No Man's Land

3- No Way She's the Best

Maxine Clarke
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"Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid please." I whispered to Oli. She nodded and walked off to the turbofan with Jana.

"I can read lips, you know." Jana said with a frown. I nodded with a smile, innocently. She gave a light laugh before walking off with Oli. I turned back to the passengers.

"Let's go find some place to camp out, alright?" Parker asked. I nodded.

"Alright everybody! Once we find a good place to camp we can break open the cargo hold so you all can get your things. Also, anyone have any major injuries, ie: breaks and big gashes?" No one said anything, so I shrugged off my jacket and wrapped it around my waste. "Let's get to it then. Everyone keep in sight of at least one agent. If you see something, say something. Like at an airport." Perhaps that hadn't been the best analogy, in our situation.

The group started to move forward, but Parker moved towards me.

"Maxine, I get that you're probably the leader of your group, but I was talking with my agents and we think it would be more efficient if the leading was done by the ranking agent of each company. There are a lot of us and I don't need my agents getting restless. And, let's be honest, our agencies have always had a bit of tension between them." He said. I hated to admit, but it was a good idea.

"Not a bad idea. I'm guessing you're the top of your group?"

"Me and Scott, yeah. Scott's a geiser though, so my group decided on me." I nodded, even though it bothered me that he had been acting with his group as if we had already agreed.

"Okay, that works. Hold on," I said before heading over to three others from CIA. Chestin raised his eyebrows, expecting a question. "Hey, we decided that we'll have a representative from each agency take the reigns. Who is the best of the three of you?" The three exchanged glances and Carrie nudged Michael.

"He is, out of the three of us..." She said trailing off before finishing, "but Jana could best him any day. She's one of the best."

"Great..." I muttered. I would have to learn to cooperate with her, apparently. Hopefully beneath the jokes and sarcastic remarks there was the good agent that I'd just been told of. I doubted that she could best Michael; I mean, though she could have been 5'7", he probably weighed twice as much as her. But, maybe I was wrong. Assuming was never smart.

I walked back over to Parker as the group continued forward. "Apparently Jana is the best of the four CIA. A super agent apparently." I said with a sigh. Parker laughed before focusing back on the path ahead of him.

"Never would have guessed. She did seem to know a lot about the plane, though." Parker added. Give credit where credit is due, I suppose.

"It's settled, I guess. You, Jana, and I will be taking the lead." I said, quickly summarizing the conversation. Parker nodded and walked off to the group of FBI members. With nothing else to do, I walked over to the others. Gabby smiled at me before returning to whatever serious conversation they were having. "What's going on?"

"We're discussing whether we should trust the other agencies, mainly the central intelligence agents." explained Alex. I nodded.

"The problem is that CIA is so unorthodox. We don't know what stunt their going to pull at any given moment. Especially the girl Jana- she's a loose cannon." Gabby said in a hushed voice. Gabby had always been the suspicious and untrusting type until she got to know you.

"You're right. I asked her friends who was best suited to be leader and they said she was. She can supposedly take down the biggest of their group easily, so I think the sarcasm and wit is just hiding a deadly asset. Who knows what she was on her way to do. And, there has to be some story about why she's so young for the job."

"I think that all four of them are more trained than they are letting on. It's classic tactic- let the enemy or unknown underestimate you." added Tom.

"And she certainly doesn't care that we're SIS. She flashed her card just so that I'd back down from flying the plane." Louie said, his voice laced with frustration. Louie was one of those people who didn't like being opposed and Jana had certainly pushed his buttons. Irritability was a big-time flaw but he made up for it by being a good textbook agent.

"To be fair, she might have just doubted your ability to fly a plane." I offered. As much as I disliked Jana, we had to weigh out the possibilities. Louie let out a sigh before shrugging.

"Just keep your guard up, everyone." Alex instructed. We all nodded and continued silently on. I took the chance to observe where we had landed. It was definitely a forest biome, rich with trees and high grass. The wildlife I had seen mostly consisted of wild chickens, a deer, and various other birds. I would've also guessed that there were foxes after spotting a few of their signature holes. After about six more minutes, someone in the FBI group who I thought was named Reanne spoke up.

"This clearing is good." I surveyed the area, and several nods were passed within my teammates. 

"Yep, we'll set up camp here and make an SOS. Parker," I called, "do you want to supervise this while I go find Oli and Jana so that I can show them the way here?"

"Sure." With that, I started my jog back. After about four minutes of jogging, I heard the unmistakable ring of a gunshot. I felt my heartbeat race and my mind immediately named Jana as the perpetrator. I quickened my pace and drew my gun out of it's now unconcealed holster. As I entered the clearing I caught sight of Jana, standing on top of the plane with her gun pointed down at something. Without another second's thought, I fired a shot.

A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter but...Woo hoo, drama! Whaddya think's gonna happen? New updates soon!