Vortex (6 page)

But, of course, they had no ethical hang-ups about testing it out on unsuspecting
trainees.

And I still couldn’t believe a gas could work that way … that something chemical could
just unleash memories I had tried so desperately to hide.

A strange thought occurred to me at probably the worst possible time. If the chemicals
made me think Agent Freeman was Thomas and my reaction was deadly, what would I have
done if one of them had looked like Holly?

I shook the thought from my head and focused on Agent Freeman, who had just entered
the room and stood next to Marshall. “Now that we have the experimental weapon out
of the way and all of you are in a compromised position, we figured this might be
a good time to test your knowledge.”

Everyone’s pulse sped, including mine.

“Agent Kendrick,” Freeman said right away to my partner. “If you and another one of
your teammates here were trapped in a confined space, having no means of communication
and no idea when you’d be rescued, which teammate would you prefer to be held with?”

The way he asked this, polite and casual, using the word “prefer” as if we were playing
some cheesy board game, made it sound like there wasn’t a real right or wrong answer.
Which made me nervous for Kendrick, but when I glanced at her again, some color had
already flooded back into her cheeks and her pulse slowed to
91
.

“What are the dimensions of the space?” she asked.

“You’re assuming you can see?” another agent from several seats away said.

“I can measure without seeing,” Kendrick responded, still keeping her eyes on Freeman.

He tossed some random numbers at her and she countered with yet another question:
“What is the estimated temperature of the space?”

Freeman lifted one eyebrow, sweeping his eyes over her clock, which now held steady
at
79
. “Eighty-nine degrees.”

“Without knowing any potential methods of escape and the skills required to attempt
those methods, I’d choose Agent Sterling.” Kendrick’s response came without hesitation,
showing she hadn’t been stalling. She really needed that information to form her answer.

“Why is that?” Freeman asked.

“With that tight of an area and the normal temperature already being on the warm side,
Mason has the lowest body fat percentage and his entire body mass is nearly the smallest
of the group, therefore he’d use the least amount of energy.”

“Nearly the smallest,” Stewart pointed out before Freeman could respond. Stewart herself
was actually the lightest and smallest of all the trainees, maybe of all the Tempest
agents.

Freeman turned his eyes to Stewart and back to Kendrick, who looked unbelievably calm
compared to ten minutes earlier. “She has a point…”

“Yes,” Kendrick said, keeping her voice even. “But I had to consider psychological
compatibility. Stewart’s more likely to create conflict, which would lead to delayed
solutions.”

“But Agent Stewart tests higher in pressure situations than nearly anyone in the division,
as she’s proven today. Agent Sterling, however, seemed to struggle the most,” Freeman
pointed out. “Wouldn’t you rather be confined with the agent most likely
not to
panic?”

Yes, Stewart definitely had earned that role in a very scary and intimidating way,
but in the past few weeks I’d managed to challenge her on more than one occasion.
Sometimes it was easier to let your fears and emotions turn numb and allow your mind
to take over and just … go through the motions. Apparently the CIA likes those methods
very much and rewards them with high test scores.

“Fine,” Kendrick said, a trace of annoyance and reluctance leaking into her voice.
“I wouldn’t pick Stewart because she knows she’ll handle it better than I would and
it’s possible she’d kill me just to have enough oxygen to plan her escape and complete
whatever mission had gotten us trapped in the first place. And even though I’d like
to put the division first, I’m pretty sure my own self-preservation would kick in
and I’d prefer not to be killed for the greater good.”

I was slightly shocked by Kendrick’s response, but in an almost humorous way. Did
she really think Stewart would kill her just to save the world or whatever? Stewart
completely infuriated me ninety-nine percent of the time, but I didn’t think she’d
ever actually kill me.

“Honesty is always appreciated,” Freeman said, then his gaze flitted over me, pausing
for a split second before moving to Stewart. “Agent Stewart, who would you choose?”

I waited for her comment on Kendrick’s answer, but she didn’t even look like she cared.
“I’d also choose Mason, for pretty much the same reasons.”

Freeman continued to ask the same question of the entire group and everyone chose
Mason. It was obvious we were being judged on more than our answer, and a couple other
agents tried to come up with intelligent questions like Kendrick had, but it was clear
the information wasn’t important enough to really affect their choice.

“I find it very interesting that none of you chose Agent Stewart—”

“Actually, you didn’t ask me,” I said, interrupting him. “I’d choose Stewart.”

“Why?” Freeman said, immediately shifting his focus.

“Like you said, she’s the best under pressure and the smallest and lightest. And she’s
also … also…”

“What?” Freeman prompted.

I sat up straighter and made sure my voice would sound firm and direct. “She’s the
least likely to form an emotional attachment.”
Because we don’t like each other very much.

“Interesting,” Freeman said, but didn’t elaborate further. “Agent Kendrick, your partner
is ranked second on his ability to work under pressure and has the fourth-smallest
body mass of the group … Sterling is just a notch below him. Why not choose Agent
Meyer? In fact, why didn’t any of you choose Agent Meyer?”

Silence. Dead silence. Several pulses sped up, but mine held steady.

I didn’t care that no one had picked me. I liked it better that way, and honestly,
if I had to choose, I’d have picked to be trapped alone.

Freeman’s eyes swept over the group, and when no one spoke up, he eventually ended
the silence. “Fine … I’d like for all of you to put your answer in writing by the
end of the day. We’re done for now, but each of you will return to these lovely chairs
and it will be much more threatening next time. Tomorrow, be ready for multiple foreign
language exams.”

The cuffs loosened and released all of our arms at once. There was a nervous chatter
that sprang up among the group as everyone filed out the door. Chief Marshall returned
and held me and Kendrick back from the others. “Stay,” he commanded.

Kendrick threw me a weary glance, but all I could do was shrug.

“I was listening in on your test,” he said.
Of course he was
. “And I’d like to hear your response to Agent Freeman’s final question.”

He was looking right at Kendrick, who had begun biting her lip nervously. She really
needed to work on concealing her feelings.

“Honestly,” she said, “I’m not sure exactly why I didn’t pick Agent Meyer … it might
be an issue of trust.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“I don’t think he trusts me,” Kendrick said with a sigh.

No surprise there. I didn’t trust any of them, but wasn’t that the point?

Marshall rocked back on his heels and kept us waiting for a full ten seconds. “Both
of you will complete an assignment for me as soon as possible. You are to give each
other a task to perform that the other person cannot question or ignore.”

“What kind of task?” I asked.

“Something that will challenge the other … something that hits on a personal weakness.”

“But … isn’t that a method of dissolving trust? Preying on a teammate’s weakness and
using it against them?” Kendrick asked.

“Not if the intent is to make them stronger,” Marshall answered, and with that, he
waved us out of the room.

And somehow I knew I’d be leaping off tall buildings or something just as horrible.
The only weakness Kendrick had on me was the height thing, and it was very fresh in
her mind.

Both Kendrick and I were shocked to discover that the room we had just spent over
an hour in was in headquarters behind a hidden door right outside the dining room.

“Can you believe those torture chambers have been sitting right next to where we eat
and sleep and we never knew?” she said.

“And it’s only going to get worse.” I hesitated for a second and then decided not
to bring up the obvious tension-inducing issue of me not trusting her and Marshall’s
most recent assignment. “Hey, what happened in there? You were so—”

“Out of control?” Kendrick said bitterly. “Totally freaked out?”

“Well, yeah, but then you just … recovered … like it was nothing … If my arms were
getting some serious heat, I can’t imagine—” I stopped in the hallway and lifted her
wrists, flipping them over to examine the insides. “Why … how…?”

I dropped her arms. “There’s no burns on you. Not a single mark.”

“I know.” Something danced in her eyes … the excitement of a secret discovery?

“Did you figure out how to turn off your chair or something?” I scratched the back
of my head as we walked toward the dining room, where the scent of tomato sauce and
freshly baked bread wafted into the hall.

“Think about it, Jackson. Everyone walked out of there just fine, and I wasn’t the
only one struggling in the beginning.”

I remembered the yells of pain from some of the other agents. I looked down at my
own arms. “It didn’t really burn us?”

She held a finger to her lips, but nodded. “All those cuffs did was send a signal
to our brains, making us think that we were being burnt or shocked. That’s why we
had to physically see our own heart rates, so we’d anticipate the consequences.”

“Mind over matter,” I said, shaking my head.

“I know, right? I’m sure some of the others will figure it out eventually, if they
haven’t already.”

A few minutes later we were in the dining room with plates of pasta and, as the unfortunate
result of being the last ones to arrive, we were forced to share a table with Stewart
and Mason. “Hey,” Mason said with his mouth full of lasagna, “we’ve got two days of
freedom coming to us. You guys got anything planned?”

I had almost forgotten about the forty-eight hours of leave we all received every
three months, assuming no major universal threats required our presence.

“Haven’t thought about it yet,” Kendrick said, “but I have a feeling it’ll involve
crepes.”

“What about you, Jackson?” Mason asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know … probably just stick around here and get some studying
done for the upcoming exams.”

“And I was sure you’d be headed to a wild party,” Stewart said, then she turned her
eyes on Kendrick. “You know, this one time … I came into Agent Meyer’s apartment to
do the routine nightly surveillance while he was out of town. Junior here was passed
out in the hallway, couldn’t even make it to his bed … and the governor’s daughter
was out cold on the couch, totally trashed. Can you imagine the scandal we would have
had to cover up if it leaked to the public? I had to drag Junior’s ass into the shower
because he smelled like a beer keg had been dumped over his head.”

Summer 2008
. I remembered it. Well, not the part after I passed out. And she was basically bringing
up a very wild night like it happened every day, when that wasn’t the case at all.

Mason laughed a little under his breath and I ran my fingers through my hair and made
every attempt to keep my mouth shut.

“How nice of you to hose the poor boy down,
Jenni,
” Kendrick snapped.

I was starting to think Kendrick might be able to tolerate Stewart even less than
I was. Maybe because she was the only other chick in this division right now and Kendrick
had probably originally hoped that they could form some X chromosome alliance. But
not Stewart. No freakin’ way.

Stewart smiled. “It was quite a task. Not to mention the fact that I caught a glimpse
of a little more of Junior’s skin than I wanted. Even the really little Agent Meyer,
if you know what I mean.”

I groaned and started to get up from my seat. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Footsteps followed behind me out of the dining room.

“We’ve got thirty seconds before the door closes,” Dad said in a low voice.

My heart pounded. We had done this for the first time a week ago, and every day since,
and it still freaked me out.

CHAPTER THREE

JUNE 8, 2009, 12:59
P.M.

I made it through the secret exit, completely unnoticed. Dad was waiting for me in
the tunnel on the other side. It was totally dark.

“You got a flashlight?” I whispered.

A tiny light came from beside me and lit up the dirt ground in front of us. I blew
on my hands and rubbed them together as we walked. It was a very chilly fifty-one
degrees here.

“What’s the matter? Stewart getting to you again?” Dad asked.

“Man, she’s driving me nuts. What the hell is her problem?” I kicked a rock in front
of me so hard it rolled completely out of sight.

“Sorry, I can’t play Dad and get involved. It would only make things worse,” he said.
“I agree she’s given you enough shit to deserve a good ass-kicking, but you have to
look at the situation from her perspective.”

“I thought you weren’t going to play Dad.”

“Not Dad, just experienced agent. She gave up her life as she knew it two years ago
and busted her ass while you partied and did whatever the hell you wanted. Which is
fine because that was her job, but when you come in here and start outscoring her,
of course she’s going to be a little ticked.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it that way. Still, it’s so junior high.” We stopped walking.
“I’ll go up first,” I said, pointing at the rope that would lead us to ground level.