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She and I shared a double bed in what was probably the guest room. We spread our coats on the mattress and made makeshift pillows from a couple of sweatshirts. I thought I’d never be able to fall asleep, but I remember thinking of my mom for just a moment before I passed out in exhaustion.

Chapter Twenty-One

ANGEL SINCLAIR

I woke with a start, gasping. I wasn’t sure if it had been a nightmare, but a lingering sense of dread clung to me. I pressed a hand to my forehead, willing my heart to slow down and my breathing to regulate. I sat up and glanced over at Frankie. She slept as peacefully as a baby. Even though it was too dark to tell for sure, I was pretty sure she had a smile on her face, cheerful even in deep slumber.

When my heart had returned to its normal cadence, I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her. I pulled an oversize sweatshirt over my pajamas and padded barefoot out to the kitchen to make myself a cup of warm milk. To my surprise, there was a light on in the kitchen, and I could hear the low murmur of voices.

I tiptoed closer and peeked around the corner. Hala and Kira were sitting at the kitchen table, sipping something and talking. Hala spotted me before I could duck out of sight.

“Angel? Is that you?”

Busted. Sneaky spy I’m not. I’d wanted to be alone, but that wasn’t going to happen, so I sucked it up.

I came sheepishly around the corner, shoving my hands into the pockets of my sweatshirt. “Sorry to interrupt. I couldn’t sleep. I thought maybe I’d warm up some milk.”

“Join the club,” Kira said, rising from the table and heading to the stove. “I’ve already made some. Would you like me to pour you a cup?”

“Thanks. That would be great.” I slipped into the empty chair next to Kira. She ladled the milk from a saucepan and poured it into a paper cup. “Why are you guys up?”

Hala shrugged. “We couldn’t sleep, either.”

Guilt swept through me. “I’m sorry,” I said, as Kira handed me the milk. “I didn’t mean to get you guys involved in this.”

“We’re a team,” Hala said firmly. “You were right to tell us, and it was our choice to help. That’s what teammates do. That’s whatfriendsdo.”

“She’s right,” Kira said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

I appreciated their support, but it didn’t ease the guilt and concern that by helping me, they’d put their UTOP careers in jeopardy. I wrapped my hands around the cup, wishing I knew what to say. “I’m really grateful. I’m just worried it’s going to get dangerous.”

“Our futureisall about danger, Angel,” Kira said. “If we can’t handle this, how will we handle anything that comes after it?”

She was right. They both were right. That left me nothing to say, so I took a sip of the milk, keeping both hands on the cup and my focus on the table.

We were quiet for a bit before Kira suddenly spoke. “There’s something I haven’t told you, Angel. Something that happened to my dad when he was working as a double agent for the US against Russia. He’d been walking that tightrope for nearly six years when he decided things were getting too hot. He wanted out, so US agents began planning for his extraction. If you’re not familiar with how dangerous it is to be a double agent, and what will happen to you if you’re caught, I promise you, it’s even more awful than you can imagine.”

I had a pretty active imagination, so I shuddered involuntarily. “What happened?” I glanced at Hala, but she didn’t seemed shocked by the revelation, so I presumed Kira had already told her.

“He had only one request for his extraction—that his fiancée be extracted with him.”

My grip tightened on the cup. I had to remind myself to ease off so I didn’t crush it. “Was she?”

Kira paused a moment as if collecting herself, then continued. “His US handlers had planned the extraction for months, but she’d been kept in the dark completely. It was too dangerous to tell her anything in case she inadvertently said something she shouldn’t. She didn’t even know my father was an agent.”

“What happened to her?” I whispered. I had a bad feeling I knew what was coming.

“They set up a fake doctor’s appointment for her on the day of the extraction, but it was really a US agent who intended to whisk her away to safety. Everything was planned to the smallest detail. My dad made it to his drop and was taken safely to the US Embassy. But his fiancée didn’t show at the doctor’s.”

“Why not?” I asked, my breath catching in my throat.

“She canceled at the last moment. Said she wasn’t feeling well, and apparently went straight home from work. The Russian secret police found her there minutes later. They were looking for my father, but all they got was her.”

I didn’t say anything, so many awful thoughts were running through my head.

“My father begged his US handlers to let him go. He wanted to trade himself for her. But they wouldn’t let him. They gave him something that knocked him out, and when he woke up, he was in Europe.”

“And his fiancée?” I forced myself to ask.