C4: A YA Spy Thriller Mystery (Courting Disaster Book 4)

Enough is Enough.

When Courtney and Kat discover the conspiracy within the A.G.E.N.C.Y. runs deeper than they imagined, they decide to take drastic measures. But Courtney must use all her brainpower to devise the perfect plan to rid the A.G.E.N.C.Y. of all the bad players once and for all.

Who can Kat and Courtney turn to for help? Trusting the wrong person means jail, or worse. One wrong step means life and death for their family, friends, and all the kids they've worked so hard to protect inside the A.G.E.N.C.Y.

If you like Alex Rider, Gallagher Girls, or Nancy Drew, you'll love this high-action mystery thriller filled with twists, turns, and nail-biting fight scenes.

C4: Chapter 1

#Courtney

March 1

I walk into the A.G.E.N.C.Y. Monday morning wearing my Breakfast at Tiffani’s sunglasses, a baseball cap, and a bottle of Dr. Pepper in each hand. Only because Mom won’t let me buy coffee.

Why can’t a twelve-year-old drink coffee? Any twelve-year-old forced to run a stupid black-ops spy organization because the stupid government is blackmailing her family and forcing her to watch everyone around her be picked off by Simon and all his stupid goons should be allowed to drink coffee. I don’t get the luxury of going to elementary school and playing on jungle gyms, or going to ballet recitals.

I have to stare at pistols pointed at my face, go to my dad’s funeral, and wish I could wake from this stupid nightmare. But I can’t. I won’t. This is my stupid life. And it’s stupid. I hate it.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Behind me, Henry, my bodyguard, and Kat, my Assistant Director, are part of my entourage. Mom and Jacob are somewhere back there too, but I can't hear them.

Henry and Kat are whispering.

"What's wrong with her? She looks like death?" Kat says.

"I dunno. I showed up this morning, and this is what she was wearing," Henry mumbles.

"Is she sick?"

"I don't think so," Henry says. "Audrey didn't mention anything over breakfast."

"She used to practically bounce off the walls in the mornings," Kat said. "Now she looks like a zombie."

"Cut her some slack," Mom murmurs to them. "It's only been a couple weeks since her dad died. Frankly, I'm not sure how she's functioning at all. She needs a break. A long one."

"We all do," Jacob says.

There's a long silence behind me. I'm sure they're gesturing or making concerned faces, or something.

I don't care. Not anymore.

I'm so done with this place.

I barely register the concern on the faces of other kids as I pass them at their desks. My eyes focus on the War Room. It's the big, glass conference room I've been using as my office. It used to be Director Summers's—Keith's—favorite place to work when he was alive. I naturally took it over when he died. Then I was promoted to Director of the A.G.E.N.C.Y..

I stop just outside the War Room's doors. Somewhere along the line, my assistant, Mollie, moved her desk from where she'd been stationed near my original office to next to the War Room Doors.

Blinking, I stare at the back of Mollie's spiky pixie hair. It ombres from blood red to neon pink at the tips. Her black talon-shaped nails click and fly over her keyboard, sounding like popcorn kernels hitting a metal roof.

Exhaustion hits me in waves until I can barely stand. I feel like I've aged a century since Director Summers died. And another couple of decades since Dad died.

I'm a one-hundred-and-forty-year-old woman in a twelve-year-old's body.

Pressing my eyes closed, I take in a deep breath. Go inside. You can do it. Just get through this day.

My feet don't move.

I open my eyes and stare at the glass wall. Dread fills me like a noxious gas, waiting to choke me out if I take even a single step inside that glass room.

Jacob clears his throat behind me. "Are we standing out here all day?"

I turn to stare at him. I should feel something. Irritation? Anger? Mirth? I feel nothing for his snarky comment.

All of them. Mom. Jacob. Henry. Kat. They all look like they've aged.

Mom's dark brown hair has gray in it. She has bags under her eyes, and she's not wearing makeup today. It makes her look sickly and washed out. Sometimes I forget that she's lost her husband too. I'm not the only person hurting right now. She's keeping it together for me and Jacob just as much as I'm keeping it together for everyone here at the A.G.E.N.C.Y..

Jacob has his signature baseball cap on. He's looking pretty Downsy today. Which, is normal, I guess, when you've got Down syndrome. He's wearing a Spiderman T-shirt, jeans, and his favorite cowboy boots. He's the only one of us looking normal.

Now that he's no longer a spy, he gets to hang out and do all the fun stuff, while the rest of us dodge bullets. The lucky bugger. It's worth it to know he's safe. After that botched mission in December, I think I cried myself to sleep every night for a week. I'm never making that mistake again. I'm not losing Jacob and Dad.

Mollie pulls out wireless earbuds I hadn't noticed her wearing. She turns and looks up at us, smiling. "Oh hey! I didn't know you were there." Her face falls and her brows drop. "Is the War Room door locked?"

I shake my head. "We're going to have a meeting in here for about thirty minutes. I believe I have an appointment with the President sometime today?"

"It's in an hour. I'll give you the standard five-minute warning if your meeting goes long."

Forcing a smile, I press my hand against the glass door. "That would be awesome."

When I try to shove the door open, I can't. Something inside me refuses to go inside. Tears well up in my eyes, and I grit my teeth, pulling in a steadying breath.

"Is everything okay?" Mom says, resting a hand on my shoulder.

I swallow down the tears and straighten my shoulders, then turn to face everyone, thankful I still have my sunglasses on so no one can see my tears. I force another smile. "I've changed my mind. Let's meet in my office today."

Ignoring everyone's shocked faces, I turn to Mollie. "Call custodial and have them bring some extra chairs to my office, and talk to Giselle about patching all video conferencing there from here on out."

Mollie snaps her gaping mouth shut and stands. "Okay. Sure. Anything else?"

I make a beeline for my office. Dad's old office. I moved there after he died. Couldn't stand the thought of someone else being there. Plus, it had more security.

I call over my shoulder, "If there are any more files for me to read or anything else I need, send it on over. I'll be having my meetings in my office from now on. Let everyone know."

"I'll take care of everything." Mollie grabs her phone, lifting it as if to show she's already on task.

I lift one of my Dr. Peppers in the air as a thank you, then chug the other one while I walk, nearly veering into someone's desk in the process.

Henry reaches out and presses a hand against my shoulder, guiding me out of harm's way.

"Woah there, Tex. You shouldn't drink and drive."

I grunt and toss the empty soda bottle into a nearby trash can. "Good thing I can't drink alcohol. I'd be so drunk right now," I mumble over my shoulder.

"That's what worries me," Mom says.