Chaos Reigns

Recruitment

~~~Recruitment~~~

I woke up that morning as if it were any other morning. Nothing unusual- I got out of bed, ate breakfast, got dressed and headed out to school.

I arrived at school, and nothing had changed. The dreary, bleak halls remained as monotonous as ever, as students aimlessly wandered from lockers to their classrooms. I sighed as I realized that today was a silver day (our school runs on a block schedule, meaning that there are eight classes, four on one day, four on another day), meaning I have all my difficult classes today. I trudged along to my first class, U.S. History.

I arrived at the History Department, only to find that the classroom was closed. The light was on inside, and my teacher, Mr. Pierce, was seated leisurely in his black leather chair near his desk. Across from him, standing over his desk was a woman dressed in a military-esque uniform. Naturally, being the inquisitive, meddlesome snoop I am, I cracked open the door a bit to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Pierce, you know that sooner or later, you will have to recruit that James Albany kid eventually. He's eighteen now; you know as well as I that eighteen is the legal age to enlist. Besides, he has been on our watchlist for years, and we need a innovative, youthful person to help. We can't do this alone."

What was she saying? What was I being "recruited" into? At that point, I incidentally let the door slam shut.

I realized what I had done too late however; I saw the woman's head snap in an obvious response to the clamor, and she began to walk to the door. I started to make a dash for the History Department doors, but the woman snatched me by the collar of my t-shirt before I could make my escape. She lugged me into the classroom, shut the door quietly, and locked it to prevent me from bolting out when she wasn't watching.

There was a deafening silence for about a minute or two, before Mr. Pierce finally broke the iron curtain.

"James, this is Rosslyn Sensasco, the current U.S. Director of Central Intellegence Agency. As you probably heard through your conspicous eavesdropping, she wants--"

"To tell you that we want you to help serve your country by joining the CIA. You will not be able to tell anyone, excluding your family. No one, unless you want your life to be in complete and utter danger every second you are on a mission, or even off in your regular life. We cannot afford an agent being lost at this point," she interrupted. "It is absolutely crucial to our country's welfare that we have you because of your abilities."

I didn't understand. What abilities? I couldn't even recall a day where I realized that I had some sort of gift. I couldn't fire a gun of any sort, and obviously, I couldn't spy very well, considering the botched attempt at eavesdropping earlier. All I had that they could possibly need is my intelligence.

"Mrs. Sensasco, I don't know about this. I can't do anything that you would be requiring me to--"

"Don't worry about that. Training will cover it all, and more, for that matter. My final question is: are you in, or are you out?"

I pondered the pros and cons of such an offer for a moment. I wouldn't have to stay at this school anymore- I would be training and on missions and such instead. However, I would be putting my life on the line. I finally came to a consensus with myself.

"I'm in."

***************************************************************************************

And so ended my school life. As if I was going to miss it; after all, a spy life is obviously far more intriguing than school.

I left the school in a flourish, and headed out to my Toyota Tundra. I shoved my key into the ignition, and started up the vehicle. It responded with a tremendous roar unlike that of any other truck. I began to head out for Langley, Virginia, location of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters.

Unfortunately for me, Langley wasn't a simple 20 minute drive. Virginia is a good day or more away from my homestate of Texas by automobile.

I was about two minutes into my drive when I received an anonymous phone call. "Hello?"

"It's Sensasco. Your order is to drive to the regional airport. There is a ticket waiting for you for your plane flight to Langley."

A plane flight? I thought that I was going to be on my own for getting to HQ.

"Director, I thought-" I could only mutter a few words before Sensasco could perform her signature practice of interruption.

"There's been a change of plans about your drive. You are currently being followed by a navy blue car of an unknown origin- we know that this is a stolen vehicle, and we have been monitoring it for months in order to obtain info on who the thief was. We haven't identified a suspect as of yet, but we can tell that they have been following you since you left school. You are in serious danger."

Another surprise. I turned onto a dirt road that I knew about, but generally was unknown. I observed as the car behind me whipped around the corner to join me on the road. Sensasco was not joking about this.

I quickly performed a turnaround, and accelerated to flee the follower. They started to accelerate as well, and followed me off of the dusty road. I sped onto the highway, only to find that the stalker pursued. I hurtled towards the airport, which was just in sight.

I turned into the parking lot and dashed into the airport. As I entered the mobs of people in the airport who were attempting catch their flights, I saw a man dressed in a black suit sprint through the doors of the airport. Luckily, he couldn't tell who he was searching for because he hadn't seen anything associated with me but my truck. I attempted to blend with the crowd, and headed for the ticket desk.

The clerk greeted me with her obviously forced grin. "How may I help you?"

"I have a ticket to Langley, Virginia waiting for me."

She looked at me with a knowing look. "Ah, Mr. Albany?"

"That's me."

The clerk handed me a ticket. "Here's your ticket. Have a nice flight."

I walked away from the desk, and ran literally into my pursuer.