"Okay, say I was this Wren person. Why would I want to rescue you when you're here at a party looking nothing like a prisoner. If I was Wren, I would decide that this was a trap and leave," Amanda pointed out.

Alex frowned, clearly thinking about something. Then his face brightened. "I have connections with Phoenix," he said. "You can send her my picture and ask about me. If she says trap then you leave. If she clears me then you can agree to help."

"You're still assuming I'm this Wren person and know who Phoenix even is," she replied, still angry at him.

"I've studied you well enough to know you when I see you. You're Wren and there's no mistaking it. Even your attitude matches, so can we please move past that. Just snap a picture or something and send it. And hurry, before Mersor decides to try my coms and realizes they aren't on."

With a final glare, she pulled out her phone and pretended to ignore him while snapping a quick photo and sending it to Phoenix. "Is this the guy who disappeared while trying to help you find the mole?" she asked.

The reply took a minute, but it was all the confirmation she needed. "Yeah, that's him. How did you find him?"

"Later."

Turning off the phone, Amanda slipped it into a concealed pocket and faced Alex. "Phoenix confirmed your identity. We'll go off of that for now, but I expect a full debriefing later on what exactly happened to you and what you've been doing while being held prisoner."

Her eyes swept the room until she spotted Zephyr, who was at another table surveying the room and talking to an elderly lady. A younger woman stood next to them, looking out of place and a bit nervous. Amanda gestured when Zephyr looked her direction and Zephyr made her way over.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"New development. We've got to get Alex here out too. Maybe get his help," Amanda told her.

Zephyr looked skeptical. "Why do we need him?"

"He's Phoenix's contact. I sent her a picture and she confirmed it, so we're taking him with us. Plus he can identify me, so if they keep him too much longer they may torture important information out of him and we can't exactly let that happen."

Zephyr gave Alex a careful once-over and frowned. "Fine, but if he puts us in danger or jeopardizes this mission, he'll find himself in trouble with the rebellion too. Got that, Alex?"

Alex nodded gravely. "Why are you here? Maybe I can do something to help you with your mission."

"I wouldn't interfere," Amanda said. "You might ruin what we have planned. Unless you happen to have a black outfit and mask?"

"Can't say that I do."

"Then I think it would be best if you waited for our signal and then headed outside toward our car. You'll be looking for the two masked figures crashing the party."

"Great. I feel like I'm probably not going to appreciate this," Alex muttered.

"Probably not, but it's time to go. Have fun!" Amanda quipped with a grin.

He rolled his eyes and waded back through the crowd. Amanda watched him leave, getting the distinct feeling that he would be a good ally, maybe more.

Zephyr tapped her shoulder. "It's showtime. Let's go." She was smiling, clearly happy to finally be messing with Mersor instead of trying to avoid him. I'm glad I suggested this, Amanda thought. It should be interesting.

They slipped through the crowd and Amanda tapped on someone's shoulder, faking a drunken slur. "Hey, shir, do you 'appen to know where the bathroom is?" she asked, swaying a little and adding a bit of an accent to her voice. She leaned on Zephyr, who smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry, she's just had a bit too much wine. Could you maybe point us in the right direction?" she asked.

The man's gaze slid over them like they were invisible, but he grudgingly pointed towards exit and muttered a few directions. Zephyr smiled and thanked him, and then helped Amanda as she pretended to stumble through the crowd and out of the room. No one gave them a second glance and once they were out of the party room, they headed for the bathrooms.

Amanda activated her coms. "Alright Hawk, Kitten, we're coming."

They slipped into the bathrooms and met up with Hawk and Kitten, who were both wearing skin-tight black outfits and had incredibly believable make-up and wigs on. "Sorry Kitten, you're going to have to play drunk for the rest of the evening. I had to come up with a good reason to leave," Amanda said..

Kitten shrugged. "I've done worse. You'd think recruiting would be easier. It's safe in here, by the way. They didn't put in any cameras in here and we scrambled the audio, so no one knows we're here. Someone will come soon though, so you'd better be quick about this.

Amanda nodded and stripped off her top outfit, handing it to Kitten. Zephyr and Hawk were already in separate stalls, exchanging outfits. Hawk walked out and frowned when she saw Amanda. "You wore another outfit underneath?"

"Hey, I was faster than you two, wasn't I? No one saw it so it won't make a difference."

Hawk shook her head and sighed. "Whatever."

Kitten handed Zephyr and Amanda their masks and then washed her face, making sure to get some of her hair wet. Smart, Amanda mused. Makes it look like she threw up and had to wash her face.

Hawk and Kitten left, Amanda and Zephyr close behind. A message came over the coms. "Guys the mark has moved to his office. Second floor, two doors down on the right."

"Thanks, Cheetah," Zephyr said.

Amanda pulled out her phone and texted Alex's picture to Hawk and Kitten. "Cheetah let Hawk and Kitten know to alert the man in the photo so he knows when to leave."

"Saving more strays?" Cheetah asked.

"You could say that."

***

The corridor was long, lit by lamps that were mounted in intervals on the walls. Red carpeting with gold edging had been laid out all the way down the hall, matching the wall paper. Pictures hung in golden frames, mostly of people and landscapes.

Amanda pulled on black gloves and Zephyr did the same. "You ready?"

Zephyr smiled. "I'm more than ready. Let's go."

They entered the room with guns up and found Mersor leaning on his desk, sipping wine. When he saw them, he immediately lunged for his own gun. Amanda shot the space where the gun was seconds before he grabbed it. "Make a move on that gun and the next one goes through you," she said. The mask did its job well, completely changing her voice and making her sound like a British guy.

Mersor spat on the rug. "I will not go with you rebels," he snarled. "You can do what you want, but you will never get me to tell you anything."

Which means you have something to tell us, Amanda thought, smiling.

Zephyr shifted, staring at Mersor, her eyes full of more than a year of pent-up anger. "What makes you think we're rebels?" she asked, cocking her head.

Mersor huffed. "No one else would come in here and threaten me."

"No one? Try the President himself," Amanda told him, enjoying the look of disbelief on his face.

"You're... you're lying, obviously,'' he sputtered.

"Oh, so you thought you could get away with trying to assassinate him and take over?" Zephyr asked.

The look of complete horror that crossed Mersor's face was a bit surprising. Amanda had been expecting disbelief. I guess you were hiding something after all. "That's not true!" he protested.

Amanda shot the wall behind him. "You're lying. Luckily, the President is willing to overlook this act of treachery. But only if you come with us now, and don't make a fuss. If you fight, our whole gang will descend on your house, and trust me when I say that the President hired the best. If you fight, we'll kill you and everyone here, including your guests. They were probably all here to participate in your treachery anyway, weren't they?"

"No, of course not! I never did any of this. I demand proof," Mersor said, crossing his arms and staring her down uncomfortably.

"Oh we have proof," Zephyr shot back. "We questioned your staff and they told us everything. You really should be more careful with your plans. Now move, or I'll shoot you now and dump the body."

"I refuse! I'm the President's most trusted adviser, you can't do this to me!" Mersor pounded his fist into the desk, his face red with anger.

Amanda shot his hand and he let out a scream of pain, which she quickly muffled by stuffing a gag into his mouth and throwing a bag over his head. "Hush now, we wouldn't want to disturb your guests, now would we? After all, if you do, we might have to kill them all, and then things would look much worse for you."

Zephyr alerted the others that it was time to move and they dragged him down the servant's stairs to the van they had waiting. Alex, Hawk, and Kitten met them there and they shoved Mersor in the back. Alex frowned at Mersor's trussed up form. "Who did you just...?"

"We got Mersor, just as the President asked," Zephyr said.

Alex gave her a look, but kept up the façade. "I see."

Muffled yelling came from Mersor and Zephyr smiled. "What, you thought the President wouldn't take away your information source?"

Mersor kicked out and Hawk grabbed his injured hand, applying light pressure until he screamed and stopped fighting. Then she swiftly cleaned out the wound and bound it tightly to stop the bleeding. "He's good," Hawk said.

"Alright then, step on it Kitten," Amanda ordered, and the van rolled to life. Tires crunched over gravel as they drove away, disappearing into the night.