Stand Alone

Chapter Five

Right now I had some stupid lesson on computer coding or something along the lines of that. I wasn't really interested. I was too busy sat at the back surveying everybody else in the class. We had both been put into this class because we had narrowed whoever we were looking for down to somebody in this room so our timetables had been scheduled so that everybody was always in a class with either me or Daniel so now we just had to figure out who it was and stop them before they managed to break into the firewall at the pentagon. Looking around there was nobody who immediately jumped out at me because they all looked like smart, sensible people not criminals who were trying to steal top secret military secrets. Then again I didn't look like a secret agent who was going to kill somebody in this classroom with me right now so looks can most definitely be deceiving. The only person who really struck me as out of the ordinary was Daniel because he definitely has this whole bad boy look going on right now with all the tats and piercings and all black clothes, he stuck out like a sore thumb. I had noticed a couple of the girls giving him the once over and silently scoffed, I mean how cliché can you get with all of the good girls falling for the bad boy. I was bored out of my mind, scanning the room over and over again for anything that would possibly indicate who the person I was looking for was but there was nothing. I changed the position I was sitting in so that the gun wasn't digging into me but it was difficult with a skirt on, I really hate whoever's idea that was.

I looked over at Daniel and saw that he was also scanning the room looking for possible suspects as he wrote notes on whatever the professor was saying, I was too bored to pay attention and school had never really been my thing anyways so I just got on with the task in hand. When we all loaded up our laptops I was glad I had picked a seat at the back of the class because it meant I could see everybody's screens which gave me a slight upper hand. I loaded my own laptop up before scanning my eyes over the other laptops in front of me but yet again there was nothing suspicious about them. The day seemed to just drone on and on and just when I thought I was finished I'd remember I'd have another stupid lesson to go to, this is the reason I didn't stay on in further education.

When I did finally make it back to my home for the foreseeable future I was surprised to see Daniel in before me sat on the couch with all of the curtains closed just flicking through the TV channels. He hadn't spotted me yet so I stayed close to the edge of the room sneaking around the back of him and into my room, no point in disturbing him. The first thing I did was take off my disguise leaving my contacts in just in case I had to get changed again and go out but I very highly doubted it. I pulled on a pair of sweats and a plain black t-shirt before heading back into the living room jumping over the back of the couch and taking a seat giving Daniel a fright as I did so. "Bloody hell McKenzie you scared me." He scolded me as though I was a little child who had done something wrong.

"Sorry." I giggled moving to get myself comfy. I had literally just gotten comfy when my work phone started to ring so I had no other option other than to answer it. I switched it to my earpiece placing the wire round the back of my neck and hiding it with my t-shirt so I could speak to them as well. "Tell him to put his earpiece in." I knew exactly who 'him' was.

"Daniel, catch." I said throwing him his earpiece and he wired it up the same way I did with mine. "Okay we're wired."

"I need an update." Boss Man said down the phone. I'm sure I had already been told his name now I just can't remember so he can stay as Boss Man.

"Nothing unusual to report, sir."

"Car registration plates?" I knew he would ask for them. He needed to keep tabs on us whether or not we're allowed back up because if this goes wrong then they need to be able to cover it up so that meant keeping tabs on us.

"Nine, eight, tango, zulu, alpha, two." That meant 99T ZA2. That was my reg plate but I couldn't remember Daniels. "Daniel what's yours?" I asked seeing him struggle to remember.

"I can't remember the phonetic alphabet. Its 36R DE7." He whispered to me and I had to translate it. We never translate long messages but things like registration plates are easier to say in the phonetic alphabet because that way there can be no confusion over what's being said.

"Three, six, romeo, delta, echo, seven." 36R DE7, I needed to try and remember that. I quickly wrote it on the inside of my left wrist so that it could easily be covered by my watch so that I had it there in case I needed it.

"Thank you." The line went dead but I left my earpiece in rearranging the wires so that I had it taped to the place where my shoulder and neck joined so it was as close to my mouth as I could get it but it was still hidden by my t-shirt. "How can you not know the phonetic alphabet?" I asked in disbelief, it was one of the first things he should have learnt.

"It's American and in case you haven't noticed I'm not American like you." He argued trying to excuse the fact he didn't know it.

"Yes and we work for an American department so it should have been one of the first things you were taught."

"Oh yeah and how do you know it because you didn't learn it from the department considering you only just came back this week?" He challenged.

"Fine I lied I wasn't a in the British Royal Marines, I was in the USMC." I admitted. "I got in with them through the department and I was put in for sniper training because I was a good shot. That's how I know the phonetic alphabet and you need to learn it."

"Fine, whatever." He huffed crossing his arms over his chest like a child who's just been told off. If we keep going the way we're going this operation just isn't going to work, we need to grow up and get on with it and we can sort whatever is going on between us out when we get back to the safe confinements of Department 21. If we make it back there.