We all grinned at each other for a second,reveling in the successful end of the night. Then Halluis clearedhis throat, breaking the silence.
“There is something I have to say,” he said.“And I think I should probably say it now, because we probablywon’t get another chance.”
I frowned in confusion. What was he talkingabout?
“This has been the finest team I have everworked with in all my career—and though I regret what will happento us all after this night, I have never been more proud of my workthan I am right now.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my brain stillfelt fuzzy, and I couldn’t make sense of his words. It sounded likehe thought we were about to be punished. “We completed themission—we even retrieved the director’s car!”
Halluis looked at me in surprise. “Well, youmust know—oh, well, I suppose not, you being so very, very young.”His tone was mocking, but gentle, and his eyes flashed. He smiled abit sadly. “Skriloff won’t want anyone to know the car was evermissing. This mission has been a dead-end for us all along. Fail,and we would lose everything. But even in our success, we willstill lose everything.” He shrugged.
I looked at Jeremy. He sighed. “Halluis isright, of course. Skriloff will probably assign us to separateremote locations where we can never tell what happened, and wherewe can never use it against him. It’s just the way thingswork.”
I stared at the three of them, all takingthis so stoically, and my mouth hung open in shock.
“Hey, but we were a pretty fantastic teamwhile it lasted, don’t you think?” Ace said.
I held back tears as Halluis raised his mug.“To us?” he suggested.
“To us,” Jeremy and Ace agreed.
“To us,” I echoed, and we all clinkedmugs.
The noise of a phone vibrating broke themood. Jeremy pulled out his phone. “That’s our cue.” He lookedaround the table at all of us. “Thank you all for what you’ve donehere. We did good work.”
Everyone nodded.
“What the heck? Let’s get this over with,”Ace grinned.
***
We sat in silence in the conference room,waiting for Director Skriloff to arrive. He walked in, chest pushedout and obviously feeling pleased with himself. Once he made it tothe head of the table, he remained standing.
“I wanted to commend you on all your finework. For a minute there, I thought you weren’t going to come homewith the prize. Agent McGinnis here made it sound like you were alljumping ship a day or so ago. Let this be a lesson to you that witha little persistence, all things are possible.” He smiled down onus condescendingly.
The four of us sat calmly, knowing what wascoming, but not wanting to give him the satisfaction of areaction.
“Of course, you’ll be reporting for yournext assignments immediately. I think it will be best if we splityou all up—I think you’ll all do better with a totally newchallenge.”
“And you wouldn’t want us talking to eachother—or anyone else—about your unethical misuse of Divisionresources for personal gain,” Halluis said calmly.
Skriloff sighed. “Yes, it’s exactly thatsort of attitude I need to quell in my ranks. Thank you forconfirming my decision. Despite your success on this mission, youhave all proven insubordinate. I think a little time…away…will doyou some good.”
“Why don’t you just come out and say it?” Idemanded, sick of his condescension and simpering. “You don’t wantthe director to find out what you did.”
“Too late for that,” we all heard a voicesay, and then the head director, Malcolm Kettering, strolled in.I’d seen him many times while I was in training, and he looked thesame as always. Despite his serious and risky job, his kind, darkblue eyes sparkled with happiness and expectancy. The laugh linesaround those eyes were pure evidence of his choice to seek joy andlaughter. His handsomely trimmed, thick beard, mustache, andeyebrows had turned a dark gray, the only evidence of his gainingyears.
“It is inconceivable that you would lose mypriceless car and keep it from me, but it is unconscionable thatyou would take four of my most valuable operators and put them upagainst the mafia without proper backup to retrieve it. You are acoward, and as a fit punishment, you’ll have a remote assignment ofyour own. Maybe we’ll forget you’re even there, who knows?Despicable.” He nodded, short clipped nods.
He turned from Skriloff to us. “You all, onthe other hand, deserve commendations for what you accomplished.Well done. Thank you for finding and retrieving my car, but most ofall, thank you for saving those kids from a terrible life ofslavery.”
He led a sputtering Skriloff to the door,where he was met by two suited men. The door closed behind them.The relief I felt at seeing him go was mirrored in the faces of myteam members.
Director Kettering returned and shook eachof our hands.
“Really, you’ve done fine work. You’veproven yourselves to be among the very best of our agents here atDivision 57.”
“So, will we get to stay together?” Iblurted before I even thought about what I was saying.
He laughed. “Well, that’s up to you. Wedon’t usually do this, but I think it’s deserved in this case. I’moffering you your pick of assignments.”
We grinned at him and at each other. It wastoo good to be true.
“So, what’ll it be? Which of the Divisionheadquarters would you like to be assigned to?”
No one said anything for a moment, thenHalluis spoke up.
“Well, if no one else has a preference—whatabout Paris? After all, Christy could really use some work on herFrench.”
I laughed and found myself nodding. Aceshrugged, and Jeremy said, “I could do France, I guess.”
The director smiled. “Excellent choice.”
***
A few days later, I looked at Hank’s grave.Mounds of wilting flowers lay on top of the freshly filled grave. Iadded a huge fresh bunch on top of his headstone. New tears trackedmy cheeks. Inside, I ached. Feelings that it was my fault ate atme.
Jeremy came up beside me. “I need you toremember that this was not your fault.” How had he known myinnermost thoughts? “You were just unfortunate enough to witnessit. And if you think about it, he was blessed in a way. He had afriend there when he died and someone
