Super Spy (Book 2)

22. Behind Closed Doors

Grayson didn't speak as they walked down a long, winding, metal hallway. Her boots clicked against the floor, the sound punctuating the muffled screams and thuds from far, far away. Jace struggled to keep up, dragging her injured leg behind her. 

Grayson looked back once, eyeing Jace's limp and her pained grimace. "Can you walk?" she asked sharply.

"Yes," Jace said. "I'm injured, but I can limp."

"Good." The handler turned on her heel and didn't look back again, though she slowed her pace slightly.

She led her into a room off to the side, one with a long metal desk and two chairs. The door clicked softly shut behind them.

In front of Grayson's flat, stony stare, Jace took in a breath and starting talking about the irae: their location deep in the Outskirts wilderness, their ability to take over human forms, their ability to drain or enhance people's superpowers. She left any mention of Tali, or her own involvement with the rebels, out of her explanation.

The words spilled out of her without any thought. Her voice sounded alien. She felt like she was looking in on herself from the outside, watching someone else speak.

As she spoke, Grayson's forehead creased into a frown. At some points, her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, though she didn't speak until all of Jace's words had run dry. 

"I see," she said. "And why has this not been in any of your reports, agent?"

Jace bit down on her lip and thought carefully about what to say. "I know . . . I know I should have reported on this sooner. I didn't fully believe what I was seeing, and I wanted to have concrete evidence to bring to you." When Grayson didn't answer, she kept talking. "But now that you know more about them, we can stop them."

"And that is what you want? To stop them?"

Jace blinked, taken aback. "I— of course. Yes."

"Very well," said Grayson. "Hold out your arm, please, five-two-four."

Jace hesitated. 

"I do not enjoy repeating myself, agent."

Jace quickly placed her arm on the table between them, palm up. Grayson grabbed it with one arm, steel-cold fingers wrapping around her wrist in a vise-like grip. With the other arm, she yanked up Jace's sleeve and flicked out a syringe from her coat pocket. 

"What's that?" Jace asked, nervously eyeing the oily, yellowish liquid inside.

"Hold still," was Grayson's only reply, as she pressed the tip of the needle into Jace's forearm. Jace tried not to flinch as the liquid drained into her arm.

"A mild sedative," Grayson said at last as she released Jace's arm. "Administered to supers such as yourself, who have the physical superpowers to break out of containment. Enough to keep you awake and lucid, but to muffle your powers."

". . . Containment?"

"I have never trusted you," said Grayson, her upper lip curling in the barest hint of a sneer. "Why do you think I asked Tristan and Nia to keep tabs on you? You have been compromised ever since you became a sidekick to that traitor Kara. And now I know that you have been keeping information from me."

"Wait," Jace said. Think! You still have the upper hand! she told herself. Through the muddle of her racing mind, she desperately tried to grasp for something to say that would let her regain control. "I have information! There's things I haven't told you yet." Clumsy, but she hoped Grayson would take the bait.

"And I trust you will tell me everything in time," Grayson said, unmoved. "Perhaps if you are cooperative enough, we will not need to keep you here too long."

It was the same placating lie Jace had heard Tristan say to everyone being investigated by secret agents. She'd repeated the same lie herself a few times.

"No," Jace mumbled. She stared down at her arm as if she could remove the sedative by willing it. This couldn't be how she got caught. "But . . ."

"But what?" The handler raised her eyebrows. "But you have been so careful, haven't you? You have had free rein because I allowed it, five-two-four. You weren't immediately imprisoned after the debacle with Kara six-three-seven because I convinced the Council I could keep a close eye on you, and you would lead us straight to the rebels."

"I don't know where they are! Please— the irae—"

"Ah yes, these ancient mystical creatures you speak of. Perhaps spending so much time with the rebels has muddled your brain." Grayson stood, discarding the used syringe in a nearby trashcan. 

"My brother—"

Her hand on the doorknob, Grayson paused.

"You've never meant to wake him."

Grayson said nothing. She gave Jace a brief, impassive look before leaving the room, and the lock clicked shut behind her.