Posted, as requested
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A piece of paper was on the table in front of me. I knew that it meant the end of my career. One of three things could happen:
1.) Retire a wealthy person
2.) Get caught and go to jail for life
3.) Get killed
I knew I couldn’t refuse the offer. It would be the most difficult assignment of my career, but it would be worth it.
Assignment: Abduct world leader Andrei Bender. Hide him and make a ransom demand. Upon receiving the ransom, execute him and send his body to the World Parliament (WP).
This would take careful planning, I mentally went through my team:
Locutus – Martial arts and explosives expert.
Tawakalna – sadistic weapons expert
Zeratural – Escape artist
Chetnik – Jack of all trade in things that fly
Arcon – Jack of all trades in things moving on water
Myself – Electronics expert
These were each one’s speciality, but each of us could do the other’s job and much, much more. I started getting a message ready for them. The only place where I could effectively contact them all, was on a website called The Lancers Reactor.
I laughed out loud when I thought about all the big projects we organised on the site. Right under everyone’s noses, to think they would laugh about our “jokes” and even make suggestions which have helped us much in the past.
I thought about where the guys are. Locutus is in Holland refining his skills, as well as conducting classes in the safety of explosives. Entry to these classes is strictly controlled.
Tawakalna is in England. He is working at the weapon factory, overseeing the safe exports of the weapons. Making sure no weapons ended up in the hands of terrorists.
Zeratural is in Mexico. He is helping the government to find loopholes in their border protection. Every once in a while he will try to escape to US soil, if he gets there, the government knows that they have another loophole to fix.
Chetnik is in Serbia. He owns a flight school, teaching people to fly any kind of plane. Entry to the school is strictly controlled. He has recently found a new cause to fight for, her name is Mau.
Arcon is also in England. He owns a dockyard where he learns people how to stay afloat. Selected people get trained on his nuclear submarine.
Myself I am in South Africa, apparently busy with my final year of school. When I was younger I hated looking 8 years younger than my real age, now I embraced it. I have two weeks of exams left, then it will be prom week and then a week of holidays. A plan began forming on my mind. I went to my computer and started typing.
It was the weekend after I got the assignment. A meeting was planned, we would get together in my house in the Kruger National Park. The only way of getting there was by helicopter, you could try reaching it on foot or on horseback, but with all the wild animals roaming around it was extremely dangerous. Locutus, Tawakalna, Zeratural, Arcon and myself were already there. We were waiting impatiently for Chetnik. Finally we saw his helicopter approaching.
When the copter landed we were very surprised to see two people getting out and walking towards us. We were even more surprised when we saw that the second person was a girl. Chetnik spoke as soon as they were in hearing distance “Hey guys, sorry I’m late, this is Mau.”
I looked at him and pointed to the house, he gave Mau a reassuring look and walked after me to the house. When we were inside, I turned to him “You know this is against the rules, this is supposed to be a top secret meeting, no-one outside the group are supposed to know about it.”
His shoulders sagged a little “I’m sorry, but you know how I feel about Mau and she can help us”
“You know that we don’t use outside help, that’s the reason we never fail”
“Her sister is Andrei’s secretary”
That shut me up. I looked outside to where the other guys were admiring Mau. “fine she can stay, but as soon as there are fights about her she leaves, and I promise you, if she compromises security I will kill her myself.”
I turned around and walked toward Mau, shaking her hand “Welcome aboard, I’ll let Chet show you your room and tell you the rules.”
As the two of them walked toward the house I turned to the other guys who was staring at her. “Listen you guys, her sister is Andrei’s secretary, that is the reason why she is allowed to stay here. She will be a great help, but I’m telling you now, stay away from her. I do not want any fighting, she is Chetnik’s girl and she will stay Chetnik’s girl”
My attention was drawn to Arcon and Zeratural who were looking extremely sour “What is it you guys?” Zeratural just looked away, but Arcon immediately attacked “The rules say that no-one outside the group are allowed to know what we are doing, why should it change now?”
I looked at my watch “Our first meeting is in an hour, we can discuss Mau’s presence then, before we start planning” I turned around and walked toward the house. Inside I could hear Chetnik and Mau laughing.
It was an hour later, we were all gathered in the living room around the table. Each of us had a plate of food in front of us, we were eating like kings. Roasted Springbok baked potatoes, sweet carrots, sweet corn and sweet potatoes. In our glasses we had Esquilax Gingerbeer. The most expensive brand of gingerbeer in the world.
We finished eating and started talking business. I cleared my throat “OK, first of all we have to talk about Mau, do we allow her to stay, or do we get rid of her?”
Chetnik jumped up “No-one is touching Mau!”
“Sit down Chetnik, you knew the rules, now let the team decide” My voice was harsh, it had to be. Chetnik sat down slowly, Mau gripped his hand assuring.
I looked around the table at each guy “On the one side we’ve got the rules stating that no-one but The Group may know about these meetings or about the assignments. Because of this we’ve been successful in all our assignments and no one knows about The Group’s existence. On the other side Mau is Chetnik’s girlfriend, she already knows about us. She knows someone close to Andrei, she is also a qualified doctor and trained in close combat. You’ve got five minutes to think about it, what do we do?”
The five minutes ticked by slowly. I already knew what I would vote. Finally the five minutes were over “OK guys, lets have it, Locutus?”
“She can stay if she is prepared to join The Group”
“Tawakalna?”
“She can stay, but if Chetnik’s reason is clouded by worry about her, we should get rid of her”
“Zeratural?”
“She can stay”
“Arcon?”
“As soon as we fail a mission she leaves”
I was relieved, the guys agreed more or less. I turned to Mau “Are you willing to join The Group?”
She answered without hesitation “Yes”
I looked around the table again “Everyone happy now?” Heads nodded and I decided that we would continue the meeting the next day. “Guys I think it’s best that we all get some rest now and take some time to come to terms with the new situation. We will meet at ten tomorrow morning.”
I went outside and climbed into my favourite tree. I was just in time to see a breathtaking sunset. I stayed in the tree as darkness descended. I sat there thinking about how things would change from now on. The Group has existed and been the same for 8 years now. Now changes would have to be made.
Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:14 am 
I've run out of places to put the things, so please mail me if you want a copy, addy is in my profile. The characters in this are Locutus, Tawakalna, Zeratural, Chetnik, Arcon, Mau and myself
"wolfy" on 9/10/2004 10:26:50 PM