The training, though, was incredibly intense! Armaan found weaknesses in the most unexpected parts of his body, and pains in places he didn’t think possible. Katie, on the other hand, was performing these ridiculously insane workouts with ease, as if she had been doing them all of her life. He had also seen some victims in the cage. He couldn't believe that he had been like them, and worse, before.
He also noticed that some girls he didn't know were keeping their eyes on him, not in a bad way, persay, but in a strange, hopeful, stalking way. Girls had never acted like that before around him. It was very strange and new to him.
Armaan liked the HIA, though. He heard about these amazing missions that other agents had gone on. He would be excited to go one of those kinds of missions, but he knew he never would. He had to see Malyssa twice every week. He hated how she questioned him about how he healed the agents from their mental madness. Today would be the second time that he would see her that week, and he was not looking forward to it.
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Conner wondered if he could make it into the HIA. He had tried it before, once. It was after Rebecca tested and made it in.
The GCA hadn’t been so strict then. The HIA and the GCA were still part of a team, working together in harmony and synchronization. It all went wrong the day that one of the GCA agents died.
They thought it had been the HIA’s fault. The GCA’s technology hadn’t been as great as the HIA’s, so they were always kept out of the loop. One day their info wasn’t the same, and something had gone terribly wrong…
Katlynn was in a car, riding on a dirt road through an area enclosed by trees. She had already gone through the initial procedure, a full body scan, check for weapons and devices, a stagnant blindfold tied across her eyes, and a forceful shove into a car. She was on her way into the main UCAPS (Union to Cure America of Privileged Societies) facility. They had seemingly captured her, and were taking her to where they could “interrogate” her. Katlynn’s real mission was to find out any information she could, high-tail it out of there, and relay it back to GCA, where the higher-ranking officials would map out ways to take the threat of the UCAPS down.
HIA hadn’t received the same info. The man driving the car was Faryl Ghoad, a leading member and great asset to the UCAPS corporation. While the GCA’s best interests were to keep the UCAPS believing they had actually captured Katlynn and were really taking her in, the HIA’s greatest duty was to take down the driver. If Faryl Ghoad had been allowed to live, Administrator Taylor knew that he would cause much havoc on the United States governments and agencies, and they couldn’t let that happen. The GCA thought the HIA knew Agent Katlynn Dalais was in the car, but the HIA hadn’t received the message because they had stopped using that kind of technology long ago. The HIA didn’t know the GCA agent was there. All they knew was that someone was there that shouldn’t have been. Farly Ghoad was their top priority.
There was no way Katlynn could have seen it coming. There was no way she could have escaped in time. The newly modeled AH 64 Apache Helicopter appeared from behind the car and lined the black Jaguar in its sights. Then it began to pelt the car with an M60D machine gun. The vehicle had hardly any armor or padding, and the bullets sliced straight through the ceiling, mutilating both driver and passenger, killing them both in the matter of a split second. The car careened and crashed into the trees. The gas tank leaked and a spark off the engine ignited it, causing the Jaguar to explode and metal and rubber to fling in all directions. Hardly anything was left of the car when the helicopter landed to survey the scene. And nothing was left of one of the GCA’s most advanced and smartest agents. Katlynn Dalais was dead.
The Chief Executive of the GCA was one of Earl Taylor’s good friends, and he had had a relationship with the spirited agent before she died. He was extremely angry with the Administrator for letting that happen, and he never forgave him for it. The GCA and the HIA had broken off a long time ago, and ever since that the GCA has had hard feelings for anything having to do with the HIA.
Conner knew that it had never been the HIA’s fault. A lot of people did. But somehow the Leading Assembly of the GCA couldn’t understand that. He wondered when the two agencies could forgive each other and join back together.
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"Agent Merkley! How are you?" Adm. Taylor welcomed Xarissa into his office.
"Is there a victim that you want me to test?" Xarissa asked.
"Yes. Another agent from the GCA." He replied. "Be in the cage at 2:30."
"Ok." Xarissa said as she left the office.
Xarissa knew that she was due to have a new trainee. It's been quite a while. Xarissa walked to the cage and saw a boy standing there, waiting. It was only 2:10. Nobody would be in the cage yet. She casually walked towards him asked sweetly, "Hey, are you about to be tested?"
"Yeah." He answered, looking down at his feet.
"Hey, it's ok to be nervous. I was when I was tested." Xarissa comforted him. She stood with him, waiting for the people to file in the stadium. When it was 2:29, she started walking towards the platform. She saw Laura and her trainee her trainee. She also spied Jace and Rebecca in the stands. Laura and Rebecca seemed to recognize the boy, but they didn’t say anything.
Xarissa stepped on the platform, turned around, and smiled at the boy before going to the computer to search for a program.
****************
Connor really appreciated that the strange HIA agent had actually tried to comfort him. His heart sank, however, when he saw her step onto the platform. He felt anger and pain when she smiled at him, because he knew that she was really saying," You are so dead."
He looked to the stadium and saw Rebecca. He also saw Armaan, who seemed to be even more toned than he had been when he had left. He was looking at Connor in a sad way, almost as if he knew that Connor wasn't going to do very well. Connor felt disheartened when he saw Armaan, because he was also sitting next to a really pretty girl. Connor was losing all hope now, and he wondered why he had even come. Everyone’s eyes were on him. Then, the agent cleared her throat. Connor looked to the platform to see little trip wires and traps. Connor tried to make it through. He knew he was dead when he nearly lost his balance right smack in the middle of the traps. He waved his arms, trying to regain his balance, when it happened.
****************
Laura couldn't believe her eyes. This was the same guy that was with Rebecca when she was trying to track her down in Montenegro.
"Laura? What's wrong?" Kalyia asked curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'll tell you later." Laura replied. Kalyia made a face and Laura knew that Kalyia didn't believe her.
****************
What was wrong with him? Rebecca had never seen Conner act like this before. It should be easy for him to get through this stuff; he’d conquered things much harder than this. He was acting like a complete newb. She was slightly angry at him for coming here just to act stupid and fail. He should be acing this! What was he doing?
****************
He blacked out. The crowd of onlookers sighed as the boy collapsed onto the floor. For a minute they thought he had simply lost his balance, but then the boy didn’t get back up. Xarissa looked at the kid, frightened. Nothing like this had ever happened before, she was sure of it. She just didn’t know what to do.
****************
The memories began to flood back into Conner’s mind.
He had never really known his parents, but he remembers when he was little that someone from the GCA had brought him up. He was reared to be a geek. To be a nerd. To be a lab tech. But he always felt that inside of him somewhere there was something more, something he could do better. Something he could be. He always wanted to be a fighter, and even though he was extremely smart, he didn’t feel like the computer was his place.
Gryn and Halyja, the people who had been his foster parents for eleven and a half years of his life, had always told him that his mother had done something great. That she had sacrificed herself for the good of the country. They told him that his father was an accomplished businessman, the head of an important corporation. Conner had never even asked what corporation that was because his foster parents had always been so tense about the subject. Now he didn’t even have to ask.
He always wondered why the pictures on the records felt so strange to him, why he always got an eerie feeling like he was somehow staring at a moment in his past yet staring at a picture of his future. He always felt that way when he viewed the early records of the mission that had split the two agencies up. Now he knew why it felt so strange looking at the picture of that one woman. The woman who had been in the car with a wanted man.
They both had the same birthmark; a scar running diagonally through their left eyebrow. It was unmistakable—how had he missed it?
Katlynn was Conner’s mother.
****************
Xarissa stared as the emergency system cut in and all the traps and wires disappeared. She watched helplessly as Director Bowers and Director Melchin walked in carrying a stretcher. She didn’t even step off of the platform when they hoisted the kid onto the stretcher and wordlessly carried him out of the cage. Everyone watched in disbelief as the doors closed behind the directors and the scene was gone. A silent fear crept into Xarissa’s mind. What had she done?
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