Juno took a step back and gasped dramatically. “No! But you’re such a people person, Amara.”
The others laughed, and even Amara smiled.
It had only been a few weeks since my dad had dropped me off, but it felt like months. I guessed that was why my discomfort with my team felt so, well, comfortable, even though they were all a bunch of criminals, or at least criminals in training. My dad hadn’t intended me to be sent to a camp for criminals; there was just no way. I knew that as well as I knew anything. But his goal—to make me less of a troublemaker—had worked.
I was different. The camp had changed me, and not into a criminal. I wasn’t interested in pulling pranks anymore. It seemed so childish compared to what I’d just been through. I wanted to work for the CIA. I wanted to stop people like Chase.
“See ya when I see ya,” Juno said as he strolled to his car.
The others said their goodbyes and then walked off to their rides too. I wondered how much farther all of them had to go. I knew Juno was headed back to Japan, and Amara to Africa, but I wondered about the rest of them. They could be headed anywhere.
I heaved my bag onto my shoulder and glanced toward the alley where my dad had dropped me off. The lights to his Honda blinked and I made my way over. I threw my bag into the back seat and slid into the front for the drive home.
Dad grabbed my chin and turned my face to his. “What happened to your face?”
I shook my head. “I slipped down a ravine during one of our hikes. It looks a lot worse than it is.”
He nodded and then looked at me for an uncomfortable minute. “I know it’s only been a few weeks, but you look different. And not just because of all the scratches and bruises.”
I shrugged. I felt different too. But I wasn’t really sure what I should, or could, tell him. He started the car and pulled onto the street.
“How was it?” he asked finally.
I shrugged again. “Better and worse than I expected it to be.”
He nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Did you have time to think about what you did at the assembly?”
I stopped myself from snickering. The assembly seemed like a million years ago, and honestly I hadn’t given it much thought at all. But what I’d done was stupid. It was thoughtless and juvenile. It seemed like something Chase would do, only he’d use poisonous gas. I wasn’t proud of it anymore, that’s for sure. I was embarrassed about it.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” I said finally. “All I can do is promise it won’t happen again.”
My dad pulled up to a stop sign and glanced at me. “You know, you look like you actually mean that.”
“Yeah, well,” I began, “let’s just say it’s not something I’m proud of anymore.”
We didn’t speak for another couple blocks, and then he put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m proud of you, son.”
We turned onto our street, and I spotted Jason leaning against the basketball pole in my driveway.
“Your mom’s waiting to see you,” my dad said. He nodded at Jason through the windshield. “Don’t be long.”
It was only a bit after eight in the morning, and I’d never known Jason to get up before noon on summer vacation. I gave him a nod when I got out of the car and gestured to the street. He walked his bike beside me without saying a word until we were nearly a block away from my house.
“What I tell you,” I said, “needs to stay just between us. Okay?”
He nodded.
“I’m serious, Jason. This is literally my life we’re talking about. You can’t tell anyone. Not a single person.”
He held up his hand. “I promise, dude. You know I don’t blab about important stuff. Do I need to remind you of all the secrets I already know about you? Or all the secrets you know about me that you could tell if I ever broke my word?”
I shook my head. “I know. I just want you to really understand, that’s all.”
“I get it.”
Once I started talking, everything just sort of fell out of me. I’d wanted to tell someone for so long that it was just such a relief to have Jason to talk to. I told him everything. I even told him about every time I’d gotten beat up and about crying when I was strapped to the chair getting interrogated by Butler. He didn’t laugh even once, and when I was done, he just rubbed the back of his neck and kept muttering the word unbelievable over and over.
I let out a long sigh and felt about a million times better.
“This is crazy, Matt,” Jason said after a couple minutes. “Just crazy. I mean, when I saw the news about the station and how someone had blown the place up, I didn’t know what to think. I thought maybe Kalvin gave you the wrong stuff or something. It looked like a war zone out there.”
“I know,” I said. “I was there.”
He nodded. “But you’re a hero, Matt. You saved people. You saved a lot of people. And now you’re a CIA agent. You’re like double-oh-seven. Only cooler because you’re a kid. If you help shut these criminals down, you’ll be, like, a full-fledged spy.” He shook his head at me. “What are you going to tell your parents?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Absolutely nothing. I’ll let Dad think he sent me to a strict camp, and that I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll keep out of trouble.” I lifted my shoulders and shrugged. “Our pranks just don’t seem that important anymore.”
“I know what you mean,” Jason said. “After seeing what went down at the station, I’m not really interested in doing that kind of stuff anymore.”
That surprised me. Jason lived for pranks. I actually thought he’d love the fact that he’d been questioned by FBI and CIA. But the way he was acting, I believed that his pranking days were over.
Jason drew in a deep breath and stood tall. “I’ll help you. Whatever you need. Maybe you could even ask them if I could be your partner.”
“You’re my best friend, Jay,” I said. “I’ll ask them, and if they say no, I’ll still want your help.”
He held out his fist, and I bumped it with mine.
“So when do you think these criminals are going to contact you to give you your first mission?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. A week? A month maybe?”
The phone in my pocket vibrated, and I pulled it out. The screen was lit up with the name Alpha written across the display.
I blinked. “Or right now.”
-END—
About the Author
Steven Whibley has lived in British Columbia, Alberta, and Japan; volunteered in Thailand, Myanmar, and Columbia; explored the ruins of Tikal, Angkor Wat, and Cappadocia; and swum with sharks in Belize. The only thing he loves more than traveling the globe and exploring new cultures is writing books (and spending time with his wife and two year old son, Isaiah, of course). Whibley is the seventh of nine children, and uncle to 30 nieces and nephews (and counting).
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But Wait, There’s More!
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And please check out these other titles by Steven Whibley.
GLIMPSE
“Save them, Dean. Save them all….”
Dean Curse avoids attention the way his best friend Colin avoids common sense. Which is why he isn’t happy about being Abbotsford’s latest local hero – having saved the life of a stranger, he is now front page news. Dean’s reason for avoiding the limelight? Ever since his heroic act, he’s been having terrifying visions of people dying and they’re freaking him out so badly his psychologist father just might have him committed. Dean wants nothing more than to lay low and let life get back to normal.
But when Dean’s visions start to come true, and people really start dying, he has to race against the clock – literally – to figure out what’s happening. Is this power of
premonition a curse? Or is Dean gifted with the ability to save people from horrible fates? The answer will be the difference between life and death.
RELIC
Fourteen-year-old Dean Curse is still having horrifying visions of people in grave danger – visions that leave him a single day to save their lives. So far, he’s considered a few broken bones and a standing appointment in group therapy to be a small sacrifice compared to the good he’s done.
While learning more about the mysterious society that gave him the gift, Dean has a vision that leads him to believe a monk is going to rob a museum—if he’s right, the robbery will go very badly. But he can’t get the police to believe him. In fact, the authorities think Dean is at the root of all the trouble. Dean and his friends decide the only way to save a few lives is to take matters into their own hands, even if it means breaking a few laws. They have 24 hours to decide if the ends really do justify the means.
IMPACT
Coming Soon!
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CITY OF THE FALLING SKY
By Joseph Evans
Seckry Sevenstars is just settling in to life at his new school in Skyfall City when he finds a girl with no memory in the city’s largest science research facility.
What is her name? Why was she there? Were Endrin experimenting on her?
As Seckry and the girl determine to find out, they realise that some people will stop at nothing to keep what’s going on at Endrin under wraps.
http://www.theseckrysequence.com/
METAL AND FLESH
By Siesta Luista
50,000 years from now…
An ancient past shrouded in mystery and legend.
A people different than all the creator’s children.
A secret society with fantastic magical powers.
A city overthrown by a merciless warlord.
A young man in search of his destiny.
The Master Healer invites Aeden Rossam, a young nobleman, to join the Society of Healers and undertake a quest to liberate his enslaved city. With the enemy on their tail, the old man reveals that all of humanity are Rohvim—beings of metal, flesh, and fantastic powers, and that only by mastering his rohva nature will Aeden confront the warlord and put an end to the senseless devastation.
www.endiwebb.com
Table of Contents
Disruption
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
About the Author
But Wait, There’s More!
For More Heart-Pounding Adventures Check Out These Titles
Disruption Page 28