Prologue

Blake

I was jolted out of my book by a noise, disrupting the calm of the story I'd been immersed in. My computer had beeped, and even though it was facing away from me, I could tell that the screen was showing an alert right now. No doubt it was from one of our spies. I left my comfy bed, walking over polished tile floors. Luckily I was wearing socks, but even through a layer of fabric, I could feel the cold surface. I plopped into my desk chair, and turned on the computer.

The notification was a message from Cecilia Grace, one of the many infiltrators getting me intell on Counterattack. 'Mr. Hannings, I'm happy to tell you that I've found a golden opportunity for us to steal information. You see, a boy was locked up, wrongly, as a spy for us. There was no trial. Almost everyone at the base is obligated to watch the execution. That means there will be less guards, and diminished chances of being caught. It would be risky to simply waltz in, but someone well trained would have no problem. The only drawback is that this was told to me on short notice. The date of the execution is tomorrow evening. Please classify this as a special mission. That's all for now, C.'

I smiled a bit to myself. Cecilia was so formal, yet I was glad it was her who had sent the message. The one thing she excelled at was telling me everything. Ideas, risks, and straightforward about her opinions. I unconsciously tilted my head, thinking. 'A special mission.' Well, only a member of the A-Team could. Lucy, Michael, and I had already gone on one each this month, so we were ruled out. That was to make sure no one had too much or too little work. That left Sam, and Agent 11. But Sam actually had a mission scheduled for very soon. Agent 11, on the other hand, had been complaining recently about her annoyingly clear calendar. In fact, yesterday she had said, "I have nothing exciting to do! You can only train so many times before whacking a dummy gets dull."

Of course, this mission would be very dangerous. Last time 11 went on a special mission, something had gone wrong with the communicators, and she had to stumble around a maze without our satellites. When we finally got a hold of her, she'd said that the mission was completed, but she didn't know how to get back. I later found out that her anxiety had made the whole ordeal almost impossible for her, but she'd persisted anyway. Impressive as it was, I had stayed right next to the communicators, nervous that it would short out again. Now, I was already worried about what could go wrong. How would it work this time? We weren't able to give her a communicator this time, since Counterattack territory had been set up to mess with Allegiance technology. But how could I send 11, my 11, into enemy territory alone? I knew she would hate it if she knew how much I worried about her, and would tell me that it was a pointless job. I'd just have to deal with it, like usual. With a small sigh, I stood up, grabbed the money I would need for her, and left my room. Next to me was 11's door, which I stared at. I hesitated for a moment, and knocked. There was a shuffling noise, like something (someone?) had fallen to the floor, and then the door opened.