Agent (Book 1)

Chapter 29-Lynn

Lynn Kramer

Agent: 53

Mission: Rescue Agent Hood and return him to ACA Headquarters

Date: September 4th, 2089

Time: 1220

Hood's out for good now. Really, it's a miracle he was staying awake this long anyway.

I barely manage to shove him into a seat and belt him in, when the flat pitches to one side, throwing me against the wall. Hard. All of the breath escapes me as I struggle past the whipping winds, caught in a daze as my hands find nothing but empty air. My heartbeat quickens as I search for something to grasp onto, but I go sliding back as the flat straightens, tumbling head over heels. I shriek once, sliding ever closer to the ramp's edge, but am pushed back into one of the seats by the agent at the opening.

The flat suddenly turns back the opposite way, flattening itself out so that I have to clutch my arm rests to keep from crashing into the other wall. The ground sways rapidly beneath my feet, and my ears pop once as we gain leverage.

I manage to ask why we aren't going back in for the others, before the flat jerks back. One of those large electric balls shoots out of the lower compartment, delving into the sea of red collected on the ground.

The agent on the ramp readjusts his grip on the handle and pushes himself against the wall. "We've got the Commander online, he wants us to try for some shots from above!" He shouts.

I rise to my feet for a moment, studying the space outside of the open door. The red of King robes is certainly the most apparent, but I can easily pick out the specks of black among them. Looking back, there are only five other agents (excluding Agent Hood) strapped into seats. The rest remain below. Kamal...Tori.

Ignoring the nervous turning in my stomach (and the yells of the agent at the ramp), I will my way over to the wall and run my hand along the side, leaning my weight into my palm as the flat continues to turn. I work my way to the back, opposite the rows of seats, to a door.

Cockpit

I push it open and stumble inside. There are two pilots, a man and woman, flipping switches and manning the controls. A series of complicated levers and wheels make up the dashboard, and a bulletproof glass window absorbs sunlight from all sides. The openness of the sky makes me feel as though I'm falling, and I lay a hand on the closed door to steady myself. The woman turns to me, and mutters something like "You're not supposed to be in here," when the flat dives to the side, throwing me against the glass. The man wrenches the handle-like object on the dash and we straighten out at once, gaining altitude. The woman runs her hands across buttons and levers, giving instructions I can't comprehend.

The flat recoils slightly, every time the burst of blue light is released. I steel myself and peer out the window. I cannot make out any single person down there now, although I can see several unmoving heaps. A lump forms in my throat.

The man operating the controls lays a hand to his ear and begins muttering frantically. I think I can hear the words of a man on the other end, but the blood roaring in my ears and the vibration of the floors is too loud for me to tell.

"Hold on," The man suddenly says, grappling for the handles once more. I back up into the corner of the wall, as we go into another dive, swooping below the clouds and towards the bakery walls. My stomach flips over as we go into a roll, when we pull up over the battlefield. The door I had entered from slams against the wall, and I can catch the frantic voices of agents being pulled into safety. I don't have the time to determine if Kamal is one of them.