Get Your Spy On

Get Your Spy On

Chapter 9

Sloane’s POV

I woke up feeling sore. I couldn’t help but cry out loud in tears when I see I’m in the dungeon and it wasn’t a dream. Right when Wendy, Alex, and Eric left, Wendy’s grandparents called a few people, and then all of a sudden secret agents walked into Wendy’s grandparents’ house and said hello to them as if they were friends. The secret agents punched me in the stomach, tied my arms behind my back, tied my legs to each other, taped my mouth, and then dragged me to their black car. They put me in the trunk, cackling like the bad guys in the movies.

The car started, and then they drove out of the driveway. Every time they hit a bump, my body jumped in the air, nearly hitting my head every time. Wherever we’re going, it’s uphill and bumpy. An aching feeling started forming in my shoulders as I tried moving around inside the trunk. I give up after many attempts, sighing out loud in disgust. I couldn’t stand this confinement anymore; I started kicking my legs as hard as I could, crying out loud. I don’t care if this wasn’t how a spy should react, I’m bugging out.

The car makes an abrupt stop and all of a sudden the trunk opens. Two teenage boys pull me out, and then drop me on the road. They close the trunk, then face me. The oldest one with dirty blonde hair, smiled at me as if we were friends.

“People like you should die slowly. You’d make a good slave, but the boss wants to use you for another agenda.”

The youngest one looks uncomfortable, but he tried to cover it with a smirk. Every minute that goes by, the more uncomfortable we all feel. Even the oldest one starts turning green after I’ve been staring at him for four minutes. He coughed, then looked down at his shoes, suddenly finding them interesting.

“Mhmhmhm,” I say, trying to get their attention.

“What?” The youngest one says, his eyebrows crinkling. I mumble more words until he sighs loudly and rips the tape off my mouth.

“Ouch!” I say loudly, giving him a dirty look. He scoots back surprised, but tries to retaliate by spitting on the ground next to me. I roll my light blue eyes at him, “You act like you’re a tough guy, but you don’t want to be a secret agent, I can see it.”

“Shut up!” The oldest one yells, looking on the verge of slapping me. “Stop trying to fill his brain with your lies! He’s my brother now leave him alone!”

I smile innocently at him. If he thinks we’re the bad guys, why not pretend to be one? I look at the youngest one, and stare him down. I can tell by the guys face that I’m looking vicious and ready to strike at any moment. When it looks like he’s about to pee himself with fright, I look away, and start observing everything around me. There’s nothing but trees and an occasional squirrel. The road is gravel, and the dead silence lets me know there isn’t a house for miles here.

The youngest guy grabbed me by my legs, then started dragging me toward an oncoming car. I started kicking and screaming, all at the same time staring at him, begging him with my eyes to let me go. The oncoming car stops, then a woman with gray hair grabbed me by the neck and leaned down toward me.

“Wendy Pierce,” the woman breathed, her eyes widening once she saw me. She waved her hand for the two guys to pick me up, then threw me in the backseat.

Why did she call me Wendy? I wondered, an unsettling feeling washing over me. I hear the sound of the doors locking, then it was just me and the lady who thinks I’m Wendy. Why do they want her anyways? I’m trying to piece things together, but every time I do, I result in missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

Two men stole me at the airport and talked about finally catching me. When I got away I swore they screamed her name, but I thought it was all in my mind. Is Wendy’s family in debt to the secret agents? If I’m going to get information, I have to talk to this woman.

“So,” I say, clearing my throat, “Why are you kidnapping me exactly? Care to elaborate?”

She laughed out loud and looked at me through the review mirror. “Honey, you know why you’re here. Sadly you’ll die without saying good-bye to your family. It serves them right though for doing what they did.”

I was about to open my mouth to ask more questions, but stopped. If I am Wendy Pierce, I should know what she’s talking about, so it’s best if I just play along. She taped my mouth shut, then drove for three hours, and my bladder was starting to become an issue. I stared at the woman until she looked at me. She looked at me for a minute, then sighed out loud. She leaned over and ripped the tape off my mouth, causing me to wince.

“Just letting you know you aren’t peeing.”

She put the tape back on my mouth, then turned back into her seat. Ugh. I thought I’d at least be able to take a bathroom break during this trip. When I saw a building looking identical to the one I went to with my team, I knew we were here. She got out of the car, then called out a few names, telling them to take me inside. I watched her walk into the building, trying to look seductive.

Three men appeared and pulled me out of the car. They carried me along into the building, my eyes taking in everything so I could remember everything that’s going on. I’m in a much nicer building compared to the one I was in yesterday, so it must mean this one is more official.

People stopped what they were doing and watched my every move. They untaped my mouth and my legs so I could walk on my own. I gave everyone an evil look, but all of them looked at me with a blank expression. I guess it isn’t every day a spy gets captured and is brought to the headquarters.

They jerked me by my shoulder, pushing me into a room full of weapons. I stared at the wall mesmerized. I couldn’t believe the weapons they had stocked up upon the shelves, including a knife covered in poison. The spies have nothing compared to these beautiful shiny weapons. The door opened behind me, and then of course, someone pushed me down. I landed face first into navy carpet, coughing out loud when the impact hit.

The door shut, then I saw red high heels in front of my face. The red heel glistened like a knife, ready to stab me at any moment. The heels moved away from me, and walked over to the display of weapons. Whoever this lady was, she’s quiet, really quiet.

“I bet you could spring up behind someone at any given time and scare them,” I say sarcastically, trying to keep my voice steady.

The lady didn’t respond. I roll my eyes and sigh loudly. If somebody’s going to kill me, I’d at least like to have a conversation with them before so. I heard her take a weapon off one of the displays, then her red high heels waltzed back to me giddily. She leaned down until we were face to face, holding a gun in front of my face.

“So,” The woman said, her voice high pitched and giggly. She wagged the gun in front of my face as she spoke, “It’s so cute that you tried to save your uncle, Bradly right? He’s such a useless man that we just killed him on the spot.”

I stared at her, suddenly wishing she was quiet again. I should show emotion about Wendy’s uncle being dead, but my mind blanked when I tried to sum up emotion. Why did they kill Bradly, and why is it so important to have Wendy in the secret agents hands?

“If you think you’re going to live through this you’re mistaken,” the lady said, gazing at her complexion mirrored in the gun. She smiled brightly, and pointed the gun toward me.

I look down and see that my feet are still untied. If I move my right leg and swing it at her, maybe I’ll have enough time to open the door and run out, and somehow get passed all of those people in the hallway with my arms still tied behind my back.

I’m against at least one hundred secret agents. These are the best secret agents around, so I have no chance against them. I have to try though. My right foot twitches, then I strike her as hard as I can. She drops the gun in surprise and without thinking; I stand up and jump on top of her. She grunts out in surprise and tries to grab the gun, but I kick it to the far side of the room.

“Alright,” I say, digging my knee into her back. “Help me get this rope off my arms, weakling.”

She laughs out loud, so I dig my knee deeper into her back. She stops laughing long enough to let out a small scream of pain. I felt her struggle, but I kept kneeing her down. I need to get this rope off of me. I stare at the knife, anger burning into me. Maybe I can get to it in time? I was about to try, when the door opened. I look up to see three men run in. They pushed me off of her, and asked if she was okay.

This is my chance. They’re too preoccupied with the lady to notice me I bet. I stand up, then run for my life. I hear them behind me, but I keep running. I’ll have to open a door eventually to get out, and when I do, I’ll have to turn around and blindly unlock the door with my arms behind my back and open it from there. It’s going to take all my time to do that!

I feel it first, the shock of a taser running through me. I fall to the ground, twitching. All I can say is it’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. I felt two people pick me up, and then start dragging me. They untie my arms, then I hear doors open, and then someone threw me inside the dungeon. I lie on the cold floor and just let it be.

I’m going to die case closed. There’s nobody to save me, nobody at all. I heard laughter above me, as if people are watching me. They actually probably are. I felt myself giving up, when I heard somebody say Wendy’s name repeatedly. I look up and see a man across from me in a cell identical to mine.

I crawl over until I’m nearly leaning out of the cell to look at him. “Bradly?”

The man leaned forward, dust covering every inch of him. “Are you Wendy?”

I shake my head at him, feeling bad. He probably wants to see his niece before he dies. “Your parents said I was Wendy, but I’m not. I’m Sloane, Wendy’s friend.”

He looked confused. “What do my parents have to do with this . . . Sloane?”

I look away, feeling bad. “You’re parents called the secret agents, and they came and took me. I don’t understand why the secret agents are hooked on Wendy, but they are.”

“I think I might know why,” Bradly offered, but he looks unsure, as if he couldn’t trust me. “How do you know Wendy? Do you two go to school together.”

“We’re teammates, Bradly. I think you knew that though. I’m sorry that you’re parents are evil, but I need to get out of here and get to my family. You know how to help me, so please.”

He sighed loudly, then started talking quickly, “First off, the reason why they want Wendy is because her mom is pregnant. I don’t know if you know, but if a spy is pregnant-“

“Yeah, I know,” I say quickly, wanting him to continue on. I grip the bars, and lean in.

He coughed loudly, clearly annoyed by my interruption. “Well, secret agents try to kill the baby, so they probably wanted Wendy so they could hold her hostage until her mother came here to sacrifice herself for her daughter’s safety.”

Slowly everything started forming. The last puzzle piece slid in nice and snug, and everything made sense. Wendy’s grandparents pretended I was Wendy so she’d be safe from the secret agents. They aren’t bad, they just wanted to keep Wendy safe from harm. But now I’m here, and the least they could do is help me out of here. I look over and see that Bradly figured out what happened as well and is now in deep thought. I bang on the bars a few times in frustration, then I fall asleep due to exhaustion. And now I’m back in the present. I just woke up, and my body is sore and achy. I’m still barely healed from the wound, and I don’t know if I can last much longer without food and water.

“Bradly?” I ask, my throat dry.

“You’re awake.”

I look up and see him staring at me, looking weak.

“Are they going to starve us?”

He nodded his head. “They’ll starve you until Wendy’s mom comes. Wendy’s already home though, so they won’t even bother with this situation, and if you think the Alpha’s going to help you, well you’re crazy.”

I break down. I start crying out loud, wishing I could just go back home and be done with this. Even though it isn’t Wendy’s fault, I want to kill her right now. The only reason why I’m even in this country is because of her. I could’ve told her to take a hike and got on a flight home, but I helped her and was nearly killed. I somehow miraculously live, but only to be starved to death.

I heard a door open, then a man walk inside the dungeon, a gun in his hand. He turns his back on me and stares at Bradly. Oh no, he’s going to kill him.

“The Leader doesn’t see any purpose of having you here. She wishes to have you banished, therefore this is your last moment alive.”

I heard him pleading for his life, but that only made his killer laugh out loud. You never beg for your life, it makes you look weak and the killer finds your killing more satisfying. I put my hands over my ears, and then hide in the corner of my cell. Please let it be quick and painless for him.

Boom!

I tightly close my eyes, tears threatening to roll down my face. I cut off my sobs so the killer doesn’t hear, but it’s nearly impossible. That man is an innocent person, so why’d the Leader find him so threatening? I hear the gun being re-loaded, then the killer starts talking.

“You, Wendy,” he said to me.

I take my hands off my ears and turn toward him. His gun is facing toward me, his finger lying on the trigger. “Your mother refuses to come to save you, so we’re going to kill you and send your body to her. Then we’ll kill your father, just like how we’re going to kill you.”

I panicked. I’m not going to die to save her life, no way. Right when he was about to pull the trigger, I start shouting, “I’m not Wendy Pierce! Wendy’s grandparents sent her home and used me so she’d be safe and get back to America safely. They tricked all of you!”

The man faltered, lowering his gun in confusion. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because,” I say, looking at him straight in the eye. “Because why would Wendy’s mother not fly here to save her daughter? Wouldn’t you think she’d save her kid?”

The man looks at me, then at the door. He grunts loudly, and then runs out of the dungeon. I can hear it from down here; screams, shouts, cursing. I hear feet pounding in every direction, all of them leading down into the dungeon. Four men appear, then a woman with blonde hair in a tight bun, not a single strand of hair out of place.

“OPEN THE CELL!” She demands.

The men opened the cell in a rush, then pulled me out. I don’t even try to struggle, because I have the high ground on this one. She grabs me by the face, and gave me a long stare down. It has to be obvious; I have blonde hair and Wendy has black.

“She’s right,” the woman says, shocked. “She’s not Wendy Pierce. Well, this is certainly awkward.”

“What do we do with her, miss?” One of the men asks, nervous to even speak up.

The lady walked around the dungeon, lost in thought. She won’t kill me because I’m useful to her now. There’s many ways she can use me, but she has to be careful. If she messes up once, she could very well lose everything.

“I think I know what we need to do,” she finally says, staring back at me. “You, what’s your name?”

“Sloane Adams.”

She smiled widely. “Ah, now I know who you are. Alright, get the spies number this instant! If they want to save her, they have to give me Wendy in return. When they find out her family are traitors, they’ll be more than happy to hand her over.”

The men nodded. One left in a rush to get the number, and the others stood where they are, waiting for more instructions. She looked at me, her head tilted. “A real spy wouldn’t have sold their teammate out, Sloane, so why are you suddenly breaking the rules?”

“Being a spy isn’t worth my life. Any spy or secret agent that thinks it is is an idiot. I know you wouldn’t, and we all know it isn’t stupid to want to live. I play by my own rules.”

She smiled, clearly happy about the spies being rebellions. I looked away from her, but I couldn’t help but crack a smile. She told the guards to take me into the training room. I look at her suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. As we were heading toward the training room, the man she sent to call the Alpha, rushed over.

“Miss,” he says, not looking at her straight in the eye. “He doesn’t believe you. He wants proof that she’s actually here.”

She shrugged. “I figured so. I’m already on it. Get me the video camera. He should know that I never kid.”

The man nodded, then once again, he took off down a corridor. My stomach rumbles loudly as we stand right in front of the training room door. The Leader looks over at me, and for a minute, I saw a faint pity look across her face, but she hardened her face, and threw me into the room. I fell forward on the ground, grunting in pain. I feel weak, and my throat is so dry that I barely even have spit.

The man hands her the camera, and she waves her hand in dismissal. I look up and see dozens of secret agents looking at me, looking shocked and angry. One of them walked over to me, disgust written all over his face. The Leader coughed loudly, snapping the attention off of me and onto her.

“You see,” she says, the video camera in hand. “The Alpha of the spies thinks we don’t have one of their own, so why don’t we show him we do? When I say action, I want you to take out all the anger you have on the spies onto her.”

I look over at her, shocked. So this is how it’s going to be. I stand up, my right leg shaking uncontrollably. The secret agents look surprised by the Leader’s words, but they aren’t going to disobey her. I already knew I was only going to be able to take out one of them, so whatever happens to me, I hope it’s quick.

“And . . . ACTION!”

I hear her click the record button, my fate sealed with that click of a button. Three girls, around my sister’s age, run full force at me, their fist already aiming toward my body. I go for the girl on the left, grabbing her by the stomach. I’m surprised I’m as strong as I am in this condition, but thanks to my training, I’m able to pick her up and throw her at the girl in the middle. They topple over, but it didn’t stop them for long.

The girl on the right got a good hit on me to the shoulder. I cringed, but luckily she didn’t hit me hard enough for me to crimple. I swing my leg in the air right when she bent down and slammed my foot into her head. She falls unconsciously to the floor, leaving me to handle the other girls.

The two girls run at me full force. I see they have a plan, so I immediately know I’m screwed. I lean down to the ground. My only option is for one of them to try and pick me up, so it’d leave my arms ready to punch the other girl.

Whack!

I felt somebody hit me with something behind me. My back burns, and already the two girls are on top of me. I felt punches and kicks. I closed my eyes, and concentrated on my breathing. With every ounce of willpower, I didn’t make a noise. When I opened my eyes for a second, I saw my blood trickling on the floor. I’m not going down without a fight.

I punch one of the girls with my right hand straight in the jaw. She jumps back and lets out a shout. I grab the other girl by the throat, my hand tightening. She tries to grab for my neck, but I lift my knee up and slam her head into it. I don’t know if I killed her or not, but either way, I’m free. I turn around to see the Leader looking shocked. I couldn’t help it; I flipped her off. I turned around and saw a fist make contact with my left eye. The impact made me fall down silently. I haven’t made one sound, refusing to give them satisfaction.

The guy that punched me was about to hit me again, but the Leader told him to stop. He looked up surprised. He walked away, giving me the opportunity to stand back up. The Leader walked over to me, still having the camera rolling. In a split second her right hand extends backwards, then she punches me, knocking me out cold, but not before I heard her speak out loud;

“Now that’s how you knock out a spy.”

I wake up, my arms tied behind my back, and my legs tightly tied. You’ve got to be kidding me! I look around and see that I’m in a bulletproof car. I sit up and see two men in the front seat, both of them wearing dark glasses.

I see myself in the mirror and cringe. My eye is swollen, and I have numerous bruises and cuts on my face. I couldn’t even bear to look down at the rest of my body. I do see bruises and cuts on my arm, and my clothes are ripped up as if somebody cut them up with scissors.

I was about to open my mouth to speak, but I’m too thirsty to. My stomach is hungry as can be, and my throat is the driest I’ve ever felt it before. I was going to lay back down, when I saw three identical cars waiting up front. I saw my team, and I swear I saw my father, Alex’s father, and Wendy’s father for a split second.

They park the car, and drag me out of the car. They untie my legs, but it’s no use, my legs are too bruised up and burning up for me to stand on my own. I limply fall to the gravel, still not whimpering. I see my team gasp and fighting not to run over to me. The secret agents throw me back up and throw me back down on the ground evilly.

“Stop!” Wendy screamed, her eyes filled with tears.

They pick me back up, and drag me until we’re close enough to the spies. One of the men point at Wendy, “Give us her. That’s the plan.”

One of the spies grabbed Wendy, and led her to us. I envied how pretty she looked, with her black silky hair done, scratchless, food and water in her stomach. The secret agent threw me to the ground and took Wendy, and started running. I saw Alex and Wendy’s dad’s appear and start shooting at them. They ran after them, and soon my father followed suit. Alex and Eric ran to me and helped me up. They carried me behind the car, and then gently placed me on the ground.

Eric ran to one of the cars and grabbed a water bottle, then ran back to me. I opened my mouth and let Eric pour the water in my mouth. I drank the whole bottle within a few moments, still feeling thirsty. They both hugged me tightly, but Alex’s hug was tighter as if protecting me from something.

“Guys,” I say quietly, when I hear the sound of a car driving. “Do you hear that?”

Before they could answer, a black truck came right toward us. Eric and Alex pick me up, then start running. The truck drives straight at all of the spies, colliding with a few of them in the process. Secret agents jump out of the truck, and run toward us.

Eric pulled out a gun, and started shooting toward them. Alex kept carrying me somewhere safe, but we both know Eric can’t take on the secret agents by himself. He gently puts me down and gives me one of his spare guns. He runs back and helps Eric who by the sounds of it, is in trouble.

Less than a minute later, a secret agent appears in front of me. She has black hair, but it looks like a wig. I’ve only seen a few spies wear wigs when on missions, so it doesn’t surprise me when I see a secret agent wearing one.

She pointed her gun at me at the exact same moment I pointed mine at her. We just stayed like this for a minute. Her eyes. Her eyes widen when she saw me, and her arm started trembling. She won’t shoot me, I don’t know why. I’m too weak; I drop the gun to the floor and let her shoot me.

She shakes her head repeatedly, and starts backing away. She turns around, and starts running away, out of view. I saw Eric and Alex running back to me, both of them wearing excited smiles. The rush is getting to them.

I hear the sound of a bomb, and then I see it’s the cars. The explosion sends Alex and Eric flying in the air. They land on the ground, both of them unconscious. I crawl over to them and take all of their guns. I felt my body quivering as I tried moving in front of them. I hear the sound of Wendy’s voice, screaming out Eric’s name. I look around expecting to see her, but I don’t.

“Wendy?” I scream weakly out loud.

I heard her scream louder, and then I realized she’s screaming out for help, not to see where he is. Where are the other spies and why aren’t they around to help her? I wish I could help, but I can’t even move. I try my hardest to steady my two guns, but my hands keep quivering too much for me to even get them to point in the right direction.

All of a sudden, my father appears out of nowhere, limping slightly. He picks me up, and then he starts running. I turn around and stare at Alex and Eric, both of them still unconscious. “Wait, what about the others?”

I hear my dad grunting as he kept running on his now what looks like it, bad leg. “The Alpha wants us alive, not the others. He doesn’t care about them, what he does care about is you.”

My dad keeps running, and I find myself in a black truck being driven to the airport. Dad keeps saying we’re going home, but I don’t see how they’ll let me on the plane looking like this. Dad turns the truck into an open grassy land, a small plane, that can’t fit more than thirty people inside of it, sat in the middle. He carries me out of the car, and then runs to the airplane, screaming out Tim’s name.

I see Tim once we get inside the plane, looking surprised to see that it’s just the two of us. “What happened to the others, Gary?

My father put me in a seat, then looked back at Tim. “We need to go, now.”

Tim nodded and ran to the front of the plane so he can take us home. My dad made sure I was safely seated, then walked to the front to talk to Tim in private. I look out the window, hoping Alex and Eric are safe wherever they are. The plane soon takes off, and eventually we’re flying in the air.

My father returns with food and water, and gently puts it on a tray for me. I dig in, not caring what I look like as I eat it. He looks at me intently and doesn’t speak to me until I’ve finished eating. He leans back in his seat, and sighs loudly.

“Sloane, you need to know that what happened has never happened before. The Alpha was surprised when he got the video of you defending yourself against all of them. This shouldn’t have happened, and he could very well be in trouble for this. This video has been sent to the The One and Only, The Alpha’s mentor, a man nobody meets besides the Alpha in charge.”

“He’s not really an Alpha then if he has a boss.”

“Everybody has a boss, Sloane,” he says matter-of-factly. He leans in, pain in his eyes. “He’s going to ask you everything about what happened there, Sloane. It may be tough for you, but it’ll help us get revenge.”

“I don’t want revenge,” I say quickly. I look away from my father so I don’t have to see his expression. “They’re brainwashed like we are. They believe something, and we believe another. We’re bad guys and so are they, don’t you see that? It’s only a matter of time before there’ll be a new group and then what? Will we have to kill them too?”

“Sloane. If you say that to anybody else, you’re going to be killed by the Alpha. You can’t think like that, because if you do say something, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

I turn and stare at him straight on. “I’m not afraid of the Alpha like you are. I’m not afraid to kill him, and I’m definitely not going to pretend. If I die, which I doubt I will, at least I’m dying on my own orders, not some monster.”

I ruined it, I know I did. I ruined everything, but I don’t care. I don’t want to be a leader, and I most certainly don’t want to be branded for being a spy. I want to escape, but I have nowhere to go. I couldn’t hold it inside me anymore, I stared at him angrily, “Why couldn’t you hide me?”

He looked away, meaning for me to stop talking. Not this time though, I’m on the verge of killing myself just so I don’t have to live like this. “LOOK AT ME!”

My voice was louder than I’ve ever heard it before. It scared me, and I think it scared my father too. He turned and stared at me, shocked. I clear my throat, and stare him down. “I don’t want this life, so don’t expect me to be here long. If I get the chance, I’m leaving. I’d take Sandy and mom with me too.”

He shook with anger. There’s something about this that doesn’t seem right. The way he’s acting it’s as if this has happened to him before. Slowly, I understood. I started shaking uncontrollably, and shaking my head in disgust. “Grandpa didn’t want to be a spy anymore, did he? You we’re disgusted by him, so you killed him. He didn’t die on a mission, he died because of you!”

His head snapped up, and gave me the death stare. “YOU’RE JUST LIKE HIM! YOU’RE ARROGANT AND THINK YOU’RE ABOVE BEING A SPY! HE COULD’VE BEEN AN ALPHA, BUT HE SAID NO THEN TRIED TO TAKE ME AND YOUR GRANDMA AND RUN. I KILLED HIM SO OUR NAME WOULDN’T BE TARNISHED!”

“YOU’RE INSANE!” I screamed out loud, standing up. “YOU killed your own father because he didn’t want to be who you made him up to be in your mind! I’m not going to play your mind game! I HATE being a SPY!”

His gun flew out of his pocket and he pointed it at me. I stared at it, shocked. He won’t do this, he won’t. “What are you going to do, kill me like you killed your father? What will the Alpha say about this, Gary?”

He shot the seat next to me. I jump away from it surprised. I stare up at him, my eyes filled with hurt and surprise. Tim appears and grabs my father. He holds my father down the ground, yelling at him. I look over at my father, my eyes watering.

“Next time it’ll be you I shoot, Sloane,” he gasps out.

I take a few steps back, tears rolling down my face. No, he can’t be serious. He can’t honestly want to kill his own daughter, can he? Tim yelled loudly for me to go and fly the plane. I hurry into the cockpit, and when I get there, I see a whole bunch of a buttons and blinking stuff everywhere.

Is it on autopilot? I have no idea what to do, nor what the names of the parts of the airplane are. Am I supposed to know this? Is this in the Spy 101 handbook I wasn’t given? I hear Tim appear next to me, sighing loudly.

“I’m sorry,” I say weakly, feeling useless.

He shook his head and took a seat. He clicked a button, then he started flying the plane like a pro. I sit down in the seat next to him, staring straight ahead, trying hard not to cry anymore. I see Tim rubbing his head, looking stressed out and just done with everything.

“Is it normal for a spy to act like that?”

Tim glanced over at me and nodded. “Gary is one of the most devoted spies around. This is his life, so of course he doesn’t want to hear about his daughter wanting to leave. Gary is leaving on a mission for three months, so you two have time to let this blow over.”

“Where’s he going?”

“China. It’s one of the biggest missions of them all. Allen and Ken are on the mission with them as well. The Alpha is also leaving to do a mission in Canada that’ll take a month or so. Apparently he has personal issues to take care of.”

“So who’s going to assign the missions and the training?” I ask curiously.

“The Alpha still will, but he just won’t be here. Listen, Sloane, me and Sherry are going to watch over you carefully, okay? Things are about to change, and I think you’re going to need help protecting your mom and sister from secret agents without your father around.”

I nodded, not bothering to try to convince him that the secret agents aren’t going to hurt us. Spies don’t hesitate to kill, but I saw a lot of secret agents having doubts about hurting me. I won’t fight them if they don’t fight me, simple as that.

I fell asleep halfway through the airplane ride, until Tim suddenly woke me from my slumber. I wake up and see him staring at me, as if something’s been eating him up alive since we got on the airplane.

“What’s wrong, Tim?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It’s not good to be asleep for long after that brutal fight you had.”

That wasn’t what he wanted to say, of course it wasn’t. I smile in appreciation, and sit up straight in my seat. I want to know if Alex and the rest of them are okay, but I’m sure Tim knows just as little as I do about that situation. I hope they didn’t get captured though, because I don’t think they’ll be able to survive now that they have Wendy.

I shouldn’t have let my father take me to the plane. I should’ve fought and begged for him to go save them and leave me somewhere. What did he mean about the Alpha only caring about me anyways? Why am I more important than the others? If I were so important to him, why didn’t he make me the leader instead of Eric?

My thoughts are muddled together until they make a big bunch of nothingness. If they kill my squad, will I be redirected to another squad, or will I just be by myself on missions? Is it my fault or Wendy’s fault all of this happened? Should I have just told the Leader I was Wendy even though she knew I wasn’t? I probably could’ve changed everything, but I didn’t. And what she said about me not acting like a spy, it was a compliment.

A thought started forming inside me, but it was cut short when we landed. I saw tons of spies at the landing grounds, including the Alpha. Tim headed toward my father and untangled him from the ropes. He must have tied him up while I was trying to fly the plane. He got off the plane and threw my dad at the Alpha.

“He isn’t sane. I think one of the bombs got to him.”

Several spies took him and hurried him into one of their vans. The Alpha walked over to me, an overwhelming smile on his face. “There she is, my survivor.”

Wait. Does that mean the others died? He hugged me, and then led me into another van, Tim in tow. The Alpha spoke enthusiastically about the video and how I looked powerful and really represented the spies as bold and dynamic.

I looked over at Tim and can see he looks sickened. He knows I don’t want to be a spy and he knows I could care less about representing the spies. I have to play this role that I never want to star in, but I have to, because if I don’t, my family will be killed by the Alpha.

“Sir,” I say, looking at him carefully. “Why’d they take me anyways? Why was I such an important part of their task?”

The Alpha looked at me carefully. He knows about Bradly and Wendy’s mom being pregnant, but he doesn’t know I know that, so why get myself in trouble over it?

“It seems that the Pierce family has been disloyal. After Allen is finished with his mission in China, I’m going to make sure that baby will be in training right when it’s born.”

“Are you going to kill the Pierce family for this, sir? To be honest, I don’t think Wendy knew about the baby, but I think she did know about her father’s situation with his brother. I’m sure she was just curious to meet him, I mean I would be too even though his parents betrayed you, sir.”

Tim looked over at me, sickened. Everything I’m saying is petty, and I’m not surprised when the Alpha smiles proudly at me. All I have to do is suck up to him until the very end to which I will be the one who ends his life and runs from all of this, once and for all.