What is taking him so long? 

Cee had done her part. She’d caused the distraction and made sure to hold the situation long enough for chaos to set in. The rest was up to him to get to the extraction point where Tee was waiting with the van. She would not wait around for him to get them both caught. She looked around the room at the turmoil she’d caused with a slight smirk. These rich people could use a bit of fun once in a while. You’re welcome. She thought as she carefully dislodged herself from her current place on the floor. 

“You!” Cee pointed to the first person she saw, it was a young woman who looked barely old enough to even be here. The woman was grasping tightly to the phone in her hand and staring vacantly back at Cee.

“Wha-? Um….uh? Mal-Mallory? Mallory. ” She said it so softly and unsure that Cee wanted to simply give her a hug and a cookie. Instead, Cee pointed down at the VIP currently passed out on the floor. 

“Mallory. Make sure he doesn’t get up for another 20 minutes. Or at least until the EMT gets here. Tell them he has a Sunflower seed oil allergy and they’ll take care of the rest.” She may have been just doing her job but she never liked it when anyone died on her time. 

“HEY! Did you hear what I said?” 

Vacant stare, “Uh, sunflower s-s-seed…oil allergy. Don’t let him get up.” She nodded her head, but she was saying it to herself rather than to Cee. It’s gonna have to be good enough. 

She took one last look around and made sure all evidence of her or Jay had been erased. She isn’t going to wait for him. He’s a big boy, he can take care of himself. She made her way to the back of the dining room where the side doors lead to the kitchens. From there she’d go out to the loading dock and meet up with Tee. Jay better be there or so help me- As she opened the kitchen door, it moved inward and slammed into something that made a noise. She fully entered the kitchen, closed the door and came face-to-face with someone she didn’t have the time, nor energy for.

“Kay?!” 

“Cee? What a pleasant surprise to see you here. Did they put you on babysitting duty while the grown ups went to work?” 

“I’m not babysi- What are you doing here? I was told this was a classified operation.” 

“Aww, cute how you thought you were on the classified mission.” She most definitely did not miss that condescending tone. 

“Kay get outta here. We don’t need another stuffed-shirt being useless and  taking up space. There’s a whole room of them back there. Go find your people.” She pushed past him and headed towards the back of the kitchen to the loading dock. 

There was a deep chuckle behind her as she walked away, “You’re not going to want to go that way.” 

She ignored him and pushed past the metal double doors in front of her and ran straight into a group of bodyguards. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the loading dock. They all stared at each other for half a beat, neither knowing exactly what to do until a deep voice from behind Cee, “I think this is when she runs and you chase.”

 Prick. She thought to herself as she ran through the still-stunned bodyguards before they could realize what happened. She didn’t even bother looking behind her as she heard them regain their bearings and start running after her. Jay better be on time for once. She heard gunshots, but not from the bodyguards trailing behind her. More like they were coming from somewhere else in the building near her. She couldn’t pinpoint the location due to the echoing off the walls and the winding hallways she was doing her best to navigate through. This place is a freaking maze! After a few more twists and turns, she gained some ground on her bodyguard bunch and ducked inside a room and watched the shadows of their feet pass by underneath the closed door. She took a minute or two to catch her breath and slipped back into the hallway. Without anyone chasing her, she quickly found the door that led to the loading dock and glanced behind her when the gunshots suddenly became louder. She saw Jay round the corner with his own bodyguard escort right behind him. They locked eyes for the third time that night and nodded at the other. She opened the door and felt a blast of cool air hit her in the face. Ignoring the sudden change in temperature, she ran towards where Tee had parked the van. Perfectly placed to be inconspicuous, but also primed for a quick getaway. She opened the side door of the van and yelled inside, “Time to work Tee!”

Tee put down whatever she was reading and put her seatbelt on. She was always safety first, “Jay here?” 

“Him and a few of his close, personal friends.” Tee chuckled and started the vehicle. Cee had half her body leaning out of the black unmarked van as it peeled away from the curb of the loading dock. One hand firmly gripped the bar inside, while the other reached out to Jay who had finally caught up.. 

“COME ON! CAN’T YOU RUN ANY FASTER?” 

She imagined a sneer and a side-eye plastered on his face, but he seemed to be too out of breath to do anything but focus on her outstretched hand. He gritted his teeth and took what short breath he had left in his lungs and reached his own hand out to catch hers. She pulled with all her might and they both fell back onto the floor of the van. The very much uncarpeted and metal floor. They landed hard, Cee on her back and Jay on Cee. Before they could take notice of their position, a gunshot pinged off the wall of the van right next to Jay’s head. Cee looked to her left and yelled, “TEE! He’s in, you can go faster now.” 

“Finally.” A screeching was heard as the entire van lurched and Jay and Cee were flung to the back by the momentum. Gunshots were still pinging off the inside of the van until Jay crawled over to close the side door. Once the door was closed the gunshots grew fainter as the van gained more distance. 

Cee took a breath and did a mental check over herself. No visible blood, nothing seemed to hurt on her other than where she landed, and she didn’t lose her shoes this time. Which was no small accomplishment. She glanced over at Jay who was doing a self-assessment of his own and patting himself down checking for injuries. After a minute or two, he seemed satisfied in not finding anything too alarming. He let his body relax and leaned against the passenger-side wall. He leaned his head back, propped his arm up on a bent knee and closed his eyes. Cee squinted at him, “What did you find, Jay?” It took a while for him to respond, and she was about to ask again when he finally opened his eyes and turned his head to her. 

“You’re not gonna believe it.” 

---

“Are you absolutely sure there was nothing inside?!” She whisper-shouted, not wanting Tee to overhear. 

“That’s what I said Cee. I opened the briefcase and there was nothing in there. No documents, no incriminating photos, not even a flash drive. It was completely empty.” 

“And you’re sure you grabbed the right one? There were a lot of dignitaries in there, you could have grabbed the wrong one by accident. An easy mistake.” 

He leveled a look at her, “You mean a Newbie mistake.” 

“I didn’t say th-”

“Nah, but it’s what you meant. I know what I saw Cee. And I know how to do my job right. There was nothing in that case!” His voice got a bit louder at the last sentence and the van swerved a bit off the road. 

She gave her own look and crawled closer to him so they could properly whisper.

“Look, I’m not saying you don’t know how to do your job. I’m just saying it would be completely easy to get confused. Especially with the amount of activity that was going on in there. Anyone could hav-”

“Yeah, well I’m not anyone.” Sharpness in his voice. 

She tried a different approach. 

“Okay,” gentleness etched in her own voice oh-so-carefully, “so there was nothing in there. What does that mean? Were we given bad intel? Did he make a switch before you could get to it? Do we have a mole?” That last question came out on its own before she could stop it. 

He had returned his head to the wall and closed his eyes as she accused him of not knowing how to do his job. Now he brought it back up and gave her his full attention at the word, ‘mole’. “What? That’s not what I meant at all. I was just telling you what I saw. But you over here talking about a breach?” She just stared at him. “What aren’t you telling me Cee?” He demanded. 

“Don’t get snippy with me!” She demanded right back. 

“Cee?” 

She looked away from him and at anywhere else in the van. Her eyes landed on the four holes made by the bullets that came so close to finding their targets. She sighed. 

“Okay, the Managers suspect that there’s a mole. Either within the Supervisors or the Senior Agents below them. There’s been some pretty heavy leakage for a few months now and they’re close to finding out who it is. But they need clearer confirmation before they can make a move” 

“So this was, what, a witch hunt? A test? Something to flush out the mole?” His voice was escalating again. 

She huffed a sigh and said, “Would you just shut up and let me explain.” He crossed his arms and gave her a slight nod, and a scowl for good measure. 

“Thank you!” She shuffled to where her back rested upon the same wall as him so that they were sitting next to each other instead of across. She leaned her head closer to his so she could whisper, “The Managers aren’t sure who it is, but they’ve narrowed it down between a couple of teams. This wasn’t a witch hunt, more of a stakeout. I was just supposed to keep an eye out for any agents who weren’t supposed to be there. The briefcase was definitely not supposed to be empty, though. I have to report to the Managers when we get back to HQ and I have no clue what to tell them.”

“So all that BS that you said about being my insurance was just a cover?” Hurt was all over his words, 

“I mean no, not really. I was here for insurance, just not yours.” 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one knowing what to say next. They felt the van making more and more turns and they knew they were getting close to HQ. 

Jay spoke first, “So what are we going to tell the Managers?” 

“We’re not telling them anything. I am.” 

“Wait, you’re not saying that I’m a suspect just because I didn’t find anything in the briefcase. I didn’t take anything!” 

She rolled her eyes, “Of course not. I’m saying that you’re technically not supposed to know about the mole in the first place. Which means you have to report to Supe as you normally would, and I’ll tell the Managers what happened. I’m pretty sure they’re going to suspect you though. Just a heads up.” 

“What?!” The van stopped just then and Tee yelled back.

“Alright, get out. I gotta get this thing back to the garage to patch up the bullet holes before I leave. And I don’t want to be here past my bedtime.” Cee moved to open the van door. Jay stopped her before she could by putting his own hand over hers on the door handle. 

“Cee?” His hand soft on top of her own; he was so close she couldn’t help but breathe in the dried sweat on his face. His eyes pleaded with her, saying the words he refused to say out loud. She could hear Tee getting out of the driver’s seat and walking around to open the door from the other side. Cee rolled her eyes and gave in. 

“I’ll see what I can do. But I make zero promises on the outcome.” He grinned back at her, still not saying anything, his dimple showed and her stomach flipped. “Don’t give me that look.” She tried not to roll her eyes,  “And don’t say thank you because I’m not gonna say you’re welcome.”