Chapter 5

• Everly's POV
• Zero practically slammed the door behind me when I stepped out of his office. The secretary shot me a glare for putting Zero in a foul mood and leaving her to deal with him. Really though, he was always in a foul mood.
• I stood outside Zero's office for a moment, my mind whirling over everything I had just been told. Mainly though, I was wondering what about this mission he was hiding from me and why.
• "I see you're just as pleasant to deal with as you think I am," A familiar voice spoke up. I turned my head to Ninety-eight who was leaning against the wall next to me. Still glaring at me, too.
• I rolled my eyes and began walking away. I didn't have time for this. "It's not a matter of thought," I said to him when I noticed he was following me.
• "I am not working with you," He told me bluntly.
• "Great," I replied. "So just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours and when I find your missing team member, I may or may not give you a call."
• He walked in front of me and came to a stop, glaring down at me as if this whole situation was somehow my fault. I tried to go around him but he just stepped in my path every time.
• I let out a long sigh. "It's going to be much harder for you to look for your teammate if you're missing an eye."
• His eyes narrowed further. "Is that a threat?"
• I shook my head innocently. "No. Merely an observation."
• "We don't need your help," He repeated.
• "And yet," I said as I pulled the bottom file from the stack in my hands. "Zero felt the need to give me the mission file, and not you." I started fanning myself with it.
• He reached out to grab it from me and I pulled it back so it was out of his reach. His eyes glittered in anger and fury was back to radiating off him. Had I been anyone else, I might have been intimidated. Might.
• "Look," I said to him. "I don't want to work with you any more than you want to work with me-"
• "Then don't."
• "-but," I continued, ignoring his interruption. "Zero has a history of threatening the people I actually like if I put up too much of a fight. So, you're stuck with me."
• He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed me with a harsh look. "You're not needed."
• I nodded in what appeared to be agreement. "Maybe," I replied before opening the file and checking the dates. "It's been four days since she disappeared."
• He frowned. "And that's relevant because?"
• "If you didn't need my help you would have found her already."
• He was fuming. I was waiting for the smoke to come pouring out of his ears, even though I knew it wasn't actually going to happen. His face was turning a lovely shade of red though.
• I took the opportunity to walk around him and continue down the hallway. "The first forty-eight hours are the most important after a person disappears. After that, the chance of finding them decreases exponentially."
• "I'm aware," He practically growled.
• I stopped and turned on my heels to face him. "Then what's more important to you? Your missing agent? Or your pride?" I could hear his teeth grind together. "I already told you that I want to work with you as much as you want to work with me, difference is, I'm willing to tolerate your existence to find a missing agent. One of your missing agents."
• I threw open the door next to me and gestured for him to go in first. He peered inside and then looked back at me questioningly.
• "That's an interrogation room," He said.
• "Yep," I replied before forcefully shoving him inside and shutting the door behind me.
• He looked desperately like he wanted to hit me. "You're a solo agent," He said. "Why are you so willing to work with a team?"
• "Willing is not the word I'd use." I sat down on one side of the long metal table and set the files down in front of me. "I've worked with teams before, when Zero's made me. Usually, there's not much of a problem," I looked up from the files to stare at him. "because it's always agreed that I run the missions."
• He let out a laugh of disbelief and shook his head. "So you're telling me that I get the honor of being your puppet?"
• I shrugged. "If that's how you'd like to view it, then yes," I replied flatly. I continued flipping through the files. "Tell me about your team members," I said.
• He just stared at me a moment. "You clearly have their files right there." He waved his hand at the stack of files I'd set down on the table next to me. He walked over to the only shelf in the room and grabbed a bottle of water.
• I let out a sigh and looked up at him. "Ian, do you mind if I call you Ian?"
• "Yes."
• "Don't care. Files can only tell me so much," I picked up the top file from my stack. "It doesn't tell me anything about who they are as people, as oppose to agents."
• "And you'd like to actually pretend to care about them," He muttered sarcastically.
• I stared at the picture of the girl with blue eyes and curly brown hair. Nineteen years old. Agent Thirty-four. Name was listed as Melanie. No last name given but that didn't surprise me since my last name wasn't even on my agency file, or my first name for that matter. Most agents didn't put their last names down just in case their personal files ever ended up in the wrong hands.
• "Agent Thirty-four," I said to Ian. "Let's start with her." I waved at the seat across from me but instead he just began pacing the length of the interrogation room.
• "There's nothing to tell," He finally said after a brief silence. "Agent Thirty-four's a good kid. She's very outgoing and can be a bit of a daredevil. You tell her she can't do something and she'll prove you wrong."
• "And her relationship with the other agents?" I asked as I continued to flip through her file.
• Ian shrugged. "She gets along with Agent Nineteen and Agent Fifteen the most. They're closest in age to her even though they're both younger. Agent Nineteen is seventeen and Agent Fifteen is-"
• "Eighteen," I finished for him.
• He looked surprised. "Yeah, how did you know that?"
• I barely glanced up at him from the new file in my hands. "Tell me about Agent Ninety-nine," I said as I shuffled through the pictures of the petite dark-haired Asian woman in the file. Age listed as twenty-three. No last name was given for her either. One particular photo caught my eye and I held it up to see it better.
• Ian let out a sigh before finally taking the seat across from me. "Noelle is an agent."
• I waited for him to say more but he didn't. "I worked that much out for myself," I said sarcastically.
• He glared at me. "She's in charge whenever I'm not around," He added. "She . . ." He pauses for a moment. "She keeps everyone from killing each other."
• I looked up from the file to him. "What a charming team you have."
• He continued to glare at me before opening the water bottle and taking a drink.
• I proceeded to move my chair over to the right, so I was no longer sitting directly across from him. "So how long have you two been married?" I questioned.
• He spit out his water right where I had been sitting and then proceeded to choke. I calmly flipped through the file, waiting for him to compose himself and give me an answer, or to deny it like I expected him to.
• "What?" He finally asked when he had finally stopped choking. "What in the world makes you think we're married?"
• "Your last name is listed in the files, hers is not-"
• "That's what you're basing your assumption on?"
• I briefly glared at him before gesturing to his hand still holding the water bottle. "Tan line on your ring finger suggests a wedding band that you've taken off. You and your team recently had time off according to that file," I pointed to another in the stack.
• "What does that have to do with anything?"
• "Time off implies that you were wearing a ring during that time for the tan line to be that noticeable, but you took it off the second you were called back into the agency," I continued.
• He shrugged. "That still doesn't prove that I'm married to Noelle or anyone for that matter."
• I held up the photo I'd been looking at so he could see. "Taken three days ago," I told him. "And she's got the same tan line, on the same ring finger."
• He snatched the photo from me and began looking it over.
• "Also, when talking about the other agents of your team you've addressed them as just that, agents. You used their numbers and that's it. Never once mentioned their names, but when I asked you about Agent Ninety-nine, you addressed her by her name," I added.
• He shot me a look of annoyance but said nothing.
• "So, why don't you want your team to know?"
• He glared at me. "You think you're right," He said. "but you're not."
• "No?" I questioned. "Then it's one hell of a coincidence." I shrugged innocently. "My bad, for jumping to conclusions."
• He continued to glare at me before finally letting out a long sigh and a look of defeat fell across his face. "We keep it quiet because we don't ever want it used against each other during a mission if something goes wrong."
• "That explains why the agency doesn't know as well as why you don't wear your rings on missions," I replied. "And yet, it still doesn't tell me why your team doesn't know."
• "Why do you think they don't?"
• "Because if they did, you would have corrected me the first time I asked."
• He narrowed his eyes at me. "You think you're so clever."
• "Actually, I know I am." I continued to scan over the next file in my hands. "And you are now avoiding the question. Not something one would do unless I was right."
• "I hate you."
• "I'll forever lose sleep at night knowing that." I looked up and stared at the wall dramatically. "My God, how ever will I go on?"
• "Are you always this pleasant to deal with?" He bit out sarcastically.
• "Ask anyone except Zero." I held up the file I'd been reading. "Agent Forty-eight. Eric Mallory. What can you tell me about him?"
• Ian continued to glare at me, surprise, surprise, before running a hand through his hair and resting his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. "He's a bit of a loose cannon. He's got some anger issues."
• "So I see," I said as I held up his psychological profile.
• Ian seemed to get even more pissed off at this. "Our psychological profiles are classified and not for you to be viewing."
• "Funny," I replied. "It appears Zero didn't feel the same way." I looked up at him innocently. "Would you like me to read yours to you."
• "No."
• "You sure? It's very informative."
• A muscle in his jaw ticked and his eyes hardened as he stared at me.
• I ignored him. "You know, if you asked Zero for mine he'd likely give it to you."
• He gave me a look of disbelief. "Yeah right."
• "No, I'm serious," I told him. He seemed to think about this for a second before pushing to his feet, no doubt to go talk to Zero, until I spoke again. "Of course, it would be nothing but a stapled packet of redacted papers."
• I could feel the glare in the side of my head and could sense just how close he was to hitting me.
• "Feeling a little murderous, are we?" I asked him.
• "Are you trying to piss me off?"
• I shrugged. "No," I responded before turning to look him right in the eyes. "I'm succeeding."