text: I’ve been an agent for around 6 years now and no two day is the same. Last month I was escorting a high-profile ambassador from the airport to a World Peace conference, ensuring he wouldn’t get assassinated. This month I’ve been given a slightly different task. My agency, CKRUT Agency, had appointed myself and my partner, Agent Walker, to infiltrate a gun-smuggling operation. The plan was that I’d pretend to work for them, to get to know their structure and all that, and that Agent Walker would remain unknown and monitor their activities from the ‘outside’. Like, usually, he’d literally BE outside in a nearby van, gathering intelligence from a wire I’d be wearing, or taking photographs and so on. It’s always been like that. I’d dive in, head first, wanting to be close and play a part in the action, infiltrating and acting undercover. That was the whole appeal of being an agent for me. Agent Walker is the complete opposite. He prefers to work behind the scenes, to compile and organise the evidence. I don’t think he likes to be in dangerous situations, which is pretty odd for an agent. I always joke that he should change career, that he’s not cut-out for this. He’s a great agent. He’s good at keeping me on task, at following the procedures and thinking logically. He always says to me; “Manny, you need to use your head. You can’t wing it, you always need a plan.” So, anyway, I’ve been working with these gun guys for about a month now, getting to know them, gaining their trust, and Adam has been outside recording the information. It’d all been going smoothly too, up until now. “Patrick, it’s great that you're here. We have something you should see.” That’s my secret name, Patrick. The guy who’s just welcomed me is Gerard, the main man in charge of the illegal activities I’ve been monitoring. He phoned me like 20 minutes ago, saying that he has something he wants to show me. He wouldn’t say what. I was hesitant. Every time I get a phone call and an order to show up somewhere with no explanation, I panic. I always think they’ve discovered my identity. This time is no different. Right now, I’m shit scared. “Of course I’d be here. Yeah, what is it?” I said, trying my best to sound confident. He turned on his heel and walked toward the back of the marvellous mansion. I followed him nervously around the front of the building and to the side, where there was a long, stone corridor with windows showing views of the lustrous grounds of the property. I purposefully kept a few steps behind him, hesitant of what was going to happen. He steered to the right and so I did the same. We went down some steps and through a small archway. I knew where we were going. There was a small basement located under the house that wasn’t actually accessible from the house. You had to go through the corridor. I hope that Adam gets some good info on this, whatever it’ll be. Somewhere along our walk, one of Gerard’s henchmen had joined us. Shit. We got to the basement door and before going in, Gerard turned to me. “Look, kid. I know you haven’t been with us long, but I feel like I can trust you. Now, you can’t say anything about this, OK? Not until I’ve dealt with it anyway. You haven’t been with us that long, but I know who you used to run with, so I’m sure you’ve experienced situations similar to what you’re going to see now. But, just...stay chill.” Stay chill? This guy is 50+, and he’s saying stuff like ‘stay chill’? “Yeah, sure. You can trust me. I won’t breathe a word.” I stated. Adam, you better be ready, man. This is going to be biiiig . Gerard opened the wooden door and we walked into the basement. It’s a smallish room and is different to most typical basements, in the way that it’s extremely well lit. Honestly, it feels more like a lair than a basement, or a dungeon. It’s quite creepy, which is weird because it’s so bright. The room kind of bends to the left a little, so you can’t see the contents of the room immediately, you have to go further into the room. I walked alongside Gerard before bumping into a wooden cabinet that stood in the middle of the room. What I saw before me had startled me so much that I’d forgotten to stop walking. The sudden movement of the cabinet caused a metal vase to skid off the cabinet. It landed on the floor with a heavy thud. Luckily, it didn’t break. I told myself to bend down and pick up the vase, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of what was before me. Gerard crossed in front of me and picked up the metal vase, placing it back on the cabinet. “You OK there, Pat? I told you it could be a little bit of a shock. Come, let’s sit.” He put his hand behind my back and guided me to a small sofa that stood directly behind the metal cabinet, so that when we sat we were facing the wall. Well, not just the wall. We were also facing a bloodied, beaten man, duct-taped to a ‘spinning’ office chair. The body was badly injured and blood dripped down onto the floor, but that’s not what had shocked me. Bruises had formed on his arms and face, but I wasn’t particularly phased by those either. Even the purple, swollen eye that couldn’t even open wasn’t that startling. It was the person that all those injuries had been inflicted upon, which had stunned me. Adam. Shitting hell. I gulped loudly which broke the silence and brought Gerard’s attention to me. He put his arm across my shoulders and leaned back into the couch. “Pat, meet Adam Walker.” He spat. I was frozen. How in the hell... “We found him outside my house there. Andre, you know Andre, my head of security, well he said that there’d been a white van parked on the street opposite the house for the past week. He sent a few guys there to check it out, and guess what. This little rat was in there, recording us! He had all the set up; microphones, headphones, cameras, everything. We don’t know wht, we don’t know what stuff he found out, but we do know that he’s working for an agency.” He explained. “Damn...” Is all I could muster. “Jamie, show Pat the ID.” Gerard snapped his fingers. The guy that stood behind me handed me a black, leather wallet with a small ID card in it. I analysed the card. Adam Walker, Special Agent. Property of CKRUT Agency. A picture of him and everything. Goddamn, Adam. I could feel Gerard’s eyes on me as I read the ID card. I shook my head and spat on the ground. “Goddamn agencies,” I hissed, “they gotta get into everything, don’t they? Annoying rats.” I tossed the wallet back to the henchman. Facing Gerard, I asked. “So, what now? What’s your plan with him?” I asked, trying to not seem interested. I didn’t want him thinking that I was soft or that I knew Adam, for mine and Adam’s sake. Gerard let out a long, deep sigh. “I just don’t know, Patrick. Don’t know at all.” “Well, if he was part of some operation, his little agency probably knows that he’s surveying this place. If he doesn’t report back to them soon, I’m guessing they’re probably gonna send a lil’ search party out to find him. We can’t keep him here. They’ll know that he was around here so this is probably the first place they’d come. I mean, it’s probably a government agency, don’t you think? I reckon it’d be best if we let him go, for our sake, otherwise we’ll get a lot of heat from this shitty agency...Probably.” I finished uncertainly. The men glared at me, their eyes squinted and their arms crossed. Have I said too much? Have I been too precise? Shit. Gerard broke the silence by standing up and striding toward Adam. “He’s right. We can’t kill him and we definitely can’t keep him here, otherwise we’ll have the whole government up our ass. Good call, Pat.” He praised me. Thank God. “However, we need to send a message-” Uh, what? “We need to let them know that we know. We ain’t gonna tolerate this shit. We need to make an example of what happens to rats who try and spy on us.” He growled, pulling Adam’s head back by his dark hair. On instinct, I shot up, as if to object, but quickly stopped when I saw the puzzled faces turn toward me. Adam gave me a look, as if to tell me to stay calm. He knew as well as I did what would happen if they found out we knew each other. “Uhh, how about if...i-if we interrogate him first? Y’know, get all the info out of him. Maybe we can convince him to, like, terminate their operation?” I suggested. Gerard let go of Adam’s hair, causing his head to fall harshly downwards, and walked toward me. He got right up into my face, analysing my expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his hand reach behind his back. I’d been with him long enough to know that he kept a small handgun in the band of his trousers. “Do you know this piece of shit, Pat? I mean, you sure seem very interested in not hurting or killing the guy. You acquaintances or something?” He quizzed intently. I couldn’t stop myself from stammering. “Wha...What? G-God, no! I ain’t ever met this asshole! I ain’t ever seen him before in my life!” Marching back over to Adam, he gripped his chin and squeezed his face, pointing it to my direction. Addressing Adam, he asked him frantically. “What about you, huh? You know this guy? You seen this guy before? Maybe you’re working with him or something?” Adam shook his head slowly. I stepped forward. “What is this, Gerard? Are you losing it? What do you mean ‘do we work together’? You’re talking crazy!” I scoffed, trying to take another step forward, but my feet stopped when Gerard pointed the handgun directly at my face. I put my hands up on instinct. “No, no. You know what? This does seem a little weird, don’t it? I mean, you have to admit it. You joined us, like, what - a month ago? Out of nowhere! And then now, for a whole week, this pig has been recording us? I mean, how would he even be able to do that? He’d have to have some insider to plant the mics and cameras and shit, right? And you, Patrick, just now, you seem to know an awful lot of ‘technical agency spy’ bullshit words. You working with him? Is it you who’s been setting up cameras, mics, recording us? Huh?” He pointed furiously with his gun. The henchman, ‘Jamie’, stepped up. “Yeah, you got a wire under there, ‘Patrick’?” He asked, a hand hovering over his gun. I gave a nervous laugh and stared at Gerard. “You’re paranoid, man! You’re crazy!” I tried to seem convincing. I could see the panic in Adam’s eyes now. “Go on then, show me you ain’t wearing no wire. Search him, Jamie.” Jamie walked up to me. I was in fight or flight mode, although I wasn’t really in a situation where I was able to do either. He was steps away and I had no plan. Damn. I looked over to Adam. Jamie extended his arms to search me and I took a chance. I grabbed the metal vase off the cabinet and brought it down on his head, causing Jamie to stumble back, stunned. I made a grab for his gun. I gripped it tight and aimed it at Jamie’s chest. I pulled the trigger and the deafening sound was accompanied with the wet splatter of blood landing on my face. His body slumped to the floor and I turned the gun onto Gerard. “Drop the gun, Gerard.” I ordered, though with no sense of superiority. My voice wavered like crazy and I felt my eyes tear up. “What the shit, Patrick!” He raged. “My name’s not Patrick,” I stated, taking a step forward, “I’m Agent Manny Richards and you are under arrest for gun-smuggling, assault and tax-fraud, among other things.” I stated. His eyes filled with rage and his face turned a bright red. I was surprised that he didn’t start foaming at the mouth or that steam didn’t blow out of his ears and nostrils. He looked piiiissed. “So you do know this piece of shit? You RAT! You lying RAAAAAT!” He shouted, the gun shaking in his hand. I glanced at Adam who gave me a small nod. “I never said I know him, I'm just an agent too. Gerard Goodman, drop the gun. If you don’t I will shoot.” I repeated. I knew he wasn’t going to, so that’s when I nodded faintly back at Adam. Finding some strength, Adam drove his head into Gerard’s stomach, causing him to double over and drop his gun. I aimed, breathed steadily, and took the shot. Gerard fell to his knees and fell forward, a pool of blood flowing around his head. My hands shook violently as I lowered my gun and tucked it into my trousers. I hurried over to Adam. I knew there’d be more henchmen on their way. We had to leave, now. I started to untie Adam quickly, a relieved smile on his face. “Goddammit, I was scared.” He murmured, as I untied the last of the ropes and cut the tape. “Thanks, man. I owe you.” “Damn, how did you even let them get you? You dumb asshole.” “I don’t even know.” He said defeatedly, lifting a hand to his swollen eye. I lifted him to his feet and walked him toward the door. I glanced at him sideways, and with a smirk I said. “See, you don’t always need a plan. They hardly ever work.”