You Only Die Twice
CHAPTER THREE
Shock.
Was that the word?
Yeah. Undeniable shock was what she was definitely feeling. Oh, there was hurt and sadness, of course, but above it all, there was shock. Years earlier, it might have been easy to take. That's ridiculous, she thought to herself. This very thing HAD happened years earlier and she had been just as distraught.
But they weren't married then. They didn't have children then or even grandchildren. They had been friends, yes, but that was it.
Things were different now.
They had been married for 27 years as of four months ago, though they had known each other for over 30 years. They had children together, thanks to Zach and Tracie, they now had grandchildren. They had spent much of their lives together...
He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't.
Zachary Smart wasn't going to cry. He was the oldest male member, as well as the senior agent. What good would he do by crying when the girls needed him? But he did feel like breaking down. It was bad enough that Maxine was crying, but having to tell his mother that the man she loved more than life itself was dead crushed him, seeing her cry crushed him.
But there was more bubbling to the surface. His pain would wait. He needed to inflict pain on those that had done this to his family, to the company, to the world at large. There was a budding anger rising in the young agent and it seemed nothing would quelch it until he got to the bottom of this.
"Zachary, did you even check all the hospitals?" came a weepy reply. Two sets of eyes looked over at him, hoping against hope...
The young man shook his head sadly. "There was no need to." he replied, softly, starting up another round of tears from his mother.
Just then, Agent 22 walked in. "I just heard." he said, rather quickly.
"22, now is not the time." Tracie said, harshly. Agent 22 was not what they needed right now.
"Zachary," the agent replied, watching as the man stood to face him. "From the bottom of my heart, I'm truly sorry." Zach nodded and began to turn away, until 22's next sentence stopped him.
"That's why I hate to bring this up."
"Now is not the time, 22!" 99 exclaimed.
"If not now, then when?" the agent asked. "Mrs. Smart, I respected the Chief and I know we're all hurting from the loss, but reality needs to set in. We have no Chief, we have no leadership. You know as I, Control needs a leader, especially now. We need to get to the bottom of this."
"We'll worry about it later, 22," Tracie sneered. "Now get out."
"I think you need to worry about this now." 22 argued. "There's some talk going 'round. Agents are getting a little antsy. That's why I think..."
The sentence was cut off, much to the surprise of the agent who was saying it. 22 was more surprised with how strong Zach seemed to be. He was currently being held against the wall by the latter's hand around his throat. 22 struggled to breath, but found Zach's thumb resting on the very lump that could kill him.
"I could crush your larynx right now." Zach hissed, putting more pressure on the man's throat.
"Zach, let him go!"
"Now you listen to me, you bastard," Zach continued. "As of this moment, I'm the acting Chief of Control until further notice and my first act as Chief is to give you an ultimatum." His hand began to slowly squeeze tighter around 22's neck. "You are to search high and low and bring back anything that could possibly tie in to who shot and killed my father. The alternative? I fire you. And when I fire you, I will come and find you and kill you myself. Is that understood?"
Zach let go, causing 22 to couch and sputter. The agent nodded at his orders.
"Now get out and do not come back until you have something I might want to listen to."
Again 22 nodded and quickly left.
Still on his emotional high, Zach walked determinately towards the desk and hit the loud speaker. "Attention all Control personal." he boomed. "As you may or may not have heard...the Chief of Control, Maxwell Smart, Agent 86...is dead. As senior agent of the agents section, President of the Control Agent's Guild, as well as the eldest Smart male...As of today, I assume the position of Chief until further notice. In the meantime, the active case of my father's murder will be assigned to me and that of a team of my choosing.
"I want every agent working on something to do with this case. I want the names of the KAOS agents involved, I want the names of their family members, I want their addresses, hell I even want the dates of their birth. Leave nothing uncovered. I want them found."
Hitting the off switch on the intercom, Zach placed his palms on the desk and leaned over. The war against KAOS had always raged in his heart, in his work, but now it was personal.
There would be payback.