Love and Betrayal

         Dani groaned as the agency watch buzzed and the light flashed on the nightstand. With a huff she looked at her clock. “ 3 AM.” she said. With a sigh, she picked it up and answered. “ Cross,” She said. The voice on the other end had Dani sitting straighter in bed. “ Dani, I’m sorry but we need you!” they said and hung up. Dani was stunned for a moment. She hadn’t heard from Manny since she was released from medical. When the shock wore off, Dani got out of bed and rushed into the shower. She dressed herself in thick black leggings and a black tank top. She threw her long red hair into a French braid, put on her combat boots, her holsters and put on her division issue watch. Before she headed out the door, Dani grabbed her handguns, knives, her assault rifle and her longarm. She got into her car and drove to Division headquarters. The place was in chaos. New and old agents were rushing around like chickens with no heads. All around her Dani could hear whispers. “ It must be bad if the Reaper’s been activated!” they said and gave her a wide berth. Unlike a lot of the other agents, Dani was an elite specialist. She specialized as a sniper and hand to hand combat. She had never missed a target. In other words, she was basically an assassin. Dani didn’t let the whispers or rumors bother her though and she headed into Manny’s office. Manny Ortega and Kelso both turned when Dani walked through the door. Kelso nodded her head with an apologetic smile and Dani nodded back. “ Kelso.” She said. Like Dani, Kelso was well known. “ Why am I here?” Dani asked in a serious tone. Manny rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “ Frankly Dani, the city has gone to hell. After green poison our agents started disappearing. At first we thought they were being killed but we recently received this message.” He said and pushed a button on the screen of his computer. Dani took a step back when a familiar face filled the screen. Javier Kajika and Dani had been as close as family. They were inseparable even before they joined the Division. Kajika had gone to war while Dani trained.  After his tours, they’d gone on missions together. They’d been in the first wave when New York had been hit with green poison; it was the last time Dani had seen him. Dani had been covering his ass from above when he’d been outnumbered. He was trying to rescue civilians from the hot zone. They’d called the JTF for backup but they’d been denied, left to die. She’d put her longarm aside and raced down to him. They fought side by side in close combat until they’d been separated by a repulsion grenade. Dani would never forget that moment. The grenade landed right beside them. Dani had screamed Kajika’s name and shoved him as far from the grenade as she could before it went off. Dani and Javier were blasted apart and then everything went black. When Dani came to, she was in the Division infirmary. She had needed surgery. When she’d been blasted, Dani had been impaled on a large piece of scrap metal. Javier had never been found and had been considered killed in action. Dani grieved his loss hard.  She gasped as she watched him now. He had a JTF officer on his knees. He looked right at the camera and pulled the trigger. Dani flinched and looked away. It was the first time she’d ever shown a sign of weakness. Manny turned the screen back off and turned to Dani. “ That video was taken in New York a month ago.” he said. Dani took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Now she knew why she’d been activated. “ We need you to fly out to New York and track down Kajika and everyone else he’s working with.” Manny said. Kelso put her hand on Dani’s shoulder in sympathy. She knew how close Dani and Kajika had been. “ I’ll be going with you. We are going to meet up with Faye Lau, the agent in charge out there.” Kelso said. Dani blinked a couple of times. Her eyes were burning with tears that begged to be shed. “ When do we leave?” she asked after clearing her throat. If Manny noticed how uneven her voice had become he didn’t let on. “ Immediately,” he said. Dani nodded and left the office. “ This is going to be difficult on her, Kelso. They were like siblings so keep an eye on her. She is not as hard inside as she shows.” He said sadly. “ I know but she’s the best agent we have, the only one who can track and take on Kajika. Who knows? Maybe she’ll be able to take out Keener too.” She said. She followed Dani out of the office and walked towards the chopper.