Free Covert Operations by Sara Schoen Page B

mission directly, or about why he needed the Night file destroyed.
    A small smile curved at the edges of my lips. It had to be her. She was the girl who’d disappeared in Virginia, vanished because she’d been recruited by CIRA. That would explain why he was proud of her for passing her first mission. He must have recruited her specifically for that mission. Which meant he was the dark haired guy the members claimed to have seen, and the Night girl must have been the agent who went rogue. There were a few stray claims that some had seen her rush out of the compound, and her basic description matched the one in André’s file.
    I began to wish I had pushed him for more information. I could have figured out what made her go alone, or maybe how she separated herself from Demon. Reading people was easy, and he made it clear the girl was someone he cared for, so he wouldn’t have willingly let her out of his sight for such a dangerous mission. Something had happened in Sandtown, and she had managed to escape in the chaos, but why? Where did she go, and what had been so important?
    The longer I thought about it, the more I needed to know exactly what happened in Sandtown, and not the story Jax’s men had fed to members. There were files, reports, and a few photos from the Sandtown raid hidden away in storage because Miguel tried to record what happened that night. He hoped to prevent a similar attack on other compounds by learning from that raid. He wanted to know if the attackers had been the same agents as before, but the descriptions didn’t match. He had to move the base, and he knew that after the first attack, the second attack meant that base could never be operational again.
    I had heard Camden repeat a conversation with his father, about how many deserted, a few were killed, and the chaos caused the ones remaining to get arrested. She had ended that base, and now she was coming for their headquarters. If he knew, they would pack up and move to a different location. At least, he and his father would. She seemed to be out for blood, and I didn’t need someone distracted by anger during this critical point in the mission. There were too many lives on the line, and I wasn’t going to risk my life for her actions.
    Maybe I was being too harsh. She could have gotten lost during the chaos, but the way Demon reacted told me there was a lot more to her story. Especially the reason behind her pride for the mission. I was supposed to be pleased with her too, and I couldn’t figure out why. Was it because the cartel had been harmed, and that I could get out soon? Had she somehow done me a favor? I wanted to know, but I would have to wait, at least until she got here.
    The phone rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t realized Camden’s call with his father had ended, and that he had been watching me, as if waiting for me to answer a question. I just hoped he assumed my lack of focus resulted from exhaustion. He picked up the phone, and a moment later his eyebrows lifted in shock, and I knew I would be asked to leave. Camden typically dismissed me from his office under matters of extreme importance. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t care because now I could go look for the files on the Sandtown raid.
    Sure enough, Camden waved his hand to dismiss me, and I got up without having to be told twice. Although before I could make it to the door, he stopped me. “Marco,” he whispered, not wanting whoever was on the other end of the line to hear. “Take the rest of the day off. You need to catch up on some sleep. I’ll have one of the other guys take your spot.”
    I nodded in response and left without a word. When I shut the door behind me, I glanced down the halls to see if I had enough of an opening to make it to the files I wanted. The hallway was empty, and it would take a few minutes for the replacement to come. Perfect timing to look for the files I needed. Still, it would be a scavenger hunt since Miguel had