Loose Ends | Kat

seventeen | kat

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DAY 11

MY ROOM WAS eerily quiet. Miles and I didn't schedule a meeting for tonight. Both of us decided it would be best not to in the wake of the near-death experience the night before, Blackout's infiltration of an entire restaurant, and just in case MI6 or Leo were suspicious of Miles. No big deal.

The ringing of my phone pierced the silence, and a part of me hoped it was Miles. Maybe he wanted to meet up after all. Maybe he wanted to show me something in London that I hadn't been to yet. It was a ridiculous thought I quickly shut down. Ever since the other day with the undercover work and drunk encounter, I'd been thinking of Miles... differently. More than a partner. More than a friend.

But I couldn't. It would just get in the way.

I reached for my phone and was startled to see Agent Smith's name on the screen. My mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario as I answered. "Katrina Burke speaking."

"Miss Burke," came Agent Smith's honeyed voice. "How are you? How is your vacation? Or should I say... investigation?"

"Excuse me?"

"You can drop the act." Her voice was stern then, and I could tell she was no longer smiling. "I break protocol to let you travel to London on a short-notice vacation and this is how you repay me? By researching a non-essential terrorist organization when you have no authority or reason to do so?"

I scoffed, convincing myself that it was a response to her accusations. "Agent Smith, I can assure you that I would never do something that reckless," I persuaded, praying I sounded believable. "Like I told you, I'm here helping my friend. You know me."

"I thought I knew you, Katrina," Agent Smith huffed. "But I'm afraid your tactics won't work on me this time. One of your fellow interns came forward with the information." So, Al had betrayed me. "It correlated with the activity the CIA has been monitoring since your departure." They'd been spying on me? Since when? Was Agent Smith a sleeper agent too?

She continued. "If you refuse to confess that you have been looking into Blackout and their threats, your internship will be terminated, and any future position you might have gained will no longer be available to you."

No. They wouldn't. I'd worked so hard to get where I was, and Agent Smith knew it.

But was I not as passionate about solving this mystery as I was about my potential career in the CIA? Was it not last night that Miles and I narrowly escaped an ambush by members of Blackout? I knew they were real and a threat. They had a bomb, for crying out loud! I couldn't back down now. Not when Miles and I were so close.

But I couldn't lose my job, either.

My heart was racing and my palms were sweating. I took a deep breath. "Fine," I admitted, hating the defeat in my voice. "I came to London to try and investigate Blackout on my own. But there's been nothing to prove their existence, like I should have known."

Agent Smith gives an affirmative hum. "Thank you for your honesty," she said, satisfied by my answer. "You'll finish your time in London as purely a vacation. We'll settle on a punishment and discuss your future with the CIA upon your arrival home."

"Yes ma'am."

Agent Smith hung up the phone, and I immediately dropped it onto my bed.

Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit.