AGENT 23 BLACKOUT (Agent 23 Book 1)

CHAPTER 32

My dad's Jeep Gladiator peels out of the warehouse parking lot with Agent 24 behind the wheel. To say I'm shocked would be an understatement. The assassin steers us onto a two-lane highway that curves into an elevated mountainside road. The crest of a prominent ridge stares down at us, making me feel small as we thunder in pursuit of Zero and the semi-truck hauling the two trailers, which gleam silver under the mid-morning sun. If that isn't bad enough, as we continue on, the elevation to our left soars even higher while the cliff face on the right plunges into a steep drop off beneath us. Between the snowcapped mountain peak above and the cliff plummeting hundreds of feet down below, the roadway seems to grow narrower as we draw within sight of the diesel truck.

But we stay back, hoping not to get made. As the semi rounds a distant curve, we let it disappear, knowing there's nowhere for it to go but forward on this remote highway.

As I peer around in awe of the landscape, I notice the gash on Agent 24's head. The wound reveals a trace of the titanium plate he received after the IED explosion during his military days. I'll have to ask him about that later, but now is not the time.

I'm taken aback by the fact he's sitting beside me and doesn't want to beat my brains out. So, I ask him straight up.

"Just like that, you're going to help us now?"

"Huh?"

"I said—"

"I heard what you said." Agent 24 snarls at me. "I was in deep thought and you broke my concentration, but I heard you. The wildest thing about the Mind Bender is that you remember everything you did while you were under its influence. I remember our fight. I remember wanting to rip your head off." He pauses when I gawk at him. He shrugs. "That's what I wanted to do because the Bender affects your frontal lobe. It changes your desires and forces you to bend to its will."

I recall the moments when the headaches wracked my brain. It targeted my frontal lobe, the control panel for the rest of my brain, determining my wants and ambitions, the part of me that determines who I am.

"So, to answer your question. I was under the control of the Mind Bender, and now I'm here to help. What they did to me and what they tried to do to you is wrong, and we've got to stop them before it's too late."

To catch up with the semi to maintain a visual, he floors the gas pedal, pushing the speedometer needle up to eighty-five miles an hour on the narrow, curvy, mountainside road.

My breath hitches in my throat as the engine revs with the acceleration.

In the backseat, Kayla winces and then sits back and buckles up. I do the same, and as we round a bend, I see a glimmer of the truck's rear end.

"Why would they leave a vehicle for us to chase them in?" Kayla asks.

"Zero ordered me to make the Jeep and the van undrivable," Agent 24 says, "which I did." He offers me a lopsided grin and an arched eyebrow. "I removed the spark plugs. I also remembered where I put them."

"But wouldn't Zero know you're alive?" I ask. "I was supposed to kill you, but I didn't."

"Yeah," Kayla says, "wouldn't she want to confirm that you're dead?"

"My guess is, when you knocked me unconscious and the Mind Bender lost control of my brain, Zero's tracker app on her phone showed me go offline. The Bender connects to the electrical impulses in the brain, and when that wireless connection failed, which it isn't supposed to, Zero must have assumed I was dead."

"You suffered a blackout," I say. "A lights-out concussion, a  shutdown of the brain. I thought I'd killed you, but I'm glad I didn't."

Agent 24 hardens his jaw. "You're not the only one."

We've cut the distance in half because of the sharper curves, speeding along, allowing the semi to disappear momentarily, until we catch sight of it again.

"What about my dad and Officer Tate?" Kayla asks. "Are they still alive?"

"I heard Zero had other plans for them," I reply.

"They're handcuffed in a storage room," Agent 24 says. "Maybe Zero decided it would draw too much heat if the authorities linked their murders directly to The Collective? So, she let them be."

I don't know about that, I think but don't say. Zero doesn't seem like the person who worries about being implicated in assassinations. She has a long history that speaks otherwise.

"So," Kayla says, "you don't know what she planned on doing with my dad?"

"I wasn't in the loop." Agent 24 draws us close enough to the second trailer to keep it in view, but still hangs back to avoid suspicion. I'm sure he doesn't want them getting a sniff of us and opening fire. We slow down to sixty miles an hour, matching the semi's pace. As we march up an incline, the diesel slows to make the grinding ascent. "Enough with the questions. We're here, and it's time to make your move, Agent 23."

I whip my head around to look at him. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. Why do you think I'm driving? So you can do your thing.  Agent 23 has more than fight skills. All you have to do is access what's already in your brain."

"The same confidence and determination I discovered at the fort and the warehouse."

"That's it. Just get on the hood and jump on the back of the last trailer. Pretty simple."

"Doesn't he need some help?" Kayla says.

"Do you really want to make the jump with me?"

"Not me, him." She tilts her head toward Agent 24, pointing at him with her eyes. "I can drive. He can jump."

"Enough of this," Agent 24 says. "There's no reason to risk over one person on a stunt like this, and I say it's him. It's his dad who's been mind-bent. Besides, we're already in motion. I'm driving and Kayla is shooting. That's final."

"I'm what?"

"You proved yourself at the fort, so let's do this." Agent 24 jabs a thumb toward the backseat where Kayla sits. The rear window slides open. I see his finger on a button on the driver's side door. "In the truck bed is your dad's duffel bag full of weapons. The ones we confiscated at the fort. Bet you forgot about it."

"I did," I reply.

"Get it, Kayla." Agent 24 nods toward the rear window. 

As we near the top of the incline, ready for another level stretch of road, she pivots around and sticks her head and shoulders through the open window. Then she heaves the bag into the cab with her.

"Get the utility belt that's got the hand grenades clipped to it," Agent 24 says.

Kayla jerks her head around, knocking her glasses off kilter on her nose. "Did you just say..."

"Hand grenades. That's right. The Mind Benders are in Trailer 2. So, we need to blow it to destroy them. But don't think that'll save your dad, Aiden. They have spy satellites that relay a constant signal from a remote location. So, eliminating the portable Benders won't free your dad. It's not that easy."

"I didn't think it would be." I huff.

As I contemplate what I'm about to do, Agent 24 tells us the rest of the plan. It sounds like it'll work. "Give the hand grenades to Aiden. He's the man of the hour."

I grow tense and my heart pounds as I think about jumping from one vehicle to another with mini bombs hanging over my shoulder, at high rates of speed.

"Kayla, you get the assault rifle," Agent 24 says. "I'll coach you and tell you when to shoot. Aiden, take the pistol. The SIG Sauer nine millimeter, in case you need it. Get ready, we're almost there."

As I stuff the Sig under my belt behind my back and the Jeep zooms close enough to the rear of Trailer 2 to hide in the semi's blind spot, Agent 24 adds, "Oh, and Aiden, what you do after you rig the grenades is your choice, but if I were you, I'd go after my dad. There's no way I'd let Zero steal my old man and enslave his mind."

"I was already thinking about that." I turn to Kayla. "Don't shoot until I'm on Trailer 1. But no matter what happens, blow those Mind Benders to bits. Obviously, they have more of them, but those machines are the latest versions. They're the most dangerous ones. They have to be destroyed."