Page 12 of The ARC Unit: Breach

Jackal leaned closer. “I think we’re making progress.”

“This is progress?”

“With him? Absolutely.”

By the time I went back to my room, I had been in Germany for a few hours and already missed my own bathroom with an intensity usually reserved for people. I sat on the edge of the narrow bed because there wasn’t really anywhere else to sit. The suitcase stuck halfway out from underneath it, leaving just enough room for me to catch my ankle on it later.

From the hallway, Jackal and Raven were arguing about the training mat. Somewhere downstairs, Bear called for whoever had eaten something of his to admit it. Hawk answered him, and Viper said something too low for me to understand. Then Wolf told everyone to shut up. The building stayed quiet for perhaps three seconds before Jackal started talking again.

I smiled despite myself.

My notebook was still inside the carry-on and I opened it to the page from the flight.

Look earlier.

Wolf had dismissed me, restricted my access and decided I wasn’t going anywhere near an operation before he’d seen me do much of anything. He had also taken my Romania report but Raven was already checking the rest.

I added another line:

Start with Romania.

I closed the notebook and leaned back against the wall beside the bed. The room was barely large enough for me and my luggage. The bathroom belonged in a prison, and six men had lived together long enough to decide a shower curtain constituted privacy.

Whatever I’d imagined when Vale told me I was joining an international intelligence unit, it hadn’t looked anything like this.

Chapter Two

MIA

I woke the next morning to what sounded like someone dropping a refrigerator somewhere outside my window.

For several seconds I stayed put, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, trying to remember why my mattress felt like it had been designed as punishment. Another metallic crash came from somewhere beyond the building, followed by a man’s voice shouting something I couldn’t understand and a second voice answering him considerably louder.

Germany returned to me in pieces after that: ARC, the room, the communal bathroom and Wolf informing me within minutes of meeting me that accepting help with luggage had revealed some deep personal weakness.

I reached for my phone on the desk beside the bed and squinted at the screen.

5:47 a.m.

“Jesus Christ.”

Another bang carried across the compound, followed by Jackal yelling. “That’s cheating!”

Someone farther away answered him, and although I couldn’t make out the words, the lack of enthusiasm sounded enough like Viper that I could already imagine the expression accompanying them.

I considered putting the pillow over my head and trying again, but jet lag had left my body with very little understanding of what time it believed it was. Going back to sleep while several military operators competed to destroy government property outside my window seemed unlikely, so I dragged myself out of bed and collected the white button-down and black cargo pants I’d set aside the night before.

I dug the little pill organizer out of my toiletry bag and swallowed my birth control with the handful of vitamins I took every morning, chasing everything down with the last of the water beside my bed.

One more piece of my normal routine completed in a place where almost nothing else felt normal yet.

The hallway was empty when I stepped out with my towel and outfit tucked beneath one arm. I had deliberately put on enough clothing to make the walk to the bathroom without risking an international incident, which seemed like a reasonable precaution considering everything Raven and Jackal had told me about the living situation.

The bathroom door was closed, and running water came from inside.

Of course it did.

I stood there for a moment considering whether coffee was worth postponing basic hygiene when the door opened and Bear stepped into the hallway. His buzzed head was still wet and dripping, darkening the shoulders of his t-shirt. He looked much too awake for a person I’d seen complaining about someone stealing his food less than twelve hours earlier.