The Agent

A man's face came to view as his hand lifted my chin up. His oval bearded face gave me a sneer. "She's awake, boss." He walked away and a well-suited man came into view. He was also the same man I've worked with three years ago.

A man I considered as a brother and a friend.

It was Jason.

He slowly clapped his hands as his confident stature stood close to the hooded figure. His smile became sinister as his eyes scanned his ex-partner.

He laughed.

"I know you don't understand what's happening and I didn't expect you to, agent. It's a rather complicated situation we're all in right now especially for this little gal." He grabbed the hood from the figure and pulled it. Strands of red hair flew around its oval face and bright green eyes glared at Jason. It was Carrie. Once she registered who she was looking at, her struggling to get free stopped and shock became apparent.

She looked around the room and her eyes widened once she saw who was also tied and gagged in front of her. I glared at her and Jason while her eyes glued to my wounded side. Jason carefully took the gag off Carrie, which she responded by spitting on him.

"You fucking traitor," she panted shakily. "It was you all along!"

Jason patiently grabbed his handkerchief and cleaned the spit off his suit. Then, he quickly backhanded Carrie across the face, which she responded with a groan.

"I want this to be quick," he continued cooly. "Seventy-six almost wrecked the program and you were stupid enough in attempting to hack it alone during its trial run. At least one of our hackers found your location. We had no choice but to kidnap and bring you here because you, my friend, have a big role to this."

"How are you still alive?" Carrie said as she spat out blood to the floor. "You were dead. We saw your body!"

"My dear, I wasn't dead at all. Thanks to Alfonso, we kidnapped a local french man who had the same stature and somewhat same features as me. With the use of plastic surgery, the man who was tortured that night was just a poor guy at the wrong place at the right time."

"You used us," she said her voice shaking. "The Agency took you in and treated you like their own, and this is how you repay it!?"

"That fucking organisation did nothing to me!" he shouted. The other men in the room looked at each other. Roughly, he lifted Carrie's chin up. "The Agency took my life. Mission after mission, all I ever was in its eyes was an agent. Nothing more. We gain nothing from it yet we continue to serve blindly till the day we die."

"You're wrong," she whispered. "We save people."

"Save people," he mocked as he walked towards my way. "No, Carrie, we take people's lives. We destroy families. We meddled in things that weren't suppose to be meddled with in the first place. No matter how hard we try to 'save people,' the inevitable is bound to happen. Humans destroy humans and it has been that way since the beginning of time. No matter how hard we try to fix or prevent certain events from happening, it's bound to happen."

My body felt a little colder. Was it due to the fact that it really was cold in the yacht? Or was it due to the fact that I was losing blood?

"What the hell do you want from us?"

"No, not us. Just you."

Carrie looked at him blankly.

"Nuclear codes, agent! I want them and you're going to help me get them," he continued. "Alfonso and I have worked so hard to develop this masterpiece. Ever since I met him a year before I became seventy-six's partner, I was intrigued and interested in bringing the organisation down. So I began to dig and hack through the Agency's servers, but of course I needed help. That's when Alfonso decided to hire different programmers across the country."

"But after discovering the fact that Alfonso was to be assassinated, I made sure I was to be your partner. I made sure you weren't aware of the Trojan Horse program, but I didn't want you to suspect me as a possible mole in developing it. That's when I decided to contact Ashley to make sure you got my video."

"Also, I wanted the Agency to suspect you. I didn't want your attention, nor Carrie's or Ashley's on me, nor did I want the Agency's. So I made sure you all suspected each other, while I finished up the project. That little tracker you put on Alfonso that one night? Too obvious in my eyes. I relocated it to someone else, someone like Big Al. Pretty neat, huh?"

I tried to make a fist, but I felt too weak to do so.

"But after a while, I wanted to go beyond the organisation. I wanted control and Alfonso persuaded me to think big. The more I thought big, the dangerous the program has become. Then I asked myself: what's bigger than the nuclear codes?" He gave a little shrug and smiled patiently at Carrie. "I need them, Carrie. I need you to be my hacker-"

"No," Carrie quickly said frowning.

"Alrighty then," he motioned one of the men to approach him. One of the guards gave him a baton and he patiently cleaned it with his handkerchief. Then, he looked at me and suddenly swung it to my right side. I cried in pain.

If I was bleeding fast before, I was bleeding a lot faster now.

"No!" Carrie shouted on top of her lungs, her body violently struggled to get free. "No! Why are you-"

"I won't stop until you say yes," Jason interrupted. "Now, we can go on all night, but I don't think she can. I'll ask again: will you get my codes?"

Deja vu, I thought to myself. I've been in this situation before three years ago but the roles have been reversed. But I knew what was in her mind because it was the same thought I had with Jason. It was a conflict between duty and humanity. I knew full well I didn't choose humanity that night and I didn't expect Carrie to.

She and I knew this. Her pained green eyes looked at me and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was: duty above all else. Stubbornly, she shook her head while my eyes looked down towards the floor. Jason swung and the baton hit me on my chest. I coughed painfully as I willed my brain to shut off the pain I was currently feeling.

"The smell of iron," he breathed. "She's dying, Carrie. I can stop all this if you just say yes. What's it gonna be?" He cleaned the baton again with his bloody handkerchief. Weakly, I looked up. My eyes locked with Carrie's now tearful eyes. She was a mess, like a grieving wife who just found out her spouse died. Hesitantly, she shook her head and forced herself to look at the ground. Jason gave her a disappointed look and sighed. At the corner of my eyes, I saw him raise his baton and from the way he was standing and looking, he was about to strike something higher than my torso.

A small flicker of hope came to mind. If I can make him hit the side of my jaw, I thought to myself, maybe the force will be big enough to bust Ashley's device. As soon as he brought the baton down, I angled my face so my right jaw was exposed.

The baton came in contact with the right side of my face. My ear rang and I sputtered blood out. I heard something crunch inside my mouth and I hoped it was the device. Please, Ashley, I thought to myself. We need your help now!

"This is gonna be fun," Jason said, smiling.

Twenty harrowing minutes later, my body was ready to give up. I lost count on how many times he hit me, but it didn't matter. A couple more and I was done for. The pool of blood that surrounded my foot became bigger.

"Carrie, Carrie, Carrie," Jason taunted as he dropped the bloody baton to the ground. "You know how this night will end. You should know. You were there when you found her like this those years ago." I blinked and weakly tried to focus my eyes on her. Her green anguished eyes glared at him as she shook the horrible memories away. So it was you, I thought to myself. I thought it was a dream, a hallucination. She was the agent that located Jason's body and mine. If she came too late, I would've died from bleeding out. I knew I've seen those green eyes from somewhere, but I never thought it'd be hers. However, why would a desk agent like her put herself out in the field? Carrie turned away and tried holding herself together.

Obviously, she wasn't used to these types of situation. Her soul and heart were a lot more fragile as a desk agent compared to a field agent. Compared to mine. But she knew what she had to do and what was coming. Jason gritted his teeth, then unholstered his gun. The room became colder and I shook from both fear and coldness.

"Last question," he said lowly as the metal barrel made contact with my forehead. I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes. "Will you get me my codes?" Just get it over with, I thought to myself. Just get it done!

A couple of seconds went by, but it felt like an eternity to me. At this point, I thought I'd be thinking of a million thinks, but all I could think about was Carrie and those beautiful eyes of hers. How she managed to grab my heart and break it.

How she managed to make me smile.

A sense of peace flowed through me. That's what it was, I thought to myself. She gave me peace, a gift that I will forever hold in my heart. I heard the gun click, and my body relaxed.

"I'll do it," Carrie suddenly croaked. "I'll-I'll do it, just please...don't hurt her anymore." My eyes opened in surprise as the gun lowered to Jason's side. Slowly, I lifted my head up and found her eyes on me. What are you doing, I thought to myself. Jason looked amused and ordered one of his men to release her.

"You're coming with me," Jason said in a serious tone. "All of you, keep at eye on my beloved partner. She might be dying, but she always has her tricks-" A loud boom was heard at the end of the hallway. The boat violently rocked back and forth, which sent me flying to my side. I groaned.

Gunfires were heard and empty shells fell towards the floor. My vision became blurry and saw a dark figure shooting at the guards. One by one, they fell. Something was on my face and realised I fell in my pool of blood. I sputtered and willed myself to focus. The shooting stopped and the figure appeared within my field of vision. It ran to me and a pair of angry grey eyes appeared. Its hands began to ungag and untie me.

"Ashley..." I said weakly as she helped me stand on my two feet. She grabbed my left arm and swung it across the back of her shoulders.

"Jesus, agent," she said panting. "You're a fucking mess. Come on, we gotta get you out of here. The helicopter is upstairs, Keith is guarding it."

"Th-the Trojan Horse-"

"Can wait," she finished as we started to walk towards the entrance door. "Right now, we have to get you out of here!" We walked slowly towards the stairs leading to the top floor. I could tell Ashley struggled since most of my weight went to her, but nonetheless she kept on moving while pointing her gun for any unexpected guards.

"We can't..."

"What?"

"We have to destroy it..." I whispered painfully. Ashley looked at me with concern.

"You can't, not with your condition," she answered, "but I have another plan. I don't like it, but it's the last resort. We have no choice but to blow the yacht up and everything that goes with it. The hole fucking state will go wild, but at least the program will go down with it."

It was rough, but we had no choice. As soon as we were near at the bottom of the stairway, a shot was made and almost went through Ashley's head. Ashley retreated and pointed her gun towards the source. "You," she hissed.

I looked over and saw Carrie pointing her gun intently at Ashley. She was bruised up, but the fire in her eyes made her look superior. Slowly, she walked up while Ashley glared at her with hatred. "Put her down," Carrie whispered. Ashley sneered and hugged me close to her side. "Put your gun down first."

The boat rocked, but we somehow maintained our balance. "You're a fucking traitor, you know that?" Carrie continued. "Fucking rogue agent! Put her down now!"

Ashley laughed. "That's ironic hearing that from you. Little Miss Perfect. You were the one that got her into all this mess. You haven't told her everything, have you?"

"You're a disgrace to the Agency and everything it stands for-"

"And you're a disgrace to the world thinking you all can play God-"

"Put her down now-!"

"Fucking mole-!"

"Guys," I managed to groan loudly. "No time for t-this. She's not the mole, Ashley. Carrie, she's helping me. We have to go...please." I had so little strength left in my body. Both women stared at each other with uncertainty until Carrie decided to lower her gun and went ahead of us. "Stay close," she said. "I'll guard the front." Ashley looked at her stubbornly, but finally nodded in agreement.

Ashley looked at me softly as she grabbed my hand and put it on my wounded side. "Put pressure on that. We're going to make it, just hang on there." Carrie slightly turned her head, but kept her eyes forward.

The first thing that I saw were the bodies on the blood stained wooden floors. So that's where the programmers went, I thought weakly to myself. A couple of meters away from us was a running helicopter with Keith guarding it with his gun. He motioned us to come over and we eagerly walked quickly towards him.

Fuck, I thought to myself, I'm losing it. I stumbled and my right knee crashed to the floor. Ashley grunted and urged me to get up. "Come on, seventy-six!" she grunted as she pulled me up. "We're almost there!" With the strength I have left, I got up and continued walking towards the helicopter. Forcefully, Carrie ran towards it and waited for us to get in. "We gotta go!" Keith yelled. "we have at least a minute till the bomb goes off!"

Ashley helped me get in while Carrie assisted. As soon as my back rested against the back seat, I relaxed tiredly. Ashley sprinted towards passenger seat and commanded Keith to fly. "Get us up in the air!" Keith did as he commanded. After a few seconds later, the helicopter began to ascend a couple of meters off the ground. 

We made it, I thought to myself. We made it. I grabbed my side and there was still blood dripping down my suit. Weakly, I tried putting more pressure on it, but it was no use. Carrie was looking down at the other side while I looked out mine. The wind was cold and since there wasn't any side doors in the helicopter, there were little flurries of snow coming in.

"Carrie..."I started to say. Carrie looked at me and out to her side again. She became silent.

I was about to call her name again, but then felt something grab my foot. Before I knew it, I was being pulled out from the helicopter. I screamed as I felt a big amount of weight dragging me down, but then a hand grabbed mine just in time. It was now snowing heavily and the wind harshly blew its way around me. From meters below, the yacht finally exploded. Little bits of wood flew and the yacht was now on fire, slowly sinking to the depths of Lake Michigan.

I looked down as I felt another hand grabbing my other foot like someone was attempting to climb their way up. It was Jason. His half bloodied face was looking at mine as he hand reached up and grabbed my hip. I howled in pain as screams from above were heard.

I looked up and saw my hand grip hard onto Carrie's as her other hand clung onto the landing skid. "Hold on!" she screamed. I tried lifting my other arm up, but it was too heavy. Ashley's side door opened. Her head popped out and attempted to aim her gun at Jason.

"Shit!" I heard her say. "I can't get a clear shot! There's too much snow and movement, I'm risking on hitting seventy-six!"

Carrie looked down desperately at me as the cold wind blew her red hair. Jason's other hand went to my other hip and his eyes looked deathly into mine. Carrie screamed as her hand began to slip on the landing skid. A tear rolled down her face.

And I had to make a quick decision. She can't hold us both, I thought to myself. If we keep this any longer, all three of us will fall. I pursed my lips and focused my determined eyes on her.

My mind was set.

I loosened my grasp, but she clamped on as hard as she can.

"No!" she screamed. "You're not doing that! We're going to make this through!"

Sadly, I shook my head as Jason struggled to keep his balance. I gave her a small smile to let her know it was alright.

"Let go," I said.

"No," she desperately said as her face crumpled up in anguish. "I won't let you die."

I shook my head again. "You have no choice this time."

Her grasp on mine began to slip as my hand opened up in submission.

"Don't do this, Pamela!"

I closed my eyes.

Before I know it, both Jason and I were falling as multiple screams were heard from above. I don't remember my body hitting the water nor sinking deep into Lake Michigan.

From there, all I remembered was floating in the dark abyss as the comfortable darkness engulfed me into its arms.

- - - - - - - - - - -

To be continued...