Learning Romance

Chapter 2

"I don't think we'll be needing that, I am a friend, and I think you should save your bullets for the war," the man said, seemingly not affected by the deadly metals pointed at him.

"If a war is coming, it might as well begin now" James answered bluntly.

The man paused and cursed under his breath.

"I like to be the hard one. How on earth am I going to work with you two?" he paused and took a badge from the inside of his suit.

"Albert, Chief of the DVl, you can put your toys down now before someone gets hurt," he said, showing them the badge.

"Many people have badges these days". Chelsea grinned

"And 80 percent of them are carrying a fake", James added, smiling too.

"Who gave you kids your rank? I doubt you'd last a day under me if the President didn't request your assistance in this war.

He took a newspaper and placed it on the table before them, revealing a picture of him accepting a medal from the President.

"You believe me now?" he asked, raising a brow.

The twins hesitated before putting the gun down.

"I'm James, she's Chelsea, but since you already know that, let's get to the point. You want us to join the DVl to fight .... what.. war?" James asked, taking a seat and motioning him to do the same.

"I'm offering you a position in the DVl as the President requested. Whether or not you'll be joining the war will be decided based on your performance, and meeting you now, I'm sure the President made the wrong choice," Mr Albert said, taking a breath only when he was done talking, he shook his head as if doing that would reverse the President's decision.

" And we're not interested, I'm sorry for your time" Chelsea answered, rising from her seat, and James followed.

"The President doesn't give options"

"And we don't take orders" James replied, as they walked towards the exit.

"You did take an oath to serve your country, didn't you? Now they need you the most. When I talked about the war, it wasn't a figure of speech, and trust me, I wouldn't be here if this wasn't important", Albert called after them.

The twins stopped walking and turned to face him.

"What position are you offering," James asked, grinning.

**********

They arrived at the DVl after a very quiet ride. They said nothing.

"Welcome to the DVl", Albert announced as they entered the control room of the facility. There were people everywhere in the room, it was bustling with activity, some were stationed before computers, and others worked on weapons and maps. A few soldiers were running out while some walked in as they returned from their missions. The whole room was illuminated with blue light, which Albert explained was so that the screens didn't affect their eyes. One screen stood all over the wall at the left of the room, it displayed maps and faces as some agents were briefed about their missions.

Albert took them to another room, which he explained was the cortex, and would be their centre of operation. It was a smaller version of the control room, all the computers were covered and so was the big screen, indicating they were new. There hung. There side of the room. There, and knives of different types, there was a table before it on which there were different explosives like a hand grenade, smoke bombs, and a lot of cool techs.

James opened a door that revealed a laboratory that also served as an infirmary.

"Not bad, he heard Chelsea say from behind him."

"Not bad? That's all you say? The President made me go through the trouble of getting the best for you two and all you say is 'not bad?', tell me have you seen better?" Albert asked, annoyed at Chelsea's nonchalant comment about the best facility in all the country.....(or so he thought).

"Better than you can imagine" She answered, winking at the man.

Her reply confused Albert. He opened his mouth to speak but shut it, deciding silence was the best option here.

"About the team?" James asked.

"What team?"

"You said this was for us and our team, but you haven't shown us the team."

"Right, right, this way" he directed, walking out through the door they had come to.

As they made their way to the control room, the siren blared across the room and James heard Albert curse from behind.

"24 hours is all I ask," Albert said to no one in particular as he ran to the control room.

"Sir Green Laboratories is under attack, they are headed for the formula, we think it's Souter again. Codesus seemed to know of this beforehand, they're trying to protect it."

A tall blonde lady reported to Albert and winked at James, which made Chelsea frown and shoot her a dirty look, much to her own surprise.

James thought about the President's offer being a distraction from Codesus (considering he wasn't with Codesus at the time of the attack) but pushed it away from his mind, since it was possible his parents didn't tell him about the attack, so he could have a day to himself after graduating.

"James, your team is the only one available, please?"

"We haven't met them yet, you know? But yes, we'll take it", Chelsea answered on James's behalf.

"I'm sorry Miss, but there's no time for introduction, I am William, head of the strike team. Will I give the order for the team to head out?" A voice came from beside Albert. It was a young voice. James guessed the man would be about the same age as himself or a year older, William looked very sharp in his uniform. 'Strike 8' was printed in bold across the vest and his name and position were on the shoulder of the uniform.

"Proceed, Egret and myself will go ahead, the rest of the team should meet us there. Local police forces have formed a perimeter around the building, so far there has been no engagement". James informed him as he read from the tablet Albert provided him.

The twins half ran out of the base, they headed straight to James' car and hit the road. James was excited and he felt Chelsea was too. It was their first mission outside Codesus and military training. James put more pressure on the throttle as they made their way to Green laboratories.

********

They met the local police chief outside the Lab. He was a middle-aged man and about 5'7 in height.

"James Lewis, DVl, what's the situation?"

"Rivera, Gregory Rivera, local police chief"

The way he emphasized 'chief' said this man was one of those glory he seeker police chiefs.

"The attackers hold two hostages in the reception hall. Our snipers do not have a clear shot, we think this is a robbery, but I know the DVl wouldn't be here if it were just that."

"You're right, it is more than just a robbery, although I'd still call it a robbery. Well, there's a formula in the vault, that's what they want. I need a connection with your snipers."

The police chief spoke with some of his men before he turned back to James and Chelsea.

"We have set up a connection on radio four? May I know what formula you mean?"

"I'm sorry Sir, but I can't give you that information. We're going to need to talk with these men, get a negotiator, I'll speak with the manager of the lab."

With that, the twins walked away from the frowning man, who wasn't too happy that he was receiving orders instead of giving them.

The manager of the lab was a woman who identified herself as Becky Lith. After a short discussion with her, the twins were able to gather that she knew what the attackers were after and that they would not be able to get there without her.

The mission was clear now. Free the hostages and apprehend the attackers.

"Eagle, do we have permission to breach?" William's voice came on comms...

"Wait for an order from Egret", James replied.

Chelsea had crept closer to the lab to see if the cameras were deactivated.

"Get us into the cams, they are active" she ordered when she saw the green light of the camera blink.

"That'll take a few minutes, the whole system has a heavy firewall" a voice replied from the radio Chelsea had talked on.

The police chief informed James about the arrival of the negotiator, and he set up comms with the attackers.

"This is James Lewis DVl, I understand you're holding two people hostage, a couple. May I know if they're alright?" James asked through the negotiator's connection, ignoring the man.

The only reply he got was a gunshot to the air followed by screaming. James could hear both masculine and feminine voices, which meant both were still alive.

"Bring in Becky Lith or they both die and the building will crumble."

With those threatening words, the connection was cut off.

"Come in Eagle, this is Egret on radio 3."

"copy"

"There are six men in the building, five of them are working on the vault, we only have one man with the hostages, the sniper has locked in a critical shot."

"Take the shot", James replied, taking a deep breath.

The sniper obeyed promptly and shot at the man holding the hostages.... they, the hostages, screamed even more at the sound of the gun but stopped when they realized they weren't hurt.....

The shot was also followed by Chelsea's order "Breach!!!"

All units, including James and Chelsea, ran into the building, guns raised.