Chapter 23 — Nicholas

We piled into Lexi’s truck as the engine growled like a caged beast.

“How did I let myself get talked into this?” Elliot muttered when we started down the street. “Lexi’s driving will kill someone someday. If that person ends up being me, I’ll haunt you guys for all of eternity.”

“One problem with that logic,” Alex called from where he was safely strapped into the passenger seat. “We won’t be alive forever, and you can’t haunt ghosts when you’re a ghost yourself.”

“I’ll find a way.”

“What I don’t understand is why I couldn’t be the one sitting inside the car,” I said. “You need me to give you instructions to get to the Blue Jay.”

“You lost that round of Rock, Paper, Scissors fair and square,” Alex said. “Besides, you get a better view of the road out there.”

“If I fall off and die, you’ll be without a navigator.”

“I think we’ll live,” Lexi yelled over the sound of the engine. “Should I turn left here, Nicholas?”

“No,” I replied. “It’s the intersection ahead of this one.”

But Lexi had already started to turn and swerved wildly. It prompted a chorus of honks and angry gestures from her fellow drivers.

Delaney pointed to an old lady shaking her fist. “My thoughts exactly.”

There was a midnight blue sports car parked a few houses down from the Blue Jay. It looked out of place. No middle class citizen would buy such an expensive car when they had bills to worry about.

“We’re here,” I told Lexi. “Park in front of the light blue house.”

I kept a hand on my gun as Elliot rang the bell. Sandra was the one who answered. Brandon stood a little behind her, chatting with a person in the adjacent room. I relaxed at the sight of them.

“Good to see you, Nicholas,” she said. “Tom told us the information you found. Imagine the EAGLE director working with the Underground leader. It feels like the world’s turned upside down.”

Brandon looked over. “Can’t say I’m surprised though. I always suspected Harker was a traitor.”

A head poked out from the kitchen. “Are these our other allies or a Girl Scout troop?”

The woman had graying hair thrown up in a bun and a revolver at her hip.

“I don’t think we’ve met before,” I said. “What position did you hold at EAGLE?”

Her eyes twinkled. “A nonexistent one.”

“Catherine is a part of the Underground,” Brandon explained.

“Was a part of the Underground,” she corrected. “I retired twenty years back, went to college, and got a job as a nurse.”

“It’s a good thing she was here today to treat that poor boy,” Sandra said. “Whatever he’s done to anger the Underground, it must have been serious.”

“Could he be one of your people?” Catherine nodded at my friends. “The EAGLE’s obviously been robbing the cradle in recent years. I don’t think I’ve ever run into so many teenage spies before.”

“We’re not a part of EAGLE,” Alex said. “Only Nicholas is.”

“And Nicholas is the only spy under twenty.” Ishaan’s voice came from the kitchen. “I’ve never seen the boy on a database, though Noah thinks his companion looks familiar.”

“We might recognize them,” Lexi piped up. “Are they around our age?”

“Let’s continue the conversation in the kitchen,” Sandra suggested. “Tom should come down in a minute. He’s trying to figure out what happened, but the guy who’s awake isn’t giving much away.”

“He doesn’t trust us,” Catherine added. “Apart from bandaging up a wound, he hasn’t let us do anything else to help the boy.”

There were about fifteen more people in the kitchen, many of them agents I recognized. Noah, a slender code breaker in his late twenties, was typing on his phone.

He gave a shout of triumph as we walked in. “I told you the older boy looked familiar.”

“Who is he?” Brandon asked.

“Only the sole heir to one of the largest fortunes on the planet.” He held up his phone, the screen displaying a familiar face.

“Josiah Sargon?” Elliot said.

Noah pointed at him. “Bingo.”

That explained the sports car, and if the first guy was Josiah, I had a pretty good idea who the second one would be.

“Does the other person have blue eyes and a scar down his face?” I drew a line from my temple to my jaw.

“I’m not sure about the eye color since he’s been unconscious the whole time, but he has that scar,” Catherine said. “Do you know who he is?”

“His name’s Ace,” Delaney said. “He went to our school.”

“Then I’m assuming you know Josiah too.”

We nodded.

Catherine beckoned me to follow her. “Come upstairs with me. Maybe you can convince him to stop being difficult and let me help his friend.”

She led me to one of Tom’s guest rooms, the one with a sailor theme that had been a kid’s room when the house was bought. Tom claimed he liked the design, but he was probably just too lazy to have it remodeled.

Ace was lying prone on the bed, his body swallowed up by the sheets. Josiah sat by his side, studying his face for signs of improvement. Tom stood off in the corner, keeping watch on both of them.

“Nicholas,” he said in greeting.

Josiah looked up in surprise. “What are you doing here? I didn’t expect to run into people from school.”

“Tom’s my friend,” I said. “He can help Ace.”

“That woman is from the Underground.” He shot Catherine a mistrustful look. “How do I know she won’t try to finish the job?”

“I haven’t been active in two decades,” she said.

Josiah didn’t look convinced.

“If Ace has a serious injury, it could kill him faster than any assassin,” I said. “Are you going to let your stubbornness hurt him?”

He bit his lip. “Fine, but I stay in the room the whole time.”

“Alright.” Catherine pointed to Tom and me. “The two of you, out. I’ll tell when he’s awake, but there’s no point in hanging around like vultures.”

“Is there anything I should know about Ace and Josiah?” Tom asked as we headed back to the kitchen.

“Lexi’s given us a good idea,” Sandra said. “The boys are together, aren’t they?”

Harrison folded his arms. “While you might be satisfied with a love story, Sandra, the rest of us aren’t. It tells us nothing about why the Underground tried to kill them.”

“Josiah Sargon has enemies affluent enough to hire an assassin,” Ishaan said.

“But it was several of them,” Brandon interrupted. “Either the buyer was crazy rich or there were multiple people sending assassins.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think Josiah was the target. They were after Ace.”

“Is he a secret billionaire too?” Isabel asked.

“He’s an assassin. The Underground leader expected him to put up a fight. It’s why he sent so many people.”

The revelation caused a ripple of murmurs across the room. I sat down in a chair and watched them talk.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Tom said. “Can Ace be trusted?”

I thought for a moment. “For the time being. He helped me figure out the plot between EAGLE and the Underground.”

“Sounds solid to me,” Ishaan said. “Why do you have doubts?”

“Ace has a connection to the Underground leader.”

“That the leader sent assassins after him doesn’t say much about their connection,” Harrison said.

“I don’t think they were supposed to kill him,” Isabel said. “Did you notice the assassins looking uncomfortable when the man pointed the gun at his head?”

“That means nothing,” Noah pointed out. “Maybe they felt bad about seeing a friend die.”

Footsteps came down the staircase. Catherine walked into the kitchen, hands streaked with blood.

“Ace is awake,” she announced. “He’ll need something to eat. Put a pot of soup on the stove.”

“What happened to him?” Alex asked.

“He lost a lot of blood. Paired with the fact that he hasn’t eaten well in days, it was enough to make him pass out.”

Sandra lit a fire beneath a saucepan and poured a can of chicken broth inside. The scent made my mouth water.

Tom got to his feet. “I have a few questions I want to ask him.”

“We all do,” Harrison added. “Once you’re done with the soup, let’s head upstairs.”

“All of you?” Catherine looked around the room. “You’ll overwhelm him.”

“His life isn’t in danger,” I said. “He can handle it, wouldn’t be much of an assassin if he couldn’t.”

“You’re pulling my leg, spy boy. He’s younger than my son.”

I shrugged.

Sandra ladled the soup into a bowl and handed it to Catherine who headed back upstairs with the rest of us following like baby ducks. Ace was sitting up in bed, gingerly touching the bandage wrapped around his head. A spot of red bloomed from his temple. Apart from the eyes, he looked so much like Seth I didn’t know how I had missed it before.

“Nicholas,” Ace said.

His steady voice belied the pallor of his face.

“You were right,” I told him. “About Seth at least. Do you know why he sent assassins after you?”

The words “I thought you were his son” were left unspoken. I didn’t want to voice them out loud when Isabel was eyeing Ace with suspicion and Josiah looking at the agents like he wanted to kick them out of the room.

“Seth didn’t want to kill me, the sentimental fool,” he said. “It was Will who was willing to disobey orders.”

“Back in my day, no one dared to disobey the leader,” Catherine remarked. “We can exploit the lack of control.”

“No.” Ace tried to shake his head and winced. “Will was furious with me. I-I think I killed his brother.”

“How do you think you killed someone?” I said.

“After a while, the faces and names blur together. For all I know, he was one of my fa—I mean, Seth’s bodyguards I shot in the alley.”

Tom’s eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”

Ace’s eyes widened as he realized he messed up. “Nothing.”

“What were you about to call him?”

“I told you it was nothing.”

“A slip of the tongue,” Josiah added. “Ace had a head injury.”

“A flesh wound has no effect on a person’s speaking ability,” Tom said.

“Lightheadedness might. Wasn’t Catherine supposed to bring up food for him?”

“It’s right here, Josiah.” She stepped forward and handed him the bowl of soup.

Ace frowned. “I’m not hungry.”

“You need the strength.” Josiah held a spoon full of soup to his lips.

Ace rolled his eyes but opened his mouth.

“Let him finish eating.” Catherine shooed people out the door. “You can talk to him later.”

I held up a hand. “Wait, I have one last question. Ace, what’s your code name?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I left a sign at school.”

“I’m tired of riddles. Tell me straight out.”

Ace hesitated. “Spades. My code name is Spades.”

There was an uproar. Catherine ushered us out the door and locked it behind her.

Isabel pulled out her gun. “Let me in there. I’ll finish what the Underground started.”

Sandra grabbed her arm. “Take a deep breath. Get your thoughts straight before you start threatening murder.”

“Are you insane?” Isabel cried. “Spades killed off many of our best agents. He’s eluded us for years!”

“He’s on our side. It’s bad form to go around killing our allies.”

“Have you noticed how suspicious it is that Ace came away from a confrontation with only a scrape?”

“You think he’s a plant,” Harrison said.

“Yes, he’s a green autotrophic organism that can photosynthesize,” Lexi said.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

She shrugged. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. But there’s no reason Ace would go back to the Underground when they’re trying to kill him.”

Voices raised as people argued in the crowded hallway. Judging by Isabel’s tense stance and Noah’s clenched fists, the conflict was on the verge of escalating into a fistfight.

“If Spades is working against us, he’s doing a fine job of it without lifting a finger,” Tom’s voice cut through the commotion like a knife. “Let’s consider the situation from a logical point of view. Only one person speaks at a time. God help me, I will make you raise your hands like school children if I have to.”

Delaney held up her arm. “There’s no benefit for Ace if he helps the EAGLE director and the Underground leader. On the other hand, if he opposes them—”

Tom, in a rare show of hypocrisy, cut her off. “What did Spades almost call the leader of the Underground? I can tell you know, Nicholas.”

I played dumb. “Ace called him Seth. It’s his name.”

Tom shook his head. “He started saying ‘my’ before he said Seth. What was he going to call him? My boss? My uncle? My cousin?”

“Probably ‘my boss’.”

“Except the next word he began to say started with an ‘f,’ didn’t it? Unless it was an insult, there’s only one possibility. He was about to say ‘father,’ wasn’t he?”

I sighed. “If you already knew the answer, why would you ask me?”

“Oldest trick in the book, Nicholas,” Tom said. “I wasn’t sure until you confirmed it.”

Isabel seized the opportunity. “There’s no link stronger than blood ties. Spades probably paved the way for his father.”

“You haven’t seen them together,” I said. “Ace looked like he wanted to kill Seth.”

“It’s a huge risk with no benefit—”

“Ace might have information we don’t. Tom, weren’t you the one saying we should pool together our knowledge with the Underground to face a common enemy?”

“I was talking about hitmen or runners,” Tom said. “Not the son of a man who would see us all dead.”

“We can’t go around judging everyone based on who their parents are,” Sandra said. “Give him a chance to explain.”

“If I have to listen to any more of his lies, I think I’m going to be sick,” Harrison said.

“You know the signs lying as well as I do. If you were watching for them while he was talking, you would know that he’s been telling the truth the whole time.”

“The signs can be suppressed if you’re trained. Go chat with him if it sets your mind at ease, Sandra. I say we find out everything he knows through whatever means necessary, then get rid of him.”

I recoiled. “You’re not suggesting torture.”

Harrison snorted. “We’re a little more civilized than that. I was thinking of Pentothal.”

“A truth serum?” Noah said. “Those things are gimmicks. Besides, there’s no way to get Pentothal on such short notice.”

“Then we’ll use ethyl alcohol.”

“You want to get a boy drunk?”

Harrison shrugged. “In vino veritas.”

“That’s just an idiom.” Sandra rolled her eyes. “I’m going to talk to him. You’re free to listen in and make your decision after.”

I dialed her phone as we headed down to the kitchen, muting the microphone. Sandra switched it on speaker mode before she walked in.

“They want to kill him,” Josiah said.

“You were listening?” Sandra asked.

“It was hard not to,” Ace said. “For a bunch of spies, you’re not very good at staying quiet.”

“You don’t seem afraid.”

“Can’t say I’m shocked. Federal agents might act on the right side of the law, but they’re just as murderous as assassins when it comes down to it.”

Isabel hissed in anger. “How dare he—”

Ishaan hushed her. “We can’t hear.”

She fell silent.

“—can help you if you give them a reason to,” Sandra was saying. “Many of us find it hard to trust an assassin after we’ve been trying to hunt them down for so long.”

“It’s not because I was an assassin,” Ace said. “They don’t trust me because of Seth, and I can’t change who my father is any more than a leopard can change its spots.”

“There’s no lost love between the two of you, is there?”

“I lived my life without him so far, and I’m fine with living without him for the rest of it.” There was a venom in Ace’s voice that rang true.

I scanned the faces in the room. Isabel looked dead set on her opinions, but Tom and Harrison appeared uncertain.

“What have you found about the plans?” Sandra prompted. “The Underground leader must have let something slip.”

“Nicholas has a better chance of overhearing him than I do,” Ace said. “I haven’t seen Seth since he threatened to kill me. Most of my information is from Horace Whitaker.”

“Ace,” Josiah warned.

“The more people that know, the better.”

“You’re treating them like friends when half of them would be glad to see you dead.”

“You’re my friend, and you’ve blackmailed me on more than one occasion.”

Josiah growled in frustration. “That was different. It’s a wonder you’ve survived for fifteen years like this.”

“Isn’t Horace Whitaker running for president?” Sandra asked, steering the conversation back on track.

“He is,” Ace said. “He’ll win too. Seth’s making sure of it. Once he’s in office, Horace will make laws transferring large amounts of power to EAGLE.”

“Then the EAGLE director will make law enforcement turn a blind eye to illegal activity, letting the Underground leader get away with whatever he likes,” Josiah added.

“The plan hinges on Whitaker becoming president,” Sandra observed. “We take him out of the picture, and we avert the crisis.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Before Josiah starts on his long-winded explanation, tell the people downstairs they’re welcome to come listen in person,” Ace said. “I doubt the sound is good through a phone.”

Elliot’s jaw dropped. “Is he psychic? How could he tell we were eavesdropping?”

People began pushing back chairs and standing up, making their way toward the staircase. I grabbed my phone off the table and followed suit.

“Josiah came up with an idea earlier,” Ace added. “Would you like to hear it?”