: a colorless, bleak space that no longer felt like his home.

  The only things that had been left to him were high school textbooks and manuals covering more clandestine subjects—coding, computer engineering, military tactics, and communications. Jack scooped up one of the textbooks and hurried out, taking the stairs at the end of the hallway two at a time until he reached Sean’s office. Though the door was open, he knocked politely and waited until Sean waved him in, and then he crossed the room and slid behind the table set up beside Sean’s desk.

  He logged on to the tablet that he could now only access with Sean’s authorization and checked his timetable, groaning silently when he saw that every minute of the day was programmed with training sessions, seminars, and lessons. When he wasn’t studying or practicing, he had to return to Sean’s office, where he was expected to sit quietly and catch up on any outstanding work. There wasn’t a single unplanned minute from now until lights out at eleven, and it had been that way for over two weeks.

  Jack still didn’t know exactly what his guardian was punishing him for—possibly the screwups on his last assignment. After all, he’d refused to cooperate when Sean had ordered him home before the mission was complete. At the time Leo was being held hostage by a gang of thugs. There was absolutely no way Jack was going to leave while that was happening, and he had told Sean so in no uncertain terms.

  It could have been any one of his guardian’s accusations of insubordination, insolence, and disrespect. But Jack had a strong suspicion that what had led him here was that he had gone behind his handlers’ backs to find out who he was and uncover the secret his guardian had kept from him for over thirteen years. He had certainly never seen the man so coldly furious, and soon after he had ordered the total reset that had taken almost everything from Jack, including the most painful loss when Leo had been sent away.

  “You have a language lab in five minutes. Did you bring your textbook?”

  Jack jumped at Sean’s voice and looked up as a shadow fell across the table. Sean frowned down at him, clearly aware he’d caught Jack daydreaming.

  “Yes, sir,” Jack said, tapping the cover of the Mandarin language book. As well as keeping up with all the work a high school student his age was expected to know, Jack also had to study several languages and subjects that were well outside the range of most sixteen-year-old students. He had actually forgotten to bring the book with him and almost broke the land speed record to retrieve it after breakfast, afraid Sean would give him a demerit for carelessness and spoil his hard-won spotless record.

  Sean arched an eyebrow, but he didn’t ask any uncomfortable questions, and Jack wasn’t about to volunteer any incriminating information.

  “Straight back here afterward,” Sean said unnecessarily.

  Jack wanted to ask him about Martin’s visit, but he bit his tongue instead. Sean would talk in his own good time, and no amount of pestering would get him to open up before he was ready.

  He grabbed his textbook and made his way to the classroom set up beside Sean’s office. Part of his punishment had been the confiscation of his keycard, and he now had access to only a limited area within the Center. It was definitely humiliating to be escorted by Sean or Evan whenever he needed to be anywhere outside the few rooms that were still open to him. He supposed being made to feel like a disobedient schoolboy was exactly what the punishment was designed to achieve.

  The makeshift classroom was warm and stuffy, and forty minutes of advanced Mandarin soon had Jack drowsing. Life at the Center was never a breeze, but the last weeks had been more grueling than usual, and Jack was exhausted.

  At the top of the hour, he closed his textbook with a relieved sigh and pulled his headphones off. He realized with a start that he didn’t have a clue what he was supposed to have learned. The words echoing round his head meant nothing to him, despite the fact that he’d studied the language for four years.

  Sean looked up when he reappeared in the doorway and said, “I hope that was a productive session.” Something in the tone of his voice told Jack he knew exactly how little of the work had stuck.

  “Sir,” he mumbled.

  “And if I tested you on the module, how do you think you’d do?”

  “It wouldn’t be my best work,” Jack admitted. There was no point lying. If Sean tested him, he’d be screwed.

  Sean didn’t look surprised. “Sit down, Jack.” He indicated the chair in front of his desk, and Jack crossed the room and perched on the edge of the seat before glancing up warily.

  “You know Leo is coming in with Martin tomorrow?”

  Jack swallowed thickly. “Yes, sir.”

  Sean inclined his head. “I’ll try to get you five minutes alone.” He held up his hand when Jack straightened in his seat. “I’m not promising anything, so don’t get your hopes too high. But I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thanks, Sean,” Jack said, realizing too late that he’d slipped back to his usual, familiar way of addressing his handler.

  “They’re only here for a couple of hours,” Sean continued. “They’re deploying on a short assignment and are coming in for final instructions. If I can make it happen, I will.”

  Jack nodded, hardly daring to open his mouth in case he said something desperate and stupid.

  Sean patted his arm. “Okay. Let’s get you back on schedule. Your guardian expects a progress report at the end of the day.” He paused for a moment before adding dryly, “I think the less we say about your facility for Mandarin, the better.”

  AT 1800 hours Jack followed Evan up several flights of stairs to the fourth floor. After Evan keyed him onto the floor, he gave Jack a small shove.

  “Go on. Your guardian is expecting you. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow in the gym.”

  Jack nodded and walked toward his guardian’s office, jumping nervously when the door behind him slammed shut and he found himself alone in the hallway. He fought down a desperate urge to turn around and walk back through the door, knowing it would land him in deeper trouble, and reluctantly forced himself forward.

&nbs
p; His guardian didn’t bother to look up from his desk at Jack’s knock. He just raised a hand and beckoned Jack inside. Jack took a seat at the table underneath the window and wordlessly signed into his personal file on the tablet he found in front of him.

  This was the first time he’d been alone in a room with his guardian since finding out they were related. It was unnerving to see him day after day and keep pretending things between them hadn’t changed. Still, if his guardian didn’t intend to bring up the subject, Jack certainly wasn’t going to. He bent his head over his work and tried not to let the weirdness of the situation freak him out.

  Ten minutes later, he jumped when his guardian’s voice broke the strained silence.

  “You know Leo is coming in tomorrow?”

  Jack raised his head and met his guardian’s gaze. He realized he had never once called the man his uncle, not even in the most private corners of his mind.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “He and Martin are coming in for a debrief. I doubt there will be any time for anything personal.”

  Jack’s stomach clenched as disappointment slammed into him. He had tried not to get his hopes up, but as he forced himself to swallow the crushing news, he realized he’d failed miserably. Some not-so-small part of him had counted on seeing Leo.

  “I understand, sir,” he managed to say, determined not to let his guardian see how much it hurt.

  There was silence for at least ten minutes more before his guardian spoke again. “If you want to sit in on the debrief, I don’t see that as a problem. Provided you remember this is strictly business.”

  The sudden rush of endorphins through his system made Jack dizzy. He raised his head again, swallowing before he said, “I’d appreciate sitting in on the debrief, sir.”

  His guardian nodded curtly and returned to his paperwork, and Jack stopped pretending indifference and let ferocious joy sweep though him.

  Chapter Two

  JACK WOKE well before his five thirty alarm, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. He’d spent a restless night tossing and turning in his empty bed, unable to focus on anything but the promise of seeing Leo. It didn’t matter that they were unlikely to get any time alone, nor that they would have to sit in a room full of people and pretend they were interested in the business being discussed. He would be seeing Leo again after two long weeks. It was almost enough.