The Echoes

II

 0-1 joined Mark in the small, cozy briefing room, where their handler Dr. Galanis was rifling through a folder of documents, his aged brow furrowed in concentration. Dr. Galanis made no indication that he had noticed 0-1 enter the room at all. 0-1 glanced at Mark inquisitively, but Mark just shrugged. 0-1 and Mark had both just been summoned to the usual room to receive a new assignment.

Around Mark's neck was a curious pendant, depicting a rat-like head with a raven beak and a pair of bull's horns. The pendant caught 0-1's attention almost immediately, since E-Ops never wore any form of decoration or jewelry.

"Where'd you get that?" 0-1 asked.

"Same place you got that pack of Skittles," Mark said sarcastically.

0-1 continued to stare at Mark in stony silence, and Mark shook his head, grinning. "Can't take a joke, can you? It's not every day I see the great 0-1 stop by a convenience store on the way to the exfil point just to buy a pack of candy."

"It was for Evie. She likes the purple ones."

"She does? I've never had Skittles before. I guess she tried a lot of things we haven't when she was a diplomat."

"Indeed. You still have not told me where you got that pendant."

Mark fingered the pendant thoughtfully. "The Director just gave it to me, as a gift."

"Aren't you worried it will get snagged on something?"

"Not really. It might even come in handy one day."

0-1 gave Mark a hard look. "It better not be anomalous. It's a strict breach of Agency policy-"

"Relax, O. The Director himself gave it to me. You really think he'd give me something dangerous or restricted?"

"I do not know. Just be careful."

Mark and 0-1 sat in awkward silence, staring at Dr. Galanis as he continued to study the files with extreme concentration. After an encounter with a powerful entity thinned out the Agency's ranks of E-Ops, the Agency re-distributed the original 4-man teams into smaller, more specialized teams of 2, as they had in the beginning when there were too few E-Ops to make teams any larger. During those times, 0-1 and Mark had been a 2-man team, with 0-1 in command, before Mark and 0-1 were each re-assigned to lead their own teams of 4. Now, they were once more serving together, with 0-1 in the lead. All team members were thus present and ready for briefing, but Dr. Galanis continued to ignore them and rifle through his files.

Mark cleared his throat slightly, but Dr. Galanis did not look up. So 0-1 interjected, "All team members present and reporting for duty."

Dr. Galanis finally acknowledged them with a wave of his hand. "All team members are present, but there is another who wishes to be present at this briefing."

As if on cue, the door opened, and in walked a tall, thin man in a black suit. 0-1 had never seen him before, but instantly knew that he was Daron Miles, the Director of the Agency. He was supposed to be in his mid-60s, but other than the prominent crow's feet he didn't look a day over 40, with his black slicked-back hair and smooth face. He did command respect, with a pair of dark, angled eyes peering over a prominent nose. He took a seat next to Mark, who was staring at him with wide eyes. The Director never came to mission briefings. It was simply outside of his scope.

Dr. Galanis finally set aside his files, taking off his reading glasses and straightening nervously.

"Are you certain the reports are correct?" Director Miles asked. He had a deep, soft voice, but it had a power to it that compelled listeners to hang on to every word.