Legion Of Rockstars

I paused on my mission to the lounge when my pager beeped. I stepped aside in the hallway to led others pass by me as I unclipped the little electronic box from my belt and looked at the block letters running along the small gray screen. It told me, as usual, to be in Joan’s office in ten minutes. That gave me pretty much just enough time to go grab my badge from my room and make my way up to the directors’ lobby.

I bumped into Jimmy as I stepped back out of my room, hooking my badge onto a belt loop. I walked straight into him, knocking myself back against my door. Jimmy grinned and grabbed my arms to steady me before glancing at my pager and badge. He smiled wider and began to lead me towards an elevator.

“Looks like we’re on a mission together, Ash,” Jimmy said happily, pulling me into an empty elevator and pushing the button with RECREATION stamped on it in cramped little letters.

“Your enthusiasm frightens me,” I said truthfully, tilting my head back slightly to look up at Jimmy. He still had a hold of my upper arm, but he wasn’t hurting me. He grinned down at me, and I pulled a face as the elevator doors slid open and Jimmy pulled me out into the Recreation Hallway. Moments later, we stepped over the threshold of the directors’ elevator and the silver doors hissed closed.

“Oh, Asher, I frighten everyone,” Jimmy sighed, finally releasing my arm.

“That’s why it’s so scary,” I muttered as we stepped out into an empty lobby. Joan’s office door slid open several moments later, and she ushered us politely into the office.

“Hello, you two,” Joan said, sitting down behind her desk as Jimmy and I stood across from it. “This mission is really simple. Sandra Martin, an avid rock fan, was driving in her car listening to a rock station. Suddenly, a Jonas Brothers song began to play. She panicked—as I’m sure most people would—and pulled over her car, calling 911. She was dispatched over to LOR, and now I want to send you two to help her recover. It’ll be basic procedure: ask her questions about what happened and let her listen to some rock music to calm her nerves. Once you’re satisfied she’s alright, you can let her be on her way.”

“Yes, Joan,” Jimmy and I both said with a nod. She handed us mission detail in the Manila folder and we both pored over it as the elevator transported us back down into main Headquarters.

Fifteen minutes later, Jimmy pulled up in a borrowed Legion car behind Sandra Martin’s black Buick. Since it was such a simple mission, we’d simply been instructed to drive ourselves. Sandra sat on the pavement beside her car, staring down at her hands and looking a little disoriented. We quickly played a game of rock-paper-scissors to see who did what, and I had the pleasure of losing. We both climbed out of the car and as Jimmy led Sandra away from her Buick and gave her an iPod to listen to for a few minutes, I opened up the passenger door of her car and began to search for a bug in the radio that would make Jonas Brothers play unexpectedly.

After finding nothing on the exterior of the radio, I walked back to the Legion car and pulled out a small toolbox containing simple essentials: screwdrivers, nails, screws, a hammer, tape measure, level, those sorts of things. I pulled out a screwdriver and began to unscrew the screws on the radio. After a minute or so of careful maneuvering, I slid the radio out and took the top off. I pushed aside wires and strips of rubber, searching for anything that looked remotely like a bug.

Several minutes of searching got me nowhere. We needed a professional to look for the bug, I decided. I quickly detached the radio from the car to take it back to headquarters and left it in the passenger seat as I straightened up so I could see over the car. I looked around at where Jimmy stood about fifteen feet away with Sandra to tell him I didn’t find anything in the radio and we’d need to take it back to headquarters to have professional technological people do it.

I frowned when I saw a burly guy sneaking up behind Jimmy. Sandra could see him—I know she could—because she kept glancing from Jimmy’s face to the man behind Jimmy. In that instant, I realized this was all a set-up. I wouldn’t find a bug in the radio; neither would the techies. There was no bug to be found. We’d been tricked; everything had been a lie. And it would only get worse if we didn’t do something.

“Ji—” I started to call out, but a huge hand slipped over my nose and mouth, trapping the rest of my sentence behind my lips and denying me life oxygen. The hand tightened over my mouth and nose so I couldn’t breathe, and as I started to struggle, the man turned my head and slammed my temple hard against the edge of the Buick’s door frame.

My knees crumpled underneath my weight, and I slipped to the ground, hitting my head hard against the side of the Buick’s back door as I did so. Black dots erupted all over my vision, making everything look like Swiss cheese. I could see Jimmy through the space underneath the car, and he’d collapsed as well, no doubt from a blow to the head as well. The dots closed in on my vision, and my eyes met Jimmy’s. We exchanged a similar look of “Oh, shit” and then my sight faded to darkness.