"Don't trust anyone, 

even salt looks like sugar."

C H A P T E R 1 0

L U C I A N A

I don't know what I expected to find.

Maybe a big board right in the center of the room saying 'I AM A TRAITOR'?

Well, if I did expect that, I didn't get it.

The room was like any other, bed in the center, working table in the side and bathroom in the corner. The only distinguishing feature between this room and other rooms is that this room is, in fact, a lot cleaner than the others.

I looked down at my watch, it had been only a couple of minutes since I had left the training room which meant Miranda was still heading for the main office with the newbies to collect their things, and after that she would have to drop them off at their rooms. So, if I wanted to leave here without a trace but with some useful information then I had about 10 minutes to search the room and another 5 minutes to make sure everything was in the right place.

I put on a timer for 10 minutes in my watch and started looking. First I went to the bed. I looked under the pillows, checked under the mattress and also looked through the drawers in the bed frame.

I sighed, nothing.

Maybe I shouldn't have thought it would be easy.

I looked through everything from the desks on the working tables to the cupboards in the bathroom.

Still nothing.

I looked at the watch, 9 minutes were up. I think I should start putting everything back in it's place.

Since I was in the bathroom, I started keeping all the bottles of shampoo back in their places. After I was done with that I took a step back, examining my work. Nodding to myself, assured everything was in the right place. I walked backwards, slipped and fell flat on my butt.

Ow, that hurt.

I stood back up, limping a little, and looked down on the tiles, trying to find what caused my fall.

All the tiles were placed at the same distance except for those in front of me, they were a little wider apart.

I looked around for something that would fit in the small groove and found a nail cutter sitting at the edge of the sink. That could work, I guess.

I picked it up and shoved a part of it in the groove. I pushed it into the hole, widening it further. It took a little effort, but I freed one tile, I sat on the floor and looked to see what was beneath the tile.

It was a small black bag, just like the one I kept in my old house.

Unlike my bag, this one had a zipper on it. I quickly unzipped it and dumped whatever was in it on the floor.

Okay, maybe I should be a little gentler considering it could also contain explosives.

I carefully picked up the small black object and examined it. After looking at it for about 30 seconds, I realized it's a pager.

It was actually a good idea to use a pager. Miranda would have been caught if she were communicating to her people through her phone, because that would be expected.

Although pagers can be hacked easily, someone from the outside had to know that she was using a pager.

Suddenly my watch beeped, making me realize that I should start to clean up. I put the pager back in the bag, place it in the small hole and replace the tile but it was really loose. If Miranda were to come in then she would easily know someone had been here.

Wait, if Miranda gets messages from the pager then she will have to take it out many times and if she has to take it out then why was it so hard for me to displace it?

I walked to the shampoo stand and pull out each bottle, squeeze a little of its contents on my hand and felt its texture. The contents of the 5th bottle had a little sticky feel to it.

I was right.

The 5th bottle had glue.

I picked up the tile, put some glue on it and placed it back. I pick up the nail cutter from the floor, placed it back on the sink and examined the floor. Good, everything looked normal.

I walked out of the bathroom and tidied up the room to the state it was in before.

I must have gotten a little carried away with arranging everything properly because when I was almost at the door, I heard footsteps from outside.

Running to the bathroom, I went in but I don't close the door. I grabbed a bottle of shampoo in case I needed to attack and got behind the door and looked at the twisting door knob.

A person I'm positive I had never seen before entered with a basket of clothes, placed it on the side of the bed and left, closing the door behind her.

So this was why the door was unlocked, I had gotten lucky.

I walked over to the door and stood with my ear pressed to it, trying to make out if anyone was outside.

Not hearing anything, I opened the door, sure enough there was no one outside.

Instead of going to my room, I started on the route to David's office.

As I reached front of the door that opened into David's office, I heard his voice. He sounded serious. I decided to eavesdrop because that is the most ladylike thing to do.

Yeah, right.

Okay, fine, but who said I was a lady?

I pressed my ear against the door for a second time today.

I'm going to have to clean it out later.

"Yes, but she is not like anyone else. You know that as well as I do."

A pause. The person on the phone must be talking.

"Thank you, yes I will tell her myself."

I assumed he ended the call and headed inside. He didn't even look a little surprised.

"You knew I was out, didn't you?"

He nodded, looking a little smug.

I shook my head, not even wanting to know how he knew that.

Instead I approached a different topic. "Surprised I didn't kill any of the recruits?"

"You see Luciana, I have a lot more faith in you than you do yourself. I knew you would make an amazing trainer."

Not wanting to accept the compliment, I went straight to the point. "I went through Miranda's room."

Even this didn't surprise him. "Yes, I saw you."

He pointed to the screen in front of him on seeing my confused expression. Right, he looked through the surveillance cameras.

"So, who were you talking to?" I asked him, curiosity getting the best of me. I would tell him about the pager later.

"That is not important, but I do have some good news for you."

"What is it?" I asked, a frown forming on my face.

"You can start on missions again-" he began, with a serious look on his face.

My expression was of absolute joy and I was about to interrupt him with a million questions, but I thought the better of it.

"BUT, you will not go on anything too risky, you will start from small assassinations."

"Thank you so much David, I absolutely love you!" I walk over to him and gave him a tight hug.

He knew I didn't simply hug anyone and put his arms around me. He said, "You deserve to be happy Luciana, and if going on missions makes you happy then so be it."

I released him after a few minutes and I was smiling ear to ear when I pulled back.

"I will ask someone to bring the files to you, meanwhile you can go and plan your next sessions with the recruits."

I nodded, not saying anything.

With one last look at him, I walk out of the office, feeling happy for the first time in years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys!!

How do you think her mission will go?

Who do you think Miranda was in contact with?

Sadly I won't be able to make quick updates anymore since my vacation ended today, but I will try to give you guys at least 1 update per week :(

Vote and Comment!!

Bye!!