Gordon decided to play it cool. “Come with you where, if I may ask?”

“Ms. Jennifer—the nurse, has asked me to send for you. Apparently there’s a patient waiting for you.”

“I could actually feel my heart stop for a second,” Gordon thought, “Guess I’ll have to retrieve the backpacks after all, after I finish attending to the patient that is.”

Gordon followed the security guard through a series of passageways and doors. At one point, Gordon decided to risk peeking at the tracker. It informed him that he was still headed in the right direction.

Before long, they had arrived at their destination. The guard informed him that they had arrived, smiled curtly and trailed off.

Gordon entered the room and greeted his patient. After apologizing for his lack of punctuality, he picked up a chart that lay beside his patient’s bed and leafed through it. His expertise in the medical field made him the perfect agent for the job.

“Ah! The surgery was very successful! I see here that you’re experiencing pain in your lower back, but that’s nothing to worry about. Those are just some side effects of the surgery. If you’d like, I could prescribe some painkillers.”

“That’s great news, doctor! But, the pain seems unbearable, so I would appreciate it if you could give me something to ease the pain.” The patient replied.

Gordon nodded. He scribbled down some words on a paper and handed it to the nurse. After informing them that he had some work to take care of, he exited the room.

Before removing the tracker from his pocket, he checked to see if anyone was in sight. Studying the tracker’s screen, he understood that the backpacks were stashed in the room adjacent to his former patient’s room. He turned the knob, but found it locked. “The locked door confirms the readings on the tracker.” He thought. He removed a lock pick from his pocket and unlocked the door.

Entering the room, he discovered that the backpacks were lined up against the wall. He wore one backpack and decided to hold both the others in each of his hands. As he turned to exit the room he heard a sickening noise—the alarm had gone off!

He began to sprint at top speed as he retraced his steps back to the elevator. Just as he neared the passageway that led to the elevator, he could hear his name being called.

“Kristof! Stop right there!”

Gordon ignored the commands. Suddenly a whizzing noise shot by him. “What was that?” he thought.

A second later, he grew pale; realizing what had just happened. He stopped running, dropped the bags, turned around and raised his hands, signifying his surrender. “I was so close--” his thoughts were cut short when the door standing a few feet behind him was pushed open.

A metallic grenade bounced off the wall and landed in front of Gordon. Smoke spewed out of the grenade. Gordon was hardly visible to his foes. But who had thrown the smoke grenade?

He picked up the bags and ran towards the door.

“Johnny, am I glad to see you!”

Johnny chuckled. “Heya! Like my toy? I picked it up from the ammunition room.”

Whilst they were in the elevator, Gordon found that he couldn’t suppress his question any longer. “But how did you know that I was in danger?” he questioned.

“Well, after the alarm went off we were starting to get worried. Then, when I was about to open the door downstairs, I could hear someone commanding you to halt. That’s when I figured that the grenade might be my best bet.” Johnny explained.

Shortly, they rejoined Shawn and Katie. Once again they could hear distant voices commanding them to surrender.

“Quick, this way!” Katie led the way pass the door. “Our safest bet would be to go through the air-vents,” she suggested. She clambered into the vents followed by Johnny and Shawn while Gordon took up the rear. They crawled all the way to the end and pondered about their escape. They were now above the security checkpoint.

“How are we going to get to the elevator without those guards stopping us?” Katie whispered to the others.

Johnny’s face lit up. “Gordon, reach into that black backpack and search for a smoke grenade,” he commanded, “I used the only one that was on me.” He explained.

Gordon rummaged around through the backpack until he had found the grenade. After it had been passed to Katie, she removed the pin and the grenade downwards. After waiting for the visibility to drop, they leaped down and rushed towards the elevator.

Katie had to press the elevator button several times before realizing that the laboratory had been locked down. Gordon instructed her to use the green keycard in order to override the ‘lockdown command’. Instantly, the elevator doors began to slide open.

The foursome encountered a familiar passageway when the elevator doors began to slide open once again on the top floor.

“Uh-oh!” Shawn exclaimed, “I vaguely remember fighting some killer-robot here.”

“Relax Shawn, those were just hallucinations. At most, there might be a guard armed with one handgun out there.” Katie said.

“Speaking of guns, I’d feel safer if we’d roam with our handguns.” Johnny suggested.

“Good idea Johnny!” Gordon exclaimed.

Peering through the broken door across the passage, they noticed that nobody was in sight. Gordon, being in the rear suddenly heard the elevator behind them going down. “I hope that’s not what I think it is.” He thought worriedly.

Gordon announced that they had no time to be extra cautious. They walked swiftly to the elevator in front. Just as they had stepped in, they heard a determined voice shouting, “Don’t move!”

The foursome could see a team of five men armed to the teeth standing right in front of the broken door.

The man in charge trained his gun on them, commanding his men to move closer.

“This is our only chance. All four of the armed men are hidden from sight. All I need to do is to disarm the leader.” Johnny thought.

Johnny raised his gun to his chest and made a swift move to the center of the elevator from behind Gordon. With slight hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the air and knocked the handgun free from the team leader’s grasp.

“Now!” he shouted.

Katie pressed the elevator button that led them to the above floor. Walking towards another elevator, they glanced at the boxes that lay on the ground. Shawn moved his hand over to feel one of the metallic animals; but his hand began to fade through the object.

“Wow!” Shawn exclaimed, “They’re just holographic projections. Funny how we imagined them to be real.” He mused.

Before boarding the final elevator that led to the office inside the factory, they decided to block the elevator behind with the large crates.

“It will delay them!” Katie exclaimed.

They waited in silence as the final elevator arrived in the office.

Next, they retraced their steps out of the factory and headed for their boat. As they neared the shores, they felt tired and hungry. “Oh the things I would give to eat a double cheeseburger!” Shawn cried.

Several moments later, the water was finally visible to them. They glanced at the water, searching for their boat.

“I’m sure this is where our boat was.” Johnny explained.

He pointed to the ropes and shrubbery lying nearby. Suddenly, a thought nudged at Johnny’s brain. He explained to them that the marina must have collected the boat using the GPS tracker planted on it.

“What now? We’re trapped!” Katie cried.

“Doubt it. There must be some inlet in which water enters the factory through. So all we need to do is find it, ‘cause that’s where a boat will be.” Johnny said.

They began to circle the factory swiftly. Shortly, they noticed a stream of water flowing into the factory’s harbour.

“Fancy boats!” Katie commented.

“Yeah, they’re called bow riders. It’s much faster than the cruiser we sailed in before.” Shawn explained.

Two bow riders lay anchored at the harbour. The foursome climbed into one and revved the engine into gear.

“Let’s get out of here, finally.” Katie breathed a sigh of relief.

“What about that other bow rider? We can’t leave it there, fully operational—can we?” Shawn questioned.

“Guys, I don’t think we have time for that!” Katie answered.

Looking back, they observed that the special ops team had finally caught up to them. Without warning, they started firing wildly. Gordon steered the bow rider to safety into the open ocean. Shawn aimed his gun at the other runabout and took a few inaccurate shots. “I really need to work on my aim!” he cried in disbelief.

As they raced into the open ocean, Johnny tried to establish contact with the agency. “Still no network coverage,” he reported.

Their only chance was to head for the marina. With Gordon at the wheel, and with the help of the powerful engine, they were slowly able to close the gap between them and the marina. But it wasn’t long before they heard the roar of the other bow rider.

Unable to see clearly due to the wild spray of water, none of the bullets fired by the special ops team had hit the boat. They remained several yards behind Gordon and the youngsters, unable to close the gap.

“Lucky both these boats have got the same power,” Shawn commented, “Else we would be goners!”

Katie peered at the sky. It was growing dark; and it seemed like a storm was approaching.

The leader of ops team had ordered his men to seize fire—but not before they had accomplished their task of damaging the boat’s engine. Their bow rider slowly began to catch up to the boat ahead.

After several moments of silence, except for the sounds of the roaring engines, Gordon informed the teenagers that it was okay to sit up. Suddenly, Katie noticed a shadowy figure climbing the boat from the rear. “Lookout! It’s one of them!” she screamed.

Johnny spun around and landed a karate chop on the man’s shoulder, sending him over the side. But the man had pulled Johnny into the water with him!

They struggled underwater for a few brief moments. Then, Shawn decided to take matters into his own hands. He dove overboard and together they overpowered the stout, muscular man.

Seconds later they resurfaced and swam to their boat. They managed to clamber into the boat safely due to Gordon’s careful management of speed. Glancing behind, they noticed that the other boat had vanished into the darkness. “They’re probably searching for that diver.” Katie said.

Soon, they had reached the marina. They climbed onto the dock while Johnny flicked out his phone. Suddenly, a loud cry ruffled the air.

“Stop those kids! They stole my boat!”

Katie recognized the voice as Tony’s—the marina’s boat renting service’s owner.

Before they could react to the situation, the teenagers found themselves being arrested by two police officers.

“Don’t worry kids, I’ll have this mess sorted out!” Gordon shouted.

The teenagers were ushered into a police cruiser and driven away.

“It’s up to me now,” Gordon thought, peering at the evidence-containing backpack he held in his hands. He called a taxi and left for the agency.

“Man, this place needs some recreational facilities! I’m bored to death!” Shawn exclaimed.

“It wouldn’t be much of a prison then, would it?” Katie pointed out, glumly.

The trio had been locked up for two hours now. Without notice, a police officer walked up to the trio and handed Johnny a cell phone, informing him that he received a call.

After a prompt conversation, he hung up. “It was Gordon,” Johnny informed, “He said that they’ll be letting us go soon and that he’ll explain everything the day after.”

Ten minutes later, the three prisoners were released. After saying their farewells and promising to meet the following day, Shawn and Katie left in their parents’ cars’.

Before hailing a taxi to meet-up with Gordon and his boss at the agency, he informed his parents of his arrival and asked their permission to reach home an hour later.

The following day, the four friends were seated in one of the best coffee-houses in the vicinity. They chatted over coffee and cupcakes while Shawn munched on a double-cheeseburger contentedly.

Johnny explained to his classmates that Gordon and himself were part of an agency known as ‘HACAV’ – Humans Against Crime And Violence.

“Since our school had given us a week’s vacation, the agency had asked me to investigate the factory,” Johnny said, “But what I didn’t know, was that a colleague of mine was already investigating the case!”

Gordon laughed. “And I wouldn’t be able to crack the case without you!”

“But how were you able to join? I’ve heard about that agency, but I’ve also heard that only people of the age group 18-35 can join.” Shawn quizzed.

“Well, I suppose they made an exception since my dad is a director at the agency. In fact, my dad was the one who encouraged me to join in the first place!” Johnny replied. He added that he was sorry he hadn’t told his friends the whole story at first.

Then, Gordon informed them about the successful events that took place after they had presented all the evidence to the agency.

“The agency informed the police and supported its case with the evidence we procured. Today, two swat teams were dispatched to the island. They apprehended everybody within the premises of the laboratory, including Dr. Kurtis, and the laboratory was shut down.”

Standing up, he smiled and said, “So on behalf of the agency, I would like to congratulate all of you for your splendid help.” He then told them that he had some business to attend to, waved goodbye and left.

“There’s only one thing I need now,” Shawn said.

“What’s that?” Katie asked.

“Another double-cheeseburger!”