Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

Eighteen

Lazy Dayz Motel, The Bronx New York. January 30, 2021, 4:01 p.m.

"Well, that could have gone better," Max mused from the window.

Back at the Lazy Dayz Motel in the Bronx, he and I kept watch on the room down the block. I'd pointed it out to him when we'd arrived. Cedric had been keeping an eye on the security feed and, aside from a few basic trips in and out of the motel for food, it seemed as if Daniel's teammates had hardly left. Indeed, their black SUV was still parked outside in the exact spot it'd been when I was first here.

I shot Max a wry grin. "I don't know. I think Jacobs was starting to warm up to me by the end."

"I think she was getting ready to punch you in the face."

"Well, either way at least they agreed to bring in some backup."

Indeed our conversation with CIA agents Kenneth Riley and Neveah Jacobs could have gone better.

Max, Lia, and I had breezed into Ginger Snapped Café in Midtown Manhattan at two-fifteen. We'd chosen a table that was near and exit and easily defensible – just in case either of the CIA agents recognized me and I'd had to make a quick getaway.

In preparation for the meeting, I'd made a few rapid adjustments to my appearance. Though I'd been dying my hair for years – a necessity since Melanie Briar was blonde but Jessie Collins had been a brunette – I'd gotten a little lax with it.

My hair had ceased to be the rich chestnut brown I'd first made it when I'd assumed Jessie Collins' identity. Instead, it'd become a warm toffee – a blend between my natural blonde and the dark brown.

To meet with the CIA, I knew that it was better to look as far different from Melanie Briar as I could. Gone were the accents of blonde, meticulously hidden by the dye that I'd gone out to purchase earlier that day – Tasha in tow.

Her decision to join me had been unexpected, but welcome. We'd hardly had a spare moment to spend together since she'd arrived and I found that I missed her presence just as much as I had missed Lia and Max.

My friendship with Tasha had always been quieter, more subdued, but nonetheless close. We'd established a different form of trust than what I had with my other friends. Lia, Max, and I had trained as field agents. Designed to shoot first and ask questions later. Tasha, gifted with a breadth of technical knowledge like Cedric, had been trained as an analyst. Someone to watch our backs from the comfort of a control room. Our eyes and ears from the security and data systems that she hacked.

Together, we'd walked through the streets of Manhattan until we happened upon a little drug store. It was there that we found the hair dye and makeup. I had been trying to gauge if Tasha was acting strangely around me, but there didn't seem to be anything amiss. She was bubbly as ever though there was a slight hesitancy in her eyes that left me wondering.

As we left the store, Tasha had said, "Do you think we can really do it? Wipe Scorpion out for good?"

"I don't know," I'd admitted. "But I have to try. For Daniel's sake. For my dad. Hell, for me. I'm tired of running."

Tasha placed a hand on my arm. "We're tired of you running too. I know that we're all spread apart now what with you in Switzerland, Lia and Max in England, and me in France but it would be nice to be able to meet up with you somewhere without fear of an internationally-feared terrorist organization tracking our movements."

I'd laughed darkly. "You can say that again. Speaking of France, how do you like working for Interpol?"

"It's a good fit for me," she'd told me. "Henri Lemoine and I get to see each other sometimes. He's working in France too for the President."