May 20th

The elevator door opened and I stepped onto the training floor. Immediately my chest was covered in tiny red lights and I was staring down the barrels of about 40 guns. I did the only thing I could do in a situation like that, I smiled.

"Honestly, I infiltrate a secret base, take out the leader of a terrorist organization, reroute his entire bank account to a little place in the Cayman Islands, do it all in time for afternoon tea, and 40 guns in my face is supposed to scare me. Try again."

In a single seamless motion I dropped to the floor and laid out a spray of bullets from the automatic I had held behind my back. People underestimate the power of a good shot to the knees. Half of the recruits went down with me, the difference being that they weren't able to spring back up the next second and make a run for the door on the other side of the room. I know what you're thinking; running the gauntlet through 20 armed grunts sounds like suicide, and for most people it might be, but I am not most people.

I knew these recruits, each and every one of them, we'd trained together, risen through the ranks together, and been recruited together. We were close as kin, and right now I used that to my advantage. As I ran along the length of the room they were hesitant to shoot and risk hitting each other. I didn't want to shoot them either, they didn't cause this, but I wasn't at all hesitant to stay low and take out more kneecaps. The recruits would recover, and I made it out the other door without so much as a bullet graze.

Once I hit the other side of the door I engaged the bolt, ripped out the keypad, and reloaded my guns. I may have gotten past the newest recruits, but there was still a lot of distance to cover if I wanted to end this. I heard the gunfire cease behind me as they realized I'd left the room. Soon they would start taking apart the door, so it was best that I get some distance.

I sprinted down the maze like hallways. To most they might have been confusing, but I knew them well, I'd grown up here after all. I faced a few guards along the way, and took them down with ease. I knew they were just a few left over guard dogs, the main force was waiting for me on the lower levels. The lights suddenly snapped off, someone had finally alerted command that I made it through the recruits. I couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped my lips, they'd waited almost ten minutes to call command, someone didn't want to admit to him that they failed, and I couldn't blame them. Of course I was prepared for this eventuality and swung the night vision goggles down over my eyes.

The air vent was a tighter squeeze than I remembered, but it was the quickest way to get to the command center. Not only that but I knew for a fact that he didn't know where these lead. Somehow, despite all of the action movies, people still ignored the usefulness of air vents. Sure, they welded the entrances or added deadly fans every few dozen feet, but never anything I couldn't get through, and never any armed guards. I vowed that if I ever built a secret base there wouldn't be air vents. I don't care if that's completely unrealistic. Soon I could hear voices, which let me know that the command center was near, it was time to see what I was up against.

From a very tight little corner of the vent system I had a clear view of the command center. Outside of the glass window I could see around 100 agents milling about, preparing for what they expected to be a head on attack. By comparison the command center itself was deathly quiet. The computer banks glowed dimly but only four of them were manned. I recognized Gerard and Emily, his right hand man and lead tech, but where was he. My eyes ran over and over the four people in the room again and again. He had to be there.

It was at that moment I saw a movement in the glass. There was his face, staring at the agents. He was right under me, just out of my view. I was out of options, there was no way to sneak this in quietly. Time to go for broke. I took a deep breathe, grabbed my guns, and kicked. The grill hit the floor seconds before I did. Before anyone could react I'd slammed the lock down button and the steel shield slammed down, cutting the command center off from the rest of the compound. A spray of bullets took out the four people at the computer screens, and then it was just me and him.

He stared at me, surprise evident on his face. I saw him twitch, thinking about getting his gun, but both of my pistols were already trained on him, I fired a warning shot past his knee. He froze, and I waved the pistol in my right hand at him. Without a word he grabbed his gun and tossed it my way. Now he was standing before me, seemingly unarmed, but I knew better than that. I knew about the knife up his sleeve, the gun in his pant leg, and I would never underestimate the power of his fists. Lucky for me he would never have a chance to get to any of them. I answered the question he was silently asking.

"Because I found out the truth, about what you do here, about who you work for, and about what happened to my mother. There is nothing you can say. Goodbye, father."

Then I shot him.