Exiting the bedroom dressed just over an hour later, we were sat in the same chairs we’d sat in when taking off when Jenkinson popped his head through the cockpit door. “Good rest?” he asked.
“Aye,” I replied.
“Good. We’re half an hour out. You will be collected and driven to your new home. Journey time will be around two hours. It’s incredibly isolated, for obvious reasons. Once you arrive, you’ll be shown to your quarters before the Director introduces himself and explains what you will face over the coming months. Any last minute questions?”
“No. I’ll wait to hear what all this about before asking anything.”
“Good choice.”
Jennifer held my hand on the descent, only letting it go once we’d unbuckled and we were disembarking. Grabbing my large backpack, I looked around to see we were on a runway and that was it. No other buildings were about. At the edge of the runway was one of those big American SUVs. Maybe a 4×4? Whatever it was, it was a truck. Blacked out windows. Massive wheels. That sort of thing.
“Captain Smith?” one of the men asked.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“I’m Agent Jones.” Another Agent Jones. Wonder how many there were? “This is Agent Wilson.”
He nodded at me and opened the door. “Take a seat. We’re looking at a two-hour drive to your new home.”
Ever the gentleman, I made sure Jennifer slid inside first, throwing my backpack in the back of the truck, wishing the two pilots who’d flown us thanks and good luck, before I slid in beside Jennifer, the two men sat in front of us, and they had us joining the nearby road within a couple of minutes. I had no idea where we were. They said Montana but we could have been anywhere in the world, considering it was the middle of the night.
“You’ve been to the United States before?” Jones asked.
“A couple of times. Worked alongside your Marines while I was training. Couple more times to participate in war games.”
“Ever been to Montana?”
“No.”
They both chuckled up front. “Don’t worry, you’re not missing much and you’ll be far too busy to play tourist anyway.”
Turning off what I figured was a main road, we ended up climbing, Jennifer explaining we were in the western part of the state and within the Rocky Mountains. My knowledge of American geography wasn’t great. Certainly couldn’t place all fifty states on a map (Texas or California, yes; Rhode Island or Vermont, no), but I’d heard of the Rockies, at least.
The truck turned onto a track, driving for at least another fifteen minutes before we arrived at a large wooden cabin. I shared a glance with Jennifer, left wondering where the hell we were. Stepping out, I grabbed my backpack, following the two agents and Jennifer into the wooden cabin. There were no signs of life, the furniture covered in dust…
And it was a front. Of course it was.
“Everything is underground,” Jones explained as we stepped onto the platform that immediately started to lower, “I haven’t even asked how much it all cost to set up.”
“You know, if I wasn’t living this, I’d believe I was in some spy novel or something,” I stated.
“Well, fiction is about to meet reality, Captain,” Jones suggested.
The descent took a couple of minutes, left thinking wherever we were headed had been built and buried in the very mountains themselves. Doors opened once the platform locked into place, exiting out into an illuminated room, semi-circular desk ahead behind which sat a lone woman. She looked up and smiled, seeming to recognise me straight away.
“Ah, Captain Smith. We’ve been awaiting your arrival. You’re the last of the recruits. Nice journey?”
I glanced at Jennifer, who didn’t meet my eyes, though I saw the slight smile. “I have no complaints.”
Rounding the desk, she offered her hand. “Though we all have titles here, please, just call me Emily.”
“Then I’m Nate, I guess until things change.”
She nodded in understanding. “They’ll change rather quickly. Please, follow me. You too, Agent Muller. Jones, Wilson, you can go relax.”
Following Emily, I moved closer to Jennifer. “So you’re Agent Jennifer Muller?”
“Yes.”
“Now I’m going to have to figure out your original surname too.”
She leaned closer to my ear. “Give me some more of that dick, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she whispered.
Led towards a hallway along which a series of doors were lined to either side, Emily stopped at a door and opened it. “This is where you will be quartered. Each agent in training shares with a fellow trainee. You’ll meet your roommate with all the others once you’ve dumped your things. Jennifer will remain with you through your induction, then she’ll return to her other duties.” Emily glanced away from me at her. “Agent Muller, I would suggest you wipe that look from your face before meeting the Director.”
“Fuck…”
Emily smiled as she looked me up and down. “Oh honey, don’t mind me, I approve. But you know he’s a stickler at times. He’d rather you have waited until he was trained before you leapt on him.” I snorted as I dumped my bag on the empty bed. Joining them outside, Emily looked at me again. “Well, if Jennifer has already got her claws into you, I think you might just enjoy your roommate.”
“If she’s a woman, I probably will.”
Following Emily, we ended up walking out into what could only be called a cavern. One wall was covered in screens, seeming to show news items, cameras and just an overload of information. Two sides of the room had rows of men and women behind computers. The technology on display beggared belief. I know I looked around, slack-jawed and probably looking like an idiot. Done that more than once in my life.
Jennifer took my forearm and led me towards a group of people standing nearby. I knew I was one of a dozen recruits, so it was easy to figure out who they were. At least six, including myself, wore some sort of armed forces uniform. The other six wore the sort of suits that suggested they perhaps had worked for other intelligence services.
“Captain Smith,” the man in the grey suit said, “Glad you’re here. We’ll make introductions to your fellow recruits in a minute, but I’m the Director. No name. No initials. Just the title. If you’re wondering where you are, this is the headquarters of an agency you would have never heard of before. The Organisation of Global Intelligence Services (O.G.I.S).
Colloquially, we are simply known as ‘The Org’.”
*****
A/N — I told you we were heading off into the world of fiction and fantasy. Comments and feedback appreciated as always. And I’m sure reaction is going to be mixed because I’ve moved away from the category of the first ten chapters, though I do hope some of you do enjoy the adventure ahead.