My Classified Life

Chapter Nineteen: Take A Chance On Me

I had a feeling my mom would play it safe for the next couple of practice missions. I figured she'd give us simple tasks. But she decided to take it a step further.

The entire week we had only reviewed past lessons in preparation. She gave us hours to pack and told us exactly what to bring, a comb, ruler, CD, and a screw driver. She took us to the airport and we boarded the usual plane but our destination was much closer than ever. We arrived in Canada at the Niagara Falls National Airport by midday and set off for the falls together.

The town around the falls was meant for tourism. Shops lined the streets and small attractions tourists could go when they were done looking at the waterfall. Around the entire falls was a street where people could lean in on the railing and just stare at the mass of water cascading down and feel the mist that came off of it. Below on the river were boats that you could pay to ride in. They all wore raincoats and got drenched just from being so close to Niagara Falls. We stood on the Canada side of of it all and watched the falls for a bit. My mom took out her camera and we took a kind of family picture with Niagara as the background. I took a few more of me and Christina using my phone.

The mission was starting out to be just like a vacation. Before we even started my mom took us out for dinner and we ate happily. I couldn't help but notice how much my mom had changed. She wasn't sure of herself anymore. Slowly, she was gaining her confidence back and it seemed to me that I was the only one who was... normal. Maybe it was a good thing that the mission was so gentle today.

We sat in a booth table in the corner of restaurant and as the rush hour came and went we stayed in our spot waiting for my mom to tell us what to do. When the place was almost empty she started to explain.

“Just a nice, simple mission for today. I'm going to designate a pedestrian off the streets randomly and you will all follow her or him around all day. The task is to get a picture copy of their driver's license. Brit will set up camp in a nearby hotel room while I get you girls started on selecting a person. Remember: normal people are more perceptive than you think. If you show yourself all day they're going to figure out that you're following them.”

Man, did I miss this.

Brit left the restaurant and went on her way to the hotel.

“What about the computer equipment?” Sammy asked.

“It's already there.” Mom answered.

I really missed her swagger.

She led us outside and onto the streets. We nonchalantly sat down on a bench and waited for her to point out someone. A family of tourists walked by with two little kids. Nothing.

An old man with a walker slowly came by. Nothing.

We sat there for upwards of ten minutes and Christina had already starting to try to secretly text in front of my mom. Finally a girl about my age traveling with an older woman who could have been either her grandmother or mother walked by and my mom whispered under her breath. “The girl.”

We counted to thirty and then got up, not together, but natural looking like it was spontaneous.

“Wait.” My mom called out as we started to walk away from her.

Into each of our hands she slipped a Bluetooth ear piece. They were different from previous ones and looked like a newer model.

“They have a panic button.” she explained. I nodded slightly and understood completely.

We set off down the street after the girl. She was as normal as they come, brown hair, average height, neither gorgeous or ugly. She blended in everywhere she went and I knew my mother had picked her for that very reason. She walked down the streets at a normal pace and we decided to establish the order.