Crossing the Line (18 page)

M
y stitches kept me out of the afternoon workout that day, so instead I went back to my room after classes to work more on the cipher. I had been at it for hours, randomly trying different cipher keys, before a memory triggered. At the same meeting where I had first learned about the cipher combinations, three names were mentioned—names that I believed were code for various combinations. I wrote down the names along the bottom of the page.

I stared at them, and then felt the spark of an idea. I did a quick count of the letters in each name. Each was six letters long—so it would make sense if this meant to put the phrase through six different cipher keys. Each individual cipher key that KATO used had a code name. They had to have made up the combination name with the first letter of each key's name. I worked the code through each of the combinations, and after the third one, the message made sense—or at the very least, it was something I could read.

The snake is hidden in the frozen forest. The job is nearly complete.

I studied the message, but I only understood half of it. The
frozen forest
is the code KATO commonly used for Russia. So, whatever the snake is, they're keeping it somewhere in Russia. I pulled at my hair
in frustration. I needed to figure out what the snake could be, or this whole message was meaningless.

A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts. The last time anybody knocked it was because Travis was in trouble. This time, he was the one standing on the other side.

“Hi,” he said. He had a plastic bag in his hand and looked a little breathless. The tension in his face told me something was off.

I squeezed the doorknob. “Is everything okay?”

“I don't know,” he said, sounding stressed about something. He glanced around my room. “Your room's different.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Nikki helped me.”

He nodded, a little impressed. “It looks good. Better than sleeping on the floor.” He gave me a pointed look.

“I'm getting used to it,” I said with a small smile. “What's going on?”

He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Can I come in? I need your help with something.” He held the bag up. “I brought dinner.”

I gave him a curious look, but stepped aside to let him pass. He gave me a nod of thanks and crossed the threshold. I moved my books off the table so Travis could set the food down, then sat down across from him. Travis busied himself with unpacking the bag, but the tension radiated off him.

“I didn't know what you liked,” he said, putting a Styrofoam container in front of me. “But I figured I couldn't go wrong with some American classics.” He opened the box to reveal a big juicy cheeseburger. My mouth watered from the smell alone.

“Burgers used to be my favorite,” I said. “I can't even remember the last time I had one.” I knew it was before I was taken, but I
couldn't place the exact moment. And I was sure I didn't appreciate it like I should have.

Travis smiled and opened the other three boxes. One held his cheeseburger, and another had chicken fingers. “Just in case cheeseburgers weren't your thing,” he said. “We can share them.” But it was the fourth box I couldn't take my eyes off.

“Are those fries covered in cheese?” I asked. I glanced away just long enough to see him nod. “I've never had those before.”

Travis looked astonished. “How is that possible?”

I shrugged. “I spent ten years in North Korea with missions focused mainly in Eastern Europe and Asia.”

“But you were a kid in America before that, right?” He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the idea.

“And at no point during that time did anyone put cheese-covered fries in front of me,” I said.

He shook his head, still in a slight state of disbelief. “Well, here's your chance to fix that.” He took a seat and pushed the container of fries closer to me. “They're called cheesy fries, and they'll change your life.”

He was right. It was easily one of the most satisfying experiences I'd ever had.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked, finally taking a bite of the cheeseburger. It was even better than I remembered.

He shook his head. “We'll get to that soon enough. For now, just worry about eating.”

I savored another taste, and it was nothing short of heavenly. “Where did all this come from?”

“A diner near campus,” he said, finally digging into his own. “It was one of the first places I found when I started at the academy.”

“How do you even end up in a school like this?” I knew how KATO got its agents, but the IDA undoubtedly had a very different approach.

“I got recruited like everyone else,” he said, grabbing a chicken finger. “The IDA has access to every major educational testing company in the country. They find the scores and skill sets they want and then send a recruitment agent to judge how likely the student would be to come to the IDA if offered the chance. Parents are told their child is being given the opportunity to spend high school at an elite boarding school. Most can't say yes fast enough. The students aren't told the truth until they agree to come, but can change their mind if it's a deal breaker.”

“What happens if you go through the academy and you don't want to be an agent anymore?” I asked. “You're stuck because of a choice you made when you were a kid?”

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. You can opt out at any point and go back to your old school. I'm sure you'd have to sign a bunch of confidentiality agreements, but you're never stuck here. The IDA doesn't want agents who don't want to be here.” He rubbed his jaw, thinking. “Though, most people end up sticking it out, so I wouldn't be surprised if the recruitment tests considered that too.” He looked down at my takeout box and saw my burger was gone. He nudged the fries closer to me. “Don't hold back on my account.”

I didn't need any more convincing. And when I was done, I had eaten more food than my stomach could hold. I leaned into the back
of my chair, shifting to find a position that would make me feel less full.

“You okay there?” Travis asked, laughing.

“I didn't know it was possible to be this stuffed.” I shifted again. Travis surveyed me hesitantly, and I could see the question in his eyes. “Whatever it is,” I said, “just ask.”

He held back for a moment, then squinted, the uncertainty more apparent than ever. “Did they starve you?” His face was curious but sympathetic, and his voice was soft.

I shook my head. “No, they didn't starve me. They fed me enough to keep me alive and strong, but none of it tasted like anything. I forgot food even
had
taste.” I lapsed deep into thought remembering everything. All ten years. The scars and burns and murders and missions played in my head, and I almost forgot his eyes were on me.

“You came here for a reason,” I said. “And I know it has nothing to do with introducing me to cheesy fries.”

He sobered even more. “I'm going to tell you something, and I need you to listen before you say anything, okay?”

I sat up straighter. He was just cryptic enough to worry me. “Sure.”

He took a deep breath, preparing himself, then he leaned forward. He kept his voice low even though we were alone. “About a year ago, there was a scientist in England, Dr. Craig Foster, who specialized in a certain kind of nuclear alternative chemistry. I don't know the exact science behind it, but the point is, he was one of a handful of people who could revolutionize warfare. His device would make it possible to stage an attack that would take out a small target, but release a gas that would kill anyone who was in a given radius. This means it would be feasible to conquer a country without having to completely
rebuild.”

I nodded, following him. “Because targeting leaders and military officials would be easier than ever.”

“Right,” he said. “At least, that was Foster's theory. As far as I know, he hadn't started building or testing anything yet. He kept his research private—his government didn't even know all the details. The only reason he was conducting it at all was in case there was a threat.”

I grimaced. Some of the most destructive plans started out that way.

Travis continued. “KATO found out about him.” My esophagus felt like it got a little smaller. “They wanted him to use his research and threatened his two daughters to get him on board. He was ready to do whatever they wanted when the IDA got wind of it and stepped in.”

“I remember this,” I said, struggling to find my voice.

His eyes sharpened. “Were you involved?”

“I didn't get the chance.” I couldn't look him in the eye. I remembered being disappointed. It would have been one of my few assignments west of Russia. “I was supposed to kidnap him if he resisted, but I wasn't needed.”

Travis held my gaze for a moment before pushing on. “We sent three teams into the field—one to track KATO, one to watch Foster, and one to guard his daughters.”

“Which team were you on?” I asked.

“The daughters'.” He shifted in his seat. “They were the key to all of this. Foster wouldn't cave as long as we could protect them.”

“But he must have.”

His eyes darkened. “Let me finish.” I backed away from him a little and nodded. He took another deep breath before continuing. “We had a team securing the safe house we were keeping them in. Abby, the older one, was sixteen. She put on a brave face to keep her sister, Eliza, calm, but I could tell she was scared.” A shadow of a smile crossed his lips. “I was pretty sure Eliza knew too. She was only two years younger. But she never said anything.” He spaced out for a minute, completely lost in thought.

“Travis.” It was barely more than a whisper but it jarred him back.

“Sorry,” he said. “They were asleep one night, and I was their primary guard. We got ambushed. But it wasn't by KATO. It was the Chinese. We figured they had to want Foster for the same reason. We hadn't heard any reports about China looking to build up their chemical weapons program but they couldn't have been there for anything else.”

He closed his eyes tight for a moment and swallowed. “I knew if they managed to get into the building, it was because they either killed or disabled the other agents. There was no way I'd be able to take all of them, and the only thing I could think of was the damage that would happen if anyone got a hold of those girls. So I tried to keep that from happening.”

“What did you do?” I asked, finding my voice.

The guilt and hurt was building in his eyes. He looked down at a napkin on the table, flipping the edge with his thumb. He was emotionally defenseless tonight and he knew it. “The only thing that made sense to me at the time was that if they weren't alive to kidnap, then Dr. Foster wouldn't do what KATO wanted.”

In that moment, I stopped breathing. He couldn't be saying what
I thought he was saying.

“They had both woken up and Abby was closer. I—got her.” He paused, giving himself a minute. “The Chinese knocked me out before I could get to Eliza.” He leaned back into his chair and finally turned his eyes back to me. “How's that for irony? There
is
a cold killer at this table. It just isn't you.”

I didn't smile or blink or give any kind of sign that I had heard that last part. He had a good reason for what he did. A better reason than I had ever killed for. But I knew more than anyone that a reason doesn't make it right. “Who else knows this?”

“Aside from Simmonds, only Cody, Nikki, Rachel, and a handful of others who were on the team, but they think it was an accident—that I was aiming for the intruders and missed,” he said. “The file was sealed, and no one is allowed to talk about it.”

“Then why are you telling
me
?”

He shifted back over the table. “When a mission goes sideways, agents aren't allowed to keep investigating. We have too many jobs to get hung up on the ones that don't work out. But Simmonds made an exception. After that night, Foster and Eliza disappeared. It's the biggest mistake I've ever made, and only Simmonds knows the whole story. He knew I wouldn't let it go, and he said I could use the IDA's resources as long as no one else found out. And if anyone did, my investigation would be over.”

I tilted my head. “You're taking a pretty big risk talking to me.”

“He approved it.” Travis took a piece of paper out of his pocket and pushed it to me. “It's been a year and I haven't come up with anything concrete. Then today I found this. About a week ago, the IDA learned of a meet between Chinese and Russian agents. They're known allies,
so in cases like this the IDA sends an agent to listen in, with the hopes that they'll reveal something to each other in person that they wouldn't through another form of communication. This is the report that agent filed.”

I scanned the document. It wasn't all that interesting until about halfway through the conversation. Apparently the Chinese agent referenced the incident in England and implied that China had performed a kidnapping for North Korea. I looked back up at Travis, who wore an eagerly curious expression. “Have you heard anything about this?”

“No,” I said, thinking back to a year ago. “I can't think of—” Then it hit me. “How old did you say Eliza was?”

“Fourteen.” He searched my face, trying to read my mind but failing. “What is it?”

“I found a way to crawl through the vents at KATO. It was my own way of rebelling. I couldn't leave because of the drug, but I could know more about the agency than they wanted me to.” I put my elbow on the table and rubbed my forehead, trying to remember the conversation. “About a year ago I found my way to the director's office. He was having a meeting about what to do with the girl the Chinese were turning over. They said something about a treaty, but they didn't talk about the details.” Everything was starting to add up. This was something else KATO had got a third party to do for them. “They said the girl was fourteen. And—” I stopped short when I remember the next part.