By dinner time, we had our wounds dressed and had received a battery of shots to safeguard us against every infectious disease known to man. And then some, it seemed. The burn to Chad's chest was superficial; the modification process allowed our injuries to heal at a faster than average rate.
There were some benefits to having superpowers.
After dinner, we were given a preliminary rundown of the mission, but the main briefing would be the next morning. We sat around the entertainment room and talked about the day's events. Dan couldn't get over the shooting gallery of destruction he and Chad had created. The way he described it sounded more like a computer game than real life. Everyone was relaxed. Probably the most relaxed we'd been in weeks. We were feeling confident about how we'd performed.
Later, Brodie and I found ourselves wandering aimlessly through one of the passageways. Turning a corner, we bumped into Mister Brown.
'Ah, recruit,' he said. 'I heard you did well on the course today.' He held out a hand. 'Congratulations.'
Incredible, I thought. Mister Brown is operating like a normal human being.
'Th-thanks,' I stammered.
'That doesn't make us brothers,' he said without a smile.
'No, I wasn't expecting—'
Then he really freaked me. He burst out laughing, his face breaking into a wide grin showing a full set of teeth. Shaking his head, he said, 'If you could see your face right now…'
I'm not sure what I looked like, but I must have looked stunned.
'So where are you both headed?' he asked.
'We were just wandering around,' Brodie said. 'Any chance we could go outside?'
'I don't see why not.'
Up till now, this place has been like a fortress. Now all of a sudden, we could just walk around like free people. My feeling of astonishment must have been reflected on my face because Mister Brown gave me another grin and a slap on the shoulder.
'If you were going to leave,' he said, 'you would have done it already.'
Yep, I guess we would have.
He took us up in an elevator to the surface. It opened onto a dark, rolling field of green hills. The moon was out, and the sky clear. Mister Brown clasped a hand to my shoulder as he left us.
'Don't do anything I wouldn't do,' he said.
Whatever that meant.
Brodie just rolled her eyes and gave me a smile. We made our way across the field to an embankment of rocks. We sat and studied the stars.
'Mister Brown seems like a nice guy, after all,' I said.
'You didn't think so before?'
'Are you kidding? I thought he was a monster.'
Brodie laughed. 'It's their job to train us hard.'
'Well, they're good at it.'
We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was suddenly aware that Brodie was sitting right next to me. Very close, in fact, her arm only a few inches away. My face turned red, and I was glad it was dark.
Should I kiss her? Does she want me to? Or would that just be weird?
I didn't know what to do.
Brodie looked up at me expectantly. She was very beautiful in the moonlight. Actually, she was beautiful at any time, night or day. I imagined what would go wrong if I kissed her. She might freak out. Things could get uncomfortable, and that's the last thing we need.
Leaning over, she kissed me. Her lips were soft against mine. Brodie pressed herself against me, and her chest touched mine. Her heart seemed to be beating a million miles a minute.
'What are you thinking?' she asked.
I'm in love.
That's what I was thinking, but to say that would have been stupid. 'I don't know,' I said. 'Just thinking about tomorrow.'
'Tomorrow?' Her voice went hard. 'What about right now?'
'Well, I was thinking—'
'Sorry,' she said, standing. 'I didn't mean to interrupt you.'
'Hey, I didn't mean—'
'I know,' she said, controlling her temper. 'It's getting late. We should go back inside.'
I followed her back to the bunker, feeling like I'd been through a tumble dryer. What did I say that was so wrong? In the elevator going down, I made up my mind to kiss her goodnight.
We walked silently through the passageways to our dorms. Brodie smiled at me like everything was fine.
I tried to speak. 'Brodie?'
'Yes?'
'I just wanted to say…well, you're—'
The door opened behind her, and Ebony stuck her head out.
'Oh, sorry,' she said. 'I thought I could hear people out here.'
She shut the door. I leaned toward Brodie as the door behind me swung open.
'Oh, it's you guys,' Dan said. 'We're turning in, Axel.'
'Yeah. Great.'
'Are you coming to bed?'
'I'd better go too,' Brodie said.
I nodded. Disappearing through the door, Brodie gave me one last look.
Is that a smirk on her face?
'Everything okay?' Dan asked.
'Peachy,' I replied.
The next morning found us up and about at 3.00am. After a small breakfast, we were led to a briefing room in another part of the complex. A guy we've never met before named Mister Hodges brought up a display on a screen. I gazed at it through bleary eyes. Our departure time was listed as 4.30am.
'I won't lie to you about this mission,' he started. 'It's dangerous. We're flying you most of the way to Cayo Placetas. About twenty miles out, we'll drop you into the sea. From there, you need to make your way to the island and then to the base.'
A satellite map of the island flashed onto the screen. It looked familiar.
'It's the same as the training island,' I said.
'Not exactly the same,' Mister Hodges said, 'but similar. We wanted to run you through a similar scenario before you had to face the real thing.'
'So things could be worse than yesterday?' Chad said.
'Things will be worse than yesterday.' Hodges fixed his expression on us. 'Earlier, I reviewed the strategy you employed yesterday. I recommend you adopt the same approach. Two of you create a diversion. The others make your way to the base.' He pointed to the map. 'The missile's guidance system is stored here.' He indicated a cluster of buildings where the computer room was located. It sat in the center of the compound. Beyond was another set of buildings. 'The barracks are here…and here. And here's the missile silo.' It was some distance from the main compound. 'As has already been explained to you, Pegasus's weakness is its dependence on its guidance system. That's what you need to take out.
'Pegasus will be almost impossible to stop if it fires. As missiles go, it's not the fastest ever developed. In fact, it's relatively slow by comparison. Its strength is its stealth mechanism. I doubt any fighter craft could bring it down before reaching its target.'
'Do you know what that is yet?' Brodie asked.
Hodges shook his head. 'It's impossible to say. They could aim for a smaller city like Miami, or they could aim for a strategic target such as DC or New York. Since 9/11, New York seems to have become the preferred destination for terrorists.' He looked to each of us in turn. 'The important thing is to not let that rocket off the ground.'
We nodded. This was all very sobering. I glanced over at the others. They all look pretty serious. It was hard to believe all this responsibility was on our shoulders, but I recalled what Twelve had said. An artificial intelligence system was used to determine who was best suited to what project. Supposedly, we were ideal for this assignment. The Agency would have sent someone else if they'd been better suited.
Hodges finished. 'Don't forget,' he said. 'Your greatest strength will be the element of surprise.'
I looked at the map.
I just hope the surprise isn't on us.