Inconspicuous was the name of the game for Gail as she seamlessly slipped into the belly of the crowded market square. She felt the eyes of Hayden and Cade boring into her as she began her fake perusal down the line of temporary sales stalls along the left and right sidewalks, keeping the emerald green jacketed man in her peripheral vision. She was at her wits end having to work with Hayden and she prayed this was the last mission doing so, his _I know better than you_ mentality was getting old and was never constructive critism. Genuine curiosity flitted through her mind if the head of their guild would look away from her assassinating Hayden and the target today. Gail knows she would be doing them all a favor but she knew she was still too new, and it was actually annoying how valuable they were to the boss.

“Hurry it up will ya,” Hayden seethed into her earpiece, “some of us have people waiting for them at home to get to.”

“I don’t want to stick out like a weed in a field of wildflowers,” Gail snapped back under her breath, smiling at the woman running the apple pie stand in front of her, “If I move too quickly I’ll probably tip him off.”

“First, why do you have to say weird shit like that, second, you’ll probably die an old, decrepted woman if you keep moving at this pace,” Cades reply cut off whatever snarky comment Hayden was about to make, “all joking aside, if you let the target get too far in this crowd we’ll never know where he makes the drop.”

“For two men who didn’t choose to volunteer to run this opt, you sure have a lot of comments to make regarding my way of doing things,” Gail mumbled to the blown glass purple duck she held up into the light. The man was only three stands away to her left, inspecting a leather satchel.

“It wasn’t ours to take,” Hayden snapped back, a ruffling of papers just barely audible on the line, “and you know it, so just get the intel and we can be on our way,” she briefly glanced behind her to see him fanning himself with the daily newspaper on the adjacent park bench.

“Don’t look at us! And please Hayden, I’d pay to see you go tell the target to get a move on it, maybe that’s the key dealing with these people,” Cades sarcasm bled into the line.

Gail was about to respond when she lost sight of the man in question. Instant panic drained her body of all its warmth as dread chilled her to the bones. Then the tall suit jacket seller walked back behind his stands counter and she made eye contact with the target in question. His large, golden eyes held her blue ones as her mind worked to remember what she was suppose to do in this instance, she just needed a second to think. Of course, it wouldn’t happen, and even if it did it wouldn’t be that easy; there was a reason he’s the best.

“Dammit I’ve been made,” Gail barked down the line when the target slipped into the crowded center of the street. She didn’t know how to feel about the answering silence from the boys. She kept looking for the golden eyes she knew so well, only to meet Cade’s panicked ones.

Before she could question the cause of Cade’s fear, she felt two large hands on her shoulders, fingers gripping into the muscles hard enough to make her body flinch in response; his stealth will always impress her. He’ll never let her live down showing pain so easily though, and her admoration distinguished quickly. She interally groaned at all the potential training excerises he’s going to make her do just to have an excuse to torture her. Hands gently pushed her to start walking toward the boys waiting at the park bench Hayden was lounging on.

“You all apparently love wasting my time,” a hushed, monotoned voice snapped when the four were close enough to whisper, his grip so tight Gail swore he was trying tattoo his fingerprints onto her skin.

He continued, “Gail would’ve made it to the drop site in another five minutes if you,” his right hand finally let go to point a finger at Hayden, “stopped worrying about getting your dick wet long enough for her to finsh her assignment. And you,” that finger swung toward Cade, “shouldn’t have encouraged his distractions. Now unless I lie and risk my reputation giving the boss the okay on Gail’s abilities, don’t get excited you knew it wasn’t going to happen. Which means that we’re all stuck together until the boss decides to give us a new final exercise for Gail.”

“Jace if you just don’t want to get rid of me, you could just say so, but I’ll only stay if I get to stab Hayden at least once, in a non-lethal spot, of course,” Gail spun around to lose his death grip on her shoulder, batting her lashed at the man now in front of her.

Jace snorted, shaking his head as he lead the team back to the van a few blocks away from the market, “You couldn’t even say that convincingly. We all know you would stab him more than once in a lethal spot, and he’s useful alive, so it’s going to have to be when you’re on your next team.”

“I don’t like that answer, it’s not exactly promising my safety,” Hayden huffed behind her, Gail spun around to stick her tongue out at him in jest.

As much as this group of mismatched spies irritated her, Gail couldn’t help but smile at the thought of a few more weeks with them. When she turned to ask Jace about what was planned for the rest of the day she caught him already looking at her, her mouth specifically. Her body ramped up to an uncomfortably hot degree as she faced forward, squeezing into the back of the van as far from the drivers seat as she could get without looking awkward. She can’t have a crush on her boss right now, no matter how hot he was, or how much he wanted her too. Last night together was suppose to satisfy these feelings of lust between them, and it seems like all it did was make everything more intensified. Next time, she’s not counting her eggs before they hatch, she was suppose to pass this test and move on from him today, and now they have weeks left to spend together knowing how well they moved together above and below the sheets. She really was going to kill Hayden when this was finished.