Life, Lies and Really Hot Spy Guys

Chapter 23: Rebel

Look out for the <>!

I followed Mara into her family's restaurant and found an empty table. We took a seat and Mara frowned at me. She knew something was up and I couldn't hide it from her. "What you have you been doing. And don 't say it's nothing."

"What do you mean?" I asked, buying time to sort out my thoughts better as I looked over the menu. I had been here a million times and I already knew what I wanted, but at least the menu could hid my face from her. 

Mara sighed as she pulled down the menu that was shielding me from her gaze. "Annalise, don't lie. I'm your friend." 

"I'm not lying. I don't know what you're talking about," I said, holding my ground.

Mara frowned as she tapped her fingers on the table. "Ever since I have come back, you have been jumpy and constantly looking over your shoulder as if someone is watching you. What happened?"

I frowned at her as the memories that I tried not to think about came flooding my mind like a broken dam. "MIA... have you heard of them?"

She frowned as she shook her head. "No. what is it?"

I was suddenly worried that she wouldn't believe what I said next. I didn't until B26 came to me and even then I wasn't sure. It wasn't until that Florida case that made me realize that MIA was real and they were a threat.

She placed her hand on mine and smiled lightly. "You can share, I won't judge."

And I knew she wouldn't. Mara was the least judgmental person I knew. But I was still struggling to get the words out of my mouth. "They trying to bring down the CIA from the inside out."

Mara frowned at my words.

Mara wouldn't judge but I knew she wouldn't believe this.

"Ok, details," she said, asking for more to go off of.

I nodded. She wasn't shutting this down. She was the first person that wasn't brushing me aside. She wanted to understand, so I dove into details. I talked about anything that I could remember until our food was sitting beside us, cold. Finally I picked up a fry and bit into it. "I want to shut them down permanently.  But I can't do this alone."

My love of the CIA was not the only thing motivating my actions. I was doing this to save my life too. Without MIA, I wouldn't have to run from my house. Maybe this was B26 goal all along, for me to get so deep into it, I couldn't actually leave. They had to have known I would come back.

She smiled lightly as my words resonated through her. She believed me. "Count me in."

"This is going to be dangerous," I added, making sure she knew what she was getting herself into.

She shrugged. "I know. I am a spy, what I do is dangerous. Auggie doesn't know, does he?"

I looked at the food in front of me and shook my head. Auggie knew something was going on, but there hadn't been a good moment to talk about it. "No. After what happened with Toby in Florida, don't know how to bring it up," I said, looking at the table shamefully.

"You'll find the right way to talk about it, I'm sure of it," Mara said kindly then changed topics. "Brining them down, that's a big goal. What's your next step?"

I nodded. This wasn't my goal. But it was starting to become mine. "I'm thinking about going to the bank that bought the old MIA building tonight to get some more information and proof. I know without it my grandmother will never believe me."

"Ok, I'm in. Let's go, after we eat of course," Mara said as she took a bite of her salad.

We then dug into our food, it being the only thing that motivated our actions. As I looked at Mara, I couldn't help but smile. It felt good to finally tell someone about MIA that actually believed me. Suddenly, I didn't feel like I was doing mission impossible anymore. What B26 wanted me to do felt tangible for once.