Gideon Mather looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Certainly a Son of Gideon is welcome at this table?”
Ignea quickly bowed her head. “Forgive me, Great Superintendent. I spoke out of turn.”
Lykaios smiled knowingly.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Gideon questioned.
Ignea sat at the table, still glaring at Lykaios. “There is an issue…”
“Yes. I know very well what happened,” Gideon answered. “It may not have been done your way, but the job was still done.”
“Not ‘my way’?! We lost many of our agents in that explosion!” She stood angrily. “All due to him!”
Lykaios held out his hands defensively. “Whoa. Calm down. Can we settle this collectedly?”
“We’ll settle this, alright!” She moved towards him with a raised fist.
“Ignea!” Gideon exclaimed angrily.
“What?” she spat in his direction, her eyes dangerous.
“Sit.” His voice was threatening, but Ignea was not to be deterred.
“The SSAWPS has worked with you for years, and this little whelp is ruining everything we stand for!” she cried accusingly.
“You would call a Son of Gideon a whelp?” Lykaios hinted almost peevish.
“You are right, Ignea. He should not have done it,” Gideon answered. Lykaios looked stunned for a second, then scowled at his father. “But I can assure you he will not”—Gideon turned and glared hard at Lykaios—“be doing it again.”
Ignea stood there for a minute, gaging her choices. She finally sat back down. “Tell me my next mission.”
****************
Laura closed the heavy door behind her.
"What happened?" She asked in Danish. A man stepped forward and said,
"We were attacked. This was the only room that they couldn't reach. What are you doing here?"
"We needed a place to keep him--" Laura pointed to Imraan "--safe from some of our, uh, friends..." Laura leaned in closer to the man and asked,
"Who attacked you?"
"The SSAWPS."
"The corridor is empty."
"So you think. They should have contacted their superiors by now."
"So what do we do?" Laura asked.
The man paused, then turned to the other agents in the room. "We need to escape, and soon. Niels, go to the weapons closet and hand everyone at least one weapon. I don't want to be helpless in a fight." A young man squeezed his way towards a different door. "Hans, go and organize everyone's rations." An older man struggled to get to another door. As for everyone else, this is what we're going to do. Anemarie, you'll need to fill in on what the plan is to Niels and Hans when they get back."
"What are they saying?" Kalyia asked Laura.
"They're planning an escape." Laura replied. "We'll have to go with the flow, because I won't be able to translate for you guys fast enough."
"Why are they in here?" Imraan questioned.
"The SSAWPS was here. This was their only way to escape capture." Laura responded. Hans suddenly returned.
"Kirsten," he called. A girl that seemed to be about 17 gently pushed through the crowd. Hans continued giving out rations this way. Kirsten then walked to what seemed to be the weapons closet, where she was handed a gun and some other equipment. The other agents did this as well.
The man that seemed to be in charge then walked up to Laura.
****************
Rebecca was speechless. She had no idea that Rian was an agent. Rian then pushed his thumb against the wall. The floor opened up, revealing a chute. Rebecca and Rian tumbled down, then suddenly landed on some pillows.
"You have to be kidding me,” Rebecca complained.
"Nope, no joke." Rian said as he grabbed Rebecca's wrist and dragged her to an airplane. "In. Now."
Rebecca did as she was instructed and grudgingly fastened her seat belt.
"So we're going to the ASW? Or what's left of it?"
"No. We're going to the secret base of the SSAWPS."
****************
"Your mission, my dear Ignea, is to surround the Danish Agency of Negotiations and Emergencies, or DANE, which, as you know, was originally created as the secret intelligence agency known as Danish Association of Agents and Intelligence. It now supposedly tries to negotiate, via the new name, before acting in any irrational manner. However, we know now that they're virtuous method is corrupt. You need to capture, not kill, their leader and bring him to me." Gideon instructed.
"Understood, sir." Ignea replied.
"Take your best agents. I understand that this job will be...difficult."
"Yes sir." Ignea bowed, then left the room.
****************
“Are you freaking kidding me?!” Rebecca exclaimed. She grabbed Rian’s arm. He kept walking, and she yanked him back, spinning him around with brute force. “Hey, are you listening? That’s crazy! This whole idea is…” In her rage, she couldn’t think of a better way to explain it and finished with, “…mashed potatoes!”
Rian had kept his cool the whole way there, looking like a true agent with his unreadable face. But as soon as Rebecca said “mashed potatoes”, he could help but burst out laughing.
“Don’t laugh at me! I’m completely serious! You can’t just waltz in there, guns a-blazing and think you can take the whole place down. It doesn’t work like that, I know these people!”
Rian stopped laughing, and his smile mostly faded except for a little lift in the side of his cheek. “Oh, I’m not going in there, I know what it would be like for me.”
“Then what…?” Rebecca suddenly realized what he was saying. “No way. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“SSAWPS only allows girls, and you fit the part perfectly.”
“No I don’t!” Rebecca screamed, turning back towards the plane. He doesn’t understand, she thought, what those people are like.
“Agent Stapley, this is your mission,” Rian said in a commanding voice. He was back to his major general attitude again. “Many lives are at stake and you can’t back out now.”
“Ughhhh,” Rebecca groaned, stretching the groan out as she turned to sit on the ground. It was the first time she ever complained about one of her missions. She was acting like a toddler.
“Your name is Ashlynn Rachelle Ryans from now on,” Rian began. Was he giving her the operation credentials already? She hadn’t even agreed! And how did he know the name she always desired to have? What did he think of her choice for a last name? She glared at him for the coincidence. “You will infiltrate the SSAWPS secret base, posing as one of their agents.”
Rebecca sighed and subjected herself to the pain she knew was coming.
****************
"It's been too long," he said in clear English.
"True. Where will we go after you escape?" Laura asked.
"Sweden. Possibly Norway. But if we can't go there, you know that we'll have to go to...well," he looked over at Kalyia and Imraan, "you know where."
"Could it really be that bad?" Laura replied.
"Most definitely."
"Can I ask you another favor?" Laura asked in Danish.
"Sure,” the man answered, also in Danish.
"If something happens to me, don't tell anyone, and take care of these rookies. With this escape, there will be some captured. I'd rather have myself captured than any of you." Laura pleaded.
"You know very well that we can't let you be captured. You carry too much information," the man answered swiftly, "about us and many other friends.” Laura was about to open her mouth to argue, but he stopped her. "Now, you will need rations and weapons," he said in English, "follow me, please."
****************