Dad glowers at us, trying his level best not to tell me off in the presence of half a dozen other secret service agents.

"Get into the car you two!" He orders Nathaniel and me, pinching his forehead for a couple of seconds before barking into his earpiece, "Gamal, follow that boy for the next entire week and prepare a detailed background report on him as well as his associates."

One of the agents pulls open the back door of Dad's very sensible and forgettable looking grey car for Nathaniel, who offers him a gracious smile as he gets in gracefully before Dad falls into an angry tirade.

On the other hand I'm brimming with various pragmatic arguments to defend our actions. Rolling my eyes, I stalk to the front of the car so I can ride shotgun and try to make Dad see reason before we reach home. Certainly not because being in close proximity to Nathaniel is sending constant tingles down my arms and if I pay close attention I can make out the subtle notes of his expensive cologne which has me aching to lean closer and inhale it deep, until I can list them all out even in my sleep.

No one breathes a word as Dad puts the car into reverse gear and adjusts the rear view mirror to get a better view of the road behind the car. Anger is radiating off him with more intensity that a blackbody radiates all absorbed power, which compels me to hold my tongue.

After a couple of minutes of heavy silence, as we navigate the way back home, I finally build up the courage to say my piece, "You know what, I really think you're over-exaggerating the entire situation Dad. Devin is nothing but a victim caught in the aftermath of his brother's poor choices. He–"

"What did you say?" Dad grinds his teeth, interrupting me.

He hits the brakes with an unexpected amount of force causing the car to come to a screeching halt on the side of the road. Did he even realise that his dramatic actions were only proving my point right.

"Do you hear yourself, Ariya? I want to know whether you sometimes say such bullshit without thinking your words through." Dad fumes, before muttering under his breath, "Dad, I think you're exaggerating."

Excuse me, what?

"Sir, what she meant was–" Nathaniel diplomatically inserts himself into the argument but gets cut off mid sentence.

"Yes and you, Nathaniel," Dad twists in his seat so he can throw Nathaniel his signature I'm-so-disappointed-in-you scowl, "You know that Ariya can be impulsive but I expected you to be more responsible about yourself and the security of this mission."

My heart skips a beat as the small frequency reader pinned to the satin scrunchy on my hand clicks unexpectedly in a couple of unsteady bursts. Twisting my neck very slowly, I glance sidelong to see Nathaniel sitting stiffly. He's practically crackling with electricity. He's been on edge the entire latter half of the evening, but this is the first time that I have received any sort of unintended message and I wonder if this is just a side effect of his subdued emotions or something.

For a moment, I wonder if Nathaniel will finally lose it and do something irreversible after Dad's reprimand. He still has a vial of that terrible neurotoxic formula in his pocket.

But he quickly fixes his expression, focusing on his breath which gradually tames the unusual automatic electric bursts he's transmitting.

"Your fears are certainly not unfounded, Sir," Nathaniel says calmly, "But this boy has been following us around for some time now and we thought it was best to break off the thorn before it pierced us in the side. But we'll be careful not to act without your prior knowledge henceforth."

"Yes, Dad," I nod along, "Besides, you're always so paranoid about everything. You were suspicious about Madison and Truck as well and they turned out to be absolutely harmless."

Dad clenches his fists, shaking them.

"Paranoid?!" he snaps, "It is my job to be prepared for all possible scenarios and not simply do as I please. We're playing a game of chess here and not mere snakes and ladders where everything is left to chance."

Dad opens the glove box under the dashboard quickly and switches on pushes a button, a network jammer I assume, since a low buzzing sound ensues inside the interiors of the car. It essentially makes the air feel heavier inside my ears and I can already predict an ear ache if the sound continues for more than a few minutes.

"That boy you accosted at the party, allegedly has links to a drug dealing ring which might be an offshoot of something much bigger." Dad rages on, as he switches off his earpiece, "Do not forget that people are three dimensional and act on personal motivations that might not always be visible."

"But Dad—you're too careful for your own good!" I grumble, "I understand your concern but you didn't see how terrified Devin actually was. He even gave us his phone to help track down the man."

"His phone?" Dad whips his head towards me, "You stupid girl! There could be a tracking device embedded inside it."

I crack my fingers, tired, "I already checked it. The phone is clean. And I switched off for the time being so you can calm your tits. You can have a look at it yourself."

Fishing out Devin's cellphone, I place it on the dashboard before settling back into my seat.

"And honestly, the fact that he agreed to let go of his phone says a lot." I state, shifting in my place so I can look over my shoulder easily, "Teens these days cannot go more than a couple of hours. Right, Nathaniel?"

He shrugs in response, choosing not to contribute to the argument lest he finds himself at the receiving end of another salty remark.

"Well, I hope for everyone's sake that you're right." Dad finally concedes with a little sigh, turning off the network jammer and firing up his earpiece.

He turns the car key into ignition and steers it back onto the main road, navigating the way back home out of memory despite having driven down this way just once.

As we enter our street, Dad states simply, "Either way, whatever the outcome here, your lack of foresight definitely cannot go unpunished."

"Excuse me?" I cross my arms in front of my chest, as the car enters the tiny driveway of the house, "Did both of us just have the same conversation? Because it appears we're on entirely different pages here."

Ignoring my snark, Dad parks the car carefully before continuing, "Undoubtedly, this stunt is going to require a large amount of paperwork- especially since it involves unauthorised activity pertaining to a civilian. I expect you to finish filing it by tomorrow morning without fail."

"Sure, just dodge your work and throw it all at your daughter!" I grumble sourly, but my whines fall on deaf ears because Dad is already out of the car and through the front door before I take my seatbelt off.

"Ahhh!" I shriek, hitting the dashboard.

I hear someone clearing their throat behind my shoulder. I'd almost forgotten that Nathaniel was still in the car.

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I give him a long look, "What?"

"I can assist you with the filing although I'm not quite well versed with the procedure, if that's of any help." Nathaniel offers graciously.

I actually consider taking his help for a small fraction of a second, but I honestly don't have the energy to put up with anyone right now. Especially someone with a subdued cruel streak and daddy issues too.

Shaking my head firmly, I kick open the car door, "Fuck off, I'm going to do it all myself. Just wait and watch."

•><•

Sadly, my determination runs its course by two in the middle of the night. I sit at the dining table with my laptop in a pair of soft fuzzy woollen pajamas that I've been using for more than three years. There's a pot of coffee on the stove and I'm already halfway through my third mug which explains my jitteriness.

Dad's asleep and so is Nathaniel. He did offer to help again before going up to bed, but I'd stubbornly refused and was now left alone to mope as I struggled to complete the audit files for recordkeeping.

The couple of report templates that Dad had provided for reference ranged between forty five to eighty pages and despite throwing all the creativity I could muster into the report, I was barely fifteen pages along and I was already exhausted.

"Fuck this!" I groan, threading my fingers through my hair and massaging my scalp, "He knew I'd never get this done alone."

Slumping in my chair, I gulp down the rest of the coffee inside my mug before standing up to warm the decoction in the coffee pot sitting on the stove.

Fitting my earphones inside my ear, I play my mood buster playlist on shuffle and cast a longing glance in the direction of the staircase that leads up to Nathaniel's room and mine. Tapping my fingers idly on the kitchen top, I contemplate going up and checking whether he's awake but I decide against it.

I pour some of the decoction into my mug and mix in two teaspoons of natural sweetener and a little bit of milk, absently humming along with Taylor Swift as I pick up the mug as well as my laptop from the dining table and make my way to the front door.

Disabling the smart locking system, I step out onto the small porch and settle down in one of the cushy garden chairs there with the hope that perhaps a change of scenery would inspire some new points for the report.

Not even thirty seconds pass before a familiar looking patrol vehicle drives up to the gate and an intelligence agent who I recall as Gamal steps out and rushes towards the porch with one hand propped on his earpiece.

He notices me huddled in the corner with my laptop, snuggling into the seat cushion when he reaches the first, and visibly calms down.

"Did you just temporarily disable the security system while coming out of the house?" he enquires tersely.

Raising my eyebrow, I shrug, "I thought I only disabled the lock on the front door. But if that's all it takes to disable the entire system even for a few seconds, I'm afraid that's terrible security on our part."

Gamal regards me wordlessly for a moment, unimpressed, before pressing his earpiece and muttering something along the lines of false alarm to his colleagues.

I wonder if all these ex-military men are such permanent bores all the time.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Gamal asks after a long pause, "Don't you have school tomorrow?"

Considering his question as I pay attention to the beeping screen, I type anything and everything flashing through my mind ranging from political secrecy and censorship to flaws in the public education system and the unnecessary levels of stress that drive students towards finding temporary solace in substance abuse.

"Is that a trick question?" I ask him flatly, without looking up, "The surveillance system was working just fine when Dad ordered me to file out the audit report for yesterday's incident. Besides, all the testosterone in the house has started to get on my nerves. Like all I ever do nowadays is guard Nathaniel's ass or put up with Dad's mood swings. He won't even let me shop online, can you imagine? I even had to cut short my Girlscript coding for all workshops because Nathaniel couldn't be involved in it in a constructive role. So yeah, at this point school has pretty much become a kind of side hustle at this point. Living my own fucking individual life for that matter."

Gamal laughs heartily in response to my rant, shaking his head and clutching the porch railing, "Aren't a drama queen just like old Martin?"

"I'm glad my misery is a source of entertainment for you." I roll my eyes, turning back to the half written document on the screen, "Now, if I may be excused, I have a report to complete with only four more hours to spare."

Gamal shakes his head, still laughing, "Child, just go to bed. The audit is being completed by another onsite agent as we speak. You didn't really think Martin would expect you to write out an official report, did you?"

I did, until now?

"Err—"

I rest my head against the armrest and sob into my arm dramatically, "Could you not have, like, given me this little piece of information about three hours back? I'm losing a critical amount of rest here and I'm probably not going to be able to sleep because of all the coffee I've ingested tonight."

Gamal casts me an apologetic smile as he shrugs.

"Now the least you can do to compensate for this is to email that official report to me as soon as it's done so that I can copy paste the remaining bit and at least soak in the satisfaction of handing Dad a complete audit at breakfast."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Ariya." he frowns.

"No?" I cast him the most sorry looking puppy dog eyes I can muster, "Don't you see that's the only ray of hope I'm clinging to? What's the use of working so hard on something useless just to leave it halfway? Besides, I promise I won't read it. Like you said, I have school to attend and a life to live too."

Gamal pulls his mouth into a thin line, crossing his arms in front of his chest is a way that makes him look larger and more intimidating than he already is.

"I can't promise you anything, but I'll see what I can do. I will—" he starts.

"Oh my god!" I leap off my chair and hug him quickly, "Thank you Gamal, you're the best!"

He grumbles something under his breath as I gather my things.

"Coffee?" I offer my almost full mug of now cold coffee happily, but he declines, "And any other surprise that Dad plans to spring at me which you're aware of?"

Gamal sighs, looking past my shoulder queasily, "You'll find out soon enough."

"Ah nice," I chuckle with sarcasm, "And I suppose it's useless to try and ask what it's going to be."

He nods tersely.

"No worries man, thank you anyway. At least I can prepare myself for the next freak attack." I smile, still giddy with relief as I mock salute him on my way inside, "Good night! And don't forget to send the report, thanks!"

With that, I effortlessly temporarily disable the security system again- ignoring Gamal cursing under his breath behind me with a wide grin painted on my face.

I couldn't wait to see Dad's stupefied expression in the morning!

•><•

What do you think the surprise is going to be?

Also, second consecutive update, I'm so proud of myself! ♡

Anyway do vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love! I miss reading your hilarious comments so dk make sure to leave as many as you can <3

And on a more serious note, the ongoing war in Ukraine makes me very upset. This story has anti-war elements so it really resonates with our characters here. I really hope everything gets better soon.