I was at a loss for words.

Standing beside Kira just a few days later, I watched as she rested one of her hands on the lab bench in front of us, using her other to place a small piece of cloth on top of it. It took a few seconds, but right before my eyes I saw her hand disappear. I blinked, making sure it wasn't just my imagination, but when nothing changed, a laugh of wonder escaped my lips.

"It's – "

When I paused, trying to come up with the right word, Kira turned towards me with a wide grin. "Pretty cool, right?" Her excitement was contagious as she deposited the material back alongside the rest of the prototypes. "I still need to tweak the formulation a bit to make sure that larger pieces of material can work the way I need them to without any complications, but I think I'm almost there."

I shook my head in amazement. "Seriously, this is incredible," I said, running my fingers over the fabric in front of me. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was just an everyday piece of material – nothing special about it. "I didn't even think this type of technology existed."

"You've probably said that about more than a few things since you got here," she mused.

And she was right.

Never in a million years did I think I'd be where I was today. Just two months ago I'd been waitressing full-time, working extra shifts to save up enough money for the possibility of attending university. Fast forward and now I'd witnessed technological breakthroughs, trained with some of the best agents in the world, and had fallen deep into the world of covert operations.

"Seems that way," I replied. Glancing around the room I noticed that, while we were the only two currently occupying the lab, almost every lab bench had bits and pieces strewn across it. "Is this all yours?"

"Most of it," Kira replied, hopping down off her stool before moving around to do a bit of a cleanup. I stayed where I was, not wanting to risk accidentally ruining something that was important. "Catherine's been pushing a lot of other high-level security projects in motion the last couple of days, and with the veteran lab technicians handling those, I'm more or less on my own with the trials I have to run."

"If you need help, I can always pitch in," I offered. "I may not know a whole lot about all of this," I continued, waving my hands around the room to signal the various lab equipment, "but I can do some of the grunt work. Writing down observations, data collection... that sort of thing."

The corners of her lips pulled upwards as she piled a few wires and a small machine into her arms, carrying them back over to the bench I stood beside. "Thanks," she said, "but I think I'll be okay. If, for some reason though, things change, I'll let you know."

I nodded in understanding. "So... what's – "

The words dried up on my lips as the beeping of the lab door captured my attention, and I inhaled sharply as I realized the newcomer was Finn.

Having taken Beckett's advice two nights ago, I hadn't sought him out, and this was the first time, besides the odd passing in the Grand Hall, that I was really seeing him since that evening in the hideaway. My first instinct was to allow my anger to get the best of me – to march over to him and hound him until he told me why he was helping a Division whose building blocks took the form of malice and revenge.

But that wouldn't be smart.

Instead, I stood still. Staying quiet and taking small, calming breaths, my eyes tracked each movement that Finn made as he greeted Kira with a smile and nodded towards the cabinets that kept the field gadgets locked up.

"Is there enough for me to stock up for tonight?" he asked.

Kira nodded, though followed closely behind him. "I'll have to let you in though. I had to change the code last night."

"What, you don't trust me?" he asked teasingly.

She shouldn't. The thought rushed to the forefront of my mind, but I managed to reel it back before the words slipped out.

"It's not that," she started to explain, "but I'm airing on the side of caution for the next couple of days." She unlocked the door to the cabinet, pulling it open. "I came down to check on some things last night only to find out that the feed on the security cameras had been cut and the lock on the lab door had been disabled."

"What?" I asked sharply, as it was the first time I was hearing this.

Kira sent a sheepish look of apology in my direction, but turned back towards Finn as he asked if she'd reported it. A frown tugged at his lips – a seemingly genuine worry taking hold of him.

Though I didn't buy it.

"Of course I did," she replied, waving at him to take what he needed. As Finn began to peruse the gadget cabinet and load his belt, she continued. "I was up half the night with some of the other lab technicians and senior agents scouring the place for any sign of intrusion, but we couldn't find anything. Whatever happened last night, nothing was tampered with or stolen."

"Just be careful, alright?" he replied, stepping back so that she could lock up the cabinet and jot down all he'd taken.

Finn didn't deserve the grateful smile he got in return. "You too – on your assignment, tonight."

"I won't need it," he grinned, winking at her and causing her to shake her head in amusement as he turned on his heel.

While he left without so much as a glance in my direction, my gaze stayed glued to his back right up until the moment the lab door closed behind him – which didn't go unnoticed by Kira.

"So..." She quirked an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me what's going on between the two of you?"

I hadn't told her about my suspicions of Finn. I hadn't told anybody except Beckett, and even though he'd said he would look into it, I wasn't privy to what that truly meant. But as I brought my attention back around to Kira, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that keeping the information inside had been the wrong way to go.

"Does it have something to do with Beckett?" she pressed when I didn't respond right away. "I know you guys are growing closer, what with training and everything, but did Finn find out? Is that why he's giving you the cold shoulder?"

I shook my head, wishing the problem could be that simple.

"Then what?"

"Um... how good are you at keeping secrets, even if it might not be the best thing to do?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "You do realize you're talking to someone who has been a part of a central intelligence organization for the past four years, right?"

"Right," I said, a sad attempt at a laugh slipping through. "Well, it's just, I don't think we can trust Finn."

"Excuse me?" I flinched backwards at her disbelief. It took her a moment to fully process what I'd said, her eyes growing wide with astonishment. "Aspen, what makes you think that?" she asked, her voice quiet and filled with dread.

"Well," I started hesitantly before recounting the events that backed up my claim. The behaviour that had me questioning him. The underground hideaway and the possibility of its contents belonging to Division 13. The symbol. It was almost exactly what I'd told Beckett, except this time I was able to get straight to the point. "Plus, I get the feeling that the upbeat persona he holds is just a façade," I added on. "If he is working against us, it would've been beneficial for him to gain the trust of everyone here first, and I can't think of a better way to do that than by playing the part of an ambitious and good-hearted agent."

As I trailed off, Kira pursed her lips. "So, you think Finn is a double agent?"

"Like I said, I'm not one hundred percent sure," I replied, "but yeah, I do."

It was then that her shoulders deflated, as though the secondary confirmation was all that she needed to secure the idea in her head. Deep breaths were taken as the silence was drawn out, but when her gaze aligned with mine once more, she was looking to me for guidance. "Well, what do we do now?"

"I don't know," I said gravely, "not yet, anyways."

----------

That night I tossed and turned, barely getting a wink of sleep. My mind just wouldn't shut down, and after Kira's reaction, the guilt in my chest grew by the minute, wondering if I'd only caused more harm than good by keeping my suspicions about Finn to myself.

When the sun began to peak above the skyline, I rolled out of bed, but instead of feeling drowsy, I felt empowered. During the night, as I stared endlessly at my ceiling, and willed some kind of plan to take shape, I'd resigned myself to the fact that, whether there was weight behind my accusations or not, Catherine needed to know about Finn.

I didn't expect her to believe me right away, but if I could at least get her and a few of the other senior agents to keep a close watch over him, then I'd consider it a win.

After splashing my face with water and brushing my teeth, I changed out of the clothes I'd worn to bed and pulled on my shoes before slipping out the door. The halls were quiet at the early hour, though I did pass by a few agents returning from an overnight assignment – the exhaustion on their faces and scuff marks on their clothes evidence of their hard work.

However, just as I started up the stairs that led towards Catherine's office, I stopped short and was forced to move to the side. A woman a few years older than myself – an agent I'd never spoken to before but had seen around the Division – came rushing down the slim staircase. Her fire red hair was pulled back in a wild ponytail, and though I wondered how she managed to be discrete with her vibrant mane, that wasn't what caught my attention.

No. What caught my attention was the look of anguish sketched into her features. Bloodshot eyes, tears staining her cheeks, and pinched lips to contain the wails of despair that threatened to escape.

She paid me no attention as she rushed passed, and though she disappeared a second later, the sound of her rushed footsteps continued to echo off the stone as the air around me grew thick with an overwhelming sense of dread.

When I reached the top of the staircase, the only door that stood slightly ajar was Catherine's. There were two voices, and though the scene flashed me back to the last time I'd stepped foot in her office – when I'd come face to face with Damon – this time I breathed slightly easier knowing that I recognized who they belonged to.

I took a few steps forward, trying not to give myself away as I moved to listen in. Before I could get close enough to hear anything more than hushed whispers however, their conversation was abruptly cut off and the door to Catherine's office was pulled all the way open.

Immediately taken aback by the mixture of melancholy and anger that painted their features, I felt the colour drain from my face. "What is it?" I asked desperately. "What's happened?"

Indecision crossed both of their faces, but after a drawn-out silence in which they both looked to each other for support, Joe was the one who turned to me with a reply. "There's been an accident."

My breath hitched. "What... who...?" I stuttered, unable to form a coherent sentence. My mind suddenly went to the worst-case scenario, causing my hands to shake and my eyes to widen with fear. "Beckett? Kira? Are they...?"

"They're fine," Joe was quick to reassure as Catherine stepped aside, ushering me into the office. I barely felt the small weight lift from my chest at the knowledge my friends were safe. The worry was still there, all-consuming, as I waited to hear what had happened. "One of our recent assignments succeeded when a group of agents came back with a lead – a clue as to what the Gemini Clan had planned to do next."

"Last night," Catherine took over, a somber tone to her voice, "we sent out two agents to follow that lead and report back with anything they found, but unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan." She shut her eyes for a moment, her chest expanding as she inhaled deeply before continuing. "From what we know, one of the agents – Sean, didn't make it out alive."

A jolt went through me, feeling as though a knife had been dug straight into my heart. Sean had been an experienced agent, and though I'd never spoken to him, it wasn't as though I'd never seen him around. I could remember glimpses of him training in the barn and relaxing in the Grand Hall after a rough day. He fit in effortlessly, and even as an onlooker, there was no question as to whether he belonged within these walls.

And now he was dead.

"And the other agent?" I asked, my voice thick with emotion, wondering if I even wanted to know the answer. "What happened to them?"

"We have reason to believe that they were able to make it out alive, but they've gone off the grid. Without knowing the extent of any injuries, we can't be sure of anything right now."

"So, they're just missing?" I asked, and when I received a nod in response, my brows drew tight with confusion. Surely the Division had ways of finding out where a missing agent was located, either by tracking them down or getting word of their whereabouts. "Who is it?"

Catherine gaze shifted to one of sympathy. "Finn."

The sound of his name made my blood run cold. "F-Finn?" I clarified, my posture stiff as my gaze darted between her and Joe. "Finn Westin?"

"I know you two were friends," she said solemnly, "but – "

I cut off her warning before she could give it, shaking my head venomously. "No, you don't understand. I came up here to warn you – I think Finn's the one that's been helping the Gemini Clan."

The surprise on their faces was immediate, my revelation clearly not what they'd been expecting.

"Aspen, that's a serious accusation," Joe said, masking his emotions as he approached the conversation with caution. "Do you have any proof?"

"It's not concrete," I swallowed, "but ever since I caught him down in one of the hideaways just beyond the trees – one with Division 13's symbol etched into the entrance, he's been careful with his efforts to avoid me."

At the mention of the underground hideaway, the frown on Catherine's face deepened. "I'm aware of the hideaway," she responded when I brought it up, questioning its purpose, "but to my knowledge, because of its connection to the Gemini Clan, it was sealed up years ago."

This, of course, did nothing to calm the uneasiness in my stomach.

I went on, explaining the night that I'd found him, what he was doing, the suspicions I had, and everything else that, in my mind, incriminated him as a trader.

As they digested all that I was saying, I had a front row seat to watch their reactions. It was clear they were trying to appear undeterred, but they weren't quick enough to mask the lightning fast appearances of fear, wariness, and shock that flitted across their features.

"If what you're saying is true," Catherine began apprehensively, "then it may be safe to assume that last night's assignment was compromised."

I blinked at her, because in my frazzled state, I'd somehow skipped over that possibility.

Finn wasn't missing. The lead that had directed them into the Gemini Clan's clutches was likely a planned trap, set up to allow Finn a way to defect from Division 27 without suggesting he'd betrayed them. And Sean's death hadn't been an accident – it'd been a necessary part of Finn's agenda.

I could tell that Catherine and Joe were no longer concerned with what was going on in this room, or even within this Division. While I was still trying to understand everything that had transpired, their minds were several steps ahead, figuring out strategies on how to protect the loyal agents of this Division, as well as what tactics they'd need to implement moving forward.

"Alert S.I.C.O," Catherine instructed, turning to face Joe. "If the Gemini Clan is getting ready to attack, then we need all the help we can get to make sure we're ready for a fight."

a/n: no, your eyes aren't deceiving you, I really did get another chapter written and posted within a week! I think a lot of it has to do with getting to the climax of this story and being able to finally write the ending that I envisioned when I was plotting everything out about a year ago. Also, I'm getting antsy as I plot out details for my new story, so that's another major driving factor in wanting to mark this story as complete.

If you guys have any predictions for the last three chapters, let me know!

Finally, the big news of the week... I got to announce that another story of mine – Defending Parker – is BEING PUBLISHED. It will be available as an audiobook thanks to Wattpad and Hachette Audio as of January 23, 2018, and can be purchased from all major audiobook dealers like Audible, Bandcamp, iTunes, etc.