Betrayal Codes

Chapter 1: Libby

"We're beginning our descent. Please fasten your seatbelts," a deep voice rings out from the intercom above our heads.

"Matthew..." the girl next to me groans, annoyed. "You're basically our dad; stop acting like you're a random pilot when we're literally flying in your plane. It's creepy as hell."

"Language, Taylor," Matthew reminds her. To an outsider, Taylor looks like another stray, self-conscious teenage girl, but when she's not acting, she's a real diva, always prepared with snarky comebacks for any situation. Technically, she's allowed to use whatever language she wants, however, the younger kids back home prefer not to hear any sort of explicits.

"There are no Littles around, dummy," she mutters, reading my mind, before turning towards me. "So, Libby, remind me again what we're doing once we get to the other side of the planet?"

"First: land safely. There is about a 1% chance he finds out we're here and shoots this plane down before we can get started. Two: find him. And hope his minions aren't going to be there to stop us. Three: bring him back to the Agency," I run over the list that has been engraved into my brain for the last month.

If we don't perfectly execute this mission, trouble will follow us home. After all, it's not every day that the four best agents from the most secret society in the world mess up on their deadliest mission.

Exactly one month ago — to the day — three other girls and myself were called into the Head's office (as a secret agency that doesn't even have a name, all our terms are shortened and capitalized, possibly to make it seem cooler). This occurrence wasn't odd; we four had been at the Agency the longest. Usually, we were asked for suggestions or advice before Jess and her team went to rescue a girl from a kidnapping. This time, Jess and Matthew (Jess's right-hand man and husband) were the only adults in the room.

"Has another been kidnapped?" my best friend Shay asked. Silence. That meant no.

"You're going on a mission," Jess stated matter-of-factly. "Just you four. And hopefully, after this mission, we won't have to save another girl again."

For twenty years, the world's most famous criminal group, the Band of Crime, had been kidnapping girls from all over the world for supposedly no reason. In the six years before I was one of the Band's victims, no girl had ever escaped. I was the first survivor.

Jess and her team made it their mission to rescue every future victim and bring them to her house. After a while, her house became overcrowded, so she built a mansion fit for all our needs. This is where all twenty-three — and counting — survivors live.

Located in the middle of a seemingly never-ending forest in France, our home contains twenty-three girls of all ages, Jess, who is our "mother," Matthew, and four Nannies who are part of the original and current rescue team.

We're trained to defend ourselves, escape from almost any situation, translate any language imaginable, crack codes, and still act like normal girls. Of course, we're also taught how to kidnap someone while making sure they can't escape, rescue anyone from a kidnapping, and create codes that are extremely difficult to crack.

A week ago, an agent intercepted a message about the Band's leader. He was leaving their fortress, traveling to an unknown location, and finding a new recruit. Their leader, Peter Cane, never leaves the fortress, so it was now or never.

Quickly, a mission plan was drafted, research was done, and now, three other girls and I were flying to a country halfway across the world to stop them once and for all.

- - -

"Oh my gosh, why did that flight seem, like, so much longer than all the others?'' The last member of our team flops onto the king-sized bed conquered by three — wait, now four teenage girls.