Dinner had been a huge pain to get through, but I'd managed somehow. It was hard to ignore the constant glares from Debby across the table as I maintained light chatter with everyone. I knew she was still pissed at me, but she was going to have to get over it. I made my decision when I sat on that school bench after graduation. I was going to be an RUA agent – whether she liked it or not.

The big issue had been trying to come up with a plan that would allow me to do that. I was still having conflicted feelings about not letting my Mom know that I had joined again but I'd realized Debby was right. My Mom would've freaked out if I'd told her and there would have been no way in hell I could have joined.

Debby decided the best idea was for me to say that I was going on a camping trip with her whenever the mission started in order to buy me at least a week's worth of time. If I'd need more time... then we'd have to work something else out. Whenever I was assigned the mission, the plan would commence. Until then, it was a waiting game.

"Did you ever find those documents for Ben?" Cassie asked, interrupting me from my thoughts.

I chewed on a bite of my sandwich as I thought about it. "The phone call scripts?" I asked between munches.

She nodded as she swiveled around carelessly on her office chair. "It's just for reviewing because he wanted to take one last look at them before he officially closed the case."

Even though we were on lunch break, the agent talk never stopped. It gave me a better understanding of why Eric was always so consumed with his work and never seemed to do anything else. There were so many things that had to be done and even if they were, months of case reviewing and report filling would take place after. We still hadn't even closed the Kennedy High mission and it wasn't likely to be finished for a while. Especially with what had happened, with everything being so sudden and unplanned we were trying to make sense of it all.

"Tell Agent Ben that I'll dig around for them this afternoon," I instructed. "He was after the one's monitored between Tasha and Violet right?"

She nodded while tapping her fingers against her desk. She continued swiveling on her chair while its squeaks echoed around the room.

"When are you going on mission next?" I asked Cassie to end the silence.

"Not for another few weeks at least." She muttered rolling her eyes. "Captain wants me to stay here and monitor a heap of cases."

I raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that a good thing?" I asked. "Not having to worry about your safety every second and just getting to stay in your office?" I failed to see the issue.

"Yeah but where's the thrill?" She grinned her eyes widening with excitement. "Where's the adventure? Where's the trips to Las Vegas or even Paris with designer clothing and five-star hotels?"

I laughed. "You and I certainly don't get assigned the same cases then."

To be fair, I'd only had the one so far...but the whole fake rich heiress or multimillionaire supermodel didn't seem like it was going to be my typecast.

"Hey, at least you get to stay home and watch Netflix as often as you want. You couldn't do that in Paris." I offered.

She stopped moving in her chair as she creased her forehead in thought. "Don't they have Netflix in France?"

I laughed. "Not what I meant. I was trying to indicate that you wouldn't exactly have the time to watch Netflix if you were on a mission. But here, you could do that and more! It's what I get up to when I'm not here." I explained. Just the thought of thrilling tv dramas and teen 80s movies were comforting me.

A quick knock on Cassie's office from behind me interrupted our chatter as Cassie looked up, recognition showing in her expression.

"Well you better add your movies and shows to an instant queue because I don't think you'll be watching them for a while." she said to me, her eyes still fixed behind me.

I gave her a confused look and turned around to see Eric standing in the middle of her office doorway. He was standing upright with his eyes fixed on Cassie's as if communicating something to her. Whatever it was, she understood.

"You're taking her now?" she asked him as I watched the two.

He nodded briefly before shifting his attention to me. "Agent Becca is required for an urgent meeting," he responded in a professional tone. I felt my cheeks burn knowing he was looking at me so I focused my sight on one of the photos on Cassie's wall.

It was her and a group of other women that must have been her friends at some kind of party. They were all dressed in cocktail attire and smiling while clutching their drinks. Cassie was in the center wearing a tight red dress and laughing. I wondered how Cassie kept her secret of being an agent from them. It looked like she had a lot more people to lie to than me.

I stared at it for another second before I noticed the two pairs of eyes on me waiting for movement. "Uh, okay" I muttered as I awkwardly stood up. I quickly scrunched up the paper bag that had been holding my sandwich and dumped it in the small bin under Cassie's desk.

I made my way to the door and had barely had a chance to say goodbye to Cassie before Eric turned around and began walking, expecting me to follow. His fast pace told me that he hadn't been lying about this being urgent.

I walked quickly alongside him as we passed other agents in the main office they were all consumed in their own work, barely taking notice of us as we passed. I began to grow anxious about where Eric was taking me. Was I in trouble or something? I tried to think back on my actions over the past few days.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him trying to hide the worry in my voice.

He didn't respond for a moment as he continued walking at a fast pace. We reached the hallway of doors as Eric began leading me down it.

Were we going to his office?

He walked quicker as he approached the end of the hallway. To my surprise, we walked past his door and headed towards the bright gold one in front of us.

Why were we going to Captain's office?

"You're being assigned." Eric finally spoke up, answering my previous question.

"Assigned?" I asked in confusion.

He turned the door handle to the office without even knocking as he muttered to me quietly. "Your second case."

I was snapped into realization as the door was opened and I was faced with Captain sitting behind his desk.

"Captain." I greeted automatically as I followed Eric into the room. Within that split second, I had improved my posture and was trying to behave as formal as possible.

It was an expectation to treat Captain with the up most respect. He was treated like the president or a member of the royal family in this place, and I'd learned to somehow adapt to this. He was a powerful man and owned this entire agency. If he was taking the time out of his day to meet with an agent, it was important and almost considered like some sort of honor - except for Eric who had known him for a long time, better than any other agent and as head agent, he would have to report back frequently. In their case, they had a closer relationship. Eric practically considered Captain to be his father after he took him in when he lost his parents and older sister in a car crash at 16.

I could only imagine what Eric had gone through with the loss of his entire family and then suddenly finding himself being recruited by a secret agency? I didn't know how he did it. But with no doubt Captain had to have been some form of guidance to him and when I thought about it, he was the closest thing to family that Eric had.

"Agent Rebecca" Captain nodded towards me in reply. He was seated behind his desk as usual with files scattered amongst the top covering every inch. "Have a seat," he instructed.

I looked at the two seats that were across the desk from Captain. I made my way over to the end seat as I carefully sat down.

"It's been a while since you were assigned your first case," Captain began as Eric sat down in the vacant seat next to me. "But as you were only working as a volunteer for the case, you did not require any prior training to your commencement."

I nodded my head as I tried to control the swirling in my stomach. I knew what was coming, but I also had no idea. I shifted my eyes to Eric who had been briefly watching me but turned his eyes back to Captain.

"Now as an official member, you were placed in training over the past few months and I truly believe it is time for your next mission," Captain stated.

My eyes widened. It really was happening. I was about to get a new case.

"Since you are still new to this, I've assigned Eric to this mission as well to help things run smoothly" he continued to explain.

I felt relief instantly. Working with Eric again would make things easier for me. He was the one I'd always go to if there was an issue and he did his job better than anyone else.

"I've also assigned Agent Mackenzie to this mission but she has already been briefed." he further explained. "Have you two met yet?"

I had met a lot of agents during my recruitment here but an agent Mackenzie didn't come to mind. "Uh no, I don't think so," I responded. I was taken aback by the fact another agent had been put on this case with Eric and I...and I had no idea who she was.

Captain gave me a nod of understanding. "I doubt your paths have crossed yet as she only recently returned from a mission herself." He looked down at the files on his desk as he began trying to arrange them in some sort of order.

"As you are probably well aware, we have a huge issue with some rogue Russian spies." he began.

I had heard of rogue spies before. They were the kind of spies that weren't exactly defusing the bomb, they were the ones planting it. Some were double agents, others had started their own corporations much like the RUA or FBI, just for different intentions. And some were extremely dangerous. The RUA had its bad run ins particurlaly with the Russians. They could be brutal.

"One organization in particular, the RFI-"

"The Russian Federal Intelligence," Eric muttered to me.

I felt myself stiffen. I'd heard the name before. RUA agents had muttered it quitely in hallways to each other while working on cases. It was an organization that people didn't like to talk about around here and for whatever reason I wasn't sure. But I knew they had to be dangerous. I could hear the tension in people's voices as they spoke it. The solemn looks that crossed faces and nod of understanding.

"We like to keep our distance from them." Captain further explained. "While we handle our cases more upfront, with this particular organization, we like to take a... less noticable approach."

That further proved my point, adding to my fear. I knew what Captain meant. If we couldn't tackle something head on like usual, it had to be dangerous. So dangerous, that we had to result to sneak attacks in order to ensure our survival or triumph.

"And most of all, if not proving to be a serious threat, we tend to turn a blind eye to their...business." Captain looked like he was struggling to find the words to explain this in a way that wouldn't have me worry as he maintained as calmness in his behavior.

"But that's not always the case." Eric interrupted, his face filled with tension.

Captain nodded grimly. "Not always."

I felt my stomach swirl in nerves.

"Over the past few weeks we noticed suspicious activity amongst their main headquarters." he began to explain, pouring over the files on his desk. "Such as increases in stock. Small things like weapons and machinery."

"And then big things like missiles." Eric cut off seemingly more of a hurry to get to the point.

I looked at the two of them in horror. "Missiles?"

They couldn't be serious. I had hoped it was some sort of joke. But the expression on their faces told me it was anything but.

"For what purpose?" I continued to ask. With the amount of power and destruction missiles could cause, it couldn't be good.

"Were not entirely sure," Eric explained as he leaned forward to Captain's desk. He began searching through the files. "We've been tracking their activity ever since and only noticed their increase in agents, weapons and other things." He handed me a document once he looked at it himself.

I grabbed it from him in a haste as I scanned the page. The chart showed me how their rise in employment and stock had risen over the past two weeks by 20%.

"They're planning something," I concluded as I handed the chart back to Eric. He nodded.

"And we don't know what."

It suddenly clicked. "And that's why we're here?" I asked.

Captain smiled. "Exactly. We can monitor from a distance all we want but the only way we are truly going to see any results is if we send agents to the action."

I was confused. "But what would we be expected to do?"

Was I going undercover again? We'd seen how well that had worked out the last time - and that was just a high school mission. But a spy being an undercover spy? That seemed way out of my range. This entire case seemed too advanced for me.

Captain shook his head in reply. "No. That would be too dangerous, even for Eric. And the Russians while I hate to admit it, are smart. You wouldn't be able to pull the wool over their eyes. So we're taking a more 'behind the scenes' approach."

I raised an eyebrow still confused.

"We'd just be required to closely monitor." Eric began to explain. "Camera surveillance and so on. We'd be working with a division of Russian spies that are also working on taking down the RFI"

"The good guys?" I asked sarcastically.

Eric shrugged. "As far as we know."

"I wouldn't put it past an organization as powerful as the RFI not to infiltrate any group trying to take them down," I muttered.

"Neither would I," Eric responded.

"So that's it?" I asked Captain. "You just want us to monitor these guys from a close distance with some other spies in case something happens? And what if it does?"

"Then I already have three reliable agents at the scene to help maintain the issue until I can send others," Captain explained.

"And it's as simple as that?" I asked dumbfounded.

"More or less," Eric muttered, leaning back in his chair.

"You'll receive a more detailed briefing on your flight," Captain told me.

That's when it hit me.

I...was going to Russia?

How the hell was I supposed to cover for this?

"When's the flight?" I asked but feared I already knew the answer.

"Tomorrow morning," Eric answered. "Eight."

If there was one thing I'd learned from the RUA, it was that everything that happened here was sudden. I'd been placed in Kennedy High a mere three days after receiving the mission.

I released a deep breath. This was really happening. "How long are we expected to be there for?" I asked.

"About a week. Longer if necessary." He muttered, leaning back in his chair.

I thought about it. Okay, maybe I could cover for this. The camping trip with Debby plan may just work out. A week wasn't too much time and if I was over there longer than expected...well, I'd deal with that hurdle when I approached it.

This was going to be the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.

Every moment as soon as I stepped off that plane tomorrow, I was going to be a target. Another name on the RFI's hit list. I was an RUA agent. I was their enemy.

I suddenly remembered I was in the presence of Captain and Eric. I could feel both their eyes on me as I thought to myself. They were waiting for an answer. They wanted my 'okay' to be on this mission. While I felt like there was no other option, another part of me wanted to run out the door screaming and never return.

I cleared my throat, sitting up. I hoped my worry wasn't showing.

"So that's it?" I asked.

They both continued looking at me for a moment of awkward silence.

"The gist of it," Captain replied.

I nodded my head slowly as I let my eyes wander around the room. I knew there was only one thing keeping my in the room and their eyes on me in anticipation, my answer.

"Then okay," I spoke after a moment. "Let's do this."

Eric raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're sure?" he asked.

The immediate sound of a deep throat clearing interrupted Eric's question as he made eye contact with Captain.

It was obvious that Captain was attempting to maintain a professional manner and make it appear as if everything was okay to me, but the look he gave Eric told me otherwise. It was only a quick glance...almost glare and then the tightening of Eric's jaw before they returned to their normal demeanors.

Captain had been attempting to communicate with Eric briefly and as sternly as he could with me in the room. It had been very sudden but I'd noticed. It was almost as if he was trying to tell Eric to watch what he was saying to me. I'd already agreed to take part in the case and he didn't want anyone convincing me otherwise. I didn't understand it though. Why was it so important that I was working on this case? Surely if I said no I would be replaced by another agent in only a moment. There wasn't any staff shortage that I was aware of.

"It's settled then." Eric stood up, not waiting for a reply from me. "We leave tomorrow."

I was stunned by the sudden end to our meeting but quickly got up after Eric. I didn't want to seem as if I was falling behind.

"I expect you both here at 4AM, the jet will be waiting". Captain farewelled us as we headed towards the door.

I did my best not to stop in my tracks as I finally processed his words. Did he just say 4AM? As in, four in the morning? As in, the time I was barely even aware existed due to sleeping through it? Great.

As I followed behind Eric, I heard the sound of Captain's office door shut behind us. I released a deep breath I didn't even realize I'd been holding. As kind as I was sure Captain was, he sure knew how to make me feel nervous. His power was quite intimidating.

Eric turned to me, his eyes meeting mine for a moment until I looked away. I mentally slapped myself for still being this way around him. I couldn't even look the guy in the eyes without feeling my stomach swirl and my face heat up. If I was going to spend the next two weeks with him constantly working on this case, I needed to get a hold of myself.

"There should be some files down at admin that will brief you on this case. Come with me so I can give them to you now." He instructed, still sounding as professional as ever yet, his shoulders were more relaxed after leaving the meeting. I could tell that being around Captain had an effect on him as well.

I forced myself to meet his eyes again, trying to fight my immature feelings. "Okay."

I continued to follow closely behind his quick pace as we strode down the main hallway, walking past all the office doors until we reached the main room again. As we walked past a row of chairs, Eric abruptly stopped walking, forcing me to do the same in order to avoid running into him.

"No time like the present for introductions" he muttered turning to a figure that sat in one of the chairs. She wore the normal black agent uniform with her long dark curls covering her face as her head looked downwards.

"Agent Mackenzie," he spoke flatly with seemingly no interest in having a full pledged conversation with her.

The woman who had been directing her attention towards her phone looked up, appearing just as disinterested as Eric when she realized it was him. "Eric. Always a pleasure." She responded in a sarcastic tone. "How can I help you?"

He directed his eyes towards me as hers followed.

"Becca, this is Agent Mackenzie. Mackenzie, Agent Becca. I felt it wise for you two to meet now considering you'll be working very closely together over the next two weeks. "He explained.

It clicked when I realized this was the other agent Captain had assigned to work with Eric and me in Russia.

I immediately extended my hand in order to maintain formal "It's nice to finally meet you." I smiled as warmly as I could.

She looked up at my hand, staring at it for a moment like an odd deformity to study in disgust before scoffing and returning her attention to her phone. "This is her? The kid brat?"

I was taken back by her coldness and slowly retracted my hand.

"If by kid brat you mean the agent that single-handedly took down two armed criminals in her last case, then yes," Eric responded, not at all seeming surprised by her rudeness towards me.

"You forget that these so called 'criminals' were two teenage girls who would have probably been too worried about breaking a nail to try and attempt to actually murder someone." Mackenzie drawled with disinterest, rolling her eyes as she continued scrolling through the contents of her phone.

After a moment more of boredom, she slipped her phone into her jacket pocket and stood up from the seat. She smoothened out her uniform before walking towards me.

I tried not to squirm under her direct eye contact.

"I don't need some teenager coming along and ruining all my hard work so I suggest you keep out of my way during this case, otherwise, it won't be pretty." She spoke calmly yet, provided me with no relaxation.

I barely had a moment to process her words before she had turned on her heels and begun walking off, her curls bouncing with her every step.

I cleared my throat after a moment's silence. "She seems nice."

Eric chuckled lightly. "Don't worry about her. She's just annoyed that you were inducted in the RUA so quickly when she spent a while trying to work her way up to the status of agent. She finds you threatening."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Me? Threatening? Seriously?" The entire concept sounded crazy. Why would anybody feel intimidated by me?

"I'm literally just an eighteen-year-old girl," I argued in disbelief.

Eric shrugged. "Maybe that's what's so threatening about you." 

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A/N: OH GOD DON'T MURDER ME IM SO SORRY ITS BEEN SO LONG SINCE IVE UPDATED BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. SENIOR YEAR SUCKS TRYNA GET ALL THIS SHIT DONE, HAVE A JOB, KEEP MY SANITY AND WRITE A NOVEL BUT IM TRYING. I LOVE YOU ALL, I'D PROMISE MORE FREQUENT UPDATES BUT HAVING SEEN HOW WELL THAT'S WORKED IN THE PAST ALL I CAN DO IS UPDATE WHENEVER AND TRY TO SQUEEZE IN WRITING WHENEVER I CAN.