So basically, we were both hopeless.
Chinese sounded good.
I striped out of the jacket, tossing it aside, and grabbed my phone. The app to order from our favorite place down the block was already downloaded from the numerous times we’d ordered there in the past.
I eyed Xander as he wheeled over our whiteboard, the one with our meager plans so far, and took off the cap of a dry erase marker.
Good. Plans. As long as those plans involved not having to go back to Dark Enterprises. Not yet.
I ordered extra of everything because I knew we’d be at this all day, and probably tomorrow too. It didn’t hurt to have leftovers to rummage through when we got hungry.
Besides, neither of us enjoyed cooking.
By the time I’d gone to my room to change into a pair of sweats and pull my hair up into a loose ponytail, almost completely erasing my espionage-loving alter ego, Xander had set up three computers on a table next to the whiteboard.
I walked in and froze when I saw Declan Dark on one of the screens. He was in an elevator with a man I didn’t recognize—a man wearing a lab coat.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Xander scrolled through a page on a tablet he held in his hand. “Dr. Cole Johnson. And it doesn’t look like they’re happy with each other.”
It didn’t. I could only see Declan’s profile, but his jaw was clenched and when he spoke, it looked like he was saying it through gritted teeth.
“Johnson,” I murmured, searching my brain for any familiarity. “I think I might have heard that name before.”
“He worked with your father. But then, a lot of people worked with your father. I would imagine since…since he hasn’t been there, there’s been a shift in seniority. He was working on some pretty top-secret projects and now they’re having to figure out who’s going to…” He shrugged. “Take over or whatever.”
I gritted my teeth like Declan. “It’s just temporary.”
Xander nodded. “I know. How is he?”
I ran my hand over my face. I’d called the hospital this morning to check in on my dad. “No change. I’m going to visit this week.”
“I can go with you if you want.”
I plopped on the couch and pulled a pillow onto my lap. “We’ll see.”
I missed my dad more than I let on. I used to call him each weekend after a long week of classes at the university and he’d commiserate with me, saying he knew what it was like spending all those hours in a lab. But science came easy for him. He was a genius—and I wasn’t just saying that because I was biased. He could have worked for the government. I figured the only reason he’d started working for Dark Enterprises was because he was a friend of Christopher Dark, Declan’s adoptive father and because he was offered a shitload of money.
They developed vaccines and medicines and all sorts of things they weren’t allowed to discuss with the public, and Dark Enterprises funded it all. Christopher Dark worked exclusively in the labs and Declan had taken over everything else.
“Dammit,” I mumbled, lifting my eyes to Xander’s.
“What?”
“I’m going to have to go undercover again, aren’t I?”
His lips moved in a ghost of a smile. “Spoken like a true spy.”
I shoved my hands into my hair, closing my eyes and imagining what it would be like to face Declan again. My core throbbed slightly, and I opened my eyes immediately. No, no, no. I was supposed to picture myself taking him down. Learning his secrets and watching as the police arrested him for being in on a conspiracy that caused what had happened to my dad.
The thing was, I didn’t know for a fact Declan was involved—or at least not the mastermind behind it all. All I knew was that my father had gone to meet Declan on the day of the accident—and he’d never come home.
“This is insane,” I told Xander, who was already sitting at the table, hard at work on one of his computers.
“Working with him might help get you more answers,” Xander said reasonably. “Besides, maybe you’ll like it.”
“A job?”
“A job at a place your father seemed to love. You know, once you graduate, you’re going to have to actually do something besides hike all day and then sit around bothering me the rest.”
I threw the pillow at him. “You know you love me.”
He snorted. He was right, though. I’d decided to take the rest of the semester off when my dad got in the accident, but now that he was still in a coma and nothing had changed, I lacked purpose.
I stood when the desk in the lobby called up to let us know our dinner was here.
No, I had purpose, I reminded myself. And that was to help my dad.
So, whether I wanted to or not, I was going to head into Dark Enterprises tomorrow and try to get that job.
Chapter 4
This time when I walked into Dark Enterprises, I wasn’t wearing ridiculous heels. I refused when Xander tried to force them on me.
If I was going to have to face the enemy, I was going to do so in nondescript low heels that went perfectly with the simple pantsuit I had stuffed in my closet for dinners or meetings or any other time I was expected to look like an adult.
I didn’t feel like Samantha Thompson, but I figured what I lacked in flash I’d make up for with flattery.
In fact, there was a good chance
