Hey. Yes, this is the new chapter. I wrote it because I was bored and my holidays have just started. TWO WEEKS WORTH OF UPDATES ALL IN THREE DAYS! Hooray. Anyway, I really need those reviews. Please?
When Laura hoped in a different car outside the bank building, she felt a wave of insecurity sweep over her. She had no idea where she was going, she didn't know any of these people, and she had just flown over to London for goodness sake. But the worst part of it all, was that she was going to stay at a strange mans house. She was nervous.
"Umm...Sir?" Laura asked the man driving. He peered at her through the reverse mirror, looking back at the road every few seconds. "Where exactly am I going?"
"Well, Miss, I'm taking you to your new caregiver's house."
"So I am going to stay with him forever?"
"No, Miss. Just for now."
Laura sat back in her seat. This car was a different one to the first. I had a homier feel to it. Laura started to imagine what the man would look like. By the time they pulled up out the front – ten minutes later – of an apartment block, she had decided that he really was just an old man with a crazy amount of cats and who drunk tea all to often. It stuck in her mind as they climbed the stairs. She had offered to take her own bags but the driver had disagreed and was now dragging it behind him.
"Fair dinkum, they actually have stairs."
"Why wouldn't they?" asked the driver.
"I'm sorry. I've only ever seen stairs a few times before. This is amazing. And I hadn't seen buildings this tall except when I flew over Sydney. I can't believe I've never seen the city before. I mean. I had no idea they actually have escalators and elevators. I mean, I thought it was only in movies. Like..." Laura realised she was prattling and stopped talking as they reached a door.
"Ready, Miss?" He seemed amused by how little Laura knew about cities.
No.
"Yeah."
The driver reached out a hand and knocked on the wood beside the door frame. Laura didn't think she could actually call it wood. The whole place looked like overly-clean plastic. Number 23. That was the apartment number at the top of the door. She heard some footsteps and the sound of a lock being clicked. The door swung open.
"Good evening, sir," said the driver. "I'm just dropping Miss Nickleson over."
"It is more of a morning, but, whatever."
The man who had come to the door was not what Laura had imagined (old and catty). He was in fact completely different. He was tall, young and looked more like a dog person. A bear person, even. He looked very dangerous and strong - the type of person that could kill with one punch. Laura was used to this kind of strength, though. She had, after all, lived out in the country with farmers and they needed muscles to live.
What scared her the most, however, was how cold he looked. Not the "freezing" cold, but the "I've been through too much" cold. She hadn't seen that in anybody before. He had brown scruffy hair, sharp blue eyes and a killer smile.
"Mr Smith, meet Laura. Laura, meet Mr Smith," said the driver.
The two strangers shook hands. Very quickly.
"You can call me Jackson," said the young man.
Laura nodded and remained quiet. She was still very nervous. The driver handed her her luggage and said something about needing to be somewhere. He said a quick goodbye to Laura and Jackson before trotting down the stairs four at a time. Laura wished she could do that.
"Well, come on in," said Jackson, walking inside with her luggage.
Laura carefully stepped inside and looked around. It was a rather large apartment and was in a very big mess. Things were everywhere. Files, clothes, food packets, shoes and cushions were all over the place. The front door was right next to the kitchen and she could see the kitchen bench covered with unpacked groceries.
"Your room is this way."
Laura followed Jackson down the hall and into a bedroom off to the right. Jackson turned the light on and put her bags in the white wardrobe. The room was square and neat. The walls were a soft pink and the sheets on the bed matched. She smiled to herself and sat on the bed. There was a white desk on the other side of the room and the large wardrobe covered the whole other wall. Laura loved it! She was used to sharing with three other little foster kids who smelt really bad.
"We've just moved in. Nobody wanted the pink room so you got it," said Jackson, leaning against the door frame.
"Who's we?" Laura asked, curious.
"Oh." Jackson smiled. "Me and my mate, Jamie. We share this apartment. We are on the same SAS team. He's great, he'll be back from work soon if you want to meet him. I stayed home so I could greet you. It's probably no fun not having a welcoming committee when you have just come from a different country. Plus, it means he has to stay late and do extra filing."
Laura smiled. She couldn't tell wether it was more from his kindness or because his accent was funny. Jackson left her to get settled while he went to go get them something to eat. Laura hadn't eaten yet. She emptied her clothes out into the drawers and stacked her school books on the desk. She wasn't sure what school she would be attending but she packed them anyway.
"Wolf, mate." Jackson's voice was coming from near the door.
"How are ya, Eagle?" This time it was a new voice. A deep rumbling one.
Laura walked out to the kitchen again. Another man, probably the same age as Jackson, was telling Jackson about some new terrorist attack and had his back to Laura. She was very confused about the funny animal names they were calling each other. She just guessed it was some weird English thing.
"Wolf, this is Laura. Laura, this is Wolf. Call him Jamsie-poo. He hates it."
"Thanks mate," Wolf said sarcastically and turned to Laura. "Hey, Laura. My names Jamie. Feel free to call me anything you want. Don't let butt-heads like Jackson tell you what to do." He glared at Jackson and continued pulling his shoes off.
"Why did you call each other Wolf and Eagle?" Laura asked, feeling very brave.
"SAS code names. We use them out on the field so we can't be traced by our real names. We get so used to it we don't address each other properly any more," said Jackson, pulling something out of the freezer. "Actually, call us by those names. We'll find one for you so you don't get left out."
They all sat down at the kitchen table ready to eat. Laura moved some of the files away neatly so her plate would fit down on the table but the men just pushed it all onto the floor, adding to the mess.
"We are having lasagne again, aren't we?" Wolf asked Eagle sadly.
He nodded and passes three plates around to the others. Laura ate hers with amazing speed. She was starving. Once she was done, she carried her plate to the sink and started washing it up.
"You don't need to do that," Wolf said, taking his plate over.
"Yeah, I do," Laura said, adding more detergent. "I do it all the time at home so why shouldn't I now?"
The boys looked thoughtful. "Because you are in a new home and you are a guest, not a slave," Eagle said.
Laura laughed. "I'm too used to it now, you can't stop me."
Once all the cleaning was done. They stocked all went to bed. They were only allowed a few hours sleep before they had to get up again. Laura brushed her teeth first and was asleep the fastest. She had a big day ahead.
When Laura woke up, it was dark. She stood up and ripped open her blinds. The bright sunlight shone into her eyes and she had to shut them again.
Stupid sunshine, she thought.
Laura was a morning person but she definitely wasn't used to England sun. The Australian sunshine would be down one minute and the next it would be shining high in the sky. The sun in England just made its way slowly through the sky – at the right angle to shine in your eyes.
Laura slowly walked to the bathroom. She listened carefully at the door to check nobody was already in there. Walking in on Wolf or Eagle would not be very pleasant on her first day. She couldn't hear anything so she slowly opened the door. There weren't any clothes on the floor so she stepped inside. The coast was clear. She managed to turn the taps on and have a reasonably quick shower before jumping out and getting dressed. Today, she managed to actually try and look nice for a change. Still, she looked pretty daggy.
Laura walked into the kitchen and looked into the fridge – empty. She closed it and walked back to her bedroom. She pulled out a chocolate bar from her backpack and stuffed it in her mouth. Her favourite types of chocolate were the Freddos with mint filling and Chomp bars. Yum. Once she had eaten it, Laura decided she would go for a walk. She searched her room for a piece of paper and a pen.
Wolf and Eagle,
I've just gone for a walk, I'll be back soon.
Laura.
She stuck the note on the fridge with an old Plummer's Electricity magnet and walked out. She didn't have a key and she was silently wishing somebody would be home when she got back. She played around on the stairs for a while. Ever since she was a little girl she had wanted stairs in her house. Her wish came true. Once she was done, she walked out into the cold air. She instantly froze and wrapped her arms around herself. The temperature was a good twenty degrees colder than what she was used to.
"Good morning, Miss." Laura turned to the voice. It was the driver from the night – or morning – before. She smiled and walked over to him. When she got closer, she realised he was a lot younger than she had first thought. "How are you today?"
"Tired."
"Same. Mrs Jones has a meeting planned for you. Hop in."
Laura slid into the back seat and closed the door. She put her seatbelt on and made herself comfortable. The driver had just put the car in ignition when Laura realised something. She hadn't told Wolf and Eagle where she was going.
"Umm...sir?"
"Please, call me Lionel."
"Okay, Lionel. I haven't told my new caregivers that I've left."
He thought for a moment. "Well, I'll ask somebody to ring them when we get to the headquarters."
Laura nodded and looked out the window. There were teenagers everywhere. Girls too. She couldn't wait to make new friends. She missed Timothy, though. She missed playing in the creek and all their running races. He was the only person she told about her hobby. That was what she called it. They would ship her over to deserted little places that evil organisations could set up and she had the job of either distracting them or breaking in to get small files. Nothing major. Nothing like James Bond.
Lionel pulled up out the front and opened the car door. Laura thought it was very fun to have somebody open and close doors for you all day. No more jamming your hands in the door, no more splinters. But it would be dreadfully boring. They walked to the front desk and the same lady was sitting at the computer. She nodded her head and they headed up to the office again.
When they got there, the two chairs were still at the front, only this time there was a boy sitting in one of them. He glared at her before turning away. Laura wasn't sure what she had done wrong, but she had a feeling it wasn't really her fault. It was MI6's fault. She sat down on the empty chair and looked at the boy. She didn't know it was rude to stare – she hadn't learnt much from her foster parents because they were so busy all the time.
The boy was half a head taller than her and looked very clean. He had messy blonde hair, cold eyes – like Eagle's – and looked like had been through more than anyone in a very short time. He also looked like he had been doing a lot of running lately. Mrs Jones walked in and their heads both snapped toward her.
"Good morning, Laura, Alex."
I thought I would cut it off there because the next chapter is explaining the mission. How is it going so far? Who wants to see something interesting happen? Who wants to know what happens next? Just review and you'll receive some classified information. Promise.
RG