The TALONS Files: the chronicles of telepathic agent Ryan Dart

Shandra's Debrief

42

The rest of the week went well for Ryan. He was acing the IGTR sessions with Mai Lee. They became more complicated, yet Ryan was smooth, making only one simple mistake when his subject asked to pass the fork. Ryan simply answered, 'Sure' when Mai asked if he was Democrat or Republican. Which, the lady judge at the bar said could be seen as a sly misdirection, avoiding answering such a bombshell of a question. So it was totally acceptable.

Ryan was learning in his High School curriculum course faster than he'd ever thought possible. Things that were once difficult came to him easily. Math, geography, physics, chemistry, you name it, he was learning all of these and had a much better understanding. With the controlled learning environment, it seemed his mind was capable of anything.

Suddenly, Friday came, and with a short ceremony, Gunner became a fully fledged TALONS agent. It took place in the Debrief room, with Director Dick Johnson over seeing. Today, Dick was grateful to have another agent in the field, especially with doomsday weapons plans to intercept.

After the ceremony, Shandra debriefed all of the students, who would be taking the field quite shortly, on what she learned in Chicago.

"Scam has been in Asia, along with the rest of SCARE. They desperately fear government interference. Although Scam, and the rest of the weapons sales team, are heading back to the US tonight."

"If they know we're going to try to intercept them, why return?" Phong asked.

"From what I gathered, he believes the threat has been eliminated."

"Why?" Phong appeared annoyed and perplexed.

"Not sure."

Ryan interrupted meekly, "He killed someone Wednesday night. Someone who was in contact with the US government."

Declan raised his brows. "Mental link Wednesday night? I didn't initiate that." Ryan's instructor eyed him suspiciously.

"I don't know how it happened. I just remember being in a triangular glass room that seemed to float above a city. It was light out at two thirty in the morning, so it would have to be in Asia."

Declan cleared his throat. "The prism in Beijing. That's where the most important meetings for SCARE occur, outside the US of course. Who was killed?"

Ryan could see the man screaming 'No', as the glass panel fully opened and left him falling towards his death. "Mr. Wheely."

"That's surprising." Declan said under his breath, as he thought over the information.

Gunner asked, "Sir, why is that surprising?"

"Gunner, Sky Wheely was one of Scam's most trusted associates. As a matter of fact, he's worked for SCARE longer than anyone else. Even longer than Tom Manly."

"Maybe," It was Mai Lee's turn to enter the conversation, "He was jealous of Tom Manly, because Tom is Scam's right hand man."

Declan stroked his beard. That's plausible, but not realistic Miss Lee. Sky Wheely wasn't after power in the company. The pay had to be more than he would ever make at SCARE.

Gunner asked. "Do you think someone was using federal funds?"

Declan responded. "That's highly unlikely. In this day and age, a monetary amount large enough to sway Sky Wheely would have been red flagged."

Phong questioned his instructor in disbelief. "Are you saying someone is using his own money to acquire it for the US?"

"Yeah," Ryan said. "Why not just wait for us to acquire it? Why run the risk of Scam finding out?"

Declan shook his head. "That's an excellent question Mr. Dart. I have no Idea."

There was a pause in the room for a bit.

Then Declan stole through the silence. "Alright, gang. See you all Monday morning... except our new, fully fledged TALONS agent. Gunner, you, Shandra and I will video Conference Dick tomorrow."

Shandra lowered the tone of her voice to mimmick the director. "It's director Johnson, protocol must be followed or the world will be destroyed."

Declan softly laughed. "Nine O'clock you two, or the world might very well be destroyed."