Checkmate ♛

CHAPTER ONE ♛

R A Y N E   P A R K E R 

Rayne opened his eyes, feeling numb. His eyes scanned the room, unfamiliar and confused as to where he was.

"Hello?"

He called out, standing up. A man suddenly appeared out of the darkness.

"Hello, Mr Parker. Glad to see you have woken up."

The sunglasses dude, as Rayne nicknamed him, said to him. Rayne just stared at the man, his mouth agape.

"First of all. Who the hell are you? Where am I, and how long have I been out?"

Sunglasses dude just laughed.

"Patience, Mr Parker. I know you have a million questions to ask, and I promise you they will be answered soon."

He took a deep breath, continuing.

"And if you must know, you are at the ISAA. The International Secret Agent Association. And I am Mr Harrison Thompson, the overall head of department for the ISAA. And you have been out for two hours now."

Rayne's eyes widened in shock.

"International Secret Agent Association? I am only 18! Why am I here? Why did you kidnap me? My friends and family are going to be really worried about me!"

Sunglasses dude, or Mr Thompson now, took off his sunglasses, his face having a look like he had this conversation millions of times.

"Like I said, Rayne. All your questions will be answered. You are here because we need your help. And we did not kidnap you. We'd like to call it, secret spy catching."

Secret spy catching? What does this man think I am, a fish? Rayne thought to himself. With his eyes rolling, he asked,

"Why do you need my help? And don't I need to go through some kind of training before I can become a secret agent or something?"

"Because, Mr Parker, we need you to help us catch a bad guy. This other secret agent group, the SAVL, also known as the Secret Agent Villains League, stole our microchip that contains all our valued informations. Including those of your personal life. And you already have the training you need to become a spy, Mr star quarterback and captain of the football team."

Rayne felt as if he was being hit with a book infinity times.

How did this ISAA even have my own personal information. Are they stalkers or something? He wanted to ask Mr Thompson that but he feared he had angered him enough with the bombarding of many questions.

"Why me?"

He asked the only question that needed and had to be answered if they wanted Rayne to understand everything and finally decide to help the ISAA.

Mr Thompson looked at Rayne. Rayne saw a hint of truth in his eyes.

"Because, Rayne Parker, you are extraordinary. Since you were born, you were secret agent material. Your parents would know, they were too secret agents, that's how they met each other and how they got married. It was in your bloodstream for you to also become one of us. In your father's last few words, I remember clearly that he said, make sure you carry on this Parker Legacy that was started by your great grandfather who was one of the first few secret agents in this associations."

Rayne's eyes watered. Mr Thompson knew his father and mother. That meant he might have known the cause of their deaths.

"How did my parents die? And when?"

Mr Thompson had a sympathetic look on his face. Wiping his eyes, he answered,

"Gunshots. When you were eight, your parents were called in for a very last mission they would ever have before they retired from this job. But they were both trying to protect each other from harm. It was a fight against two armed men and even though they won the fight, they lost their lives trying to keep each other safe from harm. I'm sorry, Rayne."

Rayne bit his lip. Blinking hard to stop the tears from rolling down, he said,

"All this time I thought my parents had abandoned me, that they had died because they killed each other to be together forever. That was what people told me. Did they...did they love me a lot?"

Mr Thompson nodded his head, giving Rayne a small smile.

"They loved you a lot, Rayne. More than the sun loved the moon, more than anything in this world. The two gunmen, they were going to go after you. They wanted your parents to pay for beating them. But because your parents loved you so much, they stopped the gunmen from ever causing harm to you and anyone else."

Rayne wiped his eyes dry, his breathing unsteady.

After a few minutes of silence between the two, he sighed.

"How do I help?"

"What?"

Mr Thompson looked at Rayne.

"My parents wanted me to carry on the Parker Legacy right? So I'm going to help you out. For my parents."

Rayne took a deep breath, his voice still hoarse from earlier.

"Where do we start?"