His Australian accent distracts me for a brief second, but I'm brought back to reality as he speaks. "What brings you to this part of town?" asks Ryan's friend with a serious expression.
"Derek," Ryan says while signaling us to follow him as he walks toward his friend. As we all come out of the trees, the smile on Derek's face never falters and I can't identify any signs that he's surprised we're there. Once we are all standing in front of Derek and his cottage, Ryan introduces us, motioning to us as he says our names. "This is Jacky, Bonny, Erin, and Zane, Agents of CSIS."
"I know who they are, mate. I'm just curious as to what they're doing here, on my doorstep," Derek says slight venom to his voice. "Shouldn't they be sucking up to Mr. Mann somewhere?"
"Jeez," Jacky whispers to me, "such hostility from a guy we've never met."
Bonny walks up beside me, shoulders hunched in sadness at the mention of Mr. Mann. "Yeah, too bad he doesn't know what happened."
At first no one says anything, and at the silence Derek turns around to go back into his house. Ryan follows him without asking for permission, I can tell Ryan is angry at Derek's accusations, but he hides it well. To the others I'm sure it seems like Ryan didn't react at all.
"Derek," Ryan says just as we're reaching the doorway. "CSIS was attacked."
Derek pauses midstride and turns to look at Ryan with a new anger filling his eyes. "How bad is it?"
"There's nothing left. I don't know how many survived."
Grim silence follows Ryan's words. Any anger that Derek has, vanishes completely. For all we know, we are the last agents of CSIS, and we are the only ones that can stop Hecate.
"Well, then I suppose I can't be picky. Why don't you come in, the living room is to the left," Derek says, his face unreadable.
He stands to the side and motions toward his house. We walk inside, following Ryan's lead. I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice his house is, for living in the middle of nowhere. To my right there is a closet, to my left the living room and directly in front of me there is a little doorway, but without a door, and the kitchen is just beyond that. Looking right though the kitchen, I see a short hallway with multiple closed doors, which I can only assume are the bedrooms and bathrooms.
The living room has a green, ratty couch pressed against the far wall, with a big window covering the wall to my left. On the wall directly across from the couch, a radio is mounted on top of a brown, rectangular cabinet. Two old arm chairs with orange-maroon cushioning surround the couch, giving the room a rustic, homey feel. Seeing as Jacky, Bonny, and Ryan have taken a seat on the couch, I walk over to one of the chairs and take a seat, while Zane occupies the other one.
"So," Derek says leaning against a wall, "I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Derek, and I already have the unfortunate pleasure of knowing you. That leaves one question, what do you want me for?"
"For once in your life Derek, take this seriously!" Ryan proclaims angrily. Obviously Derek has a long time history of being a jokester, I'm sure if he didn't hate us for some unforeseen reason he would be pretty fun to be around. "There is only us left, plus the other five of their team, CSIS is destroyed, Hecate is on our tail, Mr. Mann and Red have both been kidnapped and Cadwell's missing!"
Shock fills his face at the unexpected news. Derek is clearly troubled at this news, he must have been close with Mr. Mann, or Agent Cadwell. I know for a fact that Agent Red and him would not get along, they are complete opposites. "Wait, what was that last part mate?" Derek says alarmed, obviously speaking to Ryan.
YOU ARE READING
Double Crossed
ActionA government agency known as CSIS is starting to fall apart. When some highly classified information is stolen by their enemies, Hecate, the agency is forced to do something they hoped it would never come to. After gathering high school student Erin...
