ravaged hearts

CHAPTER THREE,

  No one more honest than a good spy.

  Afanasiia said, "Last I saw, they were busy talking to some diplomat I didn't care to know the name of. I'm being neglectful, yes, I'm bloody aware, no need for you to inform me of so." She took a seat across the room, crossing her legs and raising her chin, arrogant, cold and proud. The signature trait of most Kozlov agents.

  Sinclair questioned, "Planning on retiring?"

  "Switching the field for something else." Belova shrugged. "Seemed the logical choice. I'm growing older. Not living for the excitement anymore. I just want to live. The last few months have been more enjoyable than I ever expected, thought I might give it a try."

  "Everyone's moving on," Louis mused. "Changing careers, retiring, turning to new endeavours. Funny how much the war impacted all of us. We took that on as second nature, and look at all of us now. Struggling to cope with the new normal."

  Belova raised her palm. "Speak for yourself, Sanchez. I'm doing just fine."

  Louis just shrugged. No point arguing with her.

  A knock on the door sounded, and a moment later a dark-skinned girl rushed into the room, clearly out of breath. Her gown, a deep, rich emerald green, almost blended into the wallpaper of the room. Anita Enriques Zevallos had finally decided to show her face.

  No apology. Nothing. That was just her style. She grinned, "Hello, folks. It's been a while. I hate that I have to see all of you under this kind of situation, but we don't precisely have much of a choice." She glanced around and frowned. "We're missing a few people."

  Most of the countries had probably coordinated with her and her brother over the agents they'd be sending over. It was Vayantean territory, and they all shared the same goal. Better play by the rules, or at least seem to do so.

  Sterling asked, "Who's missing?"

  Anita pondered upon that for a moment, then said, "Well, there's obviously Sai. They're sending one agent if I recall correctly. Dunner's outside, I think, she's coming in in a second.  And there should be more Vayantean agents... not sure where they've all gone. All running a bit late. My brother's probably gathering them right now."

  Made sense. The two siblings were generally known for working together with each other, making quite a wondrous team.

  Sterling asked, raising one brow, "Who did the Saian send? They didn't say anything ahead of time, those old bastards."

  "Really just one old bastard," Belova stated.

  "The Duke of Shui Xiang is one of those people who the ending of the war has thrust into less prominence, though," Louis shrugged, "these days I feel as if all the attention is on his daughter. He's not complaining."

  "Honour on the family," Anita gave a quick grin. "I can assure you though, it's not the duke or his dearest daughter here. You'd know if they were them—the officials would be tripping over their own feet right now."

  "I think we all realised that." Sinclair grimaced, straightening himself. "Can we get this meeting started already? We could get through this quite quickly, and the sooner we find those kids, the better."

  The carefree atmosphere that had filled the room almost immediately shattered. Back to business, then. Anita said quickly, "I could go and fetch everyone now if you want."

  Sinclair raised a brow and said nothing. Fucking bastard. Anita and Celinos were young, probably the youngest among them all. The two siblings couldn't be older than twenty-three, and they'd only started working in this line around two years ago. In this career, they might as well be infants in the first blush of youth. Though Louis couldn't precisely blame Sinclair for being a bit irritated. Tardiness always grinded on people's nerves.