371 The Mole

Castle

Parker was in his office with Agent Gus when a knock on the door was heard. He eyed the door for a brief second before he turned back to Gus and told him, "I want a full report in three days. Do whatever you need to do and keep in touch. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Gus gave him a salute before he left Parker's office. When he opened the door, he came face to face with Chris but they only looked at each other for a nanosecond before Gus made a polite bow and walked past his mentor.

Seeing Gus coming out from Parker's office, Chris knew that Parker was once again doing something without his knowledge. "You're giving Agent Gus a mission?"

"I am. Is there a problem?" Parker answered nonchalantly as he sat on his chair and started going over the first folder on top of his desk.

"Not at all… I was going to assign him a new one. I'll just give it to another agent then," Chris flawlessly answered, sounding so natural. "Can you forward the details of that mission to me so I can file it under his name?" he asked subtly in order to get more information.

Parker glanced up at Chris and studied his expression before responding, "Filing is not important for this one. I asked him to tail former Agent Queen and test her. See if she bites." He smiled an obviously fake one before looking down at the papers again.

"Katherine?" Chris raised a brow, his heart started racing knowing that Parker had started his move on her. The only thing that's stopping him from rushing out of Castle right now was that the agent whom Parker had assigned this to, was Gus. He could still catch up to him later. "I thought I'll be working on that?"

"Don't worry about it now, Christopher. Besides, I have something that I need you to work on. I cannot give this to anyone else… You're the only one I trust." Parker gave the other a long and hard stare.

Chris didn't like that he simply brushed the topic away as though Katherine was insignificant—as if her life wasn't worth that much—as if taking her away from his hands was that easy. But he couldn't show any emotions while facing Parker. It was too dangerous.

"What is it?" he questioned, hoping that it was something he could finish swiftly and effortlessly so he could focus on intercepting Gus's mission before he puts Katherine's life in jeopardy—more than it already was.

"I need your full attention on this matter. Can I trust you with this?"

"Of course, Sir. You know you can," Chris answered as-a-matter-of-factly.

Nodding, he leaned against the backrest of his armchair and interlaced his fingers in front of him as he dipped his voice lower and said, "There's a mole in Shadow. I want you to find out who it is and cancel. I don't care who and how long he or she has served—you execute as per protocol."

"Yes. Word came from The Advisers that there's a double agent inside Shadow who has been giving vital and confidential information to someone from the government."

"And how did they know about this?" he wondered. The beating of his heartbeat was erratic inside his chest. He couldn't calm down since Parker told him about the 'mole'. He was that mole—and Parker just ordered a kill.

Parker subtly shook his head as he got up from his seat and poured himself two fingers of scotch and another for Chris. "They didn't give me much information as they don't have concrete evidence either," he stated as he handed the other glass to Chris.

"Then how did they find out about the mole?" Chris didn't hesitate to accept the drink. Boy did he need a drink at this time! He had been very careful for the past four years, risking his life every time he had to meet the madam. But he still wasn't ready to finish this damn thing; he was still so far from discovering who 'The Advisers' were.

And he was nowhere near meeting his end goal. He needed more time—which he was already clearly losing.

"They didn't say. Now it's our turn to investigate. Look into each and every agent or employee. Do not trust anyone else with this matter—not even the elites. I want you to personally handle this yourself and if you need help in dealing with this, you are allowed to tap into only one of the elites. You don't have to wait for my signal, once you know who this son-of-a-bitch is, complete cancel. Are we clear?" Parker's voice was clear, deep, and authoritative.

The amber liquid burned Chris's throat as he gulped the entire thing. He could feel it travel down to his stomach and slashing his insides that were already burning with guilt. Was he supposed to shoot himself in the head now? 

'Complete Cancelation,' the term ran in his head. He was a nobody before he came to Shadow and he became excellent in his field but no one from the outside world really knew who he was. If he was going to be completely canceled, that would mean that not only was he going to be killed—his identity would be eradicated. And it would be as if he didn't exist at all.

Not that it mattered to the outside world since he didn't have a family. And he was sure that most if not all from Shadow wouldn't really care about him if they knew he was the mole.

For the people whom he thought would at least mind if something happened to him—he could only count them on one hand. Heck, there were probably only three of them.

Setting the empty glass down Parker's desk, he straightened himself and faced his boss. "Yes, Sir. I understand."

…

Meanwhile, back at Harbor City…

While Katherine and Damien were enjoying their meal and not caring about anything else at the moment, they weren't aware of the troubles that were coming their way soon.

She turned her head to the window and her vision went past her own reflection and went straight to see the children who were playing right outside the restaurant. The clouds in the sky moved, covering the sun's rays and darkening the glass window. It was only then that she clearly saw her reflection and noticed the ears sticking out of the cap that Damien made her wear earlier. 

"Oh my god. You made me into a cat," she gasped and her cat-paws-gloved hands flew to her head before he could stop her.

"Ah… That didn't last long…" He clicked his tongue, a faint smile forming on his lips as he continued to stare at the adorable little Kitten in front of him. When Katherine turned to face him and saw the grin on his face, she could only roll her eyes and laugh. 

And because she already dressed the part, she made use of it. So she raised her paws under her chin, pouted her lips and twinkled her eyes at him. "Meow!" she cried very cutely.

The smile on Damien's lips disappeared upon hearing the sound, bringing him back to that one-drunken-Katherine who meowed and purred at him many months ago. 'Fûck. Could she be any more adorable than she already is?' His heart did a somersault.