I arrived at the warehouse promptly at 11. Vaughn's car, of course, was waiting outside. I walked in and found him leaning against one of the feces, eating a sandwich.
"Nice to see you, too."
"Sorry, I haven't eaten in 15 hours."
"I thought you were having dinner with Alice and your mother."
"I was, until Alice called and broke up with me." Okay, I had two choices here. A. Swoop in. B. Be an actual good friend and comfort him. B won.
"Oh my gosh, Vaughn, I'm so sorry." I gave him a sympathetic smile, which he returned. "What happened?"
"She got transferred with her job and wanted me to go with her."
"Where was she moving?"
"Orlando, Florida. I said that I had to stay here, my life is here." He looked right into my eyes, sending a chill down my spine.
"But, she just upped and asked you to move?"
"Yeah, it seemed weird to me, too."
"Moving's a big thing. I'm surprised she expected so much."
"That's what I thought. She said we've been together for a year, so she thought it wouldn't be a big deal."
"Well, speaking of moving," I said, desperately trying to change the subject, "We better get going."
"You're right. Hey Syd?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for listening."
"Anytime, Vaughn. Like you told me, when you're at your lowest, most depressed moments, you have my number." I smiled again.
"I'll see you at headquarters." I walked out, happy that I could help him. I guess right then, we had one bright moment together. No work, no SD-6, no mission, just us.
When I got to headquarters, my father was waiting for me.
"Is Agent Vaughn coming?"
"Yeah, I just talked with him at the warehouse."
"Good. You two are clear on what you're to do?"
"Yeah. We go in, download the files, find who's running the place, kill him, and then get out. If it's late, we find a hotel and get a room." He shot me a look. "Like I said, we get two rooms." He nodded.
"There's a plane waiting whenever Vaughn gets here."
"Okay, I'll talk to you when you get back."

On the plane…

Vaughn and I changed into our disguises on the plane there. We were to go in as two recruiters from an agency in Russia who were looking for new agents. I changed into a black dress with a red shawl. I also got a long, wavy, strawberry blonde wig. Vaughn changed into a suit and used a spray dye to change his hair to a dark brown. We talked on the plane about what we'd say and do. After a while, though, we got to talking about our "normal" life.
"I'm thinking about getting another dog." Vaughn said randomly.
"What about Donovan?"
"He gets lonely when I'm away on missions."
"Is he, hmm, how do I say this without sounding disgusting? Is he fixed?" Vaughn broke out laughing.
"No, I never got around too it."
"Then why don't you get a female, maybe around his age. It's kinda sad to have a bachelor dog." For a moment, Vaughn looked a little spaced, then he came back to earth.
"Yeah, that's a great idea. He needs a girlfriend." I laughed.
"I think that would make him really happy."
"So, have you ever had any pets?"
"I had a hamster when I was nine."
"A hamster?"
"He was white and black, so I named him Oreo. He died a week later because I overfed him." Vaughn and I both broke out laughing this time. "I even buried it in our backyard. My dad thought I was crazy."
"I had something like that, except it was a mouse."
"You had a mouse?"
"Yeah, I know, weird. My dad took me out to the pet shop and thought it was the cutest, so I got it. I named it Fred."
"Fred?"
"I don't know, the name sounded appealing at the time. He died after a month. I made him a gravestone and everything."
"Man, we must've been pretty pathetic kids." He smiled.
"So, you ready to go in and look like serious bad guys?"
"Let's go."

NORTH KOREA

We walked into the facility without a problem. They were expecting two recruiters, and we were two "recruiters". The headman himself met us at the door.
"Ah, you two are right on time. I am Jeffrey Veltier. If you'll step this way, I'll show you our training area." We followed him down a long hallway until we reached a glass window. Down below was what I had seen before: rows of desks with small students sitting there.
"How young do you recruit children?" I asked casually.
"We do specific tests on different ages. Usually five-to-six year olds are the best. The latest we take children is first grade."
"When are the children called back for agent training?"
"After they finish high school, we find them before they enter college." I decided that now would be the best time to put our plan into action.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but would you be able to point me to the nearest bathroom?" Vaughn knew that was my cue that I was going to download the files.
"Ah, yes. Go back to the front door, then take the left hallway. It should be the second door on the left."
"Thank you so much." I walked away, leaving Vaughn to fend for himself. I clicked on my headset that was in the earrings I was wearing. "This is Mountaineer, I'm away from Veltier."
"Good job, Mountaineer. Take the left hallway, fourth door on the right. Door pass code is 72689." My dad said through the earpiece.
"Copy, 72689." I reached the door and typed in the code. It opened to reveal a room full of computers. "I'm in."
"Good, go to the computer closest to the door. Password is 9284662."
"Okay, got it." I went to the computer and typed in the code. A screen popped up asking what drive I wanted to download from. Well, these people know how to get down to business. I clicked on "All Files" and then clicked enter. "Files are downloading. How's Vaughn doing?"
"Hold on, I'll switch you over to his line. Will you be alright without radio contact with us?"
"Yeah, we can take this place down easy. I just have to talk to Vaughn about what to do next."
"Okay, switching you over, good luck, Mountaineer." I heard a click, then heard Vaughn's voice.
"So, how many children do you have in training right now?"
"Only the ones you see here. We only train eight children at a time so that each child can get maximum attention."
"Vaughn, I'm downloading the information. I'll be back in two minutes. Cough if you hear me." I heard an indistinct cough on the other end. "See you in a few." I went to pull the disk out of the computer. As I grabbed the disk, though, an alarm went off. I heard Veltier curse on the other end, then a gunshot.
"Well, Syd, I covered knocking off Veltier."
"Okay, I'll meet you at the exit in a second." I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. I was right about to start for the door when I felt the barrel of a gun press against my head.
"Freeze."