Author's Note:

I'm so sorry for simply taking FOREVER to upload. I promise I'll try my absolute best to never do that again and and thank you to those of you who were waiting so patiently for this chapter. Enjoy.

Dedicated to AngelSongs for making me this amazing cover for my book's new name.

Chapter 9

I was sitting back at the base, glaring holes through Alex's head. We had just returned and had been ushered into this room for debriefing on that little 'test' I had just been put through.

I was as annoyed as anything at everyone. I was mad at Drew for not warning me or even dropping any hints of what was going to happen to me.

I was mad at Carter and Jolene for planning it all in the first place, at Alex for being the one that actually did the test on me... but mainly, I was mad at myself for giving in at the end. Sure, I never said anything compromising or gave away any information, but that was solely because Jasper saw that he had cracked me and the test was over before I was able the say what I was just moment away from saying. Surely that meant I failed?

My nerves were building. I had never failed any of their tests before and not knowing what they were going to do was making me very anxious. I didn't even know if Carter and Jolene were going to conduct the debrief themselves or if they were leaving it to Drew like they did all the other times.

Drew had seemed as impressed as Alex was with how well I'd done. I'd tried to explain to them that I actually had been just about to give in. That if they kept me in there just a second longer I would have spilt everything, but they seemed quite adamant that I'd done well.

"I told you guys, I don't know why you're so happy when I clearly failed," I said, feeling slightly exasperated. "I was seconds away from giving everything away. Shouldn't that mean I failed?"

"It most certainly does not, Zero," said Carter, making me jump slightly in surprize. I hadn't even heard him enter the room. "It's not about if the agent gives in or not - everybody gives in eventually, everybody has a breaking point - it's about how long you last. And you, Zero, lasted a very impressive 8 hours."

At this, he walked forward until he was standing behind the large desk that has been strategically positioned to be the centre of attention of those sitting in the chairs Alex, Drew and I were currently occupying.

I had learnt in one of the many pages of random facts I had to learn, about how the simple positioning of furniture in a room can manipulate a person's frame of mind. In this case it was easy to see that everything was set up to make Carter seem important, mind you that he actually was.

His desk was large, the biggest piece of furniture in the room, and was situated upon a slightly raised platform- not obvious at first glance, but definitely effective in making Carter seem more intimidating.

The screen and all electronic devices were either on his desk or on the wall behind him, giving him all the control. Even the light switch (for some reason we still had them even though the lights automatically switched on as soon as you entered a room) was not in its usual place beside the door, but rather also on the wall behind the desk.

There is a lot you can learn of a person just by being observant and right now, with just looking at the position of his furniture, it all screamed power.

"We don't train our agents in tactics to not ever give in," he continued. "But rather in methods for them to last long enough to either come up with a plan to escape or until an extraction team arrives. The longer you can last, the greater your chances of survival, because the people we deal with don't torture others for information with the reward being survival, but rather keep going until their reward for giving them what they want is a quicker death than what you're busy enduring."

I gulped, just glad I hadn't reached what Carter had just described in the test, the stage where I would have been begging Alex for death. Glad I avoided that embarrassment.

"With that done, Zero, I would like to formally introduce you to your partner, Agent Three," Carter announced, causing me to throw another glare Alex's way. "You two are going to need to start training together-"

"What!" I complained. "No, please no. He's su-" I was cut off by a throat being loudly cleared.

"You two are to start training together, effective immediately," he continued.

"Carter please!" I begged, glancing at a very smug looking Alex.

"It's not like I wanted to get stuck with a newbie either," Alex told me, failing to gain any sympathy from me what so ever.

"Newbie? Who you calling a newbie, Three?" I taunted.

"You. I am correct in saying you haven't even been activated yet, aren't I?" he responded, a smug look covering his face.

"I may not be activated yet, or have been trained since I was in diapers like you, but that does not make me any less of an agent than you," I spat back.

"She's quite right, Three," Carter agreed, this time causing me to be the one with a smug look to cover my face. "However, that does not change the fact that you two still need to work together."

That, very effectively I must add, killed any sense of victory I had felt from winning that tiny argument with Alex.

Sensing that I was about to cause a fuss yet again, Carter spoke the simple sentence that I had been waiting for since all those many weeks ago when I first found out I was to become an agent.

"It's time for your first mission."

That successfully shut down any arguments I had been planning in my head.

I did hear him right didn't I?

"My very own mission," I tested saying out loud, as if it almost wasn't real. It sounded good. No, wait. Not good. All that training I survived, all the learning and preparing I had done. Nope, it didn't sound good, it sounded right. I sounded like I deserved it. It was something I had worked hard for and definitely deserved. It was right.

"No, it's a shared mission. One you need a partner for, hence why Three is here," Carter explained.

"But I get activated now, right?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Well then I'm still happy. Ecstatic actually. Partner or not, I've got a mission.

"You're activated, but with a level one clearance," he finished.

At this, Alex snorted, covering up a short laugh.

Not that I cared. At least I actually had a clearance now, even if it was one saved for the lowest of agents.

"Now, if my surveillance was correct, I hear you are quite the motorbike rider, Zero."

I nodded in confirmation to which Carter gave his own small satisfied nod and turned to Drew.

"One, console with Zero and organise exactly the equipment she requires for this mission."

It's clear to see their father-son relationship has never progressed to further than a simple agent-handler association. Carter treats me the same, I know, but I never grew up here. He may be my father, but my dad will always be the high school drama teacher who used to call me butterfly thanks to my childhood obsession. It's kind of sad that Drew had never really had a true dad like I did. Or a mom.

At least he has me to call him by his real name and not just his number. I am his sister after all and even if it doesn't feel like it yet, he is my brother.

Drew nodded.

"May I ask, what exactly does this mission involve?" I inquired, unable to keep the excitement from seeping into my voice.

"There is some vital information we need to have retrieved. The only copy we know of is in Mexico and we have reason to believe the person in possession of the data is participating in one of the region's most infamous off-the-books enduro race, the Daga Negro."

I snorted. That didn't sound too intimidating. I was expecting some scary ass name to live up to the picture I presumed Carter was about to paint of this illegal race.

"It translates to the Black Dagger," Alex informed me, noticing my unintimidated expression. "It's run by the Mexica cartel. Trust me, it's scary stuff."

I shot Alex a look, "Gee, thanks Three."

He shrugged with a smirk, "Just want you to know as much as you can about your first of what's going to be many failed missions."

I opened my mouth to respond.

"Enough," Carter interrupted before our little interaction turned into yet another argument. We seemed to be making a habit of doing just that. "It's a simple in, retrieve and out mission. Zero is to pose as a convicted thief, looking for some quick money-"

"If I was a thief wouldn't I just steal some money instead?" I pointed out.

"The amount up for grabs is bigger than any amount you can easily steal. Let's just say you're looking for a big pay day and you don't want the small deals anymore."

I nodded, more satisfied with my more plausible cover story.

"The reason we need two people is for one to be in the race and another to get close to the manager. If you can't get any information off the rider then let's hope you can at least get something out of the manager," Carter explained to us.

"Woah there," Alex butted in. "There are many things I'm willing to do for the agency, Agent K, but acting gay is one thing I won't do to get close to a mark. Think of another way for me to get close to the manager because I'm not flirting with another man."

Carter just shook his head, "There will be no need to act gay, Agent Three, unless you're keen to, then I suppose there's no stopping you."

Alex rapidly shook his head at this, a grimace plastered on his face.

"So I assumed," Cater nodded. "The manager, is in fact female. I'm sure you won't have a problem being attracted to her, she's quite the looker. You'll have more of a problem getting her to be attracted to you."

Alex scoffed. "That won't be a problem. No-one can resist this," he responded, arrogantly gesturing to himself.

"I can," I stated.

"Well we all know that you're not normal, so you don't count," Alex threw back. "In actual fact, the real problem we'll be having will be trying to keep all the other ladies at the race from attempting to get their own piece of me too."

I rolled my eyes at Alex's obviously delusional state before turning back to Carter. "Will I need to learn Spanish or something? Drew and I haven't reached any Mexican languages quite yet."

Carter shook his head, "Too little time. The race is in one week and we still have to get you there and organize your equipment and everything. We have just enough time to touch on partner training and then you two need to be off. There is no time to waste fooling around."

Alex and I glanced at each other and for the first time we were on the same page.

It's time to get serious.



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