Jason and I skip the dive shop, not wanting to explain our lack of equipment. We gave our deposit when we rented everything initially and my guess is that the man at the shop will be more than happy to keep it.
The whole walk back, black spots fade in and out of my vision, occasionally making me stumble. I uses the alley walls as support but even so, sometimes I swear I’m going to pass out on the spot.
“We shouldn’t have left right away,” Jason says stabling me for about the fifth time, “You haven’t recovered yet.”
“I’ve recovered fine,” I say dryly but know it’s not true.
“You could have died.”
“I didn’t.”
“Aria,” his tone is serious, “I don’t think you get it.”
I look up in his eyes. They’re soft and caring, “Get what?”
“It’s just...” he pauses, “I was planning on getting Keith back for you if you died but before I saw your shadow swimming towards the surface I realized I don’t have a clue what he looks like.”
“The director didn’t give you a picture?” that was odd. I went on a rescue mission with Keith about a three and a half months ago and we were shown a picture of the girl we were to rescue before we left.
“No,” he says slowly, “When The Director found out I was rejoining the WTUA he told me I was going to be your partner and that I was rescuing a captured agent.”
“That’s...odd,” I look past him. Through an opening from the alley to the street I see a shady looking supermarket, “Hey, Jason go on without me. I’m going to get you some hair dye.”
He frowns, “No way.”
I sigh, “You kinda need it. I’m actually very surprised that you haven’t been recognized yet,” I look around, “Well, I guess taking the alleys all the time really help.”
“I’m not protesting the hair dye. I’m protesting you going by yourself.”
I cross my arms, “I don’t want to risk you walking into a store where possibly you’re perfume line or something is sitting by a life-sized cut out of you and then some fangirl yells out your name and suddenly you’re cover’s blown.”
“You don’t care about my cover being blown,” he snaps back, “You worried about yourself. You’re worried that if my picture gets in the news that so will yours and then Keith’s captors will know you’re here and come and get you.”
“Your wrong!” I raise my voice, “I’m worried about Keith and that if my picture gets out there that Keith’s captors will see, know I’m coming and kill HIM. I don’t care about myself one bit.”
“You’re a good actor,” he smirks.
“I am not acting,” I hiss shrugging off my bag and taking some money out of my bag. I shove the backpack against his chest, “Now, I’m going in there alone and you are not going to stop me. Go back to The House and wait for me.”
“I’m not your little dog that you can’t train to do what you want. We’re partners,” he lowers his voice, “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Watch me,” I turn on my heals and start to walk away. I don’t hear him behind me like I expect and turn around to see if he just has really quiet feet. To my surprise, he’s no where in sight. He probably went back to The House.
“I so got rid of you that easily Jason,” I say under my breath before heading into the store.
As I walk into the little market, I realize that it’s not actually that little. Well it’s little in square footage but when it comes to the amount of things that are in the store, it’s huge. All the isles are so close together that people can barely get carts by each other. It’s not the nicest of places. There’s a smell of something rotting somewhere in the store but I can’t see it from where I am.
YOU ARE READING
Common Ground
Teen FictionAria works for the WTUA or Worldwide Teen Undercover Agency. She and her partner Keith are known as the best team in the whole agency but how can you be the best when you only have half of the team? On an assignment in Brazil, Keith is captured, le...
