The Mission of the Heart Ch. 04

"You said yes?"

"I said yes," she softly said. "It just makes sense, we've been with each other for almost four years now. He's kind, supporting, and financially stable, not to mention handsome. I just don't see the big fuss about love and marriage...I see it as a more practical contract."

What happened to you Charlie, I thought to myself. The Charlie I knew wouldn't say such a thing. I sipped from my mug. As soon as I put my mug down, Charlie's eyes fell on my lips, her mouth slightly opened. It seemed like her body was frozen in place.

"Agent X," a feminine voice called out, interrupting our conversation. "You are needed upstairs. We have news." I pulled my mask down, and walked towards the female agent, guiding me upstairs. She led me into a spare room, where agent forty-nine, and one other agent were. "We received message from the Agency," agent forty-nine said." It seems like our location has been discovered."

Impossible, I thought to myself. We were so careful! "Who?"

"We don't know who these men are, but I assume they will risk every men they have to get their hands on her."

Like hell they would!

"Then we must be extra vigilant. We may have a lot of supplies for a little war, but who knows what those guys have. Spread the word quietly, but do not tell the girl. Go!"

The agents nodded, and we all went downstairs. As soon as I walked past the kitchen, Charlie was still there, sitting peacefully in the kitchen. She had a weird look in her eyes as soon as she made contact with mine.

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All of the agents scattered and covered grounds as quietly as they could. Stealth was in our blood. To our relief (and disappointment) we did not find anything out of the ordinary, but the skies became darker as more snow came down throughout the day. My body was covered with little bits of snow as I stayed in one spot two miles from the cabin for nine hours straight: my body covered with snow for added camouflage, gun in hand, night goggles in my eyes. My body did not move throughout those hours, while the moon emerged from east. Sighing, I looked at my watch: 22:00. Most of the agents already switched places two hours ago, but I refuse to go back.

"Agent seventy-six," agent forty-nine rang into my ear piece," I know you're tough and all, but I'm squirming my ass off inside this cabin. I'm switching duties with you whether you like it or not. I'm going to your location. See you in the morning." I let out a slow breath, and started getting up, piles of snow slithered from my body. I slowly looked around me one more time, before sprinting towards the cabin.

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As soon as I entered the cabin, I started shaking a little bit. Then a little bit more.

"I see you have another busy night, agent X," a familiar feminine voice said from the living room. I looked over and saw Charlie on the couch in her usual robe, cuddled up with a blanket, with a book in her hand. There was an electric heater, and a lone lamp shone near her. The male agent was standing behind her, looking like her personal guard. "You've been gone for quite a while. From the looks of it, you deserve a hot bath." I smirked under my mask as I patted my body, whisking away the remaining snow on me.

"Did you catch them?"

"There was no one to catch," I replied, walking over to her and nodded towards the agent. He nodded back.

Putting my hands on my hips, I observed her. She gave me one of her famous shy smile, her emerald eyes twinkling underneath the dim light. "Well I'm glad you're okay. I wish I can somehow repay all of you guys for going through hard work and all. A bunch of 'thank yous' doesn't seem suffice."

"Well," I replied," I don't know about the other guys, but by keeping you alive, that's rewarding enough for me." She seemed to be taken aback from my remark, her chest heaved deeply. Pamela, I thought to myself. Be careful. But my body seemed to dissociate from my mind, as I began to go around the couch, and sat beside her with a little bit of distance. I grabbed my SC-20K from my back, and put it slowly in front of me, right on top of the wooden living room table. "Won't you ever tell me your name?" she suddenly asked, gliding her body towards my way. Her side touched my arm.

"I already did," I blinked. "Agent X."

"Well, Mikey here already gave me his," she called out, "why not you?"

"Some of us has a very strict code of conduct" I said slightly growling, hoping 'Mikey' hear what I needed to say. "Sorry, agent X is the best I can do."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Huh." A couple of seconds passed by, until she decided to read again. Sighing, and trying to get comfortable, I put the back of my head against the couch, trying to get a couple of minutes of shut eye, until I get to be back in duty again. Slowly, my weighted eyelids began to close, and the sandman took me in.

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As soon as I woke up, I felt a weight on my lap, and found a sleeping Charlie, her beautiful head on my lap. She mumbled, snuggling closer, her blanket covering all of her body.

"She talks about agent seventy-six, you know," Mikey whispered behind me. "Whenever she gets the chance."

"How long have I been out?" I asked, letting my fingers run through her brown hair. So soft, I thought to myself. James is lucky to have you.

"Perhaps forty-five minutes," he replied.

"How much did you tell her about seventy-six?"

Mikey fell silent, and sighed. "Mostly everything, except of the current situation."

"You son-of-a-bitch, amateur!" I hissed. "I've had it with you agent, do not make compromise this mission!"

"I'm not," he replied back. "She asked, I don't see the harm. She doesn't know who seventy-six is."

I tried to argue back, then paused. "You like her, don't you?"

His silence answered my question. I looked down at her, feeling the warmness that radiates from her body. "Well...can't say I blame you."

Slowly, I got out underneath her, then took her whole body into my arms. You've gotten so light, I thought to myself. Have you been eating well? I looked at Mikey, but he looked out from the window, waiting for anything to happen. But I felt him from where I stood, the same feeling I had with James. That scream of jealousy.

"I'll be back," I whispered to him, which he only nodded in reply. With Charlie in my arms, I began to go upstairs towards the spare bedroom. The stairs creaked underneath me with each step I took. Whispers of "all clear," and "everything's good" rang into my ear piece. Opening the door slowly, I went in the room, tip-toeing towards the bed. The room was cold, I could see my breath. I put Charlie down lightly, wrapping the comforter around her to the point that all you can see was her head. I grabbed the electric heater from the corner, turned it on, and dragged it beside the bed. I sat at the edge of the bed, waiting for it to warm up.

"Agent..." a faint whisper suddenly said beside me. I looked over and saw those beautiful green eyes once again. The heater in front of me was on full blast, nevertheless the warmness I felt was deep from within. A faint smile slithered from my lips, but I know what she can only see was a woman behind a mask. Slowly, she sat up, her robe revealing her glorious skin from underneath; she was only wearing a red tank top. Of all the clothes you could've worn, I thought to myself, why did you choose that? But it was breathtaking, the red fit perfectly with her fair skin. She reached out, and put her hand against my cheek. I flinched, and she withdrew.

"I'm sorry, did I offend you?"

My glare on her intensified, and slowly I closed them. I shook my head, and looked at her again. Please, Charlie, I thought to myself. Don't do this to me. There was a storm of thoughts in my head; it was if they were going through a war. She leaned forward, and boldly put her hand against my cheek once again. She put her forehead against mine, I can hear her ragged breath. Her other hand went to my other cheek, and she began caressing me. I got lost from her touches, then froze. I felt her wedding ring on her finger. Wait a minute, I thought to myself.

Harshly, I withdrew and grabbed her hand. She lightly gasped from alarm. Closely, I observed her ring. Of course, I thought bitterly to myself. "Agent forty-nine," I radioed in, "get agent sixty-three to the kitchen, come with him too. Now!" Impatiently, I grabbed the ring from her finger, and stood up, while she looked at me in confusion.

"I don't understand," she suddenly said. "What are you doing?"

"Stay here," I growled, then radioed in Mikey.

"Get in here now! And stay here till I tell you so!"

I ran downstairs, and found agent forty-nine and sixty-three in the kitchen. Stomping my way to them, I threw the ring to agent sixty-three, which he caught. "Scan that piece of shit," I whispered. "I have a feeling that it's a tracker." I put my hands on my hips. Why was I too blind to see it? Agent seventy-three grabbed the scanner from his pocket, the ring on the palm of his hand. Hearing Mikey going upstairs, I went to the living room to retrieve my SC-20K. "It's a tracker alright," agent sixty-three boomed.

"Small, yet durable."

"Son of a bitch," agent forty-nine whispered under his breath. "They knew our location ever since day one."

"I'm going out," I suddenly said. "At this rate, we are sitting ducks under the stares of hunters."

"I'll go with you," agent forty-nine replied. "You need back-up, whether you like it or not."

"Alright, get another agent to go with us. As for you," I stared at agent sixty-three." Decode that. I want to know where it came from. Got it?"

He nodded, the scurried away. Agent forty-nine and I went outside as another agent rejoined us. "Have three guards go south, east, and west. I will go north, you will scatter. Go!" We began sprinting with our night goggles on our eyes, avoiding every obstacles, branches and stones with every step we took. With our SC-20K in our hands, we sprinted with all our might. "Only three miles out," I radioed in, panting. "No more, no less." In the dead of night, the stars were hidden underneath the dark clouds. More snow started falling. Remember who you are, I thought to myself. Remember how you were trained to be, brought up to be. Yes. Remember what you are capable of, Pamela.

You are capable to kill.

Three miles in, I stopped behind a tree, waiting for anything to happen. Then, I saw a vehicle coming my way. One single vehicle, then more behind it. "They're in my position," I radioed in. "Tell me your status."

"Nothing from the South, ma'am."

"Neither from the east."

"Nothing from the west."

"Ma'am," agent forty-nine said through the earpiece. "They're all coming from the North." A small growl erupted from my throat as my grasp around the rifle hardened. "Agents," I whispered," you better sprint fast to my location. Because you all are going to miss one hell of a party." With that, I crouched down, my eyes towards my first target: their rally fighter, front and center. Smirking, I grabbed a grenade from my pouch, and disarmed it. Hiding behind a tree, I threw it, then waited a couple of seconds until I heard the fireworks. Screams of confusion rang in my ear. I grabbed two more grenade and threw it to the other rally fighters. Work fast, I thought. Work fast, work fast, work fast. My eyes scanned and found at least thirty men looking around, trying to find the source of the chaos, but failing miserably.

I grabbed two smoke bombs, then exhaled slowly as my head rested behind a tree.

One...

Two...

I gave a small grunt as I threw two smoke grenades towards the men, then switched my goggles into thermal imaging mode. The men were shouting, shooting at ghosts, while I knew exactly where they were based from their body head. I put my SC-20K in silence, while letting my left hand get my SC-pistol. Crouching, I began shooting in each direction, as I sprinted from one tree to the next for cover. Some of the men found my location and started shooting aimlessly, doing more harm than done under the cloud of smoke. One by one, each of the unknown soldiers went down like a sack of lifeless potatoes.

"There!"

Inhaling, I sprinted behind a tree before more soldiers began shooting near me. I shot at them, reloading as much as I can. "Agent forty-nine, near you ma'am!" the voice radioed in my earpiece. I looked at the cloud of smoke beginning to whither away. Well there goes my cover, I thought bitterly to myself. More shouts rang in the field of snow as more gunshots echoed throughout the air. For minutes there, with forty-nine by my side, we were gods and goddesses of war, striking our enemy one by one. They were losing numbers fast by the hands of the Agency's finest. Panting, I counted their numbers; so far, only ten stood erect, fighting for their lives. As soon as I sprinted my way towards the enemy once again, preying on them, I was then knocked down on my back as full pressure of water splashed to me. I gasped, feeling the coldness, aimed my gun towards the man who held a hose, then pulled the trigger. Shivering, I got onto my knees, until at the corner of my eye, two men with a hose aimed at me. My SC-20K was long gone, but I aimed my SC pistol towards the head.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, as another splash of water crashed on my right side. I fell on my left; the water pressure was too much. More and more water drowned my body, my body weakening and shivering from the coldness. No, I thought to myself, I won't go down like this! With all my strength, I got onto my knees, then onto my feet. A man took a swing towards me, but blocked him, and punched him on the jaw. As he went down, I blocked another attack. When I turned, my body shivering its last warmth away, I looked deep down into a barrel of a gun. The man holding the gun, with his grey gear and ski mask, looked at me with anger.

"You're coming with me-"

Blood splashed onto my face as a wide hole appeared in the man's cranium. I whipped my head towards my right and saw forty-nine, limping his way towards me. Well, I'll be damned, I thought to myself.

"You're quite a backup," I shivered violently. "Where's everyone else?"

Before he could answer, he fell on his knees; I sprinted towards him with great difficulty. "What's wrong," I said, kneeling beside him on the snow, supporting him. "Are you-" My hand was smothered with blood, realizing that he was shot.

Fuck!

"We have to go," I told him, steadying his body. "We will walk to the cabin if we have to, but don't you dare-"

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," a masculine voice suddenly boomed. I froze, I knew that voice anywhere. Ever so slowly, I let my eyes gaze upon the man that I wanted dead. The man that made my torturous days in the underground prison possible.

The man they called Marco.

Beside him was another man, his gear same as the rest of the soldiers', but I knew that face. That face that I saw with Charlie, the one that cradled her, kissed her, and made love with her.

James.

Agent forty-nine's back was against them, and he couldn't see who these men were, but he knew from my facial expression that the situation just got worse. I felt a small sharp object wriggling its way into my sleeves; I felt it, it was a small knife. In my visual field, I saw agent forty-nine mouth out: strike. I grinded my teeth together.

"Well, well, well," Marco suddenly said, his rifle in hand. "What a marvelous reunion! How long has it been, hmmm? Almost...three years?"

"Hands up," James barked, his blue eyes like daggers. "You! Grab that agent, but leave seventy-six on her knees." He smirked. Shivering, I let my hands go up high in the sky, but the Canadian winter crept into my veins and arteries. Cold was an understatement. At that point, I was willing my body not to freeze to death. Marco laughed menacingly, his bearded face, and long hair embedded in my memory. His stone cold, grey eyes showed nothing but death, and they focused on me. "I'm surprised you're still alive, seventy-six."

My gaze never left his. "I'm not easy to kill, as you can see," I replied, trying my best not to shiver. He squatted in front of me, observing my face as one of his men dragged forty-nine away, James pointing his rifle against the back of my head.

"No, I don't believe that," he smirked, his dry lips crackling. "They took away something from you. I can see it in the depth of your eyes. It might not be something physical, no...something was taken." He stood up and began circling around me, strapping his rifle on his back.

"Did you think it was a coincidence of me meeting you, seventy-six?" he bellowed, getting out his pistol. "Charlie, James? Have you even dug deeper into the life of your young...lover?"

"What do you want?" I asked, glowering.

"Don't you even want to know Charlie's dirty, little secret?"

"What does it matter?" I sputtered. "Do what you must!"

"Don't you know that I'm her father?"

My body felt drained, my heart skipped a beat. Father?

"Specifically speaking, I'm her biological father. Some unfortunate childless parents decided to take her in once she was born," he continued, looking up at the sky. "Her mother could not accept the fact that her own child would live in my world...a world filled with money, blood, and death."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my mask and pulled it away. Scowling, I looked at him, my body screaming for warmth.

"Because I knew the Agency was on my tail for quite some time now," he continued, standing in front of me. "I knew they wanted my head, and they'll go into extremes to catch me. Nevertheless, I underestimated the power of the hush-hush government owned organization. It was until you killed Alfonso that brought me into my senses."

He spat at the ground at the mention of his dead brother.

"I know at first, the Agency wanted to kill Charlie. For whatever reason, I don't know. Perhaps of our secret family ties. I knew for a fact, from an inside source, that you were the one to kill her...but as that assignment changed into a protection program, I knew I had you. I knew the Agency and I had the same mindset, you see. She was my bait, and you were my grand prize to claim; the famous agent seventy-six," he smirked. "It took some time to locate you, but I have eyes everywhere, you see. Money can get you anywhere, and can get you anyone to do something. Right, James?"

You son of a bitch, I thought to myself as I looked at the man at the corner of my eyes. She trusted you!

"James needed my help, financially I mean, and I needed his. It worked out perfectly. I did not know who this seventy-six was, nor what he or she looked liked. But I can always pay for information," he explained. "But as soon as James explained to me that a new friend came into Charlie's life...I knew. I felt it deep inside my gut, I knew it was you."

"Call it a father's intuition, but I knew something was going on between you and my daughter even before we made contact. And from that moment on, I can finally take something from you what you took from me. My love for my brother, for your love of Charlie." He laughed.

"You should've seen your face! You, kneeling there, Charlie with a gun in her hand, trying to choose which one to shoot. Somehow, I knew she'll shoot you, knowing that James doesn't have a bulletproof vest and you do. She doesn't have a choice. Emotionally...that must've fucked you up real good."

He kicked me on my side, and I grunted, feeling the pain he brought.

"You! Being tortured underneath that filthy prison!"

He kicked me once again, my body absorbing its blow.

"Knowing that in every waking hour in that shitty cell, you'll see her face. After every session with the Judge, it was her face that you saw. But you won't see her again. Do you know why?"