Unforgettable

[4] the bullseye

Paula leads us out of the musty room and through a hidden corridor. With a swipe of her keycard, we enter a much more technologically advanced room. High ceilings and white polished floors frame the room. TV monitors lined one side of the walls, but they are all turned off. A large, white central desk is in the middle of the room, and surrounded by cushioned seats, which Paula invited us to sit on while she explained the situation further.

"Here's the thing, kids. Your fathers are two of the greatest drug lords here in Alabama, and for years we have -"

"Our fathers are what now?" I can't help but interrupt. None of this made any sense. How could my father, Chief of the ranch, possibly be a drug lord?

"Drug lords. They have been masters of the drug trade here and for years -"

"No, I think you got the wrong guys, Paula. My father is one of the kindest and most down to earth people I know. He can't be a... a drug lord!" I wave my arms around in exasperation and turn to look at Dylan. He has both his eyebrows raised, and he is clearly not as shocked as I am, if at all. When he catches me looking at him in alarm, he sucks in a breath.

"I already knew my father was doing illegal things. Now I know what kind." His eyes are downcast as he finished his sentence.

Silence hangs in the air for a bit as we digest this new and life-altering piece of information. Then Paula continues.

"For years we have been searching the ranch in secret, disguising ourselves as buyers of the ranch, families here for vacation, lost tourists, you name it. But of course the Chief had none of it. He was secretive as always, bringing us only to certain places we knew wasn't the base of the operation."

"How do you know the operation is here?" I press. It was hard to face the fact that the ranch, my childhood home, was actually the base of a drug operation. This whole thing felt like a really bad dream.

"Intel." Paula simply replies, to which I can only nod slowly.

"Now that we have you two, it will be much easier to find the location because no way would the Chief suspect his own precious daughter to be after him and his business. The plan is for us to pose as buyers, then you both will locate the base of the operation, infiltrate the dealers, and catch your fathers in the act. Got it?" Paula claps her hands together and tossed us each a bag of equipment.

"Spy stuff." She said. "Recording pens, lasers, guns, the likes. Go crazy." Dylan peeks into the bag, but I don't.

"Now, do you know how to use a gun?" I swallow nervously and shake my head. I raise my eyebrow when Dylan doesn't respond.

"I'm not very good, but yeah." He says, and I couldn't help but think about how little we know about each other and our past. How little we know about anyone really, our own fathers included.

"Then it's time for some training. Follow me." Paula walks us out of the meeting room and down a few other well-lit corridors before we reach a shooting range. We put on earmuffs and Paula begins talking loudly so we can hear.

"Crash course: You basically hold it up with your dominant hand, you can use the other hand to steady it if you want, and then you aim aaaand - " I jumped involuntarily at the loud bang that echoes throughout the range as the bullet hit the target about 15 meters away. Bullseye. "Now you try," Paula gestured for us to take our guns out of our bags.

I pull my gun gingerly out of the bag. Looking around for the safety lock, I find none. I suppose spies couldn't afford the time to turn off the safety before they shoot someone down. I take a deep breath and lifted up the gun. Closing one eye, I aim at the target.

I'm startled by the sound of a gunshot once again, before I realised I wasn't even the one who took a shot. Glancing over at Dylan, I see that he shot on the outermost ring of the target, inches away from missing it completely. I stifle a gigfle and turn back to focus on my own target. After I readjust my gun, I squeeze the trigger gently.

This time, the sound doesn't surprise me, but the results on the target board do. Bullseye. I smiled in satisfaction and see Dylan's open jaw from the corner of my eye. Paula removes her earmuffs and takes a step towards us.

"Nice job, Alexis. Listen, we recruited you two not only because of your proximity to our targets, but also because you both have talents we recognise here at the SSA."

This time, I knew what she was talking about. Ever since I was little, I had a perfect aim. I won all the stuffed animals at the dart booths in carnivals and sold them to my classmates for extra cash. As I grew older I didn't really know what to do with my special skill besides the occasional flawless toss into the garbage can, but now that I was in the SSA, I knew exactly how I could put it to use. I was glad my skill hadn't disappeared over time.

"Remember, the most important part of this mission is to remain as clueless about it as you possibly can - at least in front of the Chief." Paula handed us each a teleportation watch. "Use this to come back here anytime to practise your skills or report to us on the progress of your mission. Don't screw this up." With that, we're reduced to tiny particles and blasted back to the stables.

I stand still, back in front of the stable doors, my hands slightly trembling. I would like to believe that everything that had just happened was imaginary, but the black bag in my hands and the sleek blue watch around my wrist strapped next to my regular one proves otherwise. That, and Dylan's matching shaken expression next to me.

"Okay, so. Back to being horse-riding instructors. I remove the teleportation watch and stuff it in my black bag, and Dylan mirrors my actions. Then, we take a deep breath and head out of the stables.

Only to go back in a few seconds later.

"We forgot to feed the horses." I remind Dylan, and we lets out a soft chuckle as we pull out hay from the haystack where it all began.

slightly shorter chapter, i know, but this is mostly a filler. more juicy bits coming soon, thanks for the support and for being patient :-)