Chapter 9
Joline’s heart leapt in her throat. Why was Agent Stone taking his sweet time?
Did someone intercept him? Maybe this man took the hound shifter out before he could come to their aid.
Before her thoughts could spiral further down the dark well of anxiety, Ariel explained, “This is my twin brother, Anson.”
“A mutual friend sent me,” he explained, keeping his voice just above a whisper. Joline relaxed. She’d heard whispers of Anson at WANC. The henchman turned good. He was working with the FUC and ASS—Avian Soring Society—agents to help track down Dr. Grimm.
“Where’s—”
“I can explain more later,” Anson cut her off and shot her a glare with his green eyes—the same shade as Ariel’s—before Joline could ask about Agent Stone.
“I suggest, for now, you eat your meals and act normal. We’re here for a meeting.
” He gave a slight nod as if to say that was their cover story.
Joline had one thought: she didn’t like this undercover shit one bit. Once she was an agent, she would be sure to steer clear of any of those assignments. The realization narrowed her career path just a smidge.
“What do you want?” Ariel nearly snapped. So much for keeping our voices low.
Anson sighed. “You invited me here. Remember?” Ariel jumped slightly, as if Anson kicked her under the table. The way she shot him a dirty look, Joline assumed that perhaps he did.
Ariel tucked a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear, and then, as if shifting into another personality, as one slips into a fancy coat, Ariel’s expression turned dark.
“What’s this I hear about you becoming FUC’s lapdog?
” Ariel’s tone was venomous. Joline shivered.
This was a side of Ariel she hadn’t seen before.
“I do what I must to survive. Surely you, of all people, can understand that?” Anson smiled like a cat who had a mouse in his paw.
Ariel nodded. “Unlike you, I’ve made the best of my situation. I’ve even turned a cadet.” She nodded to Joline. “Tell him what you really think of the academy.”
Joline froze. Why would Ariel suggest that…
Oh. Her eyes widened with understanding and Ariel gave her the slightest nod. I have to play along, in case someone is listening in and reporting back to Grimm.
The siblings watched her expectedly. She felt like she had just walked onto a stage production without studying her lines.
Joline’s mind scrolled back to one of her first interactions with Ariel.
Ariel had implied that FUC were the bad guys.
She used that knowledge to form her words.
“They’re terrible people. I mean, they stop genius scientists from making real progress.
” Joline felt gross just saying that out loud.
She hoped that the actual disgust she felt toward people who thought that way could be interpreted as disgust for FUC by the man inconspicuously watching them in the corner.
Anson breathed a nearly invisible sigh of relief. Maybe undercover isn’t his forte either.
“See, Anson. Even a cadet gets it,” Ariel piped up as if Joline’s performance might not be convincing on its own. It probably wasn’t, as she’d never acted a day in her life. Unless you counted playing house as a child. Which was forever ago.
“What I don’t understand is how the others don’t also see Dr. Grimm’s genius,” Joline continued, wanting to play it off good enough that the guy across the room believed it, too.
“Or are they trying to catch him because they’re jealous?
” It was the craziest thing Joline could think of saying.
She thought Ariel said something about Grimm’s genius when they first met.
From some of the courses Joline took about evil scientists and their psyche, she learned that most of their minions were brainwashed to their cause.
Most of them really thought they were doing the world some sort of service.
A few were in it only for the money or were blackmailed into it, like Anson had been, or so Joline had heard.
If the rumors floating around WANC were true, Dr. Grimm promised Anson he'd stop holding Ariel hostage if he’d help him collect more test subjects.
Most followers, however, had unfortunately drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak.
Joline hated to admit that Ariel fell into that category.
Ariel nodded before grinning to her brother. “I’m so glad I was able to get you to realize that again, Anson.”
He leaned back as if this was the most normal, relaxing conversation ever. Joline felt like her heart wanted to leap out of her chest. “I never forgot. I just had to play nice with FUC and ASS for a bit.”
Ariel laughed darkly. “You had me fooled.”
“If I didn’t fool them too, I’d have a tail right about now. And I don’t mean my shrew tail.”
Joline giggled. The twins looked at her with raised brows as if she’d lost her mind. She couldn’t help it. She had a nervous laugh. Before she could come up with an explanation, the waitress set their plates before them. The woman looked to Anson. “Would you like to place an order?”
He shook his head. “I already ate, but thank you.” The waitress left after the dismissal. Anson leaned forward and whispered, “Is it the guy in the corner with the coffee?”
Ariel closed her eyes and nodded her head a centimeter. If you weren’t watching her closely, you wouldn’t have noticed the movement. Damn, was she good at this spy stuff. Joline felt she was trying her hardest to look calm and not accidentally make eye contact with the guy.
Joline pushed some of her fries around her plate.
“I thought you were hungry?” Ariel asked, picking up her chicken wrap.
Right. Joline forgot they were pretending to be normal.
She squirted ketchup on her plate before dunking a fry in it.
Though her stomach was churning with worry, she had been starving before.
If she didn’t eat something, she’d probably get a migraine.
That would add to the inconvenience of their current dilemma.
“Are you sure you don’t want to order something?” she found herself asking Anson.
He shook his head. “He doesn’t like eating food he didn’t prepare himself,” Ariel explained softly.
“He’ll make some exceptions if he’s on a road trip or something, but if he has the choice to make it himself, he prefers that.
” When noticing the hurt look on her brother’s face, she added, “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Anson.
” She looked about to say more, but he silenced her with a look.
“Has Dr. Grimm tried to reach out to you?” Anson asked, looking glad to change the subject.
Joline noticed he was as handsome as Ariel was beautiful.
The pair of them could have been models if not for being recruited by an evil scientist. Joline figured their good looks made them easy to trust. Ariel made it sound like her job had been to find unsuspecting subjects for Grimm’s experiments.
Ariel’s brow wrinkled as she shook her head.
“Not a peep. I thought he gave up on me.” Dejection washed over her face.
Her visage crumpled like a wilting flower denied its precious water.
While they were putting on a show for the man in the corner, Joline felt that Ariel was speaking the truth.
Maybe when putting up an act like this, it was easier to stay as close to the truth as possible.
Joline took a mental note of that, since lying was not something she excelled at.
Anson reached forward to put a reassuring hand on his sister’s arm. “I don’t blame him. I’ve played my part too well. Although I did what I had to, to get the agents to believe me.”
“Maybe too good.” Ariel looked concerned. “Grimm wanted me to kill you.”
Joline felt herself jump slightly, as if she had been electrocuted. And the way Ariel said it, Joline was certain it was no lie. She knew Grimm was a bad person, but to try to convince someone to kill their sibling? That was pure evil.
“Did he really?” Anson rubbed at his chin.
“Maybe I was too helpful for FUC. I’ll admit, they did start to trick me into believing Dr. Grimm was the bad guy.
I don’t know how they did that. Brainwashing, I suppose.
But you’ve helped me to see the truth. I’m glad you never gave up on me.
” He gave a reassuring smile. Joline hoped the smile was genuine.
Maybe Anson and Ariel could play nice and patch things up when this was over.
Joline did her best to school her features.
She didn’t want to let on that she knew Ariel had been avoiding her brother.
Even Ariel had a brief look of shock flutter across her features as if to say that turning Anson back to her cause was, in fact, her plan.
Ariel looked curious as to how Anson guessed it.
Unfortunately, that made sense to Joline.
When they’d first met, Ariel was certain FUC were the bad guys.
So it wasn’t that hard to believe she’d want to rescue her brother from them.
But why did she avoid him for so long? Joline would have to ask Ariel later.
“Now that you’re back on the right side of things, now what?
” Ariel asked before taking a bite of her wrap.
It reminded Joline that she should be eating, too.
She lifted her veggie burger, trying not to look too mechanical and rehearsed.
She wondered if this all came naturally to undercover agents, or if they, like Joline, had to constantly remind themselves to act normal.
Anson bit his lip and gently shook his head. “I don’t know. I was hoping someone would have made contact by now.”
Then Joline remembered the snake. It was so bizarre, she was surprised the encounter slipped her mind. “Ariel, I meant to tell you. After we were by the tree the other day, I found a flying snake in the grass. I think it was spying on us.”