Code Name: Rose

Chapter 5: The Shittiest One of All

Previous chapter...

Hm. Even still, what I don't understand, is that why Joseph has a mission for me 24 hours after another. In 2 years, this has never happened. I have always been given a weeks break at least. But... if it's urgent, I can expect some good money.

Let's see whose rich ass needs some kicking. 

Chapter 5:

8:58 a.m.

I'm outside unit 25 with 2 minutes left. 

"Joseph White."

His head whips up at the clack of the door opening. His smile forms wrinkles around his lips and eyes but its not hard to miss the strain, the extra effort being forced in creating the fake smile, the stress on display in the form of dark circles. 

Its funny. The person with the smile knows its fake. The person they're smiling at knows its fake. They both know that they know its fake. Yet they still keep pulling their faces with puppet strings as wide as it gets, showing off their rotting teeth. I roll my eyes. What a shitty world full of shitty people with shitty smiles. 

"Keira. Please have a seat, we need to talk." He slides his papers across the table, placing them neatly on the left side, spending way too much time trying to make them straight. Anxiety sits in the pit of my stomach, ready to devour me whole but I can't let it be shown on my appearance, I won't. 

He clears his throat, folding his hands on the table. A band of lighter skin is exposed on his left hand's ring finger. A divorce, or perhaps, death.

He inhales deeply.

"There's a mission. In Italy." 

Absolutely not. No way. I'm not leaving New York. I'm not leaving Ria by herself. Nope. No. Never. 

"I know you work alone in all your missions and you are rather good at it, however... this mission is to be completed in a group of 5."

Me? Work in a group? Impossible. There is always an idiot who messes something up in groupworks. I refuse to allow an imbecile to ruin my career. Hell no. 

"There is... something in Italy that can destroy this world in ways we cannot even imagine. We have very limited information on this... object, or whatever it is, but we do know that it has the capacity to do damage as much as 200 nuclear bombs. Whatever it is, it's called Keith. And, you will meet the team as you search for Keith. We don't have any photographs or names of your team. Your team is from different parts of the world, as different forms of the SSI have formulated this plan together. Each version of the SSI is sending one agent."

I'm stone. A rock. A completely and utterly flabbergasted rock, unable to move, breathe, talk.

"So... you want me to go to Italy, 7,000 kilometres away from Ria, to find something that not even the SSI knows of with some random people that I have to find along the way?? Exactly what kind of bullshit plan is this? Even with multiple SSI's working together, how did you lot come up with such shit thinking." The insanity of this reckless plan is killing me. 

White opens his mouth. Closes it again. 

"Look, Keira, I know Ria is very important to you. For that reason, I can assure you that she will stay under 24/7 surveillance and will be armed with 7 bodyguards, a private car from the SSI, and will stay at a hotel under the control of the SSI. Along with that, I will make sure she is not given any missions until your return."

Another minute of silence.

"You... You are willing to use 7 bodyguards, invest in cars and hotels and cameras, use up time of nearly 20 people who will run all this.... all for me to find this unidentified object? Why? Why me? You have hundreds of agents, plenty better than me. Can't you find someone easier to snatch?" The annoyance is clearly evident in my voice but I can't hide it. This is ridiculous. I can't leave Ria without knowing that I'll make it back alive for her.

Another deep inhale.

"Well, we did send 2 groups in the last 4 months. However..." he trails off. 

"However...?" I push.

Another sigh.

"However, they didn't make it back alive. But Keira, this mission is not just getting rid of criminals, no, it's much more than that. The whole of Europe, Asia and the Middle East could get wiped out completely from this mystery item, not to mention the severe damage to Africa, Indonesia, Australia, South America and even the USA. We're talking about millions and millions of lives; children, elderly, strudents, parents, families."

Another minute of silence. 

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. Now I burst out laughing. This is crazy. Insane. I finally get it. No other agent wants to go. But the ministers think I will. No. They know I will. Because, yes, I'm an agent. Yes I can hide my emotions. Yes I can fake my own existance if I want to. But I can't turn down a cry for help. No matter how hard my armour is. No matter how bulletproof, heatproof, emotion-proof it is, I am still soft. I am still weak. And this weakness is pushing me to accept this life-risky offer, to save the shitty people of this shitty world. And you know what? This, this makes me the most shittiest of them all. I am the most shittiest one of all.