Undercover

Chapter 1

A woman in an emerald green dress entered the hall. She looked around, carefully and calmly analyzing all the monitors, then turned her attention to the man in a bright yellow shirt in front of a screen. -They're coming.

-What? They are not...

-They are. Get ready, it won't be easy.

She turned to the other man in the room, who was dressed in a dark jacket thanks to which he managed to blend in with the black walls. -Call the squad, they'll know what to do.

The man nodded back and walked out of the room.

-But... what if they catch us? The boss wouldn't be happy. They're just kids...

-They're not just kids, they have sufficient skills to complete the plan. You have to believe in them. I do.

The man in yellow dropped some documents in the garbage and looked at the woman. -Do you do that?

She looked away and turned on herself, looking at the room, thinking about it. She was in

Was she putting all her hopes in the hands of seven unknown kids? Was she putting her entire career at risk, putting her future in their hands?

-Yes. Yes, I do.

***

Nick woke up with a strange pain in his back. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, discovering himself on a rough wooden floor with 3 other people. He made some efforts to remember something from the night before, but he had such clouded memories that he also struggled to remember the most essential things. He tried to stand up, unsuccessfully, then chose to sit against the wall behind him with a painful grimace. He looked at the room, the walls and the wooden floor, and it would have looked like a normal room if it wasn't for the door: a huge metal door, which opens only with a very precise code. He continued to study other people: a red girl sitting in the corner of the room. A blond boy too happy and too pale who was playing with a pair of glasses. A curly boy with shoulders twice his size not far from him. The boy noticed that he was staring at him and smiled awkwardly, turning his hand towards him.

-Hi, I'm Spencer.

He squeezed it. -Nick. - he looked around, lost, just like him, and decided it was time to figure it out. He stood up and put a lot of his weight against the wall, but could not relieve the pain. The redhead looked badly at him and the blonde raised his face smiling at him, not paying any more attention to the glasses. He cleared his voice. -Do any of you know why we're here?

The girl spoke. -No. - she said mistrustfully. -But I know how to get out. - He pointed out to Spencer an air duct just above his head, and he knew right away. He grabbed her from under her thighs and pushed her up, so that she would remove the wire mesh that closed the conduit and get inside. Then Spencer looked at the blonde, who simply nodded. He went towards him, with a short run-up, and then put a foot on the hand that the curly-head had put as a step and he leaned towards the other, holding with both hands on the metal edge and entering the duct on foot united with an elegance worthy of a dancer.

Spencer turned to Nick. -What...? Oh, no. No, no, no, I'm not gonna do that, I'm claustrophobic, you don't know what's in that conduit, SPENCER PUT ME DOWN! - The boy had picked him up and forced him into the vent.

They advanced into those tunnels for minutes, if not hours, after who knows how Spencer had hoisted himself into the narrow quadrangular fissure. And then, unexpectedly, they fell. The metal implant they were going through gave way and ruined them on the ground. In front of them, a middle-aged woman was smiling. Behind her, three other boys were sitting around a round table. Two of them, a blond boy with childish green eyes and a mistrustful-looking brunette girl, were watching them from afar while the last boy, the one with attractive and penetrating black eyes and hair of the same color, was cutting into the wood of the table. When he looked up, the blonde who was following Nick, and then he had learned to call himself Benjamin, stumbled and fell to the ground, suddenly turning red. The woman opened her arms theatrically, with a smug smile. -You have arrived, finally. Welcome to the ORS!

-What does ORS stand for? - asked Kayla, the redhead.

-Organization Recruiting Spies. I am Eliana Davis, Sergeant Davis or simply Davis to you, and I am very happy to announce that you have been hired to go undercover in a private boarding school in Switzerland. Then we'll give you the details, they're all on this file, - he waved a file from which a couple of sheets came out. He hurried to collect them all and resumed his speech. -Now let me explain the main rules: from this room you can access two corridors, one leading to the various Workout rooms and the other leading to your rooms. There are three rooms for two and one for three so organize well. You can train as you wish, possibly without making yourself pass away or torturing or hurting your teammates in any way. And maybe even without causing damage to the structure. It is forbidden to disclose photos or videos that reveal your location, so your phones are temporarily disabled. There are cameras everywhere, remember that. You have exactly five days before you leave for your mission. Your luggage has already arrived, you will find it in the first room on the right. Have fun! – she inserted the code on a keypad and the metal door opened, closing when she passed.

-So... - said Benjamin, lengthening the "o". -We have already presented ourselves in the air duct. I am Benjamin Hope. - He smiled at the three guys sitting down, but reached out to the dark-haired guy. He looked at him sideways but still shook his hand.

-Hello! - The green-eyed boy smiled cheerfully. -I'm Sean Dixon!

-Allison Mason. - the girl next to him whispered in a hoarse voice.

-Oliver White. - said the dark-haired boy, who hadn't taken his eyes off Benjamin for a moment. The blonde smiled, noting the contrast between the boy's appearance and his surname.

- Hello, Spencer Foster. And this is Nick Chavez and Kayla Lewis. - They sat down with the others. -How long have you been here? Why are we here? Do you know anything more about the mission? But are cameras really everywhere? Like, even in the bathroom?

Allison laughed. - We have just arrived here, about ten minutes before you, on the "why" we know as much as you do, the same on the mission. And yes, the cameras are really everywhere, even though the ones in the bathrooms and rooms are CCTV, so they can't view them without an urgency.

-How do you know?

-I hacked all the surveillance systems before you arrived.

-But you hadn't arrived 10 minutes earlier? And then with what? - Kayla leaned over to the girl. -Ooh... I understood. - and smiled. -Can you get us access codes to all the rooms in the building?

-Yes... just give me 10 minutes...

-034769. - Nick bleached. Oliver had spoken.

-What?

-I said: 0, 3, 4, 7, 6, 9. - he repeated every number. - Don't ask me how I know, I'm not a genius. 034 is the room number, it's written on a label near the entrance. It's a spy company, so most likely the numbers to unlock the entrance to the rooms change every time they host different people, so that the information does not spread, and they must be easily remembered by the employees. 769 is the number of our mission.

-But Davis did not give us the dossier with the information. - Kayla remarked.

-This sheet, you mean? - he said, lifting a wrinkled sheet. -I took it off the block when she bent down to collect documents of minor importance. - They all stared at him, astonished: no one had seen him move. - But, as I said before, this is a spy company, and it is virtually impossible that it was just a moment of carelessness, so if I were you, I would not abuse this code. - Kayla went to the door, tried to enter the code and the door opened.

-Thank goodness you weren't a genius. - Benjamin smiled at him, and Nick swore he saw redness on Oliver's tan cheeks. Oliver mumbled something about sharing a room with Sean and left. Kayla and Allison looked at each other quickly.

-What did I say? - Nick stood up and patted Benjamin on the shoulder.

- Nothing, man, we'll explain it to you one more time. Nobody dares walk out that door, let's wait a little before breaking the rules. Spenc, come on, let's find a room. Whenever you want, join us. – the blonde blinked a couple of times before looking at Kayla.

-Excuse me, Benji, but I'm on their side. - she replied, pointing to Nick, who smiled victoriously at him. Benjamin finally snorted. -Shouldn't we be looking for a room?