by Mike Ryan
“The next time someone hits me it’ll be the last mistake they make,” Cain stated, hoping it’d provoke them into doing it again.
It worked as the same man stepped in front of him again. He rose his arm up, ready to pounce, when Cain sprung up from the chair. He reached inside the man’s jacket and pulled out his gun, quickly firing into his midsection. He fell to the ground and Cain turned around and fired at the other two guards, hitting them in the chest before they had a chance to remove their weapons. Cain then turned his sights on the leader of the group who looked shocked at what just happened. He wasn’t armed and started backpedaling toward the wall. Cain circled around him as the man kept walking backwards until he found himself in the middle of the room. Cain made him sit in the chair as he started his own line of questions.
“Where am I?” Cain wondered.
“New York.”
“Who are you?”
“The Easter Bunny.”
Cain wasn’t amused and backhanded the man with the butt of the gun smacking him across the side of his face.
“Who put you up to this?”
“Santa Clause.”
Cain smacked him again with the gun, knocking him to the ground, and causing a deep cut on the man’s forehead.
“Last chance to tell me what you know,” Cain said.
The man stayed silent and Cain thought about putting a bullet in him but ultimately decided against it and instead kicked him across the face as he broke for the door. Cain peeked out the door and didn’t see anyone else out there and started down the hallway when lights and sirens started going off. He raced down the hallway and tried to open any doors he came across but they were all locked. Suddenly, he heard a commotion behind him as he turned around and saw a few men running toward him. He fired a couple shots in their direction and kept moving. He came across another door that was also locked but tried kicking it open. He knew he had to get the door open somehow or else he’d get captured again. He wasn’t going to be able to fend them off forever in that hallway. Cain desperately tried to open the door without any success. As the men moved closer he fired a few more shots. He ran out of bullets when the door suddenly opened behind him. He turned around and was shocked to see Sanders standing in the doorway. Since he wasn’t restrained in any way, Cain assumed Sanders was somehow involved in his kidnapping.
“Hello Cain,” Sanders said.
“What the hell are you doing to me?!” Cain yelled.
Cain put his hands on the collar of Sanders suit, ready to shake some answers out of him. Instead, Cain got knocked out cold, hit from behind as one of the guards slammed a gun into the back of his head.
“Take him to my office,” Sanders told them.
“What do you think?” the lead training officer asked.
“I think he’ll do nicely,” Sanders replied.
“I’m not sure it’s the best test for him.”
“He’s a former member of Delta Force. We already know he’s received great training. He doesn’t need more of that. I think we saw exactly what we needed to see.”
“Which was?”
“He’s willing and able to kill at a moments notice, without hesitation. He’ll do what it takes to survive. Those are the most important characteristics that an agent needs. Everything else is gravy. Those are the attributes that some men don’t possess. He does. He has them and he’ll use them.”
They took Cain to Sanders office, laying him on a couch, where he lay motionless for a couple of hours. Once he started coming out of it he looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. He quickly remembered what just transpired and jumped off the couch ready for a fight with someone. He scanned the room and after seeing no one, stood at ease. Cain looked at the pictures on the walls and walked over to the desk. He began rummaging through the drawers, not sure what he was looking for, but hoping to find anything that might explain what was going on. He took some papers out of the bottom drawer and saw a revolver sitting there. He heard the handle to the door jiggle and grabbed the gun. He pointed it toward the door and was ready to fire as soon as it opened. Cain was surprised to see Sanders and Lawson walk through the door. The pair stopped in their tracks once they saw the gun pointed at them.
“Put that thing away,” Sanders said.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow your head off right now,” Cain replied. “You set me up.”
“The first good reason is that you can’t. There’s no bullets in that gun.”
Cain briefly looked at the gun while it was still pointed at Sanders and pulled the trigger.
“Lucky for me I wasn’t bluffing,” Sanders noted.
Cain sighed and felt defeated already as he tossed the gun on the desk.
“Sit down so we can talk,” Sanders told him.
Cain ignored his wishes and continued to stand in a somewhat adversarial manner.
“Please,” Sanders pleaded, trying to de-escalate the situation. “Sit down.”
Cain looked at Lawson who nodded her head in agreement. After a few seconds deliberating with himself, he decided to comply, realizing he didn’t really have any other options but to comply with their wishes. He sat back down on the couch as Sanders sat on the edge of his desk.
“Everything you just went through was a test,” Sanders calmly stated.
“A test?” Cain snapped.
“Typically a new agent requires intensive field training that lasts anywhere from six months to a year. With your military background I thought waiting might not be in our best interest. I wanted to get you out in the field as soon as possible but I needed to see how good you were to bypass the training. So we devised this plan so nobody would get hurt but we’d find out about your abilities.”
“I shot three men for a test.”
“Wax bullets. I made sure all weapons were fitted for wax bullets for safety purposes. The men you shot are all fine.”
“You intentionally left me in a dark room, trying to starve me to death.”
“We had to see if you’d start to break. And we weren’t trying to starve you, we gave you a sandwich every day.”
“On stale bread.”
“I’ll have a word with our chef.”
“So how’d I do?”
“You did exceptional. I have no concerns. If we put you out in the field tomorrow I‘d expect outstanding results. If anything doesn‘t go according to plan I can see you have the necessary attributes to…” Sanders explained before his voice trailed off.
“To what?” Cain wondered.
“To survive.”
Cain sat there digesting the information, not sure what he should be feeling. Sanders could see Cain still had some doubts.
“Look, I can understand you’re a little agitated right now and I don’t blame you for it at all,” Sanders began. “But this is a tough business we’re in. It’s not for the weak minded or weak hearted. We need to make sure who we’re sending out there is up to the task. If you wanna go home and be pissed off for a while that’s OK. But we think you’ll be an asset to this agency and we think we can be an asset to you if you want help in trying to get your memory back.”
As Cain pondered Sanders words his initial anger slowly started to subside. He still wasn’t sure what they did was necessary to see what he could do, but he knew he would need some help in regaining his memory. He didn’t know who else he would be able to turn to.
“I tell you what, why don’t you go home and just think about things for a while. If you decide this isn’t right for you we won’t stand in your way. You’re free to go,” Sanders told him. “But I think you’ll come to the proper decision that this is where you belong. The right decision.”
“Go home? Where’s that?” Cain asked.
“We set you up with an apartment a few blocks from here. I’ll have someone take you there. Relax for a little bit.”
Cain knew he didn’t need to relax for a while, or think about it for a few hours. He was in. He figured if anyone had the
resources to help him get his memory back it’d be the government. He’d overlook this little stunt they created and do what was asked of him as long as the tricks ended there.
“I don’t need time to think,” Cain stated, standing up. “I’ll do it. But if anyone pulls something like this on me again I will make them wish they hadn’t.”
“Understood,” Sanders responded, smirking.
“I’ll take you to your place,” Lawson said.
“Before you leave, as a show of good faith, go over to the gun room,” Sanders said. “Pick out something you like.”
As Cain and Lawson left the room, Sanders pulled out his cell phone to make a call.
“Hey, it’s me,” Sanders said. “Are you free right now?”
“Yeah,” the voice on the other line replied.
“Good. I have a job for you right now. He’s on his way to his place in a few minutes. Could you be there waiting for him as a surprise?”
“Sure.”
“Good. I’ll pay you the usual fee.”
Lawson led Cain to the gun room, where it looked liked they had several hundred guns lined up. It was a small room that had a few tables locked together, not to mention shelves on the wall that were fully stocked with guns as well as ammunition. If the building was ever stormed by enemies they certainly had enough weapons and ammo to make the fight last a while. There were cameras at the door and inside the room to make sure nobody was taking guns out that was unauthorized to do so. Cain walked around the room, carefully analyzing some of the pieces, picking a few up to get a feel for them. A couple felt really comfortable to him, perhaps because they were active military weapons, which he probably had used previously even if he didn’t remember it. His eyes caught sight of a Sig Sauer M11 on the table. He picked it up and pointed it at the wall, instantly knowing he wanted it. He put it inside the back of his belt as he picked up a Glock 19, analyzing it thoroughly. He also shoved that inside his belt as he grabbed some ammunition boxes off the shelf.
“I’m taking these two,” Cain stated.
“Planning on starting your own little war?” Lawson replied.
“I like to be prepared.”
“That’s fine.”
Once they left, they went down to the garage, finding Lawson’s car. As they drove away, Lawson wanted to get to know her new agent better.
“I just want to let you know I wasn’t in favor of what they did to you this past week,” she told him.
“You weren’t?”
“No. I didn’t think it was necessary but I was overruled.”
“It’s fine. Thanks for the concern though,” Cain responded. “So how long have you been working here?”
“Seven years.”
“You like it?”
“For the most part. Like any other job, you have good days and bad. Some days are more stressful than others. But yeah, I do.”
“How’d you get mixed up in this?”
“I worked for the FBI as an analyst. One day, out of the blue, I was approached about a new agency that was starting. It was top secret, completely off the books, that nobody knew about. It seemed exciting so I joined up,” Lawson explained.
“I don’t even know what it’s called.”
“We have no official name. Unofficially we’re known as The Specter Project, or Project Specter.”
“Is there a meaning behind that?”
“Specter means ghost, or a source of terror.”
“I guess that does fit, huh? So you’re telling me nobody knows this agency exists? How’s that possible?” Cain asked.
“I don’t have all the answers either. I only know what they want me to know. He wasn’t lying when he said this is an ultra secret agency. As far as I can tell Sanders only reports to three or four people. Who those people are I don’t know.”
“I thought the CIA did this type of stuff.”
“The CIA has become too well known to do many of the tasks we’re now doing. Plus there’s too much red tape. Due to political pressures they’d simply be unable to do some of the things we do. We’re a completely unknown Black Ops division.”
They continued talking about the organization for a few minutes until they wound up at Cain’s apartment building.
“Well, here we are,” Lawson stated, handing Cain the keys to his apartment. “8th floor.”
“Thanks. What happens tomorrow?”
“Nothing. Now you wait for us to contact you about an assignment. Just take it easy.”
Chapter 3
Cain went into the building and took the elevator up to his apartment. He stood in front of the door to his apartment, trying to shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, and stared at the door for a few moments. He unlocked it, and pushed it open without stepping inside. He took a few steps in, carefully surveying his surroundings, trying to notice if anything seemed strange. Suddenly, music started blaring from the bedroom, the door flying open. Cain immediately withdrew the Glock pistol from his belt, waiting for a figure to emerge in the doorway. A few seconds later the outline of his visitor became visible, causing Cain to relax the finger he pressed on the trigger with. He let his arm fall to the side, the pistol bouncing off his leg. The scantily clad woman dancing in his bedroom eased any fears he previously had. Cain put the pistol back in his belt before barging past the tight skirted blonde, whose ample cleavage was barely contained in her dress. He didn’t pay much mind to her as he found the booming stereo and turned it off.
“Wrong kind of music?” she innocently asked.
Cain walked past her again, once again not looking at her, on his way to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat down on a bar stool at the counter, finally looking at his visitor.
“Who are you? What do you want? And how’d you get in here?” Cain finally asked.
“I have a special key,” she teased. “And I’m your birthday present.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“Well then I guess it’s just your lucky day.”
Cain continued to just sit there drinking his water. The woman was starting to get confused, unsure of Cain’s uninterested behavior. She hadn’t encountered that kind of resistance before.
“So if you don’t want me to dance what would you like me to do?” she asked. “Should I wait in bed for you?”
“Actually, I’d kind of like you to leave,” Cain replied.
“What?”
“I don’t know who put you up to this but I’m not interested.”
“You’re not interested? How can you not be interested? What’s wrong with you? Are you some kind of weirdo or something?”
“I guess you could say that,” Cain said as he got up to open the door.
The woman sighed and walked over to him. She closed the door and slowly caressed his chest with her fingers. Cain closed his eyes and grabbed her wrists, moving them off his body. He went back over to the counter to grab his water. The woman followed him.
“Is there something wrong with me? Not your type? What?”
“You’re a beautiful woman. But I’m just not interested right now,” Cain told her.
“Wow. You’re really a challenge, aren’t you?”
Cain rolled his eyes, unsure of what else he could say to get the woman to leave, and walked over to the couch.
“Look, I’m tired, I’ve had a long day, and I really just want to relax for a little bit,” Cain said.
“That’s what I’m here for. To help you relax. Listen, if we don’t do anything here then I don’t get paid,” she said in frustration.
“Who’s paying you?”
“Sanders.”
“Why?”
“He uses me every now and then for his employees.”
“Do you know what we do?” Cain wondered.
“I just know that you work for the government. Sanders says you guys are in frequent high stress situations and need to get the tension out.”
Cain grinned and let out a slight la
ugh.
“So does that mean you’re ready?” the woman hopefully asked.
“What’s your name, anyway?”
“Destiny.”
Cain looked at her, tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in amusement.
“Destiny? Really? What’s your real name?” Cain asked.
“That is my real name.”
“You gotta do better than that.”
The woman looked up, biting her lip, and reluctantly replied. “Heather,” she said. “Listen, I’d really like to get paid for this, so if you’re still not interested, just sit back and I’ll do all the work.”
“You’re persistent.”
“I get paid a lot of money for this.”
“How’s Sanders gonna know nothing happened if you just walked out of here right now?” Cain asked.
“I don’t know, it’s Sanders, he knows everything. Wouldn’t surprise me if he had this place bugged or cameras somewhere.”
“Well if it makes you feel better you can stay a while,” Cain said as he laid on the couch.
“That’s more like it,” she replied as she walked toward him.
“Oh, no, no, you can sit on that one,” he said, pointing to the sofa across from them.
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered to herself as she walked to the sofa, sitting down.
“If it helps, if anyone asks, I’ll tell them you were great,” Cain informed her.
“Thanks. Are we gonna do anything at all tonight?”
“Yeah. We can talk if you want.”