“Wow. You really do have it bad.”
I laugh lightly and then nod while making her pace quicken to keep in stride with mine. Competence found, I’m on a mission.
“Why the hell are we walking so fast?”
“I’ve got what I need to get back in the field, and I’m waiting on a lead.”
“What? How? What lead?”
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I tilt my head curiously when I see it’s blank. Then I feel the buzzing again to realize it’s my other phone - my link to the mysterious masked stalker.
I pull it out, and Simone’s eyes narrow.
“What’s that phone for?”
“It’s the phone he gave me. Don’t tell anyone at all.”
Her eyes widen, and I see that same look Uncle Clay used to get when he was worried.
“Aria, I don’t like this. You never mentioned a secret phone.”
“I’m not stupid, Simone. I would know if he was a threat. I’ve always been good at judging one’s character. He told me up front he was saving me to use me for his own purposes. He’s calling in that favor, and there’re thirty prisoners of war in it for the United.”
She gasps while clasping her hands over her mouth. I look down to read the text I just received.
Hershamine’s camp. You’ll find the trail to track from there. I can’t make it too easy or they’ll question your Intel. Be careful. There’s a large party of Unaligned hybrids and full bloods just a few miles from that trail. If you need me, press the panic button on the phone.
I smirk as I stare at the red button he all but painted with the word panic, and then I shake my head.
“What? What did he say?”
I hand her the phone so she can see for herself, and she gasps again upon finishing. I take it from her hand just before I pound on Captain Fricks’s office door.
Simone shakes her head, and then she disappears into the adjacent hallway to hide her less-than-professional appearance from the captain as he opens the door.
“Aria?” he asks, and I push the files against his chest before barging by him and his baffled expression.
“I’m going back into the field.”
He sighs while gripping his head as though it aches, and then he sits down behind his desk without even looking at the papers.
“Aria, we’ve discussed this. It’s the commander’s call, not mine. I’m sorry, but you’re still confined to the compound as far as duty goes.”
I smile my smug, secretly victorious smirk while pointing to the unread files in his hand.
“Ever heard of the Culligan Parchment?”
His eyes widen, and then he finally looks down to the unveiled mystery of my abrupt entrance.
“Aria, this applies… this is… I think you-”
“The Culligan Parchment is a sanctioned law of the United. No approved field officer can be grounded without committing a punishable offense. Since you made it very clear the commander didn’t blame me for the ambush, and you even went so far as to say I wasn’t being punished, then there is no way you can lawfully ground me.”
“Aria, this rule was put in place to keep commanders of the United from discriminating against hybrids. Don’t take this and use it for your own personal gain.”
I feel the storm inside me rising to stain my eyes with fury. I stand up and lean over the desk so my eyes meet his with more depth to my glower.
“The last time I checked, I’m hybrid, and I’m feeling really damn discriminated against.”
