Themoment we get the alert that the team from theCIAhas arrived— somethingIwill never get used to, and from the looks of it, neither will anyone else in my department— we all stand up from our desks.Ibarely breathe asIwait for them to come around the corner from the hallway leading to the lobby.
ThemomentIseeZoe, relief washes over me.Sheis beautiful, as usual.She’seven smiling, which makes me finally able to take a full breath.Shewalks toward me, along withDirectorSullivan,Kenneth, theCIA’sanalyst, and a guy with curly blonde hair thatIam guessing is her tech op,Packston.Hereyes are taking in everything, and it reminds me of the first time she walked into our offices weeks ago.
Thisis going to be a bigger mission, so we’re meeting in the large conference room.Ihead over to it, andZoemeets me as her team, along withMiles,Jace,Charlie, andKellaall start filing inside.
Iam so happy to seeZoethatI’mgrinning like a fool.Inod at the smaller brace she’s wearing that doesn’t look nearly as cumbersome as the boot. “Isee you ditched the boot.Youmustbe thrilled.”
“Asmuch asIhated to give up the fashion accessory, the doctor said this morning thatI’mhealed enough for the mission, and thatIjust need to wear this as a precaution.It’sa bit more stealthy, so they won’t be able to hear me coming.”
She’stalking in words that sound a lot like our normal flirty bantering, but her tone is way off.Whateverupset her last night is still bothering her.I’veasked myself a million times if it could’ve been becauseIadded the extra charm to her necklace.Ican see she’s wearing the necklace tucked into her shirt, though, and when she moves a bit,Icatch a glimpse of the lock.Ifit had been the source of what upset her,Ithink she would’ve removed it.
EventhoughIdon’t have any direct evidence, only a sense of the vibe, it feels like she’s in the same state of mind as she was when we last met here for a briefing— before everything between us happened.Likeshe’s trying to put distance between us.Betweenme and loving her.Igive a little shrug. “Thisboot might not be as cute, but it will better match our tactical uniforms.”
“AndI’mall about aesthetics in the field.”
Istudy her for a moment, then ask, “Iseverything okay?”
“Yep.Doinggreat.”
Imight have been able to take that answer at face value a few weeks ago, but nowIknow her deeply enough to see past what she’s showing on the surface.
AsDirectorLancastercomes down the aisle behindZoe, a tablet and some papers in her hands,Zoe’seyes flick to the wall that holds the tally board showing howmany missions each of us has won. “Isee that you’ve added two tally marks to each of our columns sinceIwas last here.”
“Well, you know,DublinandBelgrade, joint missions, and all.”
Shenods, thoughtful.Thenher eyes meet mine, and there’s conviction in them. “I’mgoing to win this mission.”
Sheturns and walks into the conference room to join everyone else.
“Oh… kay,”Isay to no one, thenIwalk in, too, and take a seat at the conference table.
Mymom reaches the head of the table and sets her papers down but doesn’t take a seat. “It’sbeen a busy day for all of us and there’s still a lot to do, soI’llmake this quick.Themen vying forAragundi’sempire— theBarnoBrothers— along with their group, have made their base at theFortressofDormitorin the forested mountains ofMontenegro.”
Shetaps on her tablet and an image comes up on the big screen of the fortress.It’s… well, “formidable” is a good word for it.Butso is “awe-inspiring.”Thestructure is built into the mountain itself, and it’s a thing of beauty.Thewhole area is.It’sall surrounded by a dense forest, rocky terrain, green grasses, low shrubs, and many stone outcroppings.
“Wewant to capture them and take down their network before they combine it withAragundi’s,” the director says, “so you’ll be headed toMontenegroand traveling to this fortress.
“Therewill be four teams going out into thefield.TheCIAsent out a surveillance team in the past hour.Sincethey’ll arrive ahead of everyone else, they’ll monitor the perimeter and provide us with real-time intel on enemy movements.Wewill also have a distraction team and an extraction team, and they each consist of operatives from both theCIAand theCSA.Theywill be briefed separately.”Shenods in the direction ofZoe,Jace,Miles, and me. “Thefour of you will be the infiltration team.”
Ilook to my right at my brothers and grin, and they grin back.Jaceholds out his fist andIbump it with mine.ThenJaceshakes out his hand.Theymight not be in it for the adventure as much asIam, but they can’t deny that the adventure excites them, too.
Ilook to my left and grin atZoe.I’mso glad that she was able to talk her director into assigning her to this mission even though she isn’t fully recovered yet—Iknow how important it is to her to finish it.Thetwo of them must have a good working relationship and he has a lot of faith in her abilities even while injured, or he likely would’ve selected a different operative.Hereyes are on the image, not on me, butIcan see the excitement there.Thisis going to be an adventure, for sure.
DirectorSullivanof theCIAstands and says, “Thedistraction team will, obviously, create a distraction that will pull as many of the enemy forces away from the main entry points of the fortress as possible, making it easier for you and later, the extraction team, to enter.Theextraction team will round up any enemy forces inside as well as secure the stolenTrustpieces.
“Yourjob, as the infiltration team, will be to penetratethe fortress and disrupt communications.Webelieve they have a server room in the fortress.You’llneed to get to it, download everything onto a drive, and gather every bit of intel you can find before the guys inside know there’s a problem so they don’t just burn all the data to keep it out of our hands.Gettingthat data might be the most important part.We’rehoping it’ll contain info that will lead us to a takedown ofAragundi, as well.”
Zoeraises a hand. “Iwill get the drive.”
Inod.IfZoewanted to “win” a mission where we all have the same goal, securing that drive would be the way.Afterher comments outside this room, it doesn’t surprise me at all.
“Ijust got off the phone withMontenegro’sMinisterofDefense,”DirectorLancastersays. “Theywere not too pleased to find out that they’d drawn the short straw as to where these guys decided to set up base, and they are more than happy to help us get them out of their country.Sothey will be supporting theDistractionandExtractionteams.”
DirectorSullivanis standing with his arms crossed. “We’regoing to get these guys, and hopefully getAragundi, too.It’llmake the whole world a safer place.”
Allof us nod.Ican seeZoefrom the corner of my eye.Ican’t wait until this meeting is over soIcan talk to her.Iwant to find out how she’s really doing and what freaked her out so much yesterday.
DirectorLancasterstarts talking again. “You’llleave at oh-six-hundred tomorrow fromWashington-Dulles.You’llbe flying on one of theCIA’sjets with the othertwo teams.We’llhave as much information as we can get about the layout of the fortress on the plane waiting for you tomorrow morning.Whateverwe can’t get by then, we’ll send during your flight.Analysts, you’ll need to arrive at oh-six-hundred as well, since the surveillance team should be on site by then, sending you information.
