PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 1

Xander took the roll of duct tape out of his bag. It was his best projectile at the moment. He aimed through the empty window frame and threw the roll. It soared through the air and landed out onto the street in front of the complex. Vashad heard the flitter of pebbles and turned westward, which diverted his attention to the ground floor outside the complex. In an instant, Xander popped from his cover and flung his knife through the air, end over end. It was thrown hard and fast slashing the tendons of the hand he had aimed for. Vashad's hand immediately spasmed in pain, causing him to drop the firearm. Now that he was disarmed, Xander charged shoulder first. He collided with him with such force – they crashed through the wall. Interlocked, they fell a story, landing with a thud on the dirt outside the complex. Dry mud and sticks flew like debris from an explosion.

Xander mounted Vashad whose chest heaved in an attempt to find a breath. Xander snatched the knife that was lying on the ground next to where they landed. He raised it and drove it down into Vashad's open palm, pinning him to the earth. Vashad screamed in agony.

"Who are you working for? What is the target?" Xander yelled his interrogation.

"I don't know..."

"I'm going to ask you again, who are you working for?! Who is helping Agent Zero get stateside?" Xander rummaged through Vashad's pockets and found what the exchange was for. It was something heavy wrapped in a wad of cloth. He shoved it into his combat pack.

"I don't know... it's been dark communication the entire time. I fly back and forth to the states and make drops." There was desperation in his voice.

He's telling the truth, damnit...

"You must have been given a name! Who do you work for?!"

"No, I don't! I swear, I don't know!" Xander twisted the knife that pinned his hand to the earth. Vashad screamed as his bones stirred within his palm. Xander leaned down to his ear and spoke a stinging whisper, as he grimaced in his anguish.

"Listen to me, Vashad. You messed with the wrong country, I promise you that. I am going to take you back to base and find out everything you know, however I have to." The adrenaline had murdered Xander's patience for pleasantries, but Xander had already seen honesty in his eyes. He didn't know anything. He was merely a pawn.

Xander swung his bag off his back and shuffled through it for his satellite phone. After dialing a number, he ascended off of Vashad and walked out into the open launching a canister, thirty yards from his position.

Crimson smoke started billowing out, forming a cloud around him.

"This is Rattlesnake, this is Rattlesnake, requesting extraction. Red smoke is out," Xander spoke into the satellite phone.

"Copy that Rattlesnake, extraction is en route," the voice responded in his ear. Xander hung up the satellite phone.

After a brief moment the phone rang.

As the red smoke encased him he was left to a whirlwind of his own thoughts.

Caller ID: 'Unknown'.

Xander was now alone in his solitude, encircled by the crimson smoke. The cries of Vashad's agony sounded in the distance. He questioned whether he should pick up the ringing phone for a second and with caution finally did.

"This is Rattlesnake..."

"You should have taken it easier on Vashad, he doesn't know anything." The voice on the other end was distorted, but somehow conveyed a calm, intellectual tone. Xander listened intently, sensing something ominous on the other end.

"Who is this?"

"I believe I'm the person you're looking for..." the voice almost hissed through the satellite phone. Xander's mouth dropped as the realization settled.

"Agent Zero..."

Xander circumnavigated the valley but could not see any possible spot for Agent Zero to be positioned.

"Nope, I'm not there... Sorry, I couldn't make the trip." At this, Xander's eyes turned skyward toward the distant satellite that Agent Zero must have been monitoring.

"There's the face I know so well..." the voice noted.

"You know me?" Xander asked, trying to glean any information he could, knowing the conversation would be short.

"Of course, I do...I know you very well. You were always the best recruit – Xander Whitt." Xander shuddered at the words, as his world turned. His name stung upon hearing it, only a select few people knew his true name.

"I don't know any terrorists, I've killed every one of them I've met," Xander snapped in anger.

"The difference between a terrorist and a patriot is merely a matter of perspective." Xander did not respond to the malevolent voice, rather his mind fastidiously processed every small detail of the conversation. Agent Zero continued.

"Who the hell is this?!"

"All in time, Xander, but to find that out, you are going to have to follow the trail," the voice hissed. A fear swept over Xander as he reached for the target intercepted. Agent Zero was a step ahead of him.

Agent Zero knew I was getting close and planned all of this, knowing I would intercept this...This package was meant for me all along.

"That's right Xander. You and your brilliant mind have probably realized by now that this package was intended for you. I knew you were coming for me, so I figured that I'd make this interesting."

Xander slowly brought the heavy item wrapped in cloth out of his bag and started unwrapping it. In the cloud of red smoke, Xander looked down at his hands – it was a stone brick with an engraving on it that read:

لا شيء يبدو كما هو

Translation: Nothing is as it seems...

Xander recognized the last line of the Project's Credo, something he had recited hundreds of times during training.

"The Project took everything from you and me. This is my reckoning for the wrongs our country has done to us. What Project Sparta has done. I assure you Xander, they were right.... Nothing is as it seems." Xander's mind spun along with the swirling red smoke. "In the end you will be faced with a choice, Xander. Did Project Sparta turn you into mindless soldier – a deadly machine, an emotion? Or did you maintain your humanity through it, objective and independent? There's the choice, Xander, will you act on emotion or reason? I know that conflict is in you.... And I really want to know the answer," Agent Zero said, again composed, as Xander grew more fierce.

"You listen here you piece of shit! I'm going to find you and I'm going to kill you! I'm going to stop your attack and slit your throat!" Xander yelled into the satellite phone, as he stuffed the brick back into his pack. He started pacing back toward Vashad through the red cloud of smoke to check on his only other lead to Agent Zero.

"There's that emotion I was talking about... Now I've left you enough breadcrumbs to follow. This is your game Xander. Play it well, people's lives depend on it. And Xander?"

There was a short pause, as Xander broke through the cloud of smoke and arrived at Vashad.

"I'd be careful, looks like Vashad got one of your grenades. Happy hunting..." The phone clicked dead.

Xander's eye met Vashad with a pin in his mouth and his grenade in his outstretched hand.

"Allahu Akbar!" Vashad shouted at the top of his lungs. The grenade detonated, sending a rippling shockwave through the village. Xander was thrown off his feet and twenty yards back into the red cloud. The lights faded as the red smoke swallowed his motionless body.

And then, darkness.

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