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“Fuck,” Cohen grumbled, slamming his laptop closed. He rubbed his head, pulling at the wavy ends. “This guy is good. He’s top-level. He covers all of his bases, leaving no trail behind. If he doesn’t want you to find him, you won’t. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Cohen dropped his hands, turning to look over at me. Regret sat heavy in his eyes. Taking his hand, I linked our fingers together.
“Thank you for trying.”
“So, where does that leave us?” Asa asked just as my stomach growled in demand. The guys laughed, and he got up, grabbing the pizza and napkins. He lifted the lid and pulled me a piece, placing it on a plate before handing it to me.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at him. Asa taking care of me was nice.
The guys dug into their food, making the room quiet as we all fell into our own thoughts as we ate. After finishing two slices, I set my plate aside, picking up the letter again.
Staring at it, I noticed something. “It’s a password,” I mumbled as the letter fell together. Every so often one would be capitalized randomly.
Cohen took the letter from me, reading it over, a smile spreading across his face as he seemed to pick up the same thing I had.
“You’re right. Maybe it connects to something,” he said, opening his computer. Before we could see where that led us to, a knock at the door had us all startling. Asa looked around at us, the three of us shrugging almost simultaneously, making us laugh.
Asa moved my legs from his lap and got up. I glanced over at Milo, and he had the same look I did—curiosity. Together, we crawled off the bed laughing, making it to the door just as Asa shut it. He turned, smirking when he saw we’d come to his rescue.
He lifted a black envelope, a gold script written on the outside. Moving closer, I realized it was my name.
“Another one?” I asked, reaching out for the card.
“The front desk said it was dropped off this morning with strict instructions to be delivered to our door at 8pm.”
A weird feeling began to bubble up in my belly when I looked between the two. Just how out of my depth was I? I thought I could right the wrongs from my adolescence, but instead, I seemed to have stumbled into something bigger than I was capable of handling.
The three of us walked back toward the bed, catching Cohen’s attention when I stopped at the foot of it with the card. I waved it awkwardly at him.
He gulped, his eyes going wide. “Um, where did you get that?”
“It was dropped off at the front desk to be delivered this evening,” Asa replied. I glanced up at him, finding he was looking at Cohen oddly. Looking back, I noticed he was more sweaty than usual. I’d assumed it was about me, but maybe Asa was picking up on something I’d failed to see.
“Do you know what this is?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him. He nodded slowly, swallowing.
Tired of all the letters I’d received today, I flipped it over, pulling up the flap. The thick cardstock ripped satisfyingly. I pulled out the black card, blinking after, sure I’d misread it.
“You’re part of the Order?” I asked, putting the pieces together.
Cohen’s shoulders fell, and he nodded. “I am. That company I said that saved me? The one that offered me the job when I’d been caught?”
“Yeah,” I said, my throat going dry.
“It was them.”
“So, you’ve been working for the Order the whole time?”
“Yes, but not how you’re thinking. You were never part of the job, Fin. I promise. It just happened to overlap at times. The Order is secretive. You can’t talk about it. So even though I’ve been part of it, it’s not like I have an office to go back to. I work for them by working other places.”
“Does Samson know?” Asa asked, his arms crossed, his eyes narrow as he stared down Cohen.
“No.” He shook his head. “No one knew. I don’t know anyone outside of my training class who’s in the Order. Just the people I’ve met while there, and that’s limited. Everyone uses a code name online, so I don’t know who people are. It’s a safety measure. I’ve never even met my handler face to face.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I can’t. If you think your phone or other smart devices are listening to you, the Order is bigger than that. They’re in everything, bringing balance to the corruption where they can. They would’ve had me taken away the next day if I had told you. You never would’ve seen me again.”
A sadness I hadn’t expected filled me at never having seen Cohen again and despite my hatred of secrets, I was glad he hadn’t told me if that was the consequence.
