The Trio Squad

Prologue

LISA

"Don't touch that!" I screamed. Helen stopped her hands in midair above the fountain and looked at me. She returned her gaze to the shimmering white fumes emanating from the water. We watched it disappear bit by bit.

We were standing at Stephanie's garden just having spoken to Mr. James Taiburt through the White Call about the mission we were to do, when the connection was cut before the fumes disappeared. It was never meant to happen that way. The air around us resonated with tension and suspense.

"Here, guys! Let's try that again." Steph said coming towards us carrying a brown thread–like thing between her fingers. "You know what? I thought we'd get to know about our new mission before he vanished." She'd teleported inside the house while we were speaking to Mr. Taiburt and knew that something was off. And as predicted, the–not–meant–to–happen thing happened.

"Me too!" I mumbled watching Helen take the thread from Steph. It wasn't actually a thread, but a strip of metal which could connect us to anyone in the world if the procedures are carried out correctly. "And, Steph –"

"I have no idea why you came running slowly without just teleporting!" Helen voiced my train of thoughts.

"Oops! I think I forgot my ability?" Steph said, her eyes wide.

"And, Lisa? Why the hell did you yell at me for?" Helen asked me.

"I thought it was dangerous." I told defensively, keeping a straight face. "And that you'd also vanish if you touched the fumes before they vanished."

"You thought? As in, it's not dangerous, but it–might–be–dangerous–to–even–think–of dangerous? Huh?" she prompted.

"Uh – Umm. Yup! Maybe!" I said sounding not so sure of myself.

"Okay, guys. Cut it out! We have important missions waiting to be finished, so let's stop arguing about what is dangerous and what is not." Steph said matter–of–factly, taking The Thread back from Helen and walking to the fountain.

So much of irony! Understatement of the year!

At the moment, we, The Trio Squad had nothing to do! And a mission was what our Commando, Mr. Taiburt was about to give before he vanished. And that was supposed to be our own first official mission. Our bad!!

Steph reached the fountain and placed The Thread horizontally inside the water and whispered Mr. Taiburt's name clearly and softly, thrice. It sunk, emitting a hissing sound and some bubbles until at last it managed to hiccup the white fumes out. Mr. Taiburt's office came into view but he was nowhere to be seen. Steph came back to stand between Helen and me with her jaw hanging open and then I realized that ours too were open.

Here's the thing. The call should have taken us to Mr. Taiburt (or the person to whom you wanna talk to), but we ended up staring at his office. This too was not meant to happen. The silence among us was deafening and ear–piercing, one could easily cut it with a butter knife. The scene in the fountain was this:

Mr. Taiburt's office was not as how it usually would be, clean, tidy and not a speck of dirt to be seen. But, today, it was a ruckus. His brown arm–chair had been turned over. Papers were strewn everywhere. His oak table was a mess. Everything on it was everywhere, literally. The three high arched chairs he had for us were all pushed to one side of the room. The window behind the desk was broken. The White Caller he had on his table, (the only way to communicate with us without being tapped by the government), that being a white porcelain bowl, was broken into a million pieces and water was flowing on the floor.

We were in danger since we started the squad and began doing unofficial missions with James, aka Mr. Taiburt, although he was 46 years old. And, obviously he was in much more danger than we were. But, against all the security and wards around his office, and James being the paranormal man he is, he was not an easy target to be aimed at. And this was a great shock to us! Who on earth could have done this to him?

And as the reality sunk in, we realized that to find out our purpose, first we had to embark on a dangerous hunt to find Mr. Taiburt, our Protector and Commander, and the only person to be there for us since childhood...