‘For gods sake’ Kayla screams as she looks down at the letter in despair. A recall back to active service with the USAF (United States Air Force).
‘Why now’? She sighs with all the frustration and anxiety flowing freely through her voice. She has not long buried her father after a short illness with bowel cancer. On top of that they never truly came to terms with each other at the fact that she joined the Air Force instead of staying in their little Californian town and settling down and having kids. He always thought the armed forces was a man's occupation and war wasn’t for women.
Looking at the letter again she starts to feel completely lost. This was always going to be her last tour but she still has a year left of service to complete. Where as before she saw the forces as an escape not just from her town and life but also a way to travel and learn in way she could never do. Now she just felt stuck in a job she doesn’t want at a time she needs to mourn and come to terms with things.
Realising she just has no options here, she pushes her feelings down about loosing her dad and begins to search her old room for the belongings she wants before going back to base. Her return date is tomorrow but its a 6 hour drive to base and she knows she hasn't got much time to get her mind straight and her things together before she has to head off. Duty first after all.
She puts her bag on the bed in her room and starts to rummage through, checking what’s already in there and what needs to be added. She turns round to go get an old coin that her father kept in his draw in his office for good luck when there’s a loud knock at the door. ‘Bloody hell who could that be now’ she says aloud to no one in particular. Deciding she cant just ignore it, her dad had a lot of friends in the town after all, she turns quickly and heads down stairs to the front door.
Expecting maybe Mr Kurak her dads neighbour, good friend and drinking buddy for the last 7 years she forces a smile on her face and opens the door. To her surprise there stands a man she’s never seen before. Nearly 6 feet tall in a crisp black suit and tie with buzz cut hair smiling at her like he knows some sort of inside joke. She recognises the military hair cut and the way he stands to attention even when he’s trying to come across as relaxed. Her smile instantly falls from her face.
‘Can I help you?’ she asks.
‘Miss Roberts? Kayla Roberts?’
‘Yes I’m her, what’s this about?’ She starts to clench her teeth, this guy is plain trouble.
‘Miss Roberts I’m Agent One with the Delta Corps, Its a special joint task force between the Secret Service and Homeland Security and I want your help’. He pauses
‘Let me be frank Miss Roberts, I want you to help us win the war in the Middle East.’
Stunned Kayla just stands there staring in dis-belief, what’s this guys deal? And why do they want her for whatever it is they have planned?
‘May I come in and discuss everything Miss Roberts’?
Without saying a word she moves to one side and gestures Agent One to come in. Turning round she lead him into the kitchen dining room, standing next to the table using it as a support as she’s completely unsure her legs can hold the weight of her body up any more.
Without waiting for Kayla to say, Agent One pulls a chair out from the dining room table and sits at the one end farthest away from her.
She knows what he’s doing. Sitting down so he is smaller than her and looks less threatening, sitting as far away as possible. All little things that show this man has had government training, he’s a manipulator. And suddenly her senses are on red alert.
‘I was sorry to hear about your father Kayla, I’m sure the loss is still very raw to you’.
Anger surging through her, blood boiling, she turns on him ‘I don’t need your sympathy Mr Agent’! She takes a step toward him ‘you didn't know him and I don't appreciate you bringing it up, why don’t you get to why your really here’?
‘Of course Miss Roberts, I apologise. I didn’t mean to cause any offence’. He sighs, clearly it wasn’t his intention to offend her. Feeling a bit bad she reigns her temper in and takes a seat at the opposite end of the table and waits for Agent One. His move.
‘As you know the war in the Middle East has gone on for nearly 20 years. Every time we think we’re making progress a change in government either there or at home changes the situation and we never are able to get the whole job done. My agency wants to change that. We believe yourself with your flight knowledge, aerial combat experience and fighting prowess’. He smiles a creepy I know smile at her ‘can help’. She knows full well this guy has got a file on her, and in some detail, she would hazard a guess.
‘And how were you thinking I could help you accomplish this goal of yours’? Leaving all the irony and contempts lingering in her voice.
Without skipping a beat he pulls a small blue metallic box out of his pocket and places it on the table, he pushes it so it scrapes across the table till it’s in front of Kayla
‘With this’, he states matter of factly.
Looking dumbfounded at him, ‘A box’?
Agent One lets out a shrill laugh, Kayla can only assume he has never laughed in his life or is clearly is out of practice.
‘No Miss Roberts, press the button in the middle of the box and you’ll see what I mean’.
Nervous, but a sense of intrigue that she’s never felt before, she slowly presses the button in the middle of the box.
Before she has time to pull her finger away the box reaches out for her and clamps tightly around her wrist. Feeling the cold encompass her hand it expands all around until her hand is completely covered and becomes what would normally be a rudder wing on a small aircraft.
‘What the hell is this’? She says, completely astounded at what she is seeing and feeling ‘This is like some sort of future Iron Man sort of tech’.
Laughing again, agent one gets up and walks toward Kayla.
‘This is just a sample of the tech we have been able to develop, if you come with me I can show you much more. But it means leaving this life and the Air Force behind’.
Before where she was feeling forced into going back and not having a choice she feels a new found surge in energy. For the first time she smiles in weeks.
‘Where do we start’?
End.........
