“Thank you for opening up to me.It means a lot that you trust me this much.”
12
Kalliopi and Stan moved from the cafeteria into the war room that had been set up for the Zagan mission.By the time Richard and the girls arrived, Kalliopi couldn’t have been happier to see them.With each having experience with Zagan, it was going to be much easier for them to put their heads together and pool intel than it would be for Kalliopi to memorize all the files on her own.
As they entered the room, each girl gave Kalliopi a hug.
“It sucks why we are here, but I’m glad we get to spend Christmas with you,” Treasure said as she palmed Kalliopi’s shoulders.“Fedor is a tough cookie, and we will do all we can to get him out.I can’t even begin to imagine what you are going through.How are you holding up?”
“By working with the team and doing everything I can to help them figure out where Zagan has set up camp and taken poor Fedor.”Kalliopi’s voice broke.She didn’t want to admit she’d been thinking about her sister so much, but she had.And if they lost Fedor, Kalliopi would never forgive herself.
* * *
As the Milos girls greeted each other, Stan asked Richard to step into his office.“I want to ask you something about your last mission with Amira.Specifically, how hard was it to work with her, knowing full-well she could get hurt?”
“I won’t lie to you, Stan.It wasn’t fun.If she hadn’t stepped in when she did, I’m not sure whether or not I would have killed Zagan.Part of me wanted to rip his throat out for touching her.And that part wasn’t thinking about collaring him.”
“I figured you’d say something like that.”
“What’s this all about, Stan?”
“Kallie said something when we were talking about the mission.She said she wouldn’t have a problem killing Zagan.And as a soldier, I understand.She’s not a FUC.Her only objective is to neutralize the bad guys to keep the civilians safe.However, there’s something else I want to say that can’t leave this room.It’s top secret.The only reason I’m sharing it with you is that your name is now among the need-to-know.”
“Okay.”
“Kallie and her sister were in a lab in Greece.Kallie made it out but not her sister.”
“Stan, just because her sister died in a lab?—”
“Let me finish.”Stan cut Richard off with a raised palm.“This isn’t about Kallie’s possible revenge on Zagan.It’s about how close she is with the other girls and what a toll it’s going to take on her if anything happens to one of them.”
“Okay, makes sense.So, what do you need from me?”
“If I’m not around and you are, talk Kallie off the ledge.”
“Done,” Richard said as he nodded to Stan.“I have a condition, though.”
“That being?”Stan asked.
“The same can be said for you and me.Don’t get me wrong.You are the most level-headed agent I know, but it’s different when the one you love is fighting alongside you while in the field.Bear shifters are a lot like llamas, so I’ll be your conscience if you’ll be mine.”
“Consider it done, though I don’t think I’ll be needing a conscience.You are right.They consider me the most level-headed in the field.”
* * *
“So, girl, now that we’re up-to-date on the Zagan intel, you need to quench our need for gossip,” Treasure demanded.They were waiting for some updated reports to come in and had found a quiet corner to chat while they could.“Stan is so into you.He was on the phone with me for a full hour trying to get the 411 on your favorite stuff.How are things going with you two?”
The other girls swooned while Kalliopi tried to wrap her head around what to say.Their time together had been so short, yet it felt like she couldn’t remember her life before she’d been with him.“Things were definitely going better between us before all this went down today.I practically bit his head off when I found out the cadet was missing.”
“You blamed him?”Carol asked.
“No!Nothing like that.We were discussing the lab and the best way to infiltrate, and he’d said something about letting you and Harriet take the lead, you know because you are familiar with the lab and all.Well, I figured he wanted me completely sidelined.”
“Oh!I get where this is going.It’s because of the one-who-shall-remain-nameless,” Treasure said.
“Well, Jace is no longer nameless.I told Stan about him after I said things like, ‘I let you control me in the bedroom—keyword,let’and ‘I don’t need your permission to do my job.’”Kalliopi covered her eyes with her hand.
“Oh, wow.Yeah, that’s a little rough.But now I’m interested in what happened in the bedroom,” Amira said as the other girls giggled.
