Astrid was right about the sleeper agent coming after them, he had to admit it was good idea. He saw the man coming around back and as he suspected it was an adult.

“You were right,” said Dante as he tied the man up. “About the sleeper agent coming after us. You want to interrogate the man with me.”

“We promised that we would,” said Astrid, on the phone, he could hear some rustling in the background. “Don’t do anything until I get there. My safehouse is not that far from yours.”

It was two hours before he saw her at his door. Astrid was wearing ripped blue jeans with a red breathe on pullover hoodie and denim jacket.

“I hope you did not get started without me,” said Astrid as she removed her backpack. “Where is he?”

“In the guest bedroom,” said Dante. “By the way, the bedrooms in this safehouse are not like regular cabin bedroom. They are like high-end house bedrooms.”

“My family is rich,” said Astrid. “Get over it.”

They walked towards the bedroom as Astrid caught herself up on the file. She was a quick reader and she had absorbed the information.

“You read that already?” asked Dante.

“I was an agent longer than you were,” said Astrid as she opened the door to the bedroom. “I’ve been doing this for five years. I know the process and I have learned to process things much faster than you have.”

She opened and shut the door behind her with a loud noise. The man tried to get up, but Dante pushed him down by his shoulders.

“Sit down!” said Astrid.

The man struggled again. Dante pressed his hands down on his shoulder with more pressure.

“I believe my partner wants to ask you a couple of questions,” said Dante. “So, I would listen and sit back down.”

“You guys don’t have the authority to do this,” said the man.

“We do,” said Astrid. “I am Special Agent Astrid Morgan and that is my partner, Special Agent Dante Pertuz. We have the authority, believe me, now sit down.”

Astrid showed him a photograph of the dead agents. “Spies usually do what they do for six reasons: Love, faith, greed, boredom, fear or revenge. I wonder, which one you are, Malloy? I wonder, which made you turn on your colleagues and let them get murdered so brutally?”

Dante narrowed his eyes. “Hmm… I am betting it is a mix of greed and love. Or is it boredom.”

“Greed and boredom,” said Astrid. “I guess working for the world’s most elite organization of detectives who were also spies didn’t suit you, did it?”

“No… you wanted power,” said Dante.

“Ah… power is seductive, but he must have guaranteed something else as well,” said Astrid.

“Alright, enough… with the mind games,” said Malloy. “I will tell you whatever you want to hear. It-it was not power. My father was a member of the Circle and as you very well know, agent Morgan… the only way out is death. I was stuck.”

“So was I,” said Astrid. “I turned myself in and got a new life. You could have done the same.”

“It-it’s not the same,” said Malloy.

“Then explain it to us,” said Astrid. “You don’t seem the type to be a traitor, Malloy.”

She pulled up a chair and sat down in it. Dante followed her and sat down. She looked at him and then gestured Malloy to talk. He told them everything and after that Astrid and Dante stepped outside.

“Do you believe him?” asked Dante.

“No… there is more to that story,” said Astrid as she ran a hand through her soft curls. “I should have known. I trusted him so many times in the field.”

Dante put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. No one expects you to be perfect, Ash.”

“Just tell me we are going to stop the Circle and Nox,” said Astrid. “I just need to hear it be said out loud.”

“You will stop them,” said Derrith as he entered the house. “Sorry, I was in Germany when you called me a couple weeks ago. Here is everything I could find on our friend there.”

“No problem,” said Astrid as she took the redacted papers from his hands. “I totally understand how travel time could be an issue.”

Derrith left the house late that night. She handed him a flash drive with some specific instructions.

Astrid grabbed her backpack too. She considered what Lena had said to her the other day about life being short and that she should tell him how she felt, but she was scared. Her walls were crashing down and she needed someone to be with her.

“Do you hate me?”

“What?!!” exclaimed Astrid as she stopped at the door.

“Do you hate me? Or not like me, because you keep avoiding me.”

“It’s neither,” said Astrid. “That’s not the case.”

“Then why do you avoid me?” asked Dante. “You never open up to me. You are scared to show any weakness in front of me. You know, I won’t judge.”

“No… I know you won’t,” said Astrid. She took a deep breath and sighed. “I trust you… you know I do.”

He took her hand gently behind their backs to comfort and squeezed it. She turned to look at him. She looked at his green eyes.

“I’ve lost too many people in my life,” said Astrid. “And I know we are in a line of work where the mortality rate is not surprisingly high, but I don’t think I will ever get used to it.”

“And that’s a good thing,” said Dante. “You value people’s lives. It’s a good thing.”

“Not necessarily,” said Astrid. “I lost my foster father last summer. He was investigating a gang and they made his death look like suicide.”

Dante just listened to what she was saying. He rubbed circles on the back of her hand to comfort her.

“The police had the audacity to blame me and my brothers for his death,” said Astrid. “I wasn’t there, Dante. I was on a mission in Berlin when the news came to me… and they, my brothers, told me that I cared more about my mission then my parents.”

“You were in Berlin investigating the Circle,” guessed Dante.

“I never told Frank and Cole about them. I never told them about the bioweapon attack or the dead agent photos I had received. I kept it to myself because…”

“Because you wanted and were trying to protect them from the true horrors of the world,” said Dante. “Like any older sibling would do.”

Dante took the mug and placed it in the sink. He leaned over the kitchen counter as she sat down at the other end of it. Their eyes met and he gestured for her to continue.

“They demanded answers… I did my best to explain to them what had occurred,” said Astrid as she drummed her fingers against the countertop. “They understood but I should have been there. Our father was in a state, and I should have stayed and helped take care of him. I was personally invested in the mission and that never ends well. Recently, I found out that the Circle used a local gang to target my dad.”

“I guess the weapons test showed me my real motivation,” said Astrid. “Why I was really fighting against them. I don’t know if it was the hero genes from my father but after I saw the horrors they could do. I did not want them to exist the world or any child to go through the horrors of an unnecessary war like I did.”

“Since they were behind it all,” said Dante.

Astrid nodded. “You’re educated.”

“I did my reading,” said Dante.

“They were behind the first and second war in Gatlon, the state of society right now… I could go on. They were behind everything since the third world war.”

“Responsible for the kind of world you grew up in,” said Dante.

“The kind of world we grew up in,” corrected Astrid. “I did not want kids to live through that violence again. Mainly, I just wanted to do good for the world…”

“They did kill your father,” said Dante. “You sure it’s not for revenge.”

“At first, I did think that was my motivation but at some point it became less about revenge and more about justice,” said Astrid as she moved away from the kitchen. “Are we done?”

“There you go again,” said Dante. “Pushing me away.”

“You want the reason I push you away,” said Astrid. “That’s the reason after losing the people I have closest to me. I don’t want to get close to you for the risk of losing you, even though I love you, Dante. It hurts me to avoid you, but I am doing it to keep you safe.”

“You love me,” said Dante.

“I do,” said Astrid.

“Then stop pushing me away,” said Dante. “You know, I am more than capable of protecting myself against whatever may come.”

“Can we take things slowly?” asked Astrid. “I’m not sure I am ready for a full relationship yet and I am not sure I want the others to know yet.”

“Okay,” said Dante. “We’ll take things slowly. You were going to head back to your safehouse, right?”

“Yeah,” said Astrid. “We’ll spend a couple more days out here while we wait for the results from our friends.”

“What is it with you and Caleb?” asked Dante.

“Caleb and I are best friends… close as siblings. I grew up close to him and his cousin,” said Astrid. “My foster parents, Hugh and Simon, were always out for some council meetings. Cad’s parents would invite me over growing up. That’s all. You have nothing to be jealous about.”

“You go to him for advice, and you seem to let him lead the team when you are away,” said Dante.

“He helped build the team and he is capable of leading it,” said Astrid. “I am not saying that you aren’t. It’s just that the team is not used to you. I only introduced you recently as my partner. Caleb and I have been leading it since the beginning as friend, that’s all.”

“Hmm… okay,” said Dante.

“Dante, you know my heart only beats for you,” said Astrid as she pushed away from the counter. “I’m sorry if I don’t turn to you as much as I turn to him. You mean more to me. You know that. He helped me build the team as my best friend and co-leader.”

He could understand where she was coming from. He knew now that she loved him as she let go of his hand and got up from the kitchen counter.

I’m glad your friend, Derrith, took our hostage,” said Dante. “I don’t think I wanted to interrogate that traitor anymore.”

“Neither did I,” said Astrid.

“Did we even get anything out of him?” asked Dante.

“Hmm… he didn’t say anything, but I did find these,” said Astrid as she removed a hard drive out of her pocket. She was also holding an SD card. “In his pocket when I was interrogating him.”

“That’s why I love you,” said Dante. “You are smart, brilliant and beautiful. Just one question: when did you have the time to take it out of his pocket?”

Astrid simply smiled with a smirk on her face. “A tiger does not show all their stripes, do they?”

“I know you hate hiding. I hate it as much you do, but this is the most efficient thing that we can do,” said Astrid. “Trust me, it will be over soon. I should probably get going. I am going to see what I can get off this hard drive, but it will take me some time. Could you go through the SD card and see if you can find anything… interesting?”

“Whatever you need, oh fearless leader,” said Dante. “I don’t have anything interesting to do in this house, anyway.”

She slapped the back of his head with her palm.

“Ow… what was that for?” asked Dante.

“What have I told you about calling me that?” asked Astrid.

“Sorry, Ash,” said Dante.

“But you have not told me your fears yet,” said Dante.

“Keep dreaming and guessing, lover boy,” said Astrid. “You are never going to be able to worm them out of me.”