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“Students, I have one final question before I announce who’s going through,” Mr. Donovan said. “Who can remind me the primary objective of an operative?”

Jax raised his hand. “Intelligence gathering.”

“Exactly, Mr. Drummond.” He looked pleased Jax had answered so quickly. “Not high-tech gadgets, fast cars, and gambling in a tuxedo, although there may be times this kind of thing is called for. Intelligence gathering is always key. Now, who can tell me which person at the KIT compound is getting married in a few months?”

For a second we all stared at him in confusion before Frankie shot her hand in the air, waving it around wildly. “Oh, oh. I know.”

“Yes, Ms. Chang.”

“That would be Charles Mayford. He works in the gym. His fiancée, Renee, is a homicide detective. Isn’t that so cool? Kind of like the movies.” She pointed to Charles on the stage, who smiled and waved at her.

“That is correct, Ms. Chang,” he said. “Now, which of you knows Suzanne Robinson?”

Frankie’s hand shot up again. Mr. Donovan looked around at the rest of us, but none of us moved. “Okay, Miss Chang. Who is Ms. Robinson?”

“She works for us in the cafeteria,” Frankie offered cheerfully. “She made cupcakes for Angel’s birthday. She’s really nice.”

“Do you happen to know what Ms. Robinson does other than work in the cafeteria?” he asked.

“She’s studying forensic anthropology at the University of Maryland. She has a boyfriend she’s been dating for two months named Johnny, a dog named Rex, and she also has juvenile diabetes. She’s allergic to shellfish and loves Zumba. Is that enough?”

“That’s enough. Thank you, Miss Chang.”

I stared at Frankie in astonishment, the realization of what was happening finally hitting me. How could I have been so stupid? While the rest of were focused on passing the trials and making ourselves look good to the evaluators, it’d been Frankie who’d completed the actual mission. She was the one whom everyone trusted, even the other candidates. She was so nonthreatening and kind, everyone talked to her.Everyone.She’d gathered intelligence on each person throughout the entire KIT compound. I was certain not one of us had realized it—perhaps not even Frankie herself, who was just being who she was. But she’d been the real operative. She was a natural for the job.

An operative’s primary objective is gathering intelligence.How had we lost sight of that?

He let that sink in for a moment before speaking again. “While we graded you on many factors, intelligence gathering was by far the most important one. That grade, combined with scores in several other critical areas, elevated one person to the top of your class. I’d like you to all congratulation your valedictorian, Frances Chang. Congratulations, Frances. You’re the first in the class to pass into UTOP.”

Chapter Fifty-Three

ANGEL SINCLAIR

Frankie gasped in shock and clapped her hands over her mouth. I leaped from my chair, pulling her to her feet and hugging her excitedly. “OMG! You made it, Frankie. You did it!”

“I did?” She looked completely stunned.

Seconds later, she was mobbed by Wally and everyone in the group. There was so much excitement that the gym filled with noise, even though there were only eight of us. As strange as it seemed, everyone was genuinely happy for Frankie. How couldn’t we be? Everyone liked Frankie. She’d be the perfect spy someday. No one would ever suspect her.

After a few minutes, we returned to our seats. Frankie still looked dazed that she’d been selected, while Wally clutched my hand as we waited to hear the final announcement.

“Now, for the next person going through, we’d like to say it was exceptionally close. In fact, the scores were so close, they were almost indistinguishable. It’s never happened before in the history of UTOP. It was difficult for the evaluators to determine the next candidate to go through, so…” He paused, looking among us.

For an agonizing moment, all eight of us held our collective breath.

“So…we decided to passallof you,” he finished.

Frankie screamed so loudly I was momentarily deaf before she pounced on me, nearly collapsing my chair. I was unable to speak. Wally slipped to the gym floor on his knees, chanting, “Oh, thank God. Oh, thank God.”

A moment later it was sheer pandemonium in the gym with everyone shouting, high-fiving, and hugging each other. The instructors and evaluators came over to congratulate us, beaming and laughing. I felt wetness on my face and I wasn’t sure if it was from my tears or someone else’s. I kept getting hugged so hard I couldn’t breathe, and yet I didn’t mind in the slightest. It was a blur of sheer happiness and excitement. I knew, one day, I’d look back on my life and count this as one of my finest moments.

As soon as we finished celebrating in the gym, we headed back to the cafeteria together for a special spread of desserts. Laughing, we continued to congratulate each other, each of us humbled and grateful for our success. We were eight people who were as diverse and different as we were alike. Now we were bonded and entering into a new phase of our lives together.

It didn’t matter that I had no idea how I’d perform at UTOP or what my future held. I didn’t know if I’d ever see my dad again, learn what had happened to him, or discover why he’d left us. I didn’t know if my mom would even let me come back when she found out about the attempting kidnapping.

But at least I knew I had the potential to be a good spy, and I’d do everything I could to capitalize on that. I also knew who’d have my back while I was doing it.

In a way, the White Knights had just expanded, and one thing I’d learned was that sometimes, good friends were all you needed to succeed.