Agent X

xx| 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 |xx

"That took some deep digging in the web," Dari said. "But I think that I found the answers you are looking for. Apparently, they only open the casino on the weekends."

"But why would anyone want to gamble at an illegal casino instead of a legal one?" Ty asked.

"Why would a casino owner want to make their casino illegal in the first place?" Dari added.

"Less taxes and regulations,'' I said. "As for your question, Ty, I think you'd have to ask the gamblers."

"Maybe it's for more high class people," Dari wondered aloud.

Ty snorted. "Are you kidding? That place was disgusting."

"Actually, Dari has a point," I argued. "I mean, if you were a person of high social standing who didn't want people to know that you were gambling, would you go to a legal one where people could more easily trace your actions through records, or go to a casino that was harder to track down and had no records of your actions. Or at least, their records are harder to access."

"Yeah, I found all of the casino's records online," Dari said.

"How?" Ty asked.

Dari shrugged. "You wouldn't believe the things on the deep web. In fact, that's where WAOIC conducts most of their deals. That way the transfers of data that they sell can't be traced."

"We still haven't answered our main question," I reminded them. "We need to know if the casino has had any dealings with WAOIC."

"According to what I found, they do not have any ties. I even looked through their records of gamblers, and I don't see any WAOIC agents listed."

"They would use an alias, though," Finn chimed in.

"True," Dari admitted.

"So you haven't found any proof that they are connected," I said. "But you haven't found anything that disproves a connection between the two."

"Correct," Dari said.

I sighed, plopping onto my bed. I stared at my crew members. This was so much harder than I had anticipated. I had been hoping that following Miss Monpelie would give us all of the answers we needed, yet there was still so much to investigate. It would be helpful to watch her patterns for a while and trace her contacts. But it was already June twenty-sixth, and our June thirtieth deadline was rapidly approaching. We didn't have time to waste on gathering proof that might not even be there.

"Any suggestions?" I asked.

"For what?" Finn asked.

"About what we should do next."

Ty gasped. "Is Agent X out of ideas?"

"Yes," I sighed.

The room went still. I wanted to shrink into the fluffy comforter on my bed. I, the person who was supposedly 'Agent X,' had admitted defeat. For some reason, this knowledge stung more than the fact that I didn't know what to do. The real Xara was surely clueless at times, but she always came up with some sort of plan or solution.

Focus on the mission. Think, Xara. Think!

I rested my chin in my hands. I wanted to confront Miss Monpelie, but we couldn't do it without definitive proof, which we didn't have. We could spend another day tailing her if we were pretty sure that she was the WAOIC agent. It would be an investment, and the best possible course of action.

But for some reason, there was a part of me that questioned if she was the imposter. It was too easy, the incongruities too obvious. And why go to such lengths to sell jewelry? The more I thought about it, the more I concluded that something was off.