Zero.

Chapter Seven

Day 30

Agent Zero
PEMBROKE owned a vault that housed their documents apparently too precious to be digitized. If the documents were any where I was sure they would be there. Lee had let that bit of information slip a few days ago while I was going over some of his paperwork.
"You'd think we wouldn't have so much stuff to file." he had chuckled to himself. I took a break from my work to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"Pembroke keeps most of their files under lock in key in a secure location" he clarified.
At the time I didn't think much of this discovery, if Benjamin Lee stole the documents then he would keep them on him or nearby at all times. It's what I would do. Those documents were more important than most of the secrets Pembroke kept, there was no way I would entrust that type of power to a simple lock and key. In the beginning I was certain that Lee kept the documents on him, but after a few days thinking on it, I realized that maybe he would have kept them in the vault. He was the only one besides the president that had the key,
and security codes needed to get in.
If he were to disappear then those documents would supersede him, someone would eventually find them. Unless we blew up the vault too.

I'd been hesitant to tell One about it, because I knew Chief would be the next to know. A swell of guilt bubbled in my chest. I should just tell One to keep this a secret until we got to look into it. I should.
But I wouldn't. I had to break into that vault first, get a look at the documents before I handed them over to Chief. We still had 60 days to complete this mission. There was more than enough time for me to get in, get out, then bring One along with me and pretend that I hadn't already broken into the vault.

If Benjiman had something to hide then I would proceed with the mission. If he didn't then I would work that out when I came to it.
Easy, right?
No.
I was already keeping so many things from her, adding another to the list had me feeling worse than I ever remembered. But the nagging thoughts that Chief wasn't telling us the full truth had me pushing back those guilty feelings. If something was going on than it would affect her too.
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. Why couldn't I just accept that this mission was nothing more than what Chief told us? Why did I have to be different from other agents? It was times like this that I wished I was cold. That I had no real feelings to distract me from completing my task.
But those were pointless thoughts.

My emotions were what kept me human, and besides, there were more important things I should be thinking about.

It was almost time for my shift to be over, and the last thing I wanted to do was meet up with Agent One to train. She hadn't spoken about my slip up, but I could tell that it was still on her mind. In fact I was sure that wasn't all that she was pondering lately. I could count the words she'd said to me in the past few days. There was something going on with her, but she wasn't going to share any more than I was.
Sigh.
Organizing the papers on my desk, I stood to leave. I couldn't avoid her forever and trying to do so would just rouse more suspicion.
I was almost out the door when I spotted Benjamin by his car. Before my mind could catch up with my plan, I was already jogging towards him.
"Sarah? Wow, I didn't know you were still here. I thought I was the only one who apparently worked past necessary." He chuckled.
That was another fact I had noticed about Benjamin Lee. For a man who had lost his wife and was a self-proclaimed workaholic and maybe an ex agent hell bent on exposing Headquarters, he sure did laugh a lot. It didn't matter that nothing was funny.
"Caught me." I smiled in return. "I was actually wondering if you could point me to the nearest bus station. I was apparently scatterbrained this morning and totally locked my keys in my car. My spare is in my apartment." I lied smoothly.
Another thing I noted about him: he was overly nice. Either as part of his coverup or...well because he just was. But if my observations were correct, which they always were, he would offer to give me a lift... Assuming he hadn't heard the jangling of the keys in my purse when I jogged over to him.
A thoughtful expression crossed his face before he laughed. Again.
"No worries, I'll just give you a ride."
Of course, you will.

Cue the polite decline...now.
"Oh no! I couldn't impose. We've been here all day and I'm sure you want to get home. I don't recall either one of us taking a lunch break today, so I'm sure you're just are ready for a hot meal as I am." I gushed, putting on my best damsel face.

Go ahead. Take the bait and invite me to dinner.
My stomach churned at my inauthenticity, but my inner dialogue kept mt from cringing at the amount of lies I was telling.
"Now, I insist. I was going to grab something to eat anyway. But twos always better than one and all that."

Perfect.
"Really? If you're sure it's not too much of an inconvenience..." I let the sentence linger off, knowing he would cut off my objections.
"Seriously, I don't mind."
Cue the laugh.
He laughed.
I smiled despite myself and walked to the passenger door. Sliding in his silver BMW. The interior was cleaner than I expected, with a slight mint and air freshener smell. I sent a quick text to One letting her know I wouldn't be training today because I would be with Lee. She sent back a wink face emoji.
"Where were you going to eat?" I wondered. It would be much easier inspecting his car for anything out of the ordinary if he was talking. Since breaking into his car would probably look shady, I decided this was the better option. It didn't seem in his character to let me take the bus home, so him refusing to take me home or simply not offering would have meant that there was something in his car he didn't want me to see. But all I could tell from my seat was that he was neat. There weren't even gum wrappers in the cup holder or footprints on the matt.
"I was actually going to grab pizza, is that okay?
"That's fine!" I answered cheerfully, while staring at his hands on the wheel. Even his nails were perfect. Chief always looked his best, but even he never looked quite so squeaky clean as Benjamin Lee.
"Do you mind the radio?" he asked, reaching to change the station.
"No, I don't get to listen to the radio very often, I don't even know what's popular nowadays." I admitted. And it was true. The last time I was Awake the world was still raving about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. I wondered idly if they were still alive.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. If I'm not at work, then I'm thinking about work." he said.
"Spoken like a true workaholic."
"Guilty as charged." he grinned. He couldn't see me, so I didn't bother trying to smile.

It would have been a futile effort anyway because my mind was far too busy wondering what else he could be guilty of.