I hope you've enjoyed Misdirection so far. Thank you for the lovely reviews, you guys are amazing. Please review!
Dan was sitting in class, out of his mind in boredom as Mr Flatley and Mrs King droned on about the importance of College. Truthfully, he had his life mapped out. He would graduate from school and then train to become a full time agent. Then at the age of forty, he would go into training kids, much like Frank. That was only if he didn't get promoted to Head of MI9.
As he scanned the classroom, he knew that Tom was thinking the same thing. The boy was probably going to become MI9's Head of IT, and design some wicked gadgets. Dan smiled to himself. He'd like that life; Tom working with him as they both carried out the profession they loved.
Turning to look at Aneisha, he was unsure of her plans. Neish loved MI9, but she'd recently become obsessed with journalism. It would suck not to work with Aneisha, but if she was happy, then Dan was happy. Dan had also made it his goal to get Tom and Aneisha together by the end of the year. Both were stubborn mules and would never admit their feelings, but Dan was going to try and make them.
He switched his attention to Keri, and knew what options she wanted. The ginger-haired girl was either going to travel the world in an attempt to reunite her sisters, go into spy training like Dan or work on helping kids without families.
The bell rang and Dan snapped out of his reverie. Gathering his things, Dan practically fled the classroom.
"Whoa, slow down cowboy!" Aneisha called and Dan halted. She grabbed his shoulder. "We've got a mission". A broad grin overtook Dan's face and abandoning break, he headed down to the caretakers store cupboard.
As he emerged from the lift, Dan couldn't help but think about how much he'd missed his secure MI9 uniform. He felt alive in it.
"Frankie!" Tom called and clapped Frank on the back. The older man looked slightly pale, but he looked happier than he had in decades.
"What is it?" Keri asked, furrowing her brow.
"Never mind" Frank said, and wiped the grin off his face. "We've got a serious mission, but it requires Tom's skills more than anyone else's".
"Joy" Keri said sarcastically.
"Are we going to defend a Superhero museum or something?" Aneisha asked, an amused smile playing her lips. Tom threw a Rubik cube at her and sat down on his swivel chair.
"From what? Attack of the killer superhero statues?" Keri asked. Tom rolled his eyes, before his face brightened.
"How cool would that be though?" he asked.
Dan considered this. "Actually, it would be pretty awesome!"
Keri and Aneisha shared a look. "Boys" they said simultaneously.
"Can we cut the small-talk, we have a serious mission on our hands" Frank said. The spies quickly shut up. "Recently, MI9 have been receiving mysterious codes. We're unable to locate where they come from, and we are unable to unscramble them. But the same code has been reappearing numerous times and it could be something urgent".
"So you want us to unscramble it?" Keri asked.
"No, he wants us to eat it" Tom said, sarcasm dripping off his tongue.
"How can you eat a code?" Aneisha asked, scrunching up her nose.
"Shut up" Tom said to Aneisha.
"That was a stupid comeback" Dan said. Frank rolled his eyes. "Can we all please focus on the mission?"
"Okay, okay" Tom said. "Show me the code".
An image appeared on Tom's computer of a bunch of random little symbols and numbers and letters. "Cool. It'll be cracked in no time" Tom assured, although he looked a little nervous.
"Good" Frank said. "I'll expect progress when I'm back in an hour".
"Wait, you're not staying?" Dan asked.
Frank hesitated. "I have…something to do" he said and rushed off without another word. Keri shrugged off Frank's odd behaviour and plopped into a chair. From underneath the desk, she fished out a fashion magazine.
True to his word, Frank returned an hour later. But the sight was not one he was pleased with. Keri was seated comfortably on a chair, flicking through a magazine. Aneisha and Dan were both throwing stuff at Tom, who looked a little annoyed, but flicked stuff back at them.
"What's going on here?" Frank asked, and Keri immediately dropped the magazine.
"Um…just doing some research" she stammered. Frank arched an eyebrow. "On women's fashion?"
Keri sighed as she knew she was caught. She tossed the magazine and strode over to Tom. Both Dan and Aneisha sheepishly headed to Tom as well. "Did you find anything?" Frank asked.
Tom hesitated. "It's a hard code to crack, but I think I've got it. All I need to do is flick this button and then…"
The screen suddenly went black before three chilling yet familiar words appeared on the screen.
KORPS. IS. RISING.