Page 1 of Spies Like Us

Chapter 1

Lathan bends down and closes Bishop’s eyes, avoiding the bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. “How did someone get a jump on a highly trained agent like Bishop?” He stands back up and looks around before gesturing to the body. “He’s still warm, and the blood is only just now clotting, but we didn’t see anyone walk past us. Where did they go?” He peers into the dark tunnels leading away from the cell area like he wants to keep following them.

“Unless there is another entrance to the tunnel that we missed back there, then they must have gone the other way. Billy and the rest of the football team are still at the party, right?” I add. “Were they there when you guys entered the bedroom?” I ask Miller and Ryland.

Ry nods as Miller steps over Bishop and looks around the rest of the area. “Yeah, he was standing by the bedroom door, practically with his ear against it. I had to tell him that we were triple teaming the new girl before he moved away from the door.” He grimaces apologetically.

“That’s weird, because he seemed concerned about my drunk act. If it wasn’t for that video, I would have guessed he was one of the good guys.”

“Pfft, he just gave us a slow wink and walked away. I’m almost certain he doesn’t suspect anything, or he didn’t. What the fuck did Bishop do to get himself killed? Did he rat us out? Are our covers blown?” Ryland has this cute little wrinkle between his eyebrows as his gaze follows Miller around the room.

“Well, even if they weren’t before, they are now,” Miller says, pointing up at something toward the top of the room.

“Fuck,” Lathan exclaims as he catches sight of the blinking red light. “Hopefully they aren’t monitored twenty-four seven.” He pulls out his phone and starts doing something with it. “I’m going to hack the signal, delete the last bit of footage, and loop it so we can explore a little longer, but on the upside, when we get back to the house, I can go through it and see if it shows who killed Bishop.”

“You can do all that with a phone?” I ask, nodding at the cellphone in his hand.

He looks up and nods absently before looking down again. “Of course I can.” Hearing how calm and confident he is gives me a sense of relief. I’d be fucked if I were on my own, but this seems like it’s all in a day’s work for him.

I move over to one of the cells. They are surprisingly modern. They have glass fronts, kind of like a zoo. The doors are open to all of them, so I carefully step inside and have a look around. They smell sanitized, and there is a comfortable-looking bed. Off to one side is a door that leads into a bathroom. “These aren’t short-term holding cells,” I call to the guys, my words echoing slightly. I spy another flashing red light in the cell, and again in the bathroom. “These all have cameras too,” I tell Lathan as I step back out. He nods his acknowledgment, and I assume he takes care of their feeds as well.

Miller is doing the same on the other side of the room. “These were also specially built. Someone is responsible for them. Maybe we need to look at construction companies in town, because the plumbing in the bathrooms required a professional.”

“We really need an invite to the sex club. I have a feeling it’s the answer to all of this. Sex makes great blackmail material, or even an effective incentive.” Ryland gazes around the area, his eyes settling on the tunnel leading away. “We don’t have time to follow that, but we need to come back and check it out at another time.”

“Alright, I managed to clear all the footage, but let’s get out of here. We’ve been gone a while, and we don’t want anyone to get suspicious.” Lathan stuffs his phone back into his pocket, but then he looks at Bishop. “What are we going to do about him?”

“We’re going to have to leave him. We don’t want anyone to know we were down here. We can call Percy and tell him what happened, but until he either turns up dead somewhere or we report him missing to the police, we have to pretend life is normal.” Ry shrugs. “We don’t want to tip anyone off that we know about his death.”

“Did he have family?” I ask. Unlike Ryland, Max, Dayton, and myself, most agents recruited by MITHOS don’t actually have much, if any, family. It makes it easier because they don’t have to explain where they are disappearing to or where they work. I wonder what Dayton’s cover story is for his family. I know Max and Ry’s dad is one of the few people who knows about MITHOS.

“No, he was a foster kid recruited right out of high school. One of the MITHOS foster families recommended him for the position,” Ry tells me, and Miller just grunts.

“Better check any other recommendations from that family, because he sucked.”

Some of our agents, when they want to move away from active duty, will become foster parents. They keep an eye out for potential agents, and foster kids get a good home. The smaller teams of two and sometimes three agents are perfect for this, because you don’t have to explain a poly group to anyone.

We start heading back the way we came. “Now that I hacked the feed, we can keep an eye on what happens down here. I’ll be able to see when they move Bishop’s body and if anyone else uses this tunnel or the cells,” Lathan explains as the four of us start to jog.

“How much time passed between him giving me that drink and us finding him down here? I kind of lost track of time while we were dancing,” I ask after a long silence, the sounds of our breaths echoing through the tunnels. “Was there time for Billy and the boys to bring him down here? And if they did, then what did he do to score a bullet in the brain? When we watched that video, it looked like Billy wanted him on his side, so why is he dead?”

“It was about forty minutes. Plenty of time for them to come down here. We only walked for about fifteen before we found the body, so that still leaves at least half an hour for them to find him, kill him, and get back to the party. I’ll scan through the footage and see if I can find any answers.” Lathan’s hand on my shoulder is a comforting reassurance, because I have completely started to spiral about us all being made.

“This is bullshit. See? This is why I don’t like to work with a team!” I lash out at the three of them, my worry making me bitchy. “When I work on my own, I only have to worry about me.”

I hate this nervous feeling that comes from wondering if we’ve blown the case, if they are going to pack up their operation and leave, and if we’re going to miss out on stopping this end of the operation and rescuing countless trafficked people.

“And this is why we don’t like rogue operatives who think they can do whatever they want without running it by the team,” Miller sneers. “You’re just as bad as Bishop, doing your own thing. You easily could have been the one with the bullet in your brain.”

I squeeze my hands into fists and barely resist the urge to punch his face.

“Hey, whoa, stop! No, this shit is what’s going to blow our cover. Until we know something concrete, we are going to continue business as usual, you understand?” Ryland glares at Miller and me. I mime zipping my mouth shut, and he just rolls his eyes like a child.

I slow down and let the two of them get in front of me.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lathan slips his hand into mine and gives it a squeeze as he comes along side me. He leaves it there as we keep walking down the damp tunnel, and I’m not going to lie, it feels good.

“Yeah, shit, sorry. I didn’t like him, and I know we talked about eliminating him, but it’s all the not knowing why and how and who that’s bothering me. I don’t care that he’s dead. I know that sounds callous, but he’s one less problem to worry about, and it also gives us a whole heap of new issues.”

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