Chapter 1
I counted the number of cars that passed ours and entered the lane to join others on 1-90 highway, going who knows where, but part of passing time for me is figuring it out on my own. After all, my job is to jump to conclusions with a reasonable amount of evidence. It doesn’t necessarily need to be correct, but make enough sense to the point of actually being accurate.
A red Nissan Rogue, the maybe year 2005 given its elder and worn down state, unites with its fellow automobiles onto the accelerated road. I caught a glimpse of the driver. A middle-aged man with an obvious bald spot dead center on his head. He’s probably going to visit his relatives out of state. It is the holidays after all. Anyone taking this highway is either coming or going.
There goes another. White Rolls Royce with plates from New Jersey. Given that the driver is an old man with a perky looking blonde passenger with an even perkier chest, it’s possible we have another case of gold digging. Or maybe true love does exist and comes at unsure moments in our life.
The cars come and eventually go, none of them being the one we’re looking for, which antagonizes me for one sole reason. A package for me should arrive today and I’d like to be there to receive it, unlike the last time when it was sent to the post office and I had to wait two hours in a line to get a hold of it. Don’t people know that explosive materials shouldn’t be handled by just anyone? But that’s a story for another time.
I closed my eyes and rest my head back down on my reclined seat and took a break from my little game, my earphones playing Somebody to Love by Queens. The song is a perfect escape for me, especially since two of my teammates are deep into yet another pointless disagreement, but given the level their voices have been raised to, it should be classified as an argument.
Sitting in the passenger seat on my right is Logan Wright, one of the few people I’ve come across who knows more about guns than any expert in the northern hemisphere, although he would melodramatically try to correct me and say the world, who also happens to be my closest friend. I don’t need to look over to him to know that he’s turned around to face Genesis Bay, one of Saint Julia’s best tech nerds.
Whenever these two are around, something very simple is sure to blow up, speaking both figurative and literally. I wish I could avoid any joined conversations with them, but Logan always selfishly pulls me in so that I can help pull him out when he’s had enough.
And as fate would have it, his slender fingers tap my shoulders, removing me from my temporary solace. I take out my right earphone and tilt my head slightly to get a glimpse of him so it seemed I was actually interested in whatever he was about to complain about.
“It’s time.” was all he said. Thank god. I’m glad to start work instead of being dragged in and out of their conversation. I pull out the other earphone and turn the ignition and our black Cadillac SUV’s engine purrs with delight. The car proceeds to the acceleration lane to join the others, jump-starting our latest mission.
“Glad to have you guys join the party.” Miles Webster, our other tech nerd, announces over the two-way radio Logan had turned on and held in his hands.
“I hope we’re not late,” Logan responded facetiously. I caught his head turning to me quickly from the corner of my eye as I focused on the road, but he evaded it any further and looked forward as well.
“Not at all. The target is in the middle lane. We’re on your left.”
I spared the lanes a glance and saw Miles’ matching SUV in the left lane, now driving parallel to ours, and the specified car a few lengths ahead of us in the center as he said. I sped up just enough to cross over before going back to the right lane, only now closer to the target.
Miles has done the same as both of our cars are now blocking the van on its opposite sides. “You only get one shot Genesis,” I speak out to her. I hear the sound of a magazine being snapped into place as she carries out her part of the mission.
The window is rolled down and from my side view mirror, Genesis sticks the barrel slightly out. “Car one, ready.” she notifies.
“Car two, ready,” Miles responds. Not even two seconds later, both guns go off and hit the van and specific locations, their tires. The cars captains have finally noticed our presence and have also withdrawn their own weapons. Finally, the fun begins.
Before they could take a shot at us, I surge our car forward, giving Genesis the perfect opportunity to eliminate our prey, and she does just that without hesitation. She continues to empty her clip into the passenger window, aiming for the driver.
Unfortunately for us, they’re trying to elude their death and swerved into the left lane, a few cars ahead of our other squad members. I follow in suit, swiftly dodging vehicles that are desperately trying to get away from the active shootout that’s sure to be on the ten o’clock news tonight.
I bring our car behind Miles’ and punch it forward, hitting them in their rear bumper, urging them to move ahead. He takes the hint and repeats the same action to the skidding van, causing it to be knocked off its course and lean back into the left lane.
“Slowing them down is no good,” I say to Logan. “I’m gonna order them.” his agreement nod was enough for me as I left the left lane and sped up two meters ahead of the target, then quickly turned the wheel, making them slow down at my sudden presence in front of them.
Miles rammed his car into the back of theirs, making them smash into ours with force, but not enough to knock us over. All three of our vehicles have halted, causing a blockade on the highway. Thankfully, most of the cars behind us got the hint earlier and fled before any interesting had happened.
Others pulled over at the sight of our accident and left their cars. Smart move I suppose. Things were about to get ugly.
Following the crash, my squad and I proceeded to complete the task at hand. We exit the car and make our way over to the remaining targets.
“Whatever happened to not making a scene?” Asked Olivia, Mile’s twin sister who rode alongside him.
“Doesn’t matter, I replied. “Call in the chopper. This won’t take long.”
“On it,” Logan said as he whipped out his phone and messaged headquarters. Genesis, Liv and I walk over to the van, cautious not to give away our position. From the look of it, both the driver and passenger rider are dead, but we don’t know who lurks in the back along with the girls.
Liv and Genesis grabbed the handles on the car, waiting for my signal to open it. I removed my gun from its shoulder holster and aimed it ahead of me. I gave them the look, and both doors flew open instantly. But to our surprise, only the trafficked girls were in the truck.
“They must’ve been cautious about this transfer.” Liv guessed.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s get them out of here.” The girls and I proceeded to help all fifteen underage and underdressed girls out of the van and onto the pavement which was now cleared out. “Logan, how we doing on that bird?”
A sudden sound of blades slapping overhead caught our attention. Never mind. The helicopter lowered a few yards ahead of us. Liv, Genesis and I didn’t hesitate to bring the girls over for transport.
“This is all of them?” Asked the co-pilot as he helped each girl into the chopper.
“Yeah, for now. We’ll let you know if we find any strays.” I responded, helping the last young girl in, who cuffing be any older than sixteen. She turned around to look at me, certainly questioning what was going on. “ Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “You’ll be safe now.”
She gave and a small nod and clasped my hands. “Thank you.” She whispered over the strong winds circling above before pulling the rest of her body inside, the side door following her.
The girls and I moved back and the helicopter took off, heading for a safe house near Niagara Falls.
“Well, that was easier than I thought,” I said as I placed my gun back in its holster. “Usually there are more-“ my words became cut short when the deafening sound of close-range bullets fired around us. “Ah, nevermind.” I grabbed both of my guns this time and duck behind the van. Crouching on the floor, I looked under it and saw about thirty men approaching us.
“Genie, any ideas?” I ask Genesis who, like the others, have joined me for safety.
“Hm, do you think they’re up for a negotiation?” she asks back, but the sound of more bullets responds for me.
“Great,” I sigh out, “Now I’m definitely not going to get my package on time. All right, guys, let’s do this quickly.” they nod and we each take a position. I countdown with my fingers from three, and we maneuver around the van, each taking out a handful of men. Unfortunately for us, they have more weapons and men. But unfortunately for them...hang on, I’ll think of something.
“Uh guys, I’m open to suggestions,” Logan stated as he looked over the edge of the van. We managed to take out about half of them and with fewer bullets, I began to worry how we’ll deal with the remaining half. “They’re closing in.” Logan removed a smoke bomb from his waist and chucks it over to them.
We heard one of them shout grenade as it landed, and took their confusion to strike now as the hid from the bomb. Logan and I jumped over the hood of the car and emptied our clips with precise shots, each entering a new skull and taking one more life.
A price must always be paid and it’s usually the same one. Death. It is the only way to ensure our missions completion, that or kidnapping, but that doesn’t seem to be an option today.
As the death toll continued to rise, so did the smoke and out cover began to disappear. Logan and I took off in opposite directions as more bullets came flying toward us, jumping behind cars as Genesis and Olivia tap in to do some more damage on their end.
From the looks of it, Liv managed to grab the- “RPG!” shouted one of our targets. Yep, that. I ducked behind the car as low as I could as the rocket-propelled grenade took off above me. The explosion shook my barrier, sending a wave of dust underneath it.
“Did I get them?” Liv asked, coming out from her launching spot.
“What?! You weren’t looking!” Miles gasped out as he emerged from his hiding spot.
“How could I! They were shooting at me too!” she snapped back. Great, another argument.
More bullets kept coming at us which meant that we were doing a shitty job today. “The boss isn’t going to like this,” Logan sighed out.
“No, he ain’t.” I brushed off the dust of what was most likely dead human skin mixed with and retook my crouching position. I glanced over the front tires and to our luck, only four more men still need to die. Logan mimicked my observant moves and turned to me when he saw the remaining targets.
I checked my magazines to find them both empty and replaced them with new ones. I wave my hand over my head, asking him for cover as I plan to attack from a different angle. He gives me a small nod and I begin the countdown. When it reached one, Logan opened fire on the men. As they focused on him, I jumped on top of the trunk of the abandoned silver coupe I was hiding behind and immediately aligned them with two bald heads before decorating them with brain matter.
The bodies fell with a thud, along with the two Logan managed to hit just in time. I hopped off of the car and placed my guns back into their holsters, hopefully for the last time today. “Can we go home now?” I ask them as I glance down at the timer on my apple watch. “Preferably in the next fifty-four minutes and,” I paused as I brought my hand closer to my face to get an accurate calculation, “forty-nine seconds?”
“I’m with Dakota. The Bachelorette is going to start in,” Olivia announced as she mimicked my watch motion sarcastically, “One hour and twenty-nine minutes.”
“Funny.” I flatly commented. The team laughs at Olivia’s ability to lighten the mood after we almost had our asses handed to us minutes ago. I give them a small glare for condoning her taunting behavior, but reprimanding them isn’t on my agenda today. They’re like family, after all.
------------------------------------------------------
We returned to our home soon after out little dispute on the highway and continued with the rest of our night. Saint Julia’s is the closest thing any of us have to a home since we all grew up here. This place raised us. Not to be college graduates or the next president of the United States. No, something far beyond understanding to the ignorant eyes. But they did, in fact, raise us.
It’s where we learned to read, write, and soon after that, how to dismantle a fifty caliber sniper rifle then put it back together. Blindfolded. But that was our version of normal. Not learning how to ride a bike with our parents or waking up early on Christmas to open presents.
No part of me ever wanted that. Not in the orphanage and not here. There was no point because pretty soon, this life will seem like a blissful dream.
I glance down at my watch to see my timer near its end, which only meant one thing. My package is almost here. I get up from the bay window in my bedroom and head downstairs to retrieve it when it arrives.
In the living room was Olivia who was setting up the coffee table with a menu of snacks for her weekly episode of the Bachelorette, and Miles who pretends to be bored with everything around him and says it’s better than doing nothing.
As I open the large steel door, I check the time once more. Ten seconds. I rush down three flights of stairs, practically jumping over many at a time until I’m greeted by another door. My wrist begins to vibrate as my time is now up. I’m careful not to open the door too quickly. Even I don’t know who still lurks behind it.
I count to ten in my head, as I’ve done every month for the past year, then swing the door open. There on the doormat laid an Amazon package, arriving like clockwork. I pick it up and glance around the emptiness of the area. Saint Julia’s is located on the least busiest street in Manhattan, which is saying a lot since it’s still Manhattan. But sure enough, a dark figure was watching me at the corner. My glance didn’t last long as I feared he might assume I was breaking the rules.
I closed the door and entered the five-digit security code and proceeded to head back upstairs. Liv and Miles were glued to the screen as they watched last week’s episode, but were forced to pause it as a Video message popped up on the screen.
“Oh no, I’ve been dreading this moment.” Said Liv as she leaned back into the black leather sofa with a disappointing sigh. I walked over to the TV, still clutching my small package, and saw it was our squad commander calling for the mission update, but seeing the mess we made today, it most likely will be a scolding.
I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and accept the request. Our commander, Mr.John appeared shortly after a quick buffering with a look that says it all. “Good evening Squad Zero. Productive day?” He asks sardonic tone.
“As a matter of fact, yes, we did,” responded Logan, who has now entered the room with Genesis, probably in the midst of another argument. “The trafficked girls arrived at the safe house right on time and killed the men who worked for their trafficker.”
“Yes,” the commander continued, “And you also almost blew up Highway 1-90!”
“Technically, that was Olivia,” Logan said as he motioned to the depressed figure that now bounced off of the sofa at the mention of her actions.
“Enough,” he said. “We’ll discuss more about Ms.Webster’s suspension from the weaponry at a later time.”
“What?!” Liv screeched as she heard of her latest punishment, but the commander disregarded her outburst as he continued.
“Tomorrow, France’s ambassador, Gerard Araud, will be in the city and with him a USD drive with plans to use their nuclear missiles. The five of you will be there for security, but will make a copy of the drive.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Asks Miles.
“The five of you have the brightest minds in America. I’m sure coming up with a plan won’t be too challenging, but if it ends up like today, don’t bother going.”
“How often do we make mistakes like….” Miles’ voice drowned out as I looked out the wall of windows that blanketed part of the room. I looked down to where the delivery man stood as he made sure I was the one who received the package. I clutch the small box in my hands, wondering what mysteries lie behind this one.
“Dakota?” Logan’s voice startles me, as I turn to him, completely unphased by his sudden appearance. “I don’t care what the commander thinks. We did well today.”
“Yeah. we’re the dream team, after all.” I reply back, making his dimples come out as he chuckles.
“Come on, we’re drawing up a plan,” Logan says as he motions to the large table with his head. I follow him without hesitation, not looking back out the window.
