Hidden Tracks | ✓

47 | endgame

One year later

Arm at shoulder level, support weight under left hand, ready, aim, sh--

"Winter, how's shooting practice going? Any good? Better score than last time?"

Restraining myself from punching him, I flipped Soler the bird as I aimed my pistol at the target dummy. I could feel his mocking smirk directed at me, but I chose to remain silent and focus on the target ahead.

3, 2, 1....and shoot.

The bullet hit the dummy smack in the middle of the forehead, and I shot a smirk at Soler, who was scowling.

That's right, even after a year of dating, we still hadn't lost our competitive streak and intense rivalry. Miranda would sometimes referee our silly games versus each other, and at other times we'd just resort to good old target practice and rock climbing.

Today I'd managed to tie with Soler on points, and this was big, because shooting was his turf and I'd just levelled him on his own turf. Hah!

He opened his mouth to come up with a smartass remark when our earpieces buzzed to life. I instantly straightened myself up.

"Special Agents Kaia Winter and Marco Soler to report to my office immediately."

Well, here we go again. Soler and I had been a solid pair ever since our first mission, and we'd formed a great partnership with each other. Me as the principal spy and him as the sniper and combat specialist. Sometimes Miranda or some other agent would also be part of the team, but it was mostly just Soler and I.

We had an amazing track record so far, and honestly, I hadn't expected this efficiency from either of us, what with all our bickering and um, well, kisses in between.

Anyway, even with all the dates and kisses and other things we did, we still called each other Soler and Winter. It was just our thing, I guess, and even though I called him Marco sometimes or he called me Kaia, those moments were mostly reserved for heated kisses and makeout sessions.

But I was sidetracking. Soler and I had been called for a mission again. I looked at him, and he nodded. "Vonnegut's office. Let's go."

He took my hand and together we took the elevator to the Director's office.

On entering, Director Vonnegut looked up with a smile. "Good morning, agents. Take a seat."

We sat down opposite her, and I could see the documents and case files of our next mission sitting on the tabletop.

"Well, as you can already guess, this is about your next mission. We've got leads on a hacker who's hacking into computers of government offices and agencies, and stealing sensitive information. They sell this info to other countries who hire them and so we need you to track down this hacker before they can sell any more valuable info."

We nodded. "Here are the case files. Go through them properly. Your flight to Belgium has already been scheduled for tomorrow, that's where we've got some strong leads. If you have any questions after reading the case file, come straight to me."

We nodded and got up to leave.

Interesting. An international hacker, getting their hands on sensitive, top secret government files and selling them to other governments? This was interesting. It'd be fun.

I looked at Soler. "This sounds like a good case. You ready, Soler?"

He grinned and kissed the side of my head. "As I'll ever be."

a/n: and that's THE END. officially. this epilogue was a bit short i know, but are we all happy with the conclusion? i know i am! this was such a memorable journey of 2.5 months that i'll never forget, and a bigger rant is coming your way in the afterword. please don't stop reading just yet and check out the next part too! love you all xx