Agent 34 (Book 1)

Prologue - Something's Wrong

Melanie's POV

"Alright, you guys know the drill. Get in get out, don't be seen," Ian said as he stuffed a gun in his back waistband, pulling his jacket down to conceal it.

"Noelle, Ryan, you two are to stay in the lobby. Cause a distraction but don't get caught. Alejandra, Melanie, you two know the drill. You're getting in through the air vents. Melanie, you're going straight to the computer mainframe and getting a layout of the place, you'll be giving us directions on which way to go. Alejandra you're going to disable the security systems floor by floor as we go. The controls for that are in the head of the security's office. Eric and I will go up floor by floor to get what we came here for. Try to leave no trace of ever being here," Ian added in and we all nodded our understanding.

I pulled the black beanie lower over my head and tucked my curly light brown hair into it. Alejandra gave me a look that asked if I was ready as she pulled on her own beanie over her bun of dark brown hair. Both of us in the same get-up. Black pants, long-sleeved black shirts, gloves, and converse sneakers. I slipped on the climbing harness over my clothes same as Alejandra.

"Ready when you are," I told her and she nodded as she threw open the trap door in the bottom of the van we were all camped out in.

"One more thing," Ian called out as Eric leaned down the trap door to remove the sewer grate from the street below for us.

"Only use numbers when communicating over comms," We all chorused in unison. Ian gave us a look of irritation. Mostly directed at Eric's high pitched representation of him.

"You say it every time we've got a mission," Noelle said calmly. "It's kind of drilled into our brains by now."

"And that's not necessarily a good thing," Alejandra added dryly before jumping down through the trap door straight into the sewer with no hesitation.

Ian made a face down the hole where she had disappeared. "Sometimes I worry about her."

I smiled widely as I moved into position. "Hey," I started off, getting his attention. "You have to be half insane to be an agent."

I gave him a mock salute before following Alejandra's example and jumping down into the hole. I braced myself for the impact and as I soon as I landed a bright light was shone into my face. I blocked it with my arms.

"Really Nineteen? Is that seriously necessary?" I questioned when she still didn't lower the flashlight.

"Just making sure you're not someone you shouldn't be." She shined her light around the tunnel. "I'm too young to die," She joked, or at least, I thought she was joking. It was impossible to tell with her. She had one tone of voice and three different facial expressions. Anger, usual unreadable expression, and occasionally a small smile. That was it.

I pinched my nose shut with my fingers. "It smells worse and worse the further down you go," I grumbled as we moved further down the tunnel. "Seriously how do you stand this?"

She shrugged. "Use to it I guess," She said as she stepped over a pipe running along the floor. "Grew up using the sewers as a sort of secret passage system throughout my city. It was a better alternative to using the streets where you were most certainly going to get shot. Most of the kids just began using the sewers to get to school instead, and then eventually for everything else."

She talked about her past like it was no big deal. Like it was something everyone had to go through. Like it was something everyone's already experienced, and there was no point trying to explain to her otherwise. She's got a very negative view of the world and the people in it. To her, the world itself was downright evil and cruel. There was no point trying to convince her of anything else.