Game of Secrets and Shadows (Book One in the Covert Operations series)

Prologue

The pair stood in the middle of the brightly decorated room.  It was more suited to a child, instead of the fourteen-year-old who actually inhabited the room.  It was clear that the room was long overdue for a renovation, one that would ensure the fuscia pink walls, decorated with pictures of daisies and wildflowers would be replaced with something more mature.  Something fit for a teenager.

The man fidgeted nervously in his spot.  Beside him, the woman was infinitely calmer, though there was an undercurrent of worry in the pit of her stomach, one she was trying very hard to hide.  It had been a stressful few days for the pair and this was the climax their endeavour had been leading towards.  Now that it was here, neither of them were sure what to expect.  This was especially due to the fact that their target was virtually unknown.  Of course, they'd kept tabs on her over the years.  How could they not?  Given her lineage, she was all but guaranteed to be perfect for what they were going to propose.  Still, because of her lineage, she'd had to be kept quite separate from this world of theirs as she'd grown up and now it was time to bring her back into it.

But only if she wanted to.

The man checked his watch.  It was half-past four.  The girl was bound to be home any time now from band practice.  They had her routine down to a science.  As long as there were no variables unaccounted for, she would be home in exactly three minutes and forty-two seconds.

A deep breath exhaled from the woman's lips.  The man glanced over at her.  "Are you ready for this?"

She shook her head, brown hair falling into her eyes.  She made no move to push it back.  "Not in the slightest.  You?"

"No."  His eyes drifted to the pink walls.  Not for the first time, he wondered if this was really their only option.  Wondered if they were making the right call. 

"I'm just wondering if we're doing the right thing," she mused, as if reading his thoughts.  The woman's eyes slid over the few photographs on the girl's dresser.  They roamed over the little ivory desk in the corner and the stacks upon stacks of books that littered the room, both on the tall bookcase and on the floor in heaping piles. 

"It's for the best," he said finally, though there was doubt in his voice.  "And for her own protection.  You know as well as I do the danger she's in.  Even if she says no, we'll have to post a guard unit of some sort on her.  It wouldn't do well to leave her unprotected."

The woman nodded and said, with a suddenly grim voice, "I know.  And it's what they would have wanted for her."

"Her scores were exemplary," the man continued, trying to convince the both of them.  "The highest we've seen in years."

"She's definitely her parents' child, then."

"Without a doubt."

The front door downstairs opened and closed with a barely audible click.  The footsteps that climbed the staircase to the second floor were almost imperceptible.  The pair shared a look.  His was almost resting on pride.  The girl was untrained and yet she moved with a stealth and quietness that rarely appeared in any of their students for several months after training began. 

For a moment, everything was impossibly still, and then the doorknob spun open and a young girl walked into the room.  She was pretty little thing with long, slightly curled golden hair.  She was of medium height and slim with very little muscle but, with a few month of intense training, the man was certain that she would be strong and solid.

He appraised her with an eye that was akin to scout spotting an athlete.  The woman stared at her with a different kind of eye, noticing how that she moved with a grace that was so like her mother's.  Which was not to mention the fact that the girl was almost an exact replica of her mother, except for the bright blue eyes, which were entirely her father's.