❝Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time.❞
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[A/N: This chapter is embarrassingly long; I am sorry!]
ANNA STARED AT ZACH. "Florian? Why does the name sound so familiar?" Anna racked her brain, trying to figure out where she had heard the name before. She started biting on her nails absentmindedly, which were already reduced to stumps.
Zach reached out to pull her hand away, almost subconsciously, as if it were more a force of habit than a calculated move. "We know him from our history training. Florian Emanuel Strebor. The dude who topped the agency's training two years ago, only to go rogue later in the same year."
"Ah, the guy no one knows about? Why he left, where he is, what he does?" Anna inquired, realisation dawning on her face. "But he's being tracked, right?"
"Emphasis on being. The guy's a ghost. No name, no family, no residence. He literally floats about," said Zach as he turned a sudden bend in the road, flinging Anna to the side of the car. A shiver and a shock as chilling as electricity sped up Anna's arm.
"Ouch, you ass. Drive slower," said Anna. She rested her head on the back of the front seat while caressing her injured hand. "So what did Damien have to say? Just that Florian's back?"
Zach let out a sigh, a long, drawn-out one, clearly indicating how tensed he was. "No. We'll be having a group meeting. All the agents have been called."
Anna's brows crinkled together in confusion. "That's a case for the senior agents. Why call a meeting with the graduates?"
"I have absolutely no idea," said Zach as he stepped on the gas. Anna could feel the tension radiating off of her best friend. The muscles on his shoulders were tight and his neck was as straight as a pole.
The rest of the ride, they drove together in silence, passing only the occasional comment about the weather or a silly joke about how a tree was shaped like Damien's head. They drove down the narrow roads from Manhattan leading to the headquarters in Halington.
Halington was a small isolated town on the outskirts of Manhattan. Most people didn't even know about its existence except for the government agencies. It was the perfect nondescript place for training. The headquarters lay beyond dense foliage with electric fences surrounding the perimeter like the rib cage protecting the heart.
The Bail Enforcement HQ had huge buildings with spirals for the tops. The walls were made of an impenetrable mixture of granite, stone, and cement, making it foreboding and just a little bit scary. The compound had a main building, Echo for administration and meetings and four towers, surrounding Echo.
Alpha was a residence for agents who were so often sent abroad that they had no home, Bravo for archives, research, and technical aspects, and Charlie and Delta solely dedicated to training.
Her mind wandered off to the days where she spent countless hours on the topmost floors of Charlie, concentrating her weight, learning kicks and punches so deadly, she could wipe out a whole 130-pound man in one strike.
She remembered how she had shot at targets, her eyes never wavering, her hands never shaking. A sense of pride and happiness stuck to her like a blanket on a cold evening.
She was so lost in her world that she didn't realize when Zach had stopped in front of the huge oak double doors of Echo. "Come on out," Zach said and held out his hand for her to take.
She reached out and as their hands touched, she felt a shiver run down her spine, the kind that wants you to lean in. She quickly banished the thought from her head and turned to enter inside.
And immediately there was a rush of voices, clacking of booted feet, and a storm of activity. Everyone everywhere was working- some attended to calls, some tended to scrapes and injuries, some rushed around carrying files to the seniors' offices and some just stood by idly chatting.
Zach and Anna smiled. They were once part of the commotion before they started getting assigned missions and tasks. Zach tilted his head towards the main desk, letting Anna step before him.
"Ladies first," he said and gestured with his hands for her to go.
"Being chivalrous now, are we?" Anna joked, elbowing him slightly. She felt that same shiver run along her spine again. She placed her hand back at her side, blushing furiously.
Zach didn't seem to notice as he walked alongside her. They looked up to see the inner dome of the structure, a pattern of colourful glass pieces, all different but somehow connecting together. A team, Damien used to say.
They reached the information desk and Zach signed them in. The receptionist, a woman clearly in her mid-forties, attempted to flirt with Zach. Anna turned away, disgusted. She supposed he had that effect on every girl he met. It was sickening to watch but he didn't seem to mind or care.
Zach just shrugged, smiled, and moved on. Nothing penetrated his exterior. Maybe he just wasn't good with expression, she concluded. She felt a slight bump on her shoulder. Anna turned to find Zach holding out two IDs triumphantly.
"We've been called to the meeting room, Galaxy, on the third floor. Let's go," he said and walked towards the elevator.
They walked into the elevator, a huge space of wood and glass, intricately designed. The government funded them well but that was about it. There was a risk of life and if taken hostage, they took no responsibility for the agent in question.
They reached the floor and turned right, towards the dark swinging glass doors of Galaxy. They went inside to find the fifty-seater oval conference table was full, with all the junior agents from their batch, except for their seats. Damien looked up as they went to their assigned seats.
"Agents," he nodded, as an acknowledgement of their presence.
"Sir," Anna and Zach returned the courtesy and slightly bowed their heads.
"Now that all of us are here, we have a special announcement to make. All your assignments will be put on hold. If you have completed yours, well and fine. If not, we no longer require you to focus on the small ones. Agents on the field with mafia organizations may still continue to work but we have a-" Damien paused, "-more pressing matter at hand.
As most of you know, we hire and train those who are skilled fighters and are looking for jobs. Two years ago, we recruited a supposed orphan, with great survival skills. We worked with him, trained him, made him the man he should have been. But that very same year, he betrayed us. He never completed his first assignment and went completely off the grid.
Even the agency's top technicians could not locate him. It's been two years since that incident. He has performed the National Bank heist last year and other small jobs but equally stupefying.
No account trace, camera footage, digital footprint. Nothing. But yesterday, we received intel that he was spotted exiting the Washington Bridge." Damien started handing around copies of a map.
"The guy is Florian Emanuel Strebor. A highly trained criminal and is on America's Most Wanted list. We catch him, we get all the money he has been funneling to god knows where. We've received intel that he will be leaving for Ostraria soon. Start preparing, everyone." He paused.
"Except for Anna, Tia, and Zach. Wait up," Damien said and all of the agents sat back down. Tia Cullen was his daughter, the same brown-tinted black eyes, the same auburn hair, the same slight tilt of their nose.
She was Anna's best friend from day one, a surprisingly humble and kind girl for someone whose father was second to the head of the agency. The trio looked up from their notes, surprise on their faces.
"You are on field duty."
Anna's eyes widened in shock, Zach tilted his head back in surprise, Tia let out a slight gasp, and whispered voices filled the silence. Tia said, cautiously, "But Sir, as you mentioned, he's dangerous. This is supposed to be a senior agent's assignment. We are hardly trained that well to take him on-"
Damien held up a hand silencing her. "Anna? What do you have to say?"
Anna spoke, recovering quickly, without missing a beat, "I side with Tia here, Sir. If the agency was trying to track him without any success, he really must've hidden well. Now, if suddenly he appears on our radar, he has ulterior motives. And hiding for so long? He must be different from any assignment we've ever had."
"Exactly. He is different. How do you expect to grow if you don't do anything different? Anna, you'll be the one on the field. Find him, gain his trust, work with him, sell him out. Zach and Tia will be on the sidelines, providing you with alibis. Everyone else, start working on their identities and covers. Get going."
"But Sir-" Zach protested when Damien shot him a look, a look which commanded respect and obedience.
"I have decided. Do you doubt my judgement, Zachary Davis?" Zach bowed his head and shook it no. They didn't really have a choice here, they realized. "You are dismissed. Get to work."
The agents nodded and stood up, saluting Damien, as they walked out one by one, palpable excitement and tension hanging in the air.
"And Anna?" Damien called out. Anna turned back, standing straight.
"Yes, Sir?"
"You cannot fail."
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