A new job
We went to a luxury cafeteria. It was arranged with a long tables and cosy boots at the borders. The boots were organised in a way that private conversations could be guaranteed. We were heading towards one, which has a table filled with all sorts of food.
Before I reached the table, a woman nudged me to a boot aside of the meal. I was glancing hungrily at that table. Using my unfair advantages apparently costs a lot of energy.
“Sit down”, the woman said, “I would like to examine you. You got grazed by the arrow and took a few good hits.”
“Huh, your shirt is torn where the arrow passed and there is a little blood but there is no sign of a cut or a bruise. That’s odd… Can you lift your shirt, so I can examine your ribs? You got kicked there, didn’t you?”
I shyly looked around to make sure there was no one looking and lifted my shirt. “Were does this sense of modesty come from?” I pondered. “I’m really losing myself into Marie…” I sighed heavily, a tear forming in my eye.
“Are you alright, miss?” the woman asked while prodding my ribs. “Does it hurt? I can only see a slight discoloration, but everything feels healthy.”
“No no,” I replied, “No pain.” I shook my head but didn’t elaborate further.
She looked at me critically and nodded. Apparently satisfied with my answer. “I don’t really know how, but you are fine. No wounds, not even decent bruises. You don’t even have a bump on your head. If I hadn’t seen the fight, I’d never have guessed you just came out of one a few minutes ago. You are free to go. They are waiting for you at the table.”
At the word ‘table’ an image of delicious food entered my mind and my stomach let out a cute grumble. I looked perplexed.
The woman chuckled and threw a smile at me. “Go! You need food!”
“Ms Keenan, please don’t wait and enjoy your meal. You came here from the plane and hardly had any food. I can imagine you must be hungry.” Max said. He was sitting in front of me.
Mister Two was sitting aside of me, one chair away. I guess he didn’t feel comfortable sitting next to me. Max was flanked by Mister One and a wiry woman with a lot of grey in her hair. Her hair was put up in a neat bun. She had a small laptop aside her plate. Next to Mister Two was the bow man, Mister Three. He was smiling at me. I give him a curt nod back. He smirked in response and openly kept staring at me.
For the next 15 minutes my eyes were fixated on the food. I was ravenous. I zoned out everyone around me. They were talking to each other. Might even have asked me a question or two. I didn’t know. I didn’t care. I wasn’t interested. Nothing was coming between me and my meal.
I slowly became aware again of my company and glanced around covertly. I saw the grey woman looking wide-eyed at my plate. Mister One had a mildly shocked expression on his face. Max was broadly smiling in a way that had me worried. I felt he was going to use food against me in the future. He definitely took notice.
“Well, miss Keenan, now that you are back with us,” Max said with a slightly devious smile, “we can have a talk about the future. Like I asked you before, but I assume you weren’t paying attention, you have quite the appetite. Do you always eat like this?”
I blush a little and decide to nod and not use my voice since my nod is a more lie than truth. I try to limit the information I’m giving.
“I must say, I’m impressed by your fighting capabilities. You are most clearly stronger and faster than average people. Which was something I expected. Seeing it up and close, was still a pleasant experience.”
“We would like to train you and have your natural skills help us in the protection of our country. The reason our citizens have relative peaceful lives is mostly because we eliminate threats before they escalate. We succeed more often than not, and we don’t boast about our experiences and achievements. We try not to harm or kill and search for peaceful solutions. We work from the shadows and often let the things in the hands of the official law enforcement. We tip them off, we motivate people to turn themselves in, we stage situations where people end up in jail ...”
“You are most useful for us. You have an innocent, almost angelic appearance and at the same time impossible strength and speed. Also, you can lie. If we wouldn’t have had our special methods, some of the lies you already told would have gone undetected. We will have a chat about those lies in private later this day.”
“Now for our proposal. We offer you a training period of 4 months on which you are here at our training centre 3 days in a row, 2 days off, and then 3 days training, 2 days off, and so on. We will pay you £ 2500 net a month. Once you start participating in projects and missions, you get a daily bonus that can easily triple your income.”
I had difficulties keeping a straight face. I was working a helpdesk, doing calls most of the time. I had about £ 1600. It was very hard to keep my family afloat on that budget. We ate well every day but didn’t have a penny left for luxuries. This salary could turn this around.
“Of course, you’ll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. One that is a little stricter and has severe consequences if you break it. But I think, you’ll find this reasonable given the type of information and the type of tasks you will be doing for us.”
“Also, we won’t keep you from seeing your friends. BUT, you will need to give us a list and they have to be screened on beforehand. This is for your our and your own safety. We know there are already people going after you and this will likely not change. You will be given a protocol to call upon in case of danger. This, together with a thorough training, will increase your safety enormously. In the first two months, we will have two agents following you around from a distance, ready to intervene at any sign of trouble. They will do their best to not infringe on your privacy.”
“You will receive a company car which, of course, will be tracked and monitored for your safety. In the first two months we will learn your living pattern: shopping, friends, etc... After those months, if you want to go somewhere that is outside your routine, you need to check this in on beforehand. The alarms our teams get if you deviate or something unexpected happens, is controlled by our AI watchdog. This is highly impersonal, but you’ll have to sign an agreement to this. A mandatory agreement. We do follow employee privacy rules after all. The data assembled and analysed by our AI will not be read by human personnel unless an emergency occurs.”
“This will be the same for the cell phone and smart watch you’ll receive.”
“What? On top of that salary, I get a car, cell phone and smart watch? Oh my god! This will make my life more fun and lessen my costs even more. Imagine not having to pay for my car and gasoline again,” I thought.
“Do you have questions?” Max asked me.
I pondered this a little. “Will my tasks be life threatening after the training?” I asked.
“I won’t deny that your tasks will contain a certain level of danger but do our utmost best to never lose an agent. We are quite successful at keeping our people safe.”
“Is the gasoline included for the car? And can I use it for private means?” I just wanted to make sure I heard this right.
“Yes. The car is part of our safety package and is free of cost for you. As is the cell phone and smart watch, the device and the subscription are paid by us,” Max answered, anticipating my next question. He had a smug look in his eyes. I had the feeling he knew he won me over.
“Now, for you contract, I will you in the hands of Mrs Mart and after signing it, we will have a talk about the lies you told us, and I will give you a first briefing on the people that are threatening your safety.” Max said. “Now let’s get into it.” He stands up from the table and we all follow suit.
I follow Mrs Mart in the company of Mr One and Two who are functioning as my guards apparently. Mr One walks up to me and asks: “How did you evade us? It was like trying to grab an eel when we tried to stop you. You were quick, but not that quick. It’s just your moves were so amateurish and yet so perfectly timed we had no chance. Is that a secret fighting style I don’t know of?”
“I think I just got lucky,” I told him.
He humped in response, clearly not believing me. I don’t think it would be a good idea to tell him that the whole fight happened in slow motion for me. I just put an innocent smile on. He thew me a dirty look and fell back to his colleague.
“What did she say?” I heard him whisper.
“She said it was luck. I would have given her the benefit of the doubt, if I didn’t saw her dodge the arrows and beat the crap out of Sophie,” I heard Mr One whispering in response.
“Yeah, something is seriously off with her. We better don’t let our guard down. I’m not convinced that she’s safe to be around," Mr Two remarked.
"I don’t know about that, I don’t trust her, but, all-in all, she seems like a sweet girl. Did you notice how she reacted to violence? She was completely stressed out by having knocked Sofie down.” Mr One concluded. “I think time will tell.”
I realized I shouldn’t have been able to hear the conversation. But it seemed that my senses have improved also. Power, speed, lightning and now hearing. Oh, and vision! I’ve never seen sharper and clearer in my life. It was as-if I was a super soldier. But the lightning didn’t fit. Super soldiers are all about speed, strength, reflexes and super senses. I had the feeling the physical effects were just side-effects and not the main course. Sometimes I forget about it, but when I concentrate, I can clearly feel the ball of energy next to my heart pulsing.
The contract signing was done in about an hour. There was no need to give identity details since I didn’t have any as Marie. Mrs Mart took a picture of me, my fingerprints, and an iris-scan. The legal documents were mostly gibberish, but she was so nice to point out the important parts. Not that I trusted her. If there was text in it that was bad for me, I doubt I would have found it or that she would have drawn my attention to it. I already decided that I would follow the rules as good as possible, but only when they were reasonable. The avalanche of papers gave me serious training in my “Marie Keenan” signature.
Admirers
“Well, Miss Keenan, you have quite interesting admirers. Luckily you are collateral. Enough discouragement will probably shift your importance down and push your file into an obscure cabinet in a dusty basement.” Max said.
I was sitting comfortable in the big sofa with a nice cup of tea in front of me.
“As first on the list, we have The Firm. They don’t do overbilling and mailbox fraud. They are hardcore international espionage and sabotage. Whatever makes most money. They are currently the top providers of stolen technology to both the US and China. They are wanted and protected by both countries at the same time.”
I might have paled a little at the explanation. Those are the kind of guys that can complete erase someone of existence...
“Their interest with you is bound to Professor Henry Marshal and his lab. They have infiltrated the lab and have kidnapped the professor to extract his research results. This has put John Cawry on their list of wanted persons and Julian Murray who has just a little bit too many coincidental links with the former.”
I wanted to vomit. I took slow breaths to keep my expression as unreadable as possible.
“While investigating Julian Murray, they also investigated everyone who has ties with him and you have unclear, yet undeniable ties with him.” Max looked questioning at me.
I couldn’t give him the half-brother excuse since that was a total lie. I responded with the incomplete truth. “I replaced him at the team-building event when he disappeared after his arrival in France.”
Max was silently inviting me to continue.
“So Julian is in grave danger by The Firm and I’m in danger because I replaced him?” I asked Max, trying to lead him away from the silent question.
Max smirked, clearly understanding what I was doing, but he obliged me. “Yes. But the danger you are in is not very high because of this. It is substantially higher due to a man known as Captain Green.”
“Sam!” I exclaimed before I could sew my flapping mouth shut.
“The only stable name we have of him is Captain Green. He is part of a covert group financed by the US government. All their operatives are named by colours. The group has no known name, so we duped them ‘The Rainbow’. They are extremely well funded, and their members are ghosts. People with special skills who have ‘disappeared’. We have never succeeded in infiltrating them.” Max had an admiring tone in his voice when informing about them.
“We are not sure why ‘The Rainbow’ is interested in you. All our reports point again towards your link with Julian Murray.” Max said. “It seems they are more interested in Julian Murray than in John Cawry and they didn’t bother going after Professor Marshal. They did go after people connected with the professor. This suggests they have a spy inside ‘The Firm’ feeding them everything on Henry Marshal.”
“’The Firm’ has extra interest in you because you appearantly formed a bond with Captain Green. This is the first time Captain Green has allowed someone get close to him. You must have peaked more than his professional interest which is unprecedented.”
“We are certain that you moved up on both the target lists of ‘The Rainbow’ and ‘The Firm’ with your inexplicable escape from your kidnapping in Paris.”
I stayed silent.
“Yes, I read the police reports and your statement, Miss Keenan. But that doesn’t mean I have to believe them.” Max coldly stated. “Your assessment a few moments ago is proof enough that you hid your capabilities from them.”
I looked back with a fragment of worry in my eyes.
“Now, those two groups are troublesome enough, but we have found traces of a third and fourth group circling around you.”
“The third group is a group that is know as ‘The Hunters’. We have proof of their existence but have no idea of their goals. We only know that they sometimes leave bodies behind and if we capture one of them, they commit suicide or end up death within two hours. After your escape, a team of them are picked up by some surveillance cameras. We don’t know who they track exactly but they are circling around you. We know this because they followed your group towards the airfield and have been spotted here too.”
“The fourth group is a group we only have circumstantial evidence from. No known members but they seem to follow The Hunters and share their targets. We don’t know if they are more, or less dangerous. But a group that can so thoroughly avoid detection is worrisome. We know of their presence by glitches in camera footage and memory loss of people in the area. It is long believed they are a hoax but there just are too many occurrences of those events in concentrated areas.”
If I would have posed against a freshly painted white wall, I would have been perfectly camouflaged. If I was scared at the start, I was now terrified beyond rational emotions.
“You can’t possibly protect me from those!” I whimpered. I had tears in my eyes and my lower lip was trembling.
“No, we can’t offer you 100% protection, Ms Keenan.” Max stated.
“But we can guarantee you that you won’t survive out there if you don’t have anyone backing you up.” Max continued after a dramatical pause. “As stated in the contract you signed, we offer you our assistance and help and ask in return that you help us with our tasks using your unique physique.”
I was suddenly relieved I took them up on the offer. Helping on missions now seemed a small price to pay. And it showed hope. They were confident that they could keep me alive through a four-month training. They believed they could me keep alive to even profit from their investment. I hope...
“You are a unique creature, Ms Keenan. Now that I explained the danger you are in, you must answer some questions of us. I hope you will answer them truthfully. We will know it if you don’t.” Max said while installing his tablet in front of him.
I inhaled sharply. I needed to wash some panic out of my system. I needed to concentrate so I can answer without lying.
“Who are you?” Max asked suddenly.
“I gave myself the name Marie Keenan since I didn’t have a name that matched me.” I answered.
Max looked up in surprise. “You told the truth. Although your statement elicits more questions than answers.”
“Where do you live?” Max asked, repeating his question from half a day ago.
“That should be an easy question, but it is not. I think I don’t have a place I currently can call home.”
Max was looking intently at his screen and clearly thinking very hard.
“Did you have a name before you named yourself Marie Keenan?”
“Yes.”
“What was that name?”
“I don’t want to mention that name.”
“Did you have a home in the UK in the past?”
“Yes.”
“What name was it and where did you live?”
I sighed. “I’m sorry but, if possible, I would like not to answer that question. If I do have to answer I’m most certainly going to make something up.” I was just in time to shut myself up from explaining further. I would have worked myself into problems if I said more.
“What is your link with Julian Murray?”
I saw this one coming. I was already thinking about an answer to this question for days. “I have a very good connection with his kids. I would do anything for them. I also know Lisa, his wife, very well.”
“I didn’t expect that answer.” Max said. “Do you know where Mr Murray is at the moment?”
“I know he won’t resurface anytime soon.” I answered.
“You didn’t answer the question but gave me another truth.” Max said. “Now for the last question before I let you go: What are you?”
“I thought I was a human until I heard about my DNA. Now, I don’t know anymore.” I answered with a lot of doubt on my face.
“Do you have inhuman skills or abilities?” Max asked after pondering a while.
I nodded with big eyes, pale and scared of the consequences of this confession.
“Ok, we stop this conversation now. I will ask you... no... prohibit you from answering that last question to anyone. I will ask your file to be secured by the highest possible clearance before we continue. I want to limit the people who know about you to be limited to at max 3 persons. I will erase this last question from the records of this conversation.” Max gravely announced.
Things are spicing up again!