CHAPTER 1 – RUE GARY

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." – Anthony Robbins

I hid behind a giant rock in the middle of the desert plains of Salt Lake City Utah. My compass said to continue going northeast. The electric blue moon shone down on me like a glowing blue flame. I whipped my phone out of my pocket. It was already ten o'clock? I ran in the direction of northeast, until my path directed me straight into the main road. I ran to the side of the main road, until I reached the airport.

I ran around the building in about five minutes, and reached the backside of it. I smiled at the wide open space. "Why are you so late?" cried a voice from behind me. Pilot Travis E. Wilkins stood behind me. A man that was a pilot with my uncle as his copilot, Brady Gary.

"I'm only about two minutes late!" I whispered, and he glared at me. "Not good missy."

"Sorry Wilkins, I'll do better," I pushed. He shook his head in anger. "I told Sylvester that it wasn't a good idea to hire kids like you."

"Wilkins, I'm twenty-one!" I stamped my foot.

"Yep. Just a kid. Alright, let's get out of here. You need to get to your bunker," he said. I nearly jumped out of my skin in excitement. I was going to see my uncle Brady!

Pilot Wilkins pressed a button on the side of the private jet, and the portable stairs came down in a heap. I climbed to the top, Pilot Wilkins following behind me. All was dark. "Brady?" I asked.

There was silence. And then, all of a sudden, he bounded out of the darkness. "RUE!"

"BRADY!" I gasped. He looked taller. More handsome even. When he was 20, he married a woman named Alexandra Tallahassee. She divorced him after they had a child the next year. The baby girl was named Livy Gary. Alexandra ran away with Livy a month after she was born. Brady doesn't know why they ran away or what he did to deserve it. Brady hasn't seen them since. But on my spare time, I continue to look for them. What else can I do? Livy is my cousin. Now he is 39, making Livy 19.

"How are you dear?" he asks pleasantly.

"I'm awesome! How about you?"

"Oh I'm just jolly. How are your Mom and Dad?" he asked, patting the seat next to him. I sat down. My parents live in Kaysville Utah, so I'd gone to visit them after my mission to see to it that everything was alright at the Kaysville Laboratory.

"Oh they're fine. Dad's busy doing CEO paperwork as usual and no one knows about the WPA still. Hilary, my Stepmom couldn't care less, so I suppose she's okay. Sydney's great. She's always so kind. Nothing much though."
Brady and my Dad are identical twins, and the only difference is that Brady has a mustache. Find out their personalities, you'd never know they were twins. Blindfold you while they talk, and you would never know it was two people.

A little while later, Brady fell asleep. His even breathing was so rhythmic that I fell asleep as well.

I woke to the smell of smoke. The plane was on fire! I stood up shakily, and opened the door to the pilot's quarters. Pilot Wilkins was nowhere to be found. The plane had crashed on the end of a private runway. At least we were in the spot where we needed to go.

"Brady!" I called. There was no answer. I ran back out to the few seats that were outside Pilot's quarters. Brady laid on the floor in the aisle of seats. "Brady?" I gasped.

He lay motionless on the ground. Blood pooled around his body, mainly from his head. I leaned down close. His skull had been fractured. I checked him for a pulse. Not a sound. I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket, and dialed the number for Sylvester Salamander, President of the WPA.

A minute later he picked up. "Code?"

"Leopold," I said quickly.

"Rue Gary, is that you?" he asked. "It's a minute after midnight, the code of the day is changed. Are you Rue Gary?" he repeated, trying to make me answer.

"Yes! It's me. Please, will you tell me the new code?" I cried in distress.

"Yes Rue, don't panic! It's you, I can tell because of my voice checker. Rue, the new code is 'pedal'," he said. "Now, what's the situation? You're supposed to be in your bunker sleeping."

"Well President Salamander, I woke up on the plane just a second ago, and Pilot Wilkins has disappeared, and my uncle Brady has a skull fracture, and he's dead as a doornail," I said, biting back tears.

"Oh my. Alright Rue, just hang tight for a minute. I'll have you back in your bunker in no time. I'll be right there. Don't worry," he said quickly. I'd always liked Salamander. He was a kind man who treated every agent with individual respect and love.

"Alright thank you," I said urgently.

"You're welcome," and then the line went dead.

I laid my head on my uncles chest. How could I have slept through this? How could I have let this happen? His body was completely still. His heart the same. No breath escaped his lungs or wheezed its way back in.