Page 127 of Silver Elite

I grin. “I’m down.”

So that’s what we do.

The next time the door creaks open to reveal the shadowy silhouette of our guard dog, Kaine and I spring to action. Our movements are synchronized as we dive forward, overpowering Roe before he can react.

We feel like a pair of badasses as we strut out of the warehouse a few minutes later, but our victory is short-lived. When we emerge into the daylight, Ford waits for us, arms folded against his chest. Hadley stands nearby, frowning at us. I hate the days when we train with Red Cell, because it means I have to see his face.

“Twenty minutes,” Ford says in disapproval. “All you had to do was wait twenty more minutes and you would’ve passed this drill.”

“We rescued ourselves,” I protest.

“That wasn’t the point, Darlington.”

I glare at him. “The objective was to get rescued.”

Our instructor makes an annoyed sound. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Then what were we supposed to do?” Kaine grumbles, equally irritated.

“Wait to get rescued! It’s the name of the fucking op, Sutler. Wait for Rescue.” Ford spells it out for us. “The whole point of this exercise is to teach you patience and discipline.”

Well, when he puts it like that, I suppose I was always destined to fail. My impulsive nature chafes against the confines of those mission parameters. The desire for action will always burn like a wildfire inside me.

“Then why would you put us together?” I hook a thumb toward Kaine. “He’s even more impatient than I am!”

Ford gives me a look as if to say,Exactly,then stalks off to address the rest of our fellows.

I’m confused for a second, until I suddenly realize what that look meant. We’re being grouped for these drills not at random but based on the weaknesses we self-reported back in Section 2. This is why I’m constantly being paired with Kaine when it’s evident we don’t work well together. We’re too similar.

“What did you enter as your weaknesses?” I ask him. “When that question popped up on our sources.”

Understanding dawns in his eyes. “Reckless. Impatient.”

“I said impulsive and impatient. And terrible at written work.” I glance over. “What was your third one?”

“Too good looking.”

I snort.

“So what he’s saying is we need to think before we act and exercise more patience?” Kaine heaves a dramatic sigh. “That sounds so tedious.”

“I know.”

We rejoin the group for a debrief. Ford announces that all the Black Cell guards passed the mission. All members of the extraction team also passed.

“And our hostages, Sutler and Darlington,” he finishes, his amused gaze flicking our way. “You failed.”

“That’s such horseshit,” I grumble. “Technically the rescuers failed, too. Because they didn’t rescue us.”

From the extraction group, Kess presses her middle and pointer fingers to her thumb and flicks me off.

Ford practically growls with annoyance. “I told you, the rescue wasn’t the point of the op. The purpose was to fulfill a role and follow directions. Everyone did that except you two assholes.”

We’re both suitably chastised. Ugh. I hate it when Ford is right. Turns him into such a smug bastard.

I’m fully aware that my weaknesses have the tendency to drag me down. IknowI act on impulse, and I know it’s stupid of me. I wouldn’t even be on this base if I hadn’t made the brash decision to race to Sanctum Point and try to stop Jim’s execution.

Maybe if I’d listened to Griff, Tana, Declan, everyone who warned me not to go, then I’d…

---