The next morning Star took the main elevator down to the basement floor, walked down the long and dark hallway, and knocked once on the doorframe before entering Mr. Vidle's open office. For a reason unbeknownst to Star, the man went by his real name.
It was yesterday that Star's father had told him about his new assignment and today he was to learn the technical side of his mission.
Mr. Vidle was a skeleton-like, short man with thinning hair and bulging eyes, he wore wire rimmed glasses. He was in charge of a great majority of the blue printing, escape routes and weapon plans at RAZAR.
Mr. Vidle laid out a long sheet of paper on the desk in front of Star.
"Let's begin."
They spent most of the morning going over the escape route that Star was to take, after he made the kill. Mr. Vidle reviewed the school's blueprints with Star, explaining where and what everything was, he also pointed out what was to be Star's room and which was the target's room.
When Mr. Vidle had finished briefing Star on the escape plan, another man Star had never seen before entered the room carrying a heavy looking silver case. Mr. Vidle took the case from him and the man left quickly, without so much as blinking or making sound.
"We have just finished working on this for you," Mr. Vidle said as he opened the steel case and produced a sleek black gun. "The Commander thought it time that you were given your own."
The gun was heavy and had the outline of a red star on the grip of the handle. Star's eyes widened and all he could mutter was, "Nice."
The gun fit his hand perfectly, like it had been molded and sculpted precisely for him. Which Star knew, it had been.
"You will be given four days starting tomorrow to train and study what you will." Mr. Vidle told him, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more work to get on to."
Mr. Vidle took back the gun, put it in it's velvet lined case, and slid it across the dark wood desk.
"Oh, before I forget…" flipped through a file on his desk and pulled out a small blue booklet. "In case you need a visual reference."
Star picked up the booklet- a compressed map of the school- and the gun case and left the bland white room, he went back to his living quarters. Star seldom left the packing plant, unless for a mission or a special errand. He got bored often, he had no one to talk to and had no other teenagers to hang around or goof off with. In fact Star had never known any other kids, only himself.
Star sat back in a black leather armed chair. He was proud of his gun, and took it out of its case once more, handling it as if it was fragile and if he fumbled it, the gun would shatter.
Star's new gun was one of the only, very few items he could call his own. Besides his clothes, a couple of books and a laptop computer, the gun was all that Star had ever been given.
Star put the gun back in its place when he heard someone's footsteps nearing him in what he called "the Conference Room". Most normal people might call that sort of room the "family room" but there was no family here. There never had been and there never would be. Star wasn't even aloud to call The Commander father.
"You think you're ready?" a voice asked, booming through the next to empty room. Besides the chair that Star was already sitting in and a matching one, there was only a small shelf hanging on the white wall and a piece of metal modern art in the room.
"Huh?" Star asked, startled, as The Commander walked towards him. The Commander stood before him, towering over Star's chair.
"You will be leaving earlier then we anticipated. Instead of leaving in 4 days, you will leave tomorrow morning. You should be prepared, there isn't anything new that you need to learn. Devon Lyarus is moving in more quickly then before and the president is weakening. You will however still have three weeks to complete your task, but you leave tomorrow morning at two o'clock sharp. You will arrive at Pine Hill at 6:30 tomorrow night. As soon as you are shown to your room, get acquainted with the target immediately." The Commander spun crookedly on the heel of his shiny black shoe and strutted out of the room.
Now that his assignment was about to begin, Kirsten Lyarus was now referred to as a target. Targets didn't have names, they just were. All you do to a target is shoot at it, destroy it; you don't try and be nice. You do your job and then get the heck out of there, which was exactly what Star was planning to do.
Star walked to his small, boring and white walled room. He didn't have anything personal or meaningful on the walls, like a normal boy would. No posters no crumpled up homework or piles of dirty clothes spread over the floor. The room had been "decorated" by his father, as had the entire building.
Star's bag was already packed with his few belongings and clothes. The school required uniforms, but after class hours he was free to wear whatever he pleased. He slid the picture he had found into the back pocket of a pair of pants, he zipped the suitcase closed.
Star felt tired and didn't want to think of what lay ahead of him. He just wanted rest, and enjoy the absolute blackness of the night. When he awoke the next morning he would be John Laci, son of a rich diamond mine owner.
Star awoke early at 1:30 the next morning. The sun was still down and his room was black, the atmosphere in his room felt darker then usual. Star needed some time to get ready and think things through one last time before he left for his first solo assignment. If he had any questions or doubts, which he wouldn't admit to, now was the time to ask them. After one last look, he put his gun into its case and sent it down to Mr. Vidle's office to be mailed to the school exactly one week after Star arrived. At two o'clock The Commander came to get him.
"Are you nervous?" The Commander asked.
"No, of course not." Star answered.
The Commander gave a slight nod of his head and twitched his mouth.
"Good," The Commander walked with Star to the elevator. "Get the job done, get it done right and get out on time." The Commander said the same words to every agent who left on a mission. Star himself had heard them many times and knew that the words held no personal meaning, they were just routine; a failed attempt to make an agent feel like The Commander and his empire believed in them. Of course nobody cared about what The Commander said to them much anyways, they were determined to get on their mission and get it over with.
Star stepped into the elevator and The Commander nodded his saggy head at him once more. The elevator doors slid shut and Star was suddenly by himself.
Before he left for the airport he made sure that he had everything with him. He glanced back at the elevator one more time and walked outside for the first time in about a month.
He climbed into the yellow cab that was waiting on the street for him. The driver took him to the airport in silence. The car stopped in front of the big, glass revolving doors at entrance 2A. Star got out of the backseat and grabbed his bags from the trunk. He had barely stepped onto the sidewalk before the driver sped away. Star was on his own.
Star didn't sleep a wink on the long 6 hour flight from New York to California. This was his first time on a plane and he was dreading every minute of it. The takeoff was horrifying, although he would never admit it. He felt as if he was being thrown against his seat and getting all the wind knocked out of him all at once. Star tried not to show any sign on his face that he was scared or nervous, that would make him seem weak and he didn't want that, even if he was surrounded by total strangers. He gripped the arm rest with great force. The woman sitting next to him noticed his tenseness.
"First time flying?" she asked softly.
Star managed to nod. She gently patted his flexed arm, which gave Star a shiver down his spine.
"We're almost there dear." She told him before turning back to her book.
Two hours later the plane landed with a bump on the airstrip and Star let out a breath that he had been holding in for the whole descent. He couldn't hear anything either, since his ears were still plugged. The lady that had been sitting next to him handed him a half eaten pack of gum, she told him it would help his ears. Star decided to take her word for it and put a piece of mint flavored gum in dry mouth. Sure enough, a few minutes later, his ears were clear.
A chauffeur was waiting outside the hot and stuffy airport that was filled with tons of tourists, for Star, ready to take him to his new home for the next three weeks. The only contact he would have with Razar for the whole operation would be when he had completed his objective. He did of course have an emergency number, which he could use if he needed to get out early or needed backup.
After an hour of driving in silence, the car approached a great set of wrought iron gates, a sign on a marble post next to them read: Pine Hill High School. Beyond the gates was a long drive. The driver turned into the lane way and drove smoothly. The sides of the road were lined with tall and well groomed trees that towered over the car as it drove past. At the end of the seemingly never ending drive way was a huge white marble fountain. It spewed clear water out into a pool that surrounded it. Finally behind the fountain was the school itself. Star thought that it looked almost like an exact copy of Buckingham Palace in England. It was made of white stone and had amazing architecture. Star had seen the building before in the blueprints in Mr. Vidle's office, but it was so much more remarkable in actuality, up close and personal.
A woman with black hair and tanned skin that was dressed in a grey pencil skirt and blazer stepped out of the building and walked confidently across the cobblestone ground. The driver unloaded Star's luggage and left without a word.
"You must be John Laci! Welcome to Pine Hill. I'm Ms. Reynolds the head mistress here." The woman said as she walked closer to him. She picked up his bag and motioned for him to follow her.
He grabbed his backpack and slung his dark denim jacket over his shoulder and followed her inside the school.
Star stepped through the door and stood in awe. Ms. Reynolds watched him as he took it all in. It was absolutely breathtaking. White marble floors, dark wood accents and walls splashed with rich and warm colors. Star breathed in a deep breath.
"I'll show you to your room now." The head mistress led him up the set of wide stairs that were placed in the middle of the foyer. She turned to her right and guided him down the hallway filled with dorm rooms.
Everybody had their own rooms. It was a luxury that most boarding schools didn't offer, but Pine Hill was different from other schools. It prided itself in having the best in everything. They passed room number fourteen, which was Kirsten's room. Star's room was further down the hall, at room twenty-two. Ms. Reynolds handed him the key to his room. She told him that his classes would start tomorrow; and then she left him to settle in.
When she was about halfway down the hall she turned and called back to Star that she had arranged for one of the other students to show him around the building and the campus surrounding it. The student's name was Kirsten Lyarus.
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