Suicide Mission (Guarded Secrets #1)

10: "You are a danger to this team!"

What could I do to impress her if she didn't want to see the skills that I could do? Wasn't that what brought me here? She said that if I hadn't had the skills then they wouldn't have recruited me. Although, she didn't want to see those skills. She already knew that I was able to evade, hide, and out run anyone in pursuit of me. I was sure she knew about the exploits I had done just today, maybe Damon even told her the smaller things that he pushed me to do so I could practice. So why wouldn't she train me if I was good enough to be recruited? What else was there besides skill, what wise mattered?

She said that she was looking for something other than what I had done and could do, but what would that be? Skill was what keep you alive, it was second nature. If I couldn't show her what I could do, then if I tried something I couldn't then I would fail. I asked myself what else an agent would need to survive as I glanced around her training room. There were punching bags and pads for her training, but in the far corner of the room there was a training device that I had only seen in television shows growing up. There were boards that would rotate with the slightest breeze and you were supposed to be in complete harmony and balance within yourself in order to make it through without getting hit. The only problem is that the equipment in the room would only show skill, and Rum had told me that wasn't how I should impress her, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what other skills a thief would need.

I heard a door open behind me, and my body tensed. I wasn't ready to show Rum what I had come up with to impress her, because I hadn't come up with anything. The footsteps were heavy as they made their way towards me. I gulped and took a deep breath to relax myself before I turned around. I had been expecting Rum to be the one approaching me since she made it clear she didn't like others in her training room, but I turned around I found Mark instead. He raised an eyebrow at me curiously as he glanced around the room. When his gaze returned to me I could see confusion in his eyes.

"Where's Rue?" he asked nervously as he continued to scan the room. It was as if he was expecting her to jump out at him or that he was going to be attacked. He seemed edgy and angry, his shoulders were tense and his body was hunched over as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Mark rarely made me feel uneasy, but he terrified me in this moment.

"She left," I said hesitantly, unsure of why he was here and acting like this. He was normally so calm, and patient, while he could be demanding and pushy, his better qualities normally shone through.

"Shut up," he said bluntly, as he turned to glare at me.

There was a deep seated anger in his eyes that told me if I knew what was good for myself I would follow his orders without question, but that wasn't going to happen. I always had to know why. I had to know why I was doing it, why I was the one ordered for it and why it was being ordered. That was going to get me in more trouble than I could imagine.

"Why? I'm just trying to help. You asked me where she was, and I answered. There's no reason to be upset," I said confidently. He had been having mood swings since I came here, but I had brushed them off due to Sharp Shooter's harsh words to him and the high amount of praise I got in return. It was unlike Mark to be so angry though, and I was growing more and more uncomfortable around him because of it. There had to be some reason for it besides Sharp Shooter's motivation methods, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to figure it out in case it was my fault.

"Because your voice irritates me," Mark said with an icy sting in his words that sent shivers down my spine.

"Aren't you nice," I muttered as I turned to walk out of the room. If Rum wasn't here, and he wouldn't leave, I was going to. I could see where this conversation was going to head and I didn't like it. I grew uncomfortable with angry conversations, because it mostly turned into personal attacks. I wasn't ready for that, not with Mark. He knew too much about me and I felt as if I didn't know enough about him to protect myself.