-myfamilypies- Emma Hix - Secret Agent Step Dad... ★ Editor's Choice

The rain over Vienna was a persistent, gray whisper against the window of Apartment 4B. Emma Hix adjusted the earpiece, a tiny, flesh-colored device that pulsed with a single, low beep.

“This one has the real schematics,” he said. “The one in your boot is a decoy laced with a location tracker. Give Control the fake. Let him run. Take this one to the man who sells falafel at the corner of Dizengoff and Ben Yehuda in Tel Aviv. Tell him ‘the accountant sends his regards.’ He’ll get it to the right people. The people who won’t sell it to a dozen different armies.”

He took another step. Now he was close enough that she could smell his cologne—the same one he wore to her college graduation. -MyFamilyPies- Emma Hix - Secret Agent Step Dad...

Behind her, she heard the soft thump of the stairwell door opening, and her stepfather’s voice, calm and steady:

But the lobby doors downstairs clattered open. The rain over Vienna was a persistent, gray

“I can’t do that,” she said quietly.

Through the rain-streaked window, she saw him. Tall, still in the charcoal suit he’d worn to the “family dinner” three nights ago, his dark hair peppered with silver. Mark Hix. Her stepfather of six years. And, according to the file Control had flashed on her screen six months ago, a deep-cover asset for a rogue intelligence collective known as The Syndicate. “The one in your boot is a decoy

Emma stared at the drive in his palm. It could be a trap. It could be the truth. In her world, they were often the same thing.

“Then I have a counter-offer.” His eyes flicked to the stairwell behind her, then back. “The Syndicate is going to kill Control tonight. They already flipped his assistant. The ‘abort’ order wasn’t to save you. It was to strand you here. With me.”

“Target is in the lobby,” a clipped voice said. It was her handler, a man she’d only ever known as “Control.” “He’s early. Abort.”

A heavy boot sounded on the stairs below. Two floors down. Syndicate cleaners.