Get Your Spy On

Get Your Spy On

Chapter 10

Alex’s POV

I hear it first, the sound of grunting. I turn to my left and see Eric holding his side in pain. Blood streams down, his hands covered in scarlet blood. The smell is horrible, like death is everywhere. I try to sit up, but my body refuses to obey. My mind is still muddled, but piece by piece I’m starting to understand what’s going on.

I look behind me, expecting to see Sloane out cold as well, but she’s nowhere in sight. I see two guns a few feet away from us, more than likely me and Eric’s guns. I crawl over and grab them, and then see that one of my bullets is missing in my gun. I look over at Eric, putting two and two together. Who shot him? It couldn’t have been Sloane, could it?

I crawl back over to Eric, and inspect his wound. The bullet is still wedged into his side, but it’s too deep for me to take out without Eric screaming out loud, giving us away without a doubt. I don’t know what to do besides crawl around, looking for my father or anybody else’s dad.

Right when I turn a corner behind a burning car, I see Allen and my father lying on the ground, two secret agents standing over them, talking intensely about what to do with them. I point my two guns at them, making sure I get a good shot before I shoot. Right when I was about to pull the trigger, I saw one of them look in my direction, and shoot three bullets at me. I jump backwards, barely missing them.

I start crawling away, but they’re already running after me. They grab my legs and drag me over to my dad and Allen. I look over and thankfully I see Eric pretending he’s dead. If I have to die, at least he doesn’t have to suffer the same fate as I do.

Allen looks over at me and groans loudly. I see my father stare at me, sorrow written all over his face. I look at him and see numerous of wounds on him, including a swollen eye. Allen isn’t in better shape, so I’m assuming I’ll look like them in a matter of moments.

“Is Wendy securely in the truck?” One of them asks the other, putting his right foot in my back so I can’t escape.

The other nods, grinning from ear to ear. “She’s not very good at fighting is she? She did one kick in the air and passed out once I punched her in the gut. She woke up though and wouldn’t stop screaming some kids’ name. I’m betting it’s the one I shot since she started screaming out loud in pain as she watched.”

They both chuckled, and then, with a final act of vengeance, they pour gasoline around everything, then set a match on it. The flame immediately licks the gasoline, starting a chain reaction everywhere. They rush away into their truck and fly off, taking Wendy with them back to the headquarters.

I manage to sit up just as Allen and dad stand up. They help me up, then slowly, we both wince our way out. There’s only a little opening without fire, and we jump through it before the flames take over. They both started walking, not even stopping to even explain where we’re going.

I hurry over to Eric, but I feel my legs give out and I fall to the ground beside him pathetically. How could I be so weak? I nudge Eric with my hand and I see his eyes fly open by my touch. He winces and yelps, the pain overtaking him. I see Allen walk over and pick up Eric.

“We have three cars up ahead in case of an emergency. We can take the airplane and get back home. There’s a kit in there as well, so we can fix him up.”

He glances at Eric, then back up at me. We walk in the direction he pointed in, and soon I see two unattended cars sitting there. Allen and my father exchanged a look of bewilderment. They don’t say anything so they don’t alarm me and Eric, but I can tell there’s something wrong due to a car being missing.

We file in to the car and head off. It’s a short ride, and we turn into a grassy land, but from my point of view, I don’t see an airplane in sight.

“You got to be kidding me,” Allen says. He gets out of the car and starts running around as if it’ll suddenly appear.

My father gets out as well and searches everywhere. Seriously, wouldn’t they see from here if there was an airplane? I see Allen whip out an international cell phone and start dialing more than likely, the Alpha. I hear him yelling at him, and then he hangs up angrily. I’ve never seen Allen actually yell at the Alpha, well actually, I’ve never seen anyone yell at the Alpha period.

My father tries to calm him down, but it’s no use, he’s gone insane. A thought passes my mind. Was Allen actually planning on leaving Wendy here while he goes home?

I look over and see Eric whimpering in pain. I have to get him help, even if it means getting killed by the Alpha to do so. I get out of the car and walk over to Allen and my father, crossed. “Is there any possible way we could hurry up this process so Eric doesn’t die? Both of you stop acting like little pansy’s and call the Alpha and tell him to hurry up!”

They both whip their heads and stare at me as if I just threatened to shoot them with venom. I see my father look surprised at my words, and I see Allen shake his head as if I’m a child. “Listen, yelling at the Alpha will get your friend killed, so it’s best if we find our own way home. I’m going to call Tim and ask what happened to the plan.”

Allen turns away and starts dialing numbers. Meanwhile my father grabs my arm and pulls me away out of hearing distance. “Allen is the lastperson you want to bad mouth the Alpha in front of. You’re lucky he’s not thinking straight or else he would’ve tried to stab you right there on the spot.”

“My friend is dying in that car, dad, so Allen is the least of my worries. I’ll kill him whether he’s important to the spies or not.”

Dad shakes his head at me, not in the mood to discuss this right now. I step away from him and walk as steadily as I can toward Eric. There isn’t much time until he’s dead, and the pain is becoming excruciating. I know Allen can help Eric, so why won’t he help? He’s more worried about himself than Wendy and Eric, and he doesn’t even feel guilty about what he did.

He betrayed the Alpha, more than likely putting his wife and daughter in danger. Wendy is already caught by the secret agents, and who knows what the Alpha is doing with his wife! Anger bubbles over me, but I simply put it aside so I can take aid on Eric. I pull his hands away and see that he’s been trying to take the bullet out. Out of all the bad wounds I’ve seen, this one is disgusting. His hands are covered in blood, and it’s just everywhere.

“Tell my aunt and uncle I love them, okay, Alex?” I hear Eric whisper, his voice full of sorrow.

No. I stand up and start screaming at Allen. “HE’S DYING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF AND HELP OUT, ALLEN!”

Allen turns toward me and in one swift movement he takes out a gun and shoots me. I hear my father shout, then it hits me. I fall to the ground, and slowly, the world disappears around me.

“Alex? Alex? You’re waking up! Oh I was so worried!”

My eyelids flutter open and I see Sloane staring over at me, a smile of relief on her face. I sit up, but she instantly rests me back down, causing her pain. I feel dizziness hit me, but starts subduing long enough for me to look at her. Her bruising is going down and her eye isn’t as swollen as it was when I was with her.

“Where are we?” I ask, looking around in a white room.

Sloane rested on a hospital bed next to mine. Tubes and bruises cover her arm snugly. I look at my arms and see numerous tubes as well. I look back up at her, and she gives me a sympathetic smile. “You’re in the emergency care in some building. Apparently they’re working for the spies to pay off some debt.”

I nod, but this makes no sense. It may be the dizziness talking or the drugs, but I have no recollection of coming here. She can see it on my face and leans back in her bed. “Allen shot you of course. It seems that’s all that happens here doesn’t it? We get beat up or shot until we either bleed to death or get knocked out.”

“Eric,” I say suddenly alarmed. I try sitting back up, but Sloane makes a noise for me to lie back down. I do what she says, but I’m still alarmed. “Where is he, Sloane? Did he get out okay? What happened?”

She looks around, and then back at me. “From what I heard, Eric is in critical condition. They said there’s a sixty percent chance he’ll live. Right now they’re more worried about the Pierce family and if they can trust them. They’ve actually thought of executing Allen, but my father made sure he’s safe.”

“And Wendy?”

Sloane covered her eyes with her hand and leaned back. “They want her to suffer for going along with her parents plan to keep the baby safe. They don’t care if she dies, and they don’t care if Allen dies, all they care about is that the baby being properly trained once it’s born.”

I want to ask Sloane more questions, but I can tell there’s something wrong. I want to ask her what it is, but I have a feeling she doesn’t want to talk about it yet, so instead I look around again to see if I remember this place at all. The only people in here are me and Sloane, and the room is tiny, so our beds are only about a foot apart.

I look at what I’m wearing, suddenly feeling exposed. They actually put us in these hospital gowns even though we aren’t in that bad of shape. I hear the door open behind us, alarming both of us. I turn around the same time Sloane does, and we both see the Alpha walking in, smiling brightly.

“My two favorites,” is all he says before he walks in between the two beds and sits on a chair facing us. He flattens his suit, and stares at both of us, as if he’s marking this in his mind for some apparent reason. “I picked you two from the start to be my two stars.”

I look over at Sloane. We both are the most anti-spy people in our squad. I see her stare at me for a long moment, and suddenly, it was as if I could see it written all over her face. Pretend.

She glances back at the Alpha, and smiles at him. “Why, sir, I’m simply touched. But if you feel this way, why didn’t you make one of us the captain?”

I look at Sloane, surprised. She wants us to play along about actually wanting this to be our life? We’re always against this, and now she wants me to pretend we want to be like him?

“Sloane,” the Alpha says, his voice casual. “The secret agents go for the captains without a doubt, so why would I put you two in danger of that? I want one of you to be the Alpha after I retire, so that means I need you two safe. You may think being the captain is a fulfilling role, a coat of armor, somebody you should respect, but in all honesty, it’s just a supporting role for the big captain, the Alpha.”

I have to almost hold back a snort on this one. Did he or did he just diss Sloane’s father right in front of her? Apparently so, because Sloane looks straight at the Alpha, full of confidence, and what looks like a smirk. “I couldn’t agree more.”

I suppress myself from shaking my head in disgust. Alpha looks over at me for my opinion, and I simply just nod. Satisfied, the Alpha stood up, and started playing with one of the tubes on Sloane’s arm. She didn’t budge, but I could see she’s uncomfortable.

“This tube right here,” the Alpha says, pointing at the one with lime green liquid in it, “this keeps you two alive at the moment. If we took this away from you two, your body wouldn’t be able to heal yourselves fast enough. No bullet, no stabbing, no poison can beat this drug.”

He lets go of the tube, then walks over to me. He hands me a chocolate from his pocket, and throws one over at Sloane behind his back. He smiles at both of us, then he walks out, summoning for a nurse to give us dinner.

When he was out of earshot, I turn and look at Sloane. She shakes her head, and looks over at the walls, her index finger pointing at the left corner of the wall. I casually glance over at it, and see nothing. I squint my eyes to get a better look, and see a small black dot on the wall.

I look back at her, and she nods slowly. I lean back in my bed, annoyed and feeling watched. Just seeing that camera makes me wonder if I’m being watched in my own home. I look over at Sloane, and see she’s staring at me, her eyes filled with misery.

“Do you think-“

“Yep.”

I look at her surprised. How’d she know what I was going to say? She glances over at the camera again, and back at me, still nodding. She started coughing, but I could hear what she said crystal clear. They’re everywhere. Is that why they always say watch what you say even in your own house? Is the Alpha crazy enough to actually put cameras everywhere just to see if we betray him?

Dinner arrives shortly after, but I’m in no mood to eat. I was about to put it back on the tray it came on, but Sloane coughed loudly, telling me to eat it now. I eat it, but everything taste like cardboard. I choke down every last bite, and wash my mouth out with water. I think about putting the chocolate in my mouth from the Alpha, but think better of it.

Night time came soon, and eventually I felt myself start drifting off, but a nagging feeling kept hitting me every time I’m about to fall asleep. I sigh loudly and fluff my pillow, hoping maybe this is the problem, but no, it’s the surveillance cameras watching me that bugs me.

I hear Sloane flopping in her bed, swearing out loud. I smile and was about to say something, but the door opened, shutting up both of us. Sloane froze in her place, and I close my eyes shut tightly, trying to get my breathing to subdue from panic breathing to sleeping calm breathing.

I hear somebody talking in a hushed tone, and then somebody knocked something over.

“Be quiet!” Hissed a woman’s voice. I hear somebody swear at her, then I feel breath hitting my face as if somebody is staring straight at my face. “It’s him.”

My eyes snap open, and I grab the woman by the throat, catching the woman by surprise. Her eyes bulge in the darkness, and I feel her arms tightening around my hands around her throat. A squeak escapes from her throat, alerting her partner.

I turn to my left and see a shadow heading toward me, but Sloane leans up from her bed and grabs the shadow by the neck and pulls it backwards. The woman lets out another cry, and then crimples to the floor. I sit up in my bed, rip out all of the needles hooked up to me, and stand over the woman while Sloane takes care of the other intruder.

I check her pulse, partly relieved she’s alive. I hear grunts, then I feel a body being thrown on top of me. I grab the body and throw it on the ground next to the woman. I lean down and see a man lying on the ground, his eyes glassy. The man is either dead or acts really good at playing dead I must say.

“Sloane,” I say quietly. “Did you kill him?”

I hear her bed creaking, then she’s right next to me. “He had a weapon. I stabbed him with one of the needles on my leg. Wait, I didn’t have a needle on my leg earlier. Alex, did you see one?”

We were both silent for a moment, both of us realizing what just happened. Somebody was in here before them. We were both up, so wouldn’t we both hear them come in?

“It was the nurse, wasn’t it?” She said, not caring who heard anymore. “When the ladies brought the food, you saw her tuck my blanket by my legs. She must’ve infected me with something.”

She suddenly grabbed me by the arm, then opened the door. All the lights are turned off, leaving us in a darkened hallway. She let go of my hand in shock. The room may look like a hospital room, but it looks like an office of some sort on the outside.

“The Alpha said the lime green medicine keeps you protected from any wound or poison , so wouldn’t the medicine interfere with it?”

“I don’t know. All I know though is that we can’t trust anybody, Alex. We can’t trust anyone, even Eric and Wendy.”

I wanted to disagree, but she’s right. Eric wants to please the Alpha, and Wendy’s moods change too much to trust her for long. Either way though, we have to find Eric before we leave. I tell this to Sloane, and she agrees, but I hear reluctance.

She lets go of my hand and starts walking down the hall first, being quiet as an ant. I hear the sound of crashing above us, and then I hear an alarm go off. I take off down the hall, Sloane right beside me the whole time. I hear footsteps running behind us, above us, to my left, and to my right.

Sloane grabs my hand and we both hide in an office kitchen. When the footsteps from all the corners of the building fades away, we slump against the refrigerator, but in the process of leaning on it, something on the top of the refrigerator fell over, crashing to the ground in between me and Sloane. Glass shattered, some of it scraping my skin. Sloane jumps up, spooked. I open one of the drawers, and find a full set of knives. I grab them all and hand some to Sloane. They’ll be here any minute, and I want to be prepared to fight to the finish when it happens. I hear Sloane rummaging through more drawers until she found what she’s looking for.

“Matches,” she whispers, handing me the pack. I hear footsteps running toward us, the distance between us shortening with every footstep. With these hospital gowns having no pockets, I have to choose one knife and keep the matches in the other hand. I pick the sharpest knife, and then I hear them.

I run toward them full force, slashing each of them with my knife. I step around their bodies, and take off down the right corridor and turned left. I was about to run another corridor, but I felt the heat slowly rising. I stumble backwards, knocking into Sloane. I hear yelps from the floor above, then it appears, fire rushing toward us.

I start running the other way, checking behind me every so often to see how close the fire is to me. Sloane is right beside me, and without another second to spare she grabs my matches and throws them behind us. I don’t understand why she did it, but there has to be a reason.

I hear footsteps running toward us, alarming me and Sloane. We both aimed our knives and keep running toward it, our eyes aimed at whatever’s heading toward us. Right when my arm extended backwards and was about to throw, I saw Eric appear, running for his life. I let the knife drop to my side, surprised. “Eric.”

He smiled at us, but he kept running, and when he saw the fire already heading toward us, he started panicking. He grabbed me and Sloane and started pushing us. “We’ll never get out of this together. We have to split up and hope for the best. Maybe if one of us finds a way out, the others will be able to get there in time.”

We nod, but none of us wanted to take the plunge to leave. Finally Sloane turns left, leaving me to go straight and Eric to go right. I’m running for about ten seconds, before I hear the fire catching up to me. I start looking for windows to break so I’ll be able to escape, but every window is too small to escape through.

I turn left, and see a big window straight ahead. I turn around to call for Sloane and Eric, but I see fire straight on my tail, leaving no opening for them to escape. I grab a nearby chair and throw it at the window, waiting for the glass to shatter, but it didn’t. The chair bounced right off the window. No, no way. It can’t be! I turn right and run, but slowly the smoke is starting to get to me. I start coughing, and the heat is starting to rise from seventy degrees to nearly one hundred and up. My lungs start taking in the smoke, and eventually, I started slowing down.

I force myself to keep running, but it’s becoming useless. I fall to the ground, and watch the fire start making its way toward me, the noise deafening. All chances of living are small now, but luckily Eric appeared next to me and started dragging me across the ground. After a few minutes though, the fire is nearly engulfing us.

I tried standing up, but the room started spinning, and Eric looked ready to pass out. We both lay on the floor, letting the fire gain on us. I see Eric get back up, and then start dragging me again. He lasted about a minute before resting.

“I’m surprised this place hasn’t blown up yet,” he comments, coughing loudly.

“I know,” I say saying, leaning against the wall.

We both try getting back up, but we barely have any breath left. I hear footsteps, then I see Sloane running toward us. She stabs Eric in the arm with a needle, then me with a needle. Lime green liquid runs inside me, and suddenly, I feel the air going through my nose not intoxicating anymore.

“It’ll last long enough for us to get through the front exit not far from here.”

Sloane takes off, both of us hurrying after her. We keep running and soon we see the exit Sloane was talking about. We all run through it and keep running long after. We’ve run for about five minutes before slowing down. It’s dark outside, probably in the middle of the night, and all I can think about is where we are.

“I know this street,” Eric mutters, looking around. “We’re only about a twenty minute run from my house.”

We let Eric lead, but we have to take breaks since we’re all sleepy, and Sloane says the nurse infected her with sleeping gas, so everything is still shaky since the lime green substance wore off.

Toward the end of the run, Sloane was walking too slow, so I picked her up and ran the rest of the way holding her on my bsck. When we get to Eric’s house, I see that all the lights are still on. Eric rings the doorbell and starts knocking repeatedly, calling out for a guy named Neil, and a woman named Maggie.

A woman opened the door. First thing I noticed about her is her hair. A light red, but in messy curls around her face. A man appeared by her side, paint splattered all over his shirt.

“Eric!” The woman said, hugging him tightly. She brings him inside, summoning us with her hand for us to follow her inside. The man closes the door behind us, and the woman, Maggie I suppose, turns around and stares at us. “Where were you guys?”

Eric, Sloane, and I each take turns explaining everything that happened, stumbling over the hazy parts and getting to the most important part of the story. Maggie and the man, Neil, listened, but I can tell we lost them during the part where we narrowly escaped from the fire. It sounds like an action movie to them, but to us, it was a life or death matter.

“So, before I ask anything else, Maggie can you get Alex and Sloane something to wear?”

She nods and rushes down the hallway into what I assume is their room. Eric goes into his room and changes, and Maggie comes back with a pair of clothes. I put Sloane back on her feet and left to change in their bathroom. When I got out, they had food on the table, and we all looked better without those horrid hospital gowns on. We all sat down and ate dinner, and after, Maggie told us to call our parents. She handed Sloane the phone first, but she shook her head.

“There’s nobody I can call.”

I exchanged a look with Eric, but we both didn’t press. I took the phone and dialed my dad’s phone number. It rang once before he answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey dad.”

I told him everything that happened, and hung up. I looked over at Maggie, Neil, Sloane, and Eric, all of them staring at me. “He’s coming to pick me up.”

“Good,” Maggie says, leaning in her seat. I noticed she has paint splattered on her cheek, and her hands are stained blue.

“Would your dad mind dropping me off at my house?” Sloane asks me, looking uncomfortable.

“Yeah, sure,” I answer surprised. Sloane got up to go to the bathroom, and Maggie and Neil started cleaning the dishes.

Eric looks at the bathroom door, then back at me. He raises and eyebrow and I shrug. It isn’t like Sloane to act secretive, but something happened between her and her family. The only person she can call is her dad, so something must’ve went wrong in Paris.

Sloane returned and stared at both of us, shaking her head, smiling. It’s like she can read our minds or something! I was about to say something, when I saw my father’s car pull up in front of the Tanners’ house. Sloane and I thank Eric and his family before getting in my dad’s car.

“Hi, Ken,” Sloane says, smiling at my dad.

Dad looks at Sloane and smiles warmly. “Hi, Sloane. Thanks for saving my son here. He told me you saved him in the fire. Then again, your father always told me he trained you until you couldn’t handle anymore training.”

She cringes, and I see my father catch it. Concern washes through me. She seems so sour over anything mentioned about her father. My dad drops the subject and returns back in his seat. She tells him her address, then she looks away, and I swear I see a tear rolling down her face.

We pull up in front of her house and she says good-bye to both of us. She rings the doorbell and I see her mother open the door. Her mom looks confused, then slowly I see Sloane shake her head and walk inside the house.

“Gary must’ve put a lot of forget potion in her,” my dad mutters angrily. He turns to me, and stares at me. “I know you like Sloane, so I’m going to tell you right now; she’s going to need you. She may hold it in, but Tim told me her father threatened to kill her on the airplane.”

“Because she doesn’t believe in being a spy,” I answer, understanding why she wanted me to pretend like I care about being a spy. “She wanted me to pretend to listen to the Alpha, probably so we don’t get hurt.”

“She wants to run away, but she has to gain the Alpha’s trust and get special training so she’ll be able to live out there by herself.”

She wants me to go with her. I look up at my dad, and see him look back at me, coming to the same realization. “You can go son if you truly want to leave the spies. I want you to pretend you worship him so you’ll be safe. I have a strong feeling your teammates are going to turn against each other, and if that happens, the Alpha will kill all four of you.”

He’s right, I know he is. Wendy wants to be the best, and Eric has that evil side of him. He’d snitch if we ever said anything about the Alpha. If I want to be able to make a life and have kids without making them become spies, I have to run.

“It’s okay, dad, I know it was impossible for you to run away when you’re squad consisted of Gary and Allen. They’d catch and kill you before you’d even make it to the airport.”

He looks away, and I can tell he’s ashamed. I shouldn’t have even said anything. He tries the best to keep me and Ben safe, and what do I tell him? I tell him he wasn’t good enough to escape from Allen and Gary. What kind of person am I?

When we get home, I take off to my room, and sit inside. It’s crammed as usual, but after the days I’ve had, I just want to go to sleep. I hear Ben walk into our room later on in the night. He must’ve been on an overnight secret mission. By the time I was able to fall asleep, I saw dawn breaking out already.

I skip school the next day, sleeping until noon. My father didn’t argue since he knows I’ve had a rough couple of days. When I finally decide I’m rested enough, I get something to eat, and take a quick shower. I wash the clothes Maggie gave me, and fold them for when I have to go back to training the next afternoon. Tomorrow I promised myself I’d be like Sloane and worship the Alpha to gain his trust, but it’s not easy since Ben actually does worship him. If I say anything good about him, Ben goes into a frenzy of compliments about him.

At around four o’clock, Ben comes home, Sandy in tow. I’m surprised to actually see Sandy here since they usually go over her house, maybe because Ben is embarrassed of living in an apartment and she lives in a nice house. I don’t see the big deal, but Sandy is popular, so maybe she’s snobby when it comes to peoples living situation.

I once told Ben that of course he and dad would live in an apartment since mom took the house, it’s only obvious and everybody would understand, but he told me to stay out of his life. See what happens when I try to comfort him? I wave hello to Sandy, and she waves back. I noticed a long scratch going down her arm.

“What happened to your arm?”

Sandy looks down, and frowns. “Huh, I must’ve got the scratch from my friends’ dog. He’s a hyper guy.”

I nod, losing interest already. She must think I’m some weirdo looking at her arm and all. Ben must think the same thing since he gives me a dirty look before taking her into his room. I roll my eyes at the closed door, and pull out my phone.

Alex: Hey, did you go to school?

Eric: Yeah. Neil told me I had no choice but to. I’m going to see the Alpha after school and ask him if we can go back to Paris to get Wendy. You in?

I thought for a moment. Would the Alpha think we’re being too nosey, or perhaps maybe he’d think we think he is too incompetent to take care of the situation himself? I know it’s taking me too long to answer Eric’s text, so I make a decision quickly.

Alex: I know this sounds bad, but I don’t think we should go back to save her. We aren’t ready yet, you know that. Just let the Alpha take care of it.

Eric doesn’t respond back, so I know what I said was bad. If I was truly Wendy’s friend I’d be more than willing to go on an airplane to save her, but we’re not friends. Neither of them are my friends, but if I’m suppose to fool them, I have to act like we’re best friends.

Alex: You know I’m right, Eric. Don’t you think I’d want to save our friend? We might cause more trouble by trying to save her, so just leave it to the Alpha, okay?

Eric: Fine, but if she isn’t back within three days, I’m going to offer our assistance, okay? You’re right though, I don’t want to upset the Alpha. He has a lot on his plate right now, so it’s best to let him do what he has to do.

I sigh in relief; it worked. I put my phone away, feeling a bit guilty for tricking Eric, but it has to be done. The only way I can get Eric to believe I’m his friend, is to help him be a good leader, and to help him be a good leader, I have to stop him from making stupid mistakes like this.

I turn on the television, and see the news is on. Right away, I see a building on fire, a massive building. Wait . . .

“Last night it seems somebody broke into the new lab that opened on Seventeen Checker Ave. The intruders set the lab on fire, leaving not one trace of evidence. Ten years of hard work from scientists around the country was destroyed by the fire. The owner of the lab is already undergoing construction plans to rebuild this laboratory. Whoever burned this building down, I hope justice is served.”

A laboratory? That room I was in, it was a testing room, wasn’t it? They’re working for the US. Does that mean the US is against the spies now? I hear Ben open the door and poke his head out.

“What was on the news?”

“Apparently a laboratory burned down near Eric’s house. Too bad huh?”

I widen my eyes at him, and he nods back. He closes the door again, apologizing for the interruption. I leave the house, and make my way to my car. I have to talk to the Alpha right now. I drive to headquarters, my heart pumping in my ears. I quickly walk into the building and see The Alpha giving instructions to Allen.

“Make sure when you’re there you kill every last one of them. I don’t want any survivors, you here? Don’t try to contact me while I’m gone unless you have no choice. I’ll be gone an extra two weeks now that I have other obligations to take care of.”

“Yes, sir,” Allen says.

I walk up the Alpha and apologize. “I’m sorry to interrupt you during a hectic day, but the US is trying to get us, aren’t they?”

The Alpha looks at me, surprised by my outburst. “Why, yes, I believe so. I’m already sending my best spies on a mission, so they’ll be safe from them I’m assuming. I’ll strike a deal with the US, I suppose, but if things don’t go my way, we may have to relocate.”

I nod seriously. I thank him for his time, then I head toward the training room, to talk to my dad. I find him doing last minute preparations before he has to depart on his mission to China. He leaves in two days, then he won’t return for three months at the least.

I tell him everything that happened on the news and my conversation with the Alpha. He looks at me concerned, and I know for certain I’ve done something wrong.

“I can’t leave you unprotected,” he hisses at me as I pretend to do pushups.

“You have no choice. If everything goes according to plan, the Alpha will make sure me and Sloane are safe. I can do this, you just have to trust me.”

“I’ll call you a lot, I promise,” he says, looking pained to have to put me through this.

I nod and hug him good-bye. I leave, and I see some people give me sympathetic smiles, knowing fairly well I’ll be as good as dead before my father returns.

On my way home I stop by the ice cream parlor to get myself a mint chocolate chip sundae with butterscotch topping. I walk inside, getting a good hit of cold air from the air conditioner. I order my sundae, then wait in a booth.

Less than four seconds later, my mom and Matt appear, spotting me instantly. Mom waves enthusiastically at me, dragging Matt over to my table. They both plop across from me, calling out for waitress to get them a menu.

“It’s been forever since we’ve talked,” My mother says, smiling happily at me.

“Yeah, I actually went to Paris with a few of my friends and their parents. My dad’s girlfriend and him are going to China for three months for their anniversary.”

My mother bit her tongue, and her face scrunches up in disgust. “Your father has a girlfriend?”

“Yep,” I say lying. I see Matt raise an eyebrow at me, and I raise one back, not scared of him one bit.

Mom gives a look of distaste, then orders a brownie chunk sundae when the waitress appears. She crosses her arms and stares at me. “Is she nice?”

“Yeah, I like her a lot better than Matt.”

Matt just laughs. It doesn’t bother him I talk openly about my disgust over him. My mother on the other hand though, looks ready to lean over the table and slap me right across the face. She sits up straight, and points a finger at me.

“Don’t you talk like that about Matt, Alex.”

“It’s true! He tried to kill me every night I lived with you! I can’t stand Matt, and I bet you don’t know his secret.”

This got Matt’s attention. He cocks his head at me, his eyes warning me. I shake my head at him. “I’m not afraid of you, Matt. Neither is my squad either. Do you really think your boss likes you playing around with the mother of one of the enemies?”

My mother