Page 134 of Silver Elite

Poor misguided Jordan with his poor misplaced faith.

He sneaks another glance at the officers, then raises his hand to my face. A quick brush of fingers on my cheek. I feel Cross’s eyesburning into my back. Sure enough, the sharp tenor of his voice whips toward us.

“Darlington. Quit fraternizing. Rejoin your cell.”

“Sorry,” I tell Jordan. “I have to go.”

“I’ll track you down later, now that I know you’re on the base.”

I hesitate. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

A slight frown mars his lips.

“I feel like it would make things worse for me,” I clarify, giving a discreet nod toward the captain.

Jordan gets the message. “Right. I’ll contact you on your comm first.”

“Darlington,” Cross snaps.

I edge away from Jordan and return to the group, where Kaine raises an eyebrow in question.

“Don’t even ask,” I say with a sigh.

Finally, the officers decide to acknowledge our existence. Ford does the talking. “Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. We’re starting UCOs this week.”

Undercover operations.Yes.I’ve been looking forward to this section.

“Obviously we can’t just send you into the wild without supervision, so you’ll each have a handler in the field with you. We’re doing this in stages. Five of you are up tonight. Schedule’s been uploaded to your sources.”

We’re wearing our wrist sources for the run, so I check mine and brighten when I discover I’m in tonight’s group.

“My name’s not on this schedule.” The accusation comes from Roe, who’s openly glaring at his older brother.

Cross’s expression remains composed. “As I told the General last night, we don’t have a solid cover in place for you yet.”

“That’s bullshit, brother.”

“It is what it is,brother,” Cross says and dismisses him from his gaze.

—

When I return to the barracks, a dossier has been loaded into my source. It’s a detailed biography of my undercover identity, and I’ve been given two hours to memorize it. That’s not a lot of time, but I’m not too worried. Excitement tickles my stomach as I read my backstory.

Later, Tyler Struck comes to the barracks to collect the women who are on op tonight. Which is just me and Bryce. We drive to the building that houses Silver Block and follow her through a series of rooms until we reach the one she refers to as “Wardrobe.” Inside, we find racks of clothing.

Bryce stares at a rack of dresses before turning toward the instructor. “Soldier Struck? I’m not entirely comfortable with my cover.”

Struck laughs. That’s her entire response. Laughter.

It sparks a flash of indignation in Bryce’s eyes, and I resist the urge to say,Aww, you couldn’t have called Daddy to get you out of this section?

If I had a Lux credit for every time I’ve heardMy father is in Command Intelligence,I’d be able to buy out the commissary.

“How often does Silver Block go undercover?” I ask Struck.

She shrugs. “Depends on what’s brewing in the wards.”

“Is something brewing now?”

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