Missing in Action

Chapter 001

Ryan

He ran, out of breath, the coffee spilling out of the Styrofoam cups and onto his gloved hands and he was so late. He had already gone through excuses in his mind, but he knew from experience that it was not acceptable to miss the bus. What was even less acceptable was to be late when he was on coffee duty.

Finally he reached the building and ran through the sliding doors, luckily managing to reach the open elevator before it left. He pressed the button and bit down on his lip slightly, tapping the heel of his foot against the floor as he waited for what seemed like forever to reach the right floor.

"Ross!" Evans called the moment he stepped out of it. "Ross, you're late! The boss is furious, kid. And give me my coffee!"

Ryan took a deep breath to calm his temper. He was used to the boss being angry. He was used to being yelled at. He was even used to being called a kid; as though graduating from the academy a year early and being the youngest person to work here since the Cold War was a bad thing. He put the coffee on his desk, perhaps a little too hard judging by the amount of dark liquid splattering over the papers he'd left on his desk the previous night. "Take it yourself," he grumbled.

"Boss wants you in his office immediately, Ross," Jacobs yelled from the other end of the room, and Ryan sighed, peeling his gloves off and throwing them on the table before letting his coat follow, leaving him in the cheap suit that was mandatory office wear.

He smoothed down his hair as best as he could without a comb to brush it backwards out of his face and hurried down the corridor, into yet another elevator and up two floors. At last he found himself in front of the glass doors leading into the main office, and he reached a hand out, knocking meekly.

"Who's there?" came a loud, booming voice and Ryan already felt himself shrinking a little. He was so not in the mood to be reprimanded.

"Ross," he answered, taking in another breath before opening the door upon being requested. "I'm sorry, sir," he immediately said. "I just, I missed the bus. I know it's inexcusable, but-" He quickly shut his mouth when he realized from the look on the other man's face that he was just managing to make everything worse on himself.

"Ross, you're a fine agent, and you already know I don't tolerate tardiness," the director stated. "That, however, is not what this is about. I have an assignment for you."

Ryan felt relief flow through him, followed quickly by a fair amount of excitement. "Really, sir?" he asked, unable to hold back a smile. "I thought you said I'd need more experience before being ready to take on field work, though."

"When I give you an assignment I expect a 'thank you, sir'," the director stated. "Ask your questions elsewhere. Morrison will brief you on the details later. And you share an apartment with Robb, don't you?"

"Thank you, sir. Yes, sir," Ryan quickly answered, straightening his back a little.

"Tell him that I know he isn't sick and that if he keeps trying to convince me he is every time he gets a new video game, he might as well hand in his resignation. His idea of being a part of one of the most elite units in the country seems to differ quite a bit from mine."

Ryan hid his chuckle behind his hand and a slight cough before nodding. "Yes, sir," he responded again.

"Dismissed then," the director said, looking just a little annoyed and Ryan made sure to hurry out.

***

Brendon

A lot of people claimed that being viewed under the public eye was hard; they said that people always judged you and that a lot of the things they made up could be hurtful. They said having power and keeping your power was difficult and, even, that money could not buy happiness. Brendon disagreed with this whole-heartedly. He had power, and lots of it. He knew how to keep that power, how to treat those who were loyal to him, and how to deal with his enemies.