What, Me Worry?

Ryan Theodore Goodfellow opened his eyes to the tantalizing aroma of bacon, pancakes and maple syrup. He looked over at the bedside clock and chuckled because he'd awakened a few minutes before his alarm went off.

"Beat ya to it!" He pushed the alarm ahead by twenty-four hours and leaped out of bed with the alacrity of a ten-year-old.

Downstairs, Ryan sat to eat breakfast with one eye on his government tablet, catching up on alerts. His wife Genevieve settled in beside him.

"What's up?"

"Oh, the usual secret stuff. Doesn't look like it requires my immediate intervention."

Once finished, Ryan gathered the dishes and cleaned up after himself. He pulled a bundle of paperwork out of his briefcase and started going through it with a highlighter and sticky notes while Genevieve did a load of laundry.

**BEEP!**

A red alert shattered the momentary peace.

"Gotta run, honey!" Ryan jumped up, grabbed his jacket and reached for another briefcase, all while reading the notification on his smartwatch. "A high-level kidnapping by foreign agents. Hold the fort!"

"Aren't you scared, dear? This sounds deadly."

"Maybe I should be, but I ain't." Ryan gave Genevieve a peck on the cheek. "Who has time to be scared? Not me!"

He skipped out the front door with a light step, whistling a jolly tune and waving goodbye to his wife. In the yard, a helicopter hovered, a rope ladder dangling. Ryan hauled himself up and plunked down next to the pilot, who was also his teammate.

"What gives, Zach?"

"Russian agents have captured one of our spies. We gotta head for their compound in Belarus."

As Zach spun the helicopter towards the Atlantic, a bell rang on Ryan's smartwatch. It was Genevieve.

You forgot to say "I love you," Mr. I Ain't Worried.

"Jenny, I love you more than cotton candy on a Sunday," he voiced back.

"Are you two always that goofy?"

"It keeps us together."

"So, how we gonna recapture our guy? Got any ideas?"

"There's our secret weapon. And lasers. And my good looks and charming personality."

"Yeah, that'll get us far in this line of work."

"It got me where I am today."

"In a helicopter heading towards a gang of mercenaries?"

"Looks that way." Ryan adjusted his hair with his selfie camera and peered out at an ominous black ocean of pine trees stretching solidly from one horizon to the other.

"I guess we're in Eastern Europe," Zach commented.

"I see why they call it Black Forest Cake."

Just when Ryan was about to ask how much fuel they had left, a complex of ginormous concrete buildings broke through the trees underneath them.

"Bingo! We're here." Zach landed the chopper on a roof where a convenient red circle was painted. "You go in and get our man out—I'll be on standby."

"How come you always get standby duty?" Ryan grumbled.

"You failed chopper class, buddy."

Ryan hopped out and tried the door. It was locked, so he used the laser on his smartwatch to slice a manhole through the roof. He lowered himself nimbly down into a long, narrow hallway lined with eerie green lights. Whistling, he strolled along, aiming his phone at the signs on each door, which were written in some Slavic language.

The thirtieth door was labeled "Schwizcka," or "Prisoners," so Ryan lasered off the lock and breezed in. Sure enough, their guy Drew was tied to a chair which was chained to the wall. Two heavily armed guards wearing masks dozed on either side.

"Well well, Drew! Long time no see!" Ryan slapped his teammate heartily on the shoulder.

Drew rolled his eyes and nodded towards the guards, who awakened with scowls, grabbing their weapons.

"Hey, nice to meet you two!" Ryan extended a hand to the nearest guard. "Name's Ryan Theodore Goodfellow. What's yours?"

"Who are you?" the guard growled with a thick accent.

"Didn't I just introduce myself? I'm with the Feds and I'm here to help."

"Oh, really? We'll see about that!" The guard raised his gun.

Ryan directed a palm-heel thrust at the man's wrist and sent the gun flying into a corner. Then he grabbed the man by the shoulders, hurling him into the other guard like a bowling ball. The two men hit the wall and fell down in a tangle of limbs and weapons. One guy's shoe kicked a red button, setting off an alarm.

Ryan lasered the button. That shut it up. He lasered Drew's bonds and helped him to his feet. Then he walked up to the dazed guards, taking their guns and masks away.

"How about we trade places, guys?"

After some tussling, they managed to get the guards tied to the chair just as the door flew open. A Big Boss walked in with a glare, a machine gun and a smelly cigar.

"What's going on?"

Ryan looped the mask over his face while juggling weapons and waved at the guards.

"People tried to get in and rescue our prisoner. It didn't work."

"I'll say it didn't work!" The boss bellowed. "You think I'll fall for that trick?"

"Hey, it worked before." Ryan pulled a Bluetooth speaker out of his back pocket. "Are you forcing me to use extreme measures?"

"Yeah, gimme your worst, you moron!"

"Ok then—Imagine Dragons!" The opening notes of Radioactive filled the air.

"No, not that! Please!" The boss raised his hands and covered his ears.

The beat drop made the walls shiver and crack. The boss ran away screaming as the dubstep hit the plaster's natural frequencies. Bits of roof rained down on Ryan and Drew.

"Come on, let's get back to the chopper." Ryan pulled Drew along the hallway, reverberations of the song creating an impenetrable force field around them.

"Yeah, before the whole place collapses. I hate when you have to use extreme measures." Drew covered his own ears as he tagged along.

Ryan scrambled up a flight of stairs labeled "Ot Rufska," or "To Roof," and there was Zach patiently waiting in the chopper.

"Shut off your Bluetooth before you get in, for crying out loud!" He hollered. "You'll make the chopper blow up."

Ryan laughed and tossed the speaker back down the stairwell, still playing.

"Oh come, I think that was uncalled for," Drew said as they buckled themselves in. "Imagine Dragons brings down a building in under ten seconds if left unchecked."

"And so it did." Ryan looked back at a cloud of dust rising from the compound. "Eh, Big Boss and his henchmen won't be missed."

***
Zach dropped Ryan off at home. He strolled in the front door, still whistling a merry tune.

"Honey, I'm home! A little dusty, but none the worse for wear."

"Oh, darling!" Genevieve hugged him. "I'm so glad you're alive. I heard you had to use extreme measures."

"All in a day's work. Now, I do hope you have dinner ready."

Words: 1155.
Written for: "Note: 48-HOUR CHALLENGE : Media Prompt Deadl..."
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