Learning Curve

Chapter 3

"There's four rooms in left hall that you can pick from, just on the other side of the fire place. We're in the four rooms on this hall; Classified and Eva are in the two rooms on the right while Short Fuse and myself are in the other two on the left," Corporal gestured down the hall closest to the stairs. "I'll leave you to get settled and if you need anything we'll be around."

"I can't remember the last time we all had separate rooms on a mission." Private couldn't hide the sheer wonder in his voice at the size of villa as they made their way to the hall on the far left of the stairs.

"That's probably because CENTRAAL isn't footing the bill for this one," Kowalski muttered, knowing that if CENTRAAL was they would more than likely be on the nearest base instead of a cushy safehouse in the Italian country side.

"Best not to get comfortable, boys. We'll be roughing it tomorrow." Skipper stopped at the first door on the right and opened it peering inside, "I'll take the first room here and you can figure out who gets the other three."

"I'll take the room next to Skipper if you don't mind." Private made his way to the next door and went inside, leaving Rico and Kowalski alone in the hall looking at the two doors in apprehension. It was like their rooms in New York, but they both had a sneaking suspicion that there wasn't a door to connect them.

"It's only for one night, I think we can manage that." Kowalski finally spoke reaching out and giving Rico's hand a reassuring squeeze. No one knew about their relationship, besides Juilen and by consequence Maurice. It had been going on for several months now and neither of them felt comfortable enough to even left their own team know. Which is why Kowalski had done his best to reassure Rico that he no longer had any feelings for Eva and hadn't for some time.

"Yeah."

Disappointment bleed through Rico's voice and Kowalski quickly closed the gap between them with a soft kiss. When he pulled away he gave Rico an even softer smile, wishing not for the first time that they didn't have to work with North Wind. They had gotten so used to sharing a room on missions that it seemed strange to have their own and now that they were in relationship it felt wrong in a way. "How about we put our bags away and then go see what masterplan Skipper is putting together?"

Rico nodded and headed to the second door on the right side of hall, across from the room Private had chosen, leaving Kowalski alone in the hall, without further delay he took the last room and was not surprised to see it was as grand and luxurious as the rest of the villa. Although he did feel a pang of disappointment when he noticed that it was a king-sized that he'd have all to himself-a bed that big just made it more obvious how empty it felt.

He set his bag down on one of chairs that made up a small sitting area and pulled out the small pocket- sized notebook filled with notes on the mission from it. There were still a few details he was trying to pin down, like what motivation would Rockgut have for working with someone when the agent used teamwork as a last resort. Even more curious was why someone would pick an agent that was about to be declared mentally unfit-Rockgut didn't seem to have any skills that would be worth the risk, plus he was twice the age of most active field agents.

"Hey," a familiar voice whispered startling Kowalski out his thoughts.

"Einstein's mustache! Rico!" Kowalski half-heartedly glared at him as he sat down across from him, "I lost my train of thought."

"Sorry."

"It's fine, I was just looking over my notes and was wondering if there were any other details that may have gotten overlooked."

"And?"

"I can't figure out why Rockgut would go rogue or who could convince him to." Kowalski stood and began to pace around the room. "His sense of duty to his county overshadows Skipper's. What could possibly be worth committing treason?"

"Avoiding Hoboken."

Kowalski froze and looked at the younger man, the carefree air about him seemed to have vanished, replaced with one more in line with fear. "He left before they could determine if removing him from the field would make him threat to himself or others." It made perfect sense, another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. He crossed the room in a few short strides and pulled Rico into a kiss that left them breathless when they parted. "We…we should probably find Skipper… and Private and… fill them in."

"Yeah…we should," Rico moved to close the distance between them when the door opened and Skipper entered without warning causing them to scramble to their feet and put distance between them.

"Shake a leg boys, another server was just accessed 10 minutes ago," without another word Skipper was gone and they rushed out the door to follow him to the conference room.

"Whose server did he access this time?" Kowalski found himself asking as he took his seat.

"One of Denmark's and what he took was buried. Unless you knew what to look for or that it even existed, you wouldn't be able to find it." Eva explained typing away furiously at her tablet, "I can't find what he took exactly, but it looks like it was connected to something CENTRAAL did years ago."

"Eva, can you compile a list of the information that's been taken?"

"Of course, here's everything I could get," several files appeared on the screens, "most of the information was redacted."

"Skipper, look at the file numbers and locations," Kowalski stood to get a better look and felt a sense of dread as he recognized several of them. "Madagascar, France, Antarctica, even Cuba and Chile."

"Hoover Dam, that can't just be a coincidence, can it?"

Classified huffed, irritated that he seemed to have lost all control of the meeting. "Would you care to share with the class?"

"These are our missions and assignments. Or at the very least information pertaining to them," Kowalski clarified unable shake the feeling that whoever was behind the cyberattacks was toying with them. "It's starting to make sense."

"What is?"

Kowalski walked to the head of the table and opened his notebook, "I was trying to figure out why Rockgut would willing commit treason, whether he was acting alone or for someone was irrelevant, because it didn't make sense why someone as loyal as Rockgut would act against CENTRAAL until Rico pointed out Hoboken."

"Hoboken. Like New Jersey?" Short Fuse looked at the lieutenant in disbelief.

"No, not at all like New Jersey. In fact, New Jersey would be preferable. Hoboken is CENTRAAL's most secure facility, where they keep the most dangerous and unstable criminals as well as officers and agents who are considered a threat to themselves and others." Kowalski looked over at Rico, knowing how close he had come to being placed at Hoboken on more than one occasion. "Any time an active officer or agent in the field fails a psych evaluation or comes close enough to warrant red flags, Hoboken becomes a possibility."

"And a since Rockgut barely passed and was flagged he may have bolted, worried that he could end up in this Hoboken." Eva spoke up, putting the pieces together. She couldn't stop the small smile the kept across her lips. Seeing Kowalski in his element was something she hadn't realized she missed.

Kowalski couldn't help but grin when Eva caught on and he forgot about everyone else in the room as he met her gaze. "Yes, but then that raised a question as to why, if Rockgut is that unstable, someone would want to take on that type of liability. Especially, since he doesn't have any particularly unique or useful skill sets that would be worth the risk."

"But he has connections to CENTRAAL, which would be worth it."

"Exactly."

"It sounds like this could be bigger than just a rogue agent," Private added causing Kowalski and Eva to break eye contact.

Classified stood, taking control of the meeting before anyone else could, "if that's the case then we need to push our travel plans ahead and talk strategy."