What She Thought She Knew (Rachel Moore Mystery Book 1), стр. 76

Despite us being a small group, the task only took ten minutes. As such, we boarded the plane, and each of us went into our own subconscious.

Once again, I observed John. His face was pale, and there were bangs under his eyes.

A pang of concern tore at my insides. John was not sleeping; if so, then his reaction time would be severely handicapped during the mission.

I walked to where John was, and sat down in the seat beside him.

He didn't even notice my approach, which further showed his distraction.

I kicked his leg which automatically got his attention. "What?" He asked.

I decided to get straight to the point. "You haven't been sleeping." I answered.

John blinked several times, as if he was trying to regain his focus. "It's just stress, that's all." He mumbled.

I narrowed my eyes. "Bullshit." I simply said. "You're worried about Rachel. We all are John, but a lack of sleep is not going to bring her back. In fact, it'll lessen your chances of success."

It was John's turn to narrow his eyes at me. "I'm fine!" He snapped. "I don't need you to babysit me."

Not one to take offense so seriously, I merely shrugged and got up. "I'm just trying to warn you as a friend. If you want to save Rachel, then you've got to calm down, and start taking better care of yourself." With that, I left and made my way to the less crowded part of the plane.

I sat down and settled into my seat. I closed my eyes momentarily, and relaxed my tense muscles.

I heard shuffling from my left side and cracked open my left eye.

Unsurprisingly, Agent Claire sat beside me. "Hey." She said.

I nodded my head in greeting.

A few minutes of silence passed between us.

As I glanced at Agent Claire, she seemed to be struggling for words. "Do you think we'll survive this?" She asked softly.

I shrugged half-heartedly. "To be honest, I'm not sure. We're a strong group, but the Phantoms have us at a disadvantage. We might succeed, but that success will come at a high price."

More shuffling noises were made, and that time I turned my head to the side.

Agent Claire had positioned her body so that she faced me.

I raised an eyebrow at her intentions.

"I'll be blunt; I like you, a lot, but I know that you're not interested in me as I am in you. So I'll give you a choice: I won't make approaches on you anymore, but if you do change your mind, I'll still be here." She said as she stared at me intensely.

I merely blinked as I couldn't form words. Even if I was able to, I had no idea what to say.

Agent Claire nodded. "I see." She said.

She looked down momentarily, but then she looked back up and her normally bright hazel eyes were hardened with an unfamiliar emotion that I've never seen in her before.

She then stood up, and nodded at me once more. "Good luck, Agent Fear." With that, she walked away.

A strange, yet well-known feeling swirled in my gut, and it left me uncomfortable: it was guilt.

I gritted my teeth together. Damn women and their ability to manipulate emotions.

Thankfully, the plane began its procedure for take-off and distracted me from the confrontation.

I let out a sharp exhale. This was exactly why I stopped messing with women.

We were about three hours into the flight when the unconscious Seeker agent began to groan as he stretched his stiff muscles.

He then opened his eyes and looked around as he blinked repeatedly. "Where am I?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes, and looked away.

From the corner of my vision, I saw Pete approach the newly conscious agent. "Let's just say a lot has happened while you were out." He simply said.

________________________________________

It has been five days since we've arrived at New York. There were no Phantom agents at the airport.

It made me suspicious though, as the Phantoms were normally thorough in their searches.

Agent Moore and her team were attacked when they returned, so how come they weren't at the airport when we arrived?

John was clearly agitated as he paced back and forth in his spot in our make-shift command post.

I knew that he was anxious about Rachel. Hell we all were, but it seemed that he was the only one who refused to believe that Rachel was already dead.

John may not have acknowledged it externally, but I knew that deep down, he was scared to death about that being a possibility.

I sighed quietly as I turned my attention back to my task. I was debating on how to upgrade my newly claimed Devil's bow: the one that Agent Claire gave to me.

I blinked several times as I willed all thoughts of her out of my head. I had better things to worry about than her feelings, such as making sure that my weapons were in perfect condition.

I decided to start with my swords as I made sure that they were delicately sharp. Once I deemed them ready, I slid them in their safety harnesses, and wrapped the belt around me.

Next was my Devil's bow.

Since it came with an infra-red seeking program, I set it up to a visor that I placed over my left eye. I tested it out by scanning the room I was in.

Sure enough, I was able to detect the heat signatures from behind the brick wall.

I slightly smirked, and placed the sniper rifle on my back.

Afterwards, I put on any remaining piece of armor, and slid a mask on.

I crossed the room, and stood in front of a body sized mirror.

A sense of pride filled me as I observed myself.

When I first told my parents of my intentions to join the Seekers,