Chp. 43 “Surprise”

I read the text message that had been sent almost immediately after I had hung up with Agent Roger Boyd. He still wanted to meet more towards dark and there was an address we would have to type into the GPS whenever we finished settling into our rooms and piled back into the Tahoe.

Which would be soon.

We all piled into the elevator once again and Gage spoke, “The time still stands huh?”

I nodded, “Yup, so we’ll be leaving in about ten minutes.”

The door to the elevator opened to our floor and we eventually found our rooms, and I was more than eager to lay in the comfort of our bed. Avery joined next to me after throwing her travel bag down and spoke, “So this is it, the final step.”

I nodded, rolling over to face her fully, “Yes, and I couldn’t be more happy.”

“You’re stressed aren’t you?”

I frowned, not realizing she had noticed my change in mood from the time we left to pursue this ordeal. I shrugged, “How can I not be? I’m afraid for my friends.”

Her hand stroked over the curve of my hip as she smiled reassuringly, “Andy, everything’s going to be ok. We made it. We just have to get through the meeting tonight and then we’ll be safe in the Bureau.”

I was hoping she was right; I didn’t want to be out in the open one more day. I wanted to be inside the Bureau where I knew me and my friends would be safe. I was just worried about the whole “government-is-surrounding-the-Bureau” fact.

How were they planning on sneaking us in without being seen?

Soon we were heading back downstairs to make our way to meet Agent Boyd, and we were all a little on edge. This was it, there was nothing left to do besides to speak with him, and then we would be allowed to enter the Bureau, hopefully.

We typed in the address and to my surprise it was a little farther than expected, but we would still be on time. The silence in the car was deafening, but I knew there was really nothing to be said. We didn’t know what to expect from Agent Boyd, I was just hoping all of this was going to pay off.

Avery’s hand was in its usual place, resting inside mine while we sat quietly in the backseat. My mind was wandering everywhere, especially to what was awaiting us with Agent Boyd. Was there a strict procedure to entering the Bureau?

I figured there would be, I mean it’s a pretty confidential place considering they protect supernatural beings that most people didn’t know about. They protected our secrecy, but in a way I wondered why they protected that. Why couldn’t we be accepted in society?

Oh who was I kidding, if I was a regular passer-by on the street and saw someone get hit by a car and walk away unharmed I would nearly faint.

There were reasons we were hidden, and maybe it would always be that way.

Then before I could further any thought we were coming to a stop, and Gage and Max’s head’s turned to face me. I realized we were at an office of some sort, but it was obviously closed due to nightfall. I spoke, “Pull around back, that’s where he should be.”

Gage proceeded around the back of the building and out of sight from the street but something in my gut tightened. What if something went wrong? What if we had been scammed the entire time?

Then I saw a midnight black Mustang sitting there but the tint on the windows made it impossible to see inside. Nightfall had made it hard to see but then suddenly the street light kicked on, bringing light to the scene before us. Then a tall, muscular man exited the vehicle, wearing what looked like business apparel without the black suit jacket.

He approached the car, but for some reason I didn’t want to get out of it. What if this wasn’t Agent Boyd? What if this was a Snitch, or someone worse from the F.P.S.?

Gage cracked his window and the nameless man spoke, “Agent Roger Boyd at your service, Andrea Mason wouldn’t happen to be back there?”

It was weird hearing my last name that technically wasn’t my last name, but I recognized his voice from over the phone. Gage then cracked my window and allowed me to see him, “Just call me Andy.”

His light eyes searched mine for a second, “So let’s go inside, I don’t like feeling exposed out here.”

We all exited the Tahoe and filed into the office building as we followed him to a back room. I was nervous, naturally, but I was also relieved to have finally met him. His briefcase was set on the wooden table as he unsnapped it and opened it for all of us to see. There was paperwork and a manila folder, which seemed similar to Agent Harris’s. I was curious as to what we would cover over this meeting but I was hoping it would tie up a lot of loose ends.

He removed the manila folder and opened it, revealing four I.D. cards with all four of our pictures on them. They were legit, and for some reason this actually freaked me out. I spoke, “How did you...?”

“You’d be surprised Andy, we have a lot of connections and influence, the pictures were the hardest part to retrieve, honestly.”

He slid each of us our cards, allowing us to thoroughly examine them as he continued to shuffle through his paper work. He spoke, “These cards are to simply gain access into the Bureau, although none of you are actual members. It just makes it easier for identification purposes.”

I looked at him, ready for him to continue but it looked as if he was reading over more paperwork. I questioned, “When will we be able to enter the Bureau?”

He shrugged, “I figured bright and early tomorrow morning considering you all already have a hotel booked.”

I studied my I.D. then, seeing my familiar driver’s license picture I had taken when I had gotten my license. I figured that’s what all of my friend’s pictures were, and I realized it had our full name and birth-date on it as well. It felt weird seeing this but I knew what we were getting ourselves into, and there was no time to waste.

“Now I know you probably have questions about the testing you’re going to be going through but I really know nothing about it. I’m just an agent, I’m not a doctor, so when you get there I’m sure they will clear things up and answer all the questions you have. But I’m more concerned about actually getting you into the Bureau.”

My eyes looked up into his, realizing this was going to be the most challenging part. Then, before I could respond he spoke, “But the last couple of weeks have been… odd. With the Feds and all…”

I remembered the phone conversation we had only hours ago, and I pressed on, “Yea what exactly did you mean by that?”

He sighed, “Lately it seems as if there have been more Feds than ever, and it’s worrying us.”

He sounded as if he had a lot on his mind, which I figured was because he had been directing us safely up to Buffalo. Now he had to figure out a safe way to get me and my friends into the Bureau since we’ve finally arrived.

“So what’s the plan?”

He looked up, “Well, you’ll find out soon enough tomorrow. We’ve built a sort of “back door” to the Bureau recently, but using it has been difficult. As far as we know the Feds don’t know about it, but we want to keep it that way.”

It sounded easy enough, there was a secret entrance to the place, but they were trying to keep the entrance a secret from the Feds. I nodded, “Sounds like a plan, we can plan for early in the morning.”

And of course I heard Max groan in protest.

Roger smiled in success, realizing that I meant business. The sooner we got into the Bureau the faster we could get to work in stopping this disease. I was ready to end the stress I had on my shoulders too, I just really wanted a break.

 He nodded, “Sounds like a plan,” he shuffled more through the papers and then stopped, looking up at my friends. “So how is everyone feeling? Physically, I mean?”

I looked around at my friends who seemed to be a little distracted, causing them to respond in unintelligent ways. All three of them seemed to be alright, none of them were acting weird as if they were sick. I took this as a good sign because this meant we made it all the way up north without running into the BD3, and my friends would be safe tomorrow morning once we made it to the Bureau.

Roger shuffled through the last of his papers and spoke, “Doctor Henson contacted me and told me to check out all of your arms. He just wants to make sure the redness from the vaccine has gone away.”

I looked at Max as he rolled up his sleeve, revealing the old Band-Aid that had been placed over it after he had been injected. He peeled it off and exposed normal skin, the only thing I was able to see was the near-microscopic red dot. Agent Boyd nodded and marked on his paperwork, “Good.”

Avery and Gage followed quickly, Gage seeming just as normal as his brother. I was glad that none of my friends had any signs of abnormality, it was a huge relief.

 “Wait…”

I looked up, seeing Roger approaching Avery but not coming into complete contact with her. I stood too because this situation had immediately gained my attention, causing me to walk over to Avery and Roger.

Immediately I saw what had gained his attention, and my heart sank to my stomach. Something was wrong, but I really didn’t have any education in what the side effects of this vaccine were.

Not only was Avery’s upper arm red, it was also swollen where the needle had penetrated her skin. I looked at Roger and asked, “Is that a normal side effect?”

He shook his head, “No,” he backed away from her and looked at me, “but it’s a really bad sign.”

~ ~ ~ ~

“So what, we’re just going to shoot her when she walks out?”

I looked at my rookie partner I had been assigned with for this mission, “Vince, our one and only order is to kill Andrea Mason.”

He sighed, “I just don’t get why?”

“Fred Mason? Does that name ring a bell?”

He shrugged, standing up from crouching behind my black Dodge. “I mean, he was a big threat years ago, but-“

“Exactly, because of his capabilities, and this girl we’re after is his daughter, and she’s exactly like him.”

“Well, I didn’t know he had a daughter.”

I rolled my eyes at his immaturity. The first thing any agent should do is conduct their proper research, which Agent Vince had obviously not done. The sudden order for me to kill Andrea had excited me and worried me all at once, considering I had really no time to prepare. Sullivan had sent me out immediately, assigning me with Vince and directing me to find and eliminate her.

It had only been recently when I had seen a recent transaction of money to another account, one with the name of Gage Davidson. So I tracked his account records and saw purchases for a hotel in South Carolina, West Virginia, and New York. It seemed odd to me, naturally, so when he checked in at the hotel in New York we headed straight there.

We had caught them leaving their hotel and we followed them here, staying out of sight considering last time I had followed them I had been discovered. I had recognized the Tahoe of course, and seeing her exit the car only furthered the knowledge that Andrea Mason was in fact, inside that building.

And when she came out, I would kill her and report back to Sullivan.

Then I heard Vince whisper next to me, “Someone’s coming out.”

I retrieved my gun that was sitting in my holster, and I set my hands on the hood of my car, steadying my shot. When I had to do this I always had to concentrate, but killing had always been quite difficult. Sometimes you were directed to take an innocent life, but it was all part of the job. And even though this girl was in fact Fred Mason’s daughter, I knew she hadn’t done anything wrong.

But I had to do this, because she would become a threat, especially if she was becoming involved with the Protection Bureau.

Then instead of seeing Andrea come into view a familiar pair of eyes interrupted my gaze. Agent Roger Boyd turned, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. He shouted as I waited patiently for Andrea to appear, “Get down!”

A tiny girl ducked, along with two tall boys but when I saw the familiar flash of blonde hair I knew that was her. I pointed and aimed, hoping that all this waiting would finally pay off.

Her panicked blue eyes found mine and I realized that she had been totally caught off guard. I fired then, multiple times, seeing the bullets inflict wounds on her exposed arms, legs, and chest. She had been wearing nothing more than blue jean shorts and a T-shirt, so this allowed me to see her skin rip and turn red as the bullets made contact. I watched as she stumbled back into the brick wall of the building, holding one of her bullet wounds on her chest.

Her blue eyes searched mine, as if she was heart-broken, and I realized that this girl didn’t deserve this. I tried remembering all of the people Fred Mason had killed in our agency, all of the people I knew and thought of as family when he had gone crazy. I remembered the night Agent Mendoza had ended him in the middle of the street when he had collapsed. And I realized that even though Fred had been a threat, he had given us a reason, but this girl was young, she was immature, and she knew nothing about the world she had tried involving herself in.

And now she would die.

Then as I watched between these seconds I heard firing, and I ducked immediately, only to witness Vince getting shot right between the eyes. He fell besides me, blood leaking from his face as I turned in horror, realizing I needed to get out of here.

I got into my car and turned to see Andrea, making sure that she would fall and die so I knew my mission had been completed. And to my surprise something extraordinary happened. 

I watched in amazement as I saw her heals minimize, and the blood stopped flowing from her bullet wounds. What I was witnessing was something life altering, and for some reason I couldn’t stop staring.

I saw multiple metal bullets fall out of her skin, and most of her bleeding had stopped when all but one wound was completely healed. In that moment I realized that she was nothing like Fred Mason.

She was something much more lethal.

I peeled out of the parking lot, hitting the highway and dialing quickly into my phone, not caring if it was late. I needed to contact someone, and let them know what was actually going on behind our backs with the Bureau.

Finally after three full rings I heard Sullivan’s deep voice answer me, “Agent Walker?”

“Sullivan, Andrea Mason, she’s… she’s a Healer.”