G.U.A.R.D. Book #4: Tracked

-3-

    That night, I went into my dorm room, full from dinner. I didn't see Kurt, but Tim sat on his bed reading again. The book was huge. Upon hearing me, he quickly closed it and held it against his chest.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Do you know where Kurt is?" I asked, ignoring the embarrassment and tension I still felt.

"No," Tim responded. He shrugged. "Probably out with his mentor. Or Wendi."

"Wendi?"

"The girl he always hangs out with."

I vaguely remembered seeing Kurt eating meals with a girl around Tim's age, maybe a bit older. But I never really gave it a second thought. How much did Tim really notice about his surroundings?

"How long have you been here?" I asked him. "In G.U.A.R.D."

"Since January."

And he was already a natural in the spying business. I came farther in, grabbing the bedpost and leaning over his bed.

"Do you know about..." I hesitated, wondering how to word the question. Then I continued, "about the inner workings of G.U.A.R.D."

Tim's brow puckered. "'Inner workings?'"

"Okay, that sounded wrong. I mean the commanders." How much was I allowed to say to this kid? I didn't want him to know that I actually had a personal connection with one. Mustard was a good friend of my mom's. The mom who was legendary in G.U.A.R.D. "How much do you know about them?"

Tim gave me a suspicious look, then bookmarked his book. I caught a glimpse of a leather covering before he covered it again with the blanket. Then he sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at me.

"What do you want to know?"

I backed up and looked at him straight on. "What do which ones oversee?"

He was still wary, but Tim said, "There are four commanders: Bobby Mustard, December Salmon, Haku Kealoha, and Usami Mei. All have equal power in the base—and agency, for that matter—but they each have different jobs. Commander Mustard puts trainees to their mentors after going to a station. She does that with the help of Commander Salmon. Mustard also looks after the drop-and-go cases."

"What are those?"

"I'm not entirely sure. From what I've learned, G.U.A.R.D. has this thing called the memory-erasing project. They're pretty secretive about it, though. Basically, in extreme cases, they'll wipe someone's memories and stick them in a random base."

I made a face, letting myself down on Kurt's bed. It was perfectly made, to no surprise.

Tim saw my expression, saying, "I know. It's terrible. But Commander Mustard looks after those people. Commander Salmon deals with agents causing trouble, problems in the agency, and she's in charge of the food choice, as well as picking which agents have meal duty. For some of the agents, that's their full-time job, but others take turns, especially the office agents.

"Commander Kealoha is in charge of the marine vehicles and equipment. Apparently, depending on where a base is located, they'll have gadgets and vehicles dedicated to their terrain. Since we're in the middle of the ocean, all of ours are water-based. Kealoha is in charge of all that.

"And finally Commander Usami oversees education, research, and the infirmary."

I spread my arms. "Who taught you all this?"
He shrugged, a slight blush seeping into his cheeks. "I found out most of it. I'm... good at that sort of thing. Why did you want to know all that?"