Mission 001

We decided to stop fooling around and go upstairs to rest for a while, especially me, from adventures around my house.

It was eight o'clock in the morning, we had eight hours to finish designing a plan, go down to the armament room and build something for them as a thank you for letting me join the club and discover my parents.

We entered the library, took out the old and new plans of the White House to locate the hidden passages and rooms. We took them down to the giant dining room downstairs that my parents had used for receptions and meals with very important people. We removed the candlesticks and fruit bowls, left them in a corner and spread the maps out on the table. All of them, sewage, every floor, electricity, pipes. One of the maps creaked loudly when we took it out of its cover. We put it back in there in case it disintegrated. It was too old, from 1792, the original. We didn't want to spread its ashes around my house.

The first thing we would do would be to return the maps taken from the village library, that very morning if we finished on time. As soon as we arrived in the capital, we would put back the rest of the things they had taken from there. That plan was simple, no great skills were needed. Just keeping an eye on the guards, the security cameras and the corridors connecting the rooms.

I ran to get a projector while Lydia was turning on her laptop. I arrived, we removed the pictures on the big wall and projected its screen. We looked to see if there were any seats available on the flight they were both on and bought the one closest to theirs.

Then we got into the Pentagon's database with the help of one of my parents' pendrives that they had created so as not to be traced when they hacked into operating systems illegally. We looked to see if there were any impediments to sneaking into the White House that day. Nothing. No odd schedules, no secret agenda from the president. It was our lucky day.

Lydia took out her phone and looked at the time. It was nine o'clock. We were going quite fast.

"Chinese, Japanese, Indian or Mexican? What do you want to eat?"

"I have never tasted Indian food," I said as I raised my head from one of the maps.

Hypatia had her head stuck in one of the drawers of the imperial commode. She pulled out a gold and silver chess set that she didn't even know was there. I was speechless when she placed the redwood board with black and white pearl squares.

"Do you mind if we use the pieces as if they were us?"

I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water. I had never looked curiously into those drawers, the house was too big to think there was anything in that piece of furniture. Months later I would discover a deposit of jewellery, gold bars and piles of money that I would not want to know the origin of if it had not been legal.

"I didn't know I had that," I pressed my lips and pointed at it in fear.

"Wow. What kind of business did you say your parents ran?"

"I never said it. I don't know. I guess trade or import. They certainly didn't run a bar. It gives me more that they were a kind of pirates or treasure hunters," I noticed the chessboard and its unusual construction. "Lydia, when would you say this is from?"

She had a wonderful eye for antique pieces. She could tell where they came from and how old they were just by smelling them. She loved art history, and any strange piece that might have something to do with it. It was her hobby. She painted, forged works of art from hundreds of years ago... She knew perfectly well what had to be done for a statue made no more than two hours ago to pass scans and tests documenting that it was several centuries old.

Hypatia had set the pieces aside for Lydia to take the board and study it. She weighed it with her hands, smelled it, ran her fingers over the mother-of-pearl squares several times and carefully observed it.

"The board from at least two and a half centuries ago I would even say from the Middle Ages. I don't know much about mother-of-pearl in relation to this period, but we already know how advanced some countries were in the art of jewellery making," she left it delicately on the chest of drawers. "This is not just the work of the best cabinetmakers. Gosh, it's beautiful. Look at the details in the wood. And it's sequoia! Do you mind if I take a couple of pictures of it?" I nodded gladly to see her so happy with an expensive piece of wood."The work the jewellers have done is impressive. How many pearls will they have used for each of the squares?"

Hypatia crossed her arms waiting for the turn of the pieces. Lydia threw herself into taking the silver king and the gold queen. She sighed enchanted.

"They are European. Look at the faces of the figures. They are much more detailed than the rest of the art of the time. It's impressive," Lydia deposited the king, fearing that he would break into a thousand pieces, on the map of the secret passages. Her face changed as she gazed more closely at the queen's face. She placed the piece next to my face. "This is very strange. Are you sure your parents were not counterfeiters?"

"Of course. If they were, I would have found many more art books than there are in the library," I raised my eyebrows.

She had many more art books than anything else. In my library, although there were more than in her house, art books were rather scarce compared to engineering and medical books.

"Tell me, then, how do you explain your resemblance to the golden queen?"

"I can't. Just as I can't explain why the Silver King bears a striking resemblance to my..." I sighed. "Friend from the last orphanage."

"I think it's because you miss him."

"And why do the wooden chess queens in my room bear an almost unreal resemblance to you two?"

"We can't explain that. And it's very spooky."

"Now... Regarding Indian food, what would we recommend you to order?" Hypatia decided to change the subject so as not to talk about the things in my house that didn't fit.

They started to talk to me about a lot of food that was delicious. It was only ten o'clock in the morning, but if we were distracted for a second we would forget to eat. We ordered the food for twelve, which would give us two hours in case we hadn't finished with the plans.

I went upstairs to pack while Hypatia reconstructed what we were going to do and Lydia told her about the weaknesses she saw in her idea.

I took the special suitcase and put in two pairs of trousers, six T-shirts, an elegant suit in case there was something special to attend to. I put in two pairs of trainers, a pair of slippers and a pair of heels. Then I went to the bathroom, took the travel bag and put it in the suitcase. I took the tablet, the mobile phone, the plug for both and I put them in this one too.

I went down to the weapons room. I turned on the lights and looked for the bag I had made two years ago. It could be x-ray it with drugs, metals and other things inside and prevent them from being detected. I took out two guns and checked that they could correctly reflect light, i.e. they could be made invisible if you pressed the right button, I put them in the bag.

I opened the wardrobe in the living room and entered the room that hid the hidden door at the bottom. I took out my invisible suit, checked that there wasn't a single chip that was broken and put it in the bag as well.

I took two butterfly knives that had no fingerprint detection and three Swiss army knives. Then I looked around the room. I almost forgot the cases with the diamond knives. I tried to make everything I took and put in the bag undetectable if we were x-rayed.

I took off my trousers, tied the gun covers to my legs and put them back on again. Then I passed to put the knives on my arms and back in leather belts.

I had never left the house and was in a panic to leave the village. The last time I tried, they tried for me, my parents ended up dead. I know I lived outside the village for a few years when I was very young, but I was terrified of the outside world. Mainly because the hell I lived outside this little piece of heaven was so big that it traumatised me and made me nauseous every time I was between my village and the neighbour. The only thing that calmed me down from this trip was being able to go to Washington D.C. The harpy woman's family was there, yes, but so was my best friend. Maybe I'll see him again, and he will regret not having written or called me since his birthday as we have always done, I thought.

I remember standing in that room and wondering if what I was doing was right as I looked at the thousands of weapon designs that had been scattered around. I remember holding in my hands the photograph of my uncle and me that was on the work table. I ran my middle finger across his face and promised to make him proud, no matter what it took.

Now I look back at my life and I laugh at being so innocent. Feeling proud of the life I chose? He would rather close his eyes and try to forget, I think. I have committed more crimes than anyone could be proud of, not just stealing and swindling. All because I didn't know how to say no three times. Three times that split the group in two and ended up not only with my freedom, but with someone else's.

After having all my portable arsenal ready, I went upstairs to see how Lydia and Hypatia were doing with the plan, leaving the bags outside, in the entrance, next to theirs.

"We have already decided," Hypatia stood up as she entered and pointed at the projected computer screen. "You'll be mixing it up with the visitors. I'll stay in my aunt and uncle's van outside."

"Do you have a licence?"

"No. But nobody knows that," she threw me a license with her picture on it and showed me a website with her name in the valid driving license zone. "I got it for everyone last year."

"Can you really drive?"

"Yes. I just didn't want to get tested. You?"

"Yes. My uncle taught me. We have a pretty big esplanade. And you don't have to forge my card, I took the exams."

"What do you control?"

"Motorcycles, racing cars and buses."

"Good. Lydia knows how to fly helicopters."

"Where do you...?"

"Internet courses. In summer. In those days it was supposed to be ill."

"You got your helicopter license in less than a month?"

"Yeah."

"I admire you."

"I go on," I nodded and sat down to listen to her. "You are the golden queen, Lydia is the silver one," she shook the pieces over her head. "You enter through the front door, with the visitors. Just when you reach the corner of this area, the camera will be off for a couple of seconds, just long enough for the group to leave without you and sneak into the oval office."

I looked at the maps. There were two different alarms and you could not deactivate both at the same time. If one was deactivated, the other was automatically activated.

"It would be preferable to enter through the sewers," I pointed out the passage.

"It's got guards."

"What about this one?"

Lydia quickly typed on the laptop.

"Nobody knows that this passage exists, Hypatia. It is much better to pass through there than with visitors," she said, showing the turn of the soldiers and policemen in charge of the security of the place. "Nobody is watching that exit."

"But the entrance is blocked. It's been walled up," she said, putting the current map on top of the old one.

"Yeah, but if we bring dynamite..." I proposed.

"The sensors will vibrate and thus end our lives."

I spent several seconds looking at the three maps; the old one, the new one and the one of the soldiers. I discovered a point that no one had ever looked at. It was not walled up, but we would have to go in with the visitors. I'm sure that was Hypatia's plan from the beginning, but there was no need to enter the oval office. So I started to rummage through the maps looking for drawbacks to my plan.

"The oval office has a direct passage to the chamber we want to enter. It's the only thing we could do," she took out a packet of licorice and began to eat it. "Do you see anything, Stella?"

"We could move from the first floor bathrooms to the chamber and we wouldn't need to deactivate anything. I know the vault is shielded, but there is another entrance that is not protected because the new engineers bypassed it and that is the first floor bathroom."

"Who would be stupid enough to put a doorway in the visitors' bathroom?"

"Someone with a name in the security world and a lot of ego," answered Lydia. "This company and its boss are known for their very expensive and very good security systems. The entrance to the site is only on the old maps and is twenty years old, the security system is five years old and there are maps from a year before, he would look at just that one. They are also known for being very lazy when looking for information about the site".

"Maybe it was some president's idea to erase that passage from the maps. Who commissioned the last map?" Hypatia took the liquorice she was sucking out of her mouth and looked at us curiously.

"Do you remember when we got into the White House security cameras three years ago?" Lydia turned the laptop over, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing.

"That charge we caught stealing from the president? Is that the one?" Lydia nodded broadly. "I can't believe it. We've ruined the life of the one who made it easy for us."

"You were the ones who published the video?" I was more and more surprised.

"We could have used a pen-drive like this, we had to design our own and it took us a year and a half. It was before you went to school."

"Wow"

"Hony, do you have the trial videos?" she nodded. "Does it say anything about how he snuck in?"

"No. He says he found a way to get past the security field of the only passage that exists."

"Perfect. Then I'll give you enough time to sneak in. But if you stay too long in the bathroom, they will be suspicious," Hypathy reminded us.

"We don't need to go in with the visitors," I said, "we need to go in like any other maintenance person. Outside of visiting hours. Cleaning, for example."

"The invisible suits!" jumped Lydia. "They will be magnificent for this occasion. They are completely designed... But only you and I could enter, Hypatia."

"It's okay, I have my own," I confessed. "My parents had one designed, the materials bought. I just followed the construction steps with the help of my uncle."

"Is it true that he was a mechanic? It's a rumor that spread in the village years ago because he knew how to fix a small plane that had crashed in the fields".

I knew about the rumour that was going around in the village about my uncle, he told me about it. He was just a little obsessed with planes. The one who was really into all this mechanical stuff was my aunt. She and my father had each gone to MIT for a specialty. She was at that time married to my uncle and she was the one who introduced him to my mother. They were twenty-one years old when they finished their studies.

"No. The mechanics were my father and my aunt, his wife. He ended up having something stuck to his prodigious head before they died. He taught me how to read plans and build things. He used to say that it wasn't that different from building models."

The gate bell rang. I had to run out with the money I had in my pockets to pay the man who brought the food. Five hundred metres later I was paying the delivery man and bringing the food home.

In case you are wondering, I got the money from what I inherited from my uncle when he died of a gunshot in the hospital where he was being treated for his lung cancer.

My parents had a lot more money, but I hadn't figured it out yet. At that time, I found dolar notes all over the house, I didn't know that in one of the dungeon cells there was a secret passage to a vault with billions.

I took the Indian food to the place where we were working. We put the maps aside and started eating quickly so that we could get on with our work as soon as possible.

"I think we've got it," Hypatia spoke with her mouth full of food as she tried to swallow. "I'm in charge of the cameras in the van. You enter with everything at the same time as the visitors, in case anything goes wrong. Surely there will be people inside those people with criminal records or even going against our president and wanting to, I don't know, kill him. We can always blame them."

She kept chewing, waiting for us to comment.

"Actually, it would be nice if you looked at those who have booked visits, they are usually a bit stupid and book quite a few times," I felt their curious glances. "What? I've read thousands of murders. The modus operandi of killers with big targets is the same, they usually make the same mistakes. They are never the ones who book at the last minute at the box office, they are afraid that they will be recognised. They tend to forget that the Internet is a door without a lock that allows everyone to enter".

Hypatia nodded. She was more concerned with the mistakes made in the foreign policy of many countries. She was very interested in politics and economics, just as Lydia was interested in art and I was interested in death and weapons.

"I have something for you," I handed them the two butterfly knives. "They are very useful for certain situations. I would have liked to have had one ten years ago."

"They are great. Thank you."

I smiled and watched them play with it for a while. Hypatia had art in moving them, Lydia was slow in getting hold of them, but when she succeeded she was going at a dizzying speed. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been a good idea to give them to her, as she sweetly threatened anyone who came within seven metres of her with unclear intentions. She even threatened her current boyfriend because he wouldn't give her the popcorn.

"I have memorised the cameras I have to turn on and off and when I have to do it. You are in good hands if the suits decide not to work. I will make you invisible," Hypatía began to collect all the maps and chess pieces.

We kept everything we had used except the pen-drive, which we would take with us to Washington D.C.

I took them to the garage of the house carrying all the suitcases and bags. We wouldn't check in, we didn't want to lose anything inside. The maps that we had to return to the village stayed in my room to be returned as soon as we returned. The other maps were among the three suitcases.

I pulled the car out and turned on all the possible alarms that the house had installed.

"Well, I hope we don't leave anything out."

I started the Ford Tourneo Custom and drove to the gate. Lydia went out to open it and I went out to close it because I had to set seven different alarms that she didn't know how to turn on.

"Does the car have an alarm in case it's stolen too?" joked Hypatia.

"No, it has a tracker. A pretty powerful one."

We arrive at the airport. We got out and waited for the call to get on the plane.

We drew our cards to pass the time and started playing poker at three o'clock. We were called before the end of the first round. I felt pretty bad, I had a royal flush.

When we arrived in Washington D.C., Lydia's uncles were waiting for us in their grey Tesla. I had to get a model of that make, or at least drive it, I thought as soon as I got in.

Lydia introduced me to them, they already knew Hypatia. They started to ask us about the course we were in, whether we liked it and what we planned to study when we arrived at the university.

They were two very nice people and very proud of their son, so I would see later. Lydia loved them very much and they loved her, but she didn't get along with her cousin, a very conceited petulant. He was a rather pronounced toothache and loved to complain about his lack of freedom. He also loved to flirt.

I was dropped off at the hotel Hypatia had booked for me on the way to the airport. I said goodbye to them and got out of the car.

I entered the hotel and said my name so they could give me the key to the room I had booked.

I went upstairs and left everything on the bed. I dressed in the invisibility suit, but I didn't put on my mask or gloves. I put them in my bag and put on the clothes I was wearing before. I put the keys in my trouser pocket and left.

It took me several minutes to remember how the streets of Washington were going, but it was not difficult once I walked several meters. It refreshed my head. I knew how to get back to the orphanage from the hotel and go home to the harpy and the previous foster home.

I went to the White House and waited patiently for Lydia and Hypatia to show up with the van of the guys in the second house. I had time to buy an ice cream and eat it sitting on a bench not far from there.

The van appeared half an hour later.

"We forgot to look at the visiting hours," they said as soon as I walked in and closed the doors behind me. "It's in the morning."

I rolled my eyes and took off my leftover clothes.

"Is there anyone who will drive into the cottage?"

"Yes, a military man who lives no more than five minutes from here. He's taking the president to a last-minute meeting. I will take you to his house, show you the car, open it and wait for you to get into the White House. I will be parked at least one block away. Don't worry about the signal from the communicators, Lydia has made sure that everything is in order".

"Do you have contact lenses?"

"I knew I forgot something. Do you have any new ones?"

Hypatia searched through one of the drawers. It said "the best niece", to be more specific.

"Here. I think they will help you if you are neither short-sighted nor astigmatic. Try them on and tell me."

Hypatia sat behind the wheel again while I put in my lenses. They were much softer than mine and much more comfortable, I didn't understand how that could be.

"How did you make them?"

"We have not used normal ones, we have made them with special optical plastic. Courtesy of my father."

Hypatia's father was an ophthalmologist and left her many glasses and lenses that she used for her school work. It was incredible to see her working with optical lenses.

I put on my mask and gloves.

"Can you see me?" I asked Lydia who was finishing her lenses.

"Just a patch. You've done pretty well. What microprocessor has your suit got?"

"They are chips with special crystals."

"We should get together one afternoon to improve both," said Hypatia.

"You should come to the weapons room at my house one evening," I hit the button on the guns and they became invisible, like their cases and those of the knives. " It' s pretty good. "

"My question is how can anybody not notice that you have so much stuff under your clothes," Lydia touched one of the diamond-edged knives that had just disappeared into the case.

"I guess it's practice. I like to dress in wide clothes, and when I wear them tight, I hide them in my ponytail."

"Did you bring knives to class?"

"Yes. I didn't trust much of what might happen. My cousins were murdered on the way to school," I confessed.

Both nodded and Hypatia parked in front of a black car.

"That's the one. Two minutes to close again."

She came down to stretch his legs and let us out without causing the occasional scare that the door would open by itself.

We got into the back seats of the vehicle through the windows and waited for the military man to come down from greeting his mother-in-law.

The military man ran out of the front gate. He was sweating from running down the stairs. His hands trembled when he took out the car keys and opened the driver's door. I wondered how he could get tired running down the stairs if you have to run a lot more in military training. Lydia denied as she swallowed her saliva so as not to smile and avoid laughing.

He started off and we said goodbye to Hypatia with our hand, which had settled in that place to lead us from there.

As soon as we arrived and the soldier came out through the front door, leaving the back door open for the president to pass through, we get out of the car and stood at the front door of the house.

The president and an entourage of police appeared within seconds. They were so coordinated that I was stunned by them and Lydia had to pull me in. Once inside we went to look for the visitors' bathroom.

"To the right, girls," I jumped when I heard Hypatia. I didn't expect the intercom to be so loud.

Lydia had a locator on her suit, I figured that's why she knew our location.

"Straight ahead, then left and you're there."

We went into the bathroom and I looked for the handle that opened the door to the passage.

"Where was the handle?" I asked.

"Here," shouted Lydia behind the center pile. "This is it."

The door opened and we stood still in our place. Fearing that the lady who had just entered could see us. Lydia had to step aside because she was going straight to her. She opened the secret passage for us and entered through it after locking the bathroom door.

"She's the president's daughter," reported Hypatia. "Be careful, she tends to scream very loudly."

I listened to the tone of the sentence and had to close my eyes tightly, as my mouth, to keep from letting out the scathing comment that I was struggling to get out. Lydia nodded more seriously. I calmed down and followed the mini-president into the secret room.

She took a detour before arriving in the room. According to the maps she was going out somewhere without her mother's or father's permission. Being the president's daughter and living with him had a lot of rules and not many things were allowed that people her age took for granted.

Lydia and I ended up appearing in a completely dark room.

"Do not turn on the light, I guide you."

I stood still before I walked any further. Lydia dodged me and stood next to me.

"On the right you have a lot of papers. Do not throw them away. The book should be behind the painting of the President that is right in front of Hony. Be aware that you have a table and a sofa in front of it."

Lydia and I were walking carefully so as not to throw or touch anything. We reached the sofa and circumvent it without barely touching it.

"Hold on."

The light came on completely and two security guards entered, looked inside and left, turning off the lights on their way.

"Keep going."

Lydia and I count to three below our breath and lift the frame. We left it on the floor.

The security box was two meters above us. I made Lydia climb up on my shoulders and stand on her toes while she tried to open it with the combination that Hypatia passed to us.

Five minutes passed. Lydia still didn't get to the wheel properly.

My hands began to sweat profusely, my muscles began to charge up and Lydia's weight increased by the second. It was taking too long. The next round would appear at any moment and the picture falling quietly would arouse suspicion. They would raise the alarm, Lydia would fall down and we would be discovered.

"There," she whispered almost imperceptibly.

She pressed against my shoulders and the pain I felt in them grew considerably. I bit my tongue so as not to scream. It moved too much for the muscles of these, they began to place themselves on top of each other, to contract without any order.

I was holding her with my hands, to give Lydia balance, but I had to stop when I noticed much more weight. How much would that book weigh?

"The next patrol enters in two seconds."

Lydia threw the book under the sofa and within seconds you could see both of us holding the painting as if it were really hanging.

The light came on.

The painting almost slipped from my grasp. Four people came in. One of them was the president, the other his wife, the third was a high-ranking military man and the fourth was him.

My pulse quickened as if a gun were pointed at me. I swallowed saliva. I tried to forget about the pain coming down my back.

He turned abruptly. He seemed to have seen us, but then took a seat as ordered by his superiors, turning his back on us.

"I don't know how long the meeting will last and I don't know who he is."

I could not speak, I could not say anything without being heard.

Lydia was on tiptoe to keep the painting at the right height. She'd get tired right away if she kept it up, I thought at the time. We will be discovered. They would put us in jail to wait for us to die.

To forget the pain that threatened to cramp my arms, I decided to watch him.

He had changed. He was taller, stronger and much more attractive than a couple of years ago. His hair was still reddish blond and his face was serious. He sat upright and did not move. He was waiting for the president or the military man to speak. He was waiting to receive orders. He had always stood like this when he received orders from others. It was another thing if or how he followed them.

"We need you to inform us of any conspiracy against the president that you become aware of. You are young, we will pay for a prestigious university. We want you to report as you always have. Keep doing your job," the military man tightened his knuckles as he handed over the mission. "The Secret Services are very happy with your performance in the latest attempt to assassinate the president. Besides, if you continue to forge ballots like that, you will be promoted quickly, kid."

He did not smile. He could not have smiled even if he tried. Because he was too hard on himself to smile about something he thought was wrong and that he wouldn't have done if he hadn't been threatening someone he loved.

I knew that he was the best manipulator, that he knew how to fake anything and that he would do anything to achieve his goals. He was ambitious, cunning and had a wit that most people would envy. However, behind all that, and even though that part was the majority of his being and it did not let the other part out, was his loyalty to his friends and loved ones.

"I want to commission something from you personally, kid," the president stood up. "I need you to keep an eye on my daughter. She is getting sidetracked and if she gives bad press, the people will find out in the next election that we are cheating."

"Whatever you say, President, will be done."

The First Lady smiled gently at him, got up and left followed by the rest. Except for him. He stood there in thought. He knew that there were cameras in that room and that he could not perform at his leisure. I knew that he knew.

Suddenly, he raised his nose and sniffed at the atmosphere. He delicately breathed in a lot of air and slowly let it out. A smile formed on his face and I remembered the perfume I was wearing. I shouldn't have put it on this morning.

The weight of the tableau reappeared again, suddenly, without warning. It slipped through the fabric of the invisible gloves. Every step it took towards us, the more difficult it became to hold the painting correctly.

"You're just hallucinating," he whispered to himself and walked away.

Lydia and I positioned the painting correctly, picked up the book, and shot out of that room the same way the president's daughter had done.

We arrived at the van and collapsed in the back.

"He seems to have come out of nowhere, the child doesn't exist for this society. I would like to be like him."

"This child happens to be our age, he is a gentleman when he wants to be and has a bullet meant for him alone for not having written or called me since his birthday."

"Stella..." Hypatia didn't like me mentioning death even as a joke.

"He is my friend."

"Well, your friend is an enemy, girl." Lydia was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. "What friendships. He's part of the whole conspiracy. Congratulations."