Chapter One

Ring.

“All right. That’s all for today class. Don’t forget the mid term paper due on Monday. Class dismissed.” The teacher said as he started erasing the chalk board.

All the students packed up their things and got out of their seats.

While walking toward the door, one boy in particular was stopped.

“Mr. Step, I’d like to talk to you for a moment.” The teacher called to the boy.

The boy turned to look at the teacher then nodded. Turning back to two boys and one girl he said, “See you guys later.”

“Bye.” The girl said as she kissed the boy on the cheek.

“See ya.” The two boys said.

The three left along with the other students.

The boy turned back to the teacher. “Yes, professor?”

“I want to congratulate you Mr. Step. You are the only one in my class with a perfect one hundred percent score. Not to mention that you’re the first person in all of my thirty-five years of teaching that has gotten that score. Most would say this is a very difficult class. Tell me, what’s your secret?” The professor said.

The boy smiled and said, “Sorry professor. I don’t believe I can help you there. I don’t have a secret. I study and do my work, that’s all there is to it.”

“I understand that you’re a scholarship student and I’ve seen your records. All throughout school you’ve gotten perfect records. Never has there been a note of any disobedience or any bad words. Keep this up and in two years every business in America, and possibly some in Europe, will be hunting you down.” The professor said as he set the eraser down.

The boy chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Besides, I’ve already got what kind of job I want to do in mind.”

“I have one question though.” The professor said as he took off his glasses to clean them with his shirt.

“Shoot.” The boy said.

“Don’t you ever party?”

The boy chuckled. “What kind of question is that? Of course I party. I’m in my second year of college. One would have to be completely out of their mind not to at least try and have some fun. Plus, it’s kind of hard not to party or anything like that when you’re in a fraternity.”

“Yes. Very well. You’re free to leave now. I’ve got papers to grade.” The professor said as he sat down in the rolling, leather chair behind his desk.

The boy nodded and walked out of the classroom.

It was now time to catch up with his friends.

The boy had walked all over campus and finally found his friends. They were in the last place he looked, his fraternity house. Of course.

“Clinton, ma man. So what’d the professor want with you?” One of the boy’s friends asked.

“He just wanted to talk about grades with me. You know the usual boring stuff.” Clinton said as he sat down in a big leather chair. His arms went straight to the armrests.

“Oh man, you know that your girl’s birthday is tomorrow and she’ll be expecting something expensive.” Clinton’s other friend said. It was a good thing that she wasn’t here right now.

Clinton groaned and said, “That’s right. Man. I’m gonna go broke on her one day.”

“I don’t know why you don’t just dump her.” One of his friends said.

“It’s not that simple Tyler.” Clinton said with a sigh.

“Why not? She’s a spoiled, selfish, greedy, rich, snobby, annoying, whiny, complaining, arrogant, stuck-up, rude, obnoxious—”

“We get it Dan.” Tyler said, cutting Dan off on his little tirade. “The list goes on forever.”

“Seriously though. Just give her a pointed hat and a broom stick and she’d make the perfect witch.” Dan said. He always had to have the last word.

Clinton rolled his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet using the armrests.

“Well, guess I better go get her that present.” Clinton said.

“Later.” He said as he walked out of the doors and to the campus gate. His wallet was in his pocket with all his credit cards and money.

After he walked through the gates, Clinton walked into town.

To the jewelry shop. Clinton thought with a sigh. He was not happy about this.

Clinton walked into the jewelry shop and heard the usual ping that the bell made when the door was opened. He walked up to a counter and started looking through the glass at all the jewelry with his hands in his pockets.

There was no one else in the store except for Clinton and a lady and a man behind the counters.

Suddenly there was another ping, signifying that there was another person walking into the store. Clinton didn’t bother to turn around to look at who it was because right now he didn’t really care.

Clinton was currently looking at necklaces with who knows how many carrots of gold and diamonds when he just happened to overhear the store clerk talking to the other customer.

“Aw. Welcome back Miss Woodland. What can I get for you today?” The lady asked. You could hear the smile in her voice.

There was a slight pause before the woman spoke again.

“That many? Your boss’ wife must be a very needy woman.”

This puzzled Clinton. Why hadn’t the new customer said anything? This sparked his interest.

Clinton turned around to see a girl a few inches shorter than him. She had a soft brown color of hair that fell just below her shoulders. At the top her hair was straight but when her hair reached her shoulders it began to get wavy and slightly curly. From what Clinton could see as well, she wasn’t tan but she wasn’t too pale either, she had some freckles across her cheeks and small nose. She didn’t have any bangs which in Clinton’s opinion, made women look like they were five years old.

The girl’s small, smooth, and soft looking pink lips graced into a small smile, showing amusement.

“Yes. The only way my boss can get her to stop nagging him is if he buys her things. But that only works for so long.” The girl said, her voice sounding like sweet music to Clinton’s ears.

The woman put the many pieces of jewelry into a bag for the girl as the girl put a credit card on the counter.

“There you go, have a nice day Miss Woodland.” The woman said with a smile.

“Thank you.” The girl said with a small nod.

The girl took the bag and was walking toward the door.

As the girl was almost to the door Clinton walked up to her with a smile.

“Hey there.” He said.

The girl stopped and looked up at him. She averted her eyes and shyly said, “Hi.”

“I was wondering if you could help me. You seem like you know good jewelry and I’m in need of some assistance. My…sister’s…birthday is tomorrow and I need to get her something to wear. Since you look to be around her age I thought that maybe you could help.” Clinton said.

The girl looked up at his face and said, “I-I really shouldn’t. I have to be getting back. But…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to stay just for a couple minutes longer.”

Clinton hesitated in reacting in any which way. He caught sight of her eyes and was perplexed. They were red. Her eyes were ruby red. How the heck did that happen? Clinton believed it was physically impossible to have red eyes, unless she was wearing those new contacts that make your eyes another color. Yeah, that must have been it.

Clinton’s brain finally kicked in and he smiled and said, “Thanks. I was thinking about buying a necklace for her over there.” He pointed to the counter he had just been at.

The girl walked toward the counter and Clinton followed.

When they reached the counter the girl took a good look at the necklaces and finally pointed at one through the glass.

“How about that one?” She asked.

Clinton looked at it and said, “Perfect. Thank you so much.”

The girl looked up at him and smiled, “Your welcome. Good-bye.” She walked toward the door and out of the shop.

Clinton looked back down at the necklace and purchased it.

He walked out of the shop in a hurry, in hopes of finding the girl again, but she had already disappeared.

Clinton sighed and headed back toward the college.

He was upset because he didn’t even catch her name.

Clinton had just reached his dorm room in the frat house when his cell phone went off. He picked it up and looked at the collar ID.

Blain Davis.

Clinton threw the bag that he had purchased at the jewelry store onto his bed and flipped his black razor open.

“Clinton here.”

“We’ve got a new mission for you. Come in right away.”

“Got it.”

Clinton closed the cell phone and put it back in his jean pocket.

On his way out of his dorm room, he grabbed a leather jacket and put it on. He also put on black shades that were so tinted no one could see his eyes.

Clinton headed out until Tyler stopped him at the front door of the frat house.

“Hey, dude, where you going? You just got back, didn’t you? Why do you need to leave again?” He asked.

“Not now Tyler. I’ve got some urgent matter I have to deal with.” Was all Clinton said before he walked out the front door.

Clinton mounted his motorcycle and put his helmet on before he drove off of campus.

Clinton was glad that there was no traffic, which meant that he could get to his destination very quickly.

He stopped in front of a warehouse that was just bigger than the average warehouse.

Clinton punched the key code on the panel in front of the sliding iron doors. When he was done punching in the numbers a laser did a profile of him.

The panel binged and the doors opened.

Clinton walked through the doors and was greeted by a woman in her early thirties and two men in their late thirties. All three were wearing business suits.

“What’s up?” Clinton asked them as he stopped in front of the three with his hands in his jacket pockets.

“We’ve discovered a secret organization. They’ve created what they call ‘The Ultimate Weapon’. They’ve been trying to sell it on the black market for the past three weeks now. Anyone from any nation can buy it if they have enough money. The president has come to us informing us that he wants the United States to have no participation in this weapon.” The man in the middle announced.

The woman to his left then picked up where he left off. “We’ve discovered that the organization has a few members in each country, but their headquarters is here in the U.S. The president wants us to find this organization and shut it down. That’s where you come in.”

The man on the right side of the one in the middle then held up a photograph of a very familiar looking girl. “Our resources tell us that this girl is an agent for the organization.

The two men next to her in this photo are believed to be part of her team. The leader of the team is unknown. But we do know that she will be attending your college sometime soon.”

Clinton stared at the picture in awe. It was the same girl he saw at the jewelry store!

Composing himself, he took of his sunglasses and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“We want you to get close to this girl and try to find out anything you can about the organization from her.” The woman said.

“So you want me to use her?” Clinton asked, perplexed. This was the first mission where they had actually asked him to deceive someone so much as to use them just for business reasons.

“Exactly.” The man in the middle said. “She should be able to handle herself if she’s a part of the organization. But you’ll want to be on high alert at all times when around her. We’re not quite sure what she’s capable of or where her specialties lie.”

Clinton sighed and said, “Alright. Can you at least tell me her name?”

“Her name is Emily Woodland.” The man in the middle replied.

Clinton went into a look of deep thought.

“Emily Woodland. The name rings a bell but I just can’t place where I know it from.” He muttered to himself.

“What was that?” The woman asked.

“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Clinton replied, looking up.

“Is that all?” He asked.

The man in the middle nodded and said, “Yes, you are dismissed.”

“Kay. I’ll be on the lookout for her from now on.” Clinton said as he put is sunglasses back on and walked out of the warehouse.

As he mounted his motorcycle and put his helmet back on, he decided to forget about all the questions and such. He would focus on the task he was assigned and nothing more. Clinton also decided that the CIA didn’t need to know of his previous meeting with Emily Woodland, at least, not yet.

With that, Clinton drove back through the town toward the college. He had a mid term essay due in two days, after all. He had best get started on it.