The Lost Angel

Chapter 4

In the dining room, which was more like a decorated mess hall, everyone was talking about the upcoming mission except for Jake and me. We always enjoyed silence before a mission, it helped to clear our heads and get ourselves centered.

Sara was telling us what headquarters had said, after she pulled a page from my book and scared the operator. “After arguing with that fool on the phone, I found out that the information Brooks and Lee overheard is true. He figured it out after the police told the media about the murder this morning. He knows that someone is on to him but not who. He’s running scared at this point.” She paused and looked straight at me, “and Angel, John got on the phone after the operator told me the truth. He said to be careful and keep your eyes and ears open. He told me that we have the permission to wipe out anyone within the boundaries of the complex. He sounded worried, if not scared, and he never sounds like that.”

“He has a right to be worried,” it was Jason and he seemed to be excited about something. “HQ sent over the surveillance that they had collected about the complex. Our target is a paranoid man to begin with but now he’s doubled his guard. I found a way to get in and out of there without alerting anyone until you want them to know you’re there. It’s not going to be easy.”

“It never is Jason, just tell us.” I was starting to get annoyed with all the chatter.

He slid a map in my direction and as I began to look it over, he told me what I wanted to know. “Well as you can see here, the complex is surrounded by woods. In the back yard if you go through the woods it leads to a rest stop on a main highway. You can park the bikes at the rest stop but you’ll have to hide them. The cops patrol that stretch of highway and every half hour they go through the rest stop. We don’t want them to come across two bikes sitting alone and decide to tow them away. But this is the only way to get in and out without complications.”

Interesting. After some thought I had an idea, “Jason how many miles from the rest stop to the complex?”

“It’s about four to five miles from the woods at the rest stop to the woods lining the back yard. If you ran, it would take about ten to twenty minutes depending on the terrain. Why?”

“I think I have a plan. Brooks, after dinner if you could start the dishwasher and then get dressed for a ride. Lee, I’ll need you to get his bike ready. Sara, I would like you and Jason to pack up the weapons in the training room and get them ready for transport.”

“Are we leaving?” Sara sounded so sad that she had to pack the weapons and not be involved with the planning. If she only knew.

“We might have to and I want to be ready. Brooks will go ahead to the rest stop and scout the woods for us. Be careful not to be seen. Jake, after Brooks has left, I want you and Sara to gear up. Sara, Jake will show you what to pack in your bag for a mission. Make sure you have a change of clothes with you. Don’t look at me like that Jake, just trust me. Lee and I will go through the woods to the complex but we won’t be hiding the bikes. Jason, after you help Sara pack away the weapons head to the garage to help Lee get the bikes ready for all of us to leave the minute dusk arrives.”

Jake’s mouth dropped open like he had just heard that his favorite singer was going to have a s*x change operation. “What are you saying? It’s going to be you, Lee, Sara, and me tonight? Are you insane?”

“I’m not crazy Jake. I know Sara hasn’t been out in the field but it’s a good plan. We’ll all work together to pack up and be ready to leave at the word go. So, if something goes wrong then you get out and head to the airport. We’ll all meet there. I want all of you to pack up your belongs from your rooms and be prepared to go. Jason after the bikes are ready, you and I will go to the airport with the carry-on luggage in the red Civic. You will follow me in the blue Civic and bring me back. The key will be hidden in the front wheel well. If we get separated change your clothes and get your bags out of the trunk. From there go into the airport lounge, sit away from each other and wait until we are all present. If for some reason we can’t all make it by sunrise, book the next flight home. Do you all understand?”

They all nodded but looked troubled by this new plan. Jake was the first one to voice his opinion, I knew he wouldn’t stay silent. “So, you mean to tell me that I have to go with you tonight and wait patiently at the rest stop until you and Lee return. Then if something goes wrong, I’m supposed to leave you two there and take off with Sara to the airport. Go to the car and get my bag and Sara grabs hers, then just walk into the airport and sit in the lounge until dawn. If you don’t make it back whoever has made it to the rendezvous spot will just jump on a plane and return home without checking to see if the person or persons that are missing are all right?”

“Yes Jake, that is what I mean. I know it sounds crazy and you won’t want to go without all of us on that plane but you need to trust me as you always have. I know what I’m doing. With you and Sara at the rest stop watching the bikes it’s one less thing for me to worry about, I can keep my mind where it’s supposed to be. I can’t afford to be distracted now that he’s doubled his guard. If for some reason the police are poking around then Sara can come walking out of the restroom and say that Lee and I went to find some place quite to be alone. Sara hasn’t left the safe house since we arrived and no one should know her, so she’ll be safe in the restroom. Lee how fast can you run a five-mile obstacle course?”

“Depending on the obstacles in the way, I’d say about…”, I could tell he was doing the math in his head, “probably about seven minutes, give or take.”

“Then let’s say ten minutes through the woods, fifteen minutes to complete our mission and clean house, and another ten to get back to the bikes. To be on the safe side we can give ourselves forty-five minutes. This will give us extra time just incase something goes wrong or we need to change clothes or look like we’ve been busy. Sound good?”

Lee looked thoughtful and waited a moment before answering. “That sounds reasonable.”

“Good. Jake if the cops show up, you’ll need to alert everyone. Say good evening officer in English and that will be Sara’s queue to come out to the bikes. Sara, if that happens, I’ll need you to go straight up to Jake and kiss him hello. Then proceed to tell him that I told you, Lee and I wanted to find a quite place to be alone. If the officer asks where just say you don’t know because you were using the facilities when I said it and I walked out while you were protesting.”

“Brilliant!” Sara sounded down right giddy. Cabin fever, what can you say.

“Lee, if we hear Sara say this, we need hurry back if we can. If not than we need to speed up our pace, and get the target before the police get to us. Jason and Brooks, if we can’t hurry back, I want both of you to shut everything down and get out. Jason, if you guys have to leave then before you shut down the computers send a message to headquarters. Let them know we have been compromised and need to evacuate. They’ll send someone to clean out the safe house and return our things to the Agency. Then both of you shut it down and get to the airport. Jake and Sara, if Lee and I don’t return within ten minutes after your talk with the police then get out of there. Go to the nearest turn off or rest stop and change your clothes and the plates on your bikes, but make sure no one sees you. Lee and I will follow as soon as we complete our mission. Any questions?”

“I have a few but one main one.” Now Lee looked like his dinner might make a surprise appearance. “What if we’re the ones that are in trouble?”

“Then we’ll get out of it. Don’t doubt your abilities now. I wouldn’t have chosen you for my partner tonight if I doubted you, so don’t doubt yourself.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Sara was always forgetting something, “John said that the cleaners weren’t going to follow up after you guys tonight. The Agency wants to send a message with this one and doesn’t want anything to be cleaned up. All of the deaths will be visible and they want the target to be identifiable only through dental records. Their words not mine.”

“Very well, Lee make sure you have gloves on. We’ll leave our bags and jackets twenty feet into the trees.”

“I’m gonna get started if you don’t mind Angel. There’s a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it.”

“If you’d like Jake. If anyone else wants to get started be my guest. I’m done eating and I’ll help Brooks with the cleanup.”

“You know I don’t need it but if you wanna help, be my guest.”

As I helped Brooks gather up the dishes from dinner, I couldn’t shake this feeling of dread that had come over me. Something was wrong but I couldn’t put my finger on it. My instincts were screaming at me that this could be a trap. John always told me to follow them, “They’ll never fail you” and they hadn’t yet. It was time to bounce the feelings off of someone else and see what they had to say about them. “Brooks, I need you to help me with something.”

“Oh, so that’s why you offered to help me clean up. And here I thought you just wanted to spend some quality time with me. I’m hurt.” He had some goofy grin on his face, which reminded me of a movie I saw. The one where the girl falls down the rabbit hole, right now he looked like the cat. I half expected him to disappear on me. What was the name of that movie? Well crap, now it was going to bug me until I remembered.

I knew Brooks couldn’t help but joke about anything and everything, even when on a mission. I wondered why he had signed on to be an agent when most of the agents I knew where serious at all times. Brooks always had a smile on his face and plenty of sarcasm to go around. It was a nice change most of the time, we all knew what this job could do to you. Everyone needed an outlet and a good laugh, if not then this line of work would drive you insane. Literally. I had seen plenty of agents go stark raving mad because they didn’t have some sort of release.

“I needed somebody’s opinion. I knew you wouldn’t tell me what you thought I wanted to hear just to suck up to me. So, knock it off.”

We were in the kitchen now. I don’t think I had spent more than two minutes in this room. I couldn’t cook worth a damn, so I steered clear. The only time I set foot into this room was to grab something, other than water, to drink. There was a fridge in the training room that was stocked with bottles of water, so I normally went there for a drink.

Brooks set the dishes in his hands onto the center island. I think it was called a preparation table, but I really wasn’t sure. It was solid wood but I think it was some kind of walnut or oak. He turned and took the dishes in my hands and placed them next to the others.

He turned all of his attention to me, “I’m sorry Angel. You know I didn’t mean to upset you. You know I don’t suck up to you because I know that it won’t do any good, so what’s the point. Alright beautiful, tell me what’s rattlin’ around that pretty little head of yours.”

Of course, that made me smile, but it didn’t last long. “I can’t shake a feeling I have. After we laid out the plan it started. When I was thinking about it, the plan seemed to make sense in my head, but now…. I feel like we’re missing something. A feeling of dread is setting into my mind and somehow, I know we are walking into a trap.”

What happened next was so unexpected that I didn’t know what to do. We all needed to be confident in our abilities and our plan, that’s the only way we could make it out alive.

His face fell and his shoulders slumped. “I thought it was just me. It’s a good plan and if we had all the facts then it would work like a charm. But you’re right, something is wrong.”

I was so glad that it wasn’t just me that I did something that I avoided. I hugged him. As I withdrew, he laughed and caressed my face.

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok Angel, sometimes we need comfort and support.” There was no joking in his tone of voice and there was love in his eyes. Whether it was romantic or not only time would tell.

“I think we might have a rat. I doubt that it’s anyone in our crew but I don’t want them to know just yet. When you get done loading the dishwasher would you check for bugs in the control room? I’m going to get Jason to help me check our system for hacks. If anyone asks you what’s going on, tell them to find me. I don’t want to discuss any of this with them until I’m sure that we won’t be overheard.”

“Should I check all of the rooms?”

“Any room that stays open, yes. Wait, maybe you should check them all. Check the main rooms first and then move to the individual rooms. If we’re bugged it could have been planted before we got here. If any door is locked find the person staying in that room and have them unlock it. If they give you any trouble tell them I gave you an order to search the rooms. That was a good idea, Brooks. When you’re done, I want a status report.”

Our plans were changing, let’s hope they don’t change too much. If we do have a mole at HQ then no doubt our target knew we were on our way. He would be ready for us, but what he didn’t know was that I like to change things up. It was time for a new plan and I needed some help.

Brooks turned to place the dishes into the dishwasher and I turned to go find Jason, when a noise stopped us both. It sounded like feedback, kind of like when a mic gets too close to a speaker, but it was faint. I looked at Brooks and he was staring at me in horror. We had been bugged which meant they knew our plan and we didn’t have a lot of time. The noise was coming from the dinning room, of course they wouldn’t bug the kitchen I’m never in here. At least that was a plus.

Brooks dropped the plate in his hand and took off towards the control room. I caught the plate and set it on the island, I like these dishes and even though we’d be leaving them here I didn’t want them shattered. I was right on Brooks’ heels when he burst into the control room. Jason was standing in the middle of the room. He must have been heading to the garage when we came barreling in here. I made a beeline for Jason and Brooks headed for the detection tools over by the infirmary. We took them wherever we went because I didn’t trust anybody else with them. It’s a damn good thing that I’m paranoid and refuse to let things get out of my control. It pays to have OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, it drove Jake nuts most of the time but it has saved our butts more than he would like to admit.

Brooks had made it to our metal suitcase and was retrieving the tools needed to search for any type of bug in the building. Jason looked like he was about to say something and I put up my hand. “Jason, I need you to help me do something. No questions, don’t say a word. Just follow me.”

That was the great thing about Jason, he knew how to follow orders without questioning me. Brooks came over to us and held up the headsets and motioned around the control room. I shook my head and pointed toward the living quarters. He got the meaning and strode off to check those rooms first. I wanted him to check in here last after he cleared the rest of our rooms. Jason looked more confused than before when we came running into the room. I smiled and led him to the computers on the far wall. He followed and stayed silent.

We kept pads of paper at the desks incase we needed them and I snatched one up. Jason and I could read and write binary code as fluently as speaking another language. We were the only two people in the Agency that could do so. I knew that before the mole could figure out what it said we’d be done and on our plane home. Binary code was a computer language that consisted of 1’s and 0’s, it’s the most basic language in the computer world. I began to write what I wanted to do, “We need to hurry, not much time. I think we’re bugged and Brooks is checking out the rooms. If that’s the case our plan needs to change.”

Jason read through my message and nodded. He picked up a pen and replied, “What do you want me to do?”

“Get into the system and find the hack, put it on a loop if you can, if not then crash the system using it. I don’t want them to know that we know, so don’t be detected.” I was writing as fast as I could, I knew we only had about an hour before the mole realized we were on to him or her. We had to get everything ready and get out.

Jason nodded and turned to the computer. I knew I had to warn John before whoever was doing this got to him. I pulled one of the keyboards over to my lap. John and I had worked out a system to alert the other one incase something went wrong. Jason looked at me and then the keyboard, before he could ask, I said, “I’m writing to John.” It was out loud because no one would know what I was really saying in the letter but John and myself. He didn’t ask questions, instead he shrugged and went back to the computers.

I pulled up my e-mail and hit the compose icon. I knew what to write but I didn’t know if John would get it in time. I just had to hope that he was at his desk and able to receive this before we left.

Dear John,

I thought I would see how everything is going back home. I miss you and can’t wait to see you again. I wanted you to know that I found someone, you’ll love him. Although I’m not sure how he’ll feel about it. The weather’s been unusually nice here and I’m thinking of taking the crew on a trip to the beach. Maybe I can find something to bring home. I’ll call when I can.

Love,

Your Angel

I reread what I wrote to make sure I had everything and hit send. The letter basically said that we’ve been compromised and needed to get out. It also tells him that we have a leak in HQ. If anyone got a hold of it, they’d think it was just a letter and had no real importance. John and I had come up with this form of warning one day when I had been captured by the enemy and held prisoner. I escaped of course but not before being roughed up pretty badly. John never forgave himself for that and came up with our code to serve as a warning system between us. Now all I could do is wait, if he received it then the evac crew would be here soon.