Chapter One

Chapter one

The suns rays slowly showered across the city, spreading kisses of light everywhere it could. This is how the city looked better…without all the noise and screaming. But of course one could not hope for it to last this way as once the sun was up to signal six am, the lights of houses went on and the roads buzzed with life. No one in the neighborhood could guess that among them was a 16 year old boy who lived a perfectly normal life as others, was a spy. Chris rolled over as his mobile began to ring He pulled it to his ear and spoke ‘Hello’ *** “BBBRRRRIIIINNNGGGGGGGG!” the alarm rang, sending Ingrid flying off her bed and running into the bathroom. Once again she had to rush to get ready for school. Sometimes being the daughter of a businessman was hard. Okay not just any businessman, but the daughter of Charles Lambert was a pretty big thing. Ingrid skipped into the dining room after a fresh bath and began shoving food into her mouth. In a desperate attempt to chew it all she started choking and violently began thumping her chest. Mr. James, the butler, ran into the room after hearing peculiar sounds and rushed to Ingrid’s aid. ‘Madam, are you….what were you…..are you okay?’ he asked after a while. ‘Fine really,’ Ingrid replied ‘I’m just in a rush and could you do me a favor?’ ‘Yes madam’ ‘Can you bring out the Mercedes as I do not wish to go in the limo…it… uh…attracts people’s attention,’ Ingrid explained as sweetly as possible. ‘Sure madam, I shall arrange it,’ the butler replied and strode off.

A blonde haired, pale man in his fifties walked into the dining room dressed in purple robes with a newspaper in one hand and his slippers dangling from the other. He pulled out a chair and poured himself orange juice, completely oblivious to the fact that his daughter was sitting opposite him. Ingrid watched her father sip the orange juice and read the newspaper, forgetting the fact that he put his slippers on his dining plate. ‘Morning dad,’ Ingrid spoke after a while Mr. Lambert looked up from his newspaper and smiled at Ingrid. ‘Morning darling.’ He replied, trying to sound calm but nothing went passed his daughter. ‘Is something the matter?’ she inquired as her father looked pretty keyed up ‘No just another kidnapping case of Mr. Boswell’s son,’ he sighed ‘That man was my business partner at one point.’ ‘Oh I’m sorry dad,’ she replied at a complete loss for words. ‘It’s alright darling. Oh goodness look at the time you must get going now!’ he exclaimed and Ingrid picked her bags, gave her dad a quick peck on the cheek and headed to the Mercedes. As soon as his daughter was out of hearing range Mr. Lambert pulled out his mobile from the pocket of his robes, dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. ‘Hello,’ greeted Chris ‘Good Morning son,’ began Mr. Lambert ‘Oh sir, yes I’m ready and I’ll keep a full account of your daughter, I wont let her out of my-’ ‘Yes yes that’s alright,’ cut across Mr. Lambert ‘But please make sure she doesn’t suspect you and tell your …umm…organization that my secretary isn’t behaving too well and I suspect him.’ ‘Yeah I’ll do all that but I’m Kind of getting late for school so I gotta bounce,’ Chris finished uncertainly ‘Oh please do proceed and my apologies for holding you back,’ said Mr. Lambert and put the mobile back in his pocket after cutting the line. What was he going to do with his daughter…? “Life is hard” he thought and was about to put his pancakes on his plate when he realized his slippers were already on it. Chuckling, he put it down and began his breakfast. ***

The Mercedes parked in front of school gate and Ingrid walked out. She quickly pulled off her coat and threw it at the back of the Mercedes. Her dad didn’t have to know that she wasn’t his little innocent Ingrid. If Ingrid’s father knew that she was a completely different person outside of home then he would be shocked. He doesn’t use the Mercedes so there would be no way he would find her coat n other clothes in it. Kelly and Brianna walked up to Ingrid trying to run as fast as they could in their pencil high heels. Both of them wore mini skirts and a tank top. ‘Hey Ingrid!’ they both called out in a unison Ingrid gave a broad grin and waved ‘You look great,’ she complimented them but obviously not meaning it. They all walked into the school grounds and to their lockers. ‘wow, School is actually kind of boring,’ began Ingrid as she pulled out a book from her locker and Brianna nodded in agreement. ‘I would rather go to a boutique!’ exclaimed Kelly and they all laughed. ‘I mean look around you,’ said Ingrid as she turned her head here and there showing emphasis on her statement and immediately saw a dark haired boy with pale skin tone taking out his books. He wore trousers and a round neck t-shirt with black sneakers. He looks pretty good thought Ingrid as she watched him flip through his books. She started to walk up to him when suddenly the football team came and surrounded her. Forgetting what she was about to do, Ingrid began to talk to the team and the dark- haired boy had disappeared Chris took out his books and was heading for his math class when he decided to see of Ingrid was in any sort of danger and he had to play a heroic deed. Sadly all she needed saving from was herself as all Ingrid did was talk and show- off. Chris rolled his eyes at the thought of any fool wanting to kidnap her. They would instantly die of either her talking about shoes, or her talking about how bloody rich she was. Leaving her to talk to the football team he went through the corridors to the office to collect his hall pass which he usually needed to check on Ingrid. Swiftly he opened the door walked right into someone. ‘sor-sorry,’ he stammered ‘I wasn’t looking.’ ‘Yeah, guys are pretty blind.’ ‘UM…excuse me,’ retorted Chris as he took in the girl’s appearance

She wore a blue t-shirt which was long enough to reach her thighs with knee-high tights and a belt. She had jet black hair which was opened and falling over her face. ‘Whatever, can you move so I can leave,’ she replied rolling her eyes. ‘yeah you can, but after you give me your name.’ ‘Queen Elizabeth. Nice to meet you Barack Obama!’ she replied and walked off pushing past Chris. “Awkward” he thought and went to Mrs. Penny. ‘Excuse me I need a hall pass,’ he announced and she handed him a slip. ‘Oh and one more thing…that girl who just passed by…can I have her name…for educational purpose,’ he said trying to sound convincing which it did as the receptionist spoke ‘Ebony, Ebony Clay. New student transfer’ ‘Alright thanks,’ he replied and strode of for his classes ‘Stupid idiotic boy,’ Ebony muttered to herself. He was about to cause a lot of trouble back there. ‘He’s lucky I could control my anger,’ she thought darkly and kept walking fast when she heard someone shout something behind her. She didn’t even bother and continued walking when she realized that the voice was pretty familiar. Halting in her tracks she slowly turned her head and saw the boy’s reflection on the notice board glass. It was the same one she had bumped into. Making a disgusted face she started to walk faster in her attempt to get away. The boy’s voice grew faint and she could no longer hear his cries of “Queen Elizabeth’ anymore. First day at school and she already made heads turn in her direction, everywhere she went. Angrily she took out a paper and figured that her next class was math. She walked into the appropriate room and sat down next to a boy who had a hood on and was busy looking outside the window at the school grounds. Digging into her bag, she pulled out her books and threw them on the desk and took out her cell phone, trying to get in touch with an unknown person. The bell rang and the class was soon filled up and the teacher walked in, laying his charts on the table carefully and looking for a pen. There were three raps on the door and there stood Chris with his books in his hand. Ebony let out a low groan and rolled her eyes. Out of all the classes he had to come here. Chris walked inside and sat at the back of the

room, waiting for when the class would end. He pulled out his cell phone and checked if anyone had called. At that same moment Chris’s phone began to vibrate and he knew something was wrong. His hand shot up and he made an excuse to go to his car to get his books. The teacher agreed and Chris sped off without a single glance at ebony. He ran and when he was safely out of hearing range and called his boss. ‘Yes sir did anything happen?’ he inquired ‘Not yet but as soon as lunch finishes you have to come down to Callaway hall for the party,’ Mr. Ray replied ‘Oh a party! I love parties,’ said Chris in excitement ‘Yes you will love it because Ingrid will be there as well,’ informed Mr. Ray ‘For the love of all that is good and holy…why do I have to take care of her like she’s a toddler about to get run over a truck!’ cried Chris is desperation ‘Because, you're being paid for it…you're being paid a lot for it,’ Mr. Ray replied putting a lot of emphasis on the word a lot ‘Haha…she’s such a snob though! The money isn’t even worth it,’ grumble Chris ‘Okay I won’t take any more of your whining… your father trained you and now you have to help him out.’ “Click” the phone went dead. Sighing, Chris walked back to his class when the bell rang, signaling for everyone to move for their next class. He trotted of for biology class and sat there, completely bored. ‘When oh when will this day end,’ he thought to himself as he flipped his phone in his hands, hoping that he could get out. Finally after an hour of frustration and note writing Chris left for the library to return his overdue books. Surprisingly there was Ebony on the computer typing something out. Deciding whether to confront her, he thought it would be best to leave her alone and walked past. Suddenly he realized she was downloading something from her phone onto the hard drive. She was so immersed in her work that Chris went behind her and tried to read whatever he could. He pulled out his phone and took a few shots, put his books in the overdue section and ran off. He pulled out his phone and skimmed through

the photos. She was trying to download a file on a student. She wanted information about someone from the school but who was it? Chris turned these thoughts in his head over and over again thinking of an answer but to no avail. Silently he went to his other two classes but thankfully, since his gym teacher went for lunch, he had more time to get ready to go to the party. “Time to go and baby-sit,” he thought

Chapter two ‘Everything is going fine sir,’ murmured Chris into the walkie-talkie ‘Good, keep an eye on her,’ came the reply of Mr. Ray ‘Yeah she's rite in front of-’ Chris abruptly stopped as he realized that Ingrid was missing. ‘What happened?’ asked Mr. Ray Chris composed himself and quickly replied ‘Nothing, I just saw a lot of food…can I talk later?’ he finished He didn’t wait for a reply and started to look around when he was tapped on the shoulders by some. He quickly spun around and found himself staring at Ingrid who wore a white mini-dress and was sipping on champagne ‘Hello. You go to my school right?’ she began in a polite voice Without thinking Chris blurted out; ‘You’re too young to be drinking that.’ She gave a carefree laugh and took another sip ‘Sorry but you are not my body guard,’ she replied with a grin ‘That’s what you think blonde,’ he mumbled to himself. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that,’ she said politely ‘Uumm….you look-,’ he surveyed her wondering what to say because she did not look pretty to him at all. ‘Well you look old!’ Chris finally concluded smiling as if he said something complimenting. ‘EXCUSE ME!’ said Ingrid in a high voice looking obviously infuriated “Oh no” thought Chris, what a way to deal with a rich snob ‘I said bold madam… beautiful dress,’ he said trying to amend his mistake ‘I thought you said that,’ replied Ingrid happily Chris looked around while Ingrid chatted to him cheerfully as if she had found that one fool who was happy to listen to her talk about herself. Sick Chris thought to himself. Then from nowhere appeared the one person Chris had been looking for: Ebony She wore a red dress and black high heels with black bracelet and necklace. Her hair was tied into a pony tail which elegantly swung over her shoulder.

She looked quite occupied with her cell phone as she vigorously pressed the keys and looked frustrated. ‘Excuse me,’ said Chris and walked away leaving Ingrid dumbfounded. No one had ever ignored her and walked away like he did. Annoying much she thought. Now she had to keep an eye on him to know what he found better. Chris walked up to Ebony. Now he found some one who was actually beautiful. All of a sudden the waiter happened to trip over Ingrid’s leg, who was following Chris, and the waiter’s glass of wine and champagne flew upwards and was about to land right over Ebony. Chris dashed forward and pulled Ebony away and the glasses smashed on the beautiful marble floors scattering everywhere. The area was filled with trillions of pieces of glass and the embarrassed waiter quickly tried to clean it up before his employer could come back. ‘I could have done that myself thanks,’ snapped Ebony with a tone of rage. ‘I wish you had just stuck with the last word instead,’ replied Chris coolly and walked away. “Definitely pretty” he thought “but too much attitude…..girls” he thought as if that was the only explanation in the whole world. His walkie-talkie clicked and Chris held it up to his ear in a flash. ‘Anything happened yet?’ ask Mr. Ray ‘No nothing at all…but so many people from my school are here.’ ‘I know… rich kids,’ replied Mr. Ray and clicked his walkie-talkie off All alone thought Chris and saw Ingrid talking to her uncles’ daughter, Lisa. Ebony was- nowhere. How did she disappear so fast thought Chris and ran to the back door to look for her. Girls can be weird but this Ebony was super alien. She wasn’t outside and Ingrid was busy enjoying herself. He decided to check on Mr. Ray and trotted off to the swimming pool where he was supposed to be located. All the officers were sitting on the pool benches in an awkward position. “What was going on?” thought Chris as he ran towards one of the officers. His arm was cut and there was a towel lying on it. Chloroform, Chris recognized and quickly ran to the van just outside the driveway where all the surveillance cameras were set up my Mr. Ray and monitored by Tony. Chris threw the door open and saw Tony munching on a garden burger. He walked into the van and grabbed Tony up by the collar.

‘What are you doing? Do you know that the men have been injured? Where is Ray?’ Chris screamed violently but Tony had no idea. He was in complete shock that all this had happened. His surveillances were working fine. ‘I-I don- don’t know…’ stammered Tony and quickly went through the screens. In one of the screens they saw a tall masked person enter through the vent. Whoever it was waved at the camera and pulled it apart. ‘floor 6, he’s in there…RUN!’ screamed Tony and pushed Chris. ‘I need a cover!’ Chris bellowed back and Tony handed him a cloth to tie around his face and pushed him out. Chris ran through the front door and hid behind the large pillar, all the guests were safe but…Ingrid was gone. The whole place was in a mess as all the tables had been turned upside down, the guests were cowering in a corner while a masked figure held gun a up. ‘Now if any of you tries anything,’ threatened the man ‘or screams, I’ll have you sleeping tonight with bullets down your throat’ Where was Ingrid? Chris thought desperately they took her…I know it. Slowly he pulled out his pen and clicked the top twice. A small needle shot out from the pen and injected the man with the gun. The effect was instantaneous as the man slumped onto the floor and didn’t show any sign of conscience. Dashing forward, he addressed the nearest person. ‘Where is Ingrid Lambert?’ he shouted and the man pointed towards the top floor. ‘She took her… that girl took Ingrid’ ‘Girl?’ he thought and realized that the masked figure was not a man. Chris ran to the stairs and checked each floor thoroughly. If anyone went out through the doors then Tony would inform him, which meant that there was only one way….the terrace. Springing into action he ran to the elevator only to find it had been jammed and most of the wires were deliberately chopped off. Stairs AGAIN! He thought, groaning to himself. Taking two steps in each pace, he climbed as quickly as possible until he reached a small wooden door. Kicking it open, Chris pulled out a gun from his pockets and pointed it everywhere. Where was Ingrid he thought anxiously. He had failed in his task already. Chris had promised his dad, on his dying bed; that he would make him proud. No matter what the danger

was…but here, he had failed. A sudden wave of regret and disgust filled him and Chris walked over to the edge of the terrace. Peering downwards, he saw all the men and women file out of the hall and run away from the party. That had put them in quite a shock, chuckled Chris darkly. On the left he noticed a ladder. Looking further he saw a van which was black. Calculating quickly he realized that maybe the girl had tricked him into thinking that she went to the terrace while she was probably with the guests at that point. Chris ran in a flash and climbed down the ladder. He still had hope of catching up with the fool who tried to mess with him. Finally at the bottom, he ran to the guests and grabbed a man ‘did you see a girl…or a masked person…anywhere’ ‘I don’t know,’ replied the person and dashed off to his car. Frustrated, Chris ran to the black van and slid its door open. In there was a brown sack which kept thrashing. A muffled sound kept emerging from it and next to the sack was the masked girl he had been looking for so desperately. She wore a black martial arts suit, similar to his, which covered her whole body but exposed her eyes and braided hair. She let out a loud gasp and dropped the keys which she held in her gloved hands. Realizing that there was an intruder, the girl jumped forward and kicked Chris squarely in the face. Stunned and hurt, Chris landed back on the pavement and the girl moved out of the van, pulled out a revolver and pointed it right at Chris’s head. With a swift movement of his leg, Chris swept the girls feet and she landed right on her head. Dashing forward he opened the sack in the van and pulled Ingrid out. He was untying her hands when cat woman dragged him back out the van. Ingrid’s eyes widened in fear as she watched her captor punch Chris twice; right in his stomach. The girl was just about to punch Chris again when he grabbed her hands, twisted it to her back and pushed her to the ground. He picked up the gun and hit her on the head and she fell on the pavement, lifelessly. Chris ran back into the van and untied Ingrid’s hands and legs while she removed the duck tape from her mouth. ‘Who- who are you?’ she stammered and was about to pull off Chris’s mask when he grabbed her hand and pinned it to her sides. ‘None of your business. Just run….QUICKLY,’ he ordered and she stumbled out of the van, running without a backward glance at Chris. Chris pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and quickly dialed the chief’s number. Mr. Ray was nowhere to be found so he found it suitable to call the chief of the special crime department.

The phone only rang once and a quick but firm “hello” came from the other line. ‘Hello, sir it’s me, Chris. There has been an attack at the charity event in the hall which we were guarding. Mr. Lambert’s daughter was kidnapped but I freed her and she ran away,’ explained Chris as quickly as possible. ‘I’ll send the rest of the squad right away. Who is responsible for all this?’ asked the chief and Chris glanced at the unconscious girl. ‘There were two people here. It was all very well planned but I think I disturbed….uhhh….some plans as I made the driver unconscious. Therefore he was unable to come back in time and I caught up with cat woman here and knocked her out too,’ he finished ‘Oh, good job son. Make all the necessary arrangements and take down all information. Exit as soon as possible before your cover gets blown and make sure you get a picture of at least the….cat woman. Leave the driver to us as he might be too dangerous. Give the phone to Mr. Ray please.’ ‘Well sir I couldn’t find him which is the main problem. That why I called you,’ he explained uncertainly. ‘Yes, Tony called me and told me that the men were knocked out but he didn’t mention Mr. Ray. My men will be there in five minutes. Do what you have to do.’ “Click” the phone went dead Chris quickly took a video of the van’s interior and noted the vehicle number. Now he had to see to cat woman, who had started to stir. He grabbed the top of her mask and tugged on it but it didn’t budge. He pulled out his pocket knife and started to cut the fabric before his phone started to vibrate. He answered it and was told to leave immediately by the chief. ‘But sir I haven’t got any evidence on the girl yet,’ he explained but the chief told him to leave. Stubborn as he was, Chris agreed to leave but as soon as he placed his phone in his pocket, he turned back to pull cat woman’s mask before he realized that she was gone. From a distance, sirens had started wailing and Chris knew he had to leave before he got into a lot of trouble with the chief. He pulled out his sharp pocket knife and slashed one of tires so cat woman couldn’t escape. He pulled a hood over his head from his jacket and removed his mask. Soon enough, he was in the midst of many people and no one would know where he was.

Chapter three

‘Dad, I’m fine!’ assured Ingrid but her father wasn’t really ready to listen. ‘I think I’ll switch your schools now. Maybe I’ll send you to Paris! How about that sweetheart,’ suggested Mr. Lambert. ‘NO!’ exploded Ingrid. ‘I’m not going to see mum and her French husband. THEY ARE SICK!’ ‘That’s not polite Ingrid and I was thinking I’ll get you an apartment.’ ‘OH NO! Mum will get hurt and then she will emotionally blackmail me into staying with her and then I’ll have to put up with her husband. You know dad I like French people….BUT I hate mums’ husband!’ she finished off angrily. ‘Can’t you and mum just get back together?’ she asked quietly ‘End of discussion! I have to go to work,’ replied Mr. Lambert and walked off. Ingrid let out a sigh and went off to her room. It was always like this. Dad never talked about mum and mum never stopped talking about her French husband. She took out her ipod and stuffed the earphones into her ears; put the volume real high so no one could disturb her thoughts. He phone vibrated and began to ring. She quickly opened it and held it to her ear. ‘hello’ ‘Hey it’s me Kelly, you’re not coming to school today?’ ‘I was thinking of relaxing after yesterday’s events…you know…the trauma of nearly being kidnapped and all,’ replied Ingrid, giggling. ‘Yea, yea whatever so can you please come today? It’s going to be boring and you still have twenty minutes to get ready so hurry up,’ ‘No. I’m staying home,’ said Ingrid firmly ‘Oh…I see… Miss Lambert is too shocked to come to school…too scared… it’s ok since you’ll be missing out on all the attention and sympathy and all the—’ ‘I’ll be there in fifteen,’ cut across Ingrid and flipped her phone shut. Today all she needed was some friends to cheer her up and listen to her story like they didn’t have anything better to do. ****

**to be continued**