Page 75 of Smoke and Mirrors

“You did? Why?” Kace asks.

“Because things at The Agency are changing, and I know you’re one of the good guys. I knew you’d come in search of the truth.”

Kace exhales, running his hands through his hair. “I went to Yana, and she said that The Agency was targeting other countries and coming off as the aggressors. What does that mean?”

He exhales and nods. “There’s so much you don’t know, Kace. So much that’s been hidden from you. But it’s all there for you to find out if you dig hard enough.”

He shakes his head. “But what is it that I don’t know? What’s the secret that everyone seems to know but me?”

Ethan winces and pauses like he’s wondering whether to tell Kace or not. So I decide to say something. “Please, Ethan, you have to tell us. They’re trying to kill me for something I didn’t do, and we don’t know why.”

He glares at me with his one good eye, and Kace tenses as Ethan sits up taller in his wheelchair. “I’m sorry… were we talking to you? This is a conversation between Kace and me. If you’re going to butt in, then I suggest you get the fuck out or cut your goddamned tongue out before I slice your throat!”

Kace stands up as I gasp. He stands between Ethan and me, who’s panting hard. “Ethan, it’s okay. She’s harmless. Take a breath. She’s not the enemy, but you need to tell us who is.”

Ethan leans back in his chair, his breath slowing down as he sags into his chair. “I’m sorry. I have lapses where I’m back… there, and I snap. Sorry, Kace. Camilla, or better known to you as Mom… I don’t know how to tell you this, but she’s seeing someone.”

Kace’s eyes widen, and he shakes his head. “What, like as in dating someone? Why wouldn’t she tell me that?”

Ethan sighs. “Because it’s Luthendale.”

Kace stiffens beside me, his chest starts to heave like he’s panicking. “As in Mark Luthendale? The Director of The Agency? As in not only my boss but her boss?”

Ethan nods and exhales. “She’s sleeping with the man she takes orders from, and something’s not right, Kace. The world’s not entirely overjoyed with The Agency at the moment, and you need to do what you can to find out why.”

Kace scrubs at his face with his hands, and I reach out to rub his back. I don’t really understand what this all means, but it must be something big for Kace to look so disturbed by it.

“Shit! That means the order for Lily came from Mark. This is big, Lily. We’re in deeper than I thought.”

Ethan sits up taller and smirks. “Lily, you’re a waste order, aren’t you?”

Chewing on my bottom lip, I nod, remembering that Yana told me what a waste order was.

A kill order.

Mark Luthendale wants me dead.

I just don’t know why.

Chapter Twenty-Three

LILY

Ethan didn’t have much more information for Kace, so we left, and now we’re in search of an internet café. I’m not really sure why, but Kace is on edge. He seems distracted, and I want to see if I can help in any way.

“Kace, is there anything I can do?” I ask as he pulls the van into a parking space on the side of the road.

He exhales, turning to look at me and shakes his head. “No, just stay by my side. Don’t move away from my line of sight, okay?”

Nodding, I exhale as we hop out of the van. I grab our backpack full of supplies and walk into the internet café. I step over to a computer, it looks outdated and ancient while Kace goes to the counter to pay for some time. He steps up to me, taking a seat in front of the machine and sighs. “Can you keep a look out, make sure no one comes too close to our station?”

Nodding, I smile that I can be helpful in some small way. Kace opens the web browser and types in some gibberish into the search engine. A web page of a museum comes up, and I furrow my brows as he clicks into the log-in area and types in some details. Suddenly, the screen turns black, and bright green digits run down the screen. I gasp as Kace looks around to see if anyone is watching.

A logo appears of a circle with a banner on the bottom, and two eagles in flight in the middle flashes on the screen. I swallow hard knowing he isn’t searching for something on Google anymore. Another log-in screen appears, and he types in some keystrokes again, and then all these browsers pop up one by one. I glance around as I breathe in hard knowing he’s probably hacking his own Agency’s server right now.

“I’ll have to be quick. I used my log-in to access the primary server, knowing they would have kept it active, so they can trace me if I attempt a log-in. An alert would have triggered the instant I logged in. We don’t have much time before they trace it to here.”

I tense knowing his team will be on our tail again soon.

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