t the appointed hour that night, I reported to the security offices. As soon as Major Taylor closed her door and flipped on the desk lamp, I told her about the bugs planted in our room.

Her body stiffened. “What kind were they?”

I regarded her blankly. “I don’t know… the listening kind?”

She leaned against a corner of her desk and folded her arms. “Depending on the make and model, we might be able to discern if they were just installed, of if they’ve been there for a while. Do you still have them?”

I shuffled my feet. “Well, no. I might have flushed them down the toilet.” I mean, really, how many people were likely to get bugged around here?

She exhaled a frustrated sigh at my rookie mistake.

“At least I can tell you where Hayden’s been going at night.”

“Where?”

“She’s been going to the upper boy’s dorm to do homework with her brother. Which brings me to my next question: why didn’t anyone tell me Stef was Hayden’s half-brother? Isn’t anyone worried about him?”

“You are an untested field agent. Until proven otherwise, you will only be given the information necessary for you to accomplish your job. As for the boy…” She shrugged.

A flush of righteous anger on Stef’s behalf stained my cheeks, but expressing it would accomplish nothing.

She picked up a paper from the top of a stack. “Incidentally, we got a report from the Bridgehurst police that two men were attacked Friday night in the parking lot of the Stop & Shop by two young women driving an expensive car. Do you know anything about that?”

I steeled my expression to remain as neutral as possible but was still grateful for the long, concealing shadows thrown by the room’s only source of light. “No, ma’am.”

“Hmm,” she murmured. “It does match up with the time you and the Frasier girl were off campus.” Her voice held a trace of humor, letting me know she didn’t believe a word of my denial, but she wouldn’t be losing sleep over a couple of yahoos. “Very well. Is there anything else?”

“Actually, there is.” I told her about my reconnaissance of the campus, and what I’d observed of the school’s appalling lack of security. If that drone had been sent to check the place out, whoever controlled it now knew, too. “But what difference does it make if she can leave without a security detail anytime she wants?” The irony of those words coming from my mouth was not lost on me.

“You mean actually bring this place into the real world? That’s a laugh. I should march you into McKenna’s office. Maybe you’ll have better luck convincing the old bat she’s living in a fairytale.” She tossed the police report back on her desk with disgust. “She’s so concerned with her precious image that she hasn’t even allowed us to install closed-circuit cameras outside the school buildings.”

“I don’t understand. How could that be an image problem?” Surveillance devices were so small and discreet these days, most of the time you never knew they were there.

“What if pictures of our students in an embarrassing moment were leaked to an outside source? What if the systems were hacked to track the movements of certain high profile students such as Miss Frasier? What if some bleeding-heart liberal parent, especially one who keeps the money flowing around here, thought it was a violation of privacy?” She ticked the reasons off on her fingers, growing increasingly agitated as she went. She obviously didn’t find McKenna’s arguments valid.

“Are you saying the only thing between Hayden and the outside world are a few rent-a-cops and me?” My body went cold. I wasn’t Hayden’s last line of defense. I was pretty much her only line of defense.

I gracelessly dropped into a chair, surprised to see Major Taylor eyeing me with sympathy. “Look, your only job is to act as another pair of eyes and ears for us, not put yourself in any danger. We’ll keep Hayden Frasier safe.”

She was trying to make me feel better, and I appreciated it, but it wasn’t working. Those bugs were proof someone had their eye on us, and it was foolish to keep Hayden here. It was even more ridiculous someone with Major Taylor’s supposed standing had been called in to oversee a facility where even the deer could come and go at will.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” I ventured, “but are you here because of some disciplinary action?” Benson had taken on a few troublemakers at some of our more remote outposts, so I knew how the military worked. If you screwed up, you got sent to some hellhole in the outer reaches of Mongolia, or in this case, a prep school.

“Absolutely not!” All friendliness vanished. “I have the highest commendations, a spotless record, and if all goes well here, I’ll be promoted to lieutenant colonel as soon as Frasier’s new software is delivered.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” She shot me a look of impatience, so I rushed to explain. “Think about it. If there weren’t any real threats, would they have sent such a valuable asset—you, that is—to protect her? What’s weirder is they’ve allowed Hayden to remain here and she can leave campus anytime she wants. It doesn’t make sense.”

Major Taylor appeared thoughtful, but she couldn’t shed any light on what the powers-that-be had in mind either.

Sometimes that was just the way the military rolled.

As if wearing a uniform five days a week wasn’t enough, Monday night dinners were decreed as formal dress. I would have been happy to make do with sweats and a vending machine meal, but the only way to escape these nights was to be carried out on a stretcher.

I’d managed to grab the first shower and had slipped into black, silky trousers and a soft, gray sweater, the closest thing to pajamas I could find. Hayden emerged from the bathroom just as I slapped on some lipstick and used my fingers to fluff my wilted curls.

“You look… really great,” she said, pausing to give me the once-over before crossing to her own armoire. She’d wrapped her hair in a messy bun, and her shower had caused pretty little curls to spring up about her face.

“Thanks,” I said, tugging at my pants. “The handbook was pretty vague. I didn’t know how dressed up to be.”

“Neither do the freshman,” she said, her eyes twinkling with humor. “After the rumors we circulated, some of them will show up in tuxedos and ball gowns.”

It wasn’t exactly the hazing Benson’s recruits often endured—usually involving a big spaghetti dinner followed by a ten-mile run—but we’d take our fun where we could.

She turned to dress while I slid on a pair of patent leather heels. This was the most relaxed we’d ever been around each other. I could either silently enjoy it or possibly screw it up royally by opening my mouth.

“I’m really sorry about Rose,” I said softly. Her back stiffened, but that was the only indication she’d heard me. “I’ve never had a best friend,” I confessed. “We moved too much, and it’s not like there were many other kids around anyway. But I do know losing someone leaves a hole that can’t be filled.”

I had no memory of my mom, but I still missed the idea of her. Someone to tell me the reason my hair got brittle was I rinsed it too much after conditioning. Or that wearing pastels made me look like an Easter egg, or that underwear came in colors other than white.

The silence grew oppressive, and I’d just decided I was a complete fool when Hayden turned around. She’d pulled on a clingy navy dress with an exposed silver zipper running from neckline to hem.

“Thanks,” she said, drawing on a pair of boots. “Are you ready? Let’s go.”