Prologue
Faith
A few months prior to Toselville…
I used a pocketknife I’d stolen from the guard to slice the ropes that were binding my wrists behind my back. The moment my hands were free, I ripped the blindfold from my eyes and shook my hair loose, feeling exhilarated to finally see again after several hours.
We’d been caught.
It was dark, but the slight moonlight coming in through the barred window high above us allowed me to see the shapes of my two other teammates, still tied.
I jumped into action. Both of them startled when I first touched their shoulders.
"It's me," I whispered.
They both relaxed as I began sawing away at their ropes, freeing Luna first, and then Mercury.
“Faith,” Luna whispered. “How did you get loose?”
“No time to explain,” I told her. “Follow me.”
Luna and Mercury stuck close as I picked the lock and opened the door. Both of my partners were somewhere in their late twenties to early thirties, and both had more experience than me. But this was my case I’d been working on to uncover an underground drug smuggling group, and therefore, my agency had made me the leader.
RLIP sent us in with a tape recorder to gather evidence. But this simple mission had turned into a real hot mess.
I peered down the hallway and gestured for them to follow me into the next room over.
“What are we doing in here?” Mercury asked as I shut the door behind him.
I saw a room full of desks and began opening all the drawers. Inside one, I found my earpiece pulled apart with the battery nearby. A little further digging and I found the mouthpiece as well.
“I only see my earpiece,” I said. “I don’t see yours.”
I put the battery inside. They must have removed it so it wouldn’t track where we were at. I tried to hand it to Mercury or Luna but they both shook their heads.
“You’re leading this operation,” Mercury said. “You take it and tell us where to go.”
Luna nodded in agreement. I quickly placed it in my ear and turned it on.
A familiar voice spoke to me. “Hello? Hello?”
My partner was a young man with the codename Keeper.
“Keeper, we got caught,” I said.
“I could tell,” he replied.
“But we’re loose now,” I assured. “I need help though. I need eyes.”
“Ok Faith,” Keeper replied. “I’m tracking your location now. Give me a few minutes. I’m going to hack into their surveillance system and then I’ll have some visual.”
I peered into the drawer one last time and lifted up some papers. Near the back…was my tape recorder.
And the small tape was still inside.
“I can’t believe my luck,” I said, showing it to the others.
They both smiled.
Mercury held his hand out. “I can hold onto that for you."
The door to the office suddenly flew open and a man dressed in all black stood there, eyes bulging when he saw us. I shoved the tape recorder into my pocket.
“Guess we should’ve locked that door,” Mercury commented.
The man pointed a gun at us, but I immediately kicked it out of his hand in one spiraling move. Luna dove to the floor and grabbed it. I shoved the man towards Mercury, who knocked him out in one solid punch.
“You good?” Keeper asked.
“Just a minor issue, but fixed,” I replied.
“I have visual,” Keeper said. “I’m going to guide you out of there. Go out into the hallway and hang a right.”
“Keeper is guiding us out,” I told the others. “Follow me.”
The moment we stepped out into the hallway, the lights suddenly went out. I reached behind me and touched them both on the arms to make sure they were still with me. Luna shoved the gun into my hand.
“Take it since you’re leading,” she said.
“Keeper,” I started.
“It’s ok,” he answered quickly. “The surveillance cameras have visual in the dark. I’ll tell you where to go.”
Using Keeper’s directions, I led them through the twisting, underground maze of the factory.
I stopped at a door.
“Is it clear?” I asked.
“Clear,” Keeper confirmed.
I cautiously opened the door and moved forward. It was unnerving not being able to see, but I was breathing steadily to maintain my composure.
Finally, my partner said something that brought my tension down about a thousand notches. “Faith, you only have one more door. Then there'll be a set of stairs that leads you guys right out of there.”
“Last door,” I told the others. “We’re almost there.”
“Clear,” Keeper said.
“Keep-,” I started.
I suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around me and a burly hand clasp over my mouth.
I tried to make a sound. “Mmmm!”
I felt the wind of the others rushing past me into the room and I tried to stick my leg out to stop them up, but they moved too swiftly as RLIP agents do. It was so dark they didn’t even realize what was happening.
I suddenly heard the sound of several gunshots all firing at the same time.
No!!!!! No! No!
My attacker reached into my pocket and I realized he had his hands on the tape recorder. But I mustered up all my strength and managed to rip myself from his grip, landing a punch into the side of his face.
“Send help!” I shouted to Keeper as soon as my mouth was free. “I-I think we might have agents down!”
The breath was knocked right out of me as I got tackled to the ground. When my hand landed on his face, I felt night vision goggles over his eyes. He had an advantage.
A gun! Where was my gun?
It was gone. Somehow it had disappeared, and I didn’t even remember how.
I suddenly heard a thud and the sound of someone hitting the floor. I heard other voices coming from the room where Mercury and Luna were. A door slammed. I heard more gunshots. I flinched. A hand wrapped around mine and hauled me to my feet. I stopped trying to throw punches when I realized the other person wasn’t attacking me.
“Who are you?” I managed.
“RLIP backup,” a new man’s voice answered. He dragged me down the hallway at break-neck speed. “I was working on an operation nearby. As soon as you turned on your earpiece, they called me to come help.”
“What about the other agents?” I asked, panicked.
“I’m going to guide you out the rest of the way.”
“What about the others?” I demanded, pulling myself down the hallway.
Back to my partners.
He tightened his grip on my arm and jerked me away. “Don’t go in there. Just take orders and follow me.”
I suddenly heard my manager, Mr. Stewart, speaking through my earpiece. He never spoke through the earpiece unless there was a dire circumstance.
I felt my heart drop as I heard his voice. “Listen to him Faith. Go with him now.”
My rescuer took me down an alternate hallway.
“Stairs are here,” he whispered. “Watch your step. The way out is at the top. There’s a small silver car waiting for you outside. Get in and don’t come back here. You got the tape recorder?”
“Yes,” I replied numbly. “This has never happened before. A mission has never gone like this before. I-I don’t understand…”
“Keep it hidden,” he said. “Get back to headquarters and wait for orders.”
And just like that, Mercury and Luna were gone.
***
A month later, I walked through the office inside RLIP headquarters, trying not to make eye contact with anybody. But I could still feel the other agents staring at me over their computer screens. I quickly stepped inside my office and shut the door behind me.
Staring at my computer screen, a new email popped up about my “successful” mission. The tape recorder had provided the evidence RLIP needed to shut down the drug operation.
I felt a tightening in my throat and chest and looked down at the tape recorder on my desk. I picked it up and twirled it slowly in my fingers.
Those two lives…just gone. Just like that. Was it really worth it?
The guilt I was feeling was overwhelming. Everyone kept telling me it wasn’t my fault or anyone else's. But I was the one who had instructed the agents to keep going.
My parents shared stories from their pasts as field agents in an attempt to make me feel better. My dad said the first fail is always the hardest. Mr. Stewart had told me to seek counseling, but I refused. For some reason, I felt I wasn’t a real agent if I couldn’t handle this difficult emotional situation on my own. But in this moment, I slowly opened my drawer and studied the business card laying face up for the RLIP on-site counselor and wondered if I should call.
Someone knocked on my door and I quickly slid the drawer shut.
“Come in,” I called.
I turned around to see Brad Harrison standing in the doorway. “Hey Faith.”
He was the last person I wanted to see. Mr. Harrison was a fantastic person to work with. He was a top agent with mentorship duties, often coaching us. But he was also the most sympathetic towards me. I should’ve liked him for that, but every time he tried to give me comforting words, it just made me feel worse.
I gave him a quick nod and then turned back to my computer, acting busy.
Take the hint Harrison.
“You can’t sit in here forever,” he said.
“I have work to do.”
Silence.
Mr. Harrison cleared his throat. “I understand this is a difficult situation. Nobody would blame you if you wanted to take a little time off to regroup.”
“I don’t need to regroup,” I said. “That’ll give me unnecessary time to think.”
“Then maybe you should just get out of the office a little bit,” he replied. “A couple of us are going out to lunch in thirty minutes. Why don’t you join us?”
I hesitated, then shook my head. “I’m not really ready yet. They’ll make me talk.”
He sighed. “No one’s going to make you talk.”
I stayed silent.
“Ok,” he said. “Well…I came by to drop this off.” He placed my ear and mouthpieces on my desk in their container. “You have a new partner. He’s ready to introduce himself to you now.”
“Do we have to do this today?” I asked.
“You’ve been putting it off for a week,” Mr. Harrison answered. “Don’t come out of this office until you take care of it.”
I sighed. “Ok.”
As I heard the door closing behind me, I took the pieces out of their case, inserting them.
“Hello?” I said. “Hello?”
“Can you hear me?”
Hm. The voice was warm and friendly. Comforting. He sounded like an older gentleman.
“I can hear you,” I replied.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Faith,” he said. “My codename is Wolf. Looks like we’re partners now. Keeper got reassigned.”
“Yes,” I replied awkwardly.
He paused momentarily. “Look, I know you don’t know me that well and this probably isn’t my place…”
My heart started to pound, and I clenched my fist until my knuckles turned white.
Please don’t bring it up. Please don’t talk about it.
“I’ve heard what an amazing agent you are,” Wolf said. “I heard how you handled that mission out in Chile about six months back. Everybody was talking about how you solved that case and you were the third agent to be assigned. Then the mission in Europe three months back…the agents I’ve been working with the past couple of years just can’t solve these cases, and here you’re so young and just cleaning house. I’m excited to finally work with someone competent who knows what they’re doing.”
The corner of my mouth suddenly moved…I slightly grinned. He was trying to butter me up. I didn’t mind it though. It was the first time I’d smiled in a month.
“Thank you,” I finally said. “I really appreciate it.”
I opened up his profile in the system as we were talking. Wow. There was an insane amount of successful cases he’d helped close.
“I think that between the two of us,” Wolf started, “we’re going to do exactly what the point of our job is.”
“What’s that?”
The way he said his next words were intentionally meaningful. “We’re going to help a lot of good people and stop the bad ones. It’s what you and I have always done and will continue to do.”
I felt determination lighten my heart.
“I have a good feeling about us,” Wolf added.
“You know,” I replied. “I do too.”
Chapter 1
Faith
Present Day
I opened my tired eyes.
Our flight had just landed in New York on a cloudy night. I listened to the passengers whispering as they stood up to collect their bags.
“Did you hear about that poor boy in Orkbus, California?” one woman asked another.
“Yes, it’s so tragic,” she replied. “Can you imagine how the family must be feeling? I hope they find him.”
I leaned my face into my hand in worry and exhaustion. The boy they were referencing was Wolf’s very own grandson. Back when I worked for the Real Life Immersion Program (RLIP), a secret division of the FBI, my partner Wolf had saved my life on numerous occasions, and though I promised myself I wouldn’t return to this line of work, I found myself taking this flight to meet with RLIP and discuss how I could help under these dire circumstances.
Ashton sat next to me and placed a hand on my arm in reassurance. “They’ll find him.”
Ashton and I were newly married. And after everything we’d been through recently, he wasn’t super stoked about me taking a flight to New York alone, so he came with to make sure nothing bad happened. Though one could argue that I have the training of a secret agent and could protect myself, I was glad he was there.
A text suddenly rang on my cellphone.
It was from Mr. Harrison. “Someone’s watching. Cover your faces before you get off.”
I discreetly showed it to Ashton, whose eyes went wide.
“We gotta find something,” I said, looking around.
Ashton reacted quickly, pulling out our backpack.
“The beanies,” I commented.
He found two beanies, some sunglasses, and scarves. We put them on quickly. It was strange wearing sunglasses at night, and we got a few looks, but it was better safe than sorry.
“I don’t think this is enough,” Ashton said behind me as we shuffled down the middle aisle.
“It’ll do,” I answered. “If we wear anymore, we’ll draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.”
Once we made it off the airplane, we walked awhile and searched around the terminal. I suddenly recognized Mr. Harrison standing against a wall, wearing casual sweat clothes.
“Lisa!” he called, exuberantly walking over and pulling me into a bear hug. “How’s my little sister doing?”
My name’s not Lisa, I’m not his sister, and Mr. Harrison is never this exuberant. But there was a reason he was doing this.
“I’m good!” I exclaimed, clapping him on the back. “I’ve missed you!”
Mr. Harrison released me and went for Ashton. “Lucas! I’ve missed my awesome brother in law! We have a lot to catch up on!”
Ashton played along, but I saw a subtle stiffness in his demeanor and he subtly eyed the people around us. I could tell he was concerned, and for good reason.
“Let’s start walking,” Mr. Harrison muttered, gesturing for us to stay behind him while we walked. “Check your ten o’clock.”
I glanced in the general direction and noticed a man with a shaved head watching us closely.
Mr. Harrison looked around while he walked and led us far away from the area. We ducked into a small resting area with vending machines. Nobody else was around.
“That guy was following me around the airport,” Mr. Harrison whispered as we set our bags down. “For a long time. I hope that little display threw them off. They wanted to see who I was picking up.”
“Think we covered our faces well enough?” I asked.
He nodded. “I think so. Let’s go.”
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