and bacon. I stood there staring at him until Frankie tugged on my arm, snapping me out of my embarrassing trance.
“Homemade pancakes,” she said, then poured syrup over a short stack. She was dressed in a blinding orange sweatshirt, her hair tucked up beneath a neon-orange beret. I opened my mouth to say something about it, then decided I was better off keeping my mouth shut. I had no ground to stand on with Frankie and her artistic fashion choices.
Jax walked over with a black skillet in his hand and scooped some scrambled eggs onto a paper plate. He added a couple of crispy pieces of bacon and handed me the plate. “Morning, Red.” He gave me a wink that made my cheeks turn pink.
“Wow, Jax, this looks great. I didn’t know you could cook.”
“It’s one of my better talents,” he said as I snatched a piece of the bacon and popped it into my mouth.
“It sure is,” I agreed, taking the plate and sitting down across from Frankie.
“Are you ready to get started, Angel?” Mike asked. He was already behind his laptop, working.
“I am,” I answered. “Just after I finish scarfing down these excellent-looking pancakes.”
“I’m ready, too,” Kira said. She looked stunning as always, dressed in jeans and a light-blue sweater the same color as her eyes, her blond hair tucked behind her ears.
I glanced around the table. “I’m just glad you guys didn’t change your mind and leave.”
Mike waved a hand, a piece of bacon still between his fingers. “You know, Angel, UTOP isn’t just a competition or a school. We’re training to be operatives, and that means we’re going to be risking our lives, possibly every day. We have to depend on each other in ways we aren’t experienced or comfortable doing. You brought that into focus for me. It’s a lesson I couldn’t have learned in the classroom. So, gracias.”
Frankie snatched a piece of bacon from my plate started eating it. “Mike is right, you know. It’s the epitome of irony, if you think about it. The spy business is all ‘don’t trust anyone,’ when in actuality, most of the time you do have to trust someone. In our case, we have to trust each other, because our lives depend on it.”
Her comment wasn’t lost on a loner like me. The hardest part of spy school so far was the teamwork and trust. I’m still a work in progress, but the fact that I’d asked for help, and they’d responded in the affirmative, was a huge step forward me and for us as a team.
I was thinking what to say to that revelation when Wally staggered into the kitchen, rumpled and bleary-eyed. His hair stood straight up, and his glasses were askew. Like I had, he headed straight for the bacon.
Jax greeted him and dropped a couple of strips of bacon, some pancakes, and scrambled eggs on a paper plate for him. Wally brought his food to the table, sliding into the empty chair next to me.
“Am I the last one up?” he asked.
“Barely,” I said. “I just got here.”
He realized Kira sat across from him and reached up to touch his hair. “I guess I should have combed my hair.”
I bumped shoulders with him. “No way. We like it when you keep it real.”
Everyone chuckled, including Kira, so Wally shrugged and dug in.
“What’s the plan for today, Angel?” Bo asked, coming into the kitchen from the living room. He’d showered and shaved and looked handsome, fresh, and ready to go.
I felt like I’d been trampled on by a hundred horses, and was pretty sure I looked like that, too. I wished I had taken a shower before I came to breakfast, but it was too late now. “Wally, Frankie, and I are working on my dad’s riddle. Mike and Hala are gathering as much information as they can on J. P. Lando, my dad, and the top-secret project. You, Jax, and Kira are working on the best way to get me to the meeting with my dad without being followed.”
Jax dumped the pans in the sink and washed his hands. “I cooked, so someone else is on dishwashing duty.”
“I got you covered, buddy.” Mike closed his laptop and walked over to the sink.
“Time is definitely short,” I said. I quickly ate the rest of my food. “Frankie, Wally, you guys ready to get to work?”
“Absolutely.” Frankie bounced up from behind the table, showing off neon-orange tennis shoes with sparkles. “I’ll go get my laptop.”
“Give me