The team are ordered to infiltrate a KORPS base. Everything starts to unravel.
"Why not !" she said smiling. Only Zoe could tell it was a fake smile. Aneisha was the best actor amongst them. She smiled more cautiously and followed her friend over to a large group of field agents on the other side of the room.
Dan watched them go, suddenly feeling very lonely. "I'm going up to my room," he muttered, and got up to leave. He didn't notice Agent Kelsner watching him leave.
Dan made his way glumly through the building towards the accommodation wing. KORPS agents were high-fiving each other in the corridors when they met. Dan had to put on a happy grin a few times as he passed people he had worked with during the day. Looking sideways at a couple kissing one another in a corner he didn't see the hand reaching out to grab him before it was too late. Someone grabbed him by the neck and sharply hauled him sideways into a room before the door slammed shut.
Gasping for breath and caught off balance, Dan couldn't stop himself being flung to the floor as someone jumped on top of him and pinned his arms above his head. He found himself staring up into the leering face of Agent Kelsner. "What the hell are you playing at ?" demanded Dan angrily.
"Oh, I'm not playing," said Agent Kelsner coolly. "What are you going to do lover boy ? Scream the place down ?"
"Yeah, why not !" shouted Dan.
"Oh, no. That won't do. You'll have to play nice," sneered Agent Kelsner, before stuffing a balled -up cloth into Dan's mouth. "There. That's better," she cooed at him with an evil smile as he struggled to make more than a muffled squeak. "Now where were we ? Oh, yes I remember," she said, leaning her weight on to Dan's arms. She was incredibly strong for a woman. He panicked, wondering how he was going to get her off him. She had him completely immobilised.
Gathering all of his strength, which was increased with panicking adrenaline, Dan heaved his legs off the floor in an attempt to throw her off. "Oh, now that's not nice," said Agent Kelsner before releasing a hand, grabbing his hair and smacking his head against the floor.
Dan grunted in pain as the room spun around him and he collapsed back on to the floor. Lying dizzily despairing he felt Agent Kelsner ram her hand into his trouser pocket. He couldn't do anything more than whimper and stare up with watering eyes. "What ? What the hell is this ?" demanded Agent Kelsner's voice as she pulled Dan's MI9 earpiece out of his pocket and held it in front of his face. He stared at it in horror and then up into the KORPS agent's shocked face. "Why, you're .." she whispered.
The door crashed open and slammed shut again. Agent Kelsner twisted round to look and suddenly flew off him. Groaning, Dan rolled over and struggled to his knees, before pulling the gag out of his mouth. Zoe had her knee on the older woman's back, pinning her face down on the floor. Aneisha had her arms pinned down. "What ! You don't know what you're doing !" hissed the older woman, gasping for breath. "He's an enemy agent I'm telling you ! Look ! He's got an earpiece !" she gasped.
"Really ?" said Aneisha sarcastically, before reaching across, picking up the gag and stuffing it into the KORPS agent's mouth. "And you just happened to have him pinned to the floor with a gag in his mouth when you found this out right ?" she whispered into the woman's ear, before saying sweetly. "Let's tie her up Zoe," said Aneisha. "Good and tight !"
"It will be my pleasure," Zoe assured her through gritted teeth. "You all right Dan ?" she asked him quietly.
"Mm. Yeah," whispered Dan huskily. He was holding his spinning head with one hand and leaning on the other.
Aneisha and Zoe tied up Agent Kelsner despite her muffled protestations and then blindfolded her. Zoe took the earpiece from the woman's hand and handed it to Dan, who shakily pushed it back into his ear. They looked around the room they were in. It was a small office room with a door in one wall. Zoe opened the door onto a storage cupboard. "We'll have to hide her in here for now," said Zoe. "We can't drag her through the building this evening. Maybe later tonight we can take her somewhere else."
Dan helped the two girls drag the large KORPS agent into the cupboard where they tied her to the metal shelving unit which was placed inside. Then they shut the door on the woman who was grunting muffled curses. The three agents sat on the floor with their backs to the door. "Frank, what are we going to do ?" asked Dan. "She's going to be missed tomorrow, if not tonight, and someone will find her in here tomorrow morning anyway."
"All right team, I think we need to get the exit strategy sorted out pretty quickly," said Frank's voice.
After a pause, Aneisha asked, "You mean, we don't already have one ?"
"Well, no, not exactly," admitted Frank.
"Stella couldn't get MI9 HQ to agree to organise one," came Tom's voice, in a slightly accusing tone.
"Yes, all right Tom," said Frank quietly. "She's working on it. Look team, you're going to have to lay low for a few more hours. We're hoping to get you out by tomorrow," he explained.
"Who's we ?" asked Aneisha.
There was a moment's silence before Tom's voice came over their earpieces again. "I think that's Frank and me at the moment," said Tom.
"OK. Let's assume that KORPS find out the missiles have dummy warheads tonight," said Dan, with his head in his hands. "Let's assume the worse. They're going to start looking for double agents aren't they ? We need to get rid of anything incriminating tonight. We've got to stash all of our spy gear outside our rooms, right ?" he said, looking up at the two girls. Aneisha and Zoe looked at one another and nodded.
"Good idea Dan. Damage limitation. It could buy you some time. They're bound to search the rooms," agreed Frank. "Go and do it now. The alarm could go up at any moment," he added.
The three teens stood and Zoe carefully opened the door to see if the coast was clear. The corridor was empty so they all quickly exited the room. "I know somewhere we can hide the things," whispered Dan. "Grab your stuff and meet me at the end of the accommodation block."
A few minutes later, Dan led the two girls quickly to the food storage cupboard where he had started his duty at the KORPS base. Making sure they weren't seen, they dashed in with their boxes and put them at the bottom of piles of other boxes at the back of the cupboard. "That should do for now," said Dan. "Come on, we need to mingle a bit."
The three agents returned to the canteen where a celebratory party was now in full swing. Aneisha's commander walked over to the two girls looking puzzled. "What happened to you two ?" asked the commander. "You just shot off without saying anything."
"Oh, we saw Agent Kelsner following our friend," said Zoe. "She was erm .." she tailed off.
The commander looked at Dan with one raised eyebrow. "Agent Kelsner huh ? She's got a reputation man," he said with a grimace.
"Yeah, well she deserves it," grunted Dan.
The commander laughed and clapped him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Come on ! You look like you need a drink. Lucky thing you've got your own rescue party mate," he laughed.
Dan looked up at the taller man and smirked. "Yeah, they're good aren't they ?" he smiled, then winced at a sharp pain in the back of his head.
They had each picked up a drink and started talking to the other agents when there was an announcement over the intercom.
"All agents, report to stations. Repeat, all agents report to stations. No exceptions !" barked a voice. Everyone went silent and stared at one another.
"Okay ! You heard the man. Get to your stations !" shouted the commander. Everyone put down their drinks and headed out of the room. "You, with me !" he said to Aneisha.