Page 2 of Protect Thy Enemy

My hand twitches, tension coiling through me like a live wire. I force it into a fist.

“Is this some kind of joke?” I deadpan.

Harris smirks, and it takes a considerable amount of effort to remember my chain of command and the oath I took. “I figured you’d catch that. Yes, she’s Leo’s daughter.”

Hearing his name spoken aloud hits harder than I expect, especially now, after hours of watching him run back into that building.

“And you want me to train her,” I say flatly.

“She’s not her father,” Harris replies, his voice low but firm, like he’s offering a solution to an argument I haven’t started yet. “But she’s got his fire. You’ll see.”

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.

The last thing I need is a ghost of the past, especially when half this agency still whispers my name alongside Leo’s death.

Training her isn’t just a task. It’s a loaded gun pointed squarely at me.

I shut the file, but her image burns in my mind.

With reluctance, I pick up the second file.Theodore Park. His profile reads quieter but no less troublesome. Brilliant in tech and analytics, quick under pressure, but with a rap sheet of behavioral issues. Contradictions everywhere. A wild card.

“And him?” I ask, my voice edged with steel.

“Rough around the edges,” Harris admits with a shrug. “But with the right guidance, he could be exceptional. He needs structure, someone to pull the best out of him.”

I snap the file shut, my jaw tightening. “Let me get this straight. You’re asking me to take two rookies—one with a family legacy hanging over her head, the other a walking liability—and turn them into agents who won’t get themselves or the president killed.”

“That’s exactly what I’m asking,” Harris says, maddeningly calm. “It’s nothing you haven’t done before.”

He’s right, but I’ve known him long enough to know when he’s not being entirely forthcoming. I just stare at him for a long moment, searching his face. I’m not surprised when I find nothing. They don’t call this mana stone wall in a suitfor nothing.

The only time you can get a read on him is if he lets you. Not a second before.

“Why these two?” I lean forward, my voice dropping to a low rumble. “What aren’t you telling me?”

The timing isn’t lost on me. Just as I’m digging up Leo’s name again, he walks in and practically drops his daughter at my feet. Coincidence? I don’t fucking think so. Especially when I don’t believe in them.

He hesitates for a fraction of a second, but it confirms my suspicion.

“Williams? Let’s just say I made her father a promise before he died. And Park...” Harris’s gaze sharpens. “His past makes him... complicated. But that’s why I need you. To keep them focused. To get them ready for a new task force I’m building.”

Leo and his damn promises. I can faintly recall the one I made to him myself.

But my mind focuses on the more important adjective.Complicated. That word alone makes me want to shove these files right back in his face. I don’t need complicated.

It doesn’t matter what I need. It never does. The call is coming from upstairs, and leadership is getting more creative with ways to fuck with my head.

I scoop the files off the desk, stacking them together as I stand. “If they screw up, this isn’t on me.”

“Yes, it will be,” Harris replies smoothly, already turning back to the paperwork in his hands. “Debrief is at 1300. Don’t be late.”

I leave the surveillance room without another word, the files tucked under my arm like dead weight.

I set them down as soon as I’m back in my office. Williams’s file ends up on top, her photo staring back at me.

Next to it, I deliberately place theCONFIDENTIALfolder I’d been working on earlier, flipping it closed before the contentsspill out. Side by side, they feel like two parts of a problem I cannot afford to ignore.

I drag a hand over my jaw and lean back, staring at my past and what I hope not to be my future.

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