"You did what?" Eric asked in a completely outraged tone.
"I didn't just tell her because I felt like it Eric," I sighed with frustration. "She was on to me and my Mom could have worked out I wasn't at school and things would have gone a lot worse. I did the best I could."
Eric was pacing around worriedly. I had just told him about my conversation with Debby yesterday and it was safe to say that like expected, it hadn't gone down well.
After a moment he released a sigh and stopped pacing. "I guess you did. But your friend will need to come down here at some point during the week to sign a confidentiality contract."
"It's that serious?" I grimaced.
"It's pretty serious. This is a whole undercover unit, Becca. We have to be careful or we could all be put at risk and in danger." He answered. I sighed loudly realizing how dangerous it could be to tell people.
"Okay, okay look, I'll speak to her. I'll see if I can get her down here tomorrow morning or something. She's the only person who knows and the only one that will." I said trying to assure him that things would be okay.
After I spoke with him and we had our regular training session, I headed out to get ready for another day at Kennedy High with the help of Cassie. By the time I had left for school, the same unsettling feeling that I always got when leaving came over me again.
I noticed something was up the moment I stepped out of the limo this morning. People weren't staring anymore. Everyone was talking quietly among themselves. Almost whispering.
I walked up the stairs still looking around suspiciously as I entered the building. As I walked down the hallway I noticed it too was quiet. As I walked down further I saw Tasha, Violet, and Charlotte and approached them.
"Hey, what's going on around here?" I asked.
She looked up at me with a pale almost ghost-like face. "Misty is in the hospital. She almost overdosed on NT."
I felt my entire body freeze. An overdose? Oh no. It was starting to happen. "Who's Misty?" I asked trying to hide any urgency in my voice.
"She's this girl in our grade," Tasha said worriedly. I nodded sympathetically.
"Would you excuse me for a moment," I said walking off. I walked towards the janitor's closet and looked around to see if anyone would notice me walking in. Everyone was too busy quietly talking among themselves and one group of girls were crying. They must have been her friends. I opened the Janitor's closet door quietly slipping in and shutting the door behind me.
I dug into my bag and pulled out my spy device. Holding it in my hands I pressed down the green button.
"Eric, are you there?" I whispered into the device with a shaky voice.
"What's wrong?" He answered back almost instantly, noticing the sound of fear in my voice.
"A student is in the hospital. They almost overdosed." I said softly into the device.
I heard silence from his end before he finally spoke up a moment later. "Look, keep calm and go about today as planned. I will get onto this now." He said. I could hear the sound of him getting up.
"O-Okay," I said still shaken. "Do you want me to find out more about the incident or-"
"No don't worry about it if someone has taken the drug, they've taken it. You need to work on finding out who is supplying it" he answered.
"I'll try," I replied biting my lip nervously.
"Okay. I have to go, don't worry, just continue the day like normal and you'll be fine," he said before I heard his device click off.
I held the spy device for a moment longer as I let the silence of the small room bring my peace for a moment. I almost didn't want to leave and go back into that chaotic hallway. I placed my spy device back in my bag. I rested my head on the door for a moment. Things were starting to get really serious. I had to get a move on. I couldn't waste any more time, people's lives were really at risk now.
I finally opened the door walking quickly out of the closet. I was so consumed with everything that was happening that I didn't even look where I was going. I almost bumped into someone. I looked up to see Brad. He looked down at me. "Twice already huh?" he asked smirking.
"Sorry about that." I apologized before walking off. He didn't seem to be in the same mood as everyone else, almost like he didn't care that a student almost died here. It made me start to believe even more that he could have had something to do with NT. I dismissed the suspicion and continued walking away from him.
"Hey, we're going to art now, you coming?" Tasha asked as I approached her.
"Sure," I said walking off with them. Whoever was behind these drugs needed to be stopped, before it was too late.
The rest of the day dragged on with me going to all my classes and not paying any attention. People started to talk and laugh again with their friends but many people were still quieter than usual after hearing about the student. All I could do was hope that the news had scared them enough to stop them from taking NT.
After school that day, I got into the limo and made my way back to RUA.
I entered Headquarters with Agent Turner following behind me. We walked quickly into the elevator and made our way underground. When the elevator door opened we headed towards Eric's office. I opened the door to see he was already in there, sitting at his desk looking at documents. Cassie was sitting on a chair in the corner drinking coffee. Eric looked up when he saw me enter.
"What did you guys find out?" I asked.
"She's in a stable condition, she's going to be fine but regarding why she took the drugs and how she got them is still unknown. She's going to be interview by the police tomorrow." Eric informed.
"Uh, Cassie can I speak to you regarding that Afghanistan mission?" Turner asked.
Cassie nodded standing up and throwing her coffee cup in the bin. He opened the door for her as she walked out, him following closely behind before shutting the door again.
I turned back around to Eric and walked over to his desk. "What is that?" I asked pointing at the papers.
"It's the girls file: Misty Stevens" he read from it. I walked around the desk until I was on his side. I looked at the file and then at the photo that was attached with a paperclip in the corner.
"What a second..." I muttered grabbing the photo. "I know her," I stared at the familiar face. "I bumped into her in the halls last week. She was crying."
Eric looked at me in interest from the new information. I looked eyes with him for a moment until I realized he was waiting for me to further elaborate.
"Well, I asked her what was wrong and she said it was nothing, just her boyfriend being a jerk," I answered before realizing. "You, you don't think she was crying because her boyfriend was pressuring her to take the drug do you?" I asked as the thought struck me.
"It would make sense," Eric said as he opened his laptop and started typing.
"I guess she listened to him," I said grimly as I watched him continue to type. "What are you doing?" I asked, moving closer to him to see his screen.
"Making note of this." he stated with his eyes glued to the screen.
He continued typing not taking a break. "Okay well, I'm going to go get my bag from the gym," I said walking away from him and out the door.
I couldn't believe I'd known who Misty was all along. I had barely had a proper conversation with her but she seemed really nice. I couldn't imagine why she would take drugs. She just didn't seem like the type. I was almost certain her prick of a boyfriend was behind it all. I would have to find out who the low dog was. I sighed as I pushed open the gym door with one hand. I was so tired and done with how emotionally overwhelming the day had been. A student nearly overdosing on the drug we were trying to prevent from spreading definitely put more pressure on us to solve the case.
I froze instantly as I opened the gym doors.
Agent Turner and Agent Cassie were in there but...they weren't working.
They were standing in the middle of the room and...they were making out.
Like, full on and heavy.
I let out a tiny gasp as my hand flew over my mouth in an instant. Luckily, they hadn't noticed me open the door as they continued their 'activity' so I quickly shut the door in complete shock.
I stood behind the closed door still covering my mouth in a state of complete surprise and confusion.
Oh my god.
"Did you get your bag?" a voice asked behind me. I turned in fright to see Eric who I hadn't even heard approach.
"Uhh, I-it...yeah" I answered not knowing what to say.
He looked at me confused. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine." I tried to say as casually as I could even though I was still freaked out from what I'd just witnessed.
He stared at me for a few seconds suspiciously. "Okay," he finally said still staring at me in suspicion. But after a moment, he cleared his throat, seemingly shrugging off my weird behavior. "I spoke to Captain after your call this morning and he agreed that we need to step things up with this mission. Tonight we're going to the school to bug every single room. We are going to have full surveillance of everything that happens there."
I raised my eyebrows in interest and nodded my head, listening attentively. "Uh, just us?" I asked.
"Agent Cassie and Turner as well." he answered.
Great.
"Anyway, we meet back here at 6:00pm to leave. Think you can make it?" he asked as he made eye contact with me.
I let my eyes drift to the floor as I didn't know how to look at him after what I'd just witnessed. I was worried he would be able to look in my eyes and see that something was up. "Sure, I'll be there," I answered determinedly. I tried to forget about what I'd just witnessed with Cassie and Turner and focus on how important this case was. Bugging the school would help us a lot. We were going to start to get to the bottom of things.
When I came back to RUA, they were all already there. We started getting ready and putting away security cameras and other devices in our backpacks that I had no idea what were used for. We left Headquarters at 6:30 and got all got into a van. Turner went into the front seat leaving Eric, Cassie and me in the back. We were all dressed in black with backpacks on. Typical spy wear. I had my hair tied up and was wearing black boots, along with Cassie, staring out the window who almost was wearing the identical. Except she had an RUA badge and...
"Uh, Cassie?" I asked in a worried voice. She turned to me. "Why do you have a gun?" I asked
"Just in case," she answered simply.
"We're just installing spy wear and I doubt anyone would be on the grounds this late anyway," I said
"It's still good to be prepared or anything," she said "and besides," she said patting the gun that sat attached to the side of her pants. "It makes me feel safe." Smiling, she returned to looking out the window.
For the rest of the ride, we stayed silent until we arrived. "Okay here's the plan." Eric began turning to face us. "Agent Turner and I will cover all outside areas like the sports field entrance and all that. You girls will go inside the building and take all the classrooms and hallway. We'll meet you inside later to do any other rooms such as the library and cafeteria alright?" We all nodded in reply.
Agent Turner got out of the van sliding open the door for us. "Okay go, go, go," he said as we filed out of the van and made our way to the building.
When we had all reached the front door, Cassie pulled out a device and held it in front of the lock on the door. A few seconds later, a beeping noise was heard from the device and Cassie put it back in her pocket. She opened the door which was now unlocked.
"Okay, we'll meet you inside later, keep your spy devices with you," Eric said as he and Turner ran around the building and out of sight.
"Looks like it's just us now," Cassie said pushing open the door holding it open for me to enter. I walked in quickly so she could close the door.
It was dark inside and looked nothing like it did during the day. It seemed kinda- eerie.
"Let's tackle the classrooms first," she said heading towards the first room.
She handed me a security camera and told me to set it up in the corner of the room while she did the other side.
"Hey..." I began "Uh, what's the mission that you and Turner are working on together?" I asked as I stood on a desk to reach the ceiling.
"Uh, we're dealing with a cruise ship that is believed to have terrorists on it in the Bahamas. It's supposed to leave in three weeks and we need to get a move on with it along with the other cases we're currently dealing with" she answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason" I replied casually. "Just wondering."
She jumped off the desk she had been standing on after making sure the security camera was secure and hidden. She walked over to me.
"That was you in the gym this afternoon wasn't it?" she asked
"You heard me?" I asked surprised.
'You practically slammed the door Becca." she answered as if it was obvious,
"Oh. Well, I won't tell anyone, don't worry." I assured her.
"Thanks," she said her face looking less concerned. "It just- it wasn't supposed to happen you know?"
I nodded my head. "It's okay" I placed the camera near the clock where it would stay hidden from sight.
"I mean, we're supposed to be professional agents and everything but I guess we couldn't help ourselves." she said as she held a hand for me to jump off the desk.
"How long has it been going on?" I asked her.
"A while. I mean we've known each other for a few years but I guess we both didn't realize we felt the same way," she admitted as we walked out of the first classroom.
"Which classroom now?" I asked. She pointed at the door on the other side of the hallway and we started making our way over to it.
We entered it and I watched Cassie jump up onto another desk.
"So are you two, like dating then?" I asked her as I handed her a camera from my backpack.
"Not officially," she answered. "Secretly." she continued "If anyone found out, I don't know what would happen. Captain's pretty strict about this whole relationship thing and who we get close to."
For some reason that made me think of Eric, which was weird because it wasn't like we would ever be in a relationship anyway. This was all just business.
"There's also the issue of when we go on separate missions." she sighed and placed her hands on the wall after hooking up the camera. "I worry about him so much."
"I bet he feels the same way about you," I replied. "I mean at least you two are on the same mission this time, that's got to be good right?"
She jumped off the desk breathing out heavily. "It's definitely more of a relief."
I nodded in understanding. A part of me felt sorry for the two of them. Knowing that they could never have a normal relationship.
We started placing camera's all around the hallway as it would be quicker and then we would get to the rest of the classrooms.
"Eric's pretty serious about this whole thing isn't he?" I asked as I placed another camera slightly behind a poster. The good thing about these cameras was that they were pretty tiny. They would be pretty hard to discover out in the open by themselves but we were disguising and hiding them as an extra precaution.
"Oh yeah, he takes his job pretty seriously, I mean ever since-" she stopped speaking as we heard a noise that sounded like a door closing. We both looked down the hallway.
"Is that them?" I asked her.
She walked towards me "There's no way they could have finished outside." She grabbed my arm and lead me behind a locker, joining me. She pulled out her spy device and spoke into it.
"Turner, where are you two?" she asked.
"By the bleachers, why?" he asked.
We looked at each other nervously. Not the answer we wanted to hear.
"I think there's someone else in here." she whispered into the device.
After a moment of silence from their end, he answered. "We're on our way right now. Meet us out the front if you can."
"Rodger that." she spoke into the device one last time before clicking it off.
We heard another door slam shut. We both gasped and jumped.
"They're getting closer, come on," she said grabbing my wrist and started dragging me down the hallway with her. I began running to keep up with her as we went further and further down the hall.
It was too late. I felt someone grab me from behind. Cassie turned around and started attacking the dark figure. She dodged their attempts to wound her and she started swinging at them herself. I stood there in shock not knowing what to do when I decided to help her. She had not appeared to be injured at all by the figure and seemed to be doing most of the fighting but I still wanted to help. I ran up to the figure and jumped on them, knocking them to the ground. They fell and hit the floor but grabbed my ankle dragging me down with them. They bounced back up and grabbed me while I was still lying on the floor. They started to drag me up and gave me a punch in the stomach, I yelped in pain and Cassie quickly sprung back into action attacking them.
I took a few steps back in pain watching the two move their battle into the classroom next to them which had the door wide open. I gathered back my strength and ran towards the classroom to help. As I did, I felt a force dragging me back. I screamed as I realized that the person attacking Cassie wasn't acting alone. I struggled to try to get out of their grip but they had already covered my arms to stop me. I started furiously kicking at them in a last attempt to save myself. In the nearby classroom, I could hear chairs being thrown around and knew that Cassie's fight was getting more serious.
I kicked the person several times in the leg before they released me and I flew forward. They started running at me again though and I started to run. Just then, I saw a light in the distance and realized that Eric and Turner had arrived. They ran towards the scene as they saw me getting attacked in the middle of the hallway. I grabbed the attackers arm and tried to twist it back, but they used their other arm to punch me several times in the stomach. I looked up and saw Turner run into the classroom that Cassie was in to help her while Eric continued running towards me. He grabbed the attacker's arms and pulled them back, moving them away from me. He shoved them up against a locker and started punching them repeatedly.
I fell to the ground watching in pain as he gained control of the fight and overpowered the dark figure who I could see now, was wearing a black ski mask. "Don't.You.Touch.Her.Ever.Again." he said between punches. Suddenly we heard a scream come from the classroom. Eric and I both looked up and he ran to the classroom to see what was happening. I watched helplessly as my attacker ran away down the hall. I dragged myself on the ground to the other classroom and leaned my hand against the door to help myself stand up again and I winced in pain as I kept my hand against the wall and continued to walk to the classroom with my back hunched over.
The room was a mess with chairs and desks all over the place. As I entered the room, I watched the other attacker who was also wearing a ski mask jump out of the window while Cassie lied on the floor. Eric ran over to the window but knew that it was too late as they had escaped. Turner ran over to Cassie and help her up.
"The stupid little shit threw a desk at my back!" she yelled out in anger as she rubbed it and Turner put a hand on her to steady her. Eric ran back out to the hallway.
"It's too late," I told him. "They both got away," I said out of breath. I leaned my back against the wall and slowly sat down.
Eric walked back into the classroom and over to me. "Are you okay?" he asked, crouching down on the ground, inches away from me.
He took in my appearance and then raised a hand towards my cheek, letting his fingertips trail across it lightly. I could feel my stomach fluttering just from his touch as I tried to control my breathing and
"You're going to have a bruise," he muttered, studying my face intently before dropping his hand back down.
"I'm fine." I lied as he held out his hand and helped me stand back up. I let out a slight whimper from the sudden pain that hit me. "So, what the hell was that?" I asked after a moment.
Eric stood back up and walked over to the classroom door and picked up a small clear bag that sat on the floor a few meters away. Had the attackers dropped it by mistake?
He took a moment to study it and then held it up for us to see, revealing it was full of small white pills.
"I think those were our dealers."