Shay was still thinking about Noah, unsettled, when she took her phone out of her pocket and saw she had three texts from Alec. He wanted an update. Again.
Shay: Val's starting to trust me, showed me her private office and where the files are. Tomorrow I'll be assigned a mission. Will fill you in when I know the details.
Seconds later, she got a reply.
Alec: Sounds good. Did she show you any cases in particular?
Shay's heart jumped with indecision. Yet again, she didn't know how much to tell him. Keeping all of her emotional ties off to the side, she tried to look at it rationally. The most important question was this: is Val helping or hurting society by doing what she's doing? Since Shay still didn't have a concrete answer, she couldn't pick a side.
Shay: No. Will try to see if I can break in and see for myself.
Alec: Not yet, it's too risky. I'll let you know if we ever need to take that route.
Shay breathed a sigh of relief at being called out on her bluff. She had absolutely zero intentions of doing what she had just suggested.
After sending back an acknowledgment, Shay put her phone down on the bamboo night stand and drifted off to sleep.
****
At eight o'clock Thursday morning, Val's voice rang through the intercom. "Meeting downstairs in fifteen."
Despite Noah's recent bad attitude, this made him feel slightly better. Just slightly. And it was gone as soon as he went to the bathroom and saw her again, standing at the sink splashing water on her face.
"Morning." Shay greeted, wearing nothing but short shorts and a cotton tank. She didn't even have a fucking bra on.
Noah grunted and closed himself in the bathroom, taking deep breaths to calm down before taking a shower. When he got out in his towel, she was no longer there, the door on her side closed. Good.
He'd been mad since he saw her with that guy. He could say he didn't know why it bothered him so much, but that was a lie. He knew. And all it did was piss him off more.
After throwing on a sweatshirt and jeans, he made his way downstairs and grabbed a granola bar from the pantry. The hidden door was already open and no one was around, suggesting he was late. Shoving the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, he threw away the wrapper and went to the basement.
All the way to the left, there's a metal door with a scanner on it. When Noah got to the landing, he saw Val was standing in front of the scanner entering some stuff on the screen while Shay watched beside her. Val moved her closer for a scan and then smiled, saying that Shay now had full access to the room.
"What is it?" Shay asked. Noah was closer to them now, having past all of the workout equipment and the boxing ring in the middle.
"Our office." Val replied.
Noah snuck inside the door before the two of them, not wanting to hear Val's lengthy explanation of the rooms. To the right there was six desks, each with a powerful computer that had access to various security systems and databases. Straight ahead was the briefing room with a bunch of chairs around a long table and a screen at the far end. What else was there to say, really?
Noah sat down next to Summer at the table as they waited for Val to begin the presentation. Eli and Jon were there, too, with their hands folded on top of the hard surface as they listened to Val's murmurs about the computers.
"You think we're going after another one of Marconi's guys?" Jon directed his question at Noah, excitement in his voice. Over the years Noah had been there, they had gone after Marconi only a handful of times due to the risky nature of it. With his personal vendetta and knowledge of how the gang worked, Noah had been able to prove his worth every time they took a guy down. His latest kill was only a week before Shay arrived, a dirty bastard that liked to murder little kids.
"I hope so." Noah replied.
"Alright, thank you guys for waiting." Val said as Shay took a seat at the back of the table. Noah kept his gaze trained on the screen as Val pulled up a picture of their next target. "This is Katerina Bondar, a Ukrainian woman operating under the name of Sophia Grace. She is in this country illegally and has been running a prostitution ring using a yoga studio as a front."
The woman in the picture looked to be almost forty, with brown hair and dark eyes. Her cheekbones were small and face in an oblong shape, making her look nothing short of average.
"Lately, her business has been taking a turn for the worse." Val continued. "There is evidence that she has ties with the Ukranian crime syndicate, and that she's helping to plan an assassination on American soil. She is located in Washington D.C. and is planning to meet with a contractor next week to expand her yoga studio. That is where we'll strike."
Val looked at Noah for a brief second with an expression that he recognized. One he hadn't seen since the last time he was benched.
"Summer and Jon, you will travel to D.C. with Eli to make the hit. I will fill you in with more details later but for now, I'll move on to Noah and Shay's mission."
Noah and Shay. The shock must have been apparent on his face cause Val's attention was directly on him, "Since you two are having issues, I've assigned you do a different case. Domestic violence, happening right here in Massachusetts."
"Val, no-" Noah began, but she cut him off.
"I'm not putting you two anywhere near danger until you have resolved your issues. My decision is final."
Noah felt his anger raging again, her words lighting the match and his buried emotions adding fuel to the flame. He braved a look at Shay and saw an expression of sadness and hope. A look that almost softened him, but didn't.
Looks like he was stuck with her for a while.