Page 75 of Knight Moves

Wally went off to walk on the treadmill while I dived in the pool and swam lap after lap. When I finally got out, I toweled off and looked around. It was just Wally, Kira, and me left in the gym. Jax and Mike had left at some point.

I went into the girls’ locker room to change, and while I was blow-drying my hair, Kira walked in.

I ignored her, but she walked right up to me so I had to turn off the dryer and face her.

“What do you want?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she said. “Please?”

I was so surprised by the politeness of her request, I nearly dropped the dryer. “You want to talk to me?”

“Yes. I’d appreciate it.” She pointed to the bench.

After a moment, I put down the dryer and sat, wondering what she wanted. She joined me on the bench, twisting her pale hands together in her lap.

“Look, this is hard for me to say, but I’m sorry for acting like such a jerk. To you, to Frankie, to everyone.”

I stiffened. “I thought you made up with Frankie.”

“I did. Didn’t she tell you what we talked about?”

“No. Should she have?”

“Well, I asked her not to tell anyone.”

“And she didn’t.” I let out a breath of exasperation. “Frankie is good like that. Keeping confidences, I mean. Honestly, I don’t care what you told her. Your business is your business. You made it clear you weren’t interested in getting to know any of us.” The frustration and anger I’d been feeling towards her slipped out.

“It’s not that simple, Angel. This opportunity is important to me. I really want to make it.”

“Weallwant to make it, Kira.” It came out a lot more irritable than I intended, but I didn’t know what the heck she wanted from me. Maybe this was just a ploy on her part now that the competition had started stacking up.

“No, it’s not like that. You see, my father was a spy for the US during the Cold War. He was recruited by the KGB and became a double agent for America. He was very successful. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he was brought here to US. He met my mother, several years his junior, in California. She is Ukrainian American, but she’s never lived in the Ukraine. My father’s dream was for his son, my twin brother, Anatoly, to go to UTOP.” It had all come out in a fast rush, but now she paused to let the words sink in, or perhaps to gather the courage to continue. “But, you see, I wanted it, too. Badly. Anatoly is smart and capable, but his ability comes easy. I worked harder, so when the time came for the invitation, I asked for a chance to be included, too. My father agreed, I think, because he never believed a female would make it. And even if I did, he didn’t believe I would pose a threat to my perfect brother. But when the invitation came, it was for me. Not Anatoly.”

She fell silent. The entire time she’d been talking, she’d been looking at the ground. But now she looked directly at me, her expression miserable, obviously waiting for a response.

I had no idea what she expected me to say. “Well, good for you, Kira. You earned your slot here.” It sounded harsher than I intended, but subtly in conversation was not my forte.

“That’s what I thought,” she said quietly. “Still, I needed to prove myself, to my family, but especially to my father, that I deserved to be here. But now…it’s clear I don’t have what it takes. My father was right all along about me.” She looked at the ground again.

What was she trying to say—that she was giving up? My pent-up anger started to melt, and I started feeling guilty she was even confessing this to me.

“Why do you think your father was right, Kira? You’ve done great in the trials so far. You’re in amazing physical shape. You didn’t need help on a single obstacle except for the wall, and we all needed help on that. You were an excellent diplomat in our role-playing game, which means you’re clearly intelligent and capable. If I’m honest, you’re also probably the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen outside of Hollywood. None of the guys can keep their eyes off you, especially Wally. You’ve got everything going for you.” I stopped myself, not sure why I’d said any of that. Why had I brought Wally into this? Why was I playing therapist? But more importantly, had I just beenniceto her?

She twisted her hands together. “I screwed everything up. This is all my fault. I wanted to put distance between everyone and me, especially the girls, because I was afraid if I liked you, I would hesitate to do what it took to beat you. I could not afford to risk that. But then I fell to Frankie. She saved me, even when I was terrible to her. She’s impossible to resist.”

“That’s true,” I agreed grudgingly. “She did the same to me, and I still don’t know how.”

Kira gave a wry smile. “As the competition went on, I realized that while I was competent and able, I don’t stand out like the rest of you. I’m smart, but I struggle with advanced math concepts. It’s my weakness. Jax has been really good about helping me. He’s tutoring me in calculus.”

Sothat’swhy they were always missing together. “That’s really nice of him,” I admitted.

“It is, but regardless, it’s clear I’m not going to be one of the two people selected for UTOP. Anatoly would have had a better shot at it, but I took that from him, too.”

I fell silent for a moment and then asked, “What’s your special class, Kira? You know, the one you take alone with no one else.”

She pushed back the hair on her shoulders. “Biology. I wanted to be a doctor before the UTOP training. I thought maybe I could be both, but perhaps it was foolish to think there’d be a place for a doctor who is also an operative.”

I stared at her. “Are you kidding me? You want to be a medical doctor? That would be an incredibly useful skill to have as an operative.”

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