The Portal Effect

Chapter 4

Back at the agency

"Cody, we haven't heard from them in a few hours." Karen felt worry slowly building up the more she said the sentence.

"Karen, you wanted them to go. Did you want them to check in every hour? If so, you should have told them." Cody said after the umpteenth time Karen spoke. "Besides, they were trained to call when necessary to avoid detection and limit possibility of attracting rogues and rebels." he added after she glared at him.

The communications room was at half capacity for the night, and they had received an unexpected visitor three hours after the team had left.

"If you have little faith in your little elite team, director, why'd you send them out?" asked that very man. He was sitting in the main communications desk chair. His black apparel was in stark contrast to his pale skin, and his green eyes studied everything closely.

"Because you suggested I send them out and see how they do." Karen looked at the man with contempt. "You also don't think they'll find any survivors, or even find the facility. And if they do, you said they had the potential to prove they were ready to keep it a secret and to become part of the Secret Service."

"Yes, I think that they have the potential. With the rate they are going at in training, and with level six being your top level, they could be ready in a month." the man said, standing up and walking to Karen.

"What is with you and your two-sided thought process?" Cody asked, crossing his arms as he walked over to the two.

"I don't look at the favorable outcomes alone, I look at both sides of the coin given to me." the man said coolly. He looked at Cody with as much dislike as the shorter agent showed him.

"Your two sided coin sent my people on as much a fool's errand as a suicide run. For all we know, the mine fields and trip wires and everything else are still active." Cody retorted. His tone had taken a defensive turn.

"I can assure both of you that my agents will be just fine. If all goes well, they will be back by tomorrow evening and resting well." Karen interrupted irritably before the two could start arguing. She walked to the rail and looked at the holographic map. It flickered as the power generators did their weekly resets in turns.

"Please let them come back to me safe." she whisper-prayed. Despite being director, she did have favorites, and these five were them. She didn't treat anyone differently, but she did secretly think that if there were ever an attack on the base, these five would survive at the least.

And while she could just pass it off as nerves for what might be discovered, Karen felt like something bad was going to happen soon. She had even said, "If all goes well..." She herself doubted when she needed to be strong.

"They'll be ok." Cody said. He was looking at the trackers as they moved around in the Black Forest. Because drones couldn't follow, they had put trackers in the agents' packs before the mission.

"I hope so. I feel like something big might be happening, and I let it run under my nose." Karen sighed and looked away, anywhere but the map for fear that it might be lying to her. She watched as the man walked to the holo-table and cross his arms, deep brown eyes cold and calculating. And for a moment, a fleeting moment, Karen started to question who she could and couldn't trust. Was there something deeper going on? Was whatever her agents were looking for why the Secret Service agent was here?

Nothing was for sure, after all, because they were breeding agents to be spies and more.

/\/\/\/\/\

In the Black Forest.