Jase

"Jesus, Dan, if you do not stop pacing, I'm going to punch you in the face," I said, watching as Dan Morgan walked back and forth across the length of the training room, his hands shaking. He had this look of intense worry on his face and although I couldn't really blame him for it, he was making me more nervous and I wanted to punch him for it.

"Why do you care?" Dan snapped, turning to face me. "It's not your sister – "

"You think I don't know what you're going through?" I snapped, leaning forward. Beside me, Vanessa touched my wrist, but I was too pissed off, too far gone, for that. I just glared at Dan as I hissed, "I thought my little sister was dead. It turned out that she was at KORPS, being fed barely enough to keep her alive. Because of it, Jazzie has nightmares and she can barely look at Ains. Dan, I will never forgive myself for that. But Caroline's different and you know it."

Dan shrugged. "What's your point, Jasiah?"

"Dan," Zoe said sharply from her place across the room, but he ignored her. I realised then just how pissed off he was - from what little I'd seen of them together, Dan seemed to hold Zoe up on a pedestal. He wasn't all that different from Ains with Caroline in that sense.

"My point is that they won't kill Caroline," I said. "Not yet. Caroline is the only bargaining chip they have because apart from her he has nothing left to lose."

"He has a hell of a lot to lose!" Dan snapped. "He has Susannah and Stella – "

"Not to the extent as with Caroline!" I yelled. Vanessa's hand curled around mine and her touch calmed me enough for me to take a deep breath. "Look, he loves her, like, way too much. He's only just become aware of Stella and Susannah, but Caroline's always been there for him when he needed her. Stella kept Susannah secluded, made her wait until Ains came to her. And Caroline's strong. She can handle herself until we get there. We just need to wait until Whittaker and – " I broke off, my eyes going wide.

Beside me, Vanessa frowned. "Jase? What - ?"

"Susannah," I said. At Dan, Zoe, Aneisha, Tom and Vanessa's confused looks, I asked, "Why is Susannah not here? Ains is her brother and Care used to be her best friend. She's just as connected to this as we are."

Dan had sat down beside Zoe. "She's not here because she's not MI9."

Aneisha looked thoughtful. "Is she trained?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. We should find out."

"Stella!" Vanessa yelled at the top of her lungs. Her fingers curled around mine as the door opened, and Stella Knight stuck her head in, her black hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. "Yes?"

"Is Susannah trained?" I asked, as Vanessa leaned her head against my shoulder.

Stella paled just a little. "No, she's – "

Zoe frowned. "Why are you lying, Stella?"

Stella groaned quietly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright, fine, she's trained. But there is no way – "

"Stella, this is Ains." Vanessa said. "He's your nephew. He's Suze's brother. You made sure that Susannah was safe, away from James, but now Susannah's what, fifteen?"

"She's still a child."

"Ains and I were fourteen when we got into this stuff," Vanessa said. "Susannah's old enough to make her own decisions, Stella. You can't – you can't keep hiding her away from the world." Vanessa seemed to hesitate for a moment before she said, "What if he dies in there and she didn't even know he was missing? Would you like to see whether or not she hates you for not telling you that he'd gone after Care? Do you really want to test that?"

Stella sighed, leaning her forehead against the forehead for a brief moment. "Alright, fine. I'll call her."

She walked out, closing the door behind her. Vanessa sighed, running her hands through her hair and standing. "I pushed too hard."

"No, you didn't," I said, and I grabbed her wrist, turning her so that she was facing me. Her eyes were upset and I touched her chin, stepping closer to her. "She needed to hear it, V."

Vanessa gripped my hands in her own, her fingers slim but strong around mine. "But . . . But what if they do, Jase? What if we get there and they're dead? I don't – "

I ducked my head, pressing my mouth to hers. "They'll be fine, okay? Ains and Care know how to handle themselves and God knows they're strongest together." I brushed my thumbs across her cheekbones. "They'll be fine until we get there, I promise."

Vanessa tried to smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. I started to say something else, but then a man with dark brown hair pushed back from his face stuck his head inside the room. His equally brown eyes scoured the room and I became aware of the shorter blonde woman standing at his side. He was so tall and she was so dainty-looking that they immediately reminded me of Ains and Care.

"Blane Whiittaker and Daisy Millar, I assume," Dan said, getting up. He shook hands with Blane and then ushered them both into the room. A boy followed after them and although he didn't look to much older than me, he moved with the confidence and assurance of a seasoned agent. Someone who'd been an agent from a young age, like Ains, then.

"So what's Williamson got himself into, then?" The unnamed boy asked. He looked a little amused, but mainly concerned.

"KORPS have him," Vanessa said, her fingers gripping mine so hard I was a little afraid they'd fall off.

"How did he even – " Blane started.

"My sister. Caroline Morgan." Dan said. At their confused looks, Dan sighed and said, "They've been together for what, eight months?"

"Sounds about right." Vanessa said.

"She's the only thing that they can really use against him," Zoe said. "She's . . . too important."

"She might not be the only thing," the unnamed boy said, sitting down.

"Sorry, who are you?" I asked.

The boy was smiling as he turned to me. "What do you care, druggie?"

I felt anger flare up inside me. My past drug abuse problem was not something I was proud of, but it was something I fought every day to put behind me. Before I could move, Vanessa stepped in front of me, her bright brown eyes insistent and unafraid. "Jase. Jase. Come on. Calm down. They wouldn't want you starting fights, okay?"

She turned, one hand still on my arm, to face the boy. "What's your name?"

He smiled at her, the kind of smile that made me want to yank her out of the room. "Just for a pretty girl, my name's Jake. I was part of James' original MI High team."

"James?" I asked, confused.

Vanessa looked over her shoulder at me and murmured, "For a long time Ains went by James."

I turned my attention back to Jake. "I thought back then MI High teams had three members. Where's – "

"Meghan's dead, and that's not a story I'm inclined to go into," Jake said sharply. "You want to know what happened? Ask Williamson himself when we get him back."

"Where is he?"

I turned to look at the new voice and saw Susannah Williamson standing in the doorway, her pretty face streaked with tears. She flipped her brown hair out of her face as I untangled myself from Vanessa and made my way to Suze. Susannah hugged me tight, and I could hear her sniffling quietly. "How did this even – "

I explained what had happened to Ains and Caroline carefully to Susannah. As I spoke her jaw clenched tightly until her eyes were so hard that I couldn't even read them and I didn't even bother asking whether she wanted to come with us or not. It was obvious that she was coming, whether we wanted her to or not.

"I'm coming," Susannah said, her voice hard. "That's the reason I'm here, isn't it? Because you know that I can hold my own in a fight and you know I'll stop at nothing until he's safe."

I nodded. "So you're in?"

Susannah lifted her chin. "I'm in."