Finding Evil – Chapter Two
As I stepped off the plane, I felt the familiar change of temperature and humidity wash over me. I headed to the baggage claim, grabbed my stuff, and turned down a flight of stairs to ground transportation where I noticed a tall, dark haired Asian man holding a sign that said 'Hadley'. I nodded to him, flashed my badge (trying to be as inconspicuous as possible) and we headed off to my destination.
A little while later, the car pulled up to the Royal and General Bank, I was astounded because I thought that people would find it odd to have a bank that never have any customers remain in business for so long. Not that the building for the CIA was any different except for the fact that there was more than one. The driver helped me pull my stuff into the bank and then he left without a word. I was a little unsure of what to do so I walked up to the only person at a desk, a young blond women in her early 30's, and said, "Byron Hadley…I'm here to meet with an advisor about my mother's will…" You can never tell if she knew this was more than a bank. The person looked at me, "We have been expecting you, Agent Hadley. Your badge, please." I handed her my badge and she seemed satisfied, so she continued, "Any firearms?" I responded, "Yes, a suppressed Gluck 21, 45 caliber ACP." She snorted with amusement but continued, "Alright Agent Hadley, if you will proceed through the door behind me and your stuff will be taken to a safe house, for the duration of your stay."
I nodded and proceeded through the door and saw a person guy completely in a gray suit and woman constantly sucking on what smelled to be peppermints. The man nodded to me and I followed them into a glass walled conference room with a blonde fourteen or so year-old sitting there with a bored expression on his face.
The person motioned for everyone to sit down and I noticed the fourteen year-old cast a surprised glance in my direction. "Good afternoon Agent Hadley, my name is Alan Blunt, senior deputy director of MI6; this is Mrs. Jones, junior deputy director of MI6 and that there is Agent Alex Rider." The person in the gray suit said casually. I looked a little more critically at the fourteen year old that sat across the table, and snorted with amusement. "Is something funny, Agent Hadley? Mr. Blunt asked rather bluntly. "He – Him an agent, he is fourteen?" Now that I said it aloud, the idea sounded insane and I started laughing. The fourteen year old looked pissed off as he stood up fast and caused his chair to crash to the floor. Seeing this outburst, it caused me to fall out of my chair from laughing so hard.
After that, I calmed down and stood up again as Mr. Blunt said, "Yes, Alex Rider is an agent I assure you. We do not really play jokes here." I nodded regaining my professionalism again. "Your job is work with Agent Rider and track down Roland ter Borcht. The two agents in the room nodded and Mr. Blunt slid us reports of Roland ter Borcht's information. "Agent Hadley" Mr. Blunt started, "We have already contacted Mäyfield Mental Hospital. The hospital said he is extremely dangerous because his genius. In addition, we want you two to determine if the rumors of genetic experiments on children is true. Seeing your displays of professionalism here today will make this case an interesting one indeed. That is all." I got up ready to leave as Mrs. Jones added, "Byron, Alex will also be acting as your guide here at MI6 and around England." She smiled sweetly knowing that would force us to cooperate quickly.
I got up and began to leave, turned at the door and whistled; Alex looked up and an angry look crossed his face as he realized that the whistle was for him. He reluctantly got up and followed me out. I turned slightly and asked, "Are there places I could do some target practice and maybe a bite to eat? I am starving." Alex just nodded and motioned for me to follow him.
We ended up at a fish and chip's place that had seen better days, but the food was amazing. I started to inhale the food and Alex looked disgusted. I sat back in my chair and made a mental note to come back here to eat later. Alex asked, "Satisfied?" I burped and nodded. He got up and we headed back to the Royal and General Bank. Just as we left the premises he turned to me with a smirk on his face. "So tell Byron, why does the CIA need to 'hire' a teenage spy if they have more experienced agents for the job?" When I looked confused he snorted and turned away. Feeling the anger rise in me I fired back, "Why does MI6 'hire' a kid like you?" It was his turn to look confused, I mentally congratulated myself and motioned for him to continue leading me to the gun range.
He then brought me to an indoor shooting range, and was a little confused, "Why do you want to do target practice? You're only sixteen, you cannot own a gun."
I smiled, "Maybe in Britain that's how it is, but in America…." I reached into my back holster, pulled out my suppressed Glock 21, and began to inspect and load it. He looked slightly jealous, "What does MI6 not allow you to carry a gun?" He shook his head. I smiled and pushed the button to send my target back. After ten minutes and about 50 rounds of ammunition later, I had thoroughly destroyed at least five targets. He still had that jealous look on his face. In an attempt to get to know him and possibly become friends I asked, "So if MI6 does not allow you to carry a gun how do you accomplish your mission?"
He sighed, "I know how to use a gun, but usually its martial arts and hand to hand combat."
I looked impressed, "Yeah, sometimes that is actually the better way to go. Less mess." He cracked a smile and I knew that befriending him was possible but far off.
We left the range and headed off to do research on the company that hushed up the release of the newspapers that contained the news of ter Borcht.
*The Next Day*
I arrived early at the Royal and General Bank to continue to do some shooting practice and when Alex found me, he still had that jealous look on his face.
We gave a report to Blunt that said that the company that bought the newspapers was called Genome Research, but after they bought the newspapers, they were bought by some unknown company and moved to an undisclosed location. A public company taking that level had to have a least one skeleton in its closet. Later that day the CIA called and reported that Genome Research was located in California and they checked with many professional business moving companies and determined that the company was still in California somewhere.
Sometime around four or five o'clock, I was not really sure the time change was killing me, Alex leap up from the chair and shouted. I stared at him with a look of confusion. "What if those rumors about the six children and the Genome Research being moved secretly are connected?" He whispered excitedly. I look dumbfounded, as I had been out-smarted by a kid two to three years younger than I was.
I used some good old-fashioned CIA techniques (a.k.a Google) to research the school incident with Anne and that headmaster. I managed to find a picture taken by someone's cell phone of Anne, the headmaster and a girl that looked to be in a heated debate. I looked closer and noticed something that a lot of people might have missed. Five bird looking objects in the sky. What if those five, plus the girl made up the six children? I hurriedly started to run the photo of the girl's face through as many facial recognition databases as I could. To pass the time, Alex and I started playing Hangman on the nearby whiteboard. After two hours and another trip to that fish and chips place, the computer beeped. I looked the one result and shouted with joy, we had a solid lead.
Please Review and again hats off to my beta: anime-lyric!
