Look out for the <>!

Carter drove me to work the next day. However as we drove, there this awkwardness silence that was so thick in the air I could cut it with a knife. He was upset that I was dating Auggie, that was clear, but there was nothing that I could say that would make this better so I stayed silent.

We parked in the lot and quickly got out of the car as if it would explode at any moment. I followed him slowly out of the car, careful not move a certain way that would make my ribs burn more then they already were. I knew he was hurt but I felt like he could handle this better. I still wanted to be friends with him, I still valued what we had, just because I was taken didn't mean everything changed.

Carter nodded at me as if to say goodbye then walked his separate way into the building. I frowned as he sped walked away from me as if I was toxic. A part of me thought I was, after all, I was dangerous. Stay too close to me and you were bound to get hurt.

With heavy feet and my mind floating in a distance land, I walked to my desk. I peered over my cubical walls to see Mara already at her desk.

As if sensing a change in the force, Mara stopped typing and took out her ear buds. "Girl where were you last night?" Mara asked with a small smile. She was always one for trouble gossip, but unlike everyone here, she wouldn't share it. She was like a treasure chest, keeping all good stories locked away deep in her mind.

"I went to the lake. I needed air, alone."

Mara nodded as if she understood. "Say no more. I get it."

I sat down at my desk and frown at the turned off computer. I wanted to reach out to B26, I wanted them to know my concerns but I had no idea how to reach them. Also I feared that they would reach me at the wrong time.

"What is that long face for? Girl you have something your hiding and I better hear it during lunch," Mara said as she popped her head over her cubical to look at me.

She read me too well sometimes. "Ok," I said as I tried to prepare myself for the inevitable. I wouldn't be able to hide all the secrets from Mara, she was bound to find them out one way or another.

Before I knew it, Mara was popping her head over her cubicle again and with her lunch in her hand and a smile on her face. "Ready?"

I nodded, knowing exactly where we needed to go for a privet conversation. I got up from my seat and led the way out of the building to a running course that the CIA owned on base.

Mara quickly found a half rotting log and sat down on it, uncaring that it would dirty her pants. She may have dressed well, but I knew that Mara was just as much as a tom boy as the girls at the skate park. She just wouldn't let it show at work. She was guarded here, and she had a right to be. She was young, beautiful and talented, people were jealous of her and they wanted to steal what she had at all coasts. She pulled out a sandwich then said, "So you know every part of my mission. I want to know what you've been up to."

<>

I shrugged. I had played this conversation over and over in my mind and I still didn't know how to go about it. I knew I needed help with MIA but I was so scared that I would trust the wrong person again. I hard already been burnt and I couldn't bare being burnt again, it would be the death of me. "Well, the past two missions have been in country," I said as I sat down right next to her. I pulled out an apple and took a bite.

"Yuck. I hate those," she said and took a bite of her sandwich. "Mmmm, home made Israeli humus sandwich, want a bite?"

I nodded then took a bite. Mara's parents owned a middle eastern restaurant and her father was the chef. He never disappointed me with the food. "Oh that's good."

She nodded. "It's a new menu item. Ok, back to you assignments. Where were they?"

"One in New York, the other in Florida."

She nodded then asked, more like demanded, "Tell me about you and Auggie."

I shrugged, not sure what she wanted from me. "Um well, I'm dating him." I didn't know what else to say, we've only been dating for a couple days. When I was still dating Toby, Mara told me that I should go out with Auggie instead. For some reason she never trusted Toby. Well she was right, but it took me months to figure it out.

"I know that silly," she said and playfully hit my leg. She laughed lightly then added, "yay. How long have you been dating?" she said enthusiastically. 

"A couple days," I said and smiled, feeling my cheeks turning red. Just the thought of him gave butterflies in my stomach.

"So did you break up with Toby? Or was it vise versa? I need to know all the details."

My mind flashed back to the case in Florida. He ratted us out. He gave us up. He was a terrible person. "I saw his flaws and it hit me, do I really want to be with him forever? No." As much as I wanted to tell Mara about MIA an B26, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Toby almost killed me once I told him, I didn't want things to change with Mara and I too.

Mara smiled. "I haven't seen him at work. He's probably to hurt to come back."

If only she knew. "Honestly, I don't think he's ever coming back."

"Good, you don't need to deal with your ex."

I agreed with her. He could rot in a hole for all I cared. "No, I really don't." There was silence for a minute as we both ate our lunches. Finally I spoke up again, "Why did you never like Toby?"

Mara shrugged as if she didn't know the answer herself. "There was something off about him. It was like he was holding a secret from everyone. It rubbed me the wrong way. Plus, I didn't like the way he treated you. It was as if one moment you were the light of his life but the next you were just a task he had to do."

She the clapped her hands together. "But it doesn't matter now because he's gone and you seemed to realize that he was no good on your own." She smiled at me as if this was one happy story.

I nodded as if I agreed with her. But this wasn't a happy story. MIA was still out there, Toby was still out there and it was only time until they came back.

"Annalise, there's something else on your mind and I want you to spill. You seem so... distant."

I bit my lip as I struggled with forcing the next words out of my mouth. I wanted her help. I wanted to trust her, but I wasn't sure if I could just yet. I felt my stomach turn in knots by just thinking about it. "I have been working another side mission," I said, as I forced the words out of my mouth like golf balls.

Mara raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Ooh, now please tell."

Suddenly my mind went back to when I was sitting on the bed with Toby. He looked at me like I was nothing, he brushed off my concern as if it wasn't a big deal. He made me feel foolish and I didn't want to feel like that again.

"Annalise?" Mara asked with concern in her voice.

I shook my head and looked at Mara. I was going crazy. "Nothing, I was just suck in a thought," I said and forced a smile that was a little to fake.

Mara sighed as she pulled out her phone then said, "This conversation isn't over. But our lunch break is. To be continued?"

I nodded. Thank goodness. Saved by the bell. "To be continued." I stood up from the log and brushed myself off then followed Mara back to the building.

Once we got to the floor I was surprised to see Auggie sitting at my desk. He spun around in my chair casually making himself comfortable. He then caught eyes with me and waved with a happy smile. "Hope you don't mind if I sit here for a minute?"

I smiled as I walked up to him. I brushed my lips lightly against his and felt all my worries fade away if only for a second. "Not a problem."

Auggie stood up from the chair with a little bit of difficulty. I could see that he was still hurting, and I hated the fact there was nothing I could do that would make it better. "Well, wish me luck, I have to talk to your grandmother."

I cringed at the thought of that. Those talks were never very pleasant. "Good luck," I said as he walked off to my grandmother's office.

In the solitude of my cubical, I sat down at my computer. I needed to talk to B26 but I wasn't sure how to make contact. I waited for the black screen to come but quickly I gave up, knowing he wouldn't reach out again if I didn't ask for him first. I pushed him away. He was doing such a good job at keeping his distance.

My heart sank in my chest as I released that maybe he was never coming back. Maybe he found someone new to do his job and that I was on my own. Once again I felt myself sink into the sea of despair. I felt my eyes get watery as I shook my head at the screen. No, he could leave me. I wasn't about to accept it. MIA wouldn't stop coming after me. I needed to bring them down to save my own life. I needed their help. I typed on the keyboard, "B26, I NEED you."

Within seconds, the screen turned black and typed out, "I thought you were out."

I felt my heart flutter back to life as I saw those words hit the screen. "I never really left. I just needed time to clear my mind," I typed.

"That's my girl. :)"

I smiled. I had a feeling that the more I talked to him, I would start to understand his personality more. Seeing that smiley face made it seem like he was more real, like they were a person with desires, wants, likes, it wasn't just some program talking to me.

"Your next assignment is to look into the 'bank' that bought the old MIA building. Gather information and get back to me."

I nodded at the screen as if he could see me. "Ok, oh and thanks for saving me last week."

"No problem. It's my job to protect you. But one thing, don't reach out to me often. I'll reach out to you when it's safe," With that the computer shut down.

A second later, the printer beside my computer started up and started to print documents. I quickly gathered all the files and stuffed them into my purse before anyone saw. Within another second, the computer beeped, signaling that it was starting up again. I jumped out of my thoughts with a "shoot".

"Shoot what?" Auggie asked as he walked up to me with a smile.

"Oh, the computer did one of those forced updates," I lied quickly as I turned to face him. He wasn't in there long. I wonder what he had to say to her. I wondered if he told her about Toby and how they wanted me. I wondered what my grandmother would do with this information.

He nodded, taking my lie. "That's what you get when you refuse to update for 50 years," he smiled at me.

"It wasn't that long, more like 11 months," I defended myself. I just didn't have time to wait around for the update to happen. I had other things to do and I always seemed to be buried by work.

"Which is like 50 years in computer life," he chuckled.

Breaking us from our moment was when a man that I had never seen before walked up to us. "Annalise?" the man asked.

"Yeah? That's me," I said as I looked at this bald stubby man with a frown. Auggie told her they wanted me. She was going to bench me, I was sure of it.

"Your grandmother needs to talk to you," he said bluntly then walked away not waiting for a reply. 

I frowned at Auggie, hoping that he would tell me something but he remained silent. He looked at his shoes and that was enough of an answer for me. He said too much. I was going to get in trouble. I braced myself as I stood up from my chair.

"I'm sure it'll be nothing," Auggie said comforting me.

I nodded, knowing that with my grandmother, it was never nothing then left my cubical without another word.

Once I got into my grandmother's office, she looked up at me from the computer. She looked irritated and slightly disappointed, and I knew that this conversation would not be a pleasant one. I did something wrong again and I would get chastised. "Auggie mentioned that when you were trapped, they wanted you. You never mentioned that."

I frowned. There was a reason for that.

"Annalise, you have to tell me these things. This is your life. We can't mess around with it. Why did they want you?" she asked as she pinched the bridge of her nose as if this was my fault.

I shrugged. "Because your my grandmother?" I asked. I had thought about this question a lot myself and that was the only reasonable answer I could come up with. It was because I was her grandmother and I got too close to the truth of MIA.

She frowned in silence as if there was something she knew that I didn't. I hated all the silence. I wanted her to be honest with me. "I looked into MIA for you like you asked," Grandma finally said.

I nodded at her. "Go on." I took a seat and looked at her, waiting tell me I was right all along.

"Annalise. MIA still is shut down and Toby's still working for the CIA. He's just working out of New York City now, under General Smith's command."

I felt my stomach drop. How was MIA pulling this off? How was it that I out of every one knew that was real MIA? I felt light headed. Not even my grandmother believed me. But I wouldn't make this up, I had bruises on my chest to show that MIA was real and they were after me. I was going to be sick. No one believed me, not even my own grandmother, unless she was MIA too. I felt my body stiffen.

I really couldn't trust anyone.

This made me look like a fool. I had no solid proof about MIA. How could I bring them down if no one believed me? I was disappointed, but I didn't speak up. It wouldn't fix anything. I frowned at her. "If that's all, I have to get back to work," I said with my head down looking at my black ballet flats.

Gram sighed, she was disappointed in me. "Annalise, you just can't point fingers at people. That can ruin their careers."

I knew that and she should have known that I would only speak out unless I was sure. This showed me even more that she didn't know me. I looked at her then gave a sharp nod. I stood up and walked out the door, as my heart broke. I walked to my desk with a frown and as I sat down at my desk I slammed my head onto my desk. I was all alone and I was starting to believe that gram wasn't to be trusted.

I sighed and stood up a little straighter. I reached under my desk and pulled out the file that B26 left me. My eyes skimmed over the details about the old location of the MIA building. It was about 20 minutes away from here. The bank that took over the location was called, "novus suscipio".

Wonderment filled me as I didn't understand why they would name bank something so hard to remember. In the file was blue prints of the building and details about the cameras.

I frowned, not sure what B26 wanted me to do. This looked like ideas to break into the bank and rob it. But I couldn't do that, could I? Maybe it would be smart to just look into it before I did anything rash.

Breaking me out of my thoughts was Mara. "Annalise?"

I shook my head then looked up at her, "What?"

Mara frowned. "I have been talking to you for the past five minutes. It's time to end for the day, and I need to have the conversation we never finished. I know the perfect restaurant. My treat."

I nodded, knowing we would go to her family's restaurant. I logged off from my computer and stuffed the files back into my purse. This is when I needed to decide if I could trust her.