Free Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3) by Sara Schoen Page B

could say for him.
    “I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” Rum said with a smile. “I feel like I’m a pretty good role model. Now, go get cleaned up. We meet with Sharp Shooter and Demon in an hour to decide what to do with Katya, and no one will want to be around you smelling like you’ve been training for the last few hours.”
    “I thought I was protecting her. What is the meeting about?” I asked as we left the training room. I saw Renegade watching us as we stepped outside. We had just made a scene of kicking him out only to leave a few minutes later.
    “You’re a very literal thinker.” Rum shook her head as if she was disappointed. “There are different ways to protect people; you should know that more than anyone. You’re protecting her from her father by risking your life, protecting your family by leaving them to be in the agency, and protecting Renegade by keeping your secret.” She gave me a hard glare to make sure I was listening. “There’s a lot of ways to protect people, you just have to find what each person needs.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
     
    I spent my entire shower wondering what Sharp Shooter was going to do with Katya. There were a lot of options, but we had to figure out what was best for her. In my opinion, she should stay in the building. That way we could keep her safe even if her father started to look for her. By now he was sure to have figured out that Katya was missing and not dead. Her mother’s body would have been found if someone went looking for it, unless it got buried under more snow. Then it could take a while for them to discover the body, though something told me we wouldn’t be that lucky. I was never that lucky, and I tended to get caught more than anything else.
    There is nothing wrong with that. I learned more from my mistakes than I did from success. They forced me to grow, and then I knew I could handle myself if it ever happened again. At least I knew now if I was ever trapped by Mexican drug lords I knew how to escape and make it back to CIRA in one piece. I let the thoughts slip away in the last few moments I was in the shower, letting them vanish as the water slid down my body. The moment was fleeting, but in these times between missions they were all I had to think over everything.
    The second we got back we were busy preparing for the next mission. It was something I took solace in, the time I spent with the other agents in this building before we were sent out again. Others tended to focus on training or revenge. A shiver raced down my spine, which was instantly fixed by the warm water and the lull of the music I had turned on beforehand. It was only a matter of time before Renegade found out I slipped him false information about Ash Crest, about a man who wasn’t real, but supposedly took Ash’s life. It wasn’t my fault he was so willing to believe the information. I think he was just thankful it wasn’t me. I knew he had an inclination I killed Ash, but he took the information too easily. He wanted to believe someone else did it.
    “You’re overthinking it again,” I said to myself, shutting my eyes and taking in a breath in a futile attempt to relax. “There’s nothing more to it than him wanting answers. He doesn’t know you killed Ash. He doesn’t know you lied. Just keep it together and he never has to know the truth.” The words relaxed me, but at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all they were. Words that would one day come to bite me in the ass. I had kept my secret this long; nothing was going to make me give it up.
    I turned off the water quickly, as if to cut off my thoughts at the source, and quickly dried off. I turned the radio down slightly when I got out and took some time to dry my hair with a towel. The steam filled the bathroom, calming me as I pushed away the remnants of my thoughts, I was always more relaxed and in a better mood after I showered. I just didn’t get