MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

34

Sophie thought she knew what the definition of "stink" was. After all, she did share a corridor with Keefe, Tam, Dex, and Fitz. But crawling through a moldy, practically ancient underground system of an enemy agent facility was a new level of smell- Sophie figured it was more likely she'd pass out from the sheer stench of it rather than getting caught or lost in the maze of pipes.

Thankfully, the vent was hooked up to a direct line, meaning Keefe had placed her in that particular room for a reason. If Sophie was correct, he would purposely have the piping lead to the outside of the building- hopefully -giving her a chance to escape from the Neverseen and save her friends.

She winced at all the what-ifs and hopefully-s in her plan and continued crawling through the vent, cringing at every noise her movements made.

After what seemed like eternity- though in reality, Sophie realized bitterly, was probably only a couple minutes -the pipe took a steep curve, a metal ladder attached to the side. Sophie gave a mental sigh of relief, climbed the latter, and quickly unscrewed the vent to find herself face to face with...

"Keefe?" Sophie yelped, startled. Not that she should've been surprised- a tunnel leading to the outside was a little too good to be true.

"Glad you got my memo, Foster," Keefe said, giving her a teasing salute as he stood up from his bed.

The bunker-styled room was small- making the space between them even more intense -with a tiny bed in the corner, and a concrete box against the opposite wall. Sophie guessed the box had more to it than it seemed- spy rooms typically did.

"Here's the plan. Biana, Dex, and Fitz are all in rooms on the West Corridor, parallel to the security room. If I distract the guards, you can steal their key, we unlock the three of them, and escape through the East Wing exit, since it's the least busy. After that, we-"

"Hold up," Sophie interrupted, holding out a hand like a stop sign and closing her eyes for a moment. "What?! Why should I even listen to you? You're the one who got us captured here in the first place!"

Keefe seemed to deflate as he tore a hand through his immaculate blonde hair. "Foster... I didn't have a choice. I'm trying to triple agent for the Black Swan! I'm on your side. The Neverseen thinks I'm on their side, but I'm actually working for the Black Swan-"

"Meaning you're safe," Sophie pointed out. "Neither agency is out to get you. You're doing this for yourself, Keefe."

"Foster, I'm doing this for..." He trailed off, stealing a quick glance at her before refocusing his gaze at his feet. "I'm not doing this for myself. I promise. I'm just... trying to do the right thing. You can understand that, right?"

Sophie raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unconvinced. Keefe sighed.

"Okay, how about this. Whether or not you believe me, I'm still going to help you escape. And then... then you can decide what you want to do with me. Alright?"

Keefe's ice blue eyes pleaded with her. As much as Sophie hated it, she had to trust him. It was impossible to get out of there without him- and he did sound genuine...

"Fine," Sophie said, trying to sound as reluctant as possible. Agent Belva's number one rule of deception: desperateness gives the enemy leverage. But was Keefe really the enemy?

Keefe lit up, reminding Sophie of the way a six year old would look up and say, "Really?" when a parent promised them extra ice cream after dinner. "Okay, this is how it works. First, put on this-"

He passed her a thick Neverseen cloak, imprinted with the familiar white eye on the shoulder. Sophie tried not to show her disgust as she awkwardly wrapped it over her outfit.

"We sneak over to the security room. Since I'm an all around awesome guy-" Keefe struck a ridiculous supermodel pose that made Sophie snort against her will "-I'll distract them with some smooth Agent Hunkyhair moves, while you steal the keys. I make my suave exit-" He mimed sliding away with an even more ridiculous smirk "-and we rescue Biana, Dex, Fitz, and get the poop out of there. Got it?"

Sophie couldn't help but laugh- then kicked herself for doing so. "Okay Agent Hunkyhair. Let's get moving."