Friends and Foes

CHAPTER 1: Untimely call

A spy's work is never done, even when it is early in the morning, minutes before my alarm rang. 

I wish I could say that I've never been this annoyed in my life before, but that would be a lie. I'm still on my bed, my face pressed firmly against the pillow, my hands making a involuntary journey to the bedside table to stop the torturous sound. 

The spy comms need to be active at all times and that included sleep time, and that is infuriating. And when that spy comm is shaped to look like a watch, there is really no way you can get rid of it. 

The watch refused to quiet down, piercing its sound in the otherwise silent room. Its screen illuminated my face in the darkness and I read the caller's id. That was all it took for me to push past my exhaustion and sit up straight. The grogginess was still there, no doubt, but now, I was alert, my heart palpitating in time to my breathing. 

The chief. 

It wasn't usually like him to call people up and talk straight forward, and that included me. But now that he is calling me? I couldn't even start to imagine scenarios that could've led to this. 

Clearing my throat, I fixed the ear piece in and addressed him. 

"Agent 1016 reporting, sir." My voice cracked, betraying me of my sleepy state. 

"Agent Bloom," his voice came through and my heart skipped a beat. He was using my code name. This can't be good. 

"Meet me down at my office this instant," he continued and before I could reply, the call was cut. That means I definitely had to go to his office if I needed information. 

I stretched, feeling the exhaustion creeping back in. It is never easy despite how many times I've been in the same situation. Peeling a girl off her bed is just impossible. 

Swinging my legs off the bed, I hurried to the washroom to wash my face. The minute the cold water hit my face, any remnants of sleep vanished. 

Walking out, I found my shirt and jeans lying on the floor from the previous night. This'll do for now. Quickly pushing myself into the fabric and taming my hair to an extant, I locked my room and hurried down the corridor. 

My steady footsteps against the wooden floors echoed against the walls. Every door I crossed was closed shut, the occupant probably still sleeping. This is the recruits part of the building– mere trainees – so I am not very surprised by the stillness and the peaceful sleeps. The real chaos always starts after the initiation– when you are finally assigned a team to work with. 

My mindless walking finally brought me to my destination– the dead end wall. Beyond it was a world not a lot of agents knew about. 

I stood absolutely still, waiting for the hidden facial recognition system to recognize my face. And not to my disappointment, the access granted message popped up on the wall with my photo that I took during initiation. Fourteen. Just fourteen years when I took that photo. It's been two and a half years or so and I completely don't recognize her. 

The wall creeks open, and as a reflex, I looked around to make sure I had no company. Just as a fox, I slipped through the gap and the wall shut close behind me. 

I was welcome by blinding lights, a white room made to look like a lobby and a metal door straight opposite me with a green light glowing bright above it. My legs moved forward on its own accord and my eyes involuntarily scanned my surroundings. When it landed on the two twisting dark corridors on either corners of the wall, an un-namable emotion coursed through me. I remember how my heartbeat echoed the first time I had to walk through it. Now, after countless visits, it was nothing but another corridor.