Read Crossing the Line for Free Online

a fist when I said his name, and I smiled.
    â€œLet’s review how things are going to work here,” Scorpion said. He launched into the same set of rules he’d gone over on the way down, but ended his lecture with orders he seemed to think I should follow. “If I tell you to do something, you do it. No questions. If I tell you to stand in the hall, you stand in the hall. If I tell you to jump off a roof, you jump off the goddamn roof. Got it?”
    I arched my eyebrow. “This sounds a little more like a guard than a guide,” I said. “And I didn’t make it this far just to jump off a roof because you told me to.”
    Cody rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure you’ve been through a lot. It must have been so hard when KATO dropped you in the U.S. and sent you to infiltrate our base.”
    I gripped my fork tightly, but barely felt the metal edge digging deeply into my skin. My lips thinned and I turned away from Cody, giving Scorpion my full attention. “There are two things you’re going to have to accept.” His eyes tightened and he opened his mouth, ready to snap at me, but I plowed on before he could. “First, as we’ve been over, you don’t know as much as you think you do. Your job is to do what Simmonds asks you without putting your own spin on it. Stop giving me empty orders and do your job.”
    Based on the death glare I was getting, I had no doubt Scorpion was picturing himself jumping across the table and strangling me.
    â€œYou motherf—” Cody started to stand, but Scorpion grabbed his arm and pulled him back into his seat.
    Scorpion gritted his teeth. “What’s the second thing?”
    I bit back a smile. “The second thing is that I can drop you so fast you won’t know what happened. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again if I have to. You have less power over me than you think, so you might as well keep the threats to yourself.”
    His nostrils flared. “You can’t take me. Not like you think you can.”
    I stared him down. “That bullet scar on your shoulder tells a different story.”
    Cody’s temper boiled and his voice turned to an angry growl. “You really want to stop talking
now
.”
    I didn’t like using the shooting against him, but I leaned back and enjoyed their reactions anyway. I was pushing, and it was getting to both of them. Scorpion was a good enough agent to hide it from most people, but I could pick up on the small things. The way his pupils dilated just a fraction. And the way his breathing hitched before forcibly leveling out. He was working hard to keep himself in check. “I guess you’re forgetting about the stomach gash I gave you in Thailand,” he said. “You really so sure you can take me as easily as you think?”
    I shrugged and slid back in my seat. “You may have drawn blood, but you didn’t win. I got out of there with exactly what I came for.”
    â€œAnd what was that?” He leaned closer, squinting like he was trying to crack an encrypted code. “Plutonium for a North Korean nuclear weapon? A tool to help KATO kill millions of people they don’t agree with?” My insides shuddered, but I didn’t let him see that he’d hit a nerve. “I may be ordered not to hurt you—for now—but you better believe that’ll change if you do
anything
to threaten this agency.”
    I didn’t blink or say a word. I didn’t give him any hint that he had fazed me. “You have no idea how motivated I can be in life-or-death situations.”
    Cody leaned forward slightly, pointedly twirling a sharp knife in his hand. “Want to give us a demonstration?”
    My jaw locked at the threat and I shoved the table to their chests. Cody took the brunt of it and dropped the knife in surprise. It was in my hand in under second. I flung it across the table hitting my targetas the tip