The tension in my hand ignites an insatiable fire in my belly as my wrists flick back with the ricochet.

Bang.

The gun letting off a loud explosive sound as the ammunition escapes the chamber aimed perfectly. I don’t miss the giant splatter of red that ignites, splashing the wall as it strikes the assailant right in the head. My back smashes against the opposite wall as I duck behind it for shelter. The old worn bricks to the side of me shattering with the force of the hits from the ammunition being fired back at me.

My heart is pumping hard, fast. The adrenaline flowing through my veins is what I live for. Moments like this where I’m with my team—the SO7, and we’re winning this fight. We’ve successfully taken down most of the assailants in this crumbling, disintegrating antiquated old warehouse. But we have another few to go before we can make it out of here in one piece.

Kace, our fearless leader, looks to me, his second in charge giving the signal to move forward. So I dart ahead, running across the dark hall. My night vision is excellent at the best of times, so seeing in the dimly lit warehouse is fine. While signaling to Eli and Axel to follow, I run across. They do, and as we race across the hall we take on more fire. Ammunition flying at us from all angles. The bricks bursting and cracking, dust flying off, making it a little harder to see as I duck down crouching and walk in a squat position as I assess where the fire is coming from.

There’s an attacker at three o’clock, so I take a risk, feeling the need to protect my team. The heat coming thick and heavy. I stand up aiming my weapon and taking the shot over a barrel for protection. It goes quiet, and Kace looks at me furrowing his brows as he shakes his head but gives the signal to move forward.

Tanner and Blair race past us, their weapons at the ready as we round another corner into a new hall. This one looks like a war zone. There are barrels turned over all over the floor making for quite the obstacle course. Not to mention the metal racks leaning from one side of the wall to the other, or the ditch halfway across the floor like a giant chasm waiting to swallow us whole if we’re not careful.

What the fuck is this place?

Kace puts his fist up drawing us to a halt and looks back to the way we came, apparently trying to make a decision about whether we proceed down this path or not.

My vote is hell to the fucking yes. Since when did we let a little fucking chasm stop us? So I ignore him.

Watch as an aggressor steps out from behind the rack, aiming his gun at us, I race forward into the hall. Dropping behind a barrel, I point my gun and take him out before he can shoot. I aim and fire, hitting him right in his torso. Red pools from his chest, dripping down in rivulets as he drops to his knees gripping the rack making it grind and squeal loudly.

Shit!

Now they’re all going to know we’re here.

Good move, Luca!

“Fuck! Move. Move. Move,” Kace calls out as the rest of the team all run forward making our way through the obstacles. I leap over a barrel, keeping my aim up and watching for any attackers. While Noah keeps a look out on our six. My breath is short and sharp, this is hard work, and we’ve been at it for a while. Taking these guys out is difficult, and in this environment, with so many hurdles, I had no idea what we were in for. But fuck if I’m not going to make this count—make every shot count.

We make it to the chasm, and there’s only a small walkway to the other side. If any more of these bastards come out while we’re crossing, it could be fucking lights out for us all. So we’re gonna have to guard each other.

There’s a row of barrels just in front of it, so Kace halts us, and we all gather ducking behind the barrels.

“We go one at a time, all keeping a lookout for the enemy. Eyes up. On guard. Go…” he demands looking at me, and I nod without hesitation. I stand up looking around for any issues, there aren’t any, so I race for the one-foot-wide walkway and turn sideways making my way across.

A loud bang resounds, and a piece of brick shatters right by my head. I glance up to see an assailant hiding behind a broken window on the other side. Without hesitation, a round of ammunition fires off from my team who are behind the barrels. He falls to the floor, his gun slipping from his hand, and scattering on the cement outside the window, while I take a breath and rush to the other side of the chasm. I risk a glance down into the gaping hole to see only blackness. It must be a long drop.

Tanner rushes after me, and I reach out grabbing for her hand once she reaches the other side. She glares at me, and I smirk taking my hand away. She’s so fiercely independent and capable that she doesn’t need mine or anyone else’s help. I stand back as she pushes past me with a sly smile. Blair is next as I stand guard, watching the road ahead. Which, unlike where we came from, is remarkably clear—no barrels, no racks, no chasms. It’s odd.

The rest of the team make their way across, and as Kace finally makes it over, we all spread out to the side walls and slowly edge down them. Guns drawn as we silently approach the next turn.

Suddenly, as we round the corner, it opens out into a bigger room. We all rush for cover behind pillars, seeing as we can easily be spotted in here. We look up to see a double story viewing area like, if this were a factory, we would be in the workers’ area, and the top level would be the viewing mezzanine area for the managers checking down on their employees.

I dart in behind a pillar and know that there’s a bunch more of these attackers off to my left. The resounding sound of loading guns sends a chill down my spine as I glance to Kace, and he puts his hand up motioning ‘two’ and points to my left. I nod. Taking a steadying breath, I dart out from behind the pillar running toward the next one while taking shots at the two assailants. Their return fire comes quickly, but their aim is shit as I take the first one out shooting him straight in the chest, red pissing down his torso as he slams into the floor. The second, I aim straight for his head. He’s wearing a helmet, but the unmistakable redness oozes from him as he faceplants the floor.

Making it to another pillar, the bricks in it demolish and fly past me in a circle of dust as a tirade of ammunition hurtles into the pillar behind me. I duck the spray which misses my head by a few inches, and I chuckle putting my hands up and swinging my hips from side to side in a little celebratory dance that I was quick enough to miss the ammunition unload. I am, after all, top shit!

Suddenly, Kace is by my side grunting and growling as he yanks me along by my collar out from behind the pillar to the nearest wall. It shatters above our heads, sending a wave of brick dust and mortar showering down around us. I cough and splutter, feeling my lungs fill with dust as we move out of the way, hoisting our guns up and sending out another spray of ammunition through the air, taking them out, with ease and precision.

Kace signals for me to check around the next corner. We’re killing this. There can’t be many left. We will have knocked this out in no time, and taken this warehouse area over. We will have won the battle, and that will prove to Everly how fucking good I am at my job. She won’t know what hit her.

I step around the corner, my thoughts distracting me, and as I do, I’m met by a man in a ski mask. His gun aimed right at me at point-blank range.

Fuck!

I don’t have time to react before he pulls the trigger, letting fly a mass of rounds straight into my stomach. The force of the blast knocks me straight on my back on the ground, all oxygen removed from my lungs as I pant for any semblance of air. My stomach hurts so badly, and as I look down to the massive sea of red, all the sounds around me stop, while the rest of my team bolt to my side.

My body is overwhelmed with pain as I continue to gasp for air, clutching at my stomach while Kace bends down to rest his hand on my shoulder.

The masked man stands over me, tall and mighty while shaking his head. He brings his hand to his face, pulling the mask back to reveal Jack, the Director of The Agency, and Kace’s father.

He continues to shake his head, his graying blond hair disheveled and out of place in an unusual look for Jack. He continues to aim the gun right at me, while I lay here writhing in pain. Gasping, I try to catch my breath, taking in all the red I’m seeing.

I screwed up.

Jack looks at me with a stern face and places his gun alongside his fake leg with a grunt.

“Again,” Jack demands.

Tanner groans, booting me in the side with her steel-capped boot. I wince from the pain of her kick.

“You fucking idiot, we nearly had this,” Tanner complains as she storms off.

Glancing up to the right, I look in the viewing area and see a bunch of Agency Task Force members, and of course, Everly, watching our exercise round. She’s standing with her arms crossed and a giant smirk on her face as she looks down at me covered in the red paintball swatches.

Great, just great.

Good time to lose focus, fuckwit!

 

 

As I watched the SO7 carrying out their training exercise, with my focus supposed to be on learning—taking in their actions, learning their movements and abilities, finding out how they work as a team—I found myself focusing on one man in particular—Luca.

He’s so talented. The way he moves, the precision in his aim. The flawless ease he shifts with his team like he knows their moves before they do. But, there’s this side of him that makes him a liability. He’s too cocky, he’s a little too eager. He was so unfocused on this particular exercise, mucking about and dancing when he should be concentrating and on guard. That’s what got him ‘killed’ in this situation. In the line of fire, in the real world, he’d be dead right now. Not covered in red paint with a bruised body and even bigger bruised ego.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s drop-dead gorgeous, with his blond hair and the way it sweeps back. His chiseled jaw, and that body that would put a god to shame. But I refuse to let that get in the way of me being a part of The Agency and my father’s legacy. My father worked so hard for this place, and he trained me, taught me all he could before he died. The least I can do now is honor his memory by carrying on in his footsteps. I won’t let a man like Luca distract me from my goals.

Luca gingerly stumbles up after Jack shot him. He looks deflated. I guess he would be, he was shot and ruined the entire ‘mission’ for his team. That’s a low blow for someone like Luca. He attempts to walk off when one of the other men in the viewing room with me starts to chuckle, elbowing his friend in the side.

“I thought these guys are supposed to be the supreme team The Agency has to offer. So far, to me, they’re below average.”

Snorting, I turn to him raising a brow and look him up and down as he glances at me, his lip turning up in a smile.

“I think you seem a little...” I glance at his cock, “… below average.”

He grins tilting his head and smiling wide. “Oh, c’mon now, Everly. Why don’t I take you out on Friday, and I can show you how above average I can be?”

Scoffing out loud, I shake my head with a hard no. “What are you? Like twelve? Seriously, I swear you should still be wearing diapers. Your baby face is way more teenager than boyish good looking. Sorry Clark, no can do. I’ll be washing my hair on Friday and any other time you ask.”

Clark screws up his face and scowls. “Do you think you’re funny?”

“I think she’s funny,” Jack’s deep tenured voice booms through the viewing area, as he appears out of nowhere, making all of us turn around to see him. He’s still dressed in his swat gear, his ski mask dangling around his neck as he grips onto the paintball gun firmly.

“Well, I think she’s rude,” Clark argues.

Jack raises his paintball gun, making Clark’s eyes widen as Jack glares at him sternly. “Get back to work,” he demands, pulling the trigger once, letting a red paint blob fly straight out which slams directly into Clark’s stomach at full force. I jump back as Clark hunches over letting out a massive groan.

That’s gotta hurt. Bad.

“Yes, sir,” he groans as he and another couple of men toddle off back to their stations.

Trying to hold in my smirk, I chuckle under my breath along with another couple of Operatives as they go about their business, while Jack grins walking in further toward me.

“We need to talk,” Jack announces.

“Maybe this is going to be more fun than I thought it was going to be?” I jest, and he smirks wrapping his arm around me in a comforting gesture as he leads me away from everyone else into another, quieter and much smaller room. He steps us over to a set of low sofas, and I like that this area still has a view of the warehouse so we can see the SO7 beginning their exercise once more. It’s not long before the noise of paintball guns are exploding once again in quick succession. I’m sure this old antiquated building can’t take too much more of this, the crumbling bricks and mortar disintegrating with every pelt of a paintball.

I wish I could be watching, paying close attention, but I know talking with Jack is more important. So I turn to face him and give him my full attention.

“Everly, you know you mean a lot to me. You’re like the daughter I never had. When you and your mother took care of me after my incident with Camilla and her cronies… well, I can’t thank you guys enough. But this life, Agency life, it comes with a price. I died once. Kind of. Lost a leg. You’ve seen me at my worst. You’ve seen what this place can do to an agent, to their families, so I have one question for you. Why do you want to be here?”

Taking a deep breath, I steady my shoulders. Pride running through me. “I’m here for my dad.”

Jack sighs, as another long drawl of gunfire echoes through the warehouse. “Well, that’s not enough. Certainly, that’s an honorable reason, but you have to be willing to risk everything for us… for your team, for your country. We don’t want you doing this just to honor your father, Everly. As great as he was.”

Furrowing my brows, I shake my head slightly confused. That reason—it’s my primary purpose. To make my father proud.

“You have a lot to learn before I’m willing to place you anywhere near the deep end. You can see from watching Luca today that even the most highly trained agents can falter. If this had been the real deal today, Luca would be dead right now. And I know you’re not naïve, but you have been sheltered. There’s a lot you haven’t seen, and even more you don’t know.”

“I want to know, though,” I blurt out, my stomach filling with anticipated tension as the firing in the warehouse becomes critical.

“Then we’ll start from the beginning,” he says.

Suddenly, an explosion rocks through the warehouse shaking all the walls in the room. Jack and I both stand up, looking out over the viewing area to see a plume of smoke coming from one of the hallways as the explosion softens.

A single voice echoes through the noise. “My bad,” Luca calls out making me wince.

Jack groans out loud while running his hand through his hair. “I better check this out,” Jack huffs.

We head for the door then rush down the stairs, the smell of smoke permeates every crevice as I cough slightly covering my mouth with one hand and fanning the air in front of my face with the other.

We see the team at the end of the course. Luca’s gripping what looks like a mannequin that’s badly burned with one arm fallen off as he sports a massive grin on his face.

“I got him, Boss,” Luca calls out, and Jack raises his brow.

“Umm… not sure I’d call it a successful capture there, Luca,” Jack quips.

Luca looks down to the blackened dummy and furrows his brows. “You said to capture the civilian, and that’s what I’ve done. I win.”

I pull my lips in by my teeth trying to hide my smirk and to stop me from giggling.

“Luca, the civilian is incinerated and has one arm blown off. I think it’s safe to say the civilian is not happy with you right now.”

Luca tilts his head and sighs. “You simply said capture, you never said in what state. If you wanted them unharmed, you need to be more specific, Boss.”

Jack shakes his head and groans. “Lord help me.”

“Besides, he was a bad guy. On an opposing team. He needed to be taken out.”

Jack raises his brow in I’m not sure whether it’s amusement or aggravation, as I try to hide my continuing smirk. “Oh really? How’d you figure that one, Luca?”

“My gut feeling. All-rounder EPS. I know these things. Plus, he’s wearing a Phillies baseball cap in Washington DC, that’s gotta mean he’s a bad guy, right?”

Kace walks up behind him and slaps him upside the back of his head. “Just stop talking,” Kace groans as Luca’s head snaps forward with a jolt.

“What?” Luca moans with a whine.

“My team is done. We’ve had enough. I need to call it before the rest of them make Luca look like that dummy,” Kace growls pointing to the burnt and armless mannequin.

“Oh, burn,” Luca sasses licking his finger and then pressing on the dummy as Tanner groans and storms off. Blair grimaces and takes off after her. Then slowly, the team walks off one by one leaving Luca here by himself, with his dummy, me and Jack.

“Same time tomorrow?” Luca calls out, but none of his team says anything in reply. They all just keep walking.

“Maybe you should take the day off, pretty boy. Three shots to the stomach has got to hurt. Maybe you should be home licking your wounds?” I tease as Luca’s broad smile finally falls to a frown, and he slumps his shoulders. He looks to me, all his humor gone as his eyes bore into mine. He actually looks sad.

“Yeah… maybe,” he sighs dumping the dummy to the floor and walking off.

I furrow my brows shocked by his sudden demeanor change. As he steps away from me, he rips at his red vest, and it falls to the floor like a lifeless scrap. It’s like watching his emotions slip from him as he gets further away.

The sudden change, dramatic.

Gone the cocky, fun loving, egomaniac.

Now replaced with a somber, sad, shell of a man.

What on earth?