Free May Contain Spies: A Spy Thriller (Meet Abby Banks Book 1) by J.A. Cipriano Page A

meant it was probably true. Not only had Stephen only had one case before, but he’d fallen in love with the girl. Wasn’t that one of those cardinal rules of spy club? Don’t fall in love with the girl?
    Oh my god. I was the rebound girl.
    “I’m sure he’ll do fine Marco,” Chloe said, and her voice made me jump. I’d totally forgotten she was there.
    “Of course he will,” Marco snarled, shoving us through the door. “Because you’re going with him.”
    “This was not how I expected my day to be going,” Chloe said as I followed along behind her in the dimly lit underground passageway. Red lights lit up the sections as we moved so that about ten feet on either side of us was illuminated and the rest of it was dark. It made me glad that Stephen was behind me. If something came to kill us, it’d either get him or Chloe first, which, I suspected, was why I was sandwiched in the middle.
    “You didn’t expect the store to get blown up? Shocking,” Stephen mumbled under his breath.
    Chloe wheeled on him, fixing him with a gaze that made my blood run cold, and it wasn’t even directed at me. Stephen stopped, his left foot moving slightly in front of him so he was poised on his feet. His hands moved just a fraction of an inch, edging upward into some kind of fighting position.
    “No. I hadn’t expected that either,” Chloe spat, her eyes running up and down his body. Taking the entirety of him in. “But I, especially, hadn’t expected to be carting around you and her,” she jerked a thumb at me, “through a sewer all day.”
    “Sorry,” I said with a nervous glance back down the corridor. I wasn’t sure how far we’d come or where we were exactly, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t far enough away from the bad guys. “Maybe we should keep walking anyway though.”
    “Don’t tell me what to do, package !” Chloe snarled, her eyes narrowing into slits.
    “Fine,” I said, putting my hands up in front of me in a conciliatory gesture. “What do you suggest we do?”
    Chloe sighed and hung her head before turning back down the corridor. “We keep going,” she droned. She trudged forward, shoes scraping on the rough concrete of the tunnel.
    “Maybe we could play a game?” I offered, unsure of what to do. Chloe’s attitude was getting me a little upset. I mean, she was supposed to be protecting me so she was doing her job. But, I mean, I don’t know, wasn’t this supposed to be fun? Everything I knew about spies told me that their jobs were fun. At least they seemed fun in the books I’d read.
    “Like what?” Stephen asked from behind me. “It’s not like we can play I Spy .”
    “I spy with my little eye, something red,” I said with a smirk.
    “Is it a light?” Stephen asked.
    “It is. Your turn,” I said.
    “Oh. My. God. Will the two of you just shut the hell up?” Chloe screamed, putting her hands on her temples and rubbing. “Always yapping and talking. Just shut up before I tear out your skulls with my bare hands and leave your bodies in a dumpster.”
    “That’s against protocol,” Stephen said.
    “I’m going to ‘against protocol’ your face if you don’t shut the hell up!” Chloe yelled so loudly the sound echoed in the tiny tunnel.
    “Uh… guys?” I asked cautiously.
    “What?” Chloe whirled around to look at me with narrowed eyes, her pink lips twisted in rage.
    “What are those?” I pointed at the ceiling behind us where a gaggle of dark creatures scurried toward us.
    “Run!” Stephen screamed, grabbing my hand and taking off down the tunnel like a bat out of hell.
    That was pretty much when the explosions started. Fire leapt down the tunnel behind us, superheating the air and making it impossible to breathe. Stephen glanced over his shoulder, face stricken in fear, and swept me into his arms. He pressed my body close to his, and I felt the heat of the blaze rush through me as he sprinted past Chloe.
    She was facing us, a peculiar device in her hand that