Page 40 of Smoke and Mirrors

Along with The Agency.

He saw the Seven come in and take down the perpetrator. The Seven took him away, and Eli knew we weren’t part of the Secret Service or the local Sheriff’s Department, and because he was aiming for the detective role, he started digging.

He wanted to know who took the perp.

He was obsessed.

Always looking.

He became fixated and started putting the pieces together. He was good, he knew something was off. So boss pulled him in. His skills in solving puzzles were too good to be ignored. His aim in weaponry, exceptional. His fighting skills, amazing. He was the ultimate machine. He was perfect, so they just had to convince him to come in.

Eli was the hardest of the Seven to recruit. Once they told him about The Agency, he wanted to know more, he wanted to know everything. Eli likes facts—he wants to know details about every possible scenario, every situation.

But much to his dismay, there’s a security classification system. There are some things we’re just not cleared to know about. It’s all about need-to-know, and if there’s no need to know, then you are not read in. He basically said that if he couldn’t know it all, then he wanted to know nothing.

They thought about taking him out at the time because he knew too much, but as an asset, he was too extraordinary to let go. So, they kept him in lockdown and worked on him day after day. It took a solid month before he finally ‘saw the benefits,’ so he broke and became part of the team. He says now that he wished he didn’t take so long, and because of his stubborn streak, he could have been with us sooner, but he had to be broken before he could be fixed. Now he can’t imagine his life any other way.

“Should have got my Sergeant at Arms to take Roberto out,” Axel says, and we all frown at him. “Kidding… kinda,” he smirks as we shake our heads.

Axel has about half the sarcasm of Luca. He’s still a little immature at times, but he can be a lot more serious in a time of need, whereas Luca will more than likely turn most situations into something he deems funny. Axel comes from a family of bikers. He’s technically still a fully-fledged member of a biker club, much to the dismay of The Agency, but they can’t force him to leave. Plus, the club isn’t one-percenters or the drug-mewling, gun-trafficking bad guys you see on television. To be honest, no one is really sure how Axel and The Agency came to be. We know it has something to do with his biker club, but no one really knows the full story. I’m sure if I asked Mom, I could find out, but I know if you’re not told something, then it’s best not to ask. But Axel grew up shooting weapons and riding bikes. His aim is impressive, he’s the killer sniper of the team. If you need a precision kill shot, he’s your man.

“I wish your Sergeant at Arms would take you out. Maybe for a nice romantic dinner? You need to get laid, man. How long has it been?” Luca quips, and Axel scoffs rolling his eyes and throws a pen at Luca’s head, smacking him right in the middle of his forehead, making the rest of us laugh.

Luca, he’s the wild card of the Seven. The one on my team who I didn’t want. Fresh as a recruit from the Army, he was young, reckless, and irresponsible. But The Agency saw a potential I simply couldn’t. The Seven were only six then, but our team was strong. The Agency decided we needed one more, someone with training in all aspects—marksmen, fighting, hacking, everything—an all-rounder like me. We needed someone who could take my place if ever I were to fall in combat.

The thought of this young upstart possibly taking my place if I died, made my skin crawl. He was nothing like me. He was a joker, took nothing seriously—especially the rules—and he broke every single one in his first week. But with time and training came strength and honor, patience and virtue, and he grew into this confident but still cocky, decent guy who somehow grew on all of us, especially when he risked his own life to save mine in the line of fire. He proved himself taking a bullet in his arm and shin for me that day. He still has the scars from the bullet holes to prove it. He’s been my right-hand man and best friend ever since. Sure, he still pisses me off with his incessant joking, but it’s something you get used to, and I’ve grown to appreciate.

Then there’s me. I’m different from everyone else. They were all recruited into The Agency, but I was basically bred for it. My parents, both members of The Agency, met working for a covert team much like the Seven—code name Black Athena. Their team was smaller than ours but still deadly assassins nonetheless.

The Black Athena team was made up of Mark Luthendale, Mom, Dad, and Jack Turner, who moved over to the Secret Intelligence Service or MI6 as it’s also known heading a division similar to the Seven over in the UK. Mom and Dad met, fell in love, and got married all while working within Black Athena.

But then Mom was promoted out of the task force, and into the role she’s in now, which allowed her to get pregnant. So, she and Dad started trying for a baby with the thought that they would train their child to one day become an Operative, and that child was me.

I had no idea growing up that this would be my life. I had no idea my parents were trained assassins. I was an average guy until I suppose you can say, they called me in for recruiting. Then my world turned upside down, learning everything about my parents’ working in a museum was a lie, and that inside that museum was a hidden government facility run by top-secret government officials trying to protect the world from terrorists and the like. Yeah, it took a bit of getting used to. But once I realized this world ran through my veins, that I was born to do this quite literally, I knew I could, I knew I had to. Even if my life ended at The Agency’s hands, at least it would be for the right reasons—it would be for protecting the country I live in, for the country I strive to protect, for the country I love.

“So, Tanner, you found a girl for me yet?” Luca asks.

Tanner scoffs and shakes her head. “Luca, you need a woman, not a girl, someone who can rein you in and tie you down.”

“Oh, I like being tied up rather than tied down. A bit of bondage never hurt anyone, right, Blair?” Luca asks, and Tanner rolls her eyes as Blair shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“Shut up, Luca. Just ‘cause you can’t get serious about anything, doesn’t mean you have to tease Blair,” Tanner shoots back.

Luca smirks. “Just ‘cause you have the hots for Blair doesn’t mean you have to go Feisty Fiona on me either.”

“You’re a dick.”

“Yeah, a massive King Kong-sized dick.”

“Yeah, because it’s diseased and swollen, not because it’s actually made that way,” Tanner quips back, and we all chuckle as Luca purses his lips and smiles.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Mom says with finality as she strides with purpose into the boardroom. We all turn to look at her. She may be small in stature, but the atmosphere is mighty in her presence.

My eyes are starting to feel weary as it heads toward three in the morning. The drain of the night’s emotions is starting to hit me fully, and I’m suddenly overwhelmingly tired. I try to covertly yawn, but Mom notices as she looks directly at me.

“Would you rather be in bed, Kace?” she asks harshly.

Slumping my body, I shake my head. “No, sorry, I’m here.”

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