A Journey of the Thousand Islands Begins With a Single Beer

Written by Wildthing

Prologue: The Mission

DRRRRINNNGG! DRRRRINNNGG! The call of a telephone awoke Maxwell Smart, CONTOL agent 86. He rolled over and turned on the light, trying to untangle himself from the knot of blankets. He reached over for his shoe, his eyes blinded in the bright light. He found his left shoe- no, wait, wrong shoe phone. He tossed the one aside and snatched up his ringing right shoe. "Agent 86." He answered.

"Max, it's the Chief."

"Chief?"

"Yes Max. It's me."

"Oh, Hello, Chief."

"Listen, Max, you need to get down to CONTROL right away. I have an assignment for you."

"An assignment? Gee, Chief, I thought I wouldn't be getting any a assignments until 99 got back from California."

"Max, 99 went to New York. And she's not back yet. That's why you have an assignment. Get down to CONTROL right now."

15 minutes later, Max sat in one of the chairs in the Chief's office. The Chief sat behind his desk drinking a cup of coffee, deep circles underneath his eyes.

"Max-"

"Where is she, Chief?" Max asked, his heart pounding.

"We're not sure, Max." The Chief replied, sounding worried. "We received our last transmission from agent 99 three days ago from Clayton, a small village in the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York. We've been expecting a transmission from her for the last 24 hours. She was investigating a KAOS smuggling ring, and she was close to finding a key drop off point. Now you need to go to Clayton to look for 99 and help her find the key point. If we get anything from 99 while you're gone, we'll let you know."

"Chief- Three days with no contact?" Max asked, surprised. The Chief nodded, putting down his coffee. Max and 99 were like son and daughter to him, and he hated to tell Max that she was missing.

"I'm leaving. I can't stand the thought of us sitting here and 99 in trouble." Max said; he stood up and turned to leave the office.

"Max?" Max turned back sharply, knocking over the Chief's coffee cup.

"Sorry about that, Chief." Max said. The Chief stared.

"Good luck, Max."