Alex wrote out her report and sent it back to headquarters in an encrypted email at approximately 8 p.m. Eastern Standard, doing the quick math in her head she realized it was 3 a.m. in Egypt. The scrawl of Arabic filled her vision as she stared at her notebook. She was figuring out a plan for stealing back the flash drive. Alex looked up at the computer screen that was tracking the girl's backpack from the street; she found the girl's apartment building and made a mental note to scope it out later. A buzz sounded from her phone and she checked it hoping it was an update on how to continue pursuit of the flash drive. The answer she got, however, bored her. 

Make sure the flash drive stays in New York City and keep an eye on it, the message made her frown and she scrapped the plan she was in the middle writing. They hadn't told her to steal it back. She lit the paper on fire she had been writing on and tossed it into the trash can. Although that didn't really matter because once she sorted through her thoughts and wrote it down, a plan would be ingrained in her mind. It was an advantage, a skill that helped her many times and also helped her work her way up the ranks.  Alex stopped her thought process before it took a turn down a dark path; one she did not feel like reflecting on.

She read over the message again, making sure she didn't miss another anything. The screen blinked back at her, staying the same. Alex figured if she was stuck in New York and keeping track of this blasted thing, she might as well commit to it.

The next day, Alex walked into the New York University dining hall. When she walked in she immediately spotted the girl from the day before like she knew she would. The tracker on her backpack had led Alex right to the girl. Alex made her way over to where the girl was sitting, she was alone.

"Hey," Alex started, willing her voice to mimic an American accent and sound nervous, "I just wanted to apologize again for yesterday and running into you."

The girl looked up from her food and Alex tried to catalog as much about her as she could: brunette, hazel-ish eyes, right handed — based on the hand she was holding her utensil, and anxious due to the way her leg bobbed under the table and the way her left hand drummed on the table.

The girl gave a tight-lipped smile, "Yeah, it's really no problem."

The tone of her voice made it sound like she wanted to be left alone but Alex powered on, "Well, I'm Victoria, do you mind if I sit with you? I just transferred from out of state and I don't really know anyone."

"Uh yeah, no problem. I'm Jocelyn."

Alex sat down and pulled out the bag that held a sandwich and a bag of chips. She was about to start eating before Jocelyn asked, "So where did you transfer from?"

Alex looked at her for a moment before replying, "University of North Carolina. I hated it there."

Jocelyn nodded sympathetically, "Is that where you're from?"

Alex paused for a moment and thought over her question, "Yeah I'm from Raleigh. What about you?"

"I'm from Colorado," She smiled as if it was a fond memory, her eyes glazed over slightly as she seemed to recall something about the place she grew up. 

Alex raised a brow but still smiled good-naturedly, "That's a bit far." 

Jocelyn shrugged as whatever she was thinking about escaped her and picked at her salad; Alex immediately filed the reaction in her mind to press on further. Jocelyn answered neutrally, "New York seemed fun."

Alex snorted, "The rent is anything but."

Jocelyn laughed at that and Alex smiled at her progress with the girl, "Can I get your number? Maybe we could hang out later."

Jocelyn hesitated for a moment then gave a genuine smile to Alex, "Yeah sure."

They switched phones, typing in their names and numbers into the other's phone. Jocelyn handed Alex her phone back, "You know, I don't think I've ever made a friend this fast before."

Alex froze, the word friend echoed in her mind, the more the word echoed it transitioned from Jocelyn's voice to what sounded like a little girl. Alex was transported back in her memories, back to a simpler time. A simpler life. She suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Marley liked his partner, he really did. He was funny, British, and knew how to cook. After landing in the biggest city in east coast of the United States of America they had settled into a shared apartment (this of course was after the fight).

The apartment was sleek and modern. The color palette consisting only of browns, white, black, and grays. Floor to ceiling windows decorated two walls of the living room. The kitchen was decently sized with a counter jutting out from one of the walls, black barstools stood just beneath said counter for a place to eat. A dark brown stained wood table stood only a few paces away. A hallway next to the kitchen led to a bedroom that Angus decided he would occupy. On the other side of the apartment, a hallway led to another bedroom which Marley took. Both hallways had their own separate bathrooms. A wall in both of their closets opened to hold a multitude of weapons from pistols, to snipers, to other gadgets that any person would find useful. A heavy duty medkit sat in the respective bathrooms, waiting to be used.

Marley sat at the kitchen table taking care of the cut on his arm the girl from the day before gave him. He had dealt with it when the two partners went back to their apartment but he assumed the wound would need a fresh bandage. His laptop was settled on the table in front of him. Marley was skimming the report Angus had made the night before. They had yet to get an answer. 

The night before had been chaotic from landing in JFK airport to getting an email detailing the location of the flash drive to the fight with the girl and then, finally, to getting lost on their way to the apartment. Luckily, for the duo, they had a government backing them, therefore they had the privilege of easy access to cameras: security cameras to be exact. So when Marley and Angus were looking for the girl from the night before, they had conveniently seen her staged run in with the brunette on the street. Unfortunately, the girl from the night before disappeared shortly after her run in and they were unable to find her using cameras. Angus had been the one to suggest tracking the brunette —whether or not she had anything to do with the flash drive — because there was no possibility that the girl had accidentally run into her. They tracked the brunette back to her apartment. And after they realized where she lived, the two took shifts to watch when and where she would go if she was to leave her apartment.  

Angus had been on shift when the brunette left her apartment and made her way to New York University and then to a lecture. During her lecture is when it was Marley's turn to watch the cameras. Angus had retreated to his room and Marley assumed he fell asleep based on the silence that rang through the apartment. Marley watched as the girl left her lecture, he flipped through the different cameras as she made her way to the dining hall. Where the brunette had chosen to sit was almost a blindspot for the camera, which overlooked the entire dining hall. He switched to another camera and had the same problem, it was difficult to see the brunette, but not impossible. She had grabbed a salad before seating herself and picked at it. Not even five minutes later, Marley gaped at the screen as he watched the girl from the previous night sat down with the brunette. Marley had been under the impression that the two didn't know each other but this interaction had quickly changed his mind. Marley called out to Angus, summoning him to the kitchen table.

Angus was awake when Marley called out to him, he briefly considered not answering and pretending he was asleep. The gun he had disassembled and was in the middle of reassembling was strewn across his timber desk. Angus sighed as he got up and made his way to the kitchen where Marley was set up. 

When Angus entered the room, Marley's eyes flicked up to Angus and then back down to the computer. Angus wove his way through the kitchen and made himself a glass of water before sitting across from Marley. Angus rose an eyebrow at Marley, waiting for him to speak.

"I think the girl from yesterday and the brunette girl from the street are working together," Marley stated.

If Angus was surprised or shocked by this information it didn't show on his face, he waved lazily before replying, "We really need to come up with code names or something for them because technically they're both girls from yesterday and brunette," Angus paused recalling what the girl from the night before looked like, "-ish."

"I really don't think that's our main concern here," Marley said not looking up.

"I think it is, I mean seriously, it's just getting confusing at this point," Angus and made a vague gesture towards his head to convey how confusing the situation was. In reality, Angus wasn't confused at all but he was tired of having to clarify who he was talking about.

Marley didn't answer and tapped at his laptop which Angus took as he was flipping through cameras; the brunette was on the move. Angus was in the middle of opening his mouth to fill the silence when Marley looked up at Angus and grinned, "We can figure out a code name after we meet her."

Marley closed his laptop and stretched as he stood. Angus stayed sitting, "And where are we meeting her?"

By the time Angus had asked Marley was across the apartment and about to turn into his hallway, "A café where she's currently doing homework."

Angus once again sighed and finished his water, he cleaned the glass and left it next to the sink to dry before going back to his room. He looked down at what he was wearing —jeans and a hoodie— and decided it was good enough. He grabbed a spare backpack and stuffed a laptop in it and two notebooks, he was trying to put things that the average college student would have in their backpack.  In a concealed pocket he stuffed pocket knife, spare bullets, and smoke bomb along with a small gun. He grabbed another knife to keep on his person. Angus was satisfied with what he packed and shouldered his backpack. His hand was on the door knob when he turned quickly and made his way back to his desk. The disassembled gun still laid on his desk. Angus quickly reassembled it and put it on his person.

Whether or not this girl was associated with the other one, he had a bad feeling about her and usually his bad feelings were right.