The Circle

Part One

Prologue

My finger was hovering right above the button. Behind me, the soldiers were trying to open the door, their screaming and yelling echoing in the metal paneled hallway. I took a shaky breath and slipped my fingers on the butt of my gun. Then I slammed my palm on the softly illuminating red button and ran for my life. Glass shattered as I shot a bullet at it, the glass seemingly falling in slow motion in my mind. Gracefully avoiding the sharp blades, I somersaulted towards the window, my back just arching above the jagged ends of the window and leapt towards freedom. Whipping out my grappling hook, I shot it to the wall of the ship and landed perfectly on the second floor. My hidden earpiece crackled to life and Agent White’s voice shouted into my ear.

“What are you doing, Red?” he yelled frantically. “You don’t have much time!” He reminded me; his voice laced with worry. I could hear the keyboards clacking furiously as the other agents yelled at me, their voices muffled.

“Calm down, White,” I responded, several armed men closed around me. I whipped out my gun and shot a round, and all the soldiers crumpled to the floor. “It’s all under control.”

“Doesn’t look like it, Red,” Agent White yelled. “Get out of there, now! If the Heads of the Circle found out about you right now— “

“Oh, do shut up, White,” I rolled my eyes. “Is the hovercraft going to pick me up or what?” I loaded my gun with more bullets, checking my ammunition stock. I swore under my breath. I was nearly out. For now, I would have to rely on my knife skills. It would take way too much time to reload from my jacket that had stocks of ammunition sewn into it.

“What was that, Red?” White snootily asked. “Anyway, the hovercraft is going to meet you at the top of the ship, so you better be there in two minutes,” White said.

“I’ll make it one minute,” I replied confidently, and then that’s when the automated voice began to issue a warning to all the soldiers. The button I had pressed was going to explode the ship in two minutes, and out of the corner of my eye, the doors burst open, and a barrage of armed soldiers rushed out machine guns in their hands. “Are you serious right now?” I almost playfully called out to the soldiers. Then that’s when the bullets started zipping towards me. Dodging left and right, I did the most stupid thing in my entire career. I ran straight towards the soldiers, my knife in one hand and my gun in the other.

“GET OUT OF THERE!” White screamed at me, and for once, I followed his orders. I stabbed, parried, and shot at my utmost strength towards the soldiers. I was a flurry of speed and gracefulness, with a touch of murder and death in my mind.

“One minute remaining,” the automated voice calmly said over the intercom. A hovercraft materialized on the launch pad at the top of the ship, and I saw a handsome young man about my age calmly walk towards it, several armed bodyguards surrounding him. His eyes were covered with a dark pair of sunglasses, and he wore a perfectly tailored suit. His mop of brown hair looked soft and gave him a casual look, yet still masculine.

“He’s getting away!” I screamed into my earpiece, hoping White would actually listen to me for once. Then, pain flared in my arm and blood immediately began to drip down my side. I gritted my teeth in pain, internally cursing.

“Red, I don’t care about the target right now, get out of there right now. Are you hurt?” White asked urgently.

I ripped my leather jacket off, now only dressed in a sleeveless red top. A circular wound was embedded in my left shoulder, blood gushing out of it. “White, I’m fine. Bullet wound.”

“BULLET WOUND?” White exclaimed. He cursed and began ordering agents to hurry up the hovercraft.

“Listen, I can’t make it to the top. Don’t send the hovercrafts. Target is in one of them and he’s getting away right now. The ship goes in one minute. There’s no more time,” I ordered, shooting several more soldiers while fighting through the pain of the wound.

“Red, I believe in you. You can get to the top, we’ll be there in a minute, just hurry up. C’mon Red,” White hyperventilated, as he attempted to encourage me. Gritting my teeth, I took out my grappling hook and shot it to the roof of the ship. An impossible shot, but it was worth the try. To my absolute surprise, the hook barely latched onto the railing of the roof and with a running leap, I leapt towards the wall and climbed up the side of the ship. The pain was strenuous in my left arm, and I could hear the bullets zinging at me, soldiers yelling down below. I shot some back down and then realized my chamber had no more bullets left. I threw my gun down in an attempt to at least bonk one of the soldier’s heads, but I didn’t look back. I shoved the knife down the side of my boot and began to climb quickly.

“Twenty seconds left,” the automated voice said over the intercom, and with my remaining strength, I climbed even more quickly, and finally my hand clasped onto the railing of the roof. Then pain followed as a shiny black boot pressed onto my hand, as I screamed in shock. I looked up to see a soldier pressing a gun to my head, his eyes cold with malice.

“Any last words, sweetheart?” The soldier cockily said, as he pressed the gun even more deeply into my forehead.

“No thanks,” I smiled. With my left hand, I reached into the side of my boot and pulled out the knife and threw it at the soldier’s chest. He fell back, dazed, blood oozing out of his wound. I heaved myself up onto the actual ground and took out my knife from his chest. “Sorry you didn’t get any last words, sweetheart,” I smirked and then a hovercraft appeared out of the sky, Agent White leaning out of the craft, yelling for me to hurry up.

“Ten… nine… eight,” the automated voice began the countdown and with even greater effort, I ran towards the hovercraft, where a ladder was lowered for me to climb up to. Gasping for breath, the run seemed to take forever as I trudged towards the silvery ladder, the pain in my arm flaring up.

“Six…five…four,” the automated voice continued over the intercom. Then the world went mute for me, as I leapt at the ladder and began to climb up, my arm throbbing and trembling as I scaled the ladder. The hovercraft began to move, and I did the best I could to continue ascending the ladder while moving.

I could faintly hear the automated voice calmly issuing the numbers, “Three…two…one.” And just before I was going to reach the top towards Agent White, my world exploded, and I could feel my right arm fall away from the last rung, my left arm screaming in pain as I hung on. Tiny little sparks peppered my back and my bare shoulders. Ash flew onto my hair as I swayed on the ladder, my arm holding me onto the brink of life. Then White’s arms clasped around me and heaved me up, as my eyes fluttered shut and everything went black.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading the prologue! There are 17 chapters so far, and I've been working on this particular story for several years. This a futuristic story about a secret society of agents and yes, there is some violence and death in this, so I do apologize.

I hope you enjoyed this read and look forward to the next chapter!

~*~