Moon Angel

Chapter 17: The First Missions

Chapter 17: The First Missions

I sat on the roof of the building, binoculars in hand. The night air whipped around my body. It was refreshing. This was the first time we had been out since we had gone underground four months earlier. This was our first mission.

"Is everything in place?" Luke asked over the headset.

A chorus of yeses filtered through.

"Let it begin," he said.

I put the binoculars to my eyes, zooming in on a particular window of a tall apartment building across the road from where my building stood. Even though it was getting late, I could see clearly. That was why I was there.

This was an easy mission, a quick get-in-get-out. Mr Carter didn't want to put us into a situation we weren't ready for.

I recalled the debriefing in my head:

We were all called into the debriefing room after lunch. Mr Carter pulled up a picture of a man walking down the street, a cup of coffee in hand.

"This is Michael Taylor," he said. "Last week he got a hold of some Top Secret documents that could put a lot of innocent people at risk."

Miss Dunn walked to the front of the room to stand next to Mr Carter. "This is where you come in," she said. "We need you to extract the files from his computer's hard drive. This will mean entering his apartment undetected."

My attention was brought back to the present when something moved in front of my lens. The man who had been sitting in the chair in front of his desk had stood up and left the room.

"Taylor is on the move," I said through the headset. "The area is clear."

I kept my eyes on the room, waiting. My part of the mission was almost over.

Noriaki, Em and Jay had gotten themselves into the building and were on their way up to the twentieth floor, armed with a USB drive. Their job was to get into Taylor's office and plug the USB into his computer. From there, Ben and Michelle, who were back at Control, could access the computer and download all the files wirelessly. Luke and Skyla were sitting on the street nearby in the getaway van, in case something went wrong, although Mr Carter assured us it wouldn't. I was by myself. But then I worked the best that way.

"Roger that," Jay replied.

Two minutes later, Noriaki and Jay entered the room. Noriaki stood keeping watch by the door. Em wasn't with them but I knew she'd be in the corridor outside, just in case a distraction was called for.

"We're in." The words came crackling through the headset.

I watched as Jay moved across the room and sat at the computer, plugging in the USB.

Ben's voice came through the headset, "Starting download."

Time slowed as the seconds ticked by.

"20 percent... 40 percent..."

I hoped nothing would go wrong before it could finish. "50 percent..."

"Chameleon and Shadow... Taylor's coming back..." Em's voice warned. "Take cover somewhere, quickly."

"60 percent..."

Noriaki nervously glanced in Jay's direction as if to say 'This wasn't meant to happen'. They both moved quickly. Noriaki slipped behind a door and Jay ducked under the desk. "70 percent..."

Taylor came through the doorway. I could see Jay tense up. My eyes flicked to the USB drive, sticking out of the computer. I hoped Taylor wouldn't notice. He walked over to the desk and grabbed a notebook. He must have forgotten it. "80 percent..."