Masks

Chapter 14 | Wait A Second

Butterfly

I step into the cafe, and Bishop's already there.

Typical.

I slide into the booth, sitting across from him. "This better be important." He looks- worried? His look of indifference is nowhere. "Look, I'm sorry-" I raise a hand, cutting him off. "Breifing's in 20 minutes. I don't want an apology. Get to the point. What is it?"

He paused, the same indiscernible look from our first meeting flashed on his face, gone as quickly as it came. "There's a mole. Somebody's been leaking information to the enemy." He sighed, "Repeatedly."

The revelation made me freeze. A mole, a traitor. Somebody we fought with, somebody we bled with, somebody we trusted sold us out. I paused before regaining my bearings. "How often?"

"Every mission after ours."

Splendid.

How outstandingly, splendid.

I can feel the blood rushing to my ears, I look down, taking a deep breath to calm myself down, returning my gaze to Bishop's. A new wave of anger floods over me as I see the look in his eyes.

"You think it's me, don't you?"

"What? No!"

Defensiveness masks the suspicion mixing with the gold specks in his eyes. Guilt overtakes everything else instantly after.

"Don't lie to me, Bishop."

He may have the best poker face in the Agency, but his eyes were windows- no, gateways into his thoughts.

"I'm not lying to you. I trust you." He spits out, almost bitterly. Like he's holding back the insult at the end of the sentence, like he wants me to know that he cares but I'm getting on his nerves.

Good.

But somehow, for reasons unknown to me, his tone makes it believable. The bitterness shows that he hates that he trusts me, which honestly- is so Bishop coded that it goes unsaid but that doesn't change the fact that it's true, he trusts me. Bishop trusts me.

"Why?"

He sighs, his voice softening "I don't know, but I trust you with my life regardless." We hold each other's gaze, not saying anything. Me trying to find the lie, the slightest hint of deception, him trying to gauge how I'm feeling about this.

A notification forces me to tear my stare away.

[Reminder: Briefing in 5 minutes]

Dammit

"We should go..." Bishop says, reading the message before I can say anything further. I nod, stepping out of the booth, and walking towards the exit, pretending to be scrolling on my phone. Partly to show him that I'm unaffected, partly to distract myself from the thumping of my heart at his words.

"Oh, and Butterfly?"

I wait, looking up, awaiting his next words

"Happy Birthday."

---

I lounge around in the briefing room, my legs on the table, spinning one of my butterfly knives open and shut, thinking about what Bishop said at the cafe when he and the Director enter. I take my legs off the table, straightening myself as Bishop rolls his eyes at my negligence. Yup, I hate him again. The Director clears his throat, getting both of our attention. Eager to move on, just like before. "Well, after both of your successes with The Phantom, headquarters has decided to get both of you out of my hair. You're going to Langely"

Wait hold on a damn second.

"Langely? As in, Virginia?" I ask, impatient. The minimum legal drinking age in the US is 21, so to any divine power out there, please-

"Yes. Virginia."

I hate you too God.

I sulk a bit. No more wine, no more vodka... Bishop notices my expression and chuckles softly.

Wait another damn second

Did Bishop just- laugh??

Bishop is capable of human joy??

The director clears his throat again, But I don't tear my eyes away from him. A small, giddy smile grows on my face, hearing him laugh. He returns the smile, and I finally turn to look at the Director. "Your flight leaves in four hours so I suggest you pack the essentials and get going. You have a new mission awaiting you there." "In four hours? Isn't that a bit early don't you think, Director?" Bishop asks. The Director shrugs, "HQ's orders"

That doesn't seem like HQ's orders...

Wait the third damn second

I look to Bishop, He's thinking the same thing. A sudden transfer? That makes no sense unless somebody's pulling some very powerful strings. The mole's onto us, that's for sure.

And I'm starting to think that he's in the room right now.

Bishop nods at me assuringly, I play along with the director.

"I see... Oh well, I suppose we should get packing now." Bishop pulls something discreetly out of his pocket. I walk out, crossing Bishop as he slips the thing in my jacket with the precision of a pickpocket. He's good alright. He follows me out, taking the left when I take the right. I reach into my pocket. Earpeice. I slip it in my ear.

"Was this really necessary?"

Bishop's voice crackles into clarity. "If we think who we think it is, then they can track our phones. This is safer"

Damn, okay.

"We have 4 hours to gather enough evidence against Eberhard or else we lose him for good."

He doesn't respond immediately, I was about to speak again when he replies

"I need you to do something for me."

"Shoot."

"Distract him."

Wait the fourth damned ass second.

This entire day should be titled 'Wait A Second' at this point

"You're not planning not planning on breaking into his office, are you?"

Another long pause...

"That depends, are you distracting him?"

I pause this time. We can go about this in two ways. I distract Director Eberhard, put Bishop into a risky situation where if he gets caught it's the end of his career, OR I could refuse and we'd be stuck with no plan and 3 hours and 45 minutes worth of time.

"I'm on it."