Spycraft Academy B. Miles (new ebook reader txt) 📖

He was the thief. He should be striking Sam where he stood. Sam had a knife, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that meant anything against a formally trained Varin spymaster.

The fact that Apelles wasn't making any move to silence Sam made him much more nervous than if the older man had simply stabbed him. Was this a test to figure out what Sam knew? Was this a challenge?

Storytime.

"Following a mark," Sam said, forcing his stance to relax, as if he weren't threatened in the least by a man who could slice him to ribbons with a flick of his wrist. "We saw a man sneak into the window, I wanted to know what he was doing."

"We?"

"Mattie and myself. She's keeping point outside. In fact, she's listening right now, making sure nothing goes awry. Her talent is extremely useful when it comes to gathering information. And evidence."

Apelles glanced at the window, then back at Sam. When the older man's hand came flying toward his face, Sam flinched involuntarily, but he stilled when Apelles only rested his palm on Sam's forehead, his eyes drifting closed.

There was a strange sensation in his head, like all the air that possibly existed between his brain and skull swirled into a vortex. It got heavier and Sam grit his teeth, clutching his knife tightly because he didn't know what Apelles' talent was and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

Apelles dropped his hand and narrowed his eyes at Sam. "I see. Thanks for your diligence, Croft. Now get back to your room."

He pivoted and stalked to the left of the lobby, headed right for the hallway Sam had targeted only a minute before.

Sam stood paralyzed, torn between going after him or rushing back to the campus to wake the staff. There was no way he could take Apelles on without the element of surprise in his favor.

"For the record," Apelles stopped at the hallway's threshold, "I'm not the thief. But if you don't leave now, I may not be able to catch the man who is the thief."

Sam's jaw ticked.

"This is a classified situation, Croft. Leave before I lose my temper."

Fine. He'd regroup and figure it out from there. At least he wasn't dead. With a glower, Sam retreated to the window and hopped out of it, landing in the springy grass. He headed back to his post, calling his shadows to him as he went. He'd watch the building and see for himself that Apelles was lying, damning the man doubly.

So, he sat against the tree again and waited.

It didn't take long. The sound of shattered glass pricked at the otherwise quiet night, coming from the far side of the building. Sam scrambled to his feet and rushed to the right. A cloaked figure blurred into the forest just as Sam rounded the corner, disappearing into the night.

Sam rushed to where the sound came from and found himself clear on the other side of the building, his feet shifting in glass and his eyes peering into the darkness of Mode's still, empty office.

15

He didn't wait until the next day to tell his crew about what happened. Instead, he woke them up as soon as he was back and told them to meet in his dorm. Fletch was not pleased and the girls were grouchy as they dragged themselves into his room, flopping on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs.

"The thief came again."

Drina scrubbed at her face and yawned. "What thief?"

Mattie widened her eyes and blinked away the dregs of sleep. She mumbled, "The one that stole the cipher."

"Oh, that one."

"Why is nobody else worried about this?" Sam threw his hands up in the air and started pacing. "If somebody stole a decryption key for every classified document in the country, that would be the end of it. Even if it wasn't a cipher, it's still got to be important. Classified. Dangerous. Meera would know whatever it is they need to know, they'll invade us, destroy everything, execute everybody in the military—"

Rosin grabbed his hand and pulled him down on the bed, patting his knuckles comfortingly. "It's not that nobody is worried, it's just...well, it's not something we can do anything about."

"Yeah, Sam." Drina got comfortable with his pillow. "You didn't want to tell anybody that could actually do something, so we're pretty powerless here. You want us to wring our hands and worry about it until somebody fixes shit? The fucking Varin military is on it, Sam. They'll fix it."

"That's awfully optimistic of you." Sam shot her a glare. "What if they don't fix it, Drina? You going to worry about it when a Meeran bone-splitter is on you?"

"Hey." Mattie slapped his shoulder lightly. "Don't be mean."

"I'm sorry." He scrubbed at his face.

"You're stressed," Rosin said. "It’s okay."

"Yes. I'm stressed. He needs to be stopped, and we're in a position to do it, so it's frustrating. I can't sleep at night, I just keep thinking 'if only I could catch him,' and I almost did, I can. I just...I need my crew to do it."

He looked at his hands. He wasn't wrong here, he wasn't. Their country was in danger, why couldn't anybody see that? The girls were quiet. Rosin rubbed soothing circles along his back. The one that broke the silence was Drina, who sighed heavily and sat up.

"Fine, you dolt. What do you need us to do?"

Sam curled his fingers, fixating on his knuckles, his wrists, the tendons beneath. There were scars on his skin from years of work and knives. There was the power to do something in them.

"Us?" He looked at the brunette. A sense of urgency in his chest rose in a tide of heat and swam into his limbs. Drina couldn't speak for all of them, but he had her support at least.

"You're so thick sometimes." Mattie swatted his head, but her expression was gentle. "We're a crew. You have our support, always. Just like we have