I make it back to the hotel room, Brendon sitting inside reviewing files. He turns around as I step in, standing up. "So?"

"He's okay," I answer, shutting the door behind me and locking it.

"Well, you're going to be the one to tell Macy what happened," he says, gesturing to the phone.

I walk over to him. "What did you tell her?" I ask, picking up the cell.

"Nothing, just that I lost you in the chaos and that's it."

I scroll through the contacts and hit Macy. "Thanks." Brendon gives me a "good luck" look while the phone rings.

"Agent Way," she says on the other end.

"Speaking."

"What were you thinking out there?" she demands. "Where did you go?"

"I was shot at but someone took the bullet for me, I went to make sure they made it to the hospital and were okay."

"You were ordered to leave him, you didn't know who he was."

"Yeah, but he saved my life. The least I could do was make sure he didn't die while doing it."

She sighs and I can just imagine her holding her head while leaning back on her desk. "Way, you are one of the best agents I have. I need you to not take unnecessary risks."

"It won't happen again," I say.

"You're right, it won't. Did you speak with him?"

"No, and I was using my civilian alias with the hospital. Just being a concerned witness." Brendon looks at me from the other side of the room. He wouldn't tell her I'm lying. She doesn't need to know we talked. "What do we do now?"

"We've been working on tracing Kelcer's location, Akari has figured he's left the country by now."

"And you want us to go after him?" So much for meeting up with Frank again.

"No, the courier is still in Austria. I need you and Agent Urie to find him."

"And you want us to take him out?" I ask.

"Negative, I want you to get information from him on Elsa Beurn. Way, I need you to get close to Elsa."

"Define close, like close enough to stab her?"

Macy sighs on the other line, annoyed at my comments. "You're going undercover. Your identity is already established and set up."

I freeze up. "Why me?" I ask.

"You're the most qualified, you speak enough languages as she does."

"Is that all?" I ask. There has to be more than just knowing languages. Brendon has experience in going undercover. I don't. That automatically makes him far more qualified than I am.

"Akari also was profiling Elsa, building an identity she would possibly take interest in. You aligned with it."

"What? How?"

Macy laughs on the other end. "You can talk to Akari when our flight lands."

"Akari is coming with?" I ask.

"Yes, nobody knows the targets more. You'll see us at 2315 hours." With that, she hangs up the phone.

I sigh, turning off the phone and setting it down on the dresser. "Seems like you got off the hook there," Brendon chimes in. "What's going on?"

I start laughing nervously and still in disbelief. "I'm going undercover," I say. Brendon raises his eyebrows at me. "And then I'm to...invest in a relationship with Elsa Beum."

Brendon takes a seat on the bed. "Elsa Beum? The German weapons dealer?"

I throw my hands in the air. "Apparently!"

Brendon starts laughing, leaning back on the mattress. He runs his hands through his hair. "Oh, man. Macy must be mad about this morning and this is your punishment. Does she know Elsa's location?"

"No, but the courier is in the country and he knows how to contact Elsa. Granted, if I'm supposed to get close to her, I don't know how I'm going about with this plan."

"There's a plan already thought out, they just haven't told us yet," Brendon says. "I mean, I thought that if one of us needed to go undercover, it would have been assigned to me."

I nod in agreement. "I thought so too, but maybe this is better. I don't think you would've wanted to take that role."

Brendon chuckles lightly. He's been seeing this girl named Sarah for a while, over a year. Brendon told me a couple months ago when it was getting serious. He first thought it would be fun to just start a fling with her, considering he hasn't been with someone since his college days. But then he started settling down and he kept seeing her, things got serious. At the six month mark they've been together, he told me what's been going on. He wasn't sure if he should break up with her or not. The agency doesn't allow field agents to have relations with people. Most of us are recruited because we don't have family or people who would miss us. We're expendable and they like to keep it that way. Of course, there's nothing necessarily stopping us from being with someone. But the more people who know about it, the more danger they'll be in. Now that it's been over a year, I know Brendon loves her dearly. But I'm still the only one he's told about Sarah. She doesn't even know he works for the CIA, she still is only aware of his civilian alias.

It's better for me to take this assignment over Brendon. Even though the agency has us as both single and we still would be able to perform our jobs, I know it would cause emotional turmoil with Brendon. He's in love and he's strongly against cheating. Me, I have no one.

Their flight lands a little earlier than expected. They call us, telling us they'll meet us in our hotel room. Macy and Akari come in. "Glad to see you in one piece, Gerard," Akari says, setting their laptop on the table.

"What can I say, I'm scrappy," I say.

Akari smiles, taking out a file. "Macy tells me you are not found of going undercover?" they ask. I stare at them reluctantly and they smile. "I am sure you will do just fine."

Macy heads to the other side of the room with Brendon, discussing information about the courier. "Yeah, how did I get picked again?"

Akari shifts in the seat. "I went through a list of her persons of interest and graphed the traits. You had the highest match." They hand me a piece of paper and I read over it. So Elsa's got a type, not even a subtle one. Many of them are tall, an inch or two taller than me. Dark hair, colored eyes, European. "You also speak more languages than her."

"Yeah, but we don't speak all of the same," I point out. "She knows Hungarian, Serbian. Just because I speak more doesn't prove anything."

"Gerard, you literally are the results the computer spit out at me," Akari says. "And I've built your undercover identity. You don't have anything to worry about."

I scan the profile. "Gerard Warh?"

Akari looks at me. "It is best to make it similar so you can adjust easier," they say. "And I needed to make you German so Way would not do."

"Okay, makes sense. Why am I an American Literature professor?"

"Ah, you ask me all these questions," they say. "Look. This was built to hopefully intrigue her. Elsa may be a weapons dealer but she is also a person with her own interests. I made this so you are all her interests."

"Wouldn't it be a little...weird if he had everything she was into?" Brendon asks from across the room. "Just almost too perfect."

"I took that into consideration. Understand Gerard is his own person. He will offer a challenge, enough to keep it interesting. Do you underestimate me?" Akari asks with a smirk.

I continue scanning the list of who I am, causing more questions. "But I teach poetry, which is something she fancies. If she asks about it...what do I say, did you include that?" I ask.

"Gerard, I know who you are and I know you are creative enough to know what to say. I did not put down Aztec historian, this is something you have wiggle room with," they say. "You will do fine."

"And if I blow it up? Then what?"

Akari pursues their lip to the side. "Run? I do not know, the usual thing you agents do."

"That won't be necessary," Macy says. "I have faith in Gerard." I turn to face her as she steps closer to me. "You will know what you need to do. Get close to Elsa so you can find Kelcer."

"Then you want me to take him out?" I ask.

"If the opportunity is at hand," Macy says. "But I advise against it until we know about their plan on the attack."

"Understood," I say.

Macy looks at me, narrowing her eyes. "You will have to follow orders," she says. "You can't let your emotions get you on this one."

"That goes without saying," I reply.

"Yes, but this morning, you didn't listen."

I refrain from giving her attitude, annoyed she's still on my case about it. "This morning, an innocent man got hurt. I wasn't going to let him die."

"Yes, but here, you are to get close to her, romantically invest. I need you to be at 100% at all times." She stands in front of me looking up. "Can we depend on you?"

That little snarky voice in the back of my head wants to ask her why she's picking me if she doesn't have trust in m. But again, I refrain. "Yes," I reply. "Like I said before, the only reason I didn't listen this morning was that someone innocent was at stake. Elsa is no such thing." Macy nods in approvement of my answer.