Only Hope

Author’s note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I know I was on a role for a while there. But the excellence that is Battlestar Galactica took over, and I had to get my Lee/Kara shippyness out. BTW - if anyone wants a link to that story (‘cause I’m so proud of having churned it out in one week), I’d be happy to PM it to you if you let me know.

Chapter Sixteen

Sydney stared around at the office that was her sister’s place of work. It was definitely more inviting than the cold cell she had been cooped up in for two months with barely a break. “Nice digs,” she said as Nadia entered the room and took a seat behind her desk.

Nadia shrugged. “They work for what I need.”

“Running the Covenant?”

“Carrying on my father’s life work. All things Rambaldi are my life. You can say that, just like Arvin Sloane, they‘ve consumed me.”

Sydney stared at her a moment before speaking. “You sound really sick. I wish I knew you had existed earlier.”

“That’s just another could of to be added to your list of short-fallings, Sydney.”

“If I remember correctly, you are Rambaldi yourself,” she said, changing the subject. She did not want to start a conversation on all the mistakes and screw-ups that had occurred throughout her life. “Didn’t you have some inbred subconscious scribing thing? I remember a creepy green liquid being involved.”

Nadia just shrugged again. Just like Sydney did not want to talk about her mistakes, she did not want to give her sister more ammunition to use against her than was necessary. “Let’s get down to business. I offered you your freedom yesterday.”

“In return for me handing my daughter over to you,” Sydney pointed out.

“She is the key to Rambaldi. She needs to be raised to live up to her genes.”

“So, you want my daughter to do what exactly?”

“She needs training. We might not be close, but I am her aunt by blood, Sydney. I don’t want her going into a fight unprepared.”

“I assume you’re talking about Tyler Vaughn.”

“You’ve been keeping tabs on him. You should know that his life is bound to cross with Hope’s really soon.” Nadia watched Sydney’s face well up in confusion. “You don’t know what’s happened. That is priceless. My father was right when he said that the CIA was clueless.”

“I don’t work for the CIA anymore.”

“Good point. The real question is wouldn’t you have expected more of our mother. Seems to me she’s withholding information from you. That is what happens when you have conflicting ties.” Nadia reached for the phone. “We should probably just call her, and she can explain to you what’s happening that you’ve been kept in the dark about.”

Sydney started to laugh, and Nadia’s hand froze with the receiver halfway up to her ear. She looked at Sydney inquisitively, prompting Sydney to explain what she found so funny. “Do you really think that threat is going to work? Irina would never have contact with you, Nadia.”

“I’m her daughter just as much as you are, Sydney.”

“That’s true. Maybe I phrased that wrong. She might have contact with you, but it wouldn’t involve putting her granddaughter in any danger. If she knew something about Tyler Vaughn that was going to affect Hope‘s safety, she would tell Sark or I. If she knew that you were a threat to any of the three of us, she would tell me. So, obviously our mother does not know what you have been up to.”

“Fine. Believe me or don’t. It’s your prerogative.” Nadia set the receiver back down. “But back to the business at hand. You cannot hide your daughter away from the world. She will end up meeting the Vaughn boy one day. When that happens, she has to be prepared to defend herself.”

“It’s a valid point, but not one I agree with. I made a vow years ago not to let Milo Rambaldi rule the direction my life took.”

“That is your mistake. Rambaldi was a genius. If you only listened to what he said, your life would run much more smoothly.”

“I remember a time when he predicted I would be the end of the world. How is that supposed to make my life run more smoothly?”

“Weak translation. Rambaldi never predicted the end of the world. He just predicted the presence of a powerful woman that could affect the world as a whole.”

Sydney rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to the desk her sister sat behind. “Okay. I don’t think these negotiations are going to go well, so why don’t we just save our time? Get your thugs back in here, and they can take me back to my cell.”

“Why are you so confident still? If I can get to you, Sydney, I can easily get to your daughter. I’m just trying to give you an easy out before I forcefully take her from you. I can’t promise if I’m pushed to that extreme that all your friends will make it out alive.” Nadia smiled at her. “I’m doing this for you.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“What good is a sister if they’re not going to look out for you?”

Sydney just shook her head and looked to the door. “Are your men at the door waiting to escort me back to my cell?”

“Actually, there’s no one out there. I don’t really expect for you to leave this room until you’ve accepted my offer. You really have no other choice.”

Sydney sank back down into her chair. “You have no idea how good I am at stand-offs then. We might be here for a while.”

“I could just shoot you and get it over with,” Nadia pointed out.

“But that would only lead to your own death.”

“A point that I haven’t lost sight of. I just wanted you to know that chances are if I kill you, I would survive. I’m just as good as you are. That’s the way Rambaldi wanted things to develop. Or maybe you don’t remember his prophecy about our fight to the death.”

“I gave up on that prophecy when I searched for you for fourteen years without any success. If that fight was going to happen, it would have been done and over with by now. Face it. Your intellectual genius was wrong.”

“A quick bullet to your head right now would prove you wrong.”

There was a sudden bang on the door that called both women’s attention. “Is that how your goons knock?” Sydney asked.

“First off, the men you keep calling goons and thugs are highly trained agents of the Covenant. They could kill you with one hand.”

“I seemed to get the best of them every single time I got bored and decided to escape.”

“And by ‘got the best’ do you mean they kept you from escaping?”

“Escaping was never really my goal. I was just trying to fish out the weaknesses.” There was a second bang on the door. “Are you going to answer that?”

Nadia shook her head. “That’s not any of my agents. So, no, I think I’ll just let it be. See if whoever wants to get in is good enough to work around my security locks.”

As soon as she said that, there was a faint click of the lock mechanism turning. This time when there was a third loud bang, the door flew open.

“Hi, honey. I’m home,” Sark said, smirking at both of Irina’s daughters. “Did you miss me?”

“Hello, Julian,” Nadia said, nodding at him.

“Did I miss something? Have you two met before?” Sydney asked.

“Not formerly,” Nadia explained, still not moving from her seat. Obviously Sark’s presence didn’t alarm her in any way. “Your husband and I have met throughout the years on some of his assignments. The first time was over fifteen years ago, I think. Why were you working with the Argentine government, Julian?”

“I don’t recall.” He turned to Sydney. “Are you ready to go?”

“Don’t bother,” Nadia said, waving her hand at him. “My men should be here within twenty seconds to make sure you don’t make it more than ten feet out of this office.”

“You have a lot of faith in your men, don’t you?”

“I train the best to be the best.”

Sark looked down at his watch. “They have about ten seconds left.”

“They’ll be here.” Nadia smiled as an alarm started to ring throughout the building.

“Alarms don’t mean anything,” Sark informed her. “I still don’t see any men. Five seconds.”

The trio stared at each other as the five seconds passed by. “No one,” Sydney said, shaking her head at her sister. “Looks like you aren’t as good as you thought.”

Nadia nodded towards the opening doorway where one man stood, his bulk taking up the entire doorway.

“One guy?” Sark said, practically laughing in her face. “You expect us to be stopped by one man?”

“Hey! I know this guy!” Sydney cried. “Thug #2! How are you doing? Do you think your boss lady will let you banter with me while I kick your ass?”

She didn’t wait for a reply before punching the man squarely in the nose. He didn’t flinch nor did he move, but she really hadn’t expected him to on the first punch. Sark turned back to Nadia as his wife had her fun with one of her many captors. “I guess that leaves you for me.”

“You got the short end of the stick.” Nadia stood up and smoothed her pants. “Don’t get too bothered by the fact that you’re trying to hurt your wife’s sister. And try to ignore the fact that I look quite a lot like her.”

“I should do fine,” Sark informed her, shifting into a fighting stance.

“We’ll see,” she answered, smiling at him knowingly.

Sark registered both the hand grabbing his shoulder and the punch across his face at the same time. He really hadn’t seen the other man standing behind the goon Sydney was currently taking to town. A knee to the stomach later and he found himself sprawled face down on the floor.

“A little harder than you thought, isn’t it?” Nadia said, taunting him from somewhere above.

“No,” he growled, rolling onto his back to block another kick from the man who had sucker punched him two seconds earlier. “It just got a little more interesting.” He pulled himself to his feet, dodging a few punches, and then hit his opponent in the face three times in quick succession.

When the man appeared fazed slightly, Sark looked over at his wife. She was currently pinned up against the wall and was taking a few shots to her abdomen. “Syd!” he yelled. When she blocked a punch and looked over at him, he grabbed a statue off of Nadia’s desk and lobbed it at her.

Sydney caught it and cracked her thug with it over the head. She turned back in time to see Sark go hurtling to the floor as his man tackled him. “Idiot,” she groaned under her breath. He had taken his eyes off his opponent in order to help her. The man’s every move was practically governed by his heart these days. He was really out of practice in tuning into the inner cold-hearted bastard that she had grown to love so many years earlier.

At least she knew that he could take care of himself just as well as he could take a punch. That left her to finish up the other loose end who was currently staring at the action without taking part.

“Time to prove your little mentor right,” Sydney said, smiling a little too sadistically. She tended to get this way when her family was threatened. It was even worse when her family was threatened by other members of her family. Sark’s brutal ways must have transferred over to her at some point during their marriage. It was almost as startling as it was ironic.

Nadia didn’t waste any time to being afraid or intimidated. It was obviously to Sydney that they really were of the same blood when her sister started swinging. The first blow narrowly missed her head, and the second one caught her in the side before she could block it.

Before Sydney could recover, Nadia grabbed her body and threw her up against the wall as hard as she could. She could feel her body crack under the impact, but she wasn’t really sure what had gotten damaged as she slumped to the ground. The only thing she knew was that they had been fighting for less than thirty seconds, and it already hurt her to move.

“Tough luck,” Nadia leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I thought you might actually last a full round before I took you out.”

“Stop taunting me,” Sydney hissed back.

“It’s what we Derevko women do best. You know, Syd, I think I finally figured out the point where you and I differ. I used to think that we were so similar when I was growing up. I couldn’t understand why you got to have the fun life while I was stuck in an orphanage. But I finally realized why that was.”

“Enlighten me.”

“I have what it takes to survive while you don’t. You come so close, but you never really make it on your own, do you?”

“No.” Sydney’s frown of pain shifted slightly into a small smile. “I guess you’re right. But see, that’s why I never make it a habit to travel alone.”

Nadia felt her head whip back as Sark grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her to her feet. “You better hope you didn’t hurt her or else there will be no chance for mercy.”

Sydney watched from her position on the floor as her husband threw the sister she had never known from one end of the room to the other. She knew that she should probably feel sorry for Nadia. A lot of the choices she made in her life hadn’t been her own. Sydney wished she could change that, but she couldn’t. Now all she could do was watch while the woman learned her mistakes firsthand.

Sark managed to pull himself back as Nadia was about to drift out of consciousness. He had pummeled her whole body rather viciously. Taking a moment’s rest, he turned back to Sydney to see her smiling at him. “What?” he said, walking over to her.

“For a second there, I thought you had lost your love of all things violent.”

“No. It’s still there.”

She let him help her to her feet, trying to keep from wincing at the pain of the movement. “Obviously. What should we do with her?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. I just want to get you home.”

Sydney allowed herself to be led across the room by her husband. As they reached the door, a muffled noise from where Nadia lay caused them to look back. “What did you say?” Sark asked.

Nadia struggled but finally managed to use the desk to pull herself up into a sitting position. “I was asking Sydney if she wanted to know where Tyler Vaughn is going to be in about five months time.”

“No, I don’t,” Sydney said. “Let’s leave.”

“Then watch out for your daughter. Los Angeles is not that large of a city,” Nadia called as they walked out the door and down the hall.

“Did she say that Tyler was coming to L.A.?” Sark asked.

“There’s no way he could be,” Sydney replied. “Vaughn and Lauren know that we moved back to the city years ago. They wouldn’t let their son have the opportunity to meet Hope. They are as scared as us that the damn prophecy might be true. I wouldn’t trust a thing she said, either. She had an agenda. For whatever reason, part of it is to have Hope working at her side.”

“Our daughter is not going to end up in the spy business.”

“That’s what I told her.” Sydney came to a halt as they exited the building. “Fresh air. God, I missed that.”

“Sorry it took me so long,” he apologized hesitantly.

She smiled at his worried expression. “I’m not mad at you. It gave me time to try to figure a few things out about our current predicament with the next generation of super spies.”

“Did you come up with anything?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “But it didn’t hurt to try. Now let’s go home. I want to see firsthand that my daughter hasn’t become a delinquent.”

Sark slipped his hand into hers and led her over to where he had parked the car he had rented at the airport. “Well, it’s a long story. But Hope hasn’t exactly been living with me in L.A. She’s been with Will on a ranch upstate…”
 
LoL great update.

I wonder what sort of cheekyness Hope has been getting into... :Ponder:

Daym, Nadia was sure mean.. and utterly condescending. Uck.

Thanks for the PM, update soon :smiley:
 
Author’s note: Well, I seem to be losing steam on everything else I’m currently writing or am thinking about writing. But this story still comes out really easily when I want it to. I should still be doing the whole long breaks between updates thing, but I’ll definitely keep adding more. Maybe now that my other story is finished, I’ll have more time to devote to this one.

Chapter Seventeen

The phone in the kitchen and the doorbell rang simultaneously in the ranch that Will and Hope had been calling home for the past two months. “I’ll get the phone,” she screamed even though her mouth was full of the sandwich she had just made.

“Got the door!” Will yelled back.

Hope nodded to the music of the new CD she had just gotten from Amy Tippin, the other day. Will’s sister had great taste in music. “Hello?” she said, pulling one ear phone out and picking up the phone.

“Hey, Hope. Is my charming husband there?”

“Hey, Tess. How are you doing over there on the other half of the ocean?”

“Not too bad. I just wish your father would find your mother. Then my husband could actually come home and help out his pregnant wife.”

“How is the little fetus doing?”

“Don’t call my baby boy that.”

“You found out the sex?”

“Yeah, but don’t tell Will. I wasn’t supposed to know.”

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” Hope said with a wicked laugh. “I’ll go get him. He was answering the door last I checked.”

She set the receiver down on the counter, grabbed her sandwich, and made her way to the hall. Will was already making his way towards her.

“Phone’s for you,” she said, her mouth full once again.

“Door’s for you,” he said back, passing her without slowing down.

She danced along to the music playing in her ears until she caught sight of who was waiting for her in the front room. “Mom,” she screamed, throwing her plate onto the nearest flat surface and running straight into her mother’s arms.

“Hi, baby girl,” Sydney said, who had been crying even before her daughter had seen her. She smiled at her husband over her daughter’s shoulder. “It’s nice to see you.”

“How’s Will been treating you?” Sark asked from where he was leaning against the open doorway.

“We’re getting by. He’s been teaching me a workout routine. There really isn’t anything to do around here except play in the gym.”

“You have gotten a little thinner,” Sydney said, poking her daughter’s arm. “Is he feeding you?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I can take care of another person,” Will said, walking up where they stood. “By the way, Tess says hello, Syd. And she told me to tell Julian that he should expect a fairly large and generous birthday gift for letting me go home. I think she’s tired of being pregnant and alone.”

“I would be, too, if I was the size of a house,” Hope said, laughing.

“I should tell her that. She would never talk to you again.”

Hope stuck her tongue out at him, and Will repeated the action right back at her. “I’m glad to see how much you’ve matured while I’ve been gone,” Sydney said with a laugh. She grabbed her daughter’s hand and smiled. “And you’re not that much better, young lady. Now let me go see where you’ve been holed up while I’ve been gone. Your dad needs to talk a little business with Will.”

Strangely enough, Hope didn’t put up that much of a fight about missing business talk like she usually did. It was probably due to the shock of finally seeing her mother again. The two men watched Sydney and Hope walk up the stairs, hand in hand, and out of sight.

“What’s going on?” Will asked as soon as it was safe.

“Sydney’s sister was the one who took her.” Sark didn’t hold back any of his bluntness. He had limited time to relay the information to his co-worker. Sydney could only distract their daughter for so long, even if she hadn’t seen her for months.

“Nadia? I thought she was working for the Chilean government?”

“Actually, that was Argentina, and that ended a long time ago. She’s running the Covenant now. Took over for Sloane when he died a few years ago. Sydney and I took care of her, though.” When he noticed Will’s shocked and appalled look, he rolled his eyes. “No, we didn’t kill her. Jesus, Will. She’s still family no matter how evil she is. You don’t see us killing Irina at the drop of a hat if we think she’s gone back to the side of evil.”

“Irina’s our boss. That’s different.”

“Potato. Potato.” Sark shrugged. “Anyway, Nadia shouldn’t really try to mess with us for at least a little while.”

“Okay. So obviously you don’t want me to be talking to Hope about who her aunt is anytime soon?”

“That would be best. She knows that Sydney has a sister somewhere out there, but she can’t meet her. I don’t want to have to get into the story about why half her family once tried to kill the other half. I’m saving that one for her fifteenth birthday.” Trying to get back on track, Sark took a deep breath. “That’s not the worst part, though. Nadia told us that Tyler Vaughn is going to be moving to L.A. in a few months. You haven’t heard anything about that, have you?”

“No. But I really haven’t talked to Michael or Lauren for months. My location across the ocean segregates me from the majority of our old allies. Tess and I barely talk to Amy, let alone the Vaughns.”

“I don’t see how such a major development could have happened without anyone on our side knowing.”

“What major development?” Hope asked as she entered the room.

“That didn’t take long,” Sark pointed out.

“Mom saw some weird looking blade sword thingy. She muttered something about de nada. I didn’t say thank you so I don’t know what she was going on about.” Hope darted a quick look at Will. He was definitely avoiding eye contact with her. “So, what were you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Sark said. “Let’s go find your mom. It’s time for you to pack up and come home.”

Hope nodded. “I’ll be there in a moment. I just want to say goodbye to Uncle Will.”

Sark looked suspicious but nodded, leaving the room. As soon as he was gone, Hope grabbed Will by the arm. “You cannot say anything to them about what we’ve been doing.”

“You think I don’t know that? Your parents would murder me if they knew.” Will began to walk towards the door, but changing his mind, he turned back towards Hope. “What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?” she said, hoping she looked innocent.

“I mean, why did we do what we did? Why did you want to be trained?”

“I just want to be able to take care of myself if it comes down to it. It seems like my life is one big ball of danger. I don’t want to have to rely on my parents to make sure I’m all right.”

“That sounds really good in theory, but I know you’re not telling me everything.” Will grabbed Hope and pulled her into a head lock. “Now let’s go. Your father is probably worrying about what trouble the two of us are getting into.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Tyler Vaughn threw his bags down on the floor of the apartment he was going to call home. It had taken him weeks to convince his parents that he needed this extra time to get used to the States before he had to start classes at UCLA. In the end, it had taken a lot of yelling and one well-timed threat, but at least they had agreed.

“Oh boy,” he said, looking around.

The apartment looked exactly like one would expect a poor college student’s home to be. The only noticeable difference was the massive security system positioned on the wall next to the front door. It had been his mother’s only request when they discussed lodging. So, he had to live off-campus for his freshmen year. He could handle that, all things considering.

Picking up his bags again, he pushed the door to his bedroom open. To his credit, he didn’t jump when he saw the woman sitting on his bed.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” he asked as he dropped his bags next to the closet.

“My name is Amy, and I was sent here to make sure that you settled in just fine.”

“Well, Amy, I have no idea who you are. So we have a little problem.” Tyler crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Why don’t you just leave now before this gets out of hand?”

“Temper, temper, temper, little boy,” Amy said, scolding him as she stood up. “You were a lot more likeable when you were a toddler.”

His eyes widened. “You knew me when I was a toddler.”

“Yeah. I worked with your parents.” Amy walked over to him. “So, are you settled in?”

“I guess so.”

Amy silently applauded him. His guard was still up even though she had made a personal connection with him. His parents had taught him the necessary tactics rather well. She might actually have to try in order to break down his guard. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a business card. “This is my cell. If you need anything, if you run into any trouble, give that number a call.”

Tyler hesitated but eventually took the card from her.

“Be sure to tell your father that I stopped by to see you. And let him know that Irina and Jack want to talk with him about a few things. Seems your Daddy kept your arrival a secret from a whole lot of people.”

“I asked him to do that,” Tyler said before he could stop himself.

Amy smirked. His guard wasn’t that good. “I figured. You just let him know. And be sure to check up on me. You don’t want to be trusting strangers. It’s an evil world here in the US.”

“I plan on checking up on you,” Tyler assured her.

“Good.” Amy smiled at him. “You’re looking good, kid. Don’t be scared to call. It might not look like it, but I could probably help you with any problem you had.”

Tyler nodded and waved as she walked out the door. This living on a new continent thing was going to be interesting. Sighing, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocked and dialed in his father’s number. For this Amy woman’s sake, he hoped that she was telling the truth.
 
Chapter Eighteen

Hope grabbed her cell phone and car keys, dashing out the door. “I’ll be back for dinner,” she yelled at her parents. She didn’t wait for an answer. If she had waited, she would have been forced to write down every move she would be making in the next two hours. She understood why her parents were so protective of her, but she was seventeen years old. There was no need.

Plus, she could take care of herself. She had started with the simple skills her Uncle Will had taught her in the few months she spent with him three years earlier when her mother was missing. But she had built upon those skills every spare chance she had. Her parents still didn’t know how good she was, and she didn’t plan on telling them.

As soon as her eighteenth birthday came around, they would know, though.

She planned on marching right into CIA headquarters and demanding a job as soon as she legally could. That was a day she was both looking forward to and dreading. Her grandparents and her parents would kill her, but at least she’d finally be doing what she wanted to do.

And then she wouldn’t have to sit back and worry about this damn prophecy on her life coming true. She could actively fight it.

Right on time, her cell phone began to ring. The skateboarder she had been seeing lately always seemed to call at the exact same time every day. It was slightly annoying. “Hey, Viper,” she said into the phone, ignoring the display.

“Whoever Viper is, I am not him,” the voice on the other end said.

“Well, then, who the hell are you and how did you get my number?” Hope asked, not fazed by the new development.

“I’ve been watching you for a few years now. You’re very good at what you do.”

“And you’re very creepy and in deep trouble. My parents monitor this phone’s frequency at all times. They probably have a team on the way to take you out right now. And that’s not an empty threat.”

“Knowing your parents, Hope, I don’t doubt that. However, I took the time to block all the necessary channels. They don’t even know your phone is in use.”

“You’re creepy,” she reiterated.

“I get that a lot. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to hang up on me. If I know you, you’re intrigued by me already.”

“Yeah, I get that from my dad. What do you want, Mister Man?”

“I want to offer you a job.”

She laughed into the end of the phone. “You are ridiculous. Amusing but ridiculous.”

“Think about it.”

As soon as she heard the dial tone ringing to signal the person on the other end had hung up, she threw the phone onto the passenger’s side seat. Weird things had always been happening to her since she was little, but this almost took the cake when it came to weird. “I should probably tell Mom and Dad,” she said to herself, cranking up the radio. She looked over at where the phone lay on the seat. “When I get home,” she corrected.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Tyler gathered up his papers and gave his students a quick smile before leaving the classroom. Taking the teacher’s assistant position for the communications department had been one of his better decisions in the past three years. He had worked hard to gain success at UCLA, and all he had gotten from it was an uncertainty of where to go with his life.

He thought being in the States would help him figure that out in a way that staying in Fiji would not.

Sighing, he nodded as a few of his students passed him. It was the group of girls who seemed to be present in the front row of all the classes he had been teaching since getting the assistant position. He wasn’t stupid. He knew that they weren’t there because they wanted to become communications majors. He knew that most of the girls in his classes just took them to be able to see him on a daily basis. It was something he mostly chose to ignore.

As he turned the corner, he was so distracted by the girls still giggling at him that he almost ran straight into the man standing before him.

“Sorry,” he said, apologizing to the stoic man before trying to step around where he stood.

The man shifted so that he could not get around him. “Not a problem, Tyler.”

His instinct kicked in, and he felt himself shift into a defensive stance. “How do you know my name?”

The man looked him up and down before smiling kindly. “It’s good that you shifted into that stance so easily. Seemed almost effortless. Your parents must have taught you that.”

“You know my parents?” he asked hesitantly, still not easing out of his position. This man wasn’t really scaring him, but he still had no idea what was going on. His life had been such chaos for his first eighteen years. He had been slowly waiting for the relative calm he had achieved for his three years in California to be ripped away. He was waiting for the old chaos to come back.

“I’m their boss,” the man said, holding out his hand. “Marcus Dixon.”

“You’re Dixon?” Tyler relaxed his guard slightly. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You don’t fully believe I’m who I say I am.”

Tyler stared for a moment. The man certainly looked like the Dixon his parents had described. But then again, there had been many stories by Lennox while he was growing up about traded faces and a certain program that ruined a lot of people‘s lives. Those were one of the few times when he could get information on the person his mother had been when she was still alive. Realizing that Dixon was waiting for him to respond, he put on his best smart ass grin. “Like you said, my parents taught me well.”

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He held it out to Tyler. “Go ahead and look through. There should be a CIA id badge in there, driver’s license, pictures of my family, pictures of me with your family. Plenty of proof I am who I say I am.”

Tyler flipped through for a moment before his eyes rested on a picture. It was a rather attractive young girl with almost jet black hair. She looked about fifteen or sixteen. Her face was incredibly familiar. “Who is that?” he said, holding the wallet out so Dixon could see.

Dixon grabbed the wallet back harshly. “I’m not here to walk down memory lane with you, Tyler. You haven’t spoken to your parents in months. They sent me here to talk to you about that.”

Tyler could recognize a harsh, defensive tone when he heard it. However, he figured he would cut Dixon a break and not press the issue of the girl in the picture. “I don’t need to keep up constant contact with my parents or with Lennox in order to survive. I’m twenty-one years old and graduating college. I can make it on my own.”

“Your mother’s worried about you.”

“I’m fine. You can tell her that.”

Dixon held out his hand and motioned for Tyler to walk. “She just wants you to talk to her. No one’s really sure why you won’t.”

“They refuse to answer my questions so why should I answer theirs?”

“Because their questions are mainly about how you are doing. They just want to know that you’re all right.”

He took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “I’ve spent so much of my life constricted that it’s nice to have freedom for once. If I told my parents all the things I was doing and experiencing, they would just be scared for me. They would want me to come back to Fiji, and that’s not something I can do.”

They stepped out into the California sunshine and made their way down the walkways into the main quad of UCLA. “I understand how you feel. My life was constricted by my job for years. You learn subtle ways to work around it.”

“Well, my life is constricted by my life. So there’s no way to work around it. There’s no real escape from life but death.”

“This college has definitely been teaching you pessimism.”

“It’s the American way,” Tyler said with a laugh. “Anyway, I’m doing just fine so you can tell my parents that you did your duty and not to worry.”

“I need an update to give them. Your mother knows you’re graduating. Tell me what you’re going to do when you get out of here. Lauren and Vaughn would want to know.”

“I don’t know what I‘m going to do. I figured I would move to Los Angeles.”

“Now you know that’s the one place your parents don’t want you to go.”

Tyler glared at him. “Maybe that’s why I’m going. I’m tired of doing the things that everyone expects me to do. I want to start making decisions based on what I want to do. I want the freedom I was never given.”

“You need to tread carefully with this, Tyler. Your life has an impact on more people than you’d care to know. You have to think wisely.”

“That damn prophecy!” he screamed, attracting more than a few passer-bys attention. “I’m so tired of that damn prophecy. I will not live my life by some stupid old guy’s words.”

“People have tried to run away from Rambaldi before. You can’t do it.”

“So then what the hell am I supposed to do?” Tyler half-screamed, half-pleaded.

“Find a way to make it work for you, I guess.” Dixon sighed before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small paper rectangle. He held it out to Tyler. “Come to this address when you’ve graduated in a few months. Tell them that Marcus Dixon sent you with his personal recommendation.”

“What is this?”

“Your free pass into the CIA.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. “The CIA?”

“Your parents are going to kill me.” Dixon sighed and threw up his hands. “This seems to be the only solution, though. You’re determined to defy your parents. Your parents want to make sure you’re looked after. The only way you can be looked after in L.A. is by me. So, I’m going to keep you close. They might kill me for it, but I can‘t think of anything else to do.”

“I can believe this is happening.” Tyler’s face was still full of surprise and awe. “I’ve dreamed of being a CIA agent since I was a little boy. I never thought it was possible. I never thought I could come up with a way to actually do it.”

Dixon shook his head. Tyler was already getting ahead of himself. “I never mentioned anything about being an agent. You have to earn that right.”

“So, you want me to be a paper pusher than? Filtering your calls and being your personal secretary so you make sure that I don’t get into trouble?”

Oh, he had the temper of both his parents. That was for sure. “No, nothing like that. When it’s time, they’ll set you up as an analyst. You’ll be evaluated. Maybe after some training and a hell of a lot of practice, you can become an agent. You have to earn that,” he repeated.

“But it is possible.”

“It is. It’s how your father became an agent. He had to earn it even though his father was one of the agency’s best in his day.”

“There are no free rides,” Tyler said, echoing the words his father had instilled in him practically from birth.

Dixon nodded. “It’s the truth. Now go back to what you were doing before I interrupted. It seemed like a nice normal life.”

“My parents?” Tyler asked the obvious question.

“Leave that to me. Just enjoy your freedom for now. When you’re done here, you are going to become a slave of the United States government.”

Tyler laughed and began to make his way back to his apartment on campus. He had exams demanding to be graded. No matter if he was going to become a CIA agent someday, those papers still needed to be graded. And suddenly it didn’t seem like such a daunting task.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Hope pulled up in the driveway at ten o’clock that night. She knew that she should have come home in time to eat dinner with her parents, but that weird offer by that man kept her driving for hours. She was trying to think about what it meant. She was also trying to avoid dwelling on the fact that it wasn’t almost too good to be true.

“Where the hell have you been, young lady?” Sark asked from his position sitting on the porch stairs.

“Driving,” she said, taking a seat down next to him. This hadn’t been the first night that she pushed her parent’s boundaries. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried, curfew was never really followed. She was a free spirit, just like her father.

“Things to think about?”

“Tons.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Your mother’s going to be mad if I don’t yell at you for a bit, Hope.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I just wish you didn’t have to.”

“Me, too.” She could feel his tone and expression shift and braced herself for impact. “But what the hell were you thinking, young lady? Driving around without telling us where you were going or who you were going with! Did you think you could just do whatever the hell you wanted?”

“No, I just had a lot of things to think about.”

“And you’re going to have a whole lot more once your mother and I have decided your punishment.”

They both turned as they heard laughter drifting from the front door to where they sat on the porch. Sydney was standing there watching them. “That was the crappiest yelling I have ever heard, darling.” She took a seat between her husband and daughter. “This is why she thinks I’m the mean one.”

“You are the mean one,” Julian corrected.

“Because she had you wrapped around her finger.”

“I do,” Hope pointed out.

“That’s not helping you in any way,” Sark pointed out. “So, Sydney, what do you want to do with her? Yelling isn’t going to work. She‘s too stubborn.”

“I want her to tell us what was so important that she had to drive around for half the day thinking it over.” She looked at her daughter expectantly. “Spill.”

Knowing that she could probably lie and be done with this whole uncomfortable situation, she decided that for once she wanted to tell the truth. For once, she wanted to be able to talk to her parents about the things that she wanted. The things that she felt like she needed. “I decided what I wanted to do with my life today.”

“So what is it? Rocket scientist? Brain surgeon? Lawyer?” he teased.

“I want to work for the CIA,” she said, bracing herself for a more thorough yelling. She knew by telling the truth, she was signing her death warrant.

“Nope.”

“No way.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?” she yelled, standing up. “You two have been subliminally telling me that the CIA was off limits as a career path. But I never got a reason why. I have a right to know why I‘m being restricted.”

“Because it’s dangerous,” Sydney supplied. “And it takes a lot more concentration than you have.”

“I have plenty of concentration,” she defended.

“Now when you’re fighting for you life every single day.”

“I’m not fighting for my life.”

“You might not realize it, but you are,” Sark pointed out.

“The prophecy about you, Hope. It’s creeping up.” Sydney hated reminded her daughter of the fact that her life was planned out already, but avoiding it wasn’t going to make the prophecy go away.

“It’s a bunch of bulls***. I can handle myself.”

“Oh can you?” Sydney said, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Please enlighten me.”

“I have your talents and Dad’s. I’m practically a pre-programmed spy. All I need is an agency to work for. I figured the CIA would be the only one you would let me look into.”

“Honey,” Sark said, standing up and grabbing her hand. “You just can’t be a part of the CIA. It wouldn’t work, and they know better than to recruit you. It‘s not an option.”

Hope was tempted to tell them about the phone call she had received earlier but felt herself holding back. For some reason she wasn‘t sure she wanted to share that fact that she could get a job as a spy without trying. She also wasn’t sure she wanted to explain who she had gotten good enough to be receiving job offers. “You think that I’m not good enough, don’t you?”

“You haven’t been exposed to any sort of fighting style. We haven’t been teaching you anything. For good reason! It’s a hard road to take. You don’t have the time or energy “

“You don’t think I’m good enough.” It wasn’t a question this time. It was a realization. And Hope found that it stung a lot more than she thought. “I’m your own daughter and neither one of you believe in me enough. You think that I’m not good enough to be a spy.”

Sydney rolled her eyes. “You sound a lot more confident that you should be. You don‘t even know if you‘re cut out for this life.”

She wanted to scream at them that she was confident because she had known for years she was as good if not better than them. She wanted to yell about how Will had started to train her up to the level of the CIA when she was fourteen. She wanted to scold them for not noticing.

Instead of doing any of that, she stood up and pulled the car keys back out of her pocket. “I need to drive and think some more. I won’t be out late. I promise.”

“Hope. We still need to talk about this.”

“We can when I get home.” With that, she started walking down the driveway. When she made it a few yards away from the porch, she turned back to look at them. “I’ve been living the life of a spy for years. You dragged me from one place to the next since I was a baby. I’ve learned how to keep myself out of the public eye, to keep myself from being noticed. I’ve been a spy without an organization to work for. I don’t see why it’s so dangerous for me to want to put my life experience to such good use.”

“She sounds like a thirty-year-old woman,” Sark observed as Hope started walking away again.

“This prophecy has placed the weight of the world on her shoulders. Of course she sounds mature for her age.”

“That’s now what I meant. She sounds defeated. Almost like she knows life had dealt her a losing hand and there’s nothing she can do to change it.”

Sydney just stared at her daughter as she walked to her car and got in. She had no idea when things had gone so wrong with Hope. They had a good, solid relationship, but she suddenly felt like she really didn’t know who her daughter was at all.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Hope looked in her phone’s memory and hit redial. She took a deep breath as a familiar voice answered. “Hi. I’m going to accept that offer you gave me.”
 
Chapter Nineteen

Tyler took a deep breath and checked his reflection in the rearview mirror. His tie was still straight, and there didn’t seem a hair out of place on his head. He had no idea why his appearance mattered so much to him right now, but it did.

Sighing, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. “Then again, it’s not every day that I graduate to full CIA agent status.”

Three years had passed by quickly since Dixon had given him his break with the agency. He had put in countless hours of meaningless prep work for agents, praying that one day the people in his office would be doing the same for him.

His parents had warned him that there was a good chance he would never make it to full status. He wouldn’t doubt if they had paid off the US government to keep him out of the field. They still weren’t comfortable with what he was going with his life.

He was starting to get really tired of hearing about that stupid prophecy. It was ruling his life still, even though he was convinced it was never going to actually occur. He rubbed his pounding temples gently as he walked through the parking garage and to the elevator that led down to the basement. The last thing he needed was a headache. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, the door beeped and slid open.

Tyler nodded to the woman already inside and turned forward after pressing the ‘B’ button.

“Going to the basement?” she asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” he said without turning around.

“Me, too.” She paused. “Hey! Don’t I know you?”

Tyler turned around and looked the woman over. She was middle-aged, looked pretty fit, had a small scar running along one cheekbone, nice smile, eyes that seemed to be mocking him. And she looked vaguely familiar. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Come on. Do you go to Divello’s Coffee Shop down on Third? I’m there every Wednesday.”

“No,” Tyler answered quickly. He couldn’t figure out why the hell the elevator was taking this long to go down to the basement.

“Are you sure? I know I know you from somewhere.”

Tyler didn’t respond this time. He had enough to be nervous about without having to make polite conversation with some whack-job woman who thought she knew him.

The elevator shifted to a stop, and the woman pushed past him to hit a series of the buttons. Within seconds, the doors slid open. “You have a lot to learn, Tyler, if you couldn’t even recognize me. I made it easy on you.”

He watched in amazement as the woman pulled off her glasses and her hair which turned out to be a blond wig. Bright red hair spilled out. “I know you!” he yelled.

“Told you.” She stuck out her hand for him to shake. “Amy Tippin. I met you six years ago or so. I offered you my help and gave you my number. You never called.”

“You work for the Agency?”

“Where do you think I met your parents?” she said with a laugh. “Marcus sent me up to give you your first test as an agent, and make sure you didn’t set off any alarms before getting down here.” As an afterthought, she added, “You’ll learn the codes for the elevator soon. Pinky swear.”

“Good to know.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t recognize me. I didn’t even ask for makeup to cover up the scar. The Agency said you were ready for this.”

“I am.”

“That will be decided soon enough.”

“Hey, Ame!” yelled a short man from one of the corner offices. He ran out into the hall in a rush.

“Marshall,” Amy said, a grin spilling across her face. She waited for the man to come over to where she stood. “Marshall Flinkman, this is Tyler Vaughn.”

“No,” he hissed, his eyes going wide. “Lauren and Michael’s son?”

“Newest agent of the CIA. Tyler, this is Marshall Flinkman, the best gadget guy you will ever meet. And one hell of a cook, might I add!”

“My parents talked about you a lot,” Tyler said, ignoring the fact that Amy‘s compliment had made Marshall blush profusely. “They used to joke about all the missions you got roped into going on.”

“I’ll have you know that I saved their lives and Syd’s at least ten times.”

“Ixnay on the Ydneysay,” Amy said, grabbing Tyler’s arm and steering him down the hall. “There’s a few things you‘ll find that we are not allowed to discuss. Former agents are one of them.”

“That makes no sense. I know all about my Aunt Sydney.”

She shook her head and chuckled. “Sure you do, slugger.” Amy pushed open a door and shoved Tyler into the conference room. “I got him here in one piece, Dixon. Do I get a gold star?”

Tyler felt a little bit of his nerves disappear when he saw the familiar face of Marcus Dixon staring back at him. Maybe he wouldn’t screw this up completely.

“Tyler. How are you holding up?” Dixon motioned for him and Amy to join him at the table.

“Okay. This is all very intimidating.”

“I know the feeling. Every time I started at a new agency, I couldn’t eat for days.”

“I had breakfast this morning,” he said absentmindedly.

“Stop the polite chatter,” Amy whined. “I want to hear what you’ve cooked up for the kid’s first mission. They sent me to Tangiers for mine. It was crazy. I must have almost died like twenty times within the first hour of being there. And I only had to blow up two buildings to get home safe.”

“Good to know.” Tyler turned to Dixon. “Am I going to die? Because I don‘t know if I signed up for that.”

“No dying on this mission. I assure you,” Dixon said with a laugh. “It’s really tame. We want to make sure you’re field ready, that‘s all.” He slid a folder across the table to Tyler. “Those are your specifics. We need you to infiltrate a facility in London. It’s a current cell of the broke-down K-Directorate that’s been trying to reassemble themselves the past few years.”

“K-Directorate? I thought that the CIA eliminated all threat of their reassembling when they made that stupid mistake of kidnapping that civilian ten years ago.”

“Civilian, my ass!” Amy interrupted with a laugh. She threw her feet up onto the table. “The day that Syd is a civilian is the day that all evil has been eliminated from the world.”

Dixon rolled his eyes. “I wish that you guys would stop divulging national secrets without approval. Especially when they have something to do with a Bristow or Lazarey.”

“Sorry. I keep forgetting that the kid isn’t in the know yet.”

“The kid is sitting right here,” Tyler reminded them.

Amy turned and nodded at him in a slightly patronizing manner. “Forget everything I just said, honey. If you don‘t, they might stick you to a desk with no hope of going on missions. I‘ve seen it happen before. It‘s not pretty for any party involved.”

Tyler’s eyes widened in horror, and he looked at Dixon. “Is she serious?”

“No. Amy, go do that follow-up work on your last mission that you‘ve been avoiding for the past few days.”

“Well, a girl knows when she’s not wanted.” Sighing, she stood up and left the room, throwing a little wave over her shoulder. Tyler heard her muttering something about burning the paperwork instead as the door slammed shut.

Dixon watched as Tyler continued to stare at the closed door long after Amy had left the room. “You’ll get used to her,” he said with a laugh. “Eventually.”

Tyler snapped out of his thoughts and blushed. Why was he so easily distracted lately? “I’m sorry. You were talking about my mission.”

“This splinter cell is desperately trying to find some sort of influence over our government. We think they’re hacking into the files MI-6 has compiled on our current operations. We have to know for sure if the cell has gotten anything they can use against us. That‘s where you come in.”

“Is it going to be hard?” Tyler asked hesitantly. He knew that it was a rookie thing to ask, but he didn’t care. He wanted to know what he was getting into.

“No. You just have to go in posing as a business man. Find a computer terminal. Hack in and see if there’s anything useful. You shouldn’t meet any sort of resistance.”

“What do you mean shouldn’t?”

“This New Directorate, as they taken to calling themselves, has a few good agents that might be at the site when you arrive. If they recognize you as a CIA agent, you might have to fight your way out of the building. That shouldn’t be a problem considering you got one of the highest scores ever on the physical portions of the CIA entrance tests. Higher than your father, might I point out.”

“How come that isn’t quite reassuring enough?”

Dixon laughed. “Relax. It’s typical for a rookie’s first assignment to go off without a hitch. That whole Tangiers assignment with Agent Tippin was a fluke.”

“That really happened?”

“Yeah. She’s a little bit of a legend around here.” He pointed back at the dossier. “Your flight is going to leave for London in a few hours. Use your time before that to familiarize yourself with the people you‘ll be working with in the future. If you get too nervous, go talk to Marshall. He‘s usually good for a laugh and some great gear to take with you on the mission.”

Tyler just stared as Dixon left the room. Things were going way too fast for him already. Maybe his father and mother had been right three years ago when they told him that getting involved in the CIA would be too much for him at the moment.

He really hoped he could do this.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Tyler sat back and watched the device Marshall had given him scan through the files on the computer. His mind kept replaying what Marshall had said about the agents he might encounter.

It seemed that Dixon had been playing down the danger that he was in if one of the New Directorate’s agents found him here. Marshall had explained that the top three agents of this cell had been terrorizing the CIA for three years now.

There was Maverick, who seemed to get happiness from discovering an agent’s identity and then blowing up his house of residence. That was only after he destroyed all the people that the agent cared for. Maverick had a thing for pain.

The second agent, Deathstrike, screwed with the CIA’s computer system in some form on a weekly basis. The glitches she installed had already taken the lives of four dozen agents in the past year.

Finally, there was Black Widow. Marshall had explained that no agent who had ever encountered her could describe what she was like. It seemed like she wiped their memories clean when she was done wiping the walls with their bodies.

To quote Marshall, “if you meet the Black Widow, you’re pretty much dead.”

Tyler closed his eyes and tried to stop thinking about it. He had almost gotten all the potential ways he could die in the next ten minutes out of his head as gunshots started ringing through the halls. Luckily, Marshall’s device also chose that moment to beep an affirmation that his job was done.

He ripped it from its connection and dived under the desk just as the door burst open. There were sounds of a struggle and a few more gunshots before he heard the door slam shut. For the life of him, Tyler could not figure out what the hell was happening.

“s***.”

He took a deep breath and did his best to try to gather information without being able to see what was happening, just like they had taught him in training. The voice sounded like the intruder was about sixteen and definitely somewhere were she was not supposed to be. She sounded frightened.

“My mother is going to kill me if I get bullet holes in her favorite jacket. How the hell am I supposed to get out of this one?”

Okay. Maybe she wasn’t frightened.

Tyler moved an inch in order to see around the desk. There was a woman standing against the closed door, looking rather panicked. Her actions would have made him assume that she was someone who could possibly be on his side or at least be an innocent bystander of the chaos. That is, if only she wasn’t wearing a mask and currently reloading a gun.

Firearms didn’t usually signal allies.

He wondered if there was any way he could sneak out of the room without her knowing. He didn’t even have time to think about a potential escape route when she started talking again. Only this time, she wasn’t talking to herself.

“Before you do something stupid, I want you to know that I’m aware you’re behind that desk. You breathe heavily. Makes me think you‘re nervous. Were you doing something you weren‘t supposed to be?”

He drew the gun out of the holster at his side and stood up. “Who the hell are you? What the hell are you dong here?”

“I could ask the same of you.” The woman ripped off her mask, and long, red hair spilled out. Tyler froze for a moment. She was attractive. And definitely not sixteen.

She gave him a wink. “Hi, Mr. Hottie. I’m Ana. But you can call me Black Widow, for short.”
 
Author’s note: Sorry it took so long! I was busy graduating college! Yay! Hopefully, I can get this story finished over the summer while I’m working for the man. Hopefully, you remember where we left off!

Chapter Twenty

The Black Widow was staring down the barrel of her gun at him, and all Tyler could think was how gorgeous her eyes were and how bright her smile was.

He knew that he should probably be focusing on the fact that she was threatening his life in a way by pointing said gun at him. He knew that he should probably be thinking over the short years he had spent on this earth considering he probably wasn’t going to make it home alive.

He definitely did not need to be wondering who this woman was during the daytime when life wasn’t all secret assignments and espionage.

“This is about the time when you tell me who you are in return, slugger,” she said, breaking into his thoughts. She raised an eyebrow at him when he still didn’t answer. “Anytime would be good. I’m not the most patient person to point a gun at you.”

“Sorry. My name is Tyler.” He was practically cursing his words as they came out of his mouth. Giving her his real name was not the right thing to do. Even a rookie knew that.

“Good.” She lowered her gun. “Now, Tyler, how do you suppose you’re going to get me out of this sticky situation?”

“You’re used to having other people get you out of jams, aren’t you?” he said hesitantly. He really didn’t know what to do with this new development. Enemy agents hadn’t been a part of the mission Dixon had given him. And there had definitely been no talk of pretty enemy agents.

Though come to think of it, he had heard his father mumble a time or two that the ones threatening your life were always pretty. Poetic irony or something equally ridiculous.

“I use the resources I come across,” she said, responding to his question. “Now I ask you again. What are you going to do?

“Why are you so sure I’ll help you? It looks to me like you have the problem and not me.”

She rolled her eyes at him and took a step towards him. “Well, I am pointing a gun at you. As much as I’d like to keep this little exchange pleasant, I could just shoot you in the head.”

The shift in her tone took Tyler by surprise. She might like to banter while on the job, but this agent was definitely tough. He probably should help her before she made good on her threat. Or at least before she asked him who he worked for and what he was doing in this off-limits room in the first place.

Her easiness at finding him in this room hacking into a computer of the organization she worked for willingly was making him nervous. That and the way she was smiling at him even as she threatened to shoot. “Well, Ana, if I knew what sticky situation you got yourself into, maybe I could tell you how I can get us out of this.”

“It seems my employers don’t agree with the choices I’ve been making of late. Guess I’m getting a little too independent for the normal clone agents they have. Not falling into line when they tell me to and all the jazz. They fired me in the usual way of sending a squad of hit men after me.” She opened the door an inch and peered out into the hallway. Turning back to meet his eye, she shrugged. “I didn’t feel like dying today.”

“Me, either,” he admitted. “Which is why I’m not getting involved with you. You’re trouble. With a capital-” She held the gun up at his head again. “-You‘ve-Got-A-Gun-Pointed-At-My-Head.”

“It’s a good form of persuasion, no? Walk.” She pushed him out into the hall. “So, Agent Tyler, how about your employers? Think there might be a job for me? It seems that I find myself unemployed at the moment.”

Tyler gave her a quick once over. That little scrap of cloth she seemed to be calling a dress was definitely illegal in most countries, and the way she was casually scanning the hallways definitely indicated she had been doing this kind of thing for a long time. Too experienced and too dangerous for the CIA. “I don’t think they could handle a girl like you.”

“That’s what my mother and father always used to say.”

“Used to?” He groaned as he realized that his questions were getting too personal. Stupid rookie mistake. Personal could get you killed. Even if she seemed to be an ally of sorts at the moment, he really didn’t want to know anything about her. She could just as easily turn out to be the enemy. She probably would end up shooting him in the head just to keep him quiet about how she escaped.

He suddenly wondered when such a simple rookie mission had gone so wrong.

“Now is not the time to get into my mommy and daddy issues, honey.” She pushed open a door on their right and walked into dark stairway. She punched out the glass of a nearby fire hose case and wrapped it around her arm, tightly. “Now take a deep breath and follow me. It looks like it’s all on my shoulders to get us out of here. Try not to get killed.”

She grabbed his arm and wrapped the cord around it, too, before tucking her gun into the holster on her thigh and clutching to his body. “And try not to get me shot at. This jacket has to get home in one piece.”

The next thing Tyler knew they were flying down at least twenty flights with only a flimsy hose to slow their fall.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Ana was presently surprised by the man currently making an effort to untangle himself from the fire hose. He hadn’t screamed once. Not even when she had yelled that she really wasn’t sure how they were going to stop before hitting the bottom. He had simply braced himself for impact and even went as far to try to take as much of the impact himself as possible.

A gentleman in the world of spies. Will wonders never cease?

Pulling her gun out, she took off at a run, pausing only a moment to call behind her, “You can either follow me or not. It’s up to you.”

She was pleased to hear his footsteps behind her as she pushed open a door and ran into the parking garage attached to the office building.

This Tyler character was really surprising. He was clearly new at the whole spy business, but still, he wasn’t half bad. Maybe she would really have to check out if his organization was hiring. Working along someone as attractive as him wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Almost made her consider decreasing the fee she charged just to make sure she saw him again. Almost. Hey, maybe she could even convince her new boss to make them partners. Yeah, she could think of quite a few ways to work off the adrenaline at the end of a mission if he was her partner.

“s***,” she muttered, realizing she had lost track of where they were going.

“If you’re lost, I think I can help you,” Tyler yelled from beside her. He had caught up to her without her noticing. She really needed to start keeping her head in the game considering they weren’t out of the woods yet.

Her eyes rested on where he was pointing. A rather sporty looking car was parked a few feet from the other standard SUVs and four door coupes.

“That’s my ride,” he informed her.

“You really shouldn’t have told me that,” she said, slowing down and giving the car an appreciative once over. “Can I drive?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not even sure I should be offering you a ride.”

“I just saved your ass back there,” she pointed out. “You owe me one.”

“You had a gun pointed to my head most of the time. I think we’re even.”

“Fine, hunky savior of mine. What do you want as payment for a lift?” She knew that the sarcasm mixed with a sexual undertone would definitely get his blood stirring. It was her secret weapon whenever she got into herself into a bind. By the time he realized that she wasn’t going to give him anything his perverted little mind could imagine, he would be lying on the side of the road unconscious.

“Just get in the car.” He pulled the keys out of his pocket. “And I’m driving because I don‘t want to end up a body lying in the gutter.”

She let out a little laugh. So, she had been right about him being smart. That didn’t surprise her. What surprised her was that he wasn’t going to give in to her come-ons. The way he had been staring at her earlier really made it seem like he was entertaining some indecent thoughts about what exactly they could do once they got to safety.

She could be wrong, which meant that, well, she was just going to have to try a little harder.

“But I’d do anything to drive a car like that.” She stroked the hood of the car slowly and smiled at him. “To feel that power beneath my body. To really open her up on the road. Oh god, I bet this baby has some kick to it when you get it over one-fifty.”

“Hell yeah. But you’re not going to find out. It’s my turn to be in charge.”

“Hey, I gave you the chance, but you had no idea how to get us out of that hallway.” She guessed the debate was over because he ignored her taunt, walked over to the driver’s side, and slid into the car. “Can I at least get the last name of the guy who’s decided to be my knight in shining armor?”

“No way. I shouldn’t have even given you my first.”

“Rookie mistake,” she said once she had joined him in the front seat.

“That obvious?”

“Only slightly. You’re pretty good for a rookie.” She took a moment to enjoy the feeling of acceleration as Tyler eased them out of the parking garage and into the light of day. “So, why the hell are you giving me this ride?”

“The same reason you didn’t shoot me in the head.” He chanced a glance in her direction, and she knew he caught sight of the blush on her face. “I really don’t understand why you didn’t. Because, rookie or not, it’s what I would have done if I was in your place. An enemy agent is an enemy agent.”

“Some enemy agents aren’t always enemies. They can turn out to be a hell of a lot more,” she said absentmindedly. When he gave her a funny look, she realized that she might have let herself get a little too personal there. He didn’t need to know her whole life history. “An enemy’s enemy is your friend. This whole world is twisted, kid.”

“Why do you keep calling me kid? I bet I’m older than you.”

She shrugged. “Years versus experience. It’s the age old question. I’m a much better agent than you, but I’m willing to bet that I’m younger.”

“How young is younger?”

She paused, wondering if she should be talking so openly with this guy. She didn’t even know who he worked for. He could be CIA or something. That would not be good on so many levels. “I’m legal. That’s all you need to know.”

“Legal to what? Drink? Drive? Vote?”

“Legal enough to do whatever perverted felgercarb you’ve been fantasizing about since I burst into your little op.” He smirked at her words, and she was happy to see that she had been right. He had been staring at her before. “Not even going to deny it?”

“You have to expect it when you dress like that.”

“s***. I forgot about this ridiculous excuse for a dress.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do they make the women you work with wear these barely-there outfits, too? Because it gets demeaning after a while.”

“Yeah, they do. We live in a chauvinist world, Ana.”

“Damn straight.”

“You‘re just going to have to deal with it.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Money’s money no matter what they make me wear.” She looked out the window a moment before turning back to stare at him. “So, you’re not taking me into custody or anything silly like that, are you? Because I‘d like fair warning if I have to make a run for it.”

“I should do something like that, but then you might go back to threatening to shoot me in the head. I don’t think you’d like that, and I know I definitely wouldn’t like that. So I figured I would just drop you at the nearest Metro station. You seem resourceful enough to take it from there.”

“Good plan. The only problem is we’ve passed at least two or three already.”

“We were having some pleasant conversation. I didn’t want to interrupt by kicking you out of the car you were dying to ride in a few minutes earlier.”

“Thank you, but I was only dying to drive it. I‘ve ridden in cars like this since I was a toddler. My dad--” She shook her head. “Never mind. There’s another metro station up ahead. Pull over.”

She felt both relief and agitation when he did as she asked. Granted, it meant he was letting her little slip of the tongue go by without question, but he was also eliminating her slowly increasing suspicion that he just wanted to take advantage of her in the back of his car now that she had gotten him out of the line of fire in his assignment. He really had meant to take her to a metro station.

What a pity. She could have used a little fun.

“Hope you enjoyed the ride even though I wasn’t stupid enough to let you drive,” he said as he pulled the car to a stop.

Choosing not to respond to the reemergence of the driving/riding topic, she simply turned to him and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled even though he made no move to stop her.

Okay, maybe a little fun might still be an option. Too bad she had already killed her mood with that stupid driving comment.

“I can’t walk around London in this dress. At least, not unless I want to be mistaken as a prostitute by every pervert and cop out there. I need your shirt to cover up.”

“That’s great for you, but how the hell am I supposed to explain why I lost my shirt on my mission? I‘ll be labeled as the rookie who couldn‘t even keep his clothes on during a simple snatch and grab.”

“Tell them the truth. A rather attractive woman asked for it, and you couldn’t refuse. You seem as chivalrous as they come. They’ll believe you.” She pulled the shirt down off his arms.

“You’re just lucky that I’m wearing an undershirt.”

“And a bullet proof vest! You really are a Boy Scout, aren’t you?”

“Always be prepared.”

She pulled the shirt on and buttoned it up before exiting the car. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime.”

She gave him her best sexy smirk before making her way to the metro station in front of them. It was weird how comfortable she was with this total stranger. She had never really been able to relate to any of the other agents she worked with. It seemed from the way he had acted that it was the same for him.

Which was why she wasn’t surprised to hear him calling her name. However, she was pleasantly surprised to realize that his voice seemed to be giving her goosebumps in all the right places. Maybe her playful mood hadn’t completely disappeared. Fun still might be had by all.

“Yes?” she said, turning to smile at him again.

“You forgot your jacket,” he said, holding the article in question out the window at her.

She laughed and made her way back to the car. “Wouldn’t want to do that.”

“No. Your mother would probably be mad.”

Still smirking, she grabbed the jacket out of his hand. “You heard that, did you?”

“I heard all of what you said. I was trying to catalogue every bit of information you volunteered in a search for any weak spot in your armor.”

“Any luck?”

“None so far.”

“I think you’re stalling, Tyler,” she pointed out, narrowing her eyes at him in playful suspicion.

“I think I might be.”

She rolled her eyes and leaned in on the open window. “Let me give you a little advice before we part ways. The whole knight in shining armor business looks really great on paper, but you kind of miss out on all the fun.”

Laughing, she waved goodbye to him as she made her way down the stairs to catch the next train. She really hoped that the next time she saw him in the field, he was a little less uptight. A guy who looked like that could be just what she needed to keep this game interesting.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Ana let herself into the rather spacious house she had been calling home for the past few years and threw her keys on a nearby table. Her bags were thrown into a corner. The slightly-beaten up jacket she had been so concerned about earlier was deposited on a chair as she made her way to the kitchen. Missions always made her hungry. There really hadn’t been time to grab food on her way home.

She had been late catching her flight because her temper and pride seemed to get the best of her again. She couldn’t just let that stupid agency think they could walk all over her. Plus, that building was getting rather run down. Her returning the day after they had tried to kill her in order to set those explosives was practically doing them a favor. She had cleaned up the mess she had made the day before, and now it can be rebuilt from scratch.

Sighing, she grabbed a half-eaten sandwich out of the refrigerator and took a seat at the counter. A good explosion also made her hungry. That might explain why she felt like she hadn’t eaten in a month.

Turning back to her thoughts, she tackled the other reason why she had made such a rash decision which could have brought unwanted attention her way. She couldn’t let the spy agencies out there that she worked with think that they had the upper hand. She was the best there was in the field, and she didn’t want to be grouped with those sissy agents who couldn’t even take a proper punch. So many people assumed that she worked for the CIA because of her accent, but she wanted to make it clear that was not the case. She was better than that.

It was slightly ironic, considering the first mission she ever went on she had thought was with the CIA. Within minutes, she had realized she was wrong, but she finished the job anyway. She hadn’t been in it for the protection of state. She had been in it for the thrill of the hunt.

And so began her wonderful career of covert freelance work.

The door slammed shut, breaking into her thoughts before she could travel farther down memory lane.

“Hi, honey,” yelled a man’s voice from the front hall. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the kitchen,” she called back. “Sorry I didn’t clean up my stuff. I just got back from my trip to Dallas.”

When there was no immediate response, she realized the stupid mistake she had made when she came in. Her realization took place at the same moment her mother’s voice rang through the house.

“Hope Anastasia Lazarey! What the hell did you do to my favorite jacket?”

She cringed and turned to watch the sun set in the Los Angeles horizon. “It’s going to be a long night.”
 
eek! u can't leave us hanging like that... :eek:
soz i havent reviewed in ages.............i hate school sometimes

excellent update=> :D
“Your mother’s going to be mad if I don’t yell at you for a bit, Hope.”
:lol:

“That was the crappiest yelling I have ever heard, darling.”
hehe.....the infamous mr. sark can't give a yelling :P

thanx for the pm's

btw, congrats for graduating! :cheers:
 
Chapter Twenty-One

Hope found her father sitting on the couch in their living room surrounded by paperwork. It had taken her all day to get him cornered alone. She had never noticed how much time he spent with her mother until she wanted to have a private discussion with him. There were some things that you knew your father, unlike your mother, would not pick up on. “What are you working on?”

Sark looked up to smile at her. “Work stuff.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously! Anything you can tell me about? I beat I would have a fresh outlook on it.”

“Not really.”

“Am I still going to die in a fight to the death?” She tried her best to peak at the papers in his hands, but he pulled them away with a glare.

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “It’s a harsh life for me.”

Sark laughed as he pushed some of the papers discretely out of the way so that she could sit beside him. “Sydney would kill us if she heard us joking about that prophecy. She still frets about it day in and day out.”

“You have to make light of the hard things in life.”

“When did you get so wise?”

“Always been.”

Sark grabbed a pile of papers and a highlighter. “These are safe for your young eyes. Start going. I need any mention of Project: Nitro highlighted.”

“Cheap child labor. I see how it is.”

“Exactly.”

“And I don’t even get to read the good stuff.”

“No way. Now what is it you wanted to talk about? Because I know you don’t just show up like this unless you have something you want to ask.”

She figured there was no real way to ease into what she wanted to know. Plus her father might appreciate her coming right out and asking. And if she did that, he definitely wouldn’t figure out the real reason she was asking. “I just wanted to know how you managed to have a relationship with an agent from the other side.”

No matter how oblivious he might be, Sark still gave her a funny look. “That was random.”

“I just don’t see how it was possible.”

“Have you become an agent and fallen in love with someone from the other side?” he teased.

She shook her head and hoped he hadn’t noticed if she had blushed slightly. There were just some things you really couldn’t tell your dad. Especially when he was a spy for the U.S. government. “I was just curious.”

“It was hard. And I did have to give up a lot of my old ways. But your mother was worth it. And I’ve never regretted it.”

“But how do you bridge that topic with someone? Did you say something like I know you and I aren’t on the same side but I’d be willing to change my whole life for you because you’re just that good-looking?”

“There was more to it than my physical attraction to her,” he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes. This conversation was not going the way she wanted it to. “Whatever.”

Sark reached over where she sat and grabbed a few files. “Besides, I didn’t pursue Sydney.”

“You didn’t?”

“Believe it or not, she pursued me, kid.”

“But she was on the side of the good, fighting those that had crossed over to the dark side.”

“Like me?” he said laughingly before resounding. “And she wasn’t going to let them dictate her life. She’s strong-willed that way. She decided that she wanted me and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“So she was willing to give up her life for you?”

“Yes. But I didn’t let her. It would have bothered me every day if I had known she gave up everything she loved just for me.”

“Was that because you knew that she was working for a group that was bettering the world?”

“Mostly. Your mother had gotten in with the right crowd, it seemed.” He shook his head. “We just ignore that whole SD-6 phase of her life.”

“For good reason,” Hope agreed. She finished highlighting the last page of the group of papers she had been given. “So, let me get this straight. You think it’s all right to change your life for someone you love as long as you know that you’re not compromising who you are and that you’re not making them give up something that is right for them.”

“Um. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t being that profound, but sure. That’s exactly what I was saying.” He took the papers back from her. “Did that help?”

“Sort of.” She shrugged and stood up. “Now I have to go. I think my job with the bank is going to end soon. I don’t want to be unemployed.”

“If only you were combat-certified, I’d get you a job with the CIA.”

“Now that Mom would really kill you for.” She winked at her father before leaving him to his work.

Just as she reached the door, he called out her name. “Have you given any more thought to applying to college? You graduated high school over a year ago. Now that your job with the bank might be done with, maybe it’s time. I hear UCLA has a good business program.”

She gave him a small smile. “We’ll see, Dad.”

The door clicked softly as it shut behind Hope. Her father’s words had actually helped her a lot more than she had let on. Somehow she was going to have to figure out how to start doing more freelance work for whomever this Tyler character was working for. Hopefully that wouldn’t make the world a worse place to live in.

Though something in her gut told her that this whole thing was going to go horribly wrong somehow.

“First you have to figure out how you can see him again,” she whispered to herself. “Which also means that you need to figure out who the hell this guy is and if his name really is Tyler.”

This research thing was going to take forever.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Tyler sat staring blankly at the computer screen listing name after name as he had been for the past hour or so. There was tons of paperwork to be doing for his first mission to England, but every time he tried to work on them, he ended up daydreaming about the Black Widow. Eventually, he just gave up trying to pretend like he was doing work.

He really wished that he knew more about this Ana character. Like who she really was and how she got a job with such a shady organization when she didn’t seem like all that bad a person. And if she had a boyfriend.

Okay. He had no idea where that came from.

“Who are you thinking about?”

Amy’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts abruptly. She was standing next to his desk with a rather amused look on her face. He hoped that he had contained the majority of his blush from her inquiring eyes. “I was just doing my work, Amy. You know, all that fun paperwork Dixon likes to encourage us to do.”

“Yeah right,” she said with a laugh, perching on the corner of his desk. “Paperwork, my ass, kid. So tell me. What really went down on that rookie mission of yours? Office gossip has not been as reliable as normal for me, and you’ve been staring off into space since you got back to the office. In the CIA rulebook, that means something happened.”

“It was a really hard mission. My first one in case you forgot.”

She smirked at him. “Come on, honey. You can tell your Auntie Amy what really went on. Haven’t you heard? I’m the cool agent in this division. Did you ever hear about the time I had an elicit affair with the Prime Minister of England just to make sure that US-England ties stayed strong? The things I do for my country.”

“You’re full of felgercarb.”

“Yeah, I am. Should have known that one wouldn’t have worked.”

“You’re a married woman.”

“I always forget.”

“So I think I have a crush on an enemy agent.”

Tyler almost laughed at how shocked she looked. “Say what?”

“Black Widow. She’s an operative of the New Directorate. Or at least she used to be. I ran into them trying to assassinate her for attempting to quit while I was on my mission. I helped her get out. Or rather she helped me get out and I gave her a lift to the nearest Tube station.”

“If I had known a little joke about my illustrious spy career would get you talking, I’d have done it sooner.”

“Well, I guess I just realized that if I could tell anyone, it would be you. You told me that I could come to you with anything and everything that day you broke into my UCLA dorm room.”

“I did. And you can. So, who is this Black Widow?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know more than her name is Ana. Or least she told me her name was Ana. I don’t really know where to begin looking for more.” He pushed his head into his hands and closed his eyes. This was starting to give him a headache.

Amy sighed. “You said that she was working for the New Directorate?”

“Up until a few days ago, yeah.”

“Then your best bet would be talking to Prisoner 847 down in Cell Block C.”

“Prisoner 847?”

Amy leaned over closer to him. “Don’t let Dixon I told you this because it was supposed to be confidential. But then what is really confidential around here, right?”

“Your point, Amy. Your point.”

“Nadia Santos is Prisoner 847.”

“Aunt Syd’s sister? When did she get taken into custody?”

“About five years ago or so. She kidnapped Sydney. That is what’s known as a major spy world faux pas. The only reason Julian Lazarey did not kill her was because of her connection to Sydney.”

“But how did she make it to CIA custody? Sydney’s no longer affiliated with us.”

“Well, that’s the thing. Syd is kind of still involved with the CIA. We have a black ops division.”

“I knew it!”

“You cannot tell anyone about it. The only reason I know is because my husband and brother are both a part of it.”

“Noah and Will?”

“Yeah. There are five agents only doing the most dangerous, shady work that CIA has. Noah, Will, Sydney, Sark, and an ex-K-Directorate agent, Anna Espinosa.”

“She’s a legend.”

“Yeah. Irina was pretty found of the work she did back in the day, and Sark was always fond of her.”

“She’s the enemy, but she’s respected. I think the CIA has issues.”

“Don’t dwell on this new information. Focus on your goal, kid. You want to learn more about an agent of the New Directorate? Ask Nadia Santos.”

“Why would she be so helpful?”

“Because the CIA has suspected her of running the New Directorate while she’s in our custody.”

“She’s running an enemy agency while being in US custody? That’s ridiculous.”

“The ridiculous has become normal for us.”

Tyler nodded in agreement and leaned back in his chair. “So how do I get to see Nadia? I know for a fact any prisoner over a 700 designation is authorized personnel only.”

“Well, it involves a little stealth and one well-made roast beef sandwich. But I think we have both of those covered.”

“We?”

Amy laughed. “I’m helping you out with this one, kiddo. You need an expert to get in to see Nadia.” Giving one last laugh, Amy walked away to start getting the necessary actions into motion.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Nadia Santos,” Tyler said, leaning against the white, unbreakable Plexiglas window that held the prisoner in captivity. He hoped that he sounded brave and not a little bit intimidated. Because he was. Intimidated. And scared, to be completely honest.

“Mr. Vaughn. You look exactly like your father.”

“I get that a lot.”

“What brings you here to see me?”

“I want information on one of your agents. The Black Widow.”

“One of my agents? The Covenant has been hanging in limbo since I got locked up in this cell.”

“Since you kidnapped your own sister, you mean.” She just shrugged and continued to star at him intently. “You don’t have to lie to me. The CIA is well aware that you have been running The New Directorate even though you are in our custody. We just didn’t let on because we weren’t sure how you were doing.”

“And now you do?”

“And now I don’t care if the CIA ever learns how. I want the information.”

“Why is it so important to you?”

“Why does it seem you’re only physically capable of asking me questions?”

Nadia chuckled. “You are a lot less stoic than your father. It must be your mother’s influence on you. You know she would have made a fine agent if only your father hadn’t had such a strong influence on her.”

“We are not discussing my family.”

“Fine. What do you want to know about the Black Widow?”

“Who is she?”

“She’s the best agent in the world right now. I have never seen anyone who can fight as well as she could. Not even my sister or mother. She’s lethal even if she has nothing to fight with but her hands and she’s tied to a chair. It’s like watching a ballet to see her go to work.”

“I agree,” Tyler said absentmindedly.

“So you’ve seen her in action? Good.”

“Good why?”

“Good because I think you two could work well together.”

“Yeah. Tell me how to find her and I’ll get right on that. Word on the street is she’s looking for new employment now that you’ve tried to kill her for leaving your agency.”

“Damnit!” Nadia said, standing up abruptly and punching the brick wall. “Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!”

“Something wrong?”

“I could kill Weiss. He’s always making these damn decisions without consulting me.”

Tyler’s heart dropped out at the mention of Weiss’s name. “Weiss as in Eric Weiss? As in the man stuck in Cell Block B under heavy CIA protection because he tried to kidnapped me when I was young? As in the man who tried to take out half the CIA agency?”

“As in the man helping me run my operations. He’s really talented, you know. Another agent that was just wasted within the CIA.”

“So, Weiss tried to have her killed?”

“He has negative feelings towards her that date back a long time. Sometimes he goes a little overboard.”

“Is there any prisoner in our custody who is actually a prisoner?” Tyler demanded.

“I mock the CIA for its inefficiency because that is what it is. So, have I answered your question? Because if we’re done, I would really appreciate you leaving so that I can do my yoga. I can’t concentrate if I’m being watched.”

“No. I want more information on Ana.”

“It’s Ana now? You two did get awful close really fast.”

“What is her last name?”

“Santos. She’s my daughter.”
 
Chapter Twenty-Two

Hope groaned as she slapped her cell phone closed. She had no clue why, but her boss from the New Directorate wanted to keep her in their employment. The whole attempted assassination thing was a mix-up, or so she was told. Some stupid guy who had some vendetta against her.

Personally, she didn’t care if that was the truth or not. She just wanted out.

It still bugged her slightly that she wasn’t sure she was working for the people she should. She had known rather quickly that she wasn’t working for the CIA in those early days, but she still hadn’t quite figured out the impact of the missions she was paid to do. However, she eventually started tohear about the repercussions of the things she had done. The gossip didn’t bode well for her.

And yet she couldn’t give it up. If she did, her only option would be to join the CIA. Her parents would still never agree to that. Hell, her parents still didn’t even know she was a spy, let alone a spy working for the people they were trying to apprehend on a daily basis.

She had no clue how she had hid her other life from them for so long. They knew the Black Widow existed. In fact, a few times she had run in to them in the field. Once they had even been sent after her to apprehend the greatest spy in the world which she was quickly becoming.

Luckily, she had had some advance warning, considering her father was positively glowing about getting such a good assignment for days before they actually had to track down and capture the Black Widow.

She had let them hunt her down. Let them almost feel her in their grasp.

And then she had just disappeared.

She hated to be the one to cause her parents to have a failed mission, but she really didn’t want to have that conversation with them about why she was the Black Widow. They would probably blame themselves for raising her in such a fragile world.

That stupid prophecy was still controlling her life. She hated it.

Her mind ran through the little she knew about her possible death. She and her parents had made a pact not to discuss it unless absolutely necessary a few years back. That had made their lives a little less stressful. But the downside was she couldn’t ask her parents questions about it.

That wasn’t good seeing as how she was beginning to forget critical pieces of information that she should probably remember.

She couldn’t explain to them that when she started working for the New Directorate they had given her a small implant in the back of her neck that would systematically block out memories that interfered with her performance. And by given, she meant being knocked unconscious only to wake up to a throbbing in her head and a new scar to display.

Turns out the idea of her predicted demise was making her hesitate at critical moments. So it was blocked out.

And she was operating in the field almost completely blind.

She didn’t even remember the name of the person she was supposed to fight. Which made her treat every single person she came into contact with an enemy and potential killer.

There was no easy way to make friends when you think they’re going to kill you at every turn. So that’s why she had stuck mainly to her family and the small group of people who had been around to insure she was raised in safety. If she didn’t remember someone from before she started working with the New Directorate, she didn’t let them in. She couldn’t let them close.

Cursing softly about how much her life sucked, she made her way into the grocery store that was down the street from the little house she called a home when she wasn’t staying with her parents. Sydney and Sark hadn’t been happy when she demanded a little freedom, but they had allowed her to find this place she now called home. She spent the majority of her “work week” there due to its close proximity to the bank she had an imaginary job at.

During the weekends that she was not called away on a business trip, she returned to the small house in the hills of California that her parents had called home for a few years now. It was comforting to have the opportunity to give up the façade of hardened spy and to be able to just trust the people around her. To know that they were not going to cause her harm.

She shook her head as she browsed the cereal aisle. She had no idea when she had gotten so deep in the spy world. One day she was going out on her first solo mission, and the next she had a brain implant and was fighting attempted assassinations. If she could only tell her mother what her life was like in order that they might compare. It would be fun to see if Hope beat the great Sydney Bristow in the bizarre department.

Grabbing a box of the most sugary cereal she could find, she turned to make her way to the next aisle. At least she would have left the aisle if she hadn’t ran headfirst into the man standing behind her. “I’m sorry,” she said, picking up the box she had dropped.

When the man didn’t extend the same courtesy, she finally looked up at him. “Tyler.”

“Hi, Ana. Fancy meeting you here.”

His voice sounded cold, which surprised her. The last time they had talked, he had been all out flirting and joking with her. “I do eat, you know,” she said, waving her cereal in front of his face. “So it shouldn’t be that big a surprise to find me purchasing food.”

“You’re right. Even evil spies have to eat.”

“Ouch,” she said, grimacing. “Your words wound me, and I don’t even know why.”

“I did a little research into who you were. You have some surprising connections to my life.”

She rolled her eyes. “Imagine that.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I have connections to practically every active spy. It runs in my family.”

“A family of spies,” he said. “I did find that out.”

“We do what we’re good at. Now if you excuse me, the frozen foods are calling my name. I can’t get enough of those mini pizzas.”

She pushed her way past Tyler and walked down the aisle, making it all the way to the end before turning back to look at him. She was happy to realize that he was still watching her. Not knowing whether or not she wanted to get into this with a CIA agent, she opened her mouth to say something but then promptly changed her mind and shut it. This occurred at least three or four times in rapid succession without her making a definite decision on whether or not she should let this Tyler character have it.

“Is there something you wanted to say?” he asked her, smugly, obviously pleased at what his cold words had done to throw her off.

“I was just curious as to why the hell you are being such an ass to me. What did I ever do to you?”

“You didn’t tell me about your connection to Nadia Santos.”

“You didn’t tell me that my personal information would cause you to be a dick. We both held things back.” She stomped over to stand in front of him and poked his chest hard with her right hand. “Why the hell do you care, anyway? We’ve only met once.”

“And you almost got me killed.”

“You did just fine. You’re above the normal caliber of CIA agents.”

“Are you trying to get me to come to your side?” He suddenly gasped in a mock of some sudden realization. “Oh wait. That’s right. You don’t still work for them, do you? You don’t even have a side anymore. Makes it a little harder to figure out if you’re a good guy or a bad guy when you wake up in the morning.”

“Actually, I do still work for them, so I guess that makes me a bad guy. At least in your eyes, apparently. Not that it matters, but the only reason I’m still employed by the N.D. is I seem to be under a contract I can’t quite get out of. Why? You thinking about switching sides? Want to know if the benefits package is good?”

“No. I kind of like working to make the world a safer place. To each their own, I guess.”

Hope growled softly before turning on heel and yelling back over her shoulder. “I don’t take abuse from people like you normally.”

“And who do you suppose a person like me is? Since you really seem to want to throw me into a stereotype,” he said as he ran after her.

“A stuck-up CIA agent who can’t understand that maybe there are reasons why I’m doing what I’m doing. You didn’t even give me a chance to explain. You just assume.”

“Then give me a chance,” he said.

Her heart skipped a little beat at the small smirk he gave her. She didn’t know a look like that could be so sexy. “You want a chance to do what?”

“Take you out to dinner.”

She shook her head. “I thought you were the good agent. Good agents don’t ask out bad agents.”

“This one does.” His eyes scanned the freezer they were standing in front of until they obviously hit whatever it was he had been looking for. Reaching into the cold, he continued to talk. “I’ll have you know that bad agents usually say yes when they get propositioned.”

“And you want me to be a bad agent, don’t you, Tyler?”

“Yeah. It makes things a little more exciting.”

She laughed loudly. “You are definitely not the typical CIA agent.”

“I take after my father. He didn’t really like to follow the typical expectations that the CIA set.”

“Guess I’m not the only one to have a spy family then.”

“No. It’s highly common these days. So? What do you say?”

“My daddy told me to never go on dates with strangers. And Mr. Secret Agent Man, I don’t even known your last name.”

“It’s Vaughn.”

The name made her do a double take, but she had no idea why. Hesitantly, she said, “Tyler Vaughn. That has a familiar ring to it.”

“You’ve probably heard my name from your mother.”

She tried to focus but felt the familiar buzz at the back of her neck. Something was being blocked out again. Damnit. She really hated this stupid spy job.

But on the bright side, all she had was a chip in her head. At least she hadn’t been abducted for two years and declared legally dead only to return to life to find that everyone has moved on including the man she thought she would love for the rest of her life.

“So? How about giving me a chance to ask for that explanation?”

His words pulled her out of her thoughts on what her mother had gone through in her early days of being a spy. This guy was serious. He really wanted to throw caution to the wind.

That little notion made her eyes sparkle. She had no idea why, but talking to this guy made her happy in a way she hadn‘t been for a long, long while. Which is why she found herself, against her better judgment, saying, “All right. I’ll do it.”

“Good.” He tossed her the box and began to back his way out of the aisle. “Meet me at Trattoria de Nardi.”

Hope stiffened at the mention of one of her mother’s favorite restaurants. Now that was a strange coincidence if she had ever lived one. “But that’s in Rome.”

“Yeah. You’re resourceful, though. Figure out a way to get there. I‘ll be waiting for you at ten o‘clock Italian time.”

She shook her head as he disappeared around the corner without another word. This was definitely not where she thought this little encounter would end up. After all, he had been so cold and mean to her when they first bumped into each other. She still had no idea what that had been all about.

Something told her it had to do with her Aunt. Her mother had never really talked about Nadia Santos and what had caused her sister to do such mean, heartless things to Hope’s family. It was a sore spot that they all chose to ignore.

But obviously it was important enough to get a man who obviously was intrigued by her to want to hurt her with his cool words and hidden meanings. She would have to try to get more information on her aunt before her date.

Before her date. Now that was just weird. She didn’t think she would get over the fact that she had said yes, but at least she felt the shock of having accepted a date with a CIA agent begin to slowly fade away. It was as this occurred when she realized that she still had the box he had tossed her in her hands, and it was beginning to drip.

“Pineapple and bacon mini pizzas.” She let out a surprised laugh as she read the box. “Now how the hell did he know this was my favorite?”
 
Chapter Twenty-Three

Hope shut her umbrella and handed it to the maitre d’ almost automatically. She suddenly realized she was standing in the doorway of the best restaurant this side of Italy going on her first date in over a year. She found herself wondering what she had gotten herself into. She could see Tyler sitting at a table, looking impatient and nervous at the same time. He obviously hadn’t expected her to show up.

That was pretty smart considering ten minutes earlier she hadn’t even been sure herself.

Hell. She still wasn’t sure.

Almost on cue, he looked up and saw her. “Ana!”

She gave a small smile and ignored the small voice in the back of her head pointing out how hard it would be to start having feelings for a man who doesn’t even known her real name. “You look nervous.”

“I wasn’t sure you were actually going to show up. And then when I had convinced myself that you would, I was sure that you were going to be showing up just to take me hostage or something.”

“You never know where the night will lead us,” she said with a wink.

He stood up and pulled her chair out for her. When she had sat down, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “By the way, you look beautiful.”

“You would have liked it better if I had worn one of my little mini-dresses I save for missions, though. Admit it.”

He shook his head. “Not every guy loves a scantily-clad woman.”

“You prefer…”

“My women with clothes on their body.”

She nodded as the waiter came over and put an end to their opening banter. Tyler began to order drinks for them in Italian, and even though she knew he was probably required to speak multiple languages by the CIA, she had to admit he was impressed.

“You sound like a native,” she whispered as soon as the waiter was out of earshot.

“My family always stopped over in Rome when we made the trip to see my mother’s family in England.”

“Family in England? That must be nice. I always wanted to live in England when I was little.”

“And where did you live?”

“Here and there. Everywhere actually.” She let out a laugh as she remembered how much she had hated to move. “As my mother would say, there were extenuating circumstances.”

She saw Tyler flinch at her casual mention of her mother. It didn’t make sense. He worked for the CIA. Sydney Bristow was a legend and a hero around those parts. He should be gushing about the fact that he was on a date with the prodigal daughter of such a woman.

Maybe it was her father that made him so concerned. She frowned slightly at the idea of having to defend her father. Anyone that knew him knew that he was a good man. She had gotten tired of defending him to all those who didn’t know.

“Ana.” Tyler’s voice cut into her thoughts.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“I was telling you about the little town outside London that my mother grew up in. I thought you would find it interesting.”

“I would.” She smiled. “I do. I’m sorry.”

“No problem.”

The conversation lapsed into an only partially uncomfortable silence as the waiter brought over a bottle of wine. Hope noticed that it was definitely a rather expensive vintage. She had gotten her love of wine from her father. That love would probably grow in a year or two when she could actually legally drink. But that wasn’t something she was about to mention to the man sitting across from her.

“I have a question,” Hope said after the waiter had left. “If your mother’s family was in England, why did you always make a pit stop in Italy? It seems like it would be out of the way.”

He smiled at her. “I didn’t always live in the States. I spent most of my life living in Fiji.”

“Fiji? Like the island?”

“Yes. The beautiful tropical paradise.”

She shook her head and grinned. “There’s so much I don’t know about you, Tyler Vaughn.”

“Is that necessarily a bad thing?”

“In our line of work, yes. We shouldn’t even be out in public with one another unless we knew that it wouldn’t hurt us somewhere in the end.”

“Considering we’re both aware that we’re on opposite sides, I think we already know that this is going to hurt somewhere down the line.”

“You don’t mind?” she asked.

“Do you?”

Hope simply leaned back in her chair and stared at him. Again, the waiter came over to interrupt them for getting into the areas of their lives that were probably better left alone. They both knew that what they were doing was not the smartest thing. But it seemed like it was hard to remember most of the time.

“So how’d you get away from work?” Tyler asked.

“You know evil agencies. They’re not really that strict.” She smirked. “I actually called in sick.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah. Turns out I have a really good vacation package. Plus they’re lost without me. Have to keep the talent happy.”

He chuckled. “I cannot believe we’re actually talking about this.”

“Why not? My life is an open book. To an extent, that is. I don’t want have to get into any of those grey areas and then have to kill you. I just had this dress dry cleaned.”

“I’m glad you did.”

He reached out and grasped her hand across the table. For a second, she let him. She let herself forget who she was and all the baggage being Hope Lazarey brought to her life. She forgot that he was CIA and she was… not. She forgot that she still didn’t know him. That she should be wary of him. That she shouldn’t be so dangerously comfortable around him.

But then the warnings her father and mother had given her all her life sounded in her head and she remembered the danger she was putting Tyler Vaughn in just by talking to him. Ignoring his hurt look at her sudden decision to pull away, she asked him, “What are we playing at? This can’t be happening. It‘s not safe for either one of us. No matter how much we ignore it, we can never really let each other know who we are. And neither one of us is stupid enough to give up our lives to let this continue. So we might as well just save ourselves the trouble and pain.”

Before he had a chance to respond, she gave him a small smile, stood up, and began to make her way to the door.

“felgercarb,” he muttered as he stood up to race after her. He knew this was going to be hard, but really, he had thought the hard part would be getting her to show up in Rome. He hadn’t known it would be this hard to get her to stay with him.

He caught her right as she was about to step outside into the pouring rain. Grasping her arm, he spun her back to face him. “Don’t I have a say in this?”

“No.” She glanced down at where he held her arm and then shot him a glare. “If you don’t let me go, I’m going to show you what a big mistake bruising me can be.”

The thought that he might be actually hurting her made him let go immediately and take a step back.

“Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“You’re not excused,” he said, slipping around her and blocking her getaway route. “I don’t want you to leave until you tell me why you’re so scared.”

“I’m not scared,” she growled, crossing her arms in front of her. “I’m pissed off and annoyed.”

“Oh, I agree. You are definitely pissed off and annoyed right now. But you’re also scared of something. I want to know what.”

“I’m scared that you have a team of CIA agents outside waiting for the signal to swoop in and destroy my life.”

“That’s bulls***.” He was happy to see her mouth drop open in surprise at both his words and his harsh tone. “You’re trying to say what you think I want to hear. But that isn’t it. I just want the truth. Can you tell me the truth?”

She bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling, trying her best not to start crying. No one had seen through the walls she had put up over the past few years. No one had ever been able to pick up on the fact that she was hiding so many things let alone that it was tearing her up inside.

No one but this CIA agent.

“I’m scared that you’re going to realize the mistake you’re making and that you’re going to walk out of this. I’m scared that when you figure out the kind of work I really do, things that I’m not proud of, you’re not going to stick around to let me explain.” She rubbed the tears away as quick as they could fall. “But mostly I’m scared that if I actually start to let you in, you’ll go running from me screaming when you figure out how truly screwed up I am.”

He shook his head and walked over to pull her into his arms. “I’m not going anywhere, Ana. You don’t have to worry. Our situation might not be the most ideal, but it’s what we’ve both chosen. We both showed up on this date, knowing that there really isn’t any logical reason why. It’s our problem, and we can bear the burden of it together.”

After Hope had calmed down a little, Tyler led her over to the bar. He ordered two glasses of bourbon. “I think we need to move to the hard stuff if we’re going to get through tonight.”

She laughed. “I think you’re right.”

He held his glass up to hers in a toast. “Is there anything else you want to tell me about before we go back to our table?”

“Yes. I’m also scared that my mother is going to find out what I really do for a living. She doesn’t know that I’m a spy.”

“Actually she does. I talked to her at work the other day. She knows what you’ve been up to.”

“You sound as if she was happy with it.”

“She is. She told me so herself.”

Hope shook her head. There was no way her mother was cool with her being a spy, especially for a shady organization like the New Directorate. It made no sense. “I don’t care what you say. I want you to promise me that you won’t talk about me to her. You can’t mention what I do or that you’re even seeing me at all.”

He held up his hand. “I promise. I won’t say a word to your mother about you. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

“Good.” Hope held her hand up and ordered another round. “Is there anything you want to tell me in return for all my confessions? Any deep dark secrets you‘re dying to tell someone?”

He shook his head. “My life is pretty tame. You could find out pretty much of all of it if you just did a little research.”

“I hate research. Tell me something that will save me some time. Make it interesting.”

Tyler thought for a moment before turning to her. “I grew up with your cousin.”

“I didn’t know I had a cousin,” Hope said.

“I doubt she knew that she had one, either. She lived a rather sheltered life because of who her mother was.”

Hope’s mind flashed to the little memory she had of her Aunt Nadia. If Nadia had actually had a child, then she probably would be overprotective and keep her locked away from the world. Of course, she would be molding her into some super evil spy. But she would also be sheltering her from the rest of the world.

“So you two grew up in Fiji together? I didn’t even know my aunt was living there. I thought she was--” Hope caught herself before she could say in prison. “--somewhere else.”

“I told you before. I didn’t live in Fiji all my life. I moved around a lot.”

“I can see that. My aunt has a lot of people who want to take her into their custody.”

“That’s what you get when you’re as good of a spy as she is.”

Hope nodded. She still vividly remembered the day she had come home to find her mother missing from their home. Her screams echoed through her ears, and she felt herself shiver.

“Why don’t we drop this topic and move back to the table? I think our food should be just about ready.”

She nodded and went to stand up. Her eyes caught on an elderly man standing at the end of the bar. Something was odd about him. She had noticed it before, but right now, it seemed extremely important that she understand what it was.

“Tyler. Does that man look…” Her heart stopped. “You bastard,” she whispered.

“What?” he said, looking at her confused.

She reached down under the hem of her dress until her fingers felt the class of the gun holster she had attached to her thigh earlier. “I believed you when you fed me all that felgercarb about us taking this risk together.”

“I was telling you the truth.” Tyler still had no idea what was going on.

“Then why is there a CIA agent sitting at the end of the bar?” She pulled the gun behind her back discretely. “I couldn’t place him at first. But then I remembered the last time I was in Colombia. There was a CIA agent who kept trying to catch me in the act of the current job I had.”

Tyler looked down at the man at the end of the bar. He did bear a slight resemblance to Agent Brooks, but it definitely wasn’t him.

He didn’t have time to dispute her claim, though. The old man noticed them both staring, pulled out a gun, and began firing. It was all Tyler could do to push Hope behind the bar where they could have at least some shielding.

Gunfire erupted from where the man had stood and a few places around the restaurant.

“Why are they shooting at you, too?” she yelled over the noise of the gunshots.

“Because they’re not CIA.” He pulled a gun out of his shoulder holster. “Are they yours?”

“I don’t work with anyone but myself. Things are easier that way.” She paused to pop up from behind the bar and let off a few rounds. Sitting back down, she turned to him. “So if they’re not mine and they’re not yours, then who the hell are they?”

“I don’t know,” Tyler screamed. “But I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

She pointed to the door leading down into what she guessed was the wine cellar. Nodding, he followed her across the floor and through the little opening. They ran in silence through the massive racks of wine and liquor for a few minutes until they came upon a door.

Hope kicked it open and rolled her eyes at the down pouring rain. She looked back at the man standing behind her. “You sure know how to take a girl on a first date.”

“Contrary to popular belief, not all of my dates are this eventful.” He flinched as gunfire continued sound in the restaurant above them. “My father is going to kill me for getting his favorite restaurant shot up.”

For a second, she contemplated pointing out the sheer strangeness of the fact that both of their parents considered this restaurant their favorite. She squashed that little impulse fast. It seemed that every time she tried to talk about her family, Tyler got all uptight and upset. She didn’t want to go through that again right now.

Tyler grabbed her hand in his and gave it a small kiss. “Hang on.”

The next thing she knew she was dodging raindrops through the streets of Rome with a CIA agent who seemed to know a little too much about her family for her own good.

And strangely enough, she was the happiest she had been in years.
 
WOOT!!!......4 all those fast updates :D

“So how’d you get away from work?” Tyler asked.

“You know evil agencies. They’re not really that strict.” She smirked. “I actually called in sick.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah. Turns out I have a really good vacation package. Plus they’re lost without me. Have to keep the talent happy.”

lmao....hehe, loved that bit :lol:

keep it up...i :love: all the humour and the plot!!
 
Chapter Twenty-Four

Hope rolled her eyes as her cell phone started to ring and she recognized the number. “I’m still waiting for my flight back to the States. I left you ten minutes ago.”

Tyler laughed on the other end. “I know. I just wanted to make sure you enjoyed our trip.”

“You know that there’s probably one of our agencies tracing this call right now.”

“No. I made sure it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“Planning on calling me often?”

“Now that you’ve finally given me your number, hell yeah. I’m a guy who needs constant validation. And speaking of, you haven’t said if you enjoyed your trip.”

“You just took me for a picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was cheesy but much appreciated. And one hell of a fourth date.”

“I really wish that you and I could just go to the deli down the street from my apartment in L.A. It would be a whole lot easier and a hell of a lot more meaningful.”

“I told you that would be more trouble than either one of us want to get into.”

“That’s debatable. You’re starting to teach me to like trouble.”

She ignored his playful attempt to keep their conversation light. “Tyler. We’ve been over this every single time I agree to see you.”

“I know. You cannot let this get too serious. You cannot let me get too close to your dangerous life. You cannot let yourself have a little bit of fun for just one second of one day.”

“Screw you,” she hissed, snapping her phone shut. She only had to wait two seconds for it to start ringing again. She didn’t give him the opportunity to yell at her for being so temperamental. “Listen up. You don’t know me or the way my life is. I have things in my future that I constantly have to deal with. I just can’t throw caution to the wind and do what I want. There are consequences.”

“You speak as though the whole world revolves around you.” She could hear him biting back him temper. It was that kind of intelligence that kept making her say yes to his advances.

“Sometimes it does,” she said with a laugh.

“I have things in my future that aren’t so pleasant.”

“But you won’t tell me what they are,” she pointed out. “You and I can’t let the other get that close. It’s dangerous. For you and for me and for everyone we loved.” She breathed in deep and let it out slowly. “Now. I think that’s enough of the arguing. Can we go back to discussing how you can’t even wait an hour after saying goodbye to me to call my phone?”

“Pathetic, I know. But I have never met a girl like you before, Ana. You understand the parts of my life that I really can’t even tell you about.”

“It’s the spy dynamic, sweetie. If you ever dated any other girl who was an agent, you would see it’s the same.”

“No, I don’t think so. I think this has something to do with the girl I’m dating being you.”

“Maybe you’re just sex starved,” she purred.

“You might be right. My girlfriend hasn’t even kissed me yet.”

“Girlfriend?” she spit out through her shock. She had never really been referred to as that before. Not once in her life. It was scary and exciting at the same time. She found that very interesting.

“Don’t try to change the subject. You haven’t let me kiss you.”

“Not for your lack of trying,” she said with a laugh.

“Why haven’t you?”

“Because the thought of you repulses me,” she deadpanned.

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

There was a few beats of silence between them before she got the courage to answer him truthfully. “Because you were right, Tyler. I can’t let you get close to me. It’s only going to end badly.”

“You’ve already played our relationship out in your head?”

“And it ends badly. People in my life have a habit of dying.”

“That’s because you live in a spy world.”

“How many of the people you love have died?” When he didn’t answer, she went on, “How many people in your life have had to live through the trauma of being shot at?”

“Quite a few, actually. Spy family, remember?”

“How about traumatic kidnapping? I bet you haven‘t had one of those.”

“I do have one of those,” he said simply. “I was kidnapped by my father’s best friend when I was little. You probably weren’t even born yet.”

“Stop talking like you’re that much older than me.” The teasing came out before she could even stop herself. She knew that she should be focusing on the fact that he had actually trusted her enough to tell something about his life that was so personal. It was little things like that which were chipping away at the armor she had erected over the past few years. Which was obviously why her sarcastic teasing defense mechanism was kicking in.

“Five years is a lot.”

“All right. Then end this. If you feel like a cradle robber, then let’s stop before this gets ugly.”

“It’s phrases like that which make me think you’re only keeping me at a distance for your own sake and not because you’re afraid my knowing you will kill me.”

She was thrown off by his rather dead-on insight. “I want to let you close regardless of whether you want to risk this or not, Ty. I really do. But I just can’t.”

“I see.” She could hear his frustration even through the phone lines.

“I want to kiss you more than anything. Hell, it’s all I can do to keep control of myself when I’m around you. But it’s for the best.”

“So you’re in control when I’m not around? You don’t ever think about me when I’m not with you?”

“Stop digging for compliments. You know that I think about you when I’m not supposed to be just like I know you think about me. I let myself lose control sometimes when you’re not around.”

“When it’s safe, you mean.”

“Yeah. It‘s easy to imagine what could be when it’s not right in front of me.” Hope shook her head. She had no idea why she was telling him all this. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was miles away from her and couldn’t actually tempt her into doing anything she might regret.

“So how much control do you have over your libido right now, seeing as how I haven‘t been around for about 72 minutes now?” he asked.

The sexy, gravely tone of his voice was definitely making her nerves stand on end. And she was pretty sure that was the desired effect he was shooting for. “Not a hell of a lot.”

“Good.”

Her ear rang with a beep as she stared down at the phone. He had hung up on her. Just like that, he had hung up on her. He had warmed her up and then left her high and dry.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Before she could figure out even one possible answer to that question, someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. Later she would swear that she knew it was him which was why she didn’t take him out. It wasn’t because she was too distracted by his words on the phone to think of what the proper reaction would be to such an invasion of physical space.

And it definitely wasn’t because his lips were on hers before she had time to even register what was happening. She could feel him smiling at her even though he was already occupied in showing her what a fool she had been to not want this to happen. And so she let herself go for a fleeting moment.

She felt a small nibble on her bottom lip, and she realized that somehow he was hitting all the right spots that would make her want to permanently forget that they were on opposite sides of the law. How did he know her so well after only four dates?

She really should have done this sooner. If she had known it was going to be this good, she probably would have. To hell with common sense and doing what’s right.

Eventually, though, her sensibilities did come back at least partially, and she pulled away. Shaking her head, she felt her hand came up to touch her lips without even realizing why she was doing it. “Tyler Vaughn. You know we’re in a public place. Our bosses could be watching.”

“I don’t care. I’ve wanted to do that since the first moment I saw you.”

Her eyes went wide as he gave her that sexy grin and started to inch his mouth down to the curve of her neck. She bit back a moan, instead choosing to whisper. “You and I are in so much trouble.”

“I know,” he whispered before pulling her into another kiss.

Trouble didn’t seem that bad of a thing anymore.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Ten minutes later, Hope waited patiently to make sure Tyler had completely left in order to finish up the mission the CIA had given him in Paris. She still thought it funny that he had taken time off from work just to go on a date with her, an enemy agent. Granted this was purely a stakeout kind of operation for him. But still, he obviously wasn’t staking out if he was eating lunch with her.

He had begged her repeatedly to put off her flight back to L.A. and stay with him in Paris for the rest of his mission.

She had told him no, no matter how much she really, really, really wanted to stay. Because she would have given anything and everything to stay.

But in actuality, she was giving him anything and everything by not staying with him.

By leaving right now.

Sighing, she went up to the ticket counter. “Hi. I have a ticket here for L.A. that I need to return.”

“Okay. Would you like to exchange it for another, ma’am?” the young attendant asked.

“No. I already have a ticket for Berlin.” Smiling, she watched the young man process the return of her ticket home and hoped this would all be worth it.
 
Chapter Twenty-Five

Hope could hear words pounding through her head and could see images flashing even though her eyes weren’t open. Yet she found that she couldn’t focus on one. It hurt too much. And it made no sense.

And then her vision cleared and she was slammed with one image.

“Tyler Vaughn!” she screamed, sitting up and looking around wildly. The words continued to echo through her head as she tried to get her frantic breathing under control.

Tyler Vaughn. Tyler Vaughn. Tyler Vaughn.

That meant something important. There was a connection there. She just couldn’t reach it.

It took her a moment to get herself under control to the point where she was no longer shaking and her mind had calmed down. She took a look at her surroundings. She was in a bed in room.

“Okay. Get more specific,” she said, sitting up. Her head immediately started pounding and she winced. “Sitting up. Not an option right now. All right.”

She moved her head slightly. There was a window to her right with a door on the wall opposite it. Two possible escape routes should she need them. She had a funny feeling, though, that she hadn‘t been kidnapped or coerced.

‘God. Can this room get any more white?” she said. The walls were white. The bed was white. Hell, she was even in a white dressing gown.

The door opened and a small woman let herself into Hope’s room. “I see you’ve woken up.”

“I’m confused,” Hope said.

“You will be. These procedures usually take a lot out of the patient.”

“Procedure?”

“And apparently they cause memory loss. You call me up, Miss Lazarey, and told me about your situation. I offered to reverse the problem, and so you came to Berlin. You don’t remember any of this?”

“No.” Hope tried sitting up again and was happy to feel the dizziness stay away. She had always been a fast healer.

“Do you remember having that implant be placed in your head by your employer?”

“Yes.” A light went off in her head. “I got you to remove it.”

“Yes. It wasn’t too complicated. You didn’t tell me your reasons.”

Hope’s mind immediately jumped to Tyler. That must have been why she had his name on her lips when she woke up. She had done this for him.

Not that that really made any sense.

“I don’t remember anything new, Doc. It seems to me like whatever you didn’t really stick.”

“First off, you can call me Dr. Vander. Or Angela is you wish. Second off, the effects aren’t going to be automatic. That would be too traumatic to your system. You should be returned to normal within the next hour or so. It’ll feel like a nagging suspicion that you’ve forgotten something important at first and then things will start coming back to you.”

Hope narrowed her eyes at her. “How much have I told you about my situation?”

“Little to none. By my request, actually. The less I know, the easier it is for me to avoid kidnapping and imminent death.”

“Biting sarcasm. I can see why I picked you to do this.”

Angela smiled and walked over to stand by the bed. “So you look like you’re doing fine. Has anything new come back to you?”

“I woke up saying my boyfriend’s name. That’s new. I usually don’t acknowledge his existence.”

“Don’t we all wish we could just forget our boyfriends sometimes?” Angela said with a laugh, checking a few of the machines next to the bed.

Hope was about to correct her and explain that she actually wanted to be able to tell everyone about Tyler but there was that whole spy mess thing. But she thought better of it and merely sat still while the doctor went through her obvious post-operation routine.

“So. Do I have a scar somewhere on my body that I should know about? Because I’m going to have to come up with a good lie if I do.”

Angela laughed. “There’s a little bit of burning from the lasers I used to disintegrate whatever got put into your head.”

She held up her hand to stop the doctor before she continued. “Lasers? Beamed into my head? Two questions. Why would I let you do something as crazy as that? And when did my life become the sci-fi movie of the week?”

“You said the exact same thing when I intro-ed how this procedure was going to go. But the way you put it, you really didn’t have the time to go find a more believable method to get it done.”

Hope nodded. She liked this Angela character, but there was still a nagging feeling inside of her that kept telling her not to relax. That there might be something a little too odd and convenient about this whole scenario.

“Anyway, as I was saying, the burns should go away within the next few days. You can pass them off as sunburn if you need to.” The doctor turned to look at her. “You seem like you’re just fine. As soon as you feel like you can stand, you can get dressed.” She pointed to the small closet right behind her. “You’ll find your clothes safely tucked away in there.”

Hope nodded. As soon as the doctor had left the room, she flung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up. Immediately, the dizziness came back. She ignored it this time. She wanted out of whatever this place was fast.

Her memory was starting to come back. She had come here to get the blocks off, thinking that if she had her whole mind about her then she should decide whether this whole Tyler relationship was the right thing to do. If it was good enough for her to risk everything for.

So, she knew her motivation and she kind of knew what had exactly happened to her under the knife. Now she just had to wait to see if it had worked.
True to the doc’s word, she found the close she had worn to her little rendezvous in Paris folded up neatly in the closet. She couldn’t throw that ugly white gown off any quicker.

Quickly she ran through the contents of her jeans pockets. Passport. Airport locker key. Small firearm. Yeah. It was all there. She was a minimalist when she was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be.

She grasped the key tightly in her hand and tucked the gun into the waist of her pants. No need to not be prepared for anything.

The hallways were empty. Hope thanked whoever had been in charge of having her wake up during what appeared to be a mini-siesta. She made her way to the elevator and patiently waited for the car to reach her floor. There was still no one around.

Maybe it’s not one of those places where they don’t want you to leave so they end up shooting at you frantically and with little to no aim. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped into the elevator as the doors slid open.

“I’m on the freaking sixty-third floor!” she whined as she saw all the buttons on the elevator. “Great. This is going to take forever.”

Maybe she would end up getting shot at.

The elevator jolted as it passed each floor, and she could begin to feel her head ache. There was that nagging feeling the doctor had been talking about. She just had no idea why she was associating it with Tyler Vaughn. It seemed like she couldn’t get him out of her head. Which wasn’t exactly a new development, but it had never really been connected to the missing pieces of her life that damn implant had been blocking out.

Her mind suddenly flashed back to her childhood. She could see herself playing in her yard in San Antonio with a young boy. She was three. Then there was the time she went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and ended up dumping a whole cup of Slushie onto his head. She was four. There was the fort she had built with him in their backyard in Honolulu. She was five. That horrible accident with the skateboard, the neighborhood stray cat, and two peaches. She was about to turn six.

And then nothing. Or to be accurate, everything. Everything after that point she remembered clearly. Conning her parents into moving back to L.A. Her Aunt Nadia kidnapping her mother. Learning how to fight from Will. Joining a spy organization. Meeting Tyler.

Jesus. It always came back to him.

Something in the back of her head kept reminding her that it had all started with him, too. And she had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

Again, Tyler’s name kept ringing through her head. Why was everything so caught up around him?

The elevator hit the bottom floor and jolted to a stop. And that was when it felt like there was a damn bursting in her head. Details came flooding back.

And suddenly it made sense.

Tyler Vaughn. The man she loved. The child she grew up with. The man who was going to either kill her or be killed.

She stared out into the busy lobby in front of her as the elevator doors slid open.

“Oh s***.”
 
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