First Incursion part 3

“Alexander Rybak, my name is Eileen Hutton and these are my brothers Joe and Peter.” Eileen said. “I understand that you must be full of questions.”

“Why were those men trying to kill us?” The stunned musician demanded.

“They’re not trying to kill us, they’re after you. Why…we don’t know yet.” Eileen replied patiently.

“Where am I? How come you’re the one trying to protect me? Where are your parents?” Alex asked.

“Our parents are federal agents. They undertook a different mission.” Joe replied.

“I…I don’t understand…so why is your sister running around playing spies?” Alex was confused.

“How about we start with who we are?” Eileen replied and they agreed. “So…uh, we come from a country called Australia, all the way on the other side of the earth. Mom and dad are federal agents. They were sent to Russia on a mission. They took us with them. So we’ve been here in Russia for several weeks now. Mom and dad have been away for four of those weeks.”

Alex nodded slowly, trying to let the message sink in, but it didn’t.

Joe cleared his throat. “I’m Lieutenant Joseph Hutton, RJAN. I’m currently on parole and so I look after this bunch of kids.”

“RJAN?” Alex asked.

“Royal Junior Australian Navy.” Joe replied and when Alex showed no signs of recognition, he explained. “RJAN is exactly like the Royal Australian Navy, but for…well kids.”

“Kids…but that’s cruel!” Alex protested but Joe just shrugged.

“Kids between the age of 12 and 17 who have committed serious offences go to jail for life; but for some, they are lucky enough to have a second option, and that is to join RJAN where they will be disciplined to the correct manner and behaviour, criminal habits are broken.” He replied.

“So…what did you do?” Alex asked, turning to Eileen in disbelief. She shrugged to confirm the truth of Joe’s career.

“I robbed a bank…actually, I robbed three banks. I got away the first two times, but they reeled me in the third time. This is my fourth and last year at RJAN before I join RAN itself.” Joe said.

Alex was speechless, the information was not processing through his mind and he felt very stressed, the post trauma was beginning to kick in.

“And…uh…with mom and dad being federal agents, and Joe being in RJAN, I felt like I needed to do something too. So I found AIA on the net. It was a small government branch of intelligence. Australian Intelligence Agency. I applied, but they rejected my offer, said that thirteen years was too young. But I was quite a stubborn thing back then, so I filed a few complains, lodged a few threats. Just when I was about to give up, they called me in for an interview, and the next thing I knew, I was in. Mom and dad weren’t particularly pleased, but they’ve grown to understand. I’ve been with AIA for three years now.” Eileen recounted, pouting as she tried to remember any forgotten details.

Alex laughed, hoping that it was a dream. Unfortunately it was not. “So, is your youngest brother some kind of computer whiz hacker for the government?” He asked.

Eileen looked uncomfortable. “Uh…no he’s autistic.” She replied and he instantly wished that he had kept his mouth shut.

“Oh.” Was all that he could say in return.

“Anyway, you must be tired.” She changed the subject smoothly. As soon as the words were said, a wave of exhaustion crashed on him and he felt drowsy. “Come, I’ll take you upstairs to wash up a bit, then you can rest.” She turned back to Peter and stroked his hair again, preparing to carry him up to his room.

“Leave him. I’ll be down here to active security and stuff, I’ll look after him.” Joe said, turning to the plasma screen. With a flick of a button from under the coffee table, fifteen individual screens lit up, all angles of the house
were covered on the different screens. Eileen nodded and led Alex upstairs.

“Bathroom’s there. If you need me, I’ll be in my room down the hall.” She said. Alex nodded, shutting the bathroom door behind him; she could hear the sound of taps running.

Eileen returned to her room. As usual, her possessions were few. She only owned a laptop, clothes, shoes, a few gadgets and devices she had kept from previous missions, and her collection of world language dictionaries. Although there weren’t many things, they were scattered all over her room.

Eileen sighed, sat down at the study desk, turned on her AIA issued laptop and waited for the welcome screen. She rested her head on the desk, closing her eyes. A short dry melody woke her and she keyed in her password. Eileen first checked her AIA mail, wondering if Danny and the others were okay. She had only just remembered the gunfire that she had heard earlier on. She frowned, twinning her fingers together, thinking hard. The reflection of Alex standing in the doorway behind her made her lose her trail of thoughts.

“Come in…uh…make yourself at home if you can.” She said, waving to her unmade bed. Alex entered a little reluctantly and settled on her bed, the violin still in his hands.

Eileen sighed, stood up and rummaged through her wardrobe until she found a violin case. Tossing aside the violin already inside, she handed it to Alex. “Take it. You’re violin will be safe in here. This case is near indestructible. You can drop it, throw it, shoot it and it won’t break. Unless you drop a bomb on it, your violin won’t be damaged. Well, won’t be more damaged more than it already is. Don’t ask me why the case is so damn strong because I don’t know.”

“Thank you.” Alex said quietly, studying the girl. Her eyes were the darkest shade of brown, her skin was flawless and pale, her nose was cute and her lips and smile were radiant. She was a stunning classic beauty. However, he could not help but notice a flap of skin peeling off her face. When he told her so, she looked in the mirror and laughed before ripping her ‘face off’ off. Alex nearly passed out in fear but Eileen quickly assured him with an explanation.

“Because I’m the youngest member in AIA, they want to keep my identity a secret so that I can go on heaps more missions without being found out. For every mission I go on, I acquire a different identity. I could only wish to be as good looking as her.” She said, peering at the latex mask in the bin.

Alex was unable to take his eyes off her. Eileen, the real Eileen had a baby face, her cheeks were plump, but not chubby or fat, her lips were…average…her skin was olive coloured and the only thing he could recognize were her eyes. She was very young.

“Yes, I was wearing a lot of facial and body make up last night.” She replied as if reading his mind.

Alex sat in stunned silence. After a while, he changed the subject, watching as she rapidly typed something on her laptop. “Do you…play an instrument?”

“Yeah. I play piano and violin.” She replied. “Actually, I only played violin last year when I was acting as violin girl on one of my missions.”

“Ah…” Alex replied, there was a silence between them, only broken by the sound of tapping keys. “So…are you…”

“Yes? Eileen turned to him. “Am I what?”

“Aren’t you scared? Shouldn’t your family go into hiding? It’s dangerous, me being here.” Alex asked the question that had been troubling him since they
arrived there.

“Alex, relax, you’re in the safest place in Moscow, well maybe except for the Norwegian Embassy. It was even safe enough for Joe to open the door to them. Our house is rigged with traps, one wrong move and you could die. The front door for example, if you open it more than thirty degrees, the people trying to get in will be shot at with high intense heat beams, the windows are the same. The chimney is filled with nails, so if a person attempts to come down the chimney, they’ll be ripped to shreds.” Eileen assured him.

“Oh.” Alex replied.

Eileen swore and flipped frantically through a Russian dictionary.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Well…” Eileen began, keying in the word she had found. “Since I’m missing out on school, I have to hand in all my work by email. And to get extra marks and to pass above average, the teachers are making me do all the work in Russian, simply because I’m in Russia.”

“Ah.” Alex said.

“And if I want to pass without repeating the grade, I need extra marks, so I try and do anything I can.” Eileen added.

Alex was still trying to get used to the face under that mask. “So…what year are you in?”

“Ten.” She replied, keeping a finger on a page while ruffling through a grammar dictionary.

“What word are you looking for?” He asked, leaning against the wall, crossing his legs on her bed.

“Existence, as in: ‘the existence of the Cold War was caused due to the factors such as tension and conflict between allying nations.” Eileen recited.

Alex frowned for a moment before translating the sentence into Russian.

“If only I had a human dictionary for every country I live in.” She said as a way of saying thank you.

“You’re welcomed.” Alex replied.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them and Eileen typed furiously, constantly checking the time.

“Are you…I mean…” Alex began.

“Am I what?” Eileen asked.

“Aren’t you scared? I…I hardly know you, but you’re risking your life to protect me, and I’m what, seven years older than you.” Alex said finally. “It shouldn’t be like this…”

Eileen stared hard into her computer screen. “Its…I was scared in the beginning, I was terrified. But I know that I’m doing this for a reason, and it’s to protect people who deserve to live because they’ve actually done something to deserve to be protected.” She said finally.

Alex was silent, staring hard at the sixteen year old before him.

“What’s the word for ‘resolution’?” She said, changing the subject.

Alex told her and she was silent again, typing furiously, trying to beat the clock. Not another word was exchanged between the two.

Eileen sighed in relief as she saved and sent off her essay just five minutes before the deadline. She smiled, stretched and yawned.

“So, have you ever…” She asked turning to Alex. She stopped mid sentence when she found him asleep, his head lolling forwards. Sighing, she laid him down on her pillow and pulled the blanket over him. She knelt by his side,
studying his features.

“What are they thinking, why do people want to kill you Alex?” She asked herself quietly, Alex let out a soft sigh and Eileen stood up and left her room for the bathroom.

Eileen washed her face and lands, letting the tap run. She stared into the mirror, into her tired and wary reflection. Her hands reeked and she scrubbed them harder, but the smell would not go away. Eileen felt sick and she held the sides of the basin to steady herself.

The stench of blood on her hands grew stronger and she bit down hard on her lips.

“Eileen?” Joe was at the door. When she didn’t reply, he burst through. Joe took in the situation, turned off the taps and confronted his sister. “What’s the matter?”

Eileen looked p to him, tears cascading down her cheeks. “I…” She said; her hands were shaking. “I didn’t mean to…kill him. The smell, it won’t go away, oh god Joe, there’s blood everywhere! I didn’t want to kill him!”

Joe’s eyes widened at the news, but he knew how his sister felt; he had felt the exact same way on his first kill. “Oh gee, Leenie, its not your fault, you were trying to protect yourself!” He cooed.

“Joe, what if he had a family? A wife and kids? Oh god what have I done?”
Eileen panicked. She began to hyperventilate, but since she was crying, it made it harder for her to breathe.

“Calm down, calm down. You were protecting yourself.” Joe reassured.

“I wish I never accept this mission. None of this would’ve happened!” She sobbed.

Joe sighed, he was horrible at comforting people, and he wished that their parents were home. His sister was desperate for comfort, so Joe held her tightly.

“If you didn’t take this assignment, Alex would be dead; he wouldn’t be able to live a life he deserves.” Joe said quietly.

Eileen didn’t reply, just sobbed into her older brother’s shoulder, realising that what was left of her childhood innocence had slipped away from her. Never had she felt so hurt, never had she felt so unclean.

Alexander Rybak, listening from Eileen’s bedroom with his eyes closed, felt guilt rack his body.

I can't wait for the rest, It's amazing, really!

i love it!

hahah thanks