Just the Truth

Chapter 10

"I hope you know this is the exact moment when you would all die,"

"Blaire, what the hell?" I asked, walking into my Covert Operations class. Today was Blaire's turn to be in charge since I had to be at Head Quarters, but I decided to pop by, and I was increasingly glad I did.

"What?" Blaire turned to me with an innocent expression.

"I'm pretty sure this is illegal on some level," I told her.

"Yeah, because owning a secret facility for the sole purpose of training kids on how to catch killers isn't," she rolled her eyes. She currently had them all lined up against the wall with a long table in front of them. On the table were bombs of different sizes.

"You can't teach them how to defuse bombs in a classroom Blaire; they could kill someone. We have sub-levels for that, and they haven't had the proper training for it," I reminded her.

"Calm down. The bombs aren't real. I'm just teaching the students the basic structures and how to identify one type from another. I have no particular interest in dying today. Especially not at the hands of some teenagers," she rolled her eyes.

"Alright, well, the class is dismissed," I told the kids, waving them away, which they complied with gratefully.

"How the hell did you even get your hands on these, to begin with?" I asked her once all the kids were gone. Blaire just smirked and helped me put the models away. They won't be coming out any time soon.

"Anyways, I came because we need to hold another meeting about the case to discuss possible leads," I told her, and Blaire nodded her head changing from teasing to serious within seconds.

"Have you been sleeping well?" Blaire asked me as we walked across the street to Head Quarters.

"Yeah," I answered hesitantly, and Blaire responded with a pointed look.

"I've been having nightmares lately, but I'm ok," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Charlee, nightmares don't just happen. You're still not ok, let us help you," she told me, placing her hand on my elbow, and I sighed.

"I know, I just thought they would go away on their own, but it's been going on since," I trailed off, but Blaire understood and just nodded knowingly.

"We can have a girls' night if you want. I can't remember the last time we all hung out together," she offered. I'm pretty sure the last time we stayed up late together was to smuggle confidential files into Russia a couple of months back.

"True," I smiled, trying to move on to another topic.

"Oh, there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere," Palma greeted us as soon as we stepped into the lobby. Behind her stood a tall, brown-haired man who was tapping his feet rapidly against the floor. I couldn't tell what color his eyes were because he was looking all around him somewhat excitedly.

"Sorry, I went to get Blaire so we can get the meeting started. Who's this?" I asked her, nodding to the guy standing behind her. At that point, he finally turned to face us.

"Right! This is Nicholas Jackson," she began.

"Just Nick is fine," he smiled and stepped forward with an outstretched hand. He had a huge smile and wide green eyes. I could hear a slight accent in his voice, but I couldn't quite pinpoint where it was from.

"Nice to meet you, Nick," I smiled.

"Very nice to meet you," Blaire smiled her usual sultry smile, and Nick chuckled. I nudged her with my elbow, causing her to glare at me as if she didn't know what she did wrong.