The Sway Read Online Free PDF Page B

when he held his hand out to me. I took it and tried to ignore the adrenaline that pumped through my system.
    Cole guided us out to the balcony that overlooked Central Park. Blending in with the building was a discreet set of stairs camouflaged seamlessly into the architecture to anyone looking directly at them. He kept his fingers linked with mine as he pulled me up the stairs. We should’ve been going down. My steps were hesitant, but his warm smile kept me going up to what was a waiting helicopter.
    Why would we need a helicopter? I squeezed his hands, betraying my reaction to the surprise.
    â€œMy garage is in upstate New York. Care if we ditch school tomorrow?” Cole asked.
    I shook my head and plastered a grin on my face. Of course, he wouldn’t ride a bike like that in city streets. God, the wealth of these kids and the toys they had. I didn’t know if I would ever expect it. A grin spread across my lips, but fear still shot through me, not helped by the rush of adrenaline.
    I reached for my earring to switch my comms on. The agency didn’t know that I was leaving Manhattan.
    â€œWhere upstate is your house?”
    The whirling of the chopper blades echoed in my earpiece as the agent on the other side asked me to repeat. I didn't trust it enough to know my cover wouldn't be blown. I had never really done anything reckless. I was prepared for field work, but nothing prepared you for a one-on-one with a boy, a cute boy. Growing up in Utah hadn't allowed me to have a lot of wild abandon. Besides, I had been in the government's care since I was a kid. Who knew I had a thing for bad boys?
    Every single move I’d made since Eisenhower had been made with purpose, calculated to get a direct result for the government. I wasn't just an agent; I was a trained assassin. The injections I’d been given from the moment I arrived at the academy chemically enhanced my physical abilities. I ran faster, had trained harder. Hell, I might even have better vision. I could for sure bench press more than the average guy my age.
    How did I land in all this? My dad was retired Air Force and would do anything for the United States. That sense of patriotism was ingrained in me, so my parents had had no doubts when they’d sent me to Eisenhower. I could've easily handled Mr. Thomas earlier, but that wasn't the hand we were currently playing.
    My ability to read, analyze, and react to situations before most people could blink was the ace up my sleeve. The agency I worked for didn't even know the extent of my ability. The program I was trained under was classified well beyond the clearance that regular CIA agents had. Eisenhower reported to the Director of the CIA, and most candidates were hand-picked by the president of the United States.
    If I were to be activated under the Eisenhower protocol, my decisions would supersede any orders given to me by my current superiors. It remained typically pretty hard for most men in the government to take orders from a girl, especially a nineteen-year-old. Eisenhower chose to push me through the Central Intelligence Agency. I was placed there for their benefit.
    But even now, I wasn’t sure of their ultimate goal. I did know that, if activated, the chemical reaction my body would create would be lethal to my target. I gave my body and soul away to the government, for the safety of the country I love. Apparently, the agency and the protocol had the same agenda for the time being, or else I would have been pulled off of Cole a while ago. Still, sometimes, the lack of control in my actual life scared the crap out of me. I didn’t do a single thing without clearing it with the government—a form of prison if I’d ever heard it. I wasn’t behind bars, but I was theirs. What would happen when they were finished with me?
    Cole leaned over to help me with the straps on my seat belt. I let him, even though I was more than capable of attaching the harness. My thought