Agent Ez

Chapter 4 - Good things come to those who wait

I slowly turn to face Max, dreading what news he’s come to share with me. By the look of the small smile on his face  it probably means good news for him and bad news for me.

With a heavy sigh I follow him back towards his office, which is better than the alternative of going outside. Having to facing death glares from Courtney and Caspian’s weirdness.

Once he’s behind his desk he begins, ‘Well, I’ve talked to all the other members of staff and board director and they’ve all agreed that a change of scenery is exactly what you need. You’ll be glad to hear that you’ve been chosen to go on the mission. It’s only for a week or two and you know it’s nothing hard core, simple surveillance.  But it does give you a break as well as a chance to prove yourself. You need to show that you can go back to missions again without these nightmares disturbing your performance. Prove yourself to me and to everyone else. We all know what you’re capable off, you just need to remind us.’

I can hardly believe my ears, I think I’m dreaming. This is amazing news. I get to go on a mission. It may have only been a six month suspension but that seems like a long time when you’ve been locked up in one place for so long. Usually the head of school and board of directors [same person] never gets involved in who goes on what mission, of course they  know about it but they don’t make the actual decision.

‘Of course, that is only if you choose to accept the mission. Now, here are the details: You will be moving into the sleepy villlage of Dinting with a girl named Molly Pasquali, who lives on her own and recently put an advert in the paper for a tenant. Your background is as follows; your parents are moving you into the house so that you may focus on your education. Willowbough High is an exceptionally good school, which is where you will be enrolled.

‘As to why you’re investigating her, well it’s not so much her as it is her father. Ralph Pasquali and his two sons Drake and Kyle Pasquali live a few streets away in an Estate. We don’t know the reason why father and daughter live separately and neither are we complaining about it. It will be  much easier to infiltrate them this way . Divide and conquer Esmie. A mission was conducted last year into the investigation of a corrupted Tourist Official who was smuggling women and children for the sex trade, it was on this mission that it was discovered that the same Official was also smuggling animal furs. The genuine kind.

‘By chance, our operative stumbled upon a disused warehouse where the following footage was taken.’  He clicks a few buttons on his remote bringing the projector to life and slowly a grainy film transpires onto the blank wall behind him. ‘He wore a small camera on  the pocket of his shirt, disguised as a button.’ Max informs me.

As the picture focuses, I look at the fuzzy surroundings slowly turning into perfect clarity. Its dark as the agent enters the warehouse, but slowly as he moves towards what seems like the main room, a faint light appears. There’s an outline of something, and it’s in every direction the camera moves, huge tall towers. But of what?

As he moves closer, the towers resemble some shape are those bars? Bars on towers, inside a warehouse? That doesn’t make sense.

He walks deeper into the warehouse and as he’s about to enter into the main room I  get a glimpse of what those towers are. Cages.

Cages stacked on cages stacked on more cages.  And trapped inside? Animals. It’s difficult to tell exactly which one but something tells me there’s more than one type. He walks through the light now, into the main room  where everything is perfectly clear.  Inside this room are more cages filled with various animals of furry descent. Lions, tigers, cheetahs. Whoever owns this warehouse did not stop at cats there are Rhinos, Koalas and in a water tank a Crocodile. The agent edges closer to something now, it seems important as he’s more hesitant. After a few turns through the towers of cages, I see it.