Operation: M.I.A

XXX // The Irony of it All

AN // GUYS. It's finally here. The final chapter.

Enjoy.

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Smoke.

I can smell it. But I don't dare look behind for fear I might lose my step. Instead, I keep my legs and heart pumping. Zander's long legs cut the path for the rest of us as we follow on his tail.

I desperately want to watch the building burn until it's ashes are merely smouldering and nothing of it stands tall. The funny thing is that arson is a crime. But I may have also just saved our entire career's worth of work and honor. How ironic. Zander takes a tight left and continues even faster down an alley. I follow and leap over shards of a broken beer bottle laying on the pavement.

I need to take a break but I know that isn't really all that rational. I need to keep running.

We all run in formation towards an unknown destination. The only thing we know is it is away. Far, far away. BOSS is burning to the ground and I am running. I feel like my career and life are in the process of obliteration, but yet, I feel liberated having finally completed my mission. The mission that started with finding an attractive operative in what I thought was my tightly secured apartment. And I suppose the chaos that followed is history.

As I keep my eyes on Zander running ahead of me I realize that everything we have done is not the kind of history to be repeated in classrooms or even secret government meetings. What we have done is completely covert. Nobody knows.

Zander slows his pace and turns, huffing, to give us instructions as he points to a fire escape. "Up," is the only word he can manage at the moment. I go first, being the trailblazer in our upward movement. The stairs are rickety and sun-worn, despite their metal composition. But I have no time to be concerned with minor potential safety issues. We just need to get up in order to be safe. Again, ironic.

The thing is, though, that it was necessary. In a way it might have all been just for personal survival - we had no choice but to avoid being killed. But fighting back was an instinctive reaction for us all. It's in our blood.

It makes me wonder where Zander will go and what he will do now. He wouldn't survive in the real world, at least, not in the ways that normal people do. He is an assassin. Even I tend to forget that about him, but I know that he never does. It has become his identity.

I think Rylan would do fine. Well, maybe not. He's too quickly turned aside and manipulated. But his intentions are mostly pure. He served us well. But I don't think he would function in the real world, either. He's a spy just as much as Zander is.

I remember when I thought he was the whole problem. Both Zander and I thought he was missing and that he was our target to acquire.

He was just the catalyst to a much larger scheme.

I keep my legs moving, albeit slower, and push. Just a few more flights. I feel my final mission, to make it to the top of the building, coming to a close finally.

I look down beneath the grates to see four more bodies hustling up the stairs right behind me. The crew. At least Erin and Jon have jobs to go back to and new missions will most likely be on their desks come Monday.

I wish I could say the same for myself.

I step onto the graveled roof of the building and heave out a long breath as I stare out into the dark sky. I can see the smoke coming from the East. But I'm scared to look.

I drag my eyes over anyway and admire our handy work. The multi-level club is up in flames. Sacred information is never to be restored. But it will never travel to the wrong hands again, for the owner of those hands to use it for evil.

Now I find myself wondering where I will go. What is my purpose, now that I have no more missions to complete? My home is compromised in more ways than one. The only person I looked up to for years betrayed everyone I knew. My life is in shards because I was talented and recruited at a young age.

I have no where to run.

But I watch the billows of smoke rise engulfed by colourful flames, and I realize it doesn't really matter all that much. I'm alive. And we won.

I feel a hand fold around mine. Zan. I look up at him and smile in relief. "Hey," I mumble.

"Hi." He doesn't look down to meet my eyes, but I watch him nonetheless, looking out at the cityscape that we had a hand in altering. "Are you happy?"

I furrow my eyebrows and confusion and amusement. "What do you mean?"

He meets my eyes this time and takes a breath. "Is this what you wanted? Did everything work out like you had planned?"

I laugh. He looks at me like I'm insane. But that's okay, I already know that I am. "How could I have ever hoped for this?" I exclaim with a crazed look. He chuckles, admitting that I'm right. "Even though we won, this is really no one's happy ending, Zan. It's chaos."

"Maybe." He looks back out into the city lights of London. "But we are done. Finally."

I tug on his hand a little and he looks at me again with those intense green eyes. "But to answer your question - yes, I am happy." I lean in and rest my head on his shoulder, my hand still secured in his. "I met you."

It's so true. I gained more than I lost, really, if I'm looking at things clearly.

I only ever had a false sense of my own identity. I was a different person every few days. I didn't mind it, but I rarely had time to be me. But now, I am allowed to be just 'Decklynn'. During pretty much this whole debacle I could just be myself, and I took that for granted.

I also gained new friends. Two CIA agents and one short but whole-hearted kid who's good with communications networks.

And one hella rad guy.

"Good," Zander responds. "Then I am too."

I smile into his suit jacket.

And I guess I also gained a better perspective on what home is. This whole time I was worrying about losing home. But home isn't where you are. It is where you are when you feel comfortable. Or even more, who you are with when you feel comfortable.

And I feel a warm, inviting, and ever-protective hand wrapped around my own fingers. That is comfortable for me. And I love it.

I think I am home.

The End.

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This is your last chance to VOTE! Please do so :)Thank you so much for reading this to the end guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought about  the entire book in the comments.

If you are interested in more of my writing, I have a novel being pubished right now called 'FOLKS.'  Here is a summary :)

Jack has been gone. For months. He just vanished from New York, leaving his best friend, Ariel, behind. Before he left, Ariel had him by her side playing music with her, writing songs, and just being there. But her life was a hell of a lot different without him. Ariel hadn't seen Jack for almost a year when the two estranged souls meet by chance... They rekindle their friendship and before long, they decide to form a band together, believing that with their musical talents combined, they could be a success. They embark on a journey across the country, touring as musicians and living the high life. But will everything work out for them? Will they endure the strain that the band is putting on their once rock-solid friendship? Or will Jack’s journey towards alcoholism prove to be too much for Ariel? Maybe it's all for the fame. Or maybe that's just a reason to keep the band together.

Check it out here:  http://www.wattpad.com/story/23709287-folks-new

♥ Thanks, guys.

Zhana.