Winter’s footsteps rebounded off the bright steel hall, echoing down to another, heavier door. She pressed her finger to it, dialed in a thirteen-digit code, and walked purposefully through.

A huge atrium greeted her, full of bustling activity, iron and steel, computers, papers, files, and one figure in the midst of it all, barking out orders. Winter gave a fake smile as she drew up to her mother, a sharp yet dangerously gorgeous figure framed in a scarlet suit. Her mother didn’t return it.

“Where have you been?” she snapped, eyes still focused on the files she was handed.

“With Haley,” she answered nonchalantly.

Her mother only growled disapprovingly, then suddenly looked up from her work. “Winter,” she muttered, an undertone to the activity all around them, “it seems that you are developing more of an attraction than you should have for this boy. The mission’s details were outlined clear and succint.”

“But mother, don’t I want to be convincing?” Winter pouted, batting her eyelashes.