Mark Del Franco - Face Off

He gave her grudging smile, leaned back, and began tossing a small green stress ball straight up and catching it. Laura let out an exaggerated sigh. “If you’re going to play with yourself, I can leave you to it.”

“Ha-ha,” he said.

“He speaks,” she said.

He dropped forward and tossed the ball from hand to hand. “I don’t think this is going to work out.”

“It has to,” she said.

He stared at the ball as he passed it back and forth. “And what if it doesn’t?”

She moved up to his desk. “Jono, listen to me. You can make this hard, or you can make this easy. What you can’t do is make it impossible.”

“Impossible? He forced me to join InterSec because I figured out your real identity, Laura. I didn’t ask to be here. Plus, he treats me like an idiot,” he said.

“And you do the same. Like it or not, he’s the boss. Terryn will let you disagree with him. He won’t let you insult him. You have to earn his trust. That’s what this whole situation is about,” she said.

Annoyed, he glared. “I do not kiss ass.”

She spread her hands out. “No one’s asking you to. Just respect the fact that he knows what he’s talking about. Because he does. Believe me. If I didn’t trust Terryn macCullen, I’d be dead ten times over.”

He tossed the ball up. “I don’t know if I like the politics around here.”

She crossed her arms. “I think you need to learn them before you decide that. The fey are complicated, but despite what you were raised to believe, we’re not evil, Jono. There are reasons Terryn thinks the way he does. You two probably have a lot more in common than you realize.”

Sinclair snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m sure the uncrowned heir to a throne can get down with my issues.”

She considered his point. As a fey/human hybrid, Sinclair was unique. That was why his grandfather created the spelled medallion for him—to hide his true nature. The jotunn knew enough about the fey and humans in the Convergent world to know that his grandson would have been poked, prodded, and tested. Social integration moved slowly in most parts of the world. Biological interbreeding would speed things up considerably, and that was something many people would find appealing—and others horrifying. “He’s got a target on his back simply because of who he is, Jono. Sound familiar?” she asked.

He glanced at her with lowered eyes. “It’s different.”

Exasperated, Laura slumped into the guest chair. “Jono, give me one week of no conflict. Do the job we both know you can do.”

He grinned. “Was that a compliment?”

She pursed her lips. “If I say yes, can we drop the subject?”

He spun in his chair, then leaned on the desk. “If I say yes, can we go out for dinner?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

He frowned. “Wait, I lost track. Is that ‘yes, that was a compliment’ or ‘yes, we can have dinner’?”

She stood. “It was ‘yes, this conversation is over.’ ”

His frown deepened into playful confusion. “I think I’m a yes behind.”

She leaned toward him with a smug, playful smile. “That’s because I’m one step ahead of you.”

He threw another ball of paper at her. She snatched it out of the air and threw it back. “Do you want to review your strategy with Legacy?”

He shrugged. “What’s to review? Show up. Act like I don’t like the fey—which won’t be tough—take notes, and leave.”

“Where were you born?” she asked.

“Philadelphia.”

She shook her head. “Wrong. Never use your own data for a persona.”

“Persona? You’re going to make me a glamour?” he asked.

“No, but you’re still undercover. That’s as much a persona as a glamoured persona. You need to be convincing. You are going to get to know these guys like friends. You don’t know how long you’re going to be there. You need to create a credible life for yourself that has no connection to who you really are. When it’s all over, you don’t want to leave anything behind that might lead to the real you.”

“The real me,” he said.

“The real you,” she said.

He cocked his head at her. “Is this the real you I’m talking to right now?”

She blinked. Not the question she was expecting. In the brief pause, a cascade of thoughts and emotions sped through her mind. Yes. No. What? Of course. But . . . He’s baiting me. No, it’s fair given the context. Ouch. Talk about pushing a button. How dare he? Is he serious or playing with me? Again. “Ha-ha,” she said. It was the best she could come up with, and she felt stupid for it.

Sinclair’s measured look said he wasn’t sure how to interpret the response. With a subtle flick of his eyebrows, he decided to let it pass. “Okay, so I need a better cover than a name.”

“Cress can help you build a legal framework in case someone decides to look into your history. She’s good. Excellent, in fact. Your job is to build the personality—who you loved or hated, your favorite books and movies, what you like to eat. Drill it into your memory and stick to it. The slightest lapse can be trouble, so keep it simple but keep it . . .”

“Real,” he finished.

“Yes.”

A faint smile creased his face. “This is what you do every day?”

She shook her head. “Not every day. Most jobs only require an occasional appearance. Only deep cover takes over your life.”

He laughed. “I’ve been driving limos every day for two months.”

She smiled. “But you didn’t need a persona for it, just a name. As Bill Burrell, limo driver, you’ve been interacting with low-level Legacy staff briefly. The job doesn’t require that you interject yourself into the workings of someone’s life. You get to be Bill Burrell and go home at night. It’s different now that they’re letting you in deeper. You become someone else. Start by creating a job history. What did you do before you drove limos?”

He pursed his lips. “Circus performer.”

She didn’t laugh. “Too contrived.”

“It was a joke,” he said.

She compressed her lips. “I know you think it was, Jono, but you need to understand something. I take this seriously, and you need to take this seriously. When you’ve proved you can do the job, then you can joke.”

It was his turn to get annoyed. “I’m getting tired of all this ‘proving myself’ bullshit.”

“It’s hard. I know. But it’s that way because the stakes are high. A mistake can cost lives. Look what happened on the road this morning. You have to show you won’t get yourself killed. That’s the first step. Then you have to show that you can be relied on not to get a teammate killed.”

“I didn’t ask for this. You screwed up, not me,” he said.

She winced at the truth of it. “You’re right. You exposed me. I didn’t know my body signature had a shape that doesn’t change because I’m wearing a glamour. I never anticipated that someone could sense that shape like you can. But I didn’t let those mistakes get me killed. Now I’m trying to show Terryn and Cress and whoever else cares that those mistakes aren’t going to get them killed. And the only way I can do that is to help you succeed at this. If you’re telling me you don’t want to do it, then you need to decide whether you like your hell hot or cold because Terryn will send you somewhere extremely unpleasant whether you like it or not.”

“And you’re okay with that,” he said.

Sighing, she shook her head. “Not in the least, and I will do whatever it takes to make it not happen.”

He smirked. “So you’ll have dinner with me?”

“Yes, as long as you understand it has nothing to do with anything else.”

He smiled. “Night watchman.”