With a Pull of a Trigger

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Reini looked at the Eiffel Tower—a mere walk away—and then at her watch. She nodded. “I have time.”

“Then please,” said Samantha, already leading the way to the patisserie that had caught Reini’s attention a while ago, “let’s have a snack. I hear this place makes marvelous pastries.”

Reini nodded and followed.

“Aspen, my office, now.”

Catherine looked up from the files she was reading and her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the sight of the Superior exiting her office in quick, easy strides. She nodded to herself and quickly stood up and exited the room, wary of making her boss wait.

Was Everett mad at her? Catherine tried to think back on the past days to see if she had done anything wrong, but she couldn’t remember doing anything to warrant that kind of reaction from her boss. She never wanted him to be mad at her, not with the glowing career she was starting to have in the agency.

Within minutes, she was in Everett’s office. Everett himself was seated behind his desk, his chin supported by his hands which were placed in the prayer position, his elbows on his desk. His eyes were unfocused, staring into an abyss Catherine didn’t know about, his mind going a mile a minute. He was thinking deeply, and Catherine knew that could only mean well to a certain extent.

“You asked for me?” Catherine said uncertainly as she hovered by the door.

Everett looked up, his eyes focusing again. After a minute, he nodded curtly, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of the desk. “Yes. Come sit, agent Aspen.”

Catherine nodded to herself and gently closed the door behind her, sitting down on the chair Everett indicated.

Everett’s voice was the kind that attracted both attention and respect in equal measures. A low baritone voice that oozed sex—claimed by many of which were in the same age range as her boss—yet to his subordinates, his voice oozed command. He never really needed to shout or demand to be heard by the many agents he encountered—his voice did that for him. A single word from his lips, even if it was said quietly, hushed an entire room.

It was no different then. His voice was quiet, yet commanding, like a hidden blade ready to strike down an opponent.

“You’ve been here for a fairly long time, Miss Aspen,” said Everett in a low voice. “You know how the agency works and what we face daily.”

It wasn’t a question. Still, Catherine nodded.

“Helox Five has been moving quite quickly. Just last week, we’ve caught traces of smuggled weaponry in an abandoned warehouse in Florida. We’ve caught one of their agents in India and another in Toronto. They’re well on their way to posing a very big threat on all of us,” explained Everett, his shoulders tensing as he listed down the many problems he had.

For one brief moment, Catherine just stared.

It hit her at that moment that her life was going to be like Everett’s. She was going to be the kind of person who will have to deal with confidential missions and paperworks that weren’t supposed to exist.

Everett looked at Catherine and saw both the agent that she was and the agent she was going to be. Two parts of a whole, they were. He couldn’t see one without the other, because Catherine herself was both.

“What I haven’t told the others is that there is another organization quickly scaling up the ranks. The Alliance, they’re called, and they have multiple headquarters. We already have a double agent infiltrating the organization in their Los Angeles office, and I met with one of their agents seeking for the truth.”