Page 64 of Secrets Beneath the Waves
Did she actually approach him first? Now, she wasn’t so sure. She was trained to make meetings look innocent enough. What if he was as well? He was good looking and charming. He could’ve easily made sure she noticed him.
Her dad was right. How much did she know about him?
She hadn’t verified his work or anything about his past. She hadn’t looked at his social media accounts. Although, if he looked at hers, he’d see nothing more than a big ruse. Her entire persona had been fabricated. From pictures of her fake dog, to hikes on the Appalachian Trail. All meant to add credibility to her cover story and fool anyone interested enough to look at it.
Ellie replayed her last date with Mark, dissecting every detail like a code waiting to be cracked. His laughter had been easy, his smile persuasive, but there had been a moment—just a flicker—that now refused to settle in her mind.
They’d been talking about travel. She casually mentioned her fabricated Appalachian Trail trip, testing the waters to see if he’d press for details. Instead, his response had been swift and confident. Too confident.
“Ah, the stretch near Clingmans Dome is brutal,” he said. “But the views make it worth it.”
At the time, she nodded along, relieved he didn’t ask questions about her supposed hiking experience. But now, in the quiet of her apartment, her stomach was in knots.
How did he know that detail?
Ellie had chosen the Appalachian Trail for her cover because it was popular but vast. She’d deliberately avoided mentioning specific landmarks in case someone tried to poke holes in herstory. The photo she’d posted online, a stock image of a generic wooded path, had no landmarks visible.
Mark shouldn’t have known about specific parts of the trail unless he’d studied her fake profile carefully enough to fill in the gaps.
Her pulse quickened at the memory. She’d laughed it off then, but now the comment felt like a puzzle piece snapping into place. Could he have been testing her? Seeing if she’d make a mistake?
Her colleague with the CIA posed different problems. Luke’s confidence bordered on arrogance, making her wonder if he was hiding something. His background was easy enough to verify since he worked for the CIA. That meant he had passed lie detector tests, drug tests, and background checks.
But what did that really mean? Her parents taught her how to pass any lie detector test in the world.
While Luke’s loyalty to the Agency seemed unquestionable, how did she really know?
Even on their date, he had seemed a little standoffish. In his defense, she had as well. She backed off when he started to get too close. When he kissed her, she sensed he wanted even more, and she made an excuse to leave.
She thought the next day at work might be awkward, but they managed to work through the discomfort and even agreed to go out again. Her only interest in him was getting close enough to rule him in or out as a suspect, which was why she agreed to a second date.
It seemed like a good plan at the time. In retrospect, he agreed to a second date too eagerly.
One statement he made on their date now seemed out of place.
Luke had leaned back in his chair at the restaurant, his sharp eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “What made you go intologistics?” he asked. “You seem like you’d be great at finding the weak links in a chain.”
It sounded like a compliment. At the time, she had even blushed, unsure how to respond. But now, the phrasing gnawed at her. Logistics was only her cover, a carefully constructed identity meant to explain her presence in the Cayman Islands.
Had Luke been testing her, fishing for a reaction? Or had it been an innocent remark, one she was now overanalyzing in the wake of her parents’ warnings? The thought unsettled her, making her question just how much he knew.
Finding the weak links.It wasn’t just what he said, but how he said it. Like he already knew. Logistics had nothing to do with weak links. It’s like he was speaking to her real role, not the one she was pretending to play.
Matthew was the wildcard. Surely, she could trust him. Her mom had arranged for him to serve as backup for her mission. Someone outside the Agency she could rely on if she ran into trouble.
And yet her dad gave him anything but a ringing endorsement. Was it because he wasn’t good enough to date his daughter, or did he have deeper concerns?
She remembered something small, almost imperceptible. When she went back to Matthew’s apartment, she saw a simple gray hoodie draped over a chair. Nothing unusual, except for the imprint of a flag on the sleeve.
Something Ellie recognized. Blue line on top. Yellow line on the bottom. The Ukrainian flag. A former Soviet state.
At the time, she chalked it up to coincidence. Lots of operatives bought secondhand clothes or wore apparel from countries where they worked. But they’d never wear them in public or around other operatives.
Did Matthew make a mistake? Was she not supposed to see it?
She sat on the edge of her bed, trying to figure it all out.
Her mother always told her that the best weapon a spy could have is instinct.Trust your gut, Ellie. It’ll save your life.
