The Illinois Agent 2 - - - Part 3

Continued
17: Mission Failure
Auschwitz, Poland, 12:30 PM

Tyler glanced around the room he was in quickly and saw that a pale-faced Erin Rains was laying on the bed next to his. He said quietly, “Erin? Erin wake up, I need to ask you something!”
Erin groaned, “But it’s not a school day…”
“Erin, now!” Tyler whispered.
Erin groaned again, “What is it?’
“How long have you known Molly?”
“Before I was a spy,” she said.
“That’s a while…” Tyler sighed.
“You and Molly are going to save me right?”
Tyler sighed. Obviously she was drugged. “Yes Erin.”
Erin giggled, “Call me Boot!”
A very powerful drug to make her say that. Tyler tried to get up but it was no use, he was chained down tightly and his gadgets were gone. Blanc strode into the room, “Hello Tyler Brightstar.”
Tyler said, “Actually, I’m James Imo…”
“Not really, your name is Tyler Brighstar, you work for MI6 and you’ve saved the world once.” Blanc grinned, “See that patch of tissue on the back of your wrist? There was 2 milliliters of truth serum injected into your vane. You sang like a bird.”
Tyler silently cussed. Erin said happily, “Was it green? What color was it?”
Blanc sighed, “Tyler, you have been a bad boy. You messed up my plan, so I shall mess up your plans.”
Tyler sighed. Blanc smiled and walked out of the room. A yellow laser started at the bottom of the bed slowly making its way up the bed. Tyler thought hard. If he could get the laser to cut the chains that would be great, but he would have to get something to move the laser’s direction. Then he noticed they had kept his shoes on his feet. Tyler managed to untie his right foot shoe laces. He got ready to kick his shoe at the correct angle so the laser would cut a chain off when the door burst open and Tyler kicked too hard. Molly Awkman was standing in the doorway. “What the heck do you think you’re doing, Brightstar?” She cried.
Erin giggled, “Call him Flincher.” Apparently she just made that up.
The laser beam swung around the room and if Awkman hadn’t ducked, the top of her head would have been sliced off. The laser finally stopped at Tyler’s right arm. It cut the chains off and Tyler rolled off quickly and under his cot. His shackles for his left arm were stretched across the bed. It hurt his wrist but he was free. There was a point that Tyler thought it didn’t work until the chains flew off the railing of the bed and slammed into the concrete. Tyler flew out from under the bed and jumped up. The moment of truth. His arm lashed at Molly’s temple and she sank to the ground. He grabbed a piece of paper that was in her pocket and ran across the room to tend to Erin, “Erin, I’ll be back to save you,” he said and muttered, “If I live that long…”
She gazed past him as if she were in her own world.

Tyler ran out of the room and down some steps which led him into a cellar-like room. He was surrounded by shelves with nothing on them. Tyler’s eyes narrowed in the darkness and adjusted. He looked around a saw a crooked shelf. He went over to fix it and the wall behind it swung open. He crawled under the bottom shelf and was now in a damp concrete hallway. The wall closed behind him and Tyler searched for a lever to find his way out for a quick escape but found nothing. He had one choice: to move forward. Mission failure. He was stuck inside of a secret tunnel hidden in the depths of Auschwitz. Some say the screams can still be heard.

18: Trapped in the Darkness
Auschwitz, Poland, 12:45 PM

Tyler was afraid. MI6 wouldn’t murder him; he’d starve to death. It was a blessing for Blanc that Tyler was out of the way. Tyler couldn’t give up. He picked himself up and began to feel his way through the darkness. He felt stripped of all power of the situation. But worst of all, he felt trapped. Trapped in the darkness. Tyler sighed as he ran into the wall. Then he saw a slight pinch of light. He ran towards it and stopped. It was a flashlight… that must mean there was a guard behind it. He curled up into a ball and tried to cry, it just wouldn’t come. Finally, he gave up and fake cried. Making moaning noises and sobbing noises his stuffy nose made it sound realistic. When the guard found the boy on the floor he said absentmindedly, “What’s wrong guy?”
Tyler quickly whipped his feet at the guard’s shins and the guard buckled to the floor grieving and cussing. Tyler grabbed the flashlight and ran. He took a left, a right, and a straight then stopped to catch his breath. He looked around and saw a pinprick of light. He ran towards it and stopped as he saw the tiles suddenly change and fluorescent lights were over head. He stepped on a tile and a pendulum swung at him. The blade glistened and it was about an inch away from hitting him. Tyler ducked down and crawled beneath the blade, he felt the air coming off and the tips of his hair being touched by the blade. He continued to crawl and he noticed the pendulum was getting lower with him still under it! Tyler heard something crack and thought that wasn’t good. He quickly rolled to one of the walls and the whole pendulum slammed into the ground where Tyler used to be. Tyler groaned. Blanc had quite an operation going. Tyler got up off the ground and walked to the end of the hallway with the pendulum in it. There was a wood door at the end of the hallway and walked through the door.

When he came into the next room he looked around and saw a stairway leading up. Up to Heaven: Up to freedom. Tyler grinned as he looked around the room and processed where he was. He was in a generator room. The generators were huge and faded green, they made a sound like dishwashers or washing machines. Tyler walked towards the stairs and spotted a skinny, red haired, brown eyed, teenaged boy sitting behind a generator. Tyler stopped and said, “Hi… do you know if those stairs lead up to out of this place?”
A faint reply came, “Yes, they do. But you won’t be using those stairs.” He stood up. “Do you know who I am?”
Tyler asked puzzled, “Is there another way out? Who are you?”
“No there isn’t.” The boy laughed, “You don’t recognize me?”
Tyler couldn’t think of anyone that looked like this boy. And if that wasn’t the way out and there was no other way out, what was he talking about?
The teenager laughed again. “I am you. Just… better than you’ll ever be.” He grinned. “When you threw me down that elevator shaft, the system I was running on went haywire from the electromagnetic waves coming from the elevator accelerated my life cycle and stole my youth, it brought me into my teen years.” He gritted his teeth. “And I have you to thank for that.”
He assumed a perfect Karate ready position and smiled, “I may win this time. No, I shall.”
Tyler’s jaw dropped. He nervously put his fists up. Clone bowed. Tyler swallowed hard. Clone’s hand whipped at Tyler’s stomach and Tyler was thrown backwards. Tyler got back up and charged at Clone. Clone stumbled back but remained on his feet. Clone hit Tyler in the cheek with his right arm, then left, then right, until Tyler grabbed his arm and punched him in the mouth. Tyler tried a roundhouse kick and Clone grabbed his foot, “Naughty, naughty, naughty.”
Clone put his fist up, “I wasn’t even trying.”
Tyler was bruised up badly. Clone grinned, “I’ll make this faster…” he picked up a piece of cold, hard, sharp metal, “… by taking your head off your shoulders.”
Tyler gasped. Clone spun around and Tyler ran. The metal cut a gash along his back. Tyler rolled on the ground and found a piece of metal with a rough top. He ran towards a generator for cover and Clone cut a half circle through it. Tyler got up and ran. He ran towards the stairwell and aimed as well as he could. Clone looked around and his side faced Tyler. He was probably looking for a gun or something. Then he heaved the metal at Clone. The rough edge went through the side of Clone’s head and the rest stuck out. If Tyler’s plan had worked he would be home free. He ran up the stairwell. It was locked. He turned around and looked for cover. There was a wood board and two barrels near the corner. That was it! He had just enough time to put the board on top of the barrels! Tyler looked at Clone before he crawled into his shelter. He was stumbling backwards as planned towards the half circle carved into the generator. Tears of blood were dripping down his face as he fell backwards into the generator. At first the power shut down and the generator shut off. Then the lights went extremely bright like a power surge had happened and all the light bulbs shattered. The generator was running tremendously fast now. Tyler closed his eyes and covered them with his hands. This would be a bumpy ride. Tyler’s plan was to get Clone to stumble into the generator and there was bound to be some electronically powered device in him which would start a chain reaction of the generators exploding, but by then Tyler would be at a safe distance away, but he had a plan B. Flames encircled Tyler’s refuge and Tyler took his hands off his eyes to protect his ears. There was a really orange light and the wind threatened to blow Tyler’s hiding place down. This was dangerous business. Really dangerous business.

19: After the Flames
Auschwitz, Poland, 1:10 PM

Tyler cried out as the force pushed on him. Then it suddenly stopped. Tyler looked around and saw a pile of ashes sitting near the generator. The doors were blown clean off their hinges and the wall at the top of the stairwell was now a ruin. Tyler had just killed someone exactly like him. Thought like him, looked like him, and very well was him. Tyler walked up the stairs and out into the open. He tasted the fresh air. Well, he just destroyed half of a historical place. He ran to his car and got in. He saw a lump under a gray blanket. Tyler locked the doors and said, “Autopilot.”
The car responded, “User not recognized.”
Tyler jumped out of the car and the door slammed close and a metal coating immediately surrounded the car. He sighed. Tyler noticed Erin’s motorcycle sitting across the road. He ran over to it and… yes! The keys were in the ignition! He put her helmet on and did one more thing. Went over to his car and set an explosive charge. That lump under the gray blanket was the chameleon suit. They would come back to get it, and when they did, they would find Tyler; dead. He set it for two minutes and ran back to Erin’s motorcycle. For some reason he had a feeling he was off towards Seattle. That reason was from a paper he had gotten out of Molly’s pocket while escaping. Tyler revved the engine and sped off. Not even looking back to the big ball of flame. Phase four complete. The suit has been destroyed. Now, for the unexpected fifth phase: saving Erin.

Seattle, Washington, 5:15 AM

When Tyler came off of the freeway, the first thing he saw was the Space Needle. A beautiful establishment. But no one knew that tonight would be the death of an agent. Tyler looked around him as he drove and then saw someone in a passenger seat of a Rolls Royce with hazel eyes and light ear length blonde hair. This woman’s name was Elena Blanc. It was 4: 20 AM and there was not much traffic so he turned around and got behind her car. Her car sped off, ignoring the red light and Tyler followed her car. Then something caught Tyler’s eye: strands of gold blond hair sticking out from under the trunk. Erin was in that car. They followed a road leading to the Space Needle and they got out of their car. The car trunk was unlocked and Blanc had a few words with Erin and pushed her towards the Needle.

* * * *

Erin was pushed into a trunk and the last thing she would see for hours was the ruins of Auschwitz and Tyler’s flaming car. The trunk door was slammed shut on her hair and she couldn’t move her head. She decided if she slept it would take less time to get to wherever they were going. She fell asleep.

She was woken up when the trunk door was whipped open and Blanc stood over her. “There are two reasons you will be keeping your wicked life. One, I can get information from you, two, you are bait for Brightstar. That is all. Do what my people tell you to!”
“And I should why…” Erin stopped as a blade was being held at her knee.
“That is why.” Blanc pulled Erin out of the car and pushed her towards the tower.
Molly got out of a Corvette and grinned. Blanc stopped and a guard took Erin. Blanc looked behind her to see if she was followed and obviously didn’t notice Tyler hiding behind a motorcycle. Blanc pushed open the door to the Space Needle and walked in with Molly, Erin, and her bodyguards including Blunt following.

Tyler got out from behind his motorcycle and jumped inside the Space Needle before the door closed. The place was completely black and Tyler couldn’t see a thing until the lights flashed on and Tyler hid behind a desk. “Up the stairs you morons…” Blanc said to everyone.
They walked up a narrow staircase and Tyler was trailing not too far behind. When they finished climbing the stairs they were in the spinning oval near the top. Blanc motioned for them to go up another set of stairs and they did. They were now on top of the Space Needle and Tyler was behind them. Erin was told to stay in one place and that was when Tyler made his move. He came up behind Erin and whispered, “Erin, it’s me, Tyler.”
She said quietly, “You followed us?”
“That’s not important.”
Molly turned around and Tyler ducked behind Erin. Erin nervously grinned as Molly gave her a mean look. Molly turned around so her back was facing Erin and Tyler popped back up, “When I count to three, we will sneak off the tower… one… two… three…”
Tyler power walked after Erin and they were about to open the door when a blade flew at the door, hitting it between the door and the wall. Erin pulled the door but it wouldn’t budge. Blanc was standing there a few feet away with her hands on her hips and smiling, “Where do you think you’ll be going you dumb blond?”
Erin punched Blanc and blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, “That is for calling me a dumb blond!"
Molly then launched at Erin and Erin dropped to the ground and kicked her in the stomach as she flew over her. Blunt came over to Tyler and punched him in the face and Tyler put his fists up, blocking hits. Molly took Erin’s arm and ran towards the edge of the tower. Erin punched Molly and blood came from the corner of her lip, “That’s it?”
Molly pushed Erin and she tried to keep her balance and waved her arms in circles. Molly smirked and pushed Erin. Erin squealed and lost her balance and fell backwards.
Tyler almost got a kick in the side of the head and he grabbed Blunt’s foot, “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”
Blunt said, “No, but for a second there, I kind of did,” As he punched Tyler in the nose.
Tyler ripped the blade out of the wall and ran. He tripped and fell on his back, while he was falling he threw the blade and it hit Blunt square in the forehead. Blunt fell backwards off of the tower and by the time Tyler turned around, it was him and Molly only. Tyler had a look of sadness on his face as Molly said, “I can see that your girlfriend is a bit clumsy.” She laughed.
Tyler lunged at her, “She was a friend!” He pushed his fist at her head and she narrowly evaded it.
“Until I tripped her!” She laughed again.
Tyler shot her a mean look and lunged at her, she moved to the side and Tyler skidded to a halt. She gave him a right uppercut and a roundhouse kick. Tyler almost kicked her in the face but she grabbed it and pushed him. He was at the end of the platform and losing his balance… would he have the same fate as Erin? “The spy’s life is like this,” Molly smiled. “Live, spy, die. But since I did a smart thing and betrayed MI5, death isn’t coming for me yet… it’s coming for you.”
Molly pushed the air where Tyler used to be before he flipped over her head and she tripped forwards. She held onto the side of the building and Tyler stood over her. She pleaded, “Oh please, I’ll do anything…”
Tyler said, “Alright…” He pulled her up and said, “…only because I want to push you off.” Then he pushed her back off so quick she didn’t have time to react.
He looked over the side. No sign of Erin. He turned around: no Blanc either. He let Blanc get away and let his own partner get killed. He had a plan… he just had to go back to Paris.
Tyler looked once more down the side. The death of an agent. A good one. He turned around and left.

Unknown to everyone, Erin was still alive. She pulled herself up on top of the flagpole and groaned. She was bleeding all over practically, her arms, legs (which were also badly bruised), and her neck. She pulled herself into an open window and sank onto a sofa. She’d sleep here for the night. She hoped Tyler knew where he was going.

Tyler sped onto the freeway and onto a leaving Ferry parking Erin’s motorcycle. He sat down on a chair; hopefully this would be a relaxing ride. Boy was he wrong.

20: Back to Paris
Seine River, France, 2:45 PM

Tyler’s peaceful boat ride turned bad quickly. Tyler got up to check on the progress of the ride and the driver had been slaughtered. Then, as they were approaching the coast, Tyler heard a ticking noise. He walked down to the engine room and saw a yellow palm pilot sticking to the engine that said: “Detonation: 2:59”
Tyler had three minutes to evacuate the boat. When he turned around, a blue haired seventeen-year-old boy was standing behind him. Derek smiled, “I’m glad we finally get to face off.”
Tyler sighed. “Do we have to?”
Derek picked up the bomb and threw it inside of the engine, “Yes, we have to.”
Tyler sighed and ran as Derek punched the spot Tyler’s face used to be in. Tyler darted at Derek and head butted him, knocking him off his feet. Tyler put his foot over Derek’s throat and was ready to push down until Derek pushed Tyler’s foot away and jumped up while Tyler ran into a guide rail over boiling hot water. Derek put his hands around Tyler’s neck and squeezed. Tyler felt his windpipe closing; he gasped for air and got none. He put all of his strength into his right arm and punched Derek in the jaw. Derek staggered backwards and tried to speak, “Oo roke i aw!”
Tyler felt the bruises on his neck straining as he smiled. He ran over to Derek and grabbed a yellow lighter from his pocket, “Ut are oo ooing?”
Tyler grabbed a fuel hose from the engine, “This.” He pushed down the trigger on the hose and gasoline spurted out. He turned on the lighter and held it below the flow. Tyler looked at the terrified look on Derek’s face and hesitated, until he realized that Derek had killed the captain of the boat, and most likely a few passengers and his next target was Tyler. Derek was a professional hit man; he murdered innocents for a living. Then he raised the lighter.

21: Burned To Ashes
Seine River, France, 2:58 PM

The lighter flame lit the gasoline on fire; making a homemade flamethrower. Tyler pointed the hose up at Derek’s face and Derek screamed as his face melted. Derek’s body fell backwards into the pool of boiling water. Burned to ashes. Tyler ran down to the cargo bay where Erin’s motorcycle was. He found it and hopped on. No keys. That is bad; no keys in the ignition. It seems that Tyler’s luck has run out. He jumped off the bike and ran up to the Captain’s Cabin. When he finished the stairs he had fifty seconds to find the key. There were rows and rows of silver and golden keys that were divided into sections. Tyler quickly ran his finger over the keys in the section labeled “Motorcycle” until he found the gold key with a key chain that said “Kawaski Eliminator.” He grabbed the key and ran. In the engine; the bomb was getting closer and closer to detetonation. The timer said “00:20.” Tyler reached the bottom of the stairs and the bomb was at fifteen seconds. He sprinted around the corner and into the cargo hold looking for the red Kawaski Eliminator. The timer was at thirteen seconds as he hopped on the motorcycle and started it. He shot up the stairs as the time he had to get off the boat reached seven seconds. Tyler turned around a corner and sped towards the ramp at the back of the boat that was at an incline pointing towards the water. Two seconds… he was at the bottom of the ramp… one second… he shot off the ramp as the boat began to quietly sink… zero seconds… the boat exploded sending Tyler hurdling even farther into the air than he planned. He was flying over the Seine on a motorbike. He felt so alive, so free… not anymore. The plan had reached the problem Tyler hadn’t had time to fix; gravity. The motorcycle was rapidly falling towards the water. Tyler had to get farther so he made a sloppy, half planned solution. Tyler stood up on the black leather seat and jumped as far as he could into the air. The coast was approaching faster and faster, and so was the water. It all happened so quickly as he crashed into the water and suddenly his body went limp.

French Coast, 6:30 PM

Tyler woke up on a beach as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon. He coughed up a mixture of water and blood and sat up, then laid back down, staring at the red sky. Red meant blood; and there had been a lot of it shed this day. He stood up and shook his head. He was glad to be alive. Many probably wouldn’t make it this far. Many actually didn’t. The only problem was he didn’t have any transportation. Then Tyler spotted a yellow and black Huffy bicycle. He ran over to it; no locks. He hopped on as a boy said, “Hey! You! Stop!”
By then he was already on the bike trail speeding off. He had to find the Safe house. He raced across the streets until he found Erin’s home in France. Erin’s old home. He thought back to the code and the motions of her hand and closed his eyes and punched in the code. The door clicked and Tyler pushed it open. He looked around the place and spotted a pink toothbrush; plastic explosives. He grabbed the toothbrush and pressed in the squishy part and a hologram popped up with numbers in a row. Tyler typed in some numbers on the keypad in the hologram and ended up with three minutes and fifty-nine seconds. He canceled the detonation and slipped it into his pocket and walked over to the teleporter. He said in a clear tone, “Bring me to Elena Blanc.”

Unknown Coordinates, Fairbanks, Alaska, 9:00 AM, March 19, 2004

Tyler was suddenly standing in front of a cabin in a cold, cold place. Tyler looked at his, surprisingly still working, GPS. It said, “Fairbanks, Alaska.” He was in the country he guessed since there wasn’t another cabin for miles. It was a dark gloomy day and grey clouds were overhead. Today was bound to be a bad day. Today would be the day Tyler had his last breath. He reset the bomb for thirty seconds and canceled. He rolled under a window and peeked the top half of his head over, including his eyes. Blanc was sitting close to the fire warming her body. Tyler spotted a storm cellar door and tugged on it. Surprisingly it was open. He crawled in and crouched in the darkness. He stood up and walked over to a workbench, put the toothbrush on the table, and pressed detonate. It made a loud beep because Tyler forgot to mute it. Then, Tyler heard footsteps upstairs and stood completely still in the darkness. He felt petrified. Then the footsteps suddenly stopped. He turned around and found Elena Blanc standing behind him. She punched him hard and his head slammed against the concrete wall. He fell down and Blanc immediately had her high heel over Tyler’s throat. “I’m not that easy to beat.” She smiled.
Tyler was struggling to keep Blanc’s foot above his throat instead of on it. His hand was getting weaker. Tyler saw the bomb was at twenty seconds and Blanc and he were in front of it! Tyler was doomed. He rolled out from under Blanc’s heel and the heel crashed into the ground, denting it. Tyler pushed Blanc backwards and she cut her leg on a sharp piece of metal. She yelped as Tyler looked at the holographic timer: five seconds. He ran up the cellar stairs and pushed open the cellar doors as the bomb went off and sent Tyler hurdling face first into a snow bank. The last thing Tyler felt and heard was his back being burnt and the barking of a running away sled dog team.

22: The Spy’s Life
London, England, ASHFORD HOSPITAL, London Road, 9:30 PM, April 1st, 2004

Tyler woke up on a hospital bed with a terrible headache. He was surrounded by white lights and the walls were completely white. “Am I in heaven…?” His vision was blurred and couldn’t control thinking so he spoke.
A raspy voice spoke, “No, you are in London, England in Ashford Hospital.”
“Who are you…?” Tyler said.
“James Skully, your boss.”
“My boss… I’m too young to have a boss...”
He leaned closer. “You work for MI6.”
Tyler suddenly got a worse headache and remembered some of what happened. He shot bolt upright and whispered, “Is Erin alright?”
“She has a broken leg, a fractured arm, a twisted ankle, and many bruises and cuts. She wanted to run over to see if you were okay, that girl is a trooper.”
“So… that means she is alright?”
“Yes.”
Tyler tried to stand up but fell down. Skully said, “You should rest. And before I leave… you’re hired again. It seems that your clone killed the bystander.”
Tyler sighed and lay back down.


Anchorage, Alaska, April 19th, 6:00 PM

Tyler Brightstar was sitting atop of a hill staring at the amazing colors of the aurora borealis with Erin Rains by his side. He said, “Astonishing, isn’t it?”
“Yes… very…” Erin said.
Tyler fake yawned and put his arm around Erin’s neck. Erin turned to face him and stared at his for a moment then slapped him and said, “Go shove your head in a blender.”
Tyler sighed. “Bond gets the girl, I get the threat.”
Erin rolled her eyes.

The End