Kiara participates in the activity the next day. That night's game is balloon battle where every player has a balloon strapped to his or her foot and the objective is to pop everyone else's balloon. The winner is the last one standing with his or her inflated balloon.
The first rounds Kiara makes it to the top 10. Kiara is having so much fun with everyone running around and dodging each other, but as the hour of the meeting approaches, she deliberately lets other players get close to her. Not exactly giving them her balloon in a silver plate, but she is making it easier for them to catch her. Until finally one stomps on her balloon, and she is disqualified from the game.
She exists the basketball court. Since there are still a few minutes before she must head to HQ for the mission, she watches the game continues from the sideline. As she stands there, she feels someone approaching from the side. When she glances their way, she is faced with Ryan.
"This is fun" Ryan comments.
"Yes, it is." Kiara says. "You seem surprised."
"I had my doubts at the beginning."
"Don't judge before trying it." Kiara replies automatically.
"Funny you should say that" Ryan smirks at her.
Kiara instantly realizes her poor choice of words and where this is going. With a groan, Kiara starts to explain herself, but Ryan doesn't let her.
"You said so yourself. I'm just asking for a date, and I promise you'll like it." Ryan pleads.
"I'm not interested. And I know you, Ryan, since middle school. I've seen how you are with people, with girls." Kiara says as patiently as she can.
Although Ryan's plead pulls at her heart strings, her instincts keep warning her against him. She can't place what exactly is a red flag in this conversation, but she has paid attention to the ones in their other interactions.
"You and Sasha just broke up. Instead of taking time or hell even go out with Julia since she was the main cause of the breakup, you decide to go after me because of a stupid bet and because I'm one of the few people how tells you no."
"That's a bit harsh." Ryan says through clenched teeth.
"Sorry but it's the truth. So, do us both a favor and just stop."
Kiara considers leaving at that point, but she knows what she said was harsh and she wants to sooth it a little. Even if he doesn't deserve it.
"I'm sure there's a nice guy hidden somewhere inside you. And you'll eventually stop being a jerk and find a girl who maintains your interest. But I'm not that girl."
Kiara starts leaving but then turns back to him.
"I'm hoping that you give up after this. But if not..." She moves closer to him, lowers her voice and pierces him with her look. "I will consider this harassment and I'll defend myself accordingly."
"You wouldn't even hurt a fly." Ryan says with amusement, but Kiara can see through his nonchalant façade.
"Don't underestimate me." Kiara simply says and walks away.
On the way to HQ, she catches up with Will who had also played the game but had disappeared earlier than her. Kiara notices he also has a backpack that wasn't there before.
Sasha joins them once inside the Lunch Area.
Kiara enters first to the meeting room and Agent Carville is already online. Once they are all siting down, he begins.
"Thanks to Agent Hunter's algorithm and further analysis from the decryption team, we were able to recover emails between Berte and Aimee Perreualt, a worker of the shipment company, confirming arrival time and place of the shipment. A helicopter will fly you as close to the port as possible. You will land on a building a few blocks away and make your way on foot.
"We have sent the exact location to your phones and once there, do not engage with anyone, this is just a reconnaissance mission. You already know the procedure, so I will not explain further on that subject. Any questions?"
"Should we take samples of whatever is in the shipment?" Sasha asks.
"If you can take photographs from a safe distance, yes. But do not take unnecessary risks and be careful." Agent Carville replies after thinking about it for a few seconds.
A door opens in the opposite left corner of the room. It was camouflaged as the wall until now, surprising Kiara.
"The woods are on the other side" Agent Carville says pointing to the side entrance. "There is a clearing a mile away where the pilot, , is waiting for you with the helicopter. The exact location was also sent to your cellphones. Good luck, Agents."
With that, he turns off the chat, and Kiara takes out her phone. Two incoming texts arrive with the promised coordinates.
The door leads the team through a set of stairs that end in another door. This one opens to the back part of the building, directly in front of the woods.
"This entrance is much simpler than the one we usually take." Sasha mumbles grumpily as they follow the instructions on their phones.
They enter the dark woods.
Kiara moves silently through it as she hears an owl hooting and some grasshoppers chirping. In no time, they arrive at the clearing and as said, the helicopter and its pilot are there. Agent Lefebvre greets them and ushers them inside, giving them headphones so they can hear one another over the engine's noise.
They take off and soon Paris swipes underneath. Kiara marvels at the sight. Houses and buildings look different from a bird's point of view. They pass over different cities and towns as their lights blend in with fields and roads. Forty minutes later, they arrive to the helipad on top of a building. From there, Kiara can see most of the city and at the edge of it the Port of Le Havre.
After parting company with the pilot, who assures them that he will be waiting there to take them back to the resort, Kiara, Will and Sasha descend to the ground floor through the stairs.
That late at night the corporate building is deserted. The only ones to see them exit are the security guards who greeted them as if them being there was totally normal.
They must work for ISS or have been warned about our arrival. Kiara thinks as they make their way outside and towards the harbor.
As they draw near, Kiara sees the port light up, but little to no movement inside. They make their way to the docking area. There are rows of containers one alongside the other, on top and in front leaving hallways between them, so that people can walk by. They're all neatly tucked and there's a crane nearby to move those that are needed.
The place has an eerie feel to it. Specially with the faint noise in the background.
A little disoriented, Kiara approaches the end of the containers and climbs to the top the last one. From there she can see their target. The lights are centered on the boat that's anchored to the docks, plunging most of the remaining area in shadows. She crouches down and uses her eyeglasses on binocular mode.
"The crane is moving containers from the boat to the docks" she whispers to Sasha and Will as they join her. "I count ten men, including the one controlling the crane."
Will and Sasha put on their glasses and study the scene in front of them.
"But none of them is Berte." Sasha notices.
"There is still half an hour left before midnight." Will replies. "Let's see what happens."
As they wait, the crane maneuvers two containers onto a cleared area. Four men then proceed to hook each one to a truck. There's also a fifth man with what appears to be a clipboard supervising everything.
Just as the clock strikes midnight, a black SUV pulls over onto the area and Berte exits from the back seat after the driver opens his door. The supervisor greets him and leads him to the trucks. As they approach, the other men open both containers.
Berte and the supervisor argue about something before the latter signals to one employee. This one quickly runs nearer to the boat and comes back with a smaller crane to download the crates.
YOU ARE READING
Teen Spy: The Observer
General FictionA few months ago, Kiara Starling started feeling that someone was following her, watching her. Despite it being downplayed by her family and friends, her intuition is proven right when, on her seventeenth birthday, she is kidnapped, and it leads to...
