Undercover Badge; Next Generation

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

So, there I was in skin tight, thick Kevlar with a corseted bullet proof vest and underarm holsters sporting two guns I figured I wouldn't use, my feet shoved into my own black boots. The pipe braid suited the outfit well.

The black van held me in the back with ten burly, scary looking dudes, each more scarred than the next, all looking at me for commands and orders.

"Well." I started awkwardly, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose and clearing my throat. "We're gathered here today to rescue the guy who's totally not my boyfriend and his really weird super-spy parents, one of whom is apparently dead or going to be dead, it's unclear which." The guy to my right sputtered a laughed and the other large men found themselves amused as well.

"Now," I continued, ignoring their amusement. It was an awkward situation. "I've been known to kick some ass and I'm a very good driver, but I'm a terrible shot and I'm not so stupid as to think I could take on any of you or any of the bad guys in there." I blew out a puff of air. "Basically, I don't know what I'm doing, so if one of you could tell me what we're doing, it'd be super helpful." I said simply.

The man farthest from me leaned over. Bald with tattoos running across his dark skin all the way over his scalp and biceps like my waist, I was willing to bet he knew what he was talking about.

"We're hitting hard and fast." He said in a low, deeply accented voice. "Teams one and two hit the front door, team three hits the back, team four is going in through the skylight and team five is providing over watch from above. The girl will stay with team five. Switch internal coms to frequency five, and we're shoot to kill on this mission. Objective one is to keep the girl safe in the field, objective two is the safety of the-" he glanced up at me and his lips twisted with amusement "not-boyfriend, and thereafter we have targets three and four if mission procedure allows it. Ready?" all of the met put their fists in on a quick fluid move. "Break." Their fists pulled away and they began fiddling with assault rifles. "Yeah, uh, break." I said awkwardly, scratching my head.

I folded my arms and slouched against the side of the van, pouting. "I have a name." I grumbled below my breath. "I have a lot of names, actually. You only had to use one. I'm not just some girl." They ignored my mumbling. Baldy leaned over with a swath of fabric in his hand, amused eyes twinkling at me. I glared at him as I took it. "What's this?" I muttered.

"It's our team buff." He said simply. "If you're going to be working with us, you'll need to wear this." What he handed me was made of a soft spandex fabric stitched around in a circle shape. When I looked at the fabric I realized one side had a human mandible and the bottom half of a skull printed on it, but the skull's canines were elongated like fangs. I watched the men reach around their necks and pull their own bandannas up onto their face so that the fabric covered their noses and cheeks and ears, so that only their eyes were visible, the black fabric garishly displaying the bottom halves of their face as skulls with fangs. I quickly shoved the fabric over my head and arranged the fabric so that the skull's nose lined up over mine and the black fabric on the side covered my ears. Strangely, the swath of fabric made me feel much more comfortable than I had before – it added a weird level of psychological protection and comfort.

He reached behind him for a long black bag with a strap. I'd seen that bag before-

He held it out to me. "Miss Veynox found this in your not-boyfriend's truck. She thought it might be useful to have with you." I gingerly took the bag. It was a few feet long, made of a black canvas material and shaped like an oval cut in half. I felt my fingers wrap around the bag and I could feel the weapon inside it – hard metal and solid wood.