These stories are meant to be read serially.

I went around doing my mundane tasks for months, doing little actions, at times wondering if I were doing any good. I did ascertain there were other agents besides Jennifer and myself, who were not trained to the extent we were, but not enough to keep me from my everyday simple tasks.

But then, Simon told me I had access to the records of what we were trying to avert and if my actions had accomplished anything, or if they had failed and someone else had to try something else. I cheered up as I saw that I had managed to foil some very pernicious designs and, almost always, the next operation had succeeded.

But, of course, sometimes anything we tried hadn't worked so far. This one time I had been sent to let the air out of a tire to keep a meeting from taking place. It didn't work, he saw the tire and called a cab. Then I tried to delay a shipment of chemicals, harmless by themselves, but deadly when mixed with others, by disabling a truck. If it hadn't been shipped it would have thrown off their whole timetable. They rented another truck.

As I've told you before, every time one of our actions failed it brought the probabilities of the happening come closer to fruition. After try after try of relatively harmless actions we were getting very uncomfortably closer to the event they were planning. We had tried going to the authorities in the area where they were, but they were complicit in the plot and not only ignored the warning but almost captured our agent.

At a meeting with Simon, Jennifer, and myself, we discussed what we could do, as time was short and the possibility of the event happening close to certitude. Obviously, they were attempting an explosion, which would have not only killed many world leaders, but heightened tensions between nations which could have led to conditions of great world wide hunger.

We decided on a course of action that led to one of those rare times when we had to revert to drastic activities. If we could set off the explosives where they were being stored, which was in a very remote area, it would stop the assassinations without innocent casualties.

However, that brought up other problems. We had to have direct access to the chemicals. They were heavily guarded and we didn't want to kill any of the guards, if possible, as they may have been unknowing hire hands. Somehow we would have to lure as many of the guards as possible away while getting inside ourselves. I quickly found out it wouldn't be “ourselves” but “myself” going inside while other agents would create a distraction to tempt them the guards to leave their posts.

Well, I had asked for it.

We had very good videos of the area and overhead pictures, too. They showed the guard rotations and the ground plans. There was a large concrete block building with no windows and only two entrances, one a very strong, large overhead steel door and the pedestrian entrance was almost a vault door. The whole compound was surrounded by a high fence with concertina wire on top and high voltage signs all over it.

There were outside guards and inside guards divided by the fence. The outside guards had a variety of huts where they slept, rested, and ate. They patrolled a good distance out from the compound on a predictable timetable. I assumed, but wasn't sure, that these guards were hired.

The inside guards never left the area inside the fence and were not predictable to any extent. They were constantly coming and going, day and night, from the building where they obviously lived. All the guards were heavily armed and the inside guards even had some heavy weapon emplacements.

The whole area was covered by trip wires, booby traps, and cameras covering all ways of covert access, except one. The only way we could see for me to get into the compound was by a HALO parachute drop. This a high altitude, low opening jump where you leave the plane at, up to, 35,000 feet, that's over 6-1/2 miles up, but then you open your chute very close to the ground. As you are falling quite fast, and the parachute isn't open, you're chances of being detected by radar are negligible. Still, this was not going to be a walk in the park, by any assessment.

The night of the operation I was sitting in a plane somewhere above 30,000 ft., waiting for a radio signal to jump. If all went as planned, there were numerous agents on the ground sending in small drones to set off the booby traps, alternating from one area to another. The outside guards were used to one or two going off every night as animals set them off, but when they started going off in numbers all around they started to become quite agitated I learned later.

Then the inside guards were getting disturbed and manned their heavy weapon emplacements. More of them came from the main building and set up a perimeter just inside the fence.

That's when I received the jump signal. The plane was quickly depressurized and I started sucking on an oxygen bottle. Because of the enhancements I had been given, my body didn't need the heavy clothing usually needed for this type of jump. I still felt the cold, and freezing it was at this altitude, enhanced by the speed I was falling. It could take up to eight minutes to fall until I could open the chute, and I hoped nothing untoward was happening to upset our plan as I couldn't very well turn around and go back.

I could see very well as I fell because of the superior sight I'd been given and it looked alright. Although there were guards on the roof, they were around the perimeter and it was a very large building.

I checked my altimeter and popped my black chute some higher than 1000 ft. The chute I had was purposely a slow opening type so when it opened it didn't create the popping sound normally heard. It opened fully enough to break my fall and then almost immediately I landed on the roof of the main building.

I quickly checked my surroundings as I pack up my chute and stashed it under some equipment nearby.

I had a pack with some equipment in it and I stashed that too as I didn't see any need for it right away. I had what I thought I'd need in my baggy pockets.

I couldn't reasonably break through the roof with all these guards around, so that was my first objective. They were moving around quite a bit in ones and twos, so I figured if I took some out they wouldn't be missed right away. I hoped. It wasn't very difficult with my extra speed and strength to sneak up on them, jerk their weapon away with one hand and choking with the other so they couldn't call out. The choking hand also had a devise fastened to it that injected a fast acting, long duration knockout potion. As I disposed of them I hid them as well as I could behind a fence that encircled some other equipment I think was air conditioning.

There was a hatch hidden on the roof I hadn't noticed previously and hadn't shown up on the photos as it was almost covered by a heavy weapons emplacement. This was in almost constant use as guards were constantly coming and going through it. This was undoubtedly an amateur operation as I didn't see any indication of command structure. It looked like it was every man for himself which I was extremely thankful for. It seemed that no one missed the guards I'd disposed of.

I was hidden from view again behind some equipment, contemplating my next move when I noticed something. Do you know that feeling you sometimes get that someone is staring at you? It seems humans do have that talent, some with more, some less, but quite atrophied in most of us. The aliens found it in our psyche and amplified it greatly it mine. Gave me almost a type of radar.

There was someone behind me and he was not close enough to take him out without him getting off a shot. That wouldn't have harmed me but would have hurt like hell and would certainly call attention to me and would have brought more of them.

He shouted, but not loud enough to call more of them, “Who are you, and what are you doing up here?”

I spun and acted startled. “What the hell are you doing pointing a gun at me? Get that gun off me or I'll make sure you get thrown out of the movement and you know what that means for your future.”

Apparently he did. He lowered the muzzle but still looked puzzled. “Who are you? I don't think I've seen you before.”

“I came in with the last shipment and been checking the goods downstairs and haven't been around much. I came up here to see if everything was alright before I called in.”

This guy sure wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, as he lowered his rifle all the way and walked up to me and said, “I didn't know any of the higher ups were around. I'm sorry I threw down on you.”

I replied, “Okay, forget it, you just scared the hell out of me, sneaking up like that.”

I could have taken him out as I did the others, but thought maybe I could use him and started walking toward the roof hatch. “What's your name and what do you do here?”

He looked at me with new respect as he assumed I was higher in the hierarchy than he was and answered, “I'm Jim, and I'm a just a guard like everyone else here. I thought all the bosses left on the last helicopter, and I didn't know any others had come.”

We were close to the hatch by now so I smiled at him, put a hand on his shoulder, and said, “Jim, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I just was startled when you yelled.”

The two guards in the gun emplacement studied us for a few moments, but seeing that Jim and I were the best of friends, went back to looking out and down. I had motioned for Jim to precede me down the stairs and kept him in conversation as proceeded down the stairs. We met a few guards coming up but they just looked at me and seeing Jim was in front, not guarding me, and talking with me continued on their way.

I was acting very nonchalant but certainly didn't feel that way, My mind was trying to figure every contingent I could think of. My enhanced vision could take in the large room we were descending into without staring around like a tourist. There was military hardware in abundance. I could see tanks and artillery parked in rank after rank. I suspected there was a coup somewhere in the plans.

I also saw, off to the side, a couple of guards standing post in front of the door to a smaller, but still quite large, enclosure. From the stairs I could see over the walls of the room. There it was, the components of the explosion I had to stop.

When we reached the floor I continued to walk and talk with Jim. He seemed content to continue with me as we walked up to the side of the enclosure and down a hall aside it until we reached a room with other supplies piled almost to the ceiling. Jim looked around and then looked at me, puzzled. I smiled, reached up as if to put my hand on his shoulder again, and injected him in the neck artery. I really did feel a little sorry, as Jim was almost a halfwit, and probably didn't know what was really going on.

I picked him up and threw him on top of what I think were bags of flour. He couldn't be seen and I threw his rifle after him.

Suddenly, a klaxon horn gave a blare. I walked down the hallway until I could see most of the main room. It looked like someone had kicked over a beehive. Guards were rushing around but I could see no coherence to their motion. From the yells between them, the horn meant a helicopter was arriving.

I didn't think I had much time to accomplish my task as the arrival of a chieftain of this bunch of incompetents could only bode ill for me. I went back down the hall until I was behind the enclosure, jumped up and over the wall. The wall itself seemed to be made of fairly thick steel and I estimated the wall itself to be between ten or twelve feet high. That height was not a hindrance to my new muscles, but with the guards at the door, emphasized the importance of the contents.

I quickly surveyed the different chemicals, components, and liquids that were here and thanked whoever had administered the knowledge to me while I had no body. One of the courses was advanced chemistry, which I was able to use to good results quickly.

I found some containers that held innocuous contents, emptied them, and used them to mix a brew that emitted a noxious gas in huge volumes as it billowed over the walls of the enclosure. I mixed a second mixture that sent off a cascade of sparks that were relatively harmless but considering what the guards thought was in here created a panic that echoed and re-echoed in the enclosed space.

They might have been human dregs but weren't too stupid. I could hear the heavy door slam into the wall as it was thrown open and screaming panicky men exited. Even the large overhead door rumbled up as they scrambled away.

I had just finished preparing a third, very explosive, mixture that should ignite all of the remaining contents of the room when I heard the entry door to the room being unlocked. I quickly hid my mixture amidst some containers of very potent chemicals and pulled from my pocket a small timing ignition devise. I set to 15 minutes and put it on top of my mixture and retreated to the back of the room.

I could see with my infrared vision through the fumes as they entered but they couldn't see me. The first ten men coming in were probably the bodyguards of the second group and must have flown in with them. They were not the undisciplined crew that were here before. They all had gas masks on so weren't bothered by the fumes except it inhibited their sight. They spread out quickly and started moving forward, darting from cover to cover.

The second group came in cautiously, but yelling and ordering their men to put out the small, harmless fires. This group of five were dressed in business suits and, to a man, were quite portly. Instead of trying to put out the fires themselves they kept demanding their men do it. I had no doubt I was seeing the head of this cabal.

The body guards correctly paid no attention to their demands and continued forward. That's exactly what I wanted so I started throwing any small item I could find to tease thm into thinking I was helpless and panicking. When the bodyguards had reached a little past the middle of the room I jumped up and caught the top of the wall and went over it.

Quickly running to around to the door of the room, I slammed it shut, turned over a nearby truck and shoved it against the door jamming into the metal so it was almost welded in place

After a few minutes of hearing them trying to force the door, I could hear some of them trying to climb the smooth walls. That was undoubtedly the business suited ones. The others must have climbed on their companions shoulders as they all came over the wall. The last few must have convinced the suited ones to allow them to use their shoulders so they could open the door from outside. Once they were all out they did try to move the truck, but not very hard.

They looked at each other, shrugged, and left at top speed. A few minutes later I heard the helicopter lift off. After retrieving Jim from the flour bags, I threw him over my shoulder, and left the scene myself, at top speed. I gained at least a couple of miles before the explosion's shock wave almost pushed me over. I left Jim asleep under a tree, gained a few more miles and radioed for my pickup.

Another task completed by The Agent.

As always, I welcome comments and/or criticism. I would also appreciate a vote.