Crossing the Line (7 page)

“I surprised you,” she said.

I shook my head. “You didn't—”

“I did.” She wasn't buying my bullshit. “I just didn't expect to. You were that surprised to find out Travis is easygoing?”

I let out a laugh. “He's never been anything but a serious, guarded
asshole.”

She shrugged. “He takes his job seriously, and he takes you more seriously than almost anything I've ever seen. But that's not who he is; it's just how he works.”

I fell quiet, not entirely sure what to say. So instead I changed the subject. “I should go,” I said. “I have classes soon.”

“Okay,” she said. “I'll meet you after your classes and we'll see what we can find out about your parents.”

“Sure.” I gave her a small smile. “Thanks.” I headed for the door, not at all surprised to find Scorpion hovering right behind me before I could even get close to it.

N
ikki was waiting for me when I got out of Agent Harper's class. We crossed the courtyard to the Operations Building and went down to the archives room. The first thing I noticed when Nikki opened the door was that we weren't alone. I'd recognize Scorpion's broad build anywhere—even hunched over a keyboard with his back to me. He froze when the door opened, then quickly closed the program he had open, and locked the computer.

“Of course,” I said. “It's like he's put a tracking device on me.”

Scorpion spun around on his chair. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought Nikki was getting you.”

Nikki waved from the door. “Nikki
did
.”

“And this isn't
your
archives room,” I said. “I can be here.”

Scorpion stood up, annoyed. He pushed past me and turned to Nikki. “She's your charity case. She's your problem.”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “Don't be a noodle.”

Scorpion glared at her. “Shut up.” He stepped around her, into the hallway.

“You first,
noodle
!” she yelled after him. She refused to give him the last word. It was pathetic and childish, and it irritated Scorpion just enough to make me happy. She shook her head after him.

“What's a noodle?” I asked.

Nikki laughed and rolled her eyes. “It's something that Cody started when he was at the academy. You're probably better off not knowing the details.”

I laughed lightly. “Yeah, I think you're right.”

She sat down at the computer and pushed out the chair next to her. “Come on, let's get to work.”

I slid into the seat and logged onto a computer as Nikki did the same. “What are we looking for?”

“I'm going to go through medical reports, and I'll show you where to find the mission history files,” she said. “You still probably won't have access to most of the details, but if you sift through what you can, we might be able to piece some things together.” Nikki helped me navigate the files and before long I was flipping through my parents' mission history. Six years of partially redacted trips and assignments. At least, that's what my dad's had, but there was something different about my mom's.

“Is it weird that my mom didn't go on any missions for the first four years she was at the IDA?” I asked Nikki.

Nikki glanced at the file. “Not necessarily. She could have been working in another department. Like operations or tech or something. But whatever she was doing during that time could explain why her file has a higher clearance level.” She turned back to her computer and left me to wonder, only to break through my thoughts a few minutes later.

“I think I found something else,” she said.

“What is it?” I leaned closer.

Nikki skimmed the report. “It's your mom's autopsy.” Needles ran down my spine. “When did you say she was found?”

“Simmonds said after I was taken.”

Nikki grimaced. “Well, he wasn't lying. She was found three
years
after you were taken. In South Korea near the DMZ.”

My eyes jumped down the report. “It took them three years to find her?” Nikki bit her lip, and I could tell she was holding something back. “What is it?”

She watched me closely for a moment. “She hadn't been dead for that long when they found her. She'd been, uh”—she hesitated—“killed within days of being recovered.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. Simmonds had lied to me.

 • • • 

I went straight to Simmonds's office from the archives room. Nikki tried to come with me, but I wouldn't let her. I needed to talk to Simmonds alone. I paced the space in front of his door while I waited for him to finish up a meeting with someone else.

“Jocelyn,” Simmonds said as I brushed past the exiting agent. “Can I help you with something?”

“You lied to me about my mom,” I said. My voice was calm enough, but it was an act. He'd asked me to trust him, and I had. Now it was taking everything I had not to completely lose my temper on the person giving me a way out of KATO. I stood in front of him, tapping on the edge of the desk.

He looked confused, then the realization dawned on him. “You found your parents' files the other night. You've done some more research since then, haven't you?”

I nodded, a little surprised he wasn't trying to hide his lie. “I wanted to know about them.”

He nodded, resigned. “What did you find?”

I wanted to be more upset with him, but he had information I wanted. I swallowed. “My mom was alive for three years after I was taken. I thought they killed her to get to me, but they kept her alive. They
used
her for something.”

“We don't know that for sure,” Simmonds said. “All we have is speculation, but we never found any proof. We can't even say for sure that KATO had her, it just makes the most sense.”

“I don't need proof,” I said. “They took her. I know how they work. They keep people as long as they're useful, and then they kill them. They put her in South Korea so you would find her.” I massaged my forehead, processing everything. “Today I learned that she was here for four years before she went into the field. What was she doing then?”

Simmonds kept his face neutral, but his pupils dilated a fraction. “That's classified.” My eyes narrowed in irritation and he sighed. “Jocelyn, I knew both of your parents very well. The three of us were among the IDA's first agents. We helped get this place off the ground. And before that we worked together at the CIA. There's a lot about them I can share with you, but I cannot discuss the work they did here.”

“There has to be some information you can give me.” I pulled my fists tight against my sides. “I thought I knew what happened to her, and I don't. I need something to go on.”

Simmonds considered me carefully. “I can tell you that the work she did during those four years was in the development division,” he said. “But that's it.”

I met his gaze. I was still annoyed he'd kept this from me, but I
believed right now he was telling me all he could. I ran a hand over my hair. “If it was development, then that has to be what KATO used her for.” It was all adding up.

He tipped his head to the side. “I know you found your way around that facility. Do you really think she was in there and you had no idea?”

“At that point, yes, I do,” I said. “I was eleven when she died and still afraid of them. They could have had her in the room next door and I never would have known.”

He was quiet for a moment, then said, “If you have any questions about your father, I could try to answer those.”

I shook my head harder than I meant to. He was out there, they were looking for him, and I wasn't so sure I wanted to find him. I didn't know how to be a daughter. And I'd worked for the enemy. I'd already let him down in more ways than I could count. So no. I didn't want to know any more about him. I didn't want to know all the other ways I'd disappointed him.

Simmonds studied me for a moment. “I'm not going to stop you from researching, but I can't give you anything more,” he said. “And if you keep digging, I'm fairly certain you're not going to like what you find.”

I swallowed hard. I believed he was being honest, but I had no intentions of giving this up. “I understand,” I said. “Thank you.”

I stood up, ready to leave, but Simmonds stopped me. “Before you go, I have a few things I've been wanting to talk to you about.”

I sat back down.

“I've been checking in on you,” he said. “Agent Elton and Dr.
March have been keeping me well informed.”

A small laugh got away from me. “I'm betting their reports have a lot of differences in them.”

Simmonds smiled. “That's putting it mildly. But at the moment, I have two concerns. The first being about what happened this morning.”

I shook my head, annoyed. “Scorpion can't tell me what to do.”

“That's not my issue,” Simmonds said. “We're getting to the point where we're going to be looking to put you in the field.” I sat up straighter. I hadn't expected the conversation to go in this direction. “But I can't do that if you can't be honest about how you're feeling. You become too much of a liability if the agency has to worry about you struggling with cravings on an assignment.”

“You won't. I'll make sure it's taken care of ahead of time.” I didn't care how eager I sounded.

“I need to know you can admit it when you're craving the drug,” Simmonds said. “Until you can, we can't believe you when you say you're under control.”

I pursed my lips, seeing a handful of other issues. “How are you even going to convince anyone to let me out in the field?”

“That's my problem,” Simmonds said. “Your job is to be ready when the time comes.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “I can work on that.”

“Good.” He kept the conversation moving, barely acknowledging how hesitant I was. “Now for my second concern. Agent Elton's reports spend a lot of time focusing on training room confrontations.”

“His friends, aside from Nikki, like to push me,” I said before he could finish.

“That's not the part of the situation that concerns me. I knew putting you with other agents would lead to a certain level of conflict. My problem is that when talking to Agent Elton, I was left with the impression that you train either by yourself or with Agent Nikki Edwards, is that correct?”

“Well, yeah,” I said with a small shrug. “She's pretty much the only person who can stand to be around me.”

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “She tends to do that for a lot of people.” He thought for a moment. “Agent Edwards is good, but she's not the kind of challenge you need if you're going to be in top form for fieldwork. You'll train with Elton from now on.”

My defenses went up. “I'd rather be by myself.”

“That may be, but you can't challenge yourself the way an opponent can,” he said. I tried to argue, but he cut me off. “I need you to do this. I'm taking a risk keeping you here and pushing to have you in the field. I need you at your best.”

I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms. He was right. I owed him. “You think he's going to go for this?”

“I don't care what he wants. He's the only person in this place who can give you a real workout and who won't try to kill you if put in that kind of situation.”

I gave him a doubtful look. “I wouldn't be so sure about that.”

“He has the strongest sense of duty,” Simmonds said. “If I give him the assignment, he'll carry it through.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to tell him or should I?”

Simmonds stood and walked around his desk. “I'll handle it. I called him down shortly before you showed up. He should be waiting outside.”

“Can I stay and watch?” I asked, smiling at the thought.

Simmonds tried to keep a straight face, but I caught him holding back a laugh. “I think it'd be better if I spoke with him alone. Send him in when you leave.”

 • • • 

I leaned against the wall across from Simmonds's office, waiting for Scorpion to finish his meeting. I knew he'd be pissed, but if we had to work together, there was no point putting it off. A couple of girls had showed up after a few minutes. They seemed around my age and took it upon themselves to wait as far away from me as they could.

It was about fifteen minutes before the door was flung open.

Scorpion's nostrils flared in frustration, which quickly turned to aggravation when he saw me. “What did you say to him?” The two girls at the end of the hallway glanced, wide-eyed, at each other, before skirting around Scorpion and disappearing into Simmonds's office.

“I didn't say anything.” I shrugged innocently as the door shut behind him. “According to Simmonds,
you
were the one telling him about my training habits.”

His shoulders tensed as his annoyance grew. He sauntered ahead of me and I kept pace with him. “We have to do this.” He was practically spitting. “He'll be checking up on me.”

“I'm not exactly thrilled about this either,” I said.

He snorted. “Right. What do you have to complain about?”

“Do you really think I want to spend time with you?” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I could see I'd surprised him. “We spent the last three years fighting each other. I don't like you any more than you like me. And despite what Simmonds says, I don't
trust you not to kill me.”

He kicked his jaw out and laughed. “If I wanted to kill you, Simmonds wouldn't be able to stop me. And you wouldn't stand a chance.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really,
Travis
? So all those times we squared off you just
let
me go?” He glared at me out of the corner of his eye, but didn't speak. “China. Russia.
Thailand.
You weren't actually
trying
to kill me there, is that what you're saying?” Again, he stayed quiet. “Yeah. That's what I thought.”

I yanked on the door to the training room, but Scorpion came up behind me and shoved it closed. “If we're going to do this, we're going to do it my way.”

I let my hand drop to my side. “Of course.
Everything
gets done your way.”

He shook his head, his irritation increasing. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I rolled my eyes. “You've wanted complete control from day one.” He gritted his teeth, but didn't interrupt. “Now we're doing what
I
say. If you don't like it, you can fight me over it.”

He ignored me. “There are private training rooms in the back. We're going where no one can watch.”