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“ ‘Oh how I wish the days would pass, the nights would fade, the world would turn without us struggling for affection. For I do not know if we can keep this to ourselves any longer.’ ” “ ‘But my darling, I have eyes for you, and only you. We were made for each other.’ ” “ ‘We are? What of that witch who threatens to tear us apart? She and I have never been fond of the other and I know she watches us with razor sharp green eyes. Alas, maybe our time together should end for the sake of sanity.’ ” “ ‘No! Let the rest of the world go crazy while we stay strong and steady rocks. For no matter how much the sea batters us, no matter how the wind howls, we will always be together.’ ” “And CUT!” Mrs. Acorn shouted through her megaphone. Sarah and Kyle stopped practicing and waited for Mrs. Acorn’s critique. With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Acorn blew her nose and laughed. “Beautiful. I couldn’t have imagined it any other way. Oh Sarah and Kyle, I cannot believe this will be your final high school production. I’m….so….proud.” “She’s crying harder than my basketball coach at banquet.” Kyle whispered. Sarah tried hard not to burst out laughing. “That’s enough rehearsal for today everyone.” The drama teacher continued to sob as she pulled out her handkerchief. Both Sarah and Kyle, holding their play books, walked down the side steps. The red velvet curtain swayed as it closed behind them. In the audience were Taylor, Veronika, Melissa, and Lidia. Each of them was sprawled across multiple seats in the front row engaged in a conversation. “I’m just sayin’ that everybody always goes to prom in a bright color. Nowadays, the person with the best dress is either the flashiest or the tightest, shortest dress that the “hottest girl in school” is wearing. Whatever happened to dark and elegant?” Taylor sighed as she stared at the ceiling. “Oh please. If I could pull off an incredible vibrant orange ball gown with yellow trimming then my life would be complete.” Melissa fantasized. Veronika rolled her eyes. “De clozezt you couhld geht to orange iz peach. Bezidez, Taylor iz right. Dark iz better.” “Yeah. Dark is much better.” Lidia agreed. “Oh but Lidia! I could envision you in a nice brilliant green with sparkles and….” “NO!” “Party pooper.” Melissa grumbled. Then, they saw Sarah and they sat up. Melissa grinned. “Sarah, what color for a prom dress would you prefer?” “Actually, I was just gonna go in my dress I used for Mrs. Peacock.” “Wonderful choice. The blue color suits your skin tone.” “Yeah, I really liked that dress.” Kyle said as he wrapped his arms around Sarah’s waist and leaned against her. “You’ll like anythin’ I wear. I could go in a swimsuit and you’d say, ‘Why you look fabulous this evening.’” Sarah blushed. “Your point?” He smiled. He and Sarah stared into each other’s eyes. “Gaaa! Goo Goo alert!” Taylor teased. Sarah whacked her with her playbook in the face. “Owe!” “So, you guys normally don’t hang around and wait for me when there’s rehearsal. What’s up?” “Cooper wanted us at headquarters. He’s got some sorta assignment for us. Any clues Lidia?” Taylor explained. Lidia shook her head. “I tried to get him to talk but he told me nothing.” “That’s surprisin’.” Sarah laughed. She turned around to Kyle. “Well, duty calls.” Kyle gave her a disappointed look. “I guess this means no going out for ice cream later.” Sarah lightly kissed his lips. “Nope. Gotta wait ‘til later for that. Bye.” “Bye.” “Sarah and Kyle kissin’ in a tree. K I S S I N….” Taylor sang as she skipped through the parking lot. “Really Taylor?” “Really Sarah.” “Guyz, de mizzion.” “Yeah. Dad will be mad if we don’t get there soon.” Lidia urged. “Fine.” They sighed in unison as they climbed onto Taylor’s motorcycle. Driving like the wind, they weaved through traffic and blasted through multiple yellow lights. After a quick stop, they continued on until they pulled into the CIA parking lot. Soon, they were rushing into the main lobby of the CIA building. “Hey Sylvia. Where’s…” “You’re fathers in the south wing, room 5140.” Sylvia smiled as she scribbled her answer to a crossword puzzle while typing appointment schedules with her left hand. Lidia thanked her and the girls made a mad dash for the fifth floor of the south wing. “Remind me again why we’re late.” Lidia grumbled. “Because SOMEONE had to stop at one of her many houses an’ grab her totally irrelevant bag.” Sarah growled. Melissa huffed. “This is my super-secret, extremely important survival bag number two. Filled with money, tech, and other goodies. It happens to be MASSIVELY important and vital to my mental health.” “You’re mental health was fine when we left school.” Taylor heaved as she ran. “But we’re going on a mission so that means the possibility of depravity of certain supplies that I cannot live without. We could be undercover for weeks.” “That only happens in the summer!” Sarah called. “What if another FBI catastrophe happens? I tend to be prepared.” “Uff…” Veronika, who was the first in the line of the running girls, smacked into Mr. Cooper as she rounded the corner. The others came crashing down as they also rounded the corner. Mr. Cooper stood with an un-amused look on his face and Elizabeth stood giggling next to him. He glanced at his expensive wrist watch and cleared his throat. “Care to explain why you’re late?” “Hi dad….um…Melissa, why don’t you explain.” “I beg your pardon. I am not to blame for this madness. I simply had to…” “Stop…get up.” Mr. Cooper ordered. The girls quickly untangled themselves from the pile and stood up. Standing in a straight line, the girls waited for another of Mr. Cooper’s orders. He opened the door to room 5140 and walked inside. “Vay to go Melizza.” “Again, I did nothing to merit such ridiculous and outrageous claims…” “Oh dearies. You are such a laugh.” Elizabeth twisted around with her knee length black skirt flowing with her as she entered the room. The others grumbled as they also entered. Mr. Cooper stood near a white board pulling the projector screen down. The room was filled with metal tables, uncomfortable white plastic chairs and plain grey carpet. The girls each filed in and sat down in a chair. “Now that we’re finally all here, the debriefing can start.” He picked up the projector remote and clicked it on. The projector lowered from a ceiling tile and the light flickered on. An image of a man in a fancy suit with a black tie waving to his adoring public while stepping into an expensive limo came on the screen. His hair was a dark brown with blonde highlights and a bright handsome smile was plastered on his face. Taylor’s mouth dropped at the sight of him. “Is that…” “Yes, that’s Grant Caleb Jenkins. World renowned famous actor who stared in movie such as ‘Sister’s Grimm’…” “Uncle Jake.” Taylor blurted out. “May I finish?” Mr. Cooper glared at Taylor during her geek out moment. She calmed down and sunk into her chair. “Like I was saying, movies like ‘Marshmallow Hills’ and ‘Fairies of the Underworld’, ‘Bio- Weapon, etc.”“You seem to know an awful lot about Grant Jenkins movies.” Melissa grinned.“When the CIA is required to do research, we do our research.”“And my mom’s favorite movie is Fairies of the Underworld.” Lidia explained.“Anyways, his father is Dr. Charles Arthur Jenkins who’s also world renowned for his first operation. He saved the life of a little girl by performing emergency surgery outside a hospital and saved the girl’s life. Unfortunately, last month the police busted Dr. Jenkins for mal practice charges by covering up certain hospital records. In exchange for a plea deal to lessen his sentence from a year down to two months, Dr. Jenkins offered information about Luptator de Lumina.” The girls froze for a moment upon hearing that name. “THE Luptator de Lumina?” Melissa gawked. Luptator de Lumina was the CIA’s most wanted criminal. Like a phantom, the mysterious Luptator de Lumina has never been seen nor even come close to being captured. The elusive “fighter of light” operated completely underground and even when Melissa was enthralled in the underground universe, other criminals had never seen Luptator de Lumina either. Mr. Cooper gravely shook his head. “Leht me guezz, ve geht to take dovn dis crime lord fohr you.” Veronika, pleased at her guess, leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on a table in order to make herself more comfortable. Mr. Cooper slyly smiled as he clicked forward in the presentation. “As tempting as that sounds, no. You’re mission has almost nothing to do with Luptator de Lumina. Since Dr. Jenkins has disclosed this information to us and the plea deal terms…….somehow………became public, his entire family is in danger. Grant had initially refused protection insisting he had everything handled. But after this happened…” Mr. Cooper clicked the you-tube video link and the video played. Grant was seen getting out of his limo with his body guards when, a shot rang out as he sauntered up the red carpet. The body guard in front of him dropped to the floor and Grant gripped his arm as his other body guards rushed him back to his limo and quickly drove away. Taylor gasped. “With a little bit more persuasion, we convinced him to hide out at his father’s estate here in D.C. You’ll be there guarding him along with his younger daughter Teresa Mary Jenkins.” Sarah, who had been half paying attention because she was busy muttering her lines, stopped muttering and looked up. Her eyes widened and she became visibly nervous. “Zarah, iz something vrong?” “No, it can’t be….not her….not the witch.” She whispered. But there, in plain sight, was her. Her overly suntanned skin, her dark blue eyes, that cocky smirk, her golden perfectly curled hair, and her flashy silver hooped earrings. Sarah stood up and gave Mr. Cooper a serious look. “I’m afraid I can’t be involved in this mission and I request a reassignment.”
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“But why dearie?” Elizabeth cried. “You cannot just up and request to be reassigned. You of all people should know that without you, it ruins our team dynamic.” Melissa raved. “Enough.” Mr. Cooper raised his voice to quiet the other girl’s complaints. Once the room was again silent, he continued. “I’m afraid they are right. In this case, there is no reassignment.” “Then I’m out.” Sarah picked up her playbook and headed for the door. But Mr. Cooper stepped in front of her. “There’s no opting out of this assignment either. I need all of you for this mission. You will be able to concentrate, right?” A harsh eyebrow raised and a stern look followed. Sarah sighed. “Yes sir. I will be able to concentrate. But I opt we do this covertly.” “Of course. We wouldn’t want another Kyle incident.” The sentence stung Sarah’s heart. The painful mission where Kyle found out her identity and job was still fresh in her mind even though it was months ago. This time was different though. This time, she was extremely focused and was determined not to let this mission become personal. “Fine. But you owe me.” She sat back down with her arms crossed and an unhappy look. “These are the mansion blueprints, bags filled with weapons and your proper attire. They have been informed that you are coming. All you have to do is protect them for a few days before their aunt can come and take them to a safer place. Use any means necessary to protect them and most importantly, watch each other’s backs. Both have been temporarily transferred to your school and should their house be compromised, move them quickly to one of your houses.” Mr. Cooper warned. He tossed the address to Melissa as he left the room. There was a temporarily pause before Taylor braved to address her sister. “Doin’ a mission without you is like eatin’ a peanut butter sandwich with no jelly.” Taylor said. Of course she knew exactly why Sarah was so upset but that did not give her any excuse to act the way she did. “I’m sorry. Forgive my outburst. I am not happy about bein’ on this mission but I will be focused. The sooner we get this over with, the better.” Sarah got up, grabbed her bag, and headed to the hallway bathroom to change. Shrugging, Taylor did the same. Each of the girls hauled their bags to the bathroom and suited up. As she was changing, Lidia found an outline for the plan. They were to leave Adam at Sarah’s house and be picked up by CIA SUV’s and escorted to the house from there. Twenty minutes later, the girls were gazing upon the gigantic mansion. White marble columns lined the front porch, red brick covered the walls, fancy statues lined the garden, well-trimmed hedges lined the steps and the setting sun reflected across the front stained glass window. With dark black masks on and bags slung over their shoulders, the team approached the house. “Man, I feel like a superhero in this mask. Oh, and I know the perfect name for me too. Shockwave! The sound sheriff.” Melissa could see it know. Orange costume, the ability to control sound, the wonderful…. “Yeah right. Keep day dreaming.” Lidia smirked. Melissa mumbled as they reached the solid oak door. Veronika rang the doorbell and the girls waited anxiously for an answer. A frail, old woman with an old fashioned duster came hobbling up to the door and opened it. “May I help you?” She asked. “Ma’am, I’m afraid for your safety we must ask you to vacate the premises. These highly trained CIA agents can escort you home or anywhere you’d like.” Sarah bluntly stated. “Oh, I knew you would be coming at some point. An old woman like me tends to forget much easier than back in the good ‘ole days. Would you be a dear and help me with my bags?” “Ohf courze.” Veronika offered. She lifted the bags and hulled them to the car. Meanwhile, the others walked into the large house. They were met by four people standing near the stairway. Two of them, they recognized as Teresa and Grant but the other two they did not know. Teresa wrinkled her nose and lifted her chin. “And why does daddy hafta leave us in the hands of CIA wannabes?” “Teresa, these are highly trained CIA agents. The CIA promised us the best protection.” Grant assured her. He tried placing a hand on her shoulder but she shoved it off and glared at the agents in her presence. “Please. These girls are not even older than me and this is the best the CIA could come up with?” ‘Ugh. Just ignore her. You can get through this.’ Sarah tightened her jaw as she resituated her shoulder strap. Without addressing Teresa, she turned towards her teammates. “All right. We’re here so I guess we should start figurin’ out who does what. Stork?” In order to keep the mission entirely covert, the girls came up with nicknames. Lidia nodded at her name and pulled out the plan. “Mel, you’re on camera duty.” Melissa nodded and disappeared into the office room to set up shop. “Chloe, you’re on downstairs patrol.” Plopping her bag on the ground, Taylor riffled through and found her small lucky handgun. “Graphite, you’re on outside lookout duty.” Veronika, who had returned, fished out her large cameo jacket lugged herself outside to climb a tree. “Beth, you’re on basement watch.” Elizabeth casually saluted Lidia and, opening the door next to her, headed downstairs. “And Alpha, you’re on upstairs duty.” Sarah moaned. They were going to advise the subjects to stay in their rooms, which were upstairs. She gave Lidia a desperate glance. “I will cycle through downstairs and upstairs since they’re too big to be covered by one person. Keep your eyes peeled.” Sarah, clearly seeing that there was no way out, sighed and sulked up the stairs. She was followed by the four people. When they reached the top of the winding staircase, Sarah stood in front of them with her arms crossed. “Here’s how it goes; you stay inside your rooms and, if you need to leave your room for whatever reason, you ask for me to accompany you. Got it?” Teresa and her other friends giggled as they whispered about how un-fabulous Sarah’s black boots were. Sarah stepped closer to them, close enough to make them uncomfortable and for them to see the anger in her eyes. “I ask again, got it?” “Yes lady drill sergeant.” Teresa huffed as she rolled her eyes. “And just who are these guys?” Sarah looked at the two red haired girls with overly priced purses, earrings, and lacey pillows. “I’m having a sleepover, duh!” Teresa stated like it was a well-known fact. Sarah groaned. “This was not part of the briefin’.” Sarah mumbled. She placed her bag on an end table and began unpacking her collection of knives. She carefully slid one knife in each sleeve slit, two into her front belt, two in the back of her belt, a sword on her back, and chose to hold her favorite mission knife. A perfectly balanced, specially made knife with a pure silver handle and hard white metal for the deadly blade, this knife was the knife she carried to every mission whether good or bad. It was by far not the most prized knife in her possession but it became something to the extent of a lucky charm. The handle was a snug fit for her small slender hand and the blade fatally sharp. After she unloaded her favorite knife, she pulled a small gun out of the bag and tucked it in a side holster. Though she was less trained in the art of shooting someone, she found she carried one more often as a back -up weapon these days. With all her weapons secured, she turned back towards the stairs. No one had moved. They had stared at her as she prepared. Their gazes signaled they seemed troubled that she carried so many weapons. “Well, you can go to your rooms now.” Sarah suggested. Reluctantly, they settled into their rooms. ‘This is gonna be a long night.’ She loosely gripped her knife as she began idly walking around in a giant loop. She blankly stared in front of her just barely noticing the intricately carved hallways tables with beautiful bouquet of flowers, the imported Persian rugs, and the solid gold eight-tenth century grandfather clock. “Oh how the rich spoil themselves and surround themselves with objects rather than the joys of people. Merry are those who seek the comfort of the heart not comfort from things.” She recited. She could not help herself. The line from the play just popped into her head. She was like a misplaced little child wandering the large halls of a greedy giant. A voice in the back of her mind promptly reminded her to focus on the matter at hand. Allowing her senses to relax, she continued her circular path. Unfortunately, it was not long before the door to Teresa’s room was wide open and the dinging of a small servant’s bell sounded. Cringing at this, Sarah let out a heavy sigh and pressed her earpiece. “Stork, I might need ya upstairs. I’m headed into Teresa’s room, second door the left, to see if they need assistance. Stand by.” “Ok.” Lidia acknowledged. Sarah hurried over to the door and poked her head in. “What?” “Fetch me some sodas. Me and my friends are thirsty.” Teresa commanded as she fluffed her curls while staring into an old antique hand mirror propped up on her bed. Sarah shook her head. “I said if you need anything I will accompany you to get it. Not go get it for you.” She repeated. She stepped into the room and crossed her arms like a stern mother. “Now which one of you am I escortin’?” Not one of them budged. The two red heads looked down at the ground as the pudgy one straightened the others hair. Teresa smirked. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Now I’ll tell you again, get us some sodas.” They had only been here thirty minutes and Sarah was already about to explode. The anger bubbled inside her but she took a deep calming breath. She put on her most professional psychologist un-amused face she could. “I am not your personal servant Teresa. I am here to protect you and if I’m gettin’ your guy’s sodas, someone could break through the glass windows and murder all of you. And I’m very sure you don’t want that. So, either one of you come with me or no soda.” Sarah explained. Like five year olds suddenly learning why they were in timeout, she watched as the severity of the situation finally started to sink into their shampooed skulls. Teresa seemed especially worried because her large Victorian style bed was closest to the window. The chubby red head put down the straightener, got up, and talked in a small voice. “I’ll go with you to get the sodas.” She volunteered. Sarah nodded; glad she had smoothed that issue out and pressed her earpiece. “Stork, I’m taking someone to the kitchen. Position swap request.” “Sure. I’ll be up in a minute.” Sarah motioned for the girl to follow her. They exited the room and waited until Lidia had climbed the stairs. She and Sarah swapped positions as they passed each other. They indicated who they were with quick predetermined hand signals and Sarah and the girl started down the steps. The teenager, who had to be at least sixteen, clutched Sarah’s arm. Sarah, without looking at her, addressed the issue. “Ya know, it’ll be hard to defend you if you are holding my arm like that.” “Oh, sorry.” She quickly apologized and immediately released her hands. Sarah caught a glimpse of her arm and saw she had gripped her so tight there were red hand marks.Sarah could not help but feel sorry for her. She knew she probably should not have put the image of the three girls lying on the carpet dead in their heads, but Sarah saw no other way to communicate the dire situation. “Hey, we’re here to keep you guys safe. Don’t worry.” Sarah reassured her. Finally, they made it to the kitchen. The girl grabbed three sodas and offered one to Sarah. “No thanks. Don’t wanna crash later.” She shrugged and closed the fridge. “I never did catch your name.” “Bonnie.” The girl said. “And my other friend is Nicole.” “Alright Bonnie, let’s go back upstairs.” Sarah coaxed. Bonnie nodded and they went back upstairs. As they walked back upstairs, Sarah signaled to Lidia with a pull of her nose that it was indeed her and Bonnie. Lidia nodded and they easily traded positions. Sarah opened the door for Bonnie and, just to be safe, glanced inside to make sure the other two were ok. There they were, sitting cross-legged on Teresa’s bed snickering about Bonnie and their psycho bodyguard. Then, they noticed Sarah sticking her head around the door. Their snickering stopped and Teresa gave Sarah a grumpy look. “What?” She hissed. “Makin’ sure you’re alright. Protocol. Anyways, Bonnie is back with the drinks.” Sarah swung the door further open and allowed Bonnie to enter. Teresa and Nicole did not miss a step. They congratulated Bonnie about her bravery for going to get the sodas and exalted her for the hair job she had given Nicole. Sarah frowned as she closed the door and she once again started walking in aimless circles.
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“Midnight checkup. Signal off.” Melissa said through the ear piece. “Stork in the kitchen. No activity.” “Beth in basement. Nothing to report.” “Graphite in tree. All clear.” “Chloe in dinin’ room. Quiet.” “Alpha in upstairs hallway. Everythin’ is fine up here.” “And this is Mel with nothing particularly interesting on any of the camera screens. Total and complete silence. Anybody else thinking this would be the perfect time for an ambush.” Melissa contemplated. “Absolutely so everyone be extra careful and extra alert.” Lidia cautioned. Sarah rubbed the back of her neck to relieve some of the tension in her shoulders. They had been there for hours investigating every tiny noise, every weird flash of the cameras, and every bad feeling. All had been false alarms but this did nothing to ease their minds. If an ambush will happen, it never occurs before midnight. “Mel here.” Melissa’s voice rang in Sarah’s ear breaking her thoughts. “Just saw something or someone flash by the gate. Veronika, can you confirm visual?” Veronika whirled around and caught a quick sight of the blur of a shadowy figure dashing to the backyard. “Vizual confirmed. Zhov time. Repeat zhov time.” Veronika yelled through the intercom. The other girls sprang into action. Taylor sprinted from the dining room up the stairs with her gun poised and ready. Sarah pointed to the room Grant was in and her twin nodded. She quickly turned the knob to Teresa’s room and burst through the door. Fumbling around the dark, she fingered the wall until she found the light switch. The blinding lights came on and Sarah’s body went rigid. There he stood, six feet tall completely covered in black except for his red eyes. His silver streaked hair poked out of his tightly wrapped head bandana. The tip of his sword was hovering just above Teresa’s heart. She was cowering under the covers with Bonnie and Nicole clutching each other at the other end of the bed. Upon hearing Sarah enter, Teresa and the man glanced at the door. Sarah was gripping her knife, pointing it at the ninja. “HELP ME!” Teresa screamed. The man chuckled as he slowly lifted his sword away from Teresa and redirected it to Sarah. Underneath his mask, he grinned. “Well, well, well…we meet again.” He smirked. “It would seem so.” Sarah gravely replied. “It has been awhile hasn’t it?” He recalled as he backed away from the bed. Sarah nodded. She had not seen the Obscure Marvelous Grand Ninja -O.M.G. Ninja for short- since her junior year. After their first encounter in Mexico when the teens were chasing after drug lords, Sarah had to be airlifted by the emergency chopper to the closest hospital in Mexico City. She came out of that first fight covered in bruises, stab wounds, and he had even managed to cut into her throat and her left wrist. It was the nearest of any mission that she had ever come to dying. Since waking up a few days later in the hospital that first time, she swore she would never lose in another knife fight against him again. Her eyes narrowed as her knife was poised to strike. “Not long enough.” She growled. “Oh come on, you can’t say you haven’t wanted a rematch. We tied the last time. Two people, one ninja and one masked CIA agent sword wielding to the death.” “Not interested.” “Maybe this time, I’ll even get your mask off and figure out who you are.” He taunted as he raised an eyebrow. Sarah ignored the comment and asked another question instead. “How did you know I would be here?” “I didn’t. I was contacted and hired to take out this brat. You were just a pleasant surprise.” He twirled the sword in his hands. “I can see you are still using the same knifes. Typical.” “I use what I know I can win with.” “Please, you’re out of practice.” He paused for dramatic effect. Sarah clenched her jaw. ‘Just charge already!’ She cried inside her mind. Finally, the man charged towards Sarah. She dropped to her knees and rolled out of the way. Her foot as she rolled extended and whacked against the ninja’s ankle which sent him flying forward. However, in a clever two second reaction, he tucked into a ball and caught himself in a summersault. He stood up and clapped as he picked up his sword. Sarah stood up and tossed a knife at him. He just barely dodged it and the knife plunged into the wooden frame of the wall. But while he was dodging the knife, she simultaneously reached behind her and pulled out her Tachi Japanese sword. She rushed over to him and slammed him in the side. Then she swung her sword down to strike. Crash! The sound of two metal swords colliding echoed in the room. Each of them struggled to gain the upper-hand as they pushed against each other. Sarah could feel the pressure of his blade begin to overtake her. She felt the slipping of the handle digging into her palm. Out of the corner of her eyes, she glimpsed Bonnie, Nicole and Teresa with panicked faces and whimpering softly like abandoned puppies watching in horror. With sudden surging strength she tightened all her muscles and planted her heels firmly into the ground. Her sword began to even out with his and she began pushing harder against his blade. Knowing it was not a game of strength; Sarah released the opposing pressure of her blade and spun around so that his blade only nicked her arm. A small trickle of oozing red blood dripped down her arm as she tucked an annoying strand of loose hair behind her ear. Both stood there, panting heavily as they eyed the other. The ninja turned his blade and charged again. Sarah swiftly upper cut his sword and it slipped out of his hands. Yet, the ninja jumped up on a table beside them as Sarah tried to strike, launched from the table, and grabbed the chandelier. He swung and flipped in the air landing perfectly on his feet and catching his sword. Again, he charged and again, they were locked in a sword match wrestling to keep their grip on their handles. Sarah stared straight into his eyes and saw a brief twinkle and a twitch under his mask from the corner of his mouth. She quickly recognized these ticks as indicators of “gotcha” but it was too late. With one crashing blow, he swiftly hooked his ankle around her left ankle and knocked her off balance. She went tumbling to the ground and her bloody arm made contact with the hard tile floor. Her sword flew out of her hand and she heard the loud clang as it slammed to the floor. She lay holding her battered arm as she spotted the tip of his sword aimed at her chest. “Up.” He commanded. Sarah slowly rose to her feet and stole a quick glance to her sword. “Ah ah ah!” He wagged his finger and kicked her sword towards the bed. “See, you are still so predictable. Only carrying one knife and a sword.” “So sue me. I pack light for missions.” Sarah responded. She would play his failure to see her other weapons to her advantage. “Well…” He walked towards her, this time aiming for her neck and soon, he had her backed up in a corner of the room. She was pressed against a window ledge forced by the man to lean back on the curtains. “The moment of truth. Let’s see who I’ve been fighting against.” Pressing the blade lightly against her neck, he reached for her head and pulled off the black mask. He stared at the ordinary teenage girl that glared back at him. He was fascinated by her pale white skin and her smooth brown hair and eyes. Teresa, Bonnie, and Nicole strained to see her face. Teresa even dared to step off the bed and gasped when she saw Sarah’s face. “Sarah Moses?” Teresa said. “So, Sarah Moses is the lovely CIA agent that eluded me for all these years.” He grabbed Sarah’s cheek and pinched it for a moment. Sarah swatted at his hand and he shrugged. “Well, you were a worthy adversary but sadly, I have to terminate you.” He admitted. As he babbled on, Sarah, in anticipation of opportunity, placed her hands flat on the ledge behind her. She kept them out of sight, hoping for the right moment as he continued explaining his motives. “… But still, honestly, it’s nothing personal. I would love to continue our annual duals but my assassinations come first. You do what you do to live. You made me feel like my life had a higher purpose, a continuous rivalry, my one true and only nemesis. Oh well. Now let’s see, I think I’ll kill you first and then kill the people you were supposed to protect.” He became silent and focused as he started to dig his sword into Sarah’s neck. However, before he could do any serious damage, Sarah swiftly leaned back and tucked her legs. When she was far enough back, she firmly kicked the O.M.G. ninja in the stomach and sent him flying backwards. He hunched over trying to stifle the pain of his stomach. Grabbing the knives she had placed in her belt, it was her turn to charge. She lunged at his left hand and whacked his sword out of his reach. Recovering from his pain, he jumped up to try to defend himself but now Sarah fought with fierce intensity. She jabbed her knives out in front of her to push him back while kicking him. Then she strategically stepped on his foot and punched him in the face. He fell to the floor and cowered as Sarah held the knives above him. Getting on top of his chest, she pinned both of his arms to the floor and, with incredible raging force, stabbed her backup knives through both of his hands. A loud hollering echoed throughout the house. He screamed and tried to push the knives out of the ground but they stuck there. “You….you…” He stammered in shock. “I win.” She proclaimed. Then, she punched him in the face rendering him unconscious. She paused for a moment to regain her breath. Teresa, Bonnie, and Nicole were all now off the bed watching the two pools of blood drip from the ninja’s hands. Sarah, after catching her breath, quickly stood up and talked through the earpiece. “Mel. The house has been compromised. Bogie O.M.G. infiltrated and attempted killing. O.M.G. has been neutralized. Contact Mr. C. and inform him to pick up Bogie and secure the house. Execute escape plan Beta. Repeat, execute escape plan Beta. Everyone to the basement.” “Copy that Alpha.” Melissa replied as she began packing her equipment and composed her cryptic message to Mr. Cooper. Sarah nodded and looked at the girls. They were still in their day clothes. “Come on. We’re headed to the basement.” “But…” Teresa began to protest. “No. We can’t stay here. Don’t grab anythin’. Let’s go!” Sarah pushed them towards the door to force them to hurry. As they passed her sword and favorite knife, she picked the sword up and wrenched her knife out of the wall. As they rushed out of Teresa’s room, Taylor, with her gun drawn, was guiding Grant towards the stairs. She was slightly shocked upon seeing her twin mask-less. “Sarah, where’s your mask?” “Forget the mask. We need to get to the basement now.” She ordered. Taylor wanted to ask more questions but the serious look on her sister’s face made her think better of it. The Jenkins and their friends went bounding down the steps towards the basement while Sarah and Taylor followed close behind eyeing the shadows. As they reached the bottom, Melissa came out of the study carrying her special bag. Her long curly red hair bounced on her head as she joined the group running for the door. “Mr. C has received the message. He liked the suggestion of escape plan Beta and he approved the operation. He is on his way with an ambulance and backup to secure the house.” She grabbed Sarah’s arm while they were running and pulled her closer. “By the way, did you say the O.M.G. ninja?” Her brown eyes were full of concern as she asked her friend the heart stopping question. “Yes.” Sarah whispered. She placed a finger to her lips and jerked her head towards Taylor. Melissa read the silent message loud and clear. Sarah did not want Taylor to worry. Releasing her arm, Sarah and Melissa approached the door. Once the door was reached, it was swung open and everyone clambered down the stairs in a straight line. Sarah closed the door behind them and finally made it to the basement. She leaned against the railing and panted. The basement surprisingly was not much to look at. Bits of random colored furniture were scattered across the room, old stained carpet covered the floors, and there was a tiny TV placed on a wobbly coffee table. Thankfully, she saw everyone had successfully made it to the basement. Veronika and Elizabeth had the building blueprints spread out on a vintage end table deciding the best path to take. Lidia traced her fingers on the wall to find the secret entrance while Taylor directed Grant and Teresa to sit in the center of the room. Melissa eyed Sarah as she watched the blood flow down her sleeve. She walked back over to her and tenderly touched her arm where the open wound was. Ripping off her vintage red wool scarf fashioned for women in the twenties, Melissa carefully wrapped the scarf around Sarah’s arm as a makeshift band aid. Sarah bit her lip from the pain as Melissa knotted the scarf. Once the scarf was tied, Sarah smiled. “Thanks Melissa.” “Well, we cannot have our psychologist coming down with a nasty case of infected wound.” Melissa grinned. Just then, Lidia pushed the dusty old mirror to the side revealing a secret tunnel. “Ok everyone. Listen up. I’ve found the entrance. Veronika, where are we going?” “Dovn the first hall and ztay on ze path. It headz straight tovardz da park near da tvinz house.” “I want a single file line with me and Taylor in front, Elizabeth and Melissa in the middle with the four targets, and Sarah and Veronika in the back.” Lidia said. She knew since Sarah’s identity had been compromised and with the relocation, she could drop the nicknames. Everyone nodded and lined up in their assigned positions. Closing the mirror once everyone was inside, Lidia turned on her flashlight and they rapidly moved through the dirt underground tunnels. Heading down the recommended path, Lidia and Taylor led the way until they reached a ladder connected to a pothole. Using her watch laser, Taylor cut away at the rusty sides of the pothole. Once the pothole was loose, Lidia ascended the ladder and heaved it to the side. “Alright, hurry out.” She commanded as she climbed out. Extending her hand, she helped Taylor, Grant, and Teresa out of the hole. Before they could help anybody else out of the hole, they heard the snapping of a twig. “Who’s there?” Taylor yelled as she pointed her gun towards the noise. A high shrilly laugh broke the night silence. “Oh, what fantastic fun.” The annoying voice shrieked.
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Taylor’s and Lidia’s eyes widened at the sound of the hyena like laugh. Both of their widened eyes met and the same look of shock and disbelief was reflected back. “You don’t think….” Taylor started. Lidia simply nodded in reply and tried to shove Grant back down the hole. But a loud shot rang out and near his foot and he jumped. Taylor quickly fired a few stray shots into the direction she heard the sound come from but to no avail. The laugh still continued to giggle. “Hey, what’s the hold up?” Sarah called from the pothole. “Vacating this dusty, old, smelly, unstable, poorly lit, disgusting, and deeply unnerving hole in the ground would be appreciated. We wish to exit…now!” Melissa complained. Bonnie and Nicole, who were still attached by their grasping arms, stood further back in the cave shaking like shivering Chiwawas. “I thought you liked underground tunnels?” Elizabeth pondered. “No! I appreciate the wondrous underground caverns and tunnels constructed by the sheer hard work and dedication of a determined mother nature who constantly hands us these glorious gifts of beauty. However, this dismal excuse for a man dug tunnel severely lacks that timeless beauty…” “Melissa, stop you’re nature rantin’.” Sarah interrupted. Normally, she would jump at the chance to listen to Melissa’s opinions in an attempt to further her understanding of Melissa’s personality but this time was an exception. “Quiet guys.” Lidia hollered. She stood directly above the hole and made quick motions signaling for them to shut up. Thankfully, the woman hiding in the bushes was too busy laughing and climbing down from her perch in the tree to hear or see them. Her hot pink hair was in tall wild spikes and her green eyes popped in the moonlight. Tight fitting black leather pants made a swishing noise as she walked towards them holding a semiautomatic. “Well, if it isn’t thing one and thing two from Chile. That was how long ago? Oh yeah. About a year.” The hyena reminisced. Lidia and Taylor cringed at the thought of that particular mission. In an attempt to recapture a fugitive, they encountered the young woman. When they stumbled upon an old barn, she ambushed them and tied them together. Laughing the entire time, she forced them to watch as the other agents who had accompanied them fell victim to her bullets in their heads. By the time she was about to kill them, the other girls had arrived. Taylor and Lidia could not forget the screams and pleas of their fellow agents. Taylor had nightmares about the ordeal for weeks while Lidia actually participated in a Sarah psychology session for once. The memories flooded up in both their minds as they raised their arms up. “What could you possibly want?” Lidia hissed, hoping to distract the giggling buffoon. She eyed the semiautomatic wondering if either Taylor or she were close enough to grab it. “Yeah. We stopped takin’ out of country missions awhile ago.” Taylor growled. She too was intensely staring at the lethal weapon pointing in her face. A creepy glittery smile appeared on the woman’s face. “Don’t tell me you’re not happy to see your old friend Hannah the Hyena. Don’t tell me you don’t miss my giggle. Don’t tell me you forgot how much fun we used to have.” Her finger was poised on the trigger ready to shoot at any moment as she waited for a reply. Lidia and Taylor held steadfast and silent. “Awe….you don’t care. Well, I guess now I have to share my lonesome story. Ever since Chile, I’ve been branded a failure. Two of the legendary CIA teenage agents waltz into my territory and I was interrupted before I could kill you two. My reputation was tarnished. Ruined! Can you image?” She gripped her side and for a moment, a sad look crossed her face. “For once, everyone was laughin’ and it wasn’t funny.” A pause before the smile returned. “But when I was kindly handed an opportunity to come to D.C. and murder these two, I just knew I’d find the both of you somewhere. Now enough about me; how about we finish what we started in Chile?” With a click, she aimed her gun at Lidia. Meanwhile, Veronika was listening intently to the above conversation. Then, she motioned Melissa over. “Do you have youhr pillov?” She asked. Melissa dug into her bag and pulled the platypus pillow out and cuddled it. “I never leave home without my wonderful pillow.” She cooed. “Give it here.” Veronika demanded. Melissa reluctantly gave Veronika her pillow and Veronika opened the pillow’s underbelly. Amongst the fluffy white stuffing, there was a jet black Swedish automatic gun with a package of bullets. She grabbed it and tossed the pillow back at Melissa. As she loaded the bullets, she looked at Sarah. “Ve need a diztraction.” Sarah thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. “I’ve got it.” She exclaimed. “Nicole, give me your purse.” Nicole hesitated a moment, unwilling to hand over her most precious possession. Finally, Bonnie snatched the purse from her frozen fingers and handed it to Sarah. Sarah shouldered the purse; let her long brown hair out of the pony tail and walked towards the ladder. “When I whistle, get the gun to Lidia.” Sarah explained. “Vait Zarah. Diz zeemz like a bad…” But Veronika’s objections fell on deaf ears and Sarah was already climbing the steps. She poked her head out of the hole. Hannah’s gaze shifted from Lidia to Sarah as she watched her ascend. “What do you want?” Hannah eyed her suspiciously as she pointed the gun towards Sarah. Sarah acted as if the gun did not exist. She carefully patted down her hair and snobbishly placed her hands on her hips while tilting them to one side. “Darling, you muzt be johking. You dohn’t knov vho I am?” Sarah posed for a moment with her head tilted to the sky and her best model face. Hannah scratched her head. Sarah sighed as she placed an irritated hand on the bridge of her nose. “I am de famouz Ruzzian actrezz/model Natasha.” “Oh yeah, what is a scratched up famous actress doing down a hole?” Hannah smiled at her clever accusation. “Vhat iz a pink haired jehckle dohing veilding gunz at teenagerz?” Sarah countered. “No fair! I asked you first!” She pouted as she stamped her foot. Teresa was about to protest that Sarah was not a famous movie actress, but Taylor quickly put her hand over Teresa’s mouth. Sarah over emphasized her hip sways as she approached the hyena. “Very vell. I found ouht my husband vaz cheating on me. Ve had an argument and I ended it. Vith diz blade. De tunnel vaz my ezcape route.” Sarah flashed her favorite knife for Hannah to see. Then, Sarah wrapped her arm around Hannah’s shoulders. “De vay I zee it, ve can both geht vhat ve vant and no one vill zay a vord. Youh can kill theze nohbodiz and I can geht avay vith murder. Vhat do you zay?” Hannah raised an eyebrow and her devilish smile somehow widened. She eagerly grabbed Sarah’s hand and shook it violently. “Of course we have a deal! Any woman who kills her own husband, a fellow lover of the murdering arts, is a friend of mine.” The girls still inside the hole were stunned. ‘Diz chic iz off her rocker.’ Veronika thought. Sarah’s ploy was actually working. Not only did she get Hannah to not shoot her, she managed to fool Hannah into thinking she was a fellow criminal. “Pleaze, youh’re too kind.” Sarah fashioned a disgusted face of an upper crust celebrity and jerked her hand away. “But ve muzt have a zignal in caze de police come.” She pretended to ponder possible signals as she circled the group. She snapped her fingers. “I knov. Hov about a vhistle?” Sarah was close to Taylor as she made the suggestion. “Like diz.” Sarah demonstrated the signal perfectly by issuing a loud whistle. Upon hearing this, Veronika chucked the loaded gun straight up at Lidia and she caught it. Before Hannah could react, Lidia unleashed a flurry of bullets and Hannah collapsed into a heap in the freshly cut grass. Taylor cautiously stepped towards her and, with the tip of her shoe, rolled her over. Those bright green eyes were now glossy and cloudy, absolutely no life left in them. She sighed with relief. “Hannah the Hyena is dead.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. “Clear to come out.” Lidia hollered down. Before Veronika could even touch the ladder, Melissa, followed closely by Bonnie and Nicole, surged with surprising speed up the ladder and smothered Lidia in a tight hug. “Oh thank you! Finally I am out of that wretched tunnel.” Bonnie and Nicole were tightly hugging Teresa also. Neither Lidia nor Teresa seemed happy from their new bonded leeches. “Get off Melissa.” Lidia said in a flat tone. Melissa released Lidia. Sarah took off the purse and handed it to Nicole. “You didn’t ruin it did you?” Nicole seized her purse and examined it. Everyone, even Teresa, stared at her as she selfishly rubbed a small smudge of blood off her purse. Taylor, boiling from the girls disrespect, slapped Nicole across the face. “Do you have ANY idea how close we were to dyin’ and that the ONLY reason we aren’t dead is ‘cause of Sarah’s quick thinkin’, Veronika’s throwin’ skills, and Lidia’s aim!” She shouted. Nicole touched her stinging cheek as Taylor yelled. Sarah and Elizabeth pulled back on Taylor to keep her from beating Nicole to a pulp. “Taylor. It’s ok. Let’s just figure out what we’re gonna do next.” Finally, the sound of Sarah’s pleas calmed Taylor down but the angry look did not leave her face. She just leaned against a rock. “What’s next?” She grumbled. Lidia took out a city map and pointed north. “We head to Sarah and Taylor’s house. It’s the closest distance and Melissa’s truck is there.” “Well then, I say onward hoe!” Melissa began marching in the direction Lidia had mentioned and the group followed. After a few minutes of trudging down the concrete path, they came up to a neighborhood that Sarah and Taylor recognized. Their blue house with Melissa’s truck parked out front was a sight for sore eyes. Once they reached the driveway, Elizabeth faced Bonnie and Nicole. In her sweetest sugary voice, she sighed. “Perhaps you chaps should go home now. Right loves?” Bonnie glanced towards a frustrated Teresa and scooted closer to Elizabeth. “Will she be ok?” Elizabeth saw the desperate question in the tears appearing in Bonnie’s hazel eyes. She squeezed Bonnie’s hand in reassurance. “She’ll be fine dearie. She’s got the best protection.” Satisfied with this answer, Bonnie crawled into ADAM and clicked on her seat belt. Nicole glared at Elizabeth. “Anything happens to our best friend Teresa and I’ll make sure you’re personally responsible.” She hissed as she stuck up her nose and followed Bonnie. Melissa hauled herself into the driver’s seat and started the engine. They all watched as she pulled out of the driveway and drove off. Sarah placed her elbow on Elizabeth’s shoulder with a quirky smile on her face. “Poodle on the outside, cobra on the inside, and WAY deep down a mother bear.” “She’s a piece of work.” Elizabeth teased. “Alright, where to now Sarah?” Lidia asked. Sarah shrugged. “Mom an’ Dad are still up so we can just head in through the back door.” She and Taylor led the way to the backyard. Through the brown gate, past the empty flower pots and onto the freshly painted wood deck, the girls and Grant made it to the door. A loud bark and howl could be heard from inside the house. Teresa jumped back in fear as Kovu appeared in the window. “What is that?” She cried. “That’s Kovu. My sweet little baby boy.” Taylor cooed. Sarah rolled her eyes as she reached underneath the porch light and pulled out a house key. She unlocked the front door and strolled inside. Taylor opened her arms and embraced Kovu while rubbing his belly. Sarah stuck her head through the door. “Well, you can come in.” Teresa and Grant cautiously stepped into the house with Lidia, Veronika and Elizabeth close behind. When they entered, the smell of baked chocolate chip cookies and burnt popcorn still hung in the air. The blue kitchen wallpaper and white tile floor gave the homey feel that Grant and Teresa could not help but smile at. Sarah led them around the corner to the front room where Mr. and Mrs. Moses were comfortably curled up together watching Marshmallow Hills. They seemed surprised when Sarah came walking through the archway. “What are you doin’ home?” Mrs. Moses asked. “Didn’t Cooper have you on a mission tonight?” Mr. Moses also asked. Sarah lowered her head as she rubbed her eyes. The bright light in the dark room only managed to intensify her growing headache. “Yeah well, the house was compromised. We had to evacuate an’ Coop told us to head to someone’s house if the mission went south.” Sarah waved her hand and Teresa and Grant walked into the front room. Mr. and Mrs. Moses nodded. “They can stay.” Mrs. Moses answered for them. “He can stay in the guest room.” Mr. Moses pointed a threatening finger towards Grant. “Don’t worry Dad!” Sarah waved her hand. That was when Taylor walked in with Kovu and noticed that Sarah had a cut on her neck and the scarf around her arm. “Where’d you get those?” She pointed to Sarah’s neck. Sarah, forgetting the ninja had managed to cut her neck, placed a hand on her wound and turned away from Taylor. “Just a scuffle.” “It looks more than just a scuffle to me.” “Can we talk ‘bout this later?” “Um…I wanna know what happened.” Sarah shot a desperate glance at her parents but they also were curious as to what happened. For the third time that night, Sarah felt trapped in a corner with the walls closing in. Finally, she could not take the feeling anymore. “The person who attacked back at the mansion was the O.M.G. ninja!” She angrily exploded. Taylor’s face went pale and her father frowned at the mentioning of the ninja. “But I took care of it, ok! He’s not gonna be a problem anymore. Now, instead of focusin’ on my neck and arm, I think we should discuss the fact that someone is deliberately hirin’ our personal enemies from our junior year out of country missions.” That was when Mrs. Moses stood up from the couch and walked over to Sarah. She placed her hands on her shoulders. “I think what you should do next is go to sleep.” She advised. Sarah’s shoulders sagged. She did not count on her mom recognizing her body language and overall crankiness was due to the lack of sleep. With a tired look in her eyes, she walked away from her mother and trudged up the stairs.
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“So, who sleeps in what room?” Lidia asked. They were all crammed in the upstairs hallway waiting for Sarah and Taylor to gather up multiple sleeping bags and mattresses from the closet. “I guess me an’ Sarah will sleep in our own beds, Grant can sleep in the guest bed, an’ ya’ll can just take a bag an’ sleep on the floor in either of the rooms.” “Excuse me but I have never slept on the floor before in my life. I deserve the best you have to offer.” Teresa exclaimed. Lidia rolled her eyes at this. No wonder Sarah had been so reluctant to guard her upstairs, Teresa was a major brat. Sarah ignored her comment and shoved a sleeping bag at Teresa. “Here’s your bag.” Sarah grumbled. She was visibly tired of both Teresa and this mission. Without saying another word, Sarah opened the door to her room and walked in. Lidia sighed. She knew that more bickering would continue if she did not step in with room assignments. “Taylor, Sarah and Teresa can stay in the twin’s room, me and Veronika will sleep on the guest bedroom floor and Melissa and Elizabeth can sleep downstairs in the living room.” Everyone simply nodded since all of them were too tired to argue, grabbed their sleeping bags and sulked to their sleeping arrangements. Teresa huffed as she followed Taylor into the room. Sarah had seemingly flopped onto her bed and curled into a fetal position. With her arm sticking out from underneath the pillow, her head rested and her body was cocooned under a layer of blankets. She was breathing heavily and already fast asleep. Taylor assumed her sleeping position on her twin bed and Teresa threw her sleeping bag on the floor. “I need a pillow.” She complained. Taylor, without looking at her, jerked one of her many pillows from the bed and tossed it at her hitting her directly in the face. “There.” Came her muffled voice as she shimmied further under her covers. Teresa mumbled a few choice words under her breath and stooped down to pick up the fluffy white pillow. Meanwhile, Lidia and Veronika were spreading their sleeping bags across the guest bedroom floor. Veronika had propped her bag against the nearby wall and her BB gun was lying next to her. It was an arm reach away just in case. Lidia chose to place her gun inside her sleeping bag. Grant came out from the bathroom with his shirt crumpled in his hands. Lidia fought the urge to blush. In the VERY back of her mind, she had to admit to herself that he was gorgeous. Of course, she would never openly reveal this secret to any of the other girls but she was a huge Grant Jenkins fan. His perfectly cut hair, those wonderfully clear crystal blue eyes, the way he wrinkles his nose when he…. “Um…where should I put this?” Lidia snapped out of her daze and saw Grant holding his dark grey shirt. She regained her unemotional look and pointed to the end of the bed. “Thanks.” He crawled into the large, king sized guest bed and leaned against his pillow. He titled his head and gave her a curious. Lidia tried to ignore him as she situated her owl pillow on the floor. She remembered the random facts about Grant that Taylor had been spewing out on the ride to the mansion. He was born in April, his favorite color was electric blue, he was nominated and won best teenage actor of the year three times in a row, and his eighteenth birthday was celebrated at some other famous actors house, her list of useless knowledge went on. Veronika stood up and picked up her bag. “If youh neehd me, I’ll be in zhover.” She stated as she closed the bathroom door. Veronika was the master of finishing her showers at an astonishing rate. Her personal best was one and a half minutes. Somehow, Lidia doubted that Veronika would try to beat the record tonight. Grant began fiddling with his fingers as he watched Lidia out of the corner of his eye. She pretended not to notice but the chill of his magnificent eyes became too much to ignore. She finally faced him, leaning against the wall next to the door. “What?” She asked flatly. Grant tapped his knee as he replied. “Well…I want to thank you for protecting me and my sister.” Lidia just shrugged. “It’s my job.” “Well, I appreciate that you do it so well.” Another long and awkward pause hung between them. Lidia sensed that he had more to say. Trained in the art of interrogation like the others, she honed in on his nervous tap and twitch in his eyebrow. Unfortunately, Sarah was the best interrogator simply because she could spot and decipher the signs of the interrogated. Lidia could only see the signs. As to what he was holding back, she did not know. Grant hummed a bit as he surveyed the room. The rich dark brown paint covered the walls and complemented the reddish gold covers on the bed. A small desk was crammed into the corner with the chair inside the double door closet. Then he found his eyes returned to Lidia. Her shoulder length black hair and green eyes were astounding. Her face still remained stone cold but he could see the spark in her eyes. He coughed once when she looked over hoping she had not seen him staring at her. Then, he tried to start a conversation. “Ya know, I don’t tell a lot of people about this but Teresa and I are actually fraternal twins.” “Really?” Lidia was shocked. He and Teresa’s personality differences had shown no indication that they were twins. Grant felt his face temperature rise. He rubbed his chin in an attempt to stifle the reaction. “Yeah. I know. Teresa can be….well….difficult to live with.” He laughed. Lidia also began to laugh. They laughed for a few minutes more before they both simultaneously stopped laughing and stared into each other’s eyes. That’s when Veronika stepped out of the shower with a fresh change of stealth clothes. She caught them staring at each other and let out an, “eehm.” Lidia gasped and as she stepped forward, her foot caught the edge of Veronika’s slippery sleeping bag and down she went. She landed on her butt and her face turned cherry red. Veronika’s mouth curled into a smile as she reached down to help Lidia up. Just as Lidia got back on her feet, a loud alarm sounded. Lidia, Grant and Veronika each slammed their hands against their ears in a vain attempt to shield them from the screeching siren. “Vhat’z diz?” Veronika shouted. “A perimeter breech. Come on!” Lidia rushed over and pulled her gun out of the sleeping bag. Veronika had her BB-gun out and loaded. They all rushed down the steps and saw Mr. Moses standing by the back door with Kovu who was barring his teeth and growling. Melissa was also by the door in her woolen green robe with a tired Elizabeth still sprawled across the floor. Mr. Moses had his arms crossed which puffed up his muscles like a cobra puffing out his skin to look more intimidating. Lidia, Veronika and Grant looked through the kitchen window and saw a young teen boy with a white hoodie on and a petrified look on his face. His arms were held up in a surrender position and Lidia saw his knees were slightly shaking. “Honestly! My girlfriend said she’d be here Mister…” He stuttered. Mr. Moses held up his hand and this silenced the teen. His angry face seemed to send chills down the teen’s spine. “Any of you ladies his girlfriend?” He asked. All of them shook their heads no. They had never seen the black haired and grey eyed guy standing before them in the Moses’ backyard. “Then get out!” “What is all this racket?” Teresa came stomping down the stairs with her arms folded. A zombie like Taylor with a genuine bed-head hairdo and half closed eyes fumbled down the stairs behind Teresa. That was when Teresa caught sight of the teen outside. “Oh Thomas you came!” “Please tell him to point that gun somewhere else.” Thomas pleaded. Teresa started to head towards Thomas but Lidia caught her arm. “You were not supposed to contact anybody else.” She hissed. Teresa yanked her arm out of Lidia’s grasp and folded her arms. “I’m not a prisoner!” She pouted. “I am a free American citizen who can call her boyfriend any time she wants to!” “Even if it endangers your life.” The two stood locked in a heated staring match with the electric sparks flying. Grant decided to take action and stepped between them. “Ok, so Teresa made a mistake. You can fix it by telling Thomas to see you another time.” Grant winced slightly. He had no idea if Teresa would agree. Teresa gritted her teeth. “Fine!” There she went, stomping back up the stairs in a whirlwind of huffing and puffing. Thomas glanced back at Mr. Moses. Mr. Moses lowered his gun. “Now get out!” He ordered. Thomas wasted no time running towards the backyard gate and bounding away from the house. “Ugh! We wasted all that effort for him?” Lidia sighed in frustration. “Vhat an idiot!” Veronika spat. Elizabeth just moaned and crawled back to her mattress. “Oh, he had some serious nerve to think he could slip into the backyard of the Moses’ house and not get caught.” Melissa said. “What happened?” Taylor, who had finally made it down the steps, asked as she rubbed her eyes. “Nothing. Juzt tvo idiotz. Go back to zleep.” Veronika answered. Taylor turned back around and wobbled back up the steps. Lidia glanced around the room. “Hey, where’s Sarah?” “I am willing to wager that our dear friend never moved from her comfy bed.” Melissa guessed. “Remember not to bring her along when we have a steak-out in the future.” Lidia grumbled. Grant placed his large hand on Lidia’s right shoulder. She turned towards him and stared deep into his eyes. Her anger and frustration seemed to melt away. “I’m sure she’s just tired. How about we go to bed now?” They all nodded in agreement. Up the stairs and snuggled into their beds, Lidia smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
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The young kindergartener shyly stepped into the classroom for the first time. She gawked at the piles of toys, the play kitchen and dollhouse, the soft and comfy purple rug, the rows of neat wooden desks, and the colorful educational posters plastered all over the walls. She admired the art of other kids past as she came through the door. She held her iron man lunchbox behind her back and it slapped against the back of her knee as she walked in. With her parents following, she approached the teacher who stood at the center of the room. The blonde haired lady with a red sweater vest and old jeans gave a sugary smile and crouched down to greet the young girl. “Why hello there. My name is Mrs. Niki. Welcome to your first day of kindergarten.” The teacher held out her hand. The young girl buried her face in her mother’s left leg. The teacher laughed. “She’s very shy.” The mom giggled. “Oh, you’d be surprised how many of them are nervous the first day.” Mrs. Niki smiled. The father stooped down and picked up the scared girl. He held her in his strong arms and gave her a serious look. “Now come on. You’re a big girl. I know you’re excited for your first day. Come on. Show me a BIG smile.” He coaxed. Reluctantly, the girl flashed a toothy grin large enough to satisfy her father. “That’s my girl. Now have fun. Mommy will pick you up in a few hours.” With a kiss on her cheek, her father set her gently on the ground. “Why don’t you put your lunchbox in the cabinet over there?” Mrs. Niki pointed to a small shelve tucked in the far corner of the room with little cubby holes with a hook and nametag for each one. “Yours is….” But the girl had already spotted her name and rushed over to the right cubby. “Well, you certainly have a smart girl.” “Yeah but her and her sister can be a handful sometimes.” The girl’s mom said. The girl struggled to hook her lunchbox on the hook as the adults talked. Finally, with the aid of a nearby little red stool, she successfully hung her lunch on the hook. She felt rather proud of accomplishing this with no adult help but her moment of happiness did not last long. “Who are you?” The girl nearly fell off her stool. She was startled by the voice of another young girl. This one had dark blonde hair, curled and topped with a pretty pink bow, and blue eyes. Stepping off the stool, the girl stuck her hand out politely. “I’m Sarah.” But the blonde stuck up her nose. “Humph. My daddy says I don’t hafta shake nobodies hand.” “Huh?” Sarah was visibly confused at the blonde’s outburst. The blonde stood closer and placed her pink shoe on top of Sarah’s foot and glared at her. Then she spat on Sarah’s jeans. “I don’t like you.” She revealed as she turned away from Sarah. Obviously, little Sarah was confused. Did she do anything to deserve this? Sure, she and her sister yelled at each other often enough but even in their worst fights and tantrums they never uttered to anyone those spiteful, hateful words. Sarah, still fazed by the blonde’s peculiar behavior, followed the blonde to the other group of kids who were lined up by the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as her parents left. They waved and she waved back. As she waved, she felt something pinching her left arm. The blonde was pinching Sarah’s arm like crab claws pinching someone on the beach. Sarah jerked her arm out of the blonde’s grip and held her arm. The blonde stuck out her tongue and a few of the other kids started snickering with her. Sarah bowed her head and shuffled her feet as the teacher clapped her hands. “Alright my new students. Gather around and I’ll help you find your desks.” Mrs. Niki, in a sing-song voice, ushered the students to their seats. Thankfully, Sarah’s desk was far away from the mean blonde girl. * * * * * * * * *“Raahk! Mornin’ time! Go, go, and go!” Sarah rolled over and tried to bury her face further into the pillow and curled her body entangling herself further into her blankets. She heard a flapping noise and suddenly, blinding sun rays shone in her eyes. “Raahk! Wake up sleepy head!” “Ergh! Zara, why did I train you to be such a good wake-up call?” Sarah moaned. She sat up and saw Zara on her bed with the blind’s string in her beak. Zara dropped the string and clawed her way to Sarah’s finger. Sarah stroked Zara as she looked down. Teresa was half awake with her once perfect curls tangled in knots. Then, Sarah glanced at Taylor’s bed and that she was still sound asleep. Sarah smiled. “Zara, initiate operation Blaster.” Zara clicked her tongue signaling that she understood Sarah and she flew to the end of Taylor’s bed. At the end of her bed, Sarah had hidden a loud foghorn. Just like they had practiced, Zara grabbed the squishy ball and squeezed. A loud blast of sound filled the room. Taylor nearly jumped to the ceiling and Teresa, with wide eyes, screamed and sat up. Sarah chuckled as Zara honked the horn a few more times and flew back to Sarah’s bed. Taylor narrowed her eyes.“One of these days, I’ll wake up before you and I’ll be the one blastin’ that horn.” She growled. Teresa rubbed her eyes as she stood up. She dramatically stretched and yawned. Sarah rolled her eyes and got up before Teresa could say a word. She tossed Teresa her extra hairbrush and headed for the safety of the bathroom down the hall. After her quick shower and change of clothes, Sarah and Zara joined everyone else downstairs. They were all enjoying a large pancake breakfast with plenty of syrup and butter to drown them in. Grant had a large stack of three pancakes which he was pouring a generous amount of powdered sugar over. Melissa had a stack as big as his and was saturating them with cranberry jam. The rest simply preferred syrup and butter on their pancakes. Sarah avoided the pancake pilfering and instead poured a bowl of cereal for herself. She handed Zara a few raisins and filled the rest of Zara’s feeding bowl with birdseeds. “Raahk! Thank you. Chow time.” Zara cried. Mrs. Moses sighed at Sarah.“Honestly. I’d never thought I’d have a daughter who wasn’t a pancake fan.” “Oh no. I would love to consume your scrumptious pancakes mom but I jus’ prefer cereal.” Sarah sat down on the dining room chair next to Lidia. Melissa got a gleam in her eye as she chowed down on her pancakes. Veronika glared at Melissa for her sloppy eating habits-and tendency to use her hands-while Teresa wrinkled her nose in disgust. In between bites, while Melissa was licking her fingers clean of the cranberry jam, she began to talk.“A curious thought came to my mind as I was slumbering last night.” The other agents leaned towards Melissa in anticipation. Taylor tapped her fingers against the edge of the chair she was sitting backwards in, anxious to hear. “I do believe the conclusion Sarah came to last night before we retired to our beds is correct. Some glorious bas…”“We do not use such language in my house.” Mrs. Moses waved her spatula. Melissa bowed her head towards Mrs. Moses.“Sorry Mrs. Moses. Some very bad person is behind our recent misfortune. Villains whom we worked extremely hard to avoid future run-ins with are popping up. Clearly someone has breached CIA files, figured out who we are, and went out of their way to hire people from our out of country mission days whom we have come to accept as personal enemies.”“I beht it iz Luptator de Lumina.” Veronika interrupted. Mr. Moses cringed at the name.“Luptator de Lumina is one of the most notorious criminals especially since they’ve never been seen.” He commented.“We know dad.” Taylor stated as she stabbed her pancakes with the silver fork. She was still reeling at the thought of Hannah. All that effort to escape Hannah the first time and keeping her identity safe was destroyed thanks to Luptator de Lumina. Despite Hannah’s recent departure from this world, Taylor still felt unsafe and exposed. “Precisely. Now, Liz-a-bow I have concluded that while you are a vital part of our team, your absence of joining us in most of our out of country missions last year has made you safe.” Elizabeth sighed with relief at the news Melissa had said. She thanked her lucky rabbit’s foot that she had not made a habit of making enemies. Melissa and Veronika shared an uneasy glance. “That leaves your enemy and mine.” She solemnly stated as she sipped her sparkling water. Veronika nodded at this.“Tohnight de vill ztrike. Ve neehd a backup plan.”“Duh!” Sarah slapped her forehead. A brilliant thought had just come to her mind. “How ‘bout the passage?” Lidia looked at her like she was crazy.“We cannot go back to the park.” She sharply said. There was no way she was going to trek back through the dark park.“No. Dad has a secret passage in the backyard shed. It leads…..somewhere.” “Oh yeah. We can use it to escape.” Taylor piped up. “Can we?” Sarah looked to her dad with those rich brown eyes. Mr. Moses sighed.“Yeah. You know what to do.” “Hold on! Another long walk through a hole in the ground that might lead us somewhere that’s possibly safe. I demand another option.” Teresa folded her arms as she protested. Lidia squeezed her fork.“We don’t have other options.” She explained through gritted teeth.“Oh, and the place the tunnel leads is safe.” Mr. Moses assured them.“Then it’s settled. We’ll be ready for ‘em tonight.” Sarah smiled. For the first time since this mission started, the girls finally felt like they gained the upper hand. Then, a clock alarm sounded. Sarah placed her dish in the sink and grabbed her already packed up backpack. She snatched her keys off the key rack to her car and glanced at the others. “Who’s comin’ with me?”“Not me. I’m burnin’ rubber on my set of wheels.” Taylor got up and placed her black helmet on. She hightailed it to the garage before her father could protest. “How about Teresa and Veronika go with Sarah and Grant, Elizabeth and I go with Melissa in ADAM?” Lidia proposed. Hearing no objections, they gathered in the vehicles and drove off to school. Veronika could feel the tension in the car as Sarah pulled out of the driveway. Her tightened grip on the wheel and bit lip signaled that she was not happy about being anywhere near Teresa. Glancing at Teresa, she noticed Teresa was avoiding looking forward. She was staring blankly out the window, lost in the deep recesses of her mind. Veronika could tell that these two had a history. Their sideways glances, Sarah’s filled with some hate and fascination while Teresa’s was filled with nervousness, were frequent and usually behind the other’s back. Only once this whole time did Sarah actually stare Teresa in the eye and Teresa had quickly looked away. She decided that she would soon ask Sarah what had happened but concluded that raising the issues at this moment was not the best idea. The car came to a stop in the school parking lot and Sarah turned off the car. Teresa pushed open the door and slammed it shut in a matter of seconds. Veronika was actually surprised she could move that fast. Sarah waited a minute before picking up her backpack from the passenger seat and stepping out of the car. She was relieved Teresa had whisked away in her expensive light green dress. ‘Thank goodness Mr. Cooper brought her suitcase last night.’ She thought. Veronika also climbed out of the car and snagged Sarah’s arm. A look of serious concern was across her face as she spoke.“Vhere do youh knov Tereza?” She asked. Sarah rolled her eyes as she slipped her arm out of Veronika’s grip.“It doesn’t matter. I know the mission comes first. I won’t let it affect me.”“Haz it noht already?” “Well….hey Kyle!” Sarah waved her hand and rushed over to her boyfriend. Veronika slapped her forehead. Sarah had rather ungracefully evaded answering her. ‘It muzt be bad if zhe refuzez to talk about it.’ Veronika figured as she joined Sarah and Kyle in their conversation. “Ugh…The stress of this mission is killin’ me.” Kyle gave her a hug.“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll make it.”“Not sure….” Sarah mumbled.“Vell, dohn’t you have practice?” Veronika interjected. “Not until after school.” Kyle explained.“Yeah, first thin’ is first, gotta get through history and Mrs. Histine.” Sarah groaned at the thought of her menacing teacher. Since an FBI agent had stormed the room, Mrs. Histine had made extra sure that Sarah stayed awake in class. Pop quizzes, tons of essays, and long list of homework questions and passages kept Sarah from snoozing. The thought of enduring history made her stomach churn. “I had her my freshman year. I don’t understand why she hates you so much. Plenty of kids slept during her lectures in my class.” Sarah glared at Kyle’s remark.“Not only do I sleep but I can sleep an’ answer her questions with ease.” “Vell, dohn’t zleep.” Veronika shrugged as she continued to walk towards the entrance. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have a teacher constantly hatin’ on ya and usually late nights.” “No, juzt CIA mizzionz and buzy diplomatic zchedule.” Veronika snickered. She walked into the school with Sarah and Kyle walking arm in arm beside her.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
With her hands gripped at the wheel, Melissa slowly drove ADAM through the suburban neighborhood. Her tight black leather biker gloves squeezed her hands as she turned left. The blackness of the night was illuminated by her headlights and startled a stray cat in the road. The blur of normal houses with normal families flew past as she examined the cars that passed. Melissa always prided herself on spotting and memorizing every single detail she ever came across. At Sarah’s birthday party last year, she remembered the huge line of cars stretching throughout the neighborhood; a tan Camery, a black Mazda, a light blue Pilot, and a rich red Nissan Quest. Tonight, she had recognized each of the cars and none of them seemed extremely suspicious. This did nothing to calm her nerves. “ADAM, scan for any anomalies in the neighborhood.” “Absolutely Miss Stonewedge. Would you care for a soft drink?” “Why yes ADAM.” A noise came from the glove box and in a few seconds, a large cup of Sprite popped up out of the drink holder. Melissa gleefully sipped from her cup. “Ahhh…best invention ever...oh, and fire up the jellybean and fruit dispenser while you’re at it.” “Of course. I presume no music since this is a covert operation.” ADAM guessed as Melissa opened the side compartment. There sat a freshly opened bowl of jellybeans and a container filled with kiwi, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Melissa moaned as she bit into the fresh juicy fruit. “Exactly ADAM.” She said as she smacked and chewed her mouthful of delicious goodies. ‘Nothing makes a stakeout better than yummy fruit and candy.’ She thought. Licking the tip of her gloves, Melissa hummed as she noticed a large pair of headlights coming up the street entrance. She pulled into a driveway and shut off her lights and the headlights turned into the neighborhood. As she did this, ADAM flashed a small warning light on the dashboard. “Alert. Unknown and abnormally large vehicle known as a truck is approaching. Possible threat detected with altered engine.” “A truck hmmm…. ADAM, further investigate and scan the truck.” “Scanning…” Tiny little light flashes and a beeping noise came from ADAM as he carried out the command. “Alert! Signature engine alterations found are familiar. License plate confirmed…Illegal monster truck trafficker Boris Marshall is in the neighborhood.” Melissa tightened her grip on the wheel and gritted her teeth. Of course she was expecting the boorish oaf from her past to appear tonight but for him to have the audacity to drive one of his hideous monster trucks was unexpected. Though, she did recall the man’s stunning lack of common sense and low IQ from when they first met. The girls were working a lead on illegal monster trucks during a special event in a less than great arena deep in the Congo. Melissa had entered the competition as her cover and the others represented her pit crew and promoters. Due to unfortunate happenstance, Melissa ended up dumped for dead in the middle of the central African jungle. The unfortunate happenstance ended up being a weary Boris, who was worried about her competition skills, and a festering bullet wound in her torso. Melissa had wandered the jungle aimlessly for days until she finally reached civilization and managed to speak the language to find the village phone. Refusing medical attention until she completed the mission, Melissa ended up destroying his monster truck in the championship round. Since then, she and Boris had been bitter enemies. Now there he was, hooting and hollering out the window like a giddy dog. Stealth was not his style. “ADAM, initiate bulldoze mode.” Melissa ordered. ADAM responded and Melissa could hear the creaks and levers moving and shaking. ADAM’s bulldoze mode meant the adding of further armament and the lifting of the truck base slightly off the tires. Melissa and Taylor had installed this mode in order for Melissa to have ramming power without too much internal damage.“Bulldoze mode engaged.” ADAM replied as a tiny bull head appeared on the dash screen. Placing her giant World War Two pilot radio headphones Sarah had given her for her birthday on her head, Melissa waited until Boris passed the driveway she was in and then she slammed on the gas pedal sending ADAM straight into the outrageous truck. She heard the crunching of metal and the shrieking of the breaks as Boris went careening down the street. He struggled with the wheel until his truck halted just before a brick mailbox. Melissa tuned her headphones into the frequency of Boris’s radio and spoke.“Howdy-doo Boris. Long time, no crush.” Boris smiled as he spat out the window.“Missy, you haf no idea how crushed you be after I finish wit you.” He said as he smacked his lips together. He revved his impressive engine as he lined up ADAM in his sights. “That dinky trunk don’t stand no chance ‘gainst my beaut.” He patted the side of his baby as he readied her for the attack.“We shall see Boris.” Melissa calmly smiled as she revved ADAM’s engine. Her eyes focused on Boris’s weak spot; the engine. While it was highly tricked out, Boris never bothered covering up his precious life’s work. This left the truck vulnerable. “What say you ‘bout chicken?” Boris laughed.“I say, may the best truck win.” At that, Boris gunned the engine and charged. Melissa also released the break and went zooming down the street. Headlights pointed towards headlights, the trucks prepared for a head on collision. But before that could happen, Melissa opened a small flap on her wheel and pressed the shiny red button. A small laser popped out of ADAM’s antenna and the laser cooked the engine. Boris’s truck sputtered and coughed until it finally died. Melissa stopped ADAM just before Boris’s truck while Boris stormed out of his truck roaring mad.“Dat my baby you’s messing wit.” He cried. Melissa rolled her eyes and opened the second flap. The antenna was again converted into another launcher.“Targeting.” ADAM system locked onto Boris as he stomped towards ADAM. Melissa pressed the other shiny red button and Boris was hit with a tiny poisoned dart. He pulled the dart out and began stumbling around until he collapsed with foam pouring out of his mouth.“Check mate.” Melissa said as she started radioing Mr. Cooper.* * * * * * * * *Veronika tapped her foot on the floor as she stared at the bright TV screen. In order to calm their nerves that night, the girls opted to watch a movie for a while at the twins’ house. After much deliberation, they finally settled on a superhero action movie called “Alpha Squad”. Yet, only Teresa and Grant were intensely watching the movie. The others concentrated more on their earpieces. Melissa was out patrolling the neighborhood in ADAM which somewhat eased their nerves. Veronika was perched on the arm of the couch gripping her BB gun with one leg dangling over the edge. Sarah and Taylor were holding pillows and curdled up on the floor with spoons from their recent ice cream splurge halfway in their mouths. Sarah’s bag full of knives was inches away from her and Taylor’s prized 38 caliber gun was snuggled under her belly. Taylor had her hand on Kovu’s back. Kovu was trained, ever since last year’s pizza-man incident, that if he smelled a stranger to howl and go towards where the person was hiding. Sarah had sent Zara to the kitchen to warn them if anyone came crashing through the window. Grant was sitting next to Lidia on the floor leaning against the couch. Everyone could tell that Grant was itching to wrap his arm around her shoulder but her 45 caliber they had nicknamed Silver Beauty sprawled in her lap made him think twice. Elizabeth sat next to Lidia and, as usual, Teresa had demanded the best and ended up lying across the couch because no one had felt like arguing with her. Mr. and Mrs. Moses offered to stay up late with them and help but the girls had insisted they had the situation under control. So, they were upstairs sleeping. “What a stupid movie.” Teresa snorted. Veronika rolled her eyes. She was half tempted to pull Sarah aside and ask the questions she was dying to know but again she found herself shaking it off. ‘Vait til after de mizzon.’ She would tell herself repeatedly. Lidia glanced back to where Teresa was sitting and raised an eyebrow. “And your suggestion was better?”“Magnificently Marvelous Millie is a spectacular movie…”“It’s about a prostitutes dream on becoming an exotic dancer.” Teresa crossed her arms in response to Lidia’s protest.“Doesn’t mean it’s not a great movie.” She pouted. “Raahk! Stuck up brat in de house.” Zara squawked. “What did your dumb bird call me?” Teresa sat up and her face was tomato red.“I think it was a stuck up brat.” Sarah repeated as she sat up to stretch her sore muscles. The grove marks on her arm matched the pattern on the carpet that she was pressed up against. Teresa stood up and held her hands rigidly to her side and balled up her fist.“Take it back.” She growled. Sarah just looked up at her and kept a surprisingly straight face.“Take what back? I just told you what Zara said.”“You taught that to her.” Veronika could see the situation escalating. Sarah hesitated, as if she felt she knew better, a moment before she stood up and faced Teresa square on.“I only taught her the words and when to use ’em. She calls it as she sees it.”“Well then, perhaps she calls you a nose picking crayon thief every day.” Sarah flipped from clam to angry in an instant. Her nose twitched as she pointed to Teresa.“Listen here…” She hissed.“Why should I?” Sarah fingered her knife blade tucked in her side holster. “No!” Sarah shouted. Teresa was startled but frankly Veronika could not understand why. While Sarah hardly ever raised her voice in anger or found herself mad at anyone, everyone else in the room could feel the tension building. And when Sarah did get mad, her wrath was not one to deal with. “You’re gonna listen to me this time.” Teresa closed her mouth in surprise at Sarah’s harsh and sharp tone. “I’m sick and tired of you takin’ your jealousy out on me. I’m sorry that your dad never spends time with you an’ your mom died but there’s a point where your behavior crossed the line from reasonable to ridiculous. I’ve been taken your crap since that first day of kindergarten and all I’ve been is kind to ya because I noticed all your problems. I didn’t snap at you when you filled the inside of my desk with glue. I didn’t say a word when you stole my favorite lunchbox, ate my lunch, and broke the handle. And I really didn’t think twice about the time you smeared and dumped paint in my hair.” Veronika smiled. ‘Zo datz vhat happened.’ She thought. The great mystery of where Sarah knew Teresa had been solved. Teresa was now curled up on the couch hugging a fluffy pillow. She rocked back and forth as she recalled her horrible psychological torture sessions with Sarah. Sarah also looked to be on the brink on tears with her lip trembling as the painful past resurfaced. Every day of kindergarten was a struggle to survive and even years afterwards Sarah still had nightmares of the young girl picking on her. “There’s a point where it’s gotta stop.” She said as she choked back tears. The entire room went silent at Sarah’s breakdown. Taylor was fighting back the urge to strangle Teresa as she just buried her head shamefully into the pillow. Grant also stared at Teresa in shock that even she was capable of such torment. Beep….Beep…Beep. Everyone’s thoughts were interrupted by the ringing in their ears.“Spotted something Melissa?” Lidia answered through the earpiece thankful for the interruption of the meltdown. Veronika watched Sarah sniffed and wiped her nose in an attempt to compose herself while she listened to Melissa’s voice.“Mayday, compromised. Boris Marshall neutralized but other threats possible. Evacuation plan Honeybun initiated now.” Melissa sounded the warning. Snapping into action, the girls did their best to forget the outburst between Sarah and Teresa as they grabbed their gear. Veronika led the way to the backyard while Sarah stayed behind in the kitchen to scribble a note for her parents. However, as the rest made a mad dash for the storage unit, Veronika heard someone rustling in the bushes. “Ztop!” She cried as she froze. BB gun in hand, she rested the machine on her shoulder and pointed it toward the bushes. “Come out vith handz up!” Slowly, someone emerged from the bushes. First, a pink tennis shoe poked out. Then a slender leg wrapped in pink pants. Soon, a pink shirted figure finally stepped out of the shadows. She had a cloth around her eyes with two cut out holes, her black hair placed in a high ponytail, her shirt adorned with a pink power ranger logo, and she swung around a pink purse in her left hand. Veronika lowered her BB gun.“Zo, ve do diz nov and noht later.” She said as she tossed her BB gun towards Taylor. Taylor caught the light weapon with ease and stared with bewilderment at Veronika.“Are you insane? Don’t ya think you’ll need this?” Veronika dared not answer as she and her enemy circled each other like two vicious alley cats. “Foul villainous teenager. You are no match for the Pink Swirl!” The dark haired woman snickered as she whipped her purse towards Veronika. Veronika dodged the attack and held up her fist.“Foul az I mahy be, I don’t like intteruptionz.” Veronika said as she squatted and swiped the Pink Swirl to the ground. Rolling away from the heavy pink purse, Veronika stood back up. The Pink Swirl followed and launched the purse. Veronika stepped aside of the purse and blocked Pink Swirl’s high kick by grabbing her ankle. Twisting the Pink Swirl to the ground, Veronika had her on the ropes. The others, when Sarah finally decided to join them, just watched with confused faces as Veronika and the mysterious Pink Swirl fought back and forth for a few minutes. But surprisingly, Pink Swirl heard a tiny beeping noise and held up a timeout signal. Veronika acknowledged the timeout while Pink Swirl dug into her purse and pulled out her cellphone. She gasped and jammed the phone back into her purse.“I’m late! The one late night lawyer meeting at Swamies Swirlies and I’m late! Do I have my case files?” More purse rummaging continued as everyone just stared at her in shock. She sighed as she pulled out the crumpled and mashed manila envelopes. “There they are. Phew. Ok, I’m sorry Prowling Panther. I’m afraid duty calls. Same time next week?” Pink Swirl stuck her hand out at Veronika who gladly shook it.“Zure. Ve’ll finizh diz later.” With that, Pink Swirl vanished into the bushes. Lidia raised an eyebrow and shook her head. Just when she thought she and Veronika were the only sane members of their group left, Veronika set out to prove her wrong. “What was that?” Veronika motioned for her BB gun back.“Dat vaz my zparing partner.” Lidia just about lost her composer. Her fist shook as she talked through gritted teeth.“You mean that had nothing to do with Luptator de Lumina?” She spat. Veronika shook her head no as Melissa walked into the backyard.“Boy, ADAM is a little scratched up but that is nothing a new paint job would not fix. You should see the other guy’s truck. Anyways, what did I miss in my glorious absence?” Melissa interrupted. No one bothered to meet Melissa’s gaze. The Sarah verses Teresa dogfight had ended on a sour and awkward note. Sarah soldiered on up front and opened the storage door.“Let’s just get this over with.” She mumbled as she entered. Everyone followed and the exhausted teens crawled through the tunnel until they reached a trap door. Sarah, who had remained at the front of the group, hoisted herself up and pushed on the trap door. She tossed her bag of knives up and lifted herself through the door. She stood in the center of the room shocked. ‘I recognize this place.’ She thought. It was the old abandoned storage house they had used when they were fugitives running from the FBI. She bent down and hollered into the hole. “It’s the old storage house by Wal-Mart.”“Oh come on! THIS old place that makes me cringe every time is where we ended up! Really Mr. Moses?” Melissa complained as she came out of the hole next. “Give me computer.” Veronika cried as she scrambled up.“Oh, I won’t do that this time. It’s not worth another barrage of Twilight torture sessions.” Melissa promised. For some reason though, Sarah wished she would. This cold and lonely space, while it looked exactly the way they had left it, felt less homey than earlier in the year. Something was lurking in the shadows and watched them with hungry eyes as Taylor helped Elizabeth, Grant and Teresa out of the trap door. Sarah walked to the table and glanced at the empty soda cans they had abandoned. That was when her eyes caught the mysterious lack of dust. Dusty and old, this building should be covered with it but she touched the smooth clean surface of the once dirty table. A small click from the upstairs room sounded and Sarah managed to hear it through the loud chatter noise. She whirled around and yelled.“Back in the tunnel!” But her warning was in vain. Black figures with guns and grenade launchers surrounded them in mere moments and each person was disarmed, handcuffed, and forced into a cold metal chair. With guns pointing at her, Teresa began to freak out.“Please….oh my GOD! Don’t kill me!” She blubbered repeatedly as the tears streamed down her face.“Amateur.” Lidia muttered. The girls were all remaining calm as they heard someone clapping their hands.“Bravo agents. I do believe you have done what no one else has managed to do.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Everyone tied down in chairs looked to the metal stairs where the woman’s voice came from. They were surprised to see both a man and woman walking hand in hand down the stairs like an old fashioned couple. The woman’s hand was sliding across the bar and her nails were painted with a gaudy bright pink with lime green stripes. Her black hair was pinned up with Chinese chopsticks and her face was covered with black and white makeup forming a web pattern. On top of her head was a huge brown Tarantula clip hugging tightly to her hair. Her spider like black dress seemed to be made up of layers upon layers of silky cobwebs intertwined together. The man was equally dressed in a bizarre fashion. He wore a black tux covered in dark and light brown spots all over the suit and tiny sequences on the spots like snake skin and scales. He also had black and white makeup adorning his face in the pattern of snake fangs and rattlesnake tails. He had a dead southwestern rattlesnake loosely wrapped around his neck and his nails were painted a sparkling silver. They stepped off the stairs and faced their victims in the center of the room. “How ironic darling. The agents ending their lives in the same place where they once sought refuge from fugitive claims.” The man smirked as he eyed Sarah. “Yes indeed.” The woman creepily stroked her bulky sapphire spider ring. Her gaze turned to Lidia who was eyeing the Tarantula in the woman’s hair. “Excuse me.” Melissa interrupted. Dagger glares from both of the adults stared at Melissa as she squirmed in her seat. “This chair is rather uncomfortable, touch my computer and I will kill you, could you perhaps hand me some of my cherries in my backpack, and dear GOD why are we back in this…THIS place! Of all the places in the universe for your dad’s tunnels to lead to it brought us back to this place of cosmic distress and turmoil…” Rolling her eyes, Veronika focused on the two standing in front of her. Searching through her mental criminal files, she had no idea who these people were. “Vho are you?” “I’m glad you asked.” The man playfully raised his eyebrow. Sarah noticed the woman squeezed the man’s hand and once she did, she picked up the conversation. “We are your absolute worst nightmares come to life. A long lost, deep seated fear you worked so hard to push as far into the dark and lonely corners of your minds.” The woman giggled. “Actually, you have already found my worst nightmares; One, this place and Two, your ridiculous hairdo.” Melissa smirked. More sharp glares came from the couple at the red head’s second interruption. The woman leaned into Melissa’s freckled face. “Actually, these nightmares are more deadly.” She turned around and walked back and forth in front of them. A twisted wide smile was across her face. “We are the famed but illusive Luptator de Lumina.” “There’s more than one?” Taylor gasped. “Four to be precise.” The man motioned to the stairs and two masked figures in crazy outfits with black hair. The guy was wearing a tuxedo covered in motionless mosquitoes and the girl was wearing a dress covered in black vampire bats clinging to the thick fabric. Standing next to the two adults, they removed their masks. Teresa’s eyes widened and she sucked in her breath. There, standing proud and tall, was the terrified Thomas who was quivering at the hand of Mr. Moses’ gun hours earlier. “Thomas, what are you doing here?” Teresa cried. Sarah rolled her eyes. She did not even wake up for the Thomas incident and, from what she heard; she could tell Thomas’ was not just a boyfriend hooking up. His hand over his white hoodie, the eye twitch, and the dilated eyes were all signs of a pumped up killer. “Sorry dear. You were not my type.” “Not your type? You were only in it for the…” “Please do not discuss your personal life.” Lidia warned. Though she was securely strapped into her chair, Lidia’s threat seemed valid and Teresa changed the subject. “So you never loved me?” Thomas smugly raised an eyebrow and leaned into Teresa’s face. “No one could ever love a witch like you.” Teresa began sobbing silently as Thomas continued. “I only came that night because I tried to kill you.” “Too bad dad foiled ya scheme.” Taylor chimed in. The dark haired girl that no one recognized scooted closer to Taylor. “We did not expect such…resistance and such advanced securities.” Taylor watched nervously as the young girl continued stepping closer. Knowing that they had some of the fears correct, she tried sinking into her chair to escape from the bats. The young girl smiled at Taylor’s reaction. “Wait, you’ve researched into our lives an’ you misjudged our CIA father?” Sarah scoffed. She was having a hard time believing such professionals would make such mistakes. Again, the woman squeezed the man’s hand and he stepped towards Sarah. “Little Felicity and Thomas planned that particular endeavor and failed.” He began touching Sarah’s brown locks and running his long nails through her hair. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “That would not have been necessary if the Ninja had done his job. He practically promised me your head clients head and any agent who got in his way. But oh well, not everyone can be perfect.” He leaned in close behind Sarah and whispered. “Except Kyle.” “Mess with him and you die.” Sarah hissed. Her sharp tone only made the man laugh. “Seems I have struck a sour note.” He said in an amused tone as he dug his nails into Sarah’s shoulders. She bit her lip to hold back the cries of pain. She knew psychos like these people sought reactions and she was not about to give them the pleasure. The woman frowned. “A tough girl indeed to crack.” She licked her lips as she stepped towards Lidia. “But I grow tired of this game…” “Az do ve.” Veronika mocked. She was indeed becoming edgy and cranky at this long drawn out torture. She had other places to be and particular Russian diplomats to introduce herself to. Taylor also despised this wretched “game” and began reaching her hand into her pockets. Sarah caught wind of this and began asking a stream of questions. “Why are you the fighters of light? What drove you to such extremes?” “We are enemies of all the above world stands for because we were wronged.” The woman explained as she stood in front of Lidia who glared at the woman’s spider. “You see, we had an older daughter who was a victim of crossfire at a CIA shootout in the streets of New York.” “That was where we met Dr. Jenkins who lost his wife in the same fight.” The man continued as he pulled out Sarah’s ponytail, grabbed a fistful of hair, and began sniffing in her vanilla scented conditioner. Sarah continued to struggle against his creepy grip. “Mom and Dad teamed up with Dr. Jenkins and led the battle against the CIA.” Thomas interjected as he scooted closer to Veronika who growled. “Making your living arrangements the dirty, grimy, and unflattering basement your permanent home which is how you operated underground without being seen or noticed.” Melissa caught on. “Until that spoiled Dr. betrayed us in order to reap the rewards of a lighter sentence.” Felicity pouted as she inched towards Taylor. ‘Focus.’ Taylor told herself as she worked hard to reach into her pocket. ‘A few more minutes…’ “So, why only kill four of us with our fears dearies?” Elizabeth finally spoke. Rolling her eyes, the Mom tilted her head. “Because there are only four of us. Don’t worry. We have diseased rats and deadly lizards upstairs with both of your names on them. And the Jenkins will receive head shots. No flare but our fight is with the CIA. But for now…” She leaned over Lidia until her hair draped over Lidia’s shoulder and she grabbed Lidia’s arm. “The fun part begins.” She snapped her fingers twice and the supposed dead spider sprang to life and began crawling down the back of her head. Lidia screamed as she felt the eight hairy legs touching her forehead. Thomas wiggled his shirt and the mosquitoes came buzzing off and circled Veronika like little bloodsucking demons hungry for flesh. The Dad tapped the rattlesnake and the snake began slithering down to Sarah. She shivered at the thought of the deadly monster crawling down her back. Lastly, Felicity unleashed a loud whistled from her lips and the rabid bats leapt from her dress and dove to Taylor with their tiny fangs ready to strike. It was at this moment that Taylor miraculously slipped her hand into her back pocket and clicked a button. A loud revving engine sounded from outside. “What the…” Thomas began but was cut short by a loud crashing noise. A motorist came zooming through the garage door on a red and black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle. The hooded men trained their guns on the motorist but the motorcycle slammed into all of them nonetheless. One by one, they fell unconscious to the floor. “Stop her!” The Mom screamed. Thomas and his Dad tried to stop the crazy motorist but the motorcycle lifted its front wheel and whipped around to knock them both to the ground. The noise scared the mosquitoes through an open window and left the bats disoriented enough to attack Felicity instead. “Ahhh…” She hollered as the foaming bats sunk their teeth into skin. Taylor continued maneuvering the motorcycle around to keep the Mom on the run as Melissa and Elizabeth cut their wrists lose with one of Sarah’s knives. Melissa giggled as she stood up and stretched. “Boy-oh-boy these knives come in handy. Note to self, add knives to super secret special bag.” She said as she uncut Veronika as Elizabeth freed Taylor. “Perhapz ve zhould doh Lidia next.” Veronika suggested. Lidia was a pale stone statue whimpering at the Tarantula across her face. Melissa calmly scooped it up and cooed as Elizabeth sliced Lidia’s hands free. “Who’s a good spider? How cute.” “Den Zarah.” Veronika nodded as she carefully picked the snake off Sarah’s shoulders. Equally pale and statue like, Sarah continued to shiver as Elizabeth also freed her. “So……..scaly.” She sputtered. As she said this, Taylor managed to send the Mom into a nose dive and the Mom plowed into the floor. She looked up and lifted a shaky finger at Taylor. “How…” “Remote control motorcycle with 3D hologram and it’s out here ‘cause my Dad said no motorcycle for a week and this is where he dumps it when I’m in trouble.” Taylor explained as she swiftly kicked the Mom in the face. Felicity had also collapsed to the ground in a heap and her eyes glossed over. “Phew…glad that’s over.” “Lidia!” Grant cried as Veronika untied him. He exploded from his chair and held her in his arms. She tightly hugged him back and, for the first time in a long while, began crying. He stroked her hair and rocked her gently. “It’s ok. I’m here…” “Awww….look Travis…isn’t that so sweet.” Melissa cooed again as she scratched the top of the spider. Veronika raised an eyebrow as she cut Teresa free. “Travis…you named it!” Taylor gawked. Melissa nodded. “He is just a lost lonely creature searching for a better home. I bet Uncle Marvin would love you Travis.” “Blah.” Sarah stuck out her tongue as she pulled her cellphone from the Dad’s pocket. “I’m calling Mr. C.” “Oh, I almost forgot about my cherries. Anybody want some?” No one answered Melissa’s offer. The shock of their ordeal and the weariness of the debriefing to come was what filled their minds as the mornings light began shining through the upper windows.
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“Ugh. That was an absolutely terrifying drive.” Lidia moaned as she stepped out of the car into the cool evening air. She wore a long black comfortable dress with a lopsided bow on the side of her waist and thick straps. The black ripples on the front complemented her black wavy hair. Underneath the dress, she shuffled along in her inch high commando boots. Grant stepped out after her and they hooked arms. “What do ya mean? I did ok.” Taylor defended as she slammed the driver door shut. She wore a tightfitting and stunning strapless cherry red dress with sparkling gems dangling around her neck and across the frame of the dress. After the diamond waste line, silky ruffles flowed down the front of her dress. Huge red pumps clicked as she walked around to face Lidia. “Shhh….I did nothin’.” “Shhhhhing does not make it legal.” “Ve made it, didn’t ve?” Veronika laughed as she crawled out of the van. Her rich purple dress was surprisingly simple yet gorgeous. A long silky sash flowed in the gentle breeze as it clung to her shoulder strap. Besides the one shoulder strap and the diamond waist jewelry, her dress was smooth and long. Comfortable fancy flat sandals slapped against her heels as she jumped down. “Precisely dearies. Focus on the cheery side.” Elizabeth giggled. Her long cream colored dress was also one strap and adorned with a diamond pattern. Her leg stuck out of the side slit as she gracefully held out her hand and a boy suddenly raced over and helped her down. Her silver gladiator sandal shoes softly touched the ground and the boy kissed her hand. “Vho iz diz?” Veronika eyed the teen. “Drake Daniels. Such a charming name dearie.” Another happy giggle came from Elizabeth as Drake handed her a rose. “Two can play dat game.” Veronika raised her hand and two drop dead gorgeous brown skinned and green eyed boys came flocking over. Each one wrapped their muscular arms around Veronika. “So sorry I am late.” Melissa cried as she emerged from a bright red Mustang. “Sam was taking forever with his makeup.” Melissa’s dress was a sight to behold. With a white base, four ribbons -red, yellow, green, and blue-were pinned by the eyeglass Google search icon around Melissa waist. The dress ruffles sported the same colors and a candy Skittles necklace hugged her neck. As she lifted her dress, they could see the bright white thin leather boots that stuck to her skin sticking past her knees and laced all the way up. “Well if you wanted me to get a ticket while I was doing my nails then I’ll drive next time.” The guy said in the typical girly-girl tone. “An’ you found the most flamin’ heterosexual in school ‘cause…” “Taylor, Taylor, Taylor…Look at him. Sam is the one who accepted my mass invitation and we are gonna dance until the sun comes up!” Melissa hollered as she sambaed through the doors with Sam cha-chaing behind her. “Speakin’ of couples. Where’s…” Taylor did not even finish her sentence. Kyle’s dark green Camry pulled up next to the van and out of the door popped a shiny silver and black high heeled shoe. A magnificent rich blue dress decorated with a diamond belt across the front emerged. Tightfitting and strapless with bunched up dress fabric after the waist; Sarah’s dress was spectacular and complemented by the black and silver necklace around her neck. Kyle rounded the corner wearing a classic black and white tuxedo. He and Sarah locked arms as they approached the others. “Wow…” Lidia smiled. Sarah always knew how to dress up for big occasions. “Everybody here?” Sarah asked. “Y’all were the last ones.” Taylor answered. “Then what are we waitin’ for?” Sarah ushered them towards the door. But before they entered, they heard a loud honking noise. Sarah turned around and saw Teresa crossing the street. She turned back at Kyle and smiled. “Save me a dance, k?” “You bet.” He lightly kissed her lips and walked inside with the rest of them. Sarah held the edge of her dress as Teresa stepped forward into the street light that had just turned on. Her face looked sorrowful and apologetic. After a short pause, Teresa began talking. “Um…Grant told me you would be here tonight.” “Yep.” Sarah nodded. Teresa shuffled her foot. “Well…I just wanted to….you know…thank you for saving us.” “Ok.” Sarah assumed that was all and started to walk to the prom entrance. Yet, Teresa grabbed her wrist and tugged. “Wait!” Sarah stopped. “I also wanted to apologize for all those horrible times I put you through in kindergarten. It was mean and wrong and…I’m sorry.” The genuine emotion on her face made Sarah pause. She embraced Teresa in a warm hug. “I know you’re sorry. An’ I forgive ya.” Teresa was stunned and bewildered at first but soon she hugged Sarah back. Sarah let go and reached into her small blue hand purse. “Here’s my number in case ya wanna talk.” Teresa wiped the tears from her eyes and took the small business card. She waved to her ride and bounded back across the street. Sarah again paused for a moment, holding her arm in the neon light and grinned. Then, she swished her dress as she entered between the two knight armor statues and entered the building under the glowing prom lights.