When I walked in there was a cards game going on in the middle of the room. I spotted Daniel sat on his bunk walking over and gently tapping him on the shoulder. "Come with me." I whispered in his ear so nobody else could hear. "We need to talk." I walked out and two minutes later he followed. "Is the layout of the building still the same?" I asked.



"Yeah why?" Je was really confused now but I wanted to be able to tell him everything without any interruptions.



"Because I know of a secret room and I need to talk to you so come on." I quickly led him down the corridors to interrogation room 3. "This isn't a secret room you know, anybody in this department knows its here." He scoffed about to walk away when I stopped him.



"I know I spent quite a lot of time in this room when my parents died and as a child I was very curious. Nobody in the department ever found it suspicious that the wall is an entire shade darker in the bottom left hand corner." I saw his eyes quickly dart over to the area I was on about.



"So what there're dirty marks all over the walls?" He rolled his eyes.



"Which is why it was an excellent way to hide a secret door." It sounded so cliché but then so did everything else about department 21. It was full of recruits who the world didn't know about, they carried out secret operations all over the world, had an underground base right underneath London and yet nobody knew about it and were a top secret organisation who kept the world safe. Even with the best military ever this world would be pretty much gone by now if it wasn't for department 21. I walked over to the corner and gave it a hard push, having to lean my entire body weight against it, and it flew open. Daniels eyes lit up like a kids' on Christmas when they see that Santa's been. He was quick to run into it and I saw him almost fall down the stairs as I reached out grabbing the back of his shirt tightly in my hand and yanking him backwards. "Watch the stairs." I rolled my eyes letting go of him as we walked, making sure that I shut the door behind myself. Only I know about this secret room and I would like to keep it that way.



When I made it to the bottom of the stairs Daniel was staring around himself in awe. This was the only room in the entire underground building that had any colour besides Greg and black and that was only because I decorated it myself. The walls were a pale blue colour and I had even managed to sneak in some building materials and make myself some furniture. There was two chairs, a table and a bookshelf because that was all I ever needed. I never got the chance to sneak away very often so I only needed the bare minimum. "How does nobody else know about this place?"



"I don't know. I don't think this room was actually meant to be built because not even the old Boss Man used to know about it so I just turned it into my room. It used to give me something to do when I was bored but nobody else can ever find out about it Daniel." I warned and he nodded.



"Not a problem so what's it you want to talk about?" He asked taking a seat at the table, kicking his feet up and getting comfy while I did the same.



"I wanted to talk to you about going on an operation. I needed to pick someone to go with me to complete it so I picked you." That had definitely caught his attention as he sat up leaning his elbows onto the table clinging onto every word I said with a sparkle of curiosity in his forest green eyes. I finally took a chance to look at him properly for the first time. He had dark brown hair just like me, forest green eyes, tanned skin and toned muscles. I had to tell myself to focus on why I was in here.



"I'm listening." He hummed.



"The op is at MIT in America, it will be just us two and we will be completely alone. There'll be no back up and we can't tell anybody about the mission. If we get caught we will likely end up dead. Do you want to go ahead?" I could already tell what his answer was going to be just from the way his eyes looked. I was fairly good at reading people.



"Hell yeah." He smiled. "So when do we start."



"I don't know everything I know you now know. We have a briefing at 1900 with Boss Man." He snickered at me use of the word Boss Man. "Anyway, be there at precisely that time for our orders. Remember not to tell anyone. Comprende?"



"1900 and don't tell anyone, got it." We quickly made our way back up the stairs and into IR3 after I had checked the cameras u had installed to make sure the coast was clear. When we made it back to our barracks we slipped in quietly and nobody seemed to have noticed we'd even left as some were playing cards, some chatting amongst themselves and others cleaning their equipment. I did the same sitting on my bunk, stripping my gun down and cleaning it, it was gleaming by the time I was finished. I checked the time on my watch, it was 1150 meaning that I had ten minutes before my shift started so I took the opportunity to change out of my jeans and tee into some black cargo trousers and a black tee pulling on my black combat boots and lacing them up. I was done just in time as somebody from barracks three came to tell us that our shift had started. Today I was stationed outside the entrance to the building to make sure nobody accidentally stumbled upon it, not like it was ever likely to happen. I double checked to make sure I had the safety catch on my gun on before slipping it into the waistband of my pants concealing it with my tee and black jacket. The basic recruit uniform is completely black unless you're higher up such as working in operation planning or one of the desk jobs which were few and far between where everybody had to wear a suit and tie.



Just my luck that when I got outside it was in the middle of a thunder storm. Before I left the building, I checked the cameras to make sure nobody was around before getting out and moving away as quick as I could so as not to be spotted. I walked around aimlessly for ten minutes scoping out a good place to hide out and make sure nobody got anywhere even close to entering the building. The only other people mad enough to be out in the middle of this storm were the people who had been on a lovely day out and had got caught in the rain and were now waiting to get on the bus to get back home to their warm dry clothes. I pulled my hood up to cover my head and keep dry as much as I possibly could but it didn't work very well. It didn't take very long before I was saturated from head to toe. It wasn't an option to go in though so I just had to deal with it and get on with what I had to do until somebody came to relieve me. It was a six hour shift so more than likely I would do the first two hours then be relieved and then have to do the last two hours. Nobody likes to be stuck on guard duty but it has to be done wither way so there's no point in complaining about it. Recruits learn the hard way that complaining about something only makes the situation much worse because that's the job your most likely going to have to do.



Just as I predicted somebody came to relieve me at 1400 but I didn't have time to get changed. I was on kitchen duty next. For tea tonight we were having spaghetti Bolognese and I was in charge of cutting at least a hundred peppers before being rushed to weapons training for an hour. I put my standard protective earplugs in before taking my gun out of my pants waistband. I took my position on the end of the row and took aim at the target. "READY, AIM, FIRE!" One of the senior recruits shouted and we all started to shoot our paper targets until the last bullet had been fired and we all placed our weapons down and the targets were brought forward. When I looked at my sheet I saw I had hit every single one of them on target feeling quite proud of myself. "Well done McKenzie. I'm Jackson by the way." Jackson, the senior recruit, congratulated patting me on the back before taking his position behind everyone again. I quickly replaced my mag throwing the old one down onto the bench in front of me before flipping the safety off again. "READY, AIM, FIRE!" Once again I hit every single one of my shots on target. "Right everyone reload and listen carefully." I took my earbuds out so I could hear properly. "We're going to go on the other side of the benches and shoot while walking towards the targets. I want one in the right shoulder and then I want you to double tap the chest. Three shots are all you're allowed so don't screw it up." Out of all fifteen of us there were only two people who missed their shots and it was the shoulder shot both times. "McKenzie how confident a shot are you?" Jackson asked after getting into a slight argument with one of the failed shots.



"Pretty good sir, why?" His voice sounded weird with my earbuds in so I once again took them out to listen to what he was saying.



"Would you feel confident taking the shot in a hostage situation?" I didn't see where he was going with this but I had been a sniper so of course I was confident with taking the shot, I didn't want to sound too big headed though.



"Yes sir?"



"Good. Andy, get in front of McKenzie's target." The man did as he was told, moving so that he was stood in front of my target slightly to the side so I still had a shot at the head and left hand side of the body. The fear was evident in his face as I took aim. I didn't bother with my earbuds this time just allowing them to dangle from around my neck. "You don't look overly confident in me Andy." I joked trying to lighten the mood and calm him down a bit. If he starts to get jumpy that's when I have a problem. He smiled at me before closing his eyes as I retook my aim, pointing it directly at the targets head. I took two shots there before double tapping the chest. I then released the mag placing it down beside the gun on the bench. Very quietly I snuck over to Andy, making sure he couldn't hear or see me since his eyes were still screwed tightly shut, and tapped him on the shoulder. "BANG!" I shouted and he jumped immediately, making such a high pitched noise that you would never expect to come from a fully grown adult male as everybody else started laughing. "Not funny McKenzie. How did you manage to sneak up on me like that?" His chest was heaving and he was so white he was practically see through.



"I used to be a sniper; it's in the job description."



I checked the time on my watch and saw I only had five minutes before I had to be back outside. I replaced the gun mag, making sure everything was the way it had been when I first took it out of my waistband, triple checking the safety catch and replacing it into the waistband of my cargos. There were a few people doing various other jobs as I walked speedily through the hallways and making my way back outside. When I got out I was glad to see that the storm had let up a bit and was now just a light drizzle. To be honest it wouldn't make a difference to me since I was still damp from when I was last outside. I scoped out my fellow recruit, spotting him quite easily as he was leaning against a shop doorway that was set back a bit so he was staying dry from the rain. I made sure he spotted me before I walked over and to make sure it was him I used the pass code. "I'm sure I saw a flash of lightening before you know."



"I don't know about that but there was definitely some thunder." I nodded my head to let him know I got the message and he walked back off inside. I checked the time every fifteen minutes or so just willing the time to go quicker. I was starving now since I had thought it'd be a good idea to skip dinner since I wasn't hungry, biggest mistake I could have made. Even when I'm finished here I have an hour of PT and then a meeting with Boss Man and Daniel before I'll get a chance to go to the kitchen and heat myself up some left over spaghetti. Basically I'm not getting any food until at least 2000 and that is a long time from my breakfast I had at 0600, fourteen hours to be precise. Luckily for me I had some money in my trouser pocket so I quickly went into the nearest shop that I could still see the entranceway and bought myself a sandwich, it wasn't much but it would do until I got a proper meal. As soon as I had my sandwich I walked back out and found myself a new spot to stand in, had I gone back to my previous one I risked the possibility of it looking suspicious so it was just easier to move. The sandwich seemed to do the trick because I didn't feel hungry anymore as I stood for the last forty five minutes before somebody else came to tell me my shift was over. The people on the next shift are lucky because nobody can access the Department building after 2200 so they only have to stand guard for four hours instead of the usual six. After 2200 if a recruit isn't in the building it's too late because the doors get locked and can't be opened until 0500.



I had five minutes leniency time to get myself from outside back into the barracks to change into my PT kit and then get sports hall four. Sometimes I forget how big this entire building actually is but it must cover nearly all of central London if not more with how big it is. I'm honestly surprised that nobody has ever discovered anything about it, then again anybody who does would probably wash up dead the next day under mysterious circumstances, even then though I don't think that's ever happened. I sprinted back to the barracks and stripped won pulling on my shorts and grabbing my top and trainers pulling them on, on my way to the sports hall. I made it just in time and was the last recruit to show up as I hurried to take my space on the other side of the hall on the very end of the line. "Okay everyone circuits today. You will be being judged on your performance and failure is not an option. If you fail you will have two weeks to train and then you must re-sit the circuit. If you fail a second time then you have to go back to basic recruit training and we all know how much that sucked don't we so here's a tip for you all. DON'T FAIL!" He shouted. The circuit was pretty simple really. There was a series of exercises like push-ups, burpees, sit-ups and tricep dips and other stuff like that, and then there was skipping, bench jumps and then the dreaded rope. The rope is literally just a rope hanging from the ceiling that you have to pull yourself up using only your arms with your legs at a ninety degree angle to your body, it's quite easy to friction burn your hands and really hurts if you fall but not many people do since we've had to do it plenty of times before. I kept continuously checking the time because I knew I had to leave at 1850 whether I had completed my circuit or not, if they've got a problem with that then they can take it up with Boss Man but I have my orders that I must follow just the same as everybody else.



"Daniel, time to leave." I shouted at him since he was half way through his circuit and I was back at the back of the line. He was quick to come running over to me as we told the senior recruit what was happening and we both walked in a comfortable silence down to High Command. We were both pretty sweaty now and I was really hungry again, the fact that I could smell the food from the kitchen wasn't helping either but I just pushed it to the back of my mind focusing on the job in hand. We knocked gently on the door before entering and standing in front of the desk waiting for the Boss Man to acknowledge our presence. "Please, take a seat." He said not looking up from whatever he was busy doing. "I'm assuming Daniel that McKenzie here has filled you in on some of the details?" The words sounded like a statement but his tone of voice indicated that it was a question.



"Yes sir." He was the only person that everybody called sir and I still hadn't yet figured out if it was respect or fear.



"Well two seconds and I shall fill you in on the rest." That slightly annoyed me because if we were on time and fully focused on what was about to be said then I don't see why he can't be fully prepared, he hadn't just had to do a full six hour shift plus an hour of PT. All he does is a simple desk job where he has a lot more time to get things completed than we do so I don't see why he isn't ready for this meeting when we were given a very specific time for it. "I apologise for that." He said putting whatever he was working on into one of his desk drawers before pulling out two folders and giving us each one to have a look at. "In there you will find you cover documents, house keys, unlimited supply debit cards, and pictures of what your disguises look like. Everything you'll need you can find in makeup and is yours for the taking now down to business. Somewhere within MIT there is either a student or teacher who is using the school servers to hack into the pentagon and steal valuable military intel. There has been ten more firewalls added to protect the pentagon servers and they'll continue to add as many as they need but this person needs to be taken down as soon as possible. Your orders are to kill. Is that clear?"



"Yes sir." We both said in unison.



"Good. Now we have transport arranged to get you from here to Brize Norton Air Force Base. You leave tonight and upon arrival you will be transported over to America by a Hercules transport plane at precisely 0600 and will touch down local time 0730. From there you will drive to your house using a pre-routed sat-nav. Okay?"



"Yes sir."



"Good now go get going you have a long night ahead of you. You must leave here by 2200 at the latest; I wish both of you good luck."



"Thank you sir." We both got up to leave and made our way into the kitchen since we were both really hungry. Everybody else had been in and had their tea now so it was just us two with a bowl of left over spaghetti Bolognese to share between us. Once we had devoured that we raided the kitchen for some food to take on the journey and made our way to makeup. When we looked at our disguise photos we both burst out laughing. "Have you seen mine, it's nothing like me." Daniel smiled handing me the photo. In the photo he had tattoo sleeves on both arms, snake bites, wore all black, dark brown eyes and black eyeliner. I couldn't help but to laugh either.



"What's yours then?" I handed him the photo and he laughed. I had big thick rimmed glasses, braces, green eyes, no freckles and no tattoos. I wore skater skirts and tees which didn't give me very many options of where to conceal my weapon and carried a floral back pack. "Okay I don't think they could have gone any worse with mine." I laughed rummaging through everything to find what I needed. I took six months' supply of green contact lenses, a set of false teeth with braces that would fit over the top of mine and a pair of thick rimmed black glasses just like the ones in the photo. Anything else I would need I'd have to pick up on route. Daniel took two fake sleeve tattoos, fake snake bite piercings and six months' supply of brown contact lenses. Anything else he would need he would also have to pick up on route. We piled everything into our duffel bags as well as our uniform, weapons and some spare ammo. Then we packed in the food, cover documents and a pack of cards to play with on the way over there. Once everything was packed we went back to the barracks saying goodbye to everyone telling them nothing more than we were going to be away for a while and would see them when we saw them.



We did the usual check of the surrounding area using the security cams before leaving the building and walking away as quick as possible so as not to be spotted. We found the car we had been given keys to and decided that Daniel would drive first and then I would take over to give him a break. We threw our bags into the boot, climbing into the car, fastening our seatbelts and driving off into the night. From this point forwards we're on our own, no safety net to fall back on and no back up to call on. We either successfully complete this operation or we end up dead, that is the harsh reality of it.