She Will Persist

16

Axel

"Damn y'all, I sure as hell missed this fly shit. Undercover, hijacking. Couldn't think of anything more bombass hell."

Quintin Barnes. LA. 21. Level 7. His parents were legal Iraqi immigrants, but they were deported when Quinn was just a baby. The orphanage he was left to changed his name to something more American, and he doesn't remember his real Iraqi name. I hadn't been on a mission with him yet but he deals cigs back at the agency and we've done some street courses together. He was chill. It was impossible to understand him when he was drunk with all his slang talk. He came to the agency when he was 16, a lot later than most agents, so he retained more of his urban west coast dialect than the rest of us. Quinn was also probably the least intimidating agent I knew. He wasn't as muscular as the rest of us, and he was always tripping over things, dropping things, forgetting things, rambling about things, and always had a goofy smile on his face. But he was a good agent, and hard to dislike with his awkward demeanor. Plus, his specialty was nuclear chemistry, which was the core science of what we were dealing with.

"I still do not understand what you are saying," Lucky sighed. It was hard enough even for the native English speakers to understand Quinn's fast talking and random slang sometimes, let alone Lucky, Lautaro, or Owen.

"Oh yeah shit sorry man. Uh, it's good to be back is all I'm saying."

"The boys are back in town!"

"Andrews, what did I say about talking?" Zach's tone was callous.

"Only to do it in absolutely necessary conditions," Harrison said quietly.

"And?"

"Subtle Patty, subtle. I'll shut up now."

"Don't call me Patty."

"Fine. Mission leader," the New Jerseyan dragged out slowly.

Ever since he got here Zach's entire presence had made everyone on edge. Mostly Owen, since Zach was purposely testing the German's directional skills. I have no idea why Flagg sent Zach when Owen was the best mission leader at the agency and he was already here. In a group this big already we didn't have room for two men so used to leading, and we didn't have time for them to find balance either.

Basilone was a terrorist. We knew he had at least three targets for the bombs he was making in Tunis: The Bellevue Hospital Center, a library for performing arts, and then a rescue center, all in New York City.

The Bellevue was unluckily the first target. All 11 of us were there right now. After Owen called Flagg again and told him what we had heard in the warehouse, he'd sent over Zach, Harrison and Quinn.

Once again we all had our jobs, motivated by a large sense of urgency and fear. Basilone said he wanted max damage. We didn't have time to figure out why the Italian was doing this, all we had to do was find the bomb, deactivate it before it blew up the building, preferably not getting blown up ourselves, and if we could get Basilone himself in the process that would be fantastic.

James had another drone out, this time piloting it from inside the hospital's main control room. All the security cameras and alarm systems were in there, so he could see everything on a larger display and not over the span of two laptops in a hotel like the last two times. The drone was x-raying the building from top to bottom, and could chart chemical frequencies and heat signatures through the walls. James' eyes had lit up when the new agents brought it over from Denver with them. The original eight of us hadn't brought it since Flagg didn't think we would need the extra technology. I don't think anyone could have predicted that a lose foreign alliance official turned terrorist bomber would be the mission debrief.