Skye's the Limit |Book 1 In 'Skye Adventures' Series|

Chapter 15: Revealed

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   I can tell that Fitz and Simmons are secretly thrilled at the idea of having perhaps the world's greatest hacker and his apprentice on the plane.

His apprentice. That's what I've been reduced to.

I'm not Ward's student, or Coulson's new team mate... I'm just an apprentice.

Screw Coulson.

    I had been stuck in a car on the way back with him and May, where I had been questioned further.

"Did he make you live on the streets, where you might be picked up by us? Was all of this planned?" Coulson had asks angrily.

Once I had revealed I knew him Coulson was convinced this whole thing was just one big setup.

   I remain quiet. I didn't understand why they couldn't believe me. I hadn't had contact with him in years.

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They stuck both Miles and I in the interrogation room.

The very one they had questioned me in a few weeks ago.

Miles has his hands chained to the table, but mine are just handcuffed.

"So, I guess due process isn't really Shield protocol." Miles scoffs.

"They don't have time for it." I say between gritted teeth.

   "Whoa, are you defending them?" Miles asks giving me a strange look. "These people are denying our basic rights! I thought you would've figured that out!"

"Oh shut up!" I snap. "They're trying to save someone's life."

    "What changed you? Listen to yourself!" He spits harshly. "That's what they always say to justify invading privacy, Skye. These people stand for everything Rising Tide despises ... Secrets, censorship!!"

"Enough with the manifesto, Miles." I mutter angrily.

"We can't let them get away with it!"

I shake my head.

My God he doesn't get it!! A guy's life is at stake.  

   "My sense of morality clouded my judgement." I huff loudly. "I went and warned you because I feel attached to you because you were the one person who helped me become who I am! Now I know that I shoulda just turned you over." I spit.

Miles looks disappointed. But I don't give a damn what he thinks.

"You still didn't need to go running to the enemy." He finally says softer.

The door opens, it's Ward, and he's holding a file.

    "She's thinks, well thought, you're a man worth trying to help. So I'm going to give you a chance to tell her that you were never the good guy." Ward tells Miles. I glance at Miles nervously, what's in the file?

 "Do you want to tell her, or should I?" Ward asks glaring at Miles. Ward places the file in front of Miles, just out of reach of his cuffed hands.

Miles glares back.

"I don't have to listen to you." He spits, acting like a child.

   Ward snatches the file up and opens it. "There goes your chance." He flicks his gaze over to me as he starts to pull slips of paper out. "Miles here made a few deposits in the days following the leak."

Ward puts the deposit slips in single file in front of me.

Ward puts the last one down. "All said... it's about a million dollars."

I look at Ward. Then to Miles.

"What. THE. HELL?"

Miles looks down ashamed.

"Real stand-up guy." Ward says to me. 

     I stare at him in shock. What I knew about this case and mission... It was the type of stuff that Rising Tide would love to release. To make a huge deal. But with Rising Tide you  don't sell information like this. Not like he did. 

He could get kicked out of Rising Tide. He could be hunted down and killed for this if it blows up.

     "I can explain! It was a million dollars. A million dollars!!" He says.  "It would have changed my life! How could I have not!" Miles ignores my glares as I process this. "And that woman was harmless. I looked into it."

I look at him pissed.

    "No one with good intentions pays that kind of money for information!" I spit. "You mentioned that a lot! Did you ever think about that?!"

Miles nods his head frustratingly. "Of course I did. I would never have done it if I thought-

"Who is the woman you referred to?" Ward cuts him off.

    Miles swallows, looking uncomfortable. "A fan of the Rising Tide, some rich girl in a flower dress. She knew all about me, said I had a gift. She thought people like us deserved more."

"Oh, you deserve more." I mutter bitterly.

"She pointed me to a Chinese Shield feed... Wanted me to crack it."

I raise an eyebrow at him.

Uh hello, Miles? Are you losing brain cells?

"You thought that was harmless?" Ward asks voicing my thoughts.

    "I checked the data stream. It didn't seem like anything you and I hadn't already put out there, Skye." Miles pleads, desperate. "And I traced the account where the money came from to make sure it wasn't some evil corporation. It was just an eco-research lab. Otherwise, I would never have done it!"

Miles looks to Ward and I.

"Ecological research?" Ward asks.

"Yeah, insects, some study with centipedes." Miles mutters.

No... No, no! No!

"What's more harmless than that?" Miles asks innocently.

I look to Ward, horror struck.

Centipede.

Ward stands there frozen.

"What are you waiting for, Ward?" I snap. "Go!"

Centipede.

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Edited 4/13/2020