Chapter 22 #2
A few teams start opening their envelopes, but if we’re dismissed, why would we stay where it would be easier for other teams to overhear us talk or sneak a peek at our assignment?
It seems Aiden is thinking the same thing as he catches my eye and gives a slight head tilt toward the exit. I nod, and we quietly grab our things and walk out.
“We need to go somewhere no one can eavesdrop,” I say, trying to think of anywhere other than my room that wouldn’t have the possibility of us being overheard.
“I know a place,” Aiden says as he turns and starts walking deeper into the forest.
“You seriously think I’d go into the woods with you after all the shit you and your friends have pulled?”
Frustration fills his face when he notices I haven’t moved, “Don’t be so dramatic. I don’t want to work with you either, but we need to get this ironed out so we can get it over with. I can’t afford for you to fuck this mission up for me.”
“I need it to go well, too, but I don’t trust you!”
“You don’t trust me? What do you seriously think I could have planned after a secret class where we were randomly paired together? I didn’t even know you were a Ghost Walker!”
I want to fight, but everything he’s saying is true. Realizing I don’t have any better options, I concede, “Alright, lead the way, but I swear to the gods—if you pull anything, I will chop your dick off and feed it to the bears.”
“Whatever,” he grumbles before turning and walking away, leaving me to follow or be left behind.
We hike up a narrow game trail until the trees give way to a rocky hillside. Aiden points to a dark mouth in the stone, half-hidden behind a curtain of moss and low vines. “Almost there.”
He ducks inside first; the cavern is dark, dry, and deep enough to be the perfect shelter for hunters trying to escape a bad storm.
I stay where the light can still reach while Aiden drops his pack and disappears in the dark, shuffling around until a compact lantern turns on, casting a warm pool of light around us.
This place almost looks lived in. With a small firepit in the center of the room, two camping chairs, a cot with a sleeping bag and a pillow beyond it, and even a small dry-food stash. “What is this place?”
“Just a spot I found when I got to Scion,” he says, starting to build a fire while he gestures for me to take one of the seats.
Once he sits down too, I grab the dossier from my bag. Opening the envelope, I pull out the documents and dump the other contents in my lap.
The words at the top of the first page hit me like a punch to the stomach.
Cover Identity: Mr. Carter and Mrs. Carter – Married Couple on Vacation.
Cover Story: Newly married, on your delayed honeymoon.
Primary Objective: Locate and recover a stolen data drive suspected to be in the possession of the couple next door, suspected Clowess conspirators, before the information crosses the border. Maintain your cover at all times.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter.
Aiden leans over to glance at the page, and the grimace that spreads across his face tells me he is equally unhappy with our roles as I am. “Well,” he says, voice low, “guess we’re tying the knot, Sweetheart.”
“Don’t,” I snap, slapping the folder closed. “Not one word.”
“What? Can’t pretend to be Mrs. Carter for forty-eight hours?” He asks, leaning back in his chair with that insufferable ease. “It’s just acting, and you’ll be asked to do much worse than this after graduation.”
“Ugh, I hate to admit this, but you’re not wrong.”
“That’s two.”
No, he did not!
For a second, I think he doesn’t remember saying that phrase to me a few weeks ago, but his smile as he flips through the dossier says otherwise. How can one man be so infuriating and so sexy that I almost forget everything that’s happened between us?
Distracting myself, I look through the other items in my lap.
“Looks like we’re staying at a beach house. Two-bedroom rental,” he says. Then, after a beat, his eyebrows lift. “I take it back. One bedroom. One bed.”
I stare at him, waiting for him to say he’s joking, but he doesn’t.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter again, snatching the file back. Sure enough, the words are there in bold: One-bedroom beachfront rental.
He’s trying not to laugh. Trying. And failing.
“This is some cosmic punishment for something I did in a past life,” I say under my breath.
Aiden’s smirk softens into something that almost looks like amusement. “Hey, I promise I don’t snore.”
“I’ll take the floor.”
“Not an option,” he says, tone dripping with false politeness. “We can’t go blowing our cover.”
“We’re going to be inside our house! How would anyone know?”
“Never put yourself in a position to get caught, Mrs. Carter.”
I glare at him so hard it’s a miracle he doesn’t burst into flames. “If you call me that again, I will blow our cover by killing you.”
Ignoring me, he gestures to my lap, “What else did they give us?”
“Fake IDs, the house key, a USB labeled intel.”
“Probably pictures of our targets, routines, stuff like that.” Aiden lifts a tiny, sleek envelope I hadn’t noticed. “What about this?”
“Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is.”
Aiden smirks, holding up a pair of beautiful wedding rings. “Say ‘I do,’ and we’ll make it official, Mrs. Carter.”
“I’d rather be gagged,” I mutter.
“That’s what every husband wants to hear on his honeymoon. Want it white to match your wedding dress, or do you have a black set to match your conscience?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He doesn’t answer.
Somehow, between taking jabs at each other and me continuously threatening to remove his favorite appendages every time he calls me Mrs. Carter, we make plans to leave campus an hour after my Spell Casting class lets out tomorrow, assuming everyone else will try to get out right away.
“I really hate that I’m about to ask this, but what about Lucas? Obviously, he can’t see us leaving campus together, or he’s going to ask questions,” I say.
“Don’t worry, I’ve gotten pretty good at distracting your ex-lover when I have missions.”
I shoot Aiden a glare, wishing he had a mute button. “Don’t start.”
“You brought the poor guy up,” he says, shaking his head.
“Poor guy? Abso-fucking-lutely not. I think we’re done here.”
“Just forget it, ok? We need to get through this exercise as a team, but we don’t need to hash shit out trying to become friends.”
“Right. Well, do me a favor and keep your friends away from me.” I’m almost to the mouth of the cave when I add, “I’ll see you Friday in the parking lot.”
My head pounds as I think about the weekend ahead.
Forty-eight hours of sneaking around like spies, trying to steal information from the sympathizers, and avoiding being caught by our target.
And what happens if we are caught? Is there an extraction team on standby, or are we going to die at their hands?
Or even worse, are they going to kidnap us and take us back to Clowess?
Deep breaths. It’ll all be okay, Annalise. You’ve handled worse. They won’t let us die.
But even as I walk the two-ish miles back to campus, I can’t help but wonder if it’ll be Aiden or the mission that will test how much I like to survive.