Rogue

Grace-Chapter 1

It was never a good sign when her boss called in the middle of the night. Grace rolled over and groggily felt around for her phone which she thought she had left on the edge of her nightstand, but it had somehow managed to disappear. Flinging the covers off her legs, she fumbled for her glasses, her fingers bumping over the pistol she always kept nearby. Finally, she managed to jam her glasses onto her face before finding her phone which had somehow slid halfway under her bed.

"Hello?"

"We have a problem," Will said, not even bothering to say hello. "How soon can you get down to headquarters?"

Glancing at the clock, Grace did a doubletake when she realized it was only three in the morning. That really wasn't a good sign.

"I need a few minutes to get ready," she said, standing up and padding out into the hallway and turning on the lights. Her apartment wasn't large, but it was new and close to CIA headquarters. "I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Perfect, just hurry," Will replied, ending the call abruptly. Grace sighed—that was just how Will was in crisis-mode. She stretched and yawned, making her way into the bathroom. She flipped on the light and studied her hair—it would take her forever to tame this rats nest! Groaning, she quickly raked a brush through her hair, bundling it into a knot on the top of her head. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she changed into a charcoal gray pencil skirt and jacket. As she slipped on her shoes, she holstered her weapon in the waistband of her skirt. She had learned quickly in this business that even when she was stateside, it was better to be safe than sorry.

She drove toward headquarters, stopping at the only coffee place that was still open for a cup of tea and a danish. They weren't as good as the real deal that she had tasted in Denmark, but it would have to do—she was cutting it close as it was.

"I'm here," she said as she rushed into the office. The whole team was assembled, working furiously on their computers. "What happened?"

"We've just been hacked," Will replied quickly. "It could be worse than Snowden."

"What did they take?" Grace asked, her stomach dropping as she logged onto her computer. Some things stayed secret for a reason. They stayed secret to protect the men and women serving their country. Who would do something like this?

"They took a lot," Will muttered grimly. "Black ops mission reports, agent profiles, we don't even know how much they got yet—we're still sorting through it."

"Crap," Grace whispered under her breath. "Do you think they'll unleash it to the media? Information like that in the wrong hands could spell disaster for a lot of good people."

Will shook his head, rubbing his face exhaustedly. "We don't know. The only thing we know so far was that it was an internal theft. Whoever took the information was one of our own."

Grace dropped her cup in surprise, but luckily Will caught it just before it hit the floor.

"Internal?" she managed as he handed the cup back to her. The prospect of a traitor among them made her a little queasy. "Are you serious?"

Will nodded. "I wish I wasn't, but we managed to pull someone off the security footage leaving the building. They used a security access card that they stole from Director Marshall. We've got a team tracking him now. I want you on comms."

Grace nodded, putting on her earpiece.

"I want one final go around," Will started. "All teams listen up. Survey Two, I need to know when you've got eyes on the suspect."

"This is Survey Two," a voice crackled in Grace's ear. "I have eyes on the suspect, moving closer to get a better look."

"Copy that."

"Survey One, this is Hub," Grace said, switching automatically into mission mode. "Do you have visual contact?"

"Hub, this is Survey One," a voice she recognized as Akil's responded. "Mobile One is in motion."

"Good, stay with it," Grace replied, her stomach fluttering with nerves. If they managed to catch this guy before he could deliver the information to anyone, they might be able to stop a catastrophe.

"He's moving toward the train station," Akil's voice sounded. "Mobile One is entering the building."

Grace waited, mentally counting the seconds as she forced herself to remember to breathe. Something felt wrong—it had been too long since they had heard anything... And then the screens went dark.

Grace jumped when four loud cracks shattered the silence over her earpiece, a gasp escaping her before she could stop it.

"Those were shots. Mobile One, come in." Her words were met with silence. "Mobile One, I need to know what happened. What do you see?"

"I don't see anything, I think we lost the video feed," Agent Forrester said, frantically trying to make the images pop back up on the screen. Will slammed a fist down on the table in frustration. "Damn it!"

"Get some men in there," Grace shouted. "Get some men in there right now. Survey One, can you copy?"

More silence echoed in Grace's ears and her heart began pounding even harder. "Are you there, Survey One?"

Suddenly their video feed came back up. "Hub, this is Survey One. We're coming under fire."

"From who?" Grace asked the room at large, but she didn't have to wonder for long. Akil fired over the edge of a bench and moving just enough that she saw him. Her world slowed to a stop—that wasn't just any face—that was a face she knew. A face she had kissed once under the mistletoe at the Christmas party a year and a half ago and then never saw again. It was a face that she had fallen in love with in their brief time together, one that she had been able to picture herself with for a long time. A face that she had been searching so long for, she had thought she'd never see it again. The memories came flooding back in an instant as she stared at the handsome features she knew so well even though the encounter just now had been brief. Though the video feed didn't show it, she knew his eyes were blue and serious, and his rugged features made her think he would look just a little dangerous, even if he wasn't carrying a gun. Touching the necklace he had given her for Christmas before disappearing, she whispered his name.

"Isaac."