It was almost a pleasure when the alarm went off the next morning. The fluorescent light flickered to life, we showered with time to spare and made our way to the dining hall in silence.
Twelve allowed us to return to our dorm room after our surrender. I'm not sure what made him rethink his strategy. Maybe he decided that he needed us more than we needed him. Whatever it was, we spent the rest of the day in jail but were returned to our dorm room late that night.
Dan said nothing on the way to the dining hall the next day. Once we reached it, he jerked a thumb in our direction.
'The jailbirds are free,' he said.
Brodie jumped up and hugged us both. We sat, and then everyone was talking all at once. Everyone except Ebony. Her face was paler than ever with red blotches in her cheeks.
Chad finally noticed. 'What's wrong?' he asked. 'Why're you looking at me like that?'
'You were going to leave me.'
'No, I wasn't—'
Her quiet voice shook with fury. 'What else do you call it?'
'I call it fun.'
'Fun?'
Chad might have been the one with the ice powers, but right now, Ebony was doing a great job of making the temperature drop.
She continued. 'You thought abandoning your sister was fun?' Before Chad could reply, she continued. 'Are you a jerk? You could have gotten yourself killed—'
The argument continued all through breakfast. We were ready to resume training, but it turned out there was a change in plan. Mister Brown arrived with the other trainers and took us to a truck.
Climbing aboard, the truck headed down a tunnel. The drive took over an hour underground until we finally reached a metal door that groaned open, allowing a flood of cold, salty air to wash over us. We looked out onto a bright blue ocean.
'It's a great day for the beach,' Chad commented.
Dan glanced at the trainers. 'Something tells me there's no time for sun.'
'You'll be learning a new skill set today,' Mister Brown began. 'Up till now, you've worked individually to hone your abilities. Today all that changes. Today you'll work as a team. You'll have to rely on each other to complete this training mission.'
'Sounds tough,' Chad said, smirking.
Mister Brown gave him a look. 'Today, you will face live ammunition.' He stepped up to Chad's face. 'It will be tough.'
Producing a map of the area, the training instructor pointed to an island off the coast. We could see the island from where we were standing. He explained that our mission was to get to it—hopefully without being detected—then break into a compound and destroy an obelisk in the facility.
'We're throwing you in the deep end. Have no doubt about that. We are forcing you to sink or swim.' Brown paused. 'The war game will only end once your objective is achieved. You have three hours to complete your mission.'
'Uh,' Chad began, holding up a hand. 'What happens if we don't want to achieve our mission?'
Brown's eyes narrowed. 'Say again.'
'What happens if we decide to go for a burger and fries instead?'
Oh, Chad, I groaned.
The seconds passed as a gentle morning breeze washed over the beach. A solitary seagull cried and spun away into the distance. The waves crashed, rolled up the beach, and drained into the sand.
Finally, Mister Brown's eyes moved to each of us. 'If you are successful in today's mission, you will be rewarded with a twenty-four-hour furlough.' He let that sink in. 'If you should decide you are incapable of following orders, you will be considered an enemy of The Agency and will be treated as such.'
His eyes settled on Chad.
I'll say one thing for Chad. He may have been arrogant, but even he knew when he was beaten.
Chad looked to the island. 'Looks like we party tomorrow,' he said.
Nodding, Mister Brown led the other trainers back through the metal doors. He turned back one final time and looked at me.
'You remember the exercises we conducted regarding flight shapes?' he said.
'Yes, sir.'
'The wedge should get you to the island without being detected. It's the most like a stealth bomber. Stay low and fast.' He turned to the rest of us. 'Remember. It's live ammunition. You will die if you make a mistake.' The metal doors started to slide shut. 'Good luck.'
The doors slammed shut with an ominous boom.
'Live ammunition,' Brodie said, turning to Chad. 'Where'd you say that burger place was?'
'We'll be okay,' I said, although I didn't feel as confident as I sounded. 'Mister Brown's right, though. We've got to work together.'
Chad shook his head in mock admiration. 'You're such a hero,' he said. 'Such a leader.'
I snapped. 'Is there something wrong with your brain?' I asked.
'No. Is there something wrong with yours, Mister Goody?'
'What is your problem?'
'I don't recall anyone making you leader—'
Brodie pushed us apart. 'Boys,' she said. 'Turn your glands to the off position. We need to move.' She checked her watch. 'We've got two hours and forty-five minutes.'
I created a wedge as Brown had instructed, and we all climbed on. A week ago, I couldn't have imagined building a flying device for us to fly on, but now I did it with ease. It even had a handrail. With enough practice, I could probably even give it really cool fins and make the wings—
Brodie looked at me. 'Are you ready?'
I roused myself from my flight engineering dreams. 'Aye, captain,' I said.
We started across the water. With the wind and sea spray sweeping across us, it was almost easy to believe we were on a pleasure cruise and not heading into danger. I glanced at Brodie. Her red hair was flowing back like that scene in Titanic. She glanced over at me and smiled.
She's beautiful, I thought.
I had to remind myself to stay focused on the flying wedge. Landing us all in the drink wouldn't endear me to anyone.
From my training with Mister Brown, I knew that keeping us close to the water decreased our chance of being picked up by radar. Getting to the island would be one obstacle overcome.
I looked over at the others. They all looked so happy it was hard to believe we were heading off on a dangerous mission. I remembered Mister Brown's briefing.
Live ammunition, I thought. I hope we don't end up dead.