Chapter 2

“I feel like you’d be able to pull this through easily. You remember that Ortega job. I was scared shitless and guess who pulled through? My favourite agent did.” Christie said in excitement and Chloe rolled her eyes. Practically everyone did because the Ortega job was the easiest undercover job of her entire career and it was Christine’s first job as an agent. Maybe that’s why she’s so obsessed with it. 

“The Ortega job was definitely Chloe’s easiest. Even I could pull that through successfully.” Simeon snickered and Chloe made a countdown in her head, it wouldn’t take long before they attacked each other again. They like each other but they won’t admit it and they enjoy attacking each other. Medea and Chloe once agreed that it was a form of sowing emotions. 

“Everything’s always easy for you that’s why the only thing you’re good at is sitting behind your desk all day and of course, stress-wasting like you actually do anything stressful.” Christine hissed and Simeon turned to look at her like he just heard the most insulting thing in his life. It’s not every day that ethical hacker gets undermined. 

“If only you passed your first coding test, then you’d know that coding is actually stressful and you need lots of brains and apparently you don’t have that. Fuck off.” Simeon replied and whatever comeback Christine had died in her throat after Medea cleared her throat. She wasn’t in the mood for their bickering today. 

“Chloe, you can’t reach out to the bureau unless your cover has been blown and you need us to get you to safety. Don’t forget the Norse code and never communicate with the same method twice. We won’t reply the second time. You’ve never worked with the FBI, you’re not Chloe Bells and you’re not an undercover agent.” Medea said lowly before pulling Chloe into a bone-crushing hug. The hug conveyed a lot of emotions and things she wanted to say but she doubted if Chloe would need to hear that right now. 

“This isn’t my first undercover job and you manage to say the same thing each time I’m leaving. You don’t even miss up the lines, how do you do it?” Chloe asked in an attempt to lighten the situation and she hugged Medea right back. She had no idea what to tell the other woman but she wanted to be here forever. Locked in this embrace and pretending her whole life wasn’t going haywire. 

“Agent Chris knows one of Alessandro Russo’s top men and she would help you get a job as one of his hit men. He would help you out in a good word and the rest is left up to you. Remember you topped your classes in Quantico and you defiantly need those skills now to win over an entire army of Italian drug lords. You can do it.” Medea filled her in and she nodded. She only hopes this was a good kind of distraction and not the kind that would cost her more things. She didn’t have enough energy to lose any more things. 

______ 

Chloe sat in the back of the car and her whole body tensed. Not because she was meeting Romero after her makeover and her whole life was about to be on pause. Her undercover job would take her whole attention from hot topics like her marriage with mike. 

Their conversations this morning didn’t end well and Chloe’s attempt to make peace before her undercover turned into something she would describe as ugly. She had no idea why she was willing to take back a cheating man. Maybe she didn’t want to face the fact that the only thing she would thought was working in her life had failed and it was all her fault. 

Mike knew her job as an agent would have an effect on their marriage but she never thought he would push it and go for another person. Cheating on her with the woman opposite their apartment was one hell of a nerve and the fact that he wasn’t being remorseful about it made her wonder how many times he had been waiting for her to catch them and make it easier for him to call it off. If anything, this morning's conversation proved it to her. 

He made it clear that it wasn’t any of this business whether she went to an undercover assignment or not. He told her squarely that they have been reduced to mere roommates in the last few weeks and Chloe got her answer on why he no longer made sexual attempts with her. Chloe didn’t enjoy sex that much, her childhood trauma circled around that topic and Mike was a sexually liberated animal. Sex was a form of worship to him and he explored it more times. That was their marriage's first issue, but Chloe thought they would go away soon. Maybe her neighbour was a sexually liberated animal too and the thoughts of how many times they’ve fucked to her mockery made bile rise in her throat. She was a complete idiot for not seeing everything that was going on around her.  

“Are you okay Chloe? You don’t look too well.” Max pointed out drawing her out of her thoughts and she nodded. She didn’t have time for her dirty thoughts right now. What mattered was adding another graceful star to the collection of stars. Mike had called her selfish for putting their marriage first and maybe she truly is selfish. She was going to be unapologetically selfish henceforth. 

“I’m fine, I can’t wait to see the magic Felicia would perform with my hair. I’ve been dying to get a haircut since and now I’m glad I’m getting one that’s not from my paycheck.” She replied and max chuckled. She hoped he bought the act and didn’t press her for anything more. If he pressed forward, she was at the risk of breaking down in tears. Maybe she should have taken Medea’s advice of confiding in someone and crying till everything was out. Right now, she felt like a ticking time bomb. 

______

Chloe walked into the abandoned garage with Max and she whistled. Tonight she would no longer be special agent Chloe from the Bureau, she would be Alissa a girl from a small town in Philadelphia. Her parents are dead and she grew up on the street fending for herself and trying to make a living. Let’s see if Romero buys the act. 

“Who is the noob?” A man asked before puffing smoke and Chloe fought the urge to shove it down his throat and beat him blue-black. She looked around and his men were a lot. She and max won’t make it out of here alive even if she decides to mess up. The best thing to do is to stomach everything and watch like a baby. 

“She’s a brunette God, are you brown down there too?” He asked with a sick smile and Chloe found herself losing it. She definitely wouldn’t take a sicko trying to speak shit about her. She had a lot of unresolved anger and smashing Smokey’s face would definitely help ease that tension. 

“You want to tackle me in a fight? I’m glad your observation has made you realize that this isn’t the place you have such wild fantasies, little girl.” He replied and Chloe walked closer. She was supposed to put on the act that she was tough so she did just that. 

“Use the words ‘little’ and ‘girl’ to describe me again and I won’t guarantee you going to the morgue in one piece.” She said through gritted teeth staring down at the man in what she would call her famous death glare. 

“Enough guys, step away from each other and Maxwell, your girl has quite the temper.”

Someone called out and Chloe walked away from the man who didn’t dare make snide remarks about her again. She still kept on flashing him that glare. She wouldn’t tolerate disrespect and she needed to ake her boundaries clear from the start. 

“Alissa take a fucking walk.” Maxwell barked and she turned around before walking back to the entrance and she stood there waiting for his next orders. She watched them whisper in hushed tones and she realized that the man that told them to step away from each other was the hiring manager himself. He was the one she has to impress so she would be able to get in. 

Maxwell walked towards her and he warned her strictly about how she just put herself on the mad with trying to beat up Smokey. Now Romero is going to want to test her strength. 

“Alissa, I want you and Ash here to have a friendly duel. I wouldn’t want to carry that unresolved anger around in my ship. Let’s know who should respect who, once and for all.” Romero called out and Chloe paused. This was not part of the plan and she definitely wasn’t expecting to be asked to fight. Maybe her anger had its consequences. She glanced at Maxwell who shrugged because that was literally what he said not long. She didn’t even realize Smokey had a name. 

“How about I show you why you shouldn’t call me a little girl anymore?” Chloe asked with a dark smile and Smokey scoffed. She stepped away from Romero and she walked into an open space before she cranked her knuckles expecting Smokey to come after her. 

Chloe had definitely overestimated Ash because she beat him blue black, every weak attempt of him to throw her a punch always ended distastefully and she scoffed at his weak attempt. She delivered a lasting blow to his face and she heard his nose break. He couldn’t stand properly and a sharp command from Romero made them step away from each other. 

She beat the bell out of the man and she ended up killing him after he tried to strangle her. Romero was impressed but he was still wary of her. He wondered how come she never popped up on his radar and how she suddenly needed a permanent job. It was shady but he wouldn’t be the judge pof that. He has seen women like her come and fail woefully at their job. He would let his boss handle her. 

“Alissa, welcome to the team. Meet us here by nine pm, we move by then. Be careful not to bring anything that can let you get traced across the world and don‘t bother about clothes, we would handle that. Thank you, Maxwell, your girl is a solid one.” Romero called out before shaking the hands of Maxwell who patted Chloe’s back in reassurance. She would pull through, he was quite sure of that. 

PS - Chloe would now be referred to as Alissa in the coming chapters, to prevent confusion. Please take note, Chloe and Alissa are the same people.