Izzy wants to avenge her mother. Colt wants answers for his father. A common goal might unite them both.
*these characters belong to Choices game from Pixelberry, not me!*
Word count: 1,887
Izzy held out her Langston University hoodie for a moment, hoping that looking at the sweater one last time would affirm she was doing the right thing. “See you in the spring semester,” Izzy whispered as she folded the clothing and buried it deep in the back of her closet. Her father wasn’t going to be happy when he realized there was no changing her mind. Izzy had been taught her stubbornness by the best, even if she hardly saw her father these days. Her late mother’s legacy wore heavily on the husband and daughter she left behind, and no longer a junior agent, Izzy was determined to prove herself to the Central Agency of Espionage and Intelligence. CAE-I was more than impressed with her school record, and rather than attend university as planned, she’d received a special invitation from the agency. Slipping on her favorite pair of hoop earrings, Izzy looked over her mostly bare bedroom. Most of her things were in storage, while the rest awaited her at the apartment she shared with her future roommate, a civilian.
Izzy was surprised to see her father at the kitchen table, sipping from his coffee cup and flipping through the newspaper. He glanced up when she entered, giving her a nod before returning his attention back to his drink. Izzy approached the table slowly, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and sitting in the seat across from him. People applauded Mike Parker for the way he continued to move forward after the untimely death of his wife, but only Izzy was aware of the grief he kept tucked away and out of sight. She shared the same guarded heart. “What? No words of warning this morning? Some pearls of wisdom?” Her father chuckled as he folded up his newspaper and set it aside. “I just thought you might want a ride this morning.” Izzy made a face as she bit into her apple, which had nothing to do with the sour crunch.
“My car’s fine,” she spoke to the table. Truthfully, the car was her mother’s and decidedly not fine, but she refused to upgrade. A sleek, black 2004 Endeavor, it had seen better days, but it had been the only constant in her life with two field agents as parents. Izzy hoped she never had a family to worry about. She looked up in time to see her dad’s furrowed brow and tight jaw. “It wasn’t up for discussion,” he clipped out, and Izzy took a larger bite of her apple to keep her snark at bay. She may have been eighteen now, but there was only one adult in the house, and it wasn’t her. Izzy nodded, absently chewing, her mind wandering to what her first mission might be.
Father and daughter took the scenic route to their destination, the silence peppered now and then with Mike’s nagging advice, things Izzy had heard all her life.
-An armed weapon is a tool; if you’re reaching for one it’s probably too late.
-Nothing under any circumstances is a coincidence.
-You’re never alone, so don’t become complacent.
The CAE-I building loomed large as Izzy’s dad pulled into the parking lot. Gleaming, silver, imposing. Mike silently watched as his only daughter pulled a small badge from underneath her shirt and fluffed her hair out. She felt his gaze and her eyes flicked over to him. A thousand things they both wanted to say, but nothing came out. Izzy reached over and threw her arms around her dad’s neck. Startled, a moment passed before he slowly brought his arms around her in a quick embrace. He pulled back too soon, and Izzy took that as her cue to leave.
** ** **
“Izabel Nova Parker?”
Izzy stood on the marked spot in the small room with a two-way mirror. A tall woman with sharp eyeliner and beige hijab motioned for her to look straight into the camera to capture her image as well as scan her eye data into the system. Izzy recalled that her mother had smiled in her CAE-I photo and gave a dazzling smile of her own. Once Izzy was checked in and gone through security, she found herself at the building’s Sub Level 17, wishing she’d brought a jacket to fight the chill of the room. Taking a seat at the long conference table, Izzy hugged herself, willing heat back into her body when the door opened and in walked the man who was as a good as a second father to her.
“Hey, kiddo, fancy meeting you here!”
Jason Shaw brandished a chocolate chip cookie with an unlit birthday candle and placed it in front of Izzy with a flourish. “I know I’m a week late, but better late than never, right?” he grinned, though Izzy could care less about the cookie. “I thought you were stuck in Germany for another month! What are you doing here?” Jason was her mother’s old partner. He was the reason her parents had met in the first place. He also hadn’t been able to stop the two bullets that lodged themselves in Kira Parker’s chest. Whatever grief her widow carried around like a weight, it also extended to her partner, who’d come back with the debrief and haunting news.
At her mother’s funeral, Izzy watched as her father and Jason Shaw hardly spoke to one another, the tear in their friendship a permanent scar. Whereas Mike refused to bring up the past, Izzy turned to Jason, filling in the gaps of her mother’s life and remember the remarkable woman she was. Jason ruffled Izzy’s hair before taking the seat adjacent to her. “How else would I have given you your first official assignment?” he shrugged and Izzy clamped a hand over her mouth, shocked.
“No way….”
“Way,” Jason winked, and Izzy felt the last of her nervous energy fall away. “I know you weren’t anticipating staying another moment longer in LA,” Jason continued, “but it’s an honor to welcome you to the beginning of the rest of your life. You know, your mom started at the LA branch too,” Jason smiled and Izzy rolled her eyes, fighting back a smile of her own. Of course, she knew. She took a bite of her birthday cookie and looked up expectantly. “Fine, we’ve both got things to do and I’ve kept you long enough.” Jason clasped his fingers together and the teasing in his eyes vanished. Izzy found herself sitting up straighter, cookie forgotten. “Ever heard of the Mercy Park Crew?” Jason asked, and Izzy shook her head.
“No, I haven’t.” He turned a piercing gaze on so suddenly, Izzy felt the energy in the room shift. “Izzy listen to me and listen to me carefully. The word on the street is they’re a notorious gang of criminals with crimes not limited to property destruction, grand theft auto, and arson. That’s not CAE-I’s concern.”
Jason’s eyes took on that haunted look as he ran a hand through his hair haphazardly. He hardly held Izzy’s gaze now. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to infiltrate the MPC and take them down from the inside, out. They have an active contact with the Brotherhood.” Izzy felt the blood rush through her ears, almost missing Jason’s next sentence. She was temporarily untethered to that time and space.
“…We need you to finish what your mother started.”
COLT
He had a name, a face, and an objective. His father would be proud, and yet it gave Colt no joy to think about his father’s disappearance. He’d be following the lead right now if his mother wasn’t pushing so hard for him to stay in classes. “You’re not even enrolled full time, Colt! You’re better than this!” Nori Sato had smacked her son, and at that moment Colt had wondered if his dad’s absence was purposeful. So rather than following his lead while the trail was hot, Colt found himself blazing down the highway on his bike to his Wednesday afternoon classes at Los Angeles Tech.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic ensured that Colt would be at least twenty minutes late. Fifteen if he was lucky. On Colt’s left was a black SUV with a busted headlight that called attention to itself. Colt shook his head, embarrassed for the owner driving the busted down vehicle. His eyes traveled to the driver, a girl with black-brown coils that brushed her shoulders, and gold hooped earrings. She drove with both hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, her back straight as a rod, her expression unreadable. Both windows were down and Colt figured she’d been without AC for a while. As if she felt herself being watched, the girl’s eyes found Colt, though his helmet served as a barrier of sorts. And yet they locked eyes. Shit, she was attractive.
Traffic was on the move again but it didn’t stop Colt from stealing one last look at the stranger before zooming off on his bike. He was definitely more than twenty minutes late now.
IZZY
The boy in the motorcycle was the least of her concerns as Izzy replayed the conversation with Jason in her head. Specific details surrounding her mother’s last mission and subsequent death had been classified, but the Brotherhood was a name Izzy has grown up hearing. Low voices and hushed tones as her parents argued, only for her mother to switch to Spanish when she sensed Izzy within earshot. It hadn’t taken long for Izzy to understand, but by that time, her parents had wised up. She had puzzle pieces and no idea what the bigger picture looked like.
She hadn’t found much information on the Brotherhood, in fact, she hadn’t found anything, but she figured once she found a way into the MPC, the real work would begin. Sweat beaded at her hairline and under her armpits thanks to the California heat, and Izzy was tempted to stick her head outside the SUV and let the wind whip her hair across her face. If it wasn’t one thing with her ride, it was another, and it was a matter of time before she’d have to admit defeat. Izzy was nothing if not stubborn, and her mama hadn’t raised a quitter.
Then there was the matter of a certain house party that night, the one her new roommate had mentioned in passing a few days before. Izzy originally planned to decline, feigning an early Thursday class, but after the day she was having, she was inclined to change her mind.