The Vanishing Girl (12 page)

While I kissed him back, my fingers moved down Caden’s ribcage and danced along the deep V that cut into his torso. My pulse skipped along. He was put together perfectly.

Caden broke off the kiss, grabbed my hands in one of his, and reached around me with the other to turn off the facet. “Shower’s over,” he said, breathing heavily. The hand that held mine trembled slightly.

I nodded once, my breath also coming out in ragged bursts. I leaned my head against his chest and felt his arms wrap around me.

If he hadn’t stopped us, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to.

Chapter 19

I sat on
the carpet in front of Caden’s bed, clad in an oversized shirt and sweats, and watched as Caden showed me the various parts of a gun and how to assemble them. Unlike me, the government seemed to trust him with actual weapons.

Everything about Caden was sexy. From his rich voice, to the way his forearms rippled as he assembled the weapon, to the way he looked at me. I’d noticed this all before, but after the shower, I noticed each feature with renewed appreciation.

“Ember, are you even paying attention?” Caden eyed me suspiciously.

“What
—
oh yeah.” It had been two hours since we jumped out of the shower, yet still I couldn’t stop visualizing him naked. I had thought this was a dude problem, but nope, right now it was a girl problem as well.

“Ember.”

“Huh?”

“Stop eyeing me like I’m going to be your next meal. It’s distracting.” Caden’s eyes dropped to my mouth.

“Sorry.” I couldn’t even come up with a witty response, that’s how distracted I was.

“It’s okay. Can you repeat back to me the first three steps of assembling an SSAK forty-seven using the terms I just went over?”

I diligently repeated the steps back to him when a knock on the door interrupted us.

“Come in!” Caden called.

Two men dressed in fatigues came into the room. “Are you ready for your mission?” one asked. But it wasn’t really a question.

I heard Caden curse under his breath. “Sorry, princess,” he said to me, “I forgot about this.” To the men he said, “Yeah, I’m ready.” He stood up.

Crap, I still hadn’t checked that sheet to find out when our second simulation would be. I glanced at Caden. “Is our second simulation today?”

“No, it’s tomorrow.” He wouldn’t look at me.

“Then where are you …” Mission. That’s what the man had said. That Caden was going on a
mission
.

“You can stay in my room for as long as you want,” Caden said. He leaned in and brushed my lips with his. Before I had a chance to kiss him back, he pulled away and followed the men out.

I touched my lips and watched the door click shut. Even though Caden had been sent to capture me two weeks ago, I had assumed that was a special occasion. My impression was that everyone in my classes was preparing to go on missions for the first time ever. It had never crossed my mind that some had already started doing them.

I left Caden’s
room shortly after he did, intent on grabbing dinner. Now that he was no longer there, I had no reason to stay in it.

As I turned the corner to the dining hall, I heard shouts in the distance. Reflexively I moved towards the noise.

I shouldn’t have bothered; it was getting closer and closer to me. A stretcher rounded the corner and on it I saw something I’d only seen pictures of.

A teleporter drenched in blood lay on the stretcher, his naked body only covered where the medics had tried to temporarily staunch the blood loss. By the looks of it, the wound was too extensive for this to help much.

I backed up at the sight. Someone had been spliced.

Amongst all the blood, a tuft of short blonde hair had managed to stay dry. The sight chilled me.

Eric.

I didn’t know him well, but he was a good friend of Caden’s, and he had always been kind to me.

And he had a pair. I looked at the throng of people surrounding him, but Serena wasn’t amongst them. Of course she wouldn’t be; she’d been in the simulation with him.

My gut twisted. Before her ten minutes were up, had she seen Eric get injured? Had she worried this might happen? That she might never see him again? I didn’t envy her. Waking up and realizing your partner was dead, someone who you were friends with
—
maybe more than just friends
—
that just might be the worst feeling in the world.

Caden’s on a mission.
The same thing could happen to him. My skin felt feverish, and the hallway much too claustrophobic.

Pull yourself together.
He was good. I’d seen him in action.

The doors outside the front entrance banged closed. I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I’d only now noticed that Eric and the group of medics were already outside.

I followed, interested in the facility’s procedure when it came to splicing. Ahead of me a helicopter started up on a launch pad some distance away from the main building. The medics loaded Eric onto it, and then hopped in themselves. Once the engines were ready, the helicopter lifted up into the sky.

I watched until even the blinking lights of the chopper had disappeared over the hills. The whole thing took less than five minutes, but it still probably wasn’t fast enough to save Eric’s life.

And that was how we left the facility. In a body bag.

I looked around
me. I stood in someone’s living room. Along the walls hung a series of images. The small room was starkly furnished and it smelled musty. I walked to a window and peered outside. This house appeared to be one of many nestled next to each other. Was I in Europe?

“Hi Ember,” the familiar voice spoke from behind me.

I turned. “Adrian.” I was thrilled he wasn’t trying to throw me out or argue with me. I guess he’d gotten used to my unexpected drop-ins. “Is this your house?” I asked, my eyes moving around the room.

He shook his head. “My father’s. Listen Ember,” he said as I took in the living room we stood in again, “I’ve been reading my father’s notes and doing some serious research on the project you’re a part of. The more I learn, the more sinister secrets I uncover.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said as I picked up a photo of a rather ugly looking man.

“Did you know that you are permanent property of the government?”

I put the photo back and glanced up at him. “What, exactly, does that mean?” I asked.

He took me in, his eyes sad. “Think of it as a new form of slavery. It means that the government can require you to work for them for years
—
they chose your destiny, not the other way around.”

They had told me two years. Two years and then I was out. But thinking over the extensive facility I lived in, Adrian had to be right. You didn’t pour in that kind of money just to let it all go after two years.

And considering that drawer of deceased teleporters, if what Adrian was saying were true, then … “It’s a death sentence.”

He exhaled. “Yes.”

The sound of
my door opening and closing roused me from my dreams. A shadow moved through the darkness. I felt my mattress dip as the figure sat on the edge of my bed.

I could make out a bowed head and slumped shoulders. For a long time neither of us moved.

“Eric was hurt badly in his simulation,” Caden said. “They’re saying he might not make it.” His voice was emotionless. From what I’d seen of Eric, I couldn’t imagine how he would survive an injury that extensive.

Caden’s shoulders shook, and I was glad the lights were off. The sight of him losing it would have completely undone me.

Still, I slid out of the covers and came to where Caden sat. Using the tips of my fingers, I turned his head and kissed his lips, ignoring for his sake the wetness on his cheeks.

He swiveled his body, his lips parting as he leaned into me, all his attention focused on the sensation. My tongue caressed his, and two of his tears hit my cheeks.

I ran my hands up his arms. Tremors ran through Caden’s body, but neither of us acknowledged his anguish. Off in the distance I could hear someone wailing.

Serena.

I broke off the kiss. “You can stay here tonight, if you’d like. So you’re not alone.”

Caden cupped the side of my face, his thumb making circles over my cheek. I thought he was going to speak, but instead he gently laid me back on the bed. He molded his body to mine, wrapping an arm around my waist to hold us together.

“Thank you, princess,” he whispered.

In response, I took the hand on my waist, and kissed Caden’s callused knuckles before placing his hand back around me. His grip tightened, and I tried not to think about how perfectly we fit together.

I lay awake long after Caden’s breathing evened out, thinking about our lives. A tear of my own dripped down my face.

Eric’s fate was ours as well. It was only a matter of time.

The next morning
when I woke up, Caden was already gone. I changed and grabbed breakfast, then read over the email concerning today’s simulation. After seeing Eric’s spliced body, I’d made sure to memorize everything about it.

I’d be distracting Isaac Stankovich, a sixty-three year old businessman. He was CEO of two separate companies that specialized in weapons manufacturing, and he was on the Board of Directors for half a dozen others. He also had ties to enemies of the state, and his recent activities suggested that he might be supplying them with military grade weapons
—
his phone, which Caden would steal while I distracted him, was how we’d find that out.

He also happened to have a fondness for attractive, young women. Lucky me.

After I’d memorized the mission, I spent the next few hours reading up on my etiquette and weaponry textbooks. These were two areas of study that I didn’t know much about, but I could learn fast.

Near lunchtime, I knew how a basic gun worked, common variations in its structure and function, and which models had a mean kickback. There was also an entire section that focused on how to properly hold and aim a gun.

For etiquette, I now knew that it was critical to study the names and backstory of the people I’d be targeting on missions. Really, this was a no-brainer, but I hadn’t thought about it. Many of these individuals were rich and powerful; they expected others to know about them. It also helped teleporters identify how to handle particular individuals on missions.

But the most important lesson from etiquette was another that I already knew: play up your role. I was a pretty, innocent-looking girl. Women trusted me, and men either protected or lusted after me. But everyone underestimated me.

Someone knocked on my door. I slid off my bed and opened the door. Two individuals dressed in fatigues stood on the other side, there to escort me to my second simulation.

“I’m ready,” I said, closing the door behind me.

I followed them down the same halls as I had the last time I did this. And just like last time, I entered a stark room and lay down on a hospital bed. The only thing different was the doctor.

The male doctor flipped through my file, just as the last doctor had. He looked over his glasses at me. “Ready?”

“No.”

He chuckled at my response but still measured out the sedative. A moment later he took my wrist and swabbed the crook of my arm. Picking up the now full syringe, he slid the needle into my flesh. I winced as the fluid emptied into my veins.

And just like last time, I felt a burst of fear as my eyes began to droop and my vision blurred.

Here we go again.

Chapter 20

When I materialized
, Caden stood in front of me, wearing glasses and a suit. He looked like a model pretending to be a young financial analyst
—
that’s not to say his disguise was unbelievable. He just couldn’t hide his chiseled features and built form behind glasses and a business suit. All traces of last night’s sadness had vanished.

“Well, doesn’t someone look intellectual,” I said, ignoring the way my heart pounded at the sight of him.

“Take a look at yourself.”

I glanced down at my fitted slacks, white blouse, and snug blazer. In my hand I held a nondescript black briefcase, and around my wrist was a delicate silver watch that counted down our time.

When I looked up I noticed our surroundings. Skyscrapers towered around us from where we stood on the sidewalk, and the streets teemed with cars and people. We were in the financial district of some large city.

My gaze moved to Caden’s face. A purple and yellow bruise discolored the skin around his left eye. I hadn’t noticed it before; he must’ve received it on his mission yesterday.

Caden’s tilted his head towards the glass doors. Frosted glass listed the same address I’d read over in my email. This was Stankovich’s office building. “Let’s get going. We need to secure Isaac Stankovich’s cell phone.”

I nodded and followed Caden inside. Once the doors closed behind us, I slipped my hands inside my pockets and pulled out a note.

Confiscate Isaac Stankovich’s phone. Use the name Patricia Lennon. Pick up on floor 15.

I shoved the piece of paper into my pocket and glanced at a large clock that hung on one of the walls. Patricia Lennon was Stankovich’s mistress, and from the email I read over this morning, she was supposed to meet Stankovich for lunch in twenty minutes.

I glanced at Caden. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

He nodded and I left his side. I crossed the large lobby area and approached the main desk where a pretty blonde woman sat. “How may I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to see Isaac Stankovich for lunch.”

“Name?” she asked.

“Patricia Lennon.”

She dialed the number for what I’d assume was Stankovich’s office. “A Patricia Lennon is here.” She paused. “Great. Thanks
—
bye.”

The blonde woman hung up and smiled at me. “He’s on his way.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Once I got back to where Caden waited on the other side of the lobby, I updated him. “He should be down here in a few minutes.”

“Great. Now we wait.”

We had a perfect view of the row of elevators, and when the middle one opened and a stern, dark-haired man exited it, Caden nudged me.

So this was Stankovich.

“We’re going to walk past him, and you’re going to run into him,” Caden said.

“Oh
that’s
super original.”

“Got a better idea, princess?”

I huffed and began walking, keeping an eye on Stankovich from the corner of my eye. Behind me I heard Caden shuffle to catch up.

“So, do you have the report?” Caden asked.

I turned to him, confused, when I noticed his meaningful look.

Act the part.

I cleared my throat. “I do,” I said, watching our target from the corner of my eye. “My analysis on the product … analytics indicates that there’s a steep rise in … affordability.”

The distance between Isaac Stankovich and us closed quickly, which was a good thing since I had no idea what the hell I was talking about.

Okay, just bump him Ember. Easy.

“I think the market will show that
—
” My shoulder plowed into Stankovich, knocking him off his feet. His briefcase flew into the air as he used his hands to catch himself.

Oops
—
a little too much force. Again.

“What the
fuck
!” he yelled.

Next to me I heard Caden sigh.

I swore under my breath and dropped to my knees. “I am
so
sorry,” I said, leaning over him and giving Stankovich my best doe eyes. Caden had disappeared from my line of sight, which I took to be a good thing.

Stankovich’s eyes dropped to my cleavage. I didn’t have much there, but apparently there was enough to distract this guy.

“It’s okay,” he said gruffly, now that he realized the linebacker that took him out was me and not some hairy dude. “Just
—
watch where you’re going.” He got to his feet.

I stood up as well, trying to look useless. “Seriously, I can be so oblivious. Can I make it up to you sometime?” I asked, lightly placing my hand on his upper arm.

He eyed the hand that touched him, his gaze trailing up my arm to my face. His eyes broke away from me long enough to search the room, and when he didn’t see Patricia Lennon, he turned back to me. “How about lunch next week?”

I felt a tap on my shoulder, Caden’s way of letting me know that we needed to get going. Stankovich’s eyes drifted over to Caden. They only lingered briefly, but his smile slipped. Caden had that effect on men.

“Perfect,” I said, running my hand down Stankovich’s arm to recapture his attention. “Look me up when you want to cash in that lunch date. My name is Ashley O’Connor, and I work on floor fifteen.” The lie slipped easily from me. This was what I was good at
—
pretending to be someone else.

When the elevator
doors closed, Caden let out a breath. “Jesus Ember, you plan on becoming BFFs with our target?” he asked. He looked annoyed
—
more annoyed than he should. I think someone didn’t like watching me flirt.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, except you happened to mention floor fifteen, the floor we’re going to.”

Ah. No wonder the floor number rolled off my tongue so easily. It was the floor mentioned in the note I teleported with
—
the floor where the drop off was to occur. The floor we were heading to
right now
.

“It’s not like he’s going to follow us,” I said, shrugging it off.

“Well, we probably won’t have to worry about it since, with all that chatting, we only have a minute or so to deliver the phone.”

Caden
really
wasn’t taking my performance well. “Did you at least get the phone?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Caden pulled it out to show me.

As soon as we both saw the phone, we paused for a beat.

“Well crap,” I said. A spider web of lines covered the surface of the screen.

Caden cursed under his breath. “He must’ve fallen on it when you tackled him.”

“I didn’t
tackle
him.” But Caden was right. The fall must have crushed his phone.

A broken phone meant only one thing: we’d failed the simulation.

“
It’s going to
be fine. I bet it’s just the screen,” Caden reassured me as the elevator slowed to a stop.

I nodded. “You’re probably right.” The truth was, I really didn’t care.

The elevator doors opened, and we stepped out into a small waiting area furnished with a few chairs and a side table. A nondescript man sat in one of the chairs and flipped through a magazine.

“Do you know where Jerry’s Coffee is?” Caden asked the man. The man nodded, and Caden slipped the phone into his open briefcase.

I felt my eyes widen. It really was just like the movies. Also, I really needed to read my emails more if I wanted to be in the know.

We turned to walk out of the waiting area when the elevators dinged open behind us.

“Ashley!” Stankovich said from behind me.

No. Please tell me this wasn’t happening.

As I began to twist my body to face Stankovich, Caden took my hand and pulled me forward briskly. We rounded the corner and entered the hallway.

“Ashley!” Stankovich repeated, following us.

I turned and glanced at Caden. As I met his hazel eyes, his watch beeped twice and he disappeared.

“Holy shit! What the hell?” Stankovich said from behind me.

I faced him, and took in his wide eyes. “That guy,” he said, “he just
—
”

I heard my watch beep, and his words cut off as I disappeared too.

We failed both
missions. I just knew it.

I sat next to Caden, fidgeting in my seat. Across from us Dane Richards, who was back in town, and a panel of my instructors reviewed our simulations, beginning with the footage of our simulations. How they managed to record us was beyond me.

It had been two days since our last simulation and one day since the simulations for the facility ended.

The instructors’ faces were stoic as they watched me set off Caden’s gun in the club, and again when they saw me knock over Isaac Stankovich.

Not everything was caught on tape, so thankfully I didn’t have to watch the girl get shot all over again. Nor did they see Caden and me disappear in front of Stankovich. But they knew about it from our debriefing with Debbie yesterday.

Once the footage ended, the room was quiet for a few moments. Our instructors paged through our files and began jotting notes down.

After five minutes had ticked by, Dane Richards collected their notes from them. He sat down and flipped through them, before jotting down some notes himself.

He placed his pen on top of the stack of papers and looked up at us.

“These,” he said, tapping the paper with the tips of his fingers, “are your simulation results. Your instructors have scored you from zero to a hundred based on your performance in these two simulations. Fifty is neutral. Anything above fifty means you’re abilities helped the simulation. Anything below fifty indicates that your actions were harmful. These results will determine your placement on future missions. While it’s important that each of you become well rounded in all areas, you’ll be required to hone certain talents you have a knack for.”

He moved his pen and picked up the papers. “Okay, Caden, why don’t we discuss your results first?”

I glanced over at Caden in time to see him give a slight nod.

“Close Combat and Physical Fitness
—
ninety-three. Etiquette
—
sixty-eight. Weaponry
—
eighty-six. Technology
—
fifty-two. Profiling
—
eight-nine. Teamwork
—
ninety-four.”

Once Richards stopped reading off the scores, I looked to Caden again. A small smile played along his face.

“Caden, I must congratulate you; these are exceptional scores.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’ve already passed this once before as a single, but working in pairs requires different strategies
—
ones you’ve quickly acquired. From what I’ve seen and what your instructors have written, you are an expert on reading your targets and the situations you find yourself in.

“Your actions in both simulations suggest that you are quick to develop plans and contingency plans. This is an essential skill on these missions. You’re a team player and you are excellent at covering your partner and keeping her safety in mind.

“Overall your actions show focus, exemplary physical and emotional control, and that you are results-oriented. Great job.”

I studied Caden’s face as he received the news. I could tell he had tried hard to contain his emotions, but by the end of Dane’s little speech, Caden’s dimples were out and his eyes crinkled happily.

“Good job,” I whispered to him. The words left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Thanks,” he whispered back.

Dane Richards set down Caden’s results and picked up mine. As soon as he looked up at me, his face lost its approval.

Oh goody.

“Ember Pierce, here are your results: Close Combat and Physical Fitness
—
seventy-one. Etiquette
—
sixty-eight. Weaponry
—
thirteen.”

Thirteen?

Dane Richards glanced up. “Caden, as an aside, I want you to start taking Ember to the shooting range. She’s going to need all the practice she can get.”

Next to me Caden looked like he bit into something sour but nodded. I couldn’t tell if that was because he was remembering our first simulation together or if the thought of training me now in Close Combat
and
Weaponry was just that unpleasant a task.

“Technology
—
forty-six.” Dane Richards paused, his usual frown deepening. He glanced up at Debbie, my profiling instructor, who nodded at him. “Profiling
—
ninety-seven,” I heard Caden suck in a breath, “and Teamwork
—
forty-three.”

Richards set the paper down. “According to the notes, you’ve demonstrated an unusually good ability at profiling and distracting your targets. While your ability to handle potentially violent situations is atrocious, you appear to excel at nonviolent manipulation.

“You have an impressive set of survival skills, but that can be lethal when it comes to working with others
—
as your teamwork score indicates. Focus on learning how to handle and use weapons as well as how to be an asset rather than a liability to your partner.”

I nodded. I had no affiliation to the government, but I did to Caden. He was the one person who’d continuously been there for me since I’d arrived. I’d work on those skills I needed help with for his sake only.

He gathered the paper together. “Combined, you two have the potential to be one of the strongest pairs. Ember, your focus will be on distraction. Caden, your focus will be on violent and nonviolent extraction. Your first mission will be assigned to you this coming week. Other than that, you’ll be attending classes as usual.”

Dane Richards looked between the two of us, a shadow of a smile on his face. I didn’t trust him, not for a minute.

“Congratulations you two. You have been placed.”