No Man's Land

22-Jaeda

August 3rd, 2018

840 Summit~ Croatia

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Foreign Intelligence Officer J. *****

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Time mark: 17:42

I scrambled to my feet as a wave of heat blew past me, my ears ringing. I stared back in shock at the burning capital building, the archway of the main entrance burning only a couple dozen feet behind me. Michael grabbed me by the arm, pulling me close to him as people continued to rush past us, screams echoing from within the wreckage.

"Holy shit," I muttered, eyes wide. I forced myself to slow my breathing, counting between each breath.

"Is anyone hurt?" One of the supervising officers asked over the comms. A couple people radioed in with injuries serious enough for them to be extracted, the remaining staying silent. "Are we missing anyone?" Someone else asked. That snapped me out of my trance, and I whipped my head around, searching for the rest of my team. I locked eyes with Chestine over the wreckage as he talked with Carrie before the two of them ran off.

"We need to prepare for a secondary blast." Someone chimed in. Right. The situation reminded me of something that happened in Germany in 2013- a primary blast was set off in a convention center, and when they tried to flee, the survivors were met with secondary blasts at the evacuation points. With this crowd, that would be catastrophic.

"Jana, Mark, and Anton, I want you out of here. Damnit, I knew it was a mistake sending in three undercovers at this event."  Muriel barked over the radio, sounding worried. I frowned, looking at Michael who was hearing the same thing as me.

"I disconnected two weeks ago, and there's enough people here that I doubt anyone will spot me." I argued. Michael shook his head, mouthing 'go'. I swore under my breath. It was a bad idea to argue with Muriel, anyways. "Nevermind, sorry. Rendezvous at the gateway."

"Stay safe." I said to Michael, nodding to him. I turned back towards the path out and broke into a sprint, my gun at my side. Other agents gave me knowing looks as a I sprinted by, on a time crunch. My heels in my right hand, I came to a halt at the archway, scanning for the two others. 

"Can someone connect me to a private channel?" I asked into my comm. Someone gave an acknowledgement before tapping me into a new conversation.

"Mark, where the hell are you?" I asked quickly. A hand grabbed me from behind, pulling me to the side. On instinct, I threw myself forward, trying to pull away.

"Hey, it's me." Mark hissed, letting go of me. "You have your cell?" He asked. I relaxed at the  sound of his voice, and he let go of me, both of us still tense. I nodded, knowing all too well what he wanted. "Kill it."

"Give me two minutes- I need to tell Nate I'm okay." I argued. I couldn't just leave him in the dark.

"Do you even need me to tell you how against policy that is?"

"No?"

"For the love of god, Janelle. You know what, we don't have time for this.Talk while we run, then. Anton's already at the point." He said. I held in a smirk at the silly nickname. When we had first met, he hadn't believed my full name was Jana, and had assumed it was a shortened version of Janelle. It had stuck.

"Hold my heels." I said, more of demand than an offer, shoving them at him so that I had a free hand to hold the phone with. I tucked the gun into my waistline, hidden by the top piece of my dress, and grabbed Mark's hand as we both broke into a sprint. I dialed Nate's number, biting my lip as it rang. A crackle of static told me he picked up.

"Jan? Are you okay? I'm watching the news!" He was worried, like usual.

"Yeah I'm okay. Listen Nate, I'm going to need to disappear for a couple days while we wait for this to blow over. I swear, I'll be home by the end of the week."

"Tell me the full story, for god's sake."

"Nate I can't. That's just not how the system works. Listen, keep your eyes-" I paused as I spotted a familiar face in the crowd. "I need to call you back." I said, dropping the phone to my side.

"Jana- wait, no-" I  clicked the phone off and threw it into a bush. "Mark stop!" I yelled over the chaos. He looked back at me, expectant. "Ivana Novak, daughter of Ezel Yavuz. 10 feet back." I said quickly.

"Jana, don't do anything stupid." He warned. God, people were so quick to assume I'm always reckless.

"She could be the secondary blast, Mark!" I argued.

"She'll recognize you!"

"And I'm the only one who can pick her out of the crowd. I don't care if it blows my cover, and it's not your choice." I said, adjusting my gun in its' place.

"God damnit, Jana."  He muttered, but nonetheless did not hold me back. Ivana stood in the center of the pathway, something clutched tightly in her right hand. Her auburn hair was frizzy and disheveled, not matching her clothes, which looked just as expensive as usual. I tried to ignore the burning in the soles of my feet as I skidded to a halt in front of her, surprising her.

"Jaeda." She said, shocked. At her side, her grip on the trigger relaxed. "Što radiš ovdje?" What are you doing here? 

"Don't do it," I said in Croatian, repeating it in Arabic. She took a step back, eyes narrowing.

"My father was right. You betrayed us?" She asked in strained English. 

"It doesn't have to be this way. I know you don't want to do this. I know you don't believe in what your father says." I warned, taking a small step forward. Her eyes darted from side to side as civilians started to notice us. I recognized several french dignataries getting too close for comfort. "Get back!" I instructed, quickly looking over my shoulder at them. I instantly regretted my decision.

Ivana took the chance to wrap her around my neck, pressing me into her chest. Underneath her dress, I felt cold, hard metal, and a mesh of wires. I stayed still as her fingers danced across my back, slipping under my shirt to pull out my gun. I let out a huff of air as she pressed the barrel into the small of my back.

"You're making a mistake, Ivana." I said steadily in Croatian. I shook my head slightly as I noticed Mark still standing at the side, gun out and pointed at her. I looked to the side, gesturing for him to go on without me. He seemed to contemplate a moment before sprinting off, albeit hesitantly. 

"My father told me everything," she started, "how you work for the Americans. How you wanted me to take my father's place because I'm... manipulatable."

"You're not manipulatable, Ivana. You have a heart- and please, I need you to show us that heart by not killing all these innocent people." I said, relaxing my muscles. I had to remind myself that Ivana was only nineteen. She had been sucked into the criminal underworld by her monster of a father and hardly wanted to be there. I felt the barrel of the gun disappear from my back, and she loosened her grip around my neck.

I took the chance to flip myself around, grabbing the gun and taking a step back, the gun leveled. I yelled at the remaining civilians to stay back, retreating myself.

"Ivana, I want you to put the trigger on the ground. If you do, I'll make sure that you don't have to return to your father. We'll grant you leniency in court, and you'll be able to start fresh." Two lies. "I don't believe you're beyond redemption." Another lie.

"Just one more thing." She demanded, mascara starting to stream down her face. The fancy ones are never waterproof. 

"Yes?"

"What's your name? The real one this time." I hesitated, debating how I should answer. She placed the trigger on the ground.

"Jo."

Her eyes widened, and I realized my mistake. 

Despite the trigger being on the ground, an eery click rang through my eardrums before I was blown back by another explosion.

Okay okay okay I know this is really cryptic and confusing and yeah. There's gonna be a lot of exposition in the coming chapters. Don't forget to leave a vote bc they make me happy :) today's song is Boys Will Be Bugs by Cavetown. k thats it bye pls vote