239 A Devestating Trick
âPerfect,â I muttered, feeling my heart expand like a balloon ready to pop in my chest. âSeptember, lean towards that boat.â
âIâm sorry, what?â
âLean towards it.â
âConnor, you would never be this risky. Usually, September does all this stuff,â Malachi said. âIâm not sureââ
âLean towards the boat, September. Please,â I said, ignoring all their complaints. But they were right. This is unlike me, but in this matter, sometimes you have to take action.
And thatâs what Iâm doing.
âAre you sure you want to do that?â September asked once again, now making me feel unsure myself.
âI donât know, itâs worth a try though,â I said. âItâs worth a try.â
âWell this try may cost us our lives,â Malachi said, looking at me. âYou better hope this is a good idea.â
.....
I didnât know what to say, but mostly because of the fact I knew it wasnât a good idea. We could wait for the YMPA fleet to start attacking the convoy, but that would take ages.
They wouldâve already escaped by then.
We needed to buy time, and make some real damage happen. I wanted to get near them so we could get a better shot.
Iâm not sure whatâs so risky about that.
But then, oneâin factâtwo of them began to take formation closer to us. Iâm pretty sure they didnât know our plan, because they were basically skipping to the door of death.
âShoot at them!â I shouted to Nikki, in which, projectiles of bolts and fire began to pour out.
They soared through the air, and created explosions not of the boats, but of the water. They fired back, their bolts barely missing our ship, but instead joining the others in the sea.
âSeptember, move a bit closer. Nikki, shoot directly at the closest one,â Malachi suddenly ordered. I chuckled. âLook at the one taking control now.â
âTrust me, I have more experience,â he said.
âIâm pretty sure not on this scale though,â I added. He shook his head. âWeâre spy mages, and these happen all the time. Yet weâre scared with every single mission. The possibility of dying. Fear never goes away.â
âYet you keep doing it.â
âAs I said, weâre spy mages.â
We exchanged projectiles between one another, as we continued to circle the enemy ships. I watched as they began to take aim at us, and before I knew it, I saw the enemy ships begin to move towards us. âTisiah and Nikki, do your magic!â Malachi shouted. Soon enough, bolts flew in the enemy shipâs direction, only to be shot down and blown apart. The enemy ship was beginning to gain speed, but I knew it was too late.
âNow!â I shouted, and I was starting to feel nervous. âSeptember, lean towards the closest enemy ship!â
âAre you sure?â she asked, but I could tell she was preparing to do so.
âYes, now!â Malachi shouted. âUnless theyâre gonna blow us up to pieces. And no one wants that do they?â After a hard jerk to the left, we were in close quarters of the opponent ship. I was holding my breath, knowing we were close to getting shot to pieces. But then, before I knew it, a large plume of fire came into the air, and the enemy ship began to sink.
The force of the fire shook the area, and our boat spasmed like an electrical cord. I felt my legs move in different directions, but I still held my ground.
âYou okay?â I asked.
âYeah,â she replied, and she let go of the steering wheel.
âNice work, September!â Malachi said, as we both looked at the sinking enemy ship.
âI did it, huh?â September said, and she began to laugh. âI did it.â
âYou did,â I said, and I smiled, but it was short lived. But not because of ships, fortunately, but more of what was said on the radio. Static first introduced itself before passing the mike to the actual speaker. âGuys, we heard some very bad news.â
âWhat?â we all asked in unison, which was not that surprising.
âMatthew Lock and Luthor Bane were never in the convoy. They went on the other big ship. It seemed like they knew what our plan was. They escaped.â
I donât know what to say. I mean, I can say I knew it, but that would be a lie. I didnât even think about it. My heart dropped, and my hopes sunk into the deep abyss. Howâ¦how does that happen? How did they escape from us that easily?
I just thought they were in the convoy, but they werenât. They tricked us, and now they were on their way to Saudi Arabia. We failed, and we failed badly. âWeâre returning back to the YMPA,â the man said, and I nodded at his word.
âBut, you know what? Iâm glad you guys didnât die. Iâm really happy about that,â he continued, and I could feel the blood drain from my face.
âYeah, wellâ¦we didnât want to die either,â I said, with a hint of sarcasm. âI donât know why you were worried about us anyway.â
âWell, after all, you were in the thick of it,â he said, and he cut off from the radio. I sighed, and closed my eyes. We lost. And now, we had to wait for the YMPA fleet to arrive. That took time, but that also meant Matthew Lock and Luthor Bane would get further away. âIâve never felt so energized in my life,â I heard someone say.
Tisiah was there in front of us, walking slowly and taking a big sigh. âThat was pretty fun, not gonna lie.â
âIt was,â I replied, and I started to laugh.
âIt was so much fun, I almost died, though. Almost.â He laughed as well. September got out of the cockpit and approached us, which now put us in a format of a circle. âWeâre gonna keep trying guys, we are gonna keep trying to get them. We wonât give up. I promise you that.â
âWe will try,â I said, and I hoped we could actually pull this one off. âBut my goodness, I am baked.â Malachi chuckled and patted me on the back before leaning down to glance at me, and I could see his eyes twinkling.
âIâm gonna go check out the damage to the ship,â Tisiah said, and I watched as he walked away.
***
âWowâ¦â Mr. Drails muttered. We were in the briefing room, to which he heard about what happened. But what he heard was nothing compared to what I saw. âThatâs what I call a failure.â
âFailure?â I questioned, and I sat back in my seat. He returned with an aggressive nod. âYes, failure. You guys didnât even notice the trick. Everyone went for the convoy, but yet not the other ship.â He turned to look at me, and I couldnât help but feel intimidated by his stare. But I wasnât afraid of him. I knew how good he was, and I knew how powerful he was. I just wanted to get this over with. âYou should have done your job right, and you didnât.â
âI know, sir,â Malachi replied, and I felt my hands ball up. âSo, what do we do now?â
âFind who heâs dealing with in Saudi Arabia, what his plan is. Maybe something can happen, and we finally fix this ugly mess you guys refused to clean,â he said, leaning back hard in his chair. He stared me down, and it was as if I was a little kid that was being scolded for breaking a plate or something of the sort. âWhat did your team say?â
âWhat do you mean?â I asked, confused about his attempt.
âYou heard me,â Mr. Drails said. âWhat did they say? They gave up, didnât they? They were too afraid to even follow through with their job.â
âThey sped towards the convoy to try to find them in time. If they came, more risk would be involved for some magic trick,â September said. âWith all due respect, no one knew their plan. They beat us.â
âI know, but I refuse to believe it was because of their pathetic wits,â Mr. Drails hissed back, with a harsh tone that brought out all the base in his voice. He then looked away from us and sighed heavily. âThis is getting out of hand, and I want you all to remember that.â
âYes sir,â Malachi replied. âWeâll deal with it, trust us.â
âI did, and I still am. Donât mess this up the second time,â Mr. Drails said, before he gestured for us to leave immediately. We stood up from our seats and walked out of the room, and I felt a heavy pressure on my back. I turned to see Mr. Drails glaring at me with such disappointment that it made me shiver with fear.
I couldnât mess up again, not again. That would be catastrophic, for the entire country.
âItâs going to be a long day,â I said to myself, and I could hear the others grunt as they walked behind me. âNow, what do we do?â Nikki asked. âWho knows what Matthew Lock might be doing right now.â
âHe might be on the other side of the world by now. Itâs possible,â I said, and I looked at them all. âHeâs probably on some airplane, heading for Saudi Arabia for some randomâ¦oh.â
âWhat.â
âHe has the virus, doesnât he?â I asked them, in which they nodded. âMeaning heâs probably giving or selling it to someone.â
âWho?â
âI donât know,â I replied, and I felt a headache coming on. âBut, I bet heâs got a buyer already.â Malachi sighed. âIs there any sort of enemy organization from Saudi Arabia, by any chance?â
âNot that I know of,â September responded. âSaudi Arabia isnât really involved in our spy mage nonsense.â I sighed, feeling the weirdness of the whole situation.
âWhat do you mean?â
âThey donât really have a spy mage culture. Itâs more of a desert people thing. No offense, but they arenât the most creative people. They are known to be a lot more violent, and they have more of a warrior-like culture,â September explained.
âWell, dangâ¦â I muttered. Hopefully that wasnât anything too offensive. I think theyâre creative. I mean, they have a lot of art.
âIâm sure they donât have the same type of culture as we do.â
âMaybe, but weâre not exactly the same, either. What do you think we should do?â
âWhat do I think?â September said, and I sighed. âI donât know. But Iâm not sure what to do now. It feels like the world is on fire, and itâs getting worse.â