Agent 11

Chapter Eleven: The Plan

Agent 11
The next morning I woke up by myself, to see everyone else discussing the plan as we ate 'breakfast'. There was joking and laughing, and a strange similarity to our first mission together. We had all gone on a team building exercise, and all of us out here sparked the memory. Michael was staring at me suspiciously, and I remembered that he was our earliest riser, even before Blake. Had he woken up to see Blake laying down next to me, and wondered why? I flashed a smile at him, but continued watching him from the corner of my eye. The fine display of food was the rations we had stored in our bags. Apples, a single bag of chips, and flat pancakes stuffed into a plastic bag. Blake's cooking knowledge had allowed him to create a half decent dish: Paper thin apple slices wrapped in a pancake. I had two, and quite liked them. After everyone had eaten, we started discussing plans for when we reached our destination. The Twin Cliffs was the break in the hills that slowly developed into mountain walls that we called the Ronon Hills that surrounded Allegiance. It was an unguarded entryway, to not spread our forces too thin. They also had a network of easily accessible passages through them. We decided we'd hide in there, and then take them by surprise. Hugs were exchanged, for good luck. "Alright everyone. Just be safe." A murmur of agreement sounded all around, and we packed up and set off.

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Later, the sun much higher in the sky, I spotted the Twin Cliffs. Turns out that hiking with heavy weapons and running off basically no food can drastically slow you down. We stopped, and waited in an ambush position in the caves. Soon enough, the sound of marching covered my quiet breathing. I turned to Lucy, only to find her hunched over a peephole. "Lucy! You're going to give away our position!" I whisper yelled. She turned, and rolled her eyes. "I'm just scouting out." She said with equal intensity, and I reluctantly admitted to myself that that was a good idea.

That old saying: 'If you can't beat them, join them,' flashed in my mind.

I reluctantly scooted over to Lucy's little window. I ignored a sassy smirk, and turned to the outside. Surprisingly, only about ten soldiers showed up. Confused, Michel poked his head out of his lookout window and tilted his head, our "secret language"for confusion. I nodded, to explain that the plan would continue. Blake let out a high-tuned whistle, dropping it a pitch lower. A split second later, we jumped on the trespassers, quite literally. I think Lucy purposely wore steel tipped boots just for that reason. However fun that was, I was buzzing with seriousness.

When you threaten my home, you become my enemy.

Yanking up an unarmed one, I glared and spoke in a deadly calm voice. "Why are you here? Did you really think you could defeat us?" Surprisingly, she laughed. "This was never the plan. Counterattack is smarter than that. Smarter than Allegiance to. No, we just needed to draw you away."

The last piece of a horrifying puzzle clicks into place. The small group, with no backup behind them. The stomping was too loud for this size of a team. I glanced around, spotting tiny weights attached to the bottom of their shoes. It was all to get us out here. The stomping scared the scouts into getting us. With shocking realization, I recognized her. She was in armor now, raven hair tucked under her helmet, but I knew it was the girl from the Terrain guard. The one girl who had actually been trained. She laughed at the fear in my eyes, barely overshadowing the hate I have for Counterattack. At that moment, I had no regrets about using the flat edge of my sword to knock her out cold again. I turned to the others, and for a second, they looked confused. Then they begin to realize what she said. Without a word, we turned and ran, praying it's not too late.