Under New Management

Chapter 9

The flight to the target island was a long one. Carla had taken the window seat, so Gru just looked in front of him, or at his watch. He tried to sleep, but couldn't.  All he could think about was how wrong this situation felt.

Carla spent most of the flight checking her makeup. Seriously, how many times could someone check their makeup on a 7-hour flight? She didn't even look out the window, which annoyed him. If she wasn't even going to use it, then what was the point of her sitting there?

Their target was located on a private island. Unfortunately, no public planes would take them directly to the island, and even if they had a private one, their target probably wouldn't let the secret agents there to take him down land on his island. So, they were taking the plane the majority of the way, but then using AVL short distance pods, to go the rest of the way. Even though they were collapsible, these pods took up the majority of the room in their suitcases. Not that Gru really cared. He hadn't packed much anyways, but Carla was livid. She had to leave a lot of clothes behind to be able to fit it into hers. This made Gru happy for some reason. He enjoyed watching this woman getting angry over petty things. He knew that that probably made him a little petty as well, but at this point, he didn't even care.

Little was known about their target. They knew the location. They also knew that this person was very interested in obtaining large amounts of wealth. That was what had made the AVL check them out. They was cleaning out entire banks, and it was all coming back to this private island. It seemed like this person was building up for something, but for what, they didn't know.

He tried to talk to Carla about their plan, but she wouldn't listen. That only frustrated him more. The more time he spent with this woman, the clearer it was that she was not fit to be an agent. He missed Lucy. She was the best agent he had ever met, and it had been a very long time since he had gone on a mission without her. He worried about her. She hadn't been sleeping well, and now that he was gone, he worried that she wouldn't sleep at all.

A couple hours later, they arrived on the island. It was kind of a dump, really. He had expected something big and exotic, but there wasn't a lot there. There was a lot of rock and sand. There was a little grass, and a couple scraggly trees, but that was all that he could see. The island was apparently pretty big, though, so maybe there was more that he couldn't see yet.

"So, how do we find them?" Gru asked Carla. He didn't really expect a good response, but he thought he might as well try.

"I think it's probably underground." Carla said.

Gru had to try not to roll his eyes. He knew that asking her wouldn't help. There was no way that the base could be underground! They were on an island! The water table was way too high for anything like that!

"Uh, I don't think so." He said flatly.

"Yeah, it is." Carla insisted. "And the entrance will probably have some kind of landmark."

Good grief! She seemed very convinced about this. Gru let her do her own thing. At least that would keep her out of his hair (or lack of it) so that he could think.

"Here!" She cried out. She stepped on a rock with an X spray-painted onto it. A trapdoor opened.

"Wow." He said, shocked that she had gotten something right. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

They both climbed down, and found themselves in a control room. It had dozens of screens. Some with statistics, some were showing camera feed, others were showing what appeared to be previously taken videos.

One in particular caught his eye. It was a video of a long white room that looked very familiar. Then, his wife came into view. This was her simulation! He watched as his wife snagged the first two diamonds without even batting an eyelash. His heart swelled with pride watching her. She was acing it! But, then, a swarm of something came at her. What was that? It didn't look like a holograph. They completely enveloped her! She was covered in those tiny little bugs! He watched as she tried to swat them away, or to get them off of her. Suddenly, he knew why she had been so scared. These things were completely overpowering her! There wasn't supposed to be anything tangible in that room at all! Something was different about her simulation. Someone had changed hers. But why?

Suddenly, the thought hit him. Why was a video of Lucy in the enemy base?

"Finally putting it together?"

Gru turned around, and saw Devin standing with Carla.

"What? What are you doing here?" Gru asked, incredulously.

"Can't you tell? You've fallen into our trap?" Devin chuckled, an evil glint in his eye.

"No." Gru whispered.

"Oh, yes." Carla said, triumphantly. "We knew that we'd never succeed with our plan with the AVL in the way. So, we decided to sabotage Silas Ramsbottom, clearing the way for us to take over. We then realized that there were certain agents that would get in our way too. We got rid of one of them after these simulations."

"Lucy." Gru whispered.

"Of course." Devin said. "She was far to great an agent for us to be able to control. We fired a few extra so that it wouldn't be too obvious. Of course, if we got rid of both of you the same way, it would be way too obvious! So, we decided to bring you right to us."

"What are you going to do?" He asked. "Kill me?"

"If it comes to that." Carla said. "But, for now, there's no need. We've got you right where we want you."