“Agent Dusome, do you have any notes for us?” Mellin’s voice cut into my reverie.

“No, ma’am. Other than that, the team was impeccable, and I was proud to work with them. Agent Parisien’s acting was superb. We had no idea.”

Kiss-ass, I thought. Mellin swiveled to me. “Francis? Any notes?”

“In the bush, no one has real cigarettes anymore.”

“Pardon?” She looked confused.

“JP…Agent Parisien smoked store-bought cigarettes. In the bush, people only smoke roll-your-owns, if anything.”

The clicking of keys from the note-taker’s laptop reminded me that my suggestions would only help the Recruiters in their work and make their decoys more convincing.

“Anything else?” Mellin asked. I shook my head no, not telling them that the shelter was too perfect, their carelessness almost unbelievable. She wrote a few words in her notebook before continuing. “Good note. We will adjust. Agent Parisien, any closing remarks before we adjourn?”

“Two things of note that I specifically want to commend: Agent Dusome worked hard to maintain the unity of the group and move us to the retrieval site almost completely on his own, even after I gave them an out to divide the group.” He looked up at Mitch and gave him a slight nod. Mitch blushed.

“Agent Francis, on the other hand…” He shifted his gaze to me. “While he remained quiet for this part of the test, he did in fact secure target two by physically holding her so that the retrieval team had no issues with loading her into the vehicle.”

Wait, what? Why were they calling Sunny target two? Why target and not Agent?

“Yes,” Mellin remarked. “We were very pleased that both targets were apprehended. Excellent work to all.”

Her words echoed in my head. Targets. Apprehended. She closed her notebook. The tiny sound was enormous, like a gunshot in the room. Only JP was a plant. The others—Therese and Sunny–were the real targets all along. My vision got narrow again, my heart shrinking back under my ribs.

“All right, then. Everyone go grab some breakfast before we reconvene in the prep room for the mission at…let’s say eleven a.m.” She swooped her notebook under her arm like a purse and left before we could stand. I couldn’t have gotten to my feet just then even if I’d had to. Mitch was already busy chatting Agent Parisien’s ear off. “Do you think a more forceful approach right off the bat would’ve worked better? What’s it like living with them out there?” They walked out together, leaving me alone at the table.

I was a traitor. For a brief moment, I’d just been a guy who’d passed a setup: no harm, no foul. And now I was a traitor again. Only this time, I was being praised for holding a kid still so the Recruiters could grab her up, nice and easy.

I thought about those moments in the bush, heading to the road. I had held her hand. If I hadn’t been holding her hand, would she have run? Would she have been able to duck and cover and get away? She was hidden when we’d gotten to the site; maybe she could have done it again.