Toy Soldiers (Helford #1)

(22) Ghost

“Good morning to you too,” I muttered sourly, rubbing my eyes. I pushed the covers away and rolled out of bed, ignoring his constant gaze taking in my street clothes. I stretched out and yawned, shooting him a look through my squinted eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you watching me sleep?”

“You haven’t sent in a report yet, right?” he asked me, and the shrugged, smiling easily. But there was nothing easy about this. “I’m here to take it in person.”

I turned to him, my eyebrows raised. “You never take reports in person.”

He just kept smiling at me, his eyes like chunks of ice.

I shrugged and moved to my closet to search for some fresh clothes, but there was a sinking, ominous feeling in my stomach, making me feel like I was about to be sick. I knew that something was wrong—someone would have to be completely clueless not to see the look on Shawn’s face. He was there for an ulterior motive, and it wasn’t to get an update on the mission, that was for sure. Those had to be submitted into writing and tucked away into a file much like my mother’s.

My mother’s file.

I turned around sharply and found his eyes raking over my bed, narrowing and burning with fire as he read them over. He turned to face me and I spun around quickly, going back to prowling through my skirt section to find my school uniform. I felt his eyes staring a hole in my back.

“Doing research?” he asked in a flat voice, his lips hitched into a fake smile. I looked over my shoulder and shot him a grin before tugging out my uniform, weighing it in my hands as I turned to face him head on, not afraid.

Never afraid.

“What I’m looking for is classified anyway,” I said, shrugging. “Wasn’t important.”

His eyes watched me as I crossed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I could still feel his gaze burrowing into me even when I knew he shouldn’t be able to see me.

I stared into the mirror, unmoving. A chill ran down my spine.

“Hey, Caitie?” he called, his voice on the other side of the door. My hands curled around the edge of the countertop. I looked up into the mirror, and I was staring into the eyes of a murderer with everything to lose. “Don’t bother to put on that uniform—you’re not going to school today.”

Surprise flickered through those eyes.

“We have to talk,” Shawn said.

I slowly put the clothes down on the counter before crossing to the other side of the room, tugging open the door. He was standing on the other side of it, leaning against the wall, just waiting for the moment that his eyes would meet mine again. I hid the sinking feeling in my stomach with the stone in my heart, watching him just as impassively and unrevealingly he was watching me. I leaned against the door jam, tilting my head until it touched it, knowing that the move would make me look vulnerably in control.

Just the way I wanted to be.

“About?” I prompted, looking him in the eye.

It could be a million things and I would have to fold to him, but I couldn’t let my secrets show. I couldn’t let him see that I cared a little bit more about this mission than I should because that wouldn’t mean a good end for this mission, or for Jonathon’s life. I played emotions and I faked expressions but I had never had to fool the man who helped me through my entire life. Shawn had always seemed like a friend to me, a mentor, but now he was as much of the enemy as the men out to take my life.

I don’t know how I never noticed the way he looked at me before. Like a predator. Like he was waiting for just the wrong move, and then he would be justified if he pounced and ripped me to pieces.