Defector Read Online Free Page A

the Christmas tree in the common room, wearing red Santa hats and huge grins—was the only thing greeting me. “Everything okay?” I asked, touching her shoulder. She tensed, then put her hand over mine and turned around in her chair, giving me a smile. “Sure.”
    I searched her face for any kind of a sign, but it didn’t give anything away. It was Holly’s cheery face, the same face that had brought me through many dark moments. Maybe all this high-alert talk from Major had turned my brain cells to mush. Holly was the one person besides Alec I could trust completely. End of story.
    I sank down on the bed, and a moment later Holly joined me. “Hey, you, why the gloom face?”
    I put my head down on her shoulder and told her what I’d heard about Stevens and about Major’s suspicions. “Oh, wow, I suppose it’s a good thing that I keep messing up with my Variation. At least that means I’m not valuable enough to be a target,” she said with a laugh. But even that sounded off. I raised my head. “Holly, I don’t know what I’d do if . . .” I swallowed. Even thinking about it made me all choked up. “If something happened to you.”
    She blinked quickly, then hugged me. “Oh, please. I’m safe. You heard what Major said. Only useful Variants should be worried. I still can’t get my invisibility under control.” She pulled back and changed the topic. “So! You spent the night with Alec?”
    “Just sleeping. Nothing happened,” I snapped back, feeling a blush creep up my neck.
    She grinned, then her eyes darted back to her laptop. A small envelope had appeared and then faded. A new e-mail.
    “Who are you e-mailing?” I asked casually, but a feeling of concern wormed its way into my brain. I couldn’t stand the thought of Holly doing something without telling me.
    She kept staring at her laptop before finally turning to me. Tears sprang into her eyes.
    “Holly, what’s wrong?”
    Her gaze dropped to her lap, where she was wringing her hands. “It’s . . .” she began, then sighed deeply. “It’s just my parents. My mom e-mailed me to say that Dad lost his job. She’s taken on a part-time job, but she can’t really do more. Someone has to take care of my brothers and sister. Noah has been sick a lot. His medicine is expensive.” Holly had two younger brothers and a younger sister, and her parents had always struggled to make ends meet.
    “I’m sure he’ll find a new job soon,” I assured her.
    “I should be there to help them. It’ll still be a couple of years before I’ll really earn money as an agent.”
    That gave me pause. Somehow, being with the FEA had felt more like a way of living than a job, but Holly was right: As full-fledged agents, we’d get paid for our work.
    “Maybe you can ask Major if he can help out. I mean, we’re practically doing this agent-trainee thing full-time, so we might as well get paid for it.”
    “I don’t think Major would agree. I mentioned it once, but I got the feeling that he’d prefer that I break ties with them.”
    “Are you sure? That sounds so callous.”
    “You know he doesn’t care all that much about normal people. And look around: Most FEA agents are either orphans or were abandoned by their parents. I’m pretty much the only one who stays in contact with family, except for Kate and the few others with Variant parents.” She had a point.
    “Maybe you could ask Major again? Or I could ask Alec to talk to him. Major listens to Alec.”
    Holly shook her head hastily. “No, no. I’ll have to figure out another way. I wish I could live with them for a while to help take care of my siblings, so my Mom can work full-time. But Major would never agree.”
    The FEA took us away from our families. Major seemed to think it was the duty of every parent to hand their child over with pride. But if he expected us to serve the FEA, he should at least make sure our families were doing okay. I wondered if parents had ever refused to send