The Sovereigns

4.

4.

This was his favorite part of the mission.

Grand Prince Alexander Graves kept his breaths low, swallowing down any fear he might have. He hadn't suffered through shoving himself into a shipping box for seventeen hours and another four gathering materials for an ID badge that wouldn't work just to back out now. He double-checked his thigh holster and chest straps. Yup. He was good. All that was left was the jump.

Six hundred feet. Landing was going to hurt like a bitch.

Alex grinned as he looked down. The door was still closed, so he couldn't see down, but he knew what awaited him. Catalonia was the only nation that still used a Well Hangar, an archaic form of storing the government's hoverplanes and drones. This Well Hangar was over a thousand feet deep and great for saving space on the mainland, only it had one fatal flaw that the Catalonians clearly did not see as a threat. The only way for an unauthorized entrance was to jump into the hangar at the same time as a hoverplane entering. It would be impossible to time— too soon and the hangar doors would flatten him. Too late and the hoverplane would. And not to mention the ropes catching or his harness failing. Overall, it was suicidal.

Knowing all of that made jumping so much more fun.

Alex glanced up at the hoverplane descending. The best way to enter a Well Hangar was nose down, since leveling the engines before would mean the hangar door would be open for too long, leaving it exposed to an entrance. He could hear the hoverplane before he could see it, a black beak of a contraption screeching towards him and the door. He grinned. He could do this. Probably.

Alex took a deep breath and flung himself forward, watching as the unopened hangar door flew towards him. There wasn't time to worry if he'd jumped at the wrong time. But Alex was the best foreign agent that his country had ever produced, so when Alex jumped, he jumped right on time. The door opened, and he and the hoverplane entered the well.

The hoverplane was going faster than Alex was, though, so as soon as he was in the hangar, he released himself. He clicked his wrists and watched his sticky gloves light up, indicating the magnets were on. Right before the hoverplane crushed him, Alex swung both his arms towards the hangar's wall and felt as his body slammed up against it. He grunted as the hoverplane passed him.

Ow.

He took a cool breath, listening to the hangar door close and the hoverplane beneath him slow down and slide into its slot. Alex glanced around, discovering he was three levels below his target. Damn it. These were the mistakes that got agents killed.

With a sigh of annoyance, Alex pulled himself up. Thank Prendrine that he'd charged his sticky gloves last night. It was a few minutes before he was at the right level, level forty. His arms and shoulders were shot, but he willed himself not to feel the exhaustion. That would only slow him down. And by his count, he was already behind schedule.

Alex peaked his head above the floor of level forty. Nope. No one around. He pulled himself over the ledge, taking a breath. Well, that was fun.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Shit.

Alex didn't hesitate, spinning and grabbing his gun from his holster. He fired a shot into a soldier's head, and when he fell, Alex noticed the man had a Catalonian uniform on. Ugh. This made things worse. They had uniforms? He hadn't been told that.

Alex stripped the body quickly, pulling the loose-fitting slacks over his military ones, and slipping the shirt above his laserproof vest. As soon as he was set, he started walking into the level. Alex had to get to the control room quickly or risk being seen again. And if anyone found the body, Alex was toast. He had no extraction team and only one really bad plan B. Alex doubted he was cleared to blow up the capital, so plan A had to work.