The Fifth Agent

Chapter Two

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer, take one down, pass it-"

"TOM." Three voices loudly chorused at the same time, while two pairs of eyes turned to glare murderously at Tom, who was now looking behind him as if Kara and Jeremy were accusing someone else.

"What?" Tom shrugged innocently, looking at his team members while I sighed in frustration. He glanced at me. "I wasn't doing anything."

"No, just starting that song over for the fifth time." Kara retorted. "That's enough now."

"But nothing's happening," Tom complained, thumping his head back on the head rest, blond curls swaying with the movement. "This mission is boring. And I don't even know what this mission is!"

"I don't either, but I'm sure-" I sharply cut Kara off.

"What do you mean you don't know what the mission is." At my quiet, and frankly really confused, statement, the car fell silent.

"Well," Jeremy glanced towards Kara. "We didn't get any papers." He glanced back towards me and winced when he saw my face.

"You mean they never told you." It wasn't a question but Kara replied anyway.

"The Director didn't tell us. They said that a packet containing the information would be coming, but it never came, so... we left without knowing."

I stared out of the windshield across the grasslands of the Midwest. It was almost nighttime, so we would have to get to a motel soon. I squinted at the clock on the dashboard. 10:52 PM. I sighed and glanced back at the other agents. This is exactly why I do solo. There's no one who could be blamed for a disastrous mission but myself.

"The mission is to end a drug lord's brutal regime in New York City by whatever means necessary. The intel we have on them is very limited, but we think that there are about twenty members, including the usual bag of treats." I glanced at Tom and Jeremy in the rear view mirror. "It was sign-up only."

"Well that explains a lot," mumbled Tom, his face growing annoyed as he looked out the window.

"Explains what?" I asked, furrowing my brows, then flicking on the high beams. The bright lights cut through the darkness and shone on the narrow, twisty road. 

Kara twisted in her seat. "Our directors had a special interest in this mission, for some reason. When they heard that the U.A.," she nodded towards me, "Your agency, had taken the case, they asked for a collaboration and your directors complied."

Tom angled his head. "It was weird. But, yeah, so that's the mission?" Rolling my eyes, I nodded at his question. "Ohmygoodnessthankyou," He spoke his enthusiasm in one breath, causing Jeremy to sigh. "It's not going to be boring!"

Good grief, I thought, rolling my eyes. It would be a miracle if we would survive this mission in one piece. Three agents who didn't really know what they were getting into? I shook my head, biting my lip. When I got back to base, I would be having a really long conversation with Director Henry about priorities. And about finally giving me some agency issued airpods.  

---

An hour and a half later, we pulled into the parking lot of a -  not going to lie - sketchy motel. We sat for a few minutes in the parking lot in silence, looking at the dimly-lit building with Pepto-Bismol pink paint peeling off the sides, before Tom broke the peace.

"Can we go swimming? I brought my swim trunks." He turned to Kara. "And I packed your swimsuit for you." At that, Kara jerked around.

"You did what?" Daggers were coming out of her eyes, and I thought I could see smoke coming out of her ears. I chuckled silently and she turned her murderous eyes to me. Smirking, I shrugged. I didn't do anything.