* * *

Pegasus and Scorpion positioned themselves near the east-facing window and waited. Through the com, Pegasus heard Griffon guide the team’s movements. The recruits were to provide assistance with surveillance.

Once the first shots sounded, Scorpion broke the window and they climbed inside.

Loud pops reverberated within the half-empty building, losing themselves in the darkness.

Scorpion pointed right. Pegasus gestured left. They both nodded, separating.

Pegasus pressed himself into a doorway when he heard footsteps coming his way. A shadow rounded the corner ahead, and Pegasus wasted only a second to confirm it wasn’t any of their team before shooting. He sped towards his fallen quarry, keeping his aim steady.

The man remained still until Pegasus was a few meters away, then he rolled sideways, gun raised. Pegasus pulled the trigger again and this time, when the man went down, he was dead.

Damn it. He’d wanted a live one to bring back.

Overall, it was an uneventful incursion. They encountered mild resistance from the few guards inside the building. The final count was three New Nation members dead, two wounded and captured. Unfortunately, they were lowly guards, so the chance that they had any useful intel on operations and targets was slim.

On the bright side, Scorpion got to shoot someone, though he didn’t notice any significant improvement in her mood.

At the moment, she was glowering at the Echoes—the recruits—as they were having their tracking implants checked before being taken back to the compound. A precaution since no one knew whether their foes would grab a recruit to play a longer game.

As far as the W.R.O. knew, the puppeteers behind the New Nation terrorists had only tried replacing operatives, like Robyn. Fueled by the memory, the accompanying pain of her loss snuck up on him.

Someone laughed.

Pegasus whirled, his breath caught in his throat. The laugh was so familiar. Robyn’s memory was fresh in his mind now. Echo 2 removed her mask and pulled away from one of the other recruits. Dark hair flowed freely and, when she turned around, the ghost from his memory was replaced by another equally unexpected sight.

“Sarah?”

She stared back at him, startled to find him there—or maybe to have him call her name.

“Echo 2 for today,” she answered with a quick smile, already recovered.

“Are you coming with us?” He wasn’t sure why he was asking, but neither Sarah nor Echo 1 found his question odd.

“Just for debriefing, sir, then back to the academy,” Echo 1 replied when Sarah took too long to answer.

“Echo 1, I have to check your tracker,” Cypher called.

Echo 1 excused himself. He hesitated, clearly expecting Sarah to follow, but she made no move to do so.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Sarah turned back to Pegasus.

“Sir…” She sniggered. “Don’t expect me to call you that anytime soon.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I think Clay spent too much time in a military academy for his own good,” she whispered.

Pegasus smiled. He didn’t have to turn around to confirm that Echo 1, Clay, was watching them.

“How are you? It’s been a while since I heard from you.” Three months, to be precise—that’s how long she’d been ignoring his messages. The only communications he’d gotten had been official reports.

Her gaze lowered, embarrassed.

“I’m okay.” Something in her voice sounded unsure, but a bright smile suddenly came to life. “Did you miss me?”

He shrugged, fighting a smile of his own. “Not really.”

“Oh, yay, she’s back,” Scorpion deadpanned, not even slowing down as she walked past them.

Sarah laughed. “See, I knew she’d miss me.”

“Do we have the babies tagged and the prizes bagged yet?” Scorpion asked loudly.

Griffon turned to her. “Take the recruits and our prisoners back to the compound.” He gestured towards Unicorn and Pegasus, signaling that they would accompany her. “We’ll join you as soon as we’re done cleaning up here.”

“Are you sure?” Scorpion asked.

He nodded. “Wolf’s team is four minutes away.”

Pegasus nodded, directing Sarah and the other recruits towards one of the vans.

Unicorn had already locked up their unconscious prisoners in the other van for transport, and Scorpion was more than happy to join her. Pegasus hoped this would give him a chance to speak with Sarah. There had been something in her voice when she said she was okay.

He’d tried checking in on her from time to time, fueled mainly—but not exclusively—by concern. He’d missed her.

They’d corresponded for a while after she went to the W.R.O. training facility, the arrangement being that she could hide out there while they investigated the death of her family. For some reason, her replies had become farther apart and shorter each time, until she stopped returning his messages altogether. Her behavior today didn’t suggest any obvious reason for that. She looked glad to see him, if somewhat surprised for a fleeting moment.

Sarah sat on the other end of the van, four other recruits between them, and Clay right next to her. They were friends, Pegasus realized—close friends. He couldn’t help watching their quiet exchange, the smiles, the way they moved towards each other. Once or twice, a touch lingered between them. He shook his head. Just friends.

Tango relayed their ETA in response to someone back at the compound. Sarah instantly tensed. He almost missed it—would have, if he hadn’t been looking right at her. Clay noticed as well, drawing closer and speaking in hushed tones.

Sarah hadn’t been back to the compound since right after Robyn’s death. He imagined it would be upsetting, to say the least. Once again, Pegasus struggled with wanting to say something, but this was not a conversation to have in front of her peers.

They arrived sooner than he expected; he’d been distracted. Scorpion and Unicorn took care of the prisoners, leaving him to deal with the recruits. They’d been assigned codes from their training facility to access the compound.

The entire process went smoothly enough, save for a few nervous mis-typings. For a moment, he thought Sarah might feign forgetting her codes as she once did. Her hand hovered a bit longer over the pad, but there was no trace of levity in her expression as she typed in the sequence.

He escorted them to Comm, where they would wait to be debriefed under the watchful gaze of anyone and everyone who happened to be there at the time.

Michael showed up soon enough to take the responsibility off his hands, but Pegasus hung around. Unicorn and Scorpion were getting the prisoners settled, and no interrogations would start until Griffon got back and spoke with Zeus.

Pegasus watched the recruits—watched Sarah. Every once in a while, a movement or expression would remind him of Robyn. Odd how that felt more vivid now than when Robyn was still around. But he’d never seen the sisters together. Sarah’s sister had been dead by the time the other Robyn infiltrated the compound.

Sarah was much quieter than she had been on site, almost subdued. It was a strange thing to see—Robyn’s sister being subdued. The only times he’d witnessed it, something had been troubling her. He imagined this time was no different.

A tablet lowered into his field of view as if materialized from another dimension. He took the offered tablet and read the first lines of what was apparently an assignment roster.

“Are you trying to get me reassigned somewhere where I won’t bother you?” he asked Cypher.

The man rolled his chair back around to his desk. “Did you know about this?”

Pegasus laughed. “That this new invention called a computer works or that you like scouring our assignment registry in search of gossip?”

Cypher didn’t look up, but Pegasus saw him try to hide a smile. “Did you know she was coming here?”

Pegasus really did look down at the list then. There it was. Sarah would be joining them after graduation.

“Did you know?” Cypher insisted.

Pegasus shook his head.

“Don’t you think it’s weird?”

He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant as he glanced back towards Sarah. “Where else would they have sent her?”