Maelstrom

One

[contra spem spero]

-three weeks earlier-

Normally, Tessa wouldn't have chosen a clear, sunny day for a stealth operative, but the ends would justify the means, she supposed. She raised an eyebrow, surveying the endless azure sky for any sign of an impending cloud or storm on the horizon, but found nothing. Which was just as well, because she figured that any sudden downpour would trap Kaden, Mark, and Imogen inside and that was exactly what they were trying to avoid.

Shifting her weight, Tessa glanced down at the busy street below her. From her vantage point on the roof, she could see everything and everyone but no one could see her. Thanks to Amelie, the Mist kept her hidden from any and all mortals with a wandering eye. The last thing they needed was for someone to report a young woman on the roof across from Alderman Rainier's campaign headquarters and do them all in for good.

At the thought of the politician's name, Tessa flicked her gaze over to the banners hanging outside the adorned campaign hall, and the site of their stealth operative. Alderman Rainier's charming face grinned back at Tessa on the banner, but the slight breeze rippled and distorted the image, turning the young politician's handsome smile into a grotesque grin.

If only pictures could talk. Tessa had heard Alderman Rainier speak, seen him move, watched all of his press releases and interviews and debates, but this man was still an enigma. She'd hardly paid him any attention, but that was before Eli Allistairs called her with his name, a connection to Vinny Maxwell, and inherently, the connection to all their problems.

And so that was why she was standing on a roof across from his campaign headquarters, looking like a creeper and armed like one too.

A sudden flare of feedback in her ear ripped Tessa's focus from her thoughts, and she winced, pressing a finger to her earpiece. "What?"

"Sorry!" Mark's panicked reply came in crackly, but there nonetheless. "Ran into some interference."

"What do you mean interference?" Dale drawled, sarcasm in her voice. Tessa could imagine the daughter of Demeter rolling her eyes at Mark's footage from his hidden camera, her feet kicked up on the dashboard of Camp Half-Blood's van. "You're in an office building, not a tunnel."

"Do either of you have something meaningful to contribute?" Tessa asked, fighting her smile at her two best friends. "Our window's closing."

"That it is," Reese confirmed, and Tessa got closer to the edge of the roof, spotting the son of Apollo seated at an outdoor café a few doors down from the campaign headquarters. "Rainier's lunchtime conversation with yet another New York official is on the verge of ending."

"I'm in," Kaden chimed. "Five minutes, and we're out of here."

"I sure hope you mean 'in', like 'in Rainier's office', Gray, or else I'll be seriously pissed," Dale asserted.

The feed went silent, and Tessa hoped it was so Kaden could concentrate on doing his job. The task at hand was, in theory, simple: plant a bug on Rainier's computer, then get out. Kaden, disguised as a janitor, would take care of the actual planting of the bug. Mark, posing as a prospective intern, was getting a tour of the building from Rainier's chief of staff. And Imogen, thanks to her charmspeak, was keeping the security guards entranced long enough so they wouldn't look at their camera footage. Around the corner, Dale was parked in Camp Half-Blood's van; Reese was monitoring Alderman Rainier at the café, and Tessa was keeping an eye out above for anyone less than friendly.