Julianne paced around the room for a moment, deep in thought, analyzing the space around her and examining every cranny, starting with the door. It was clearly locked and blocked by something immoveable. She turned and ran her hand through her hair, next stooping by the only ventilation in the room; a tiny porthole with rusted hinges. She tugged on it with great energy until her fingers slipped and she fell to the floor.
"Ok, look, stop before you hurt yourself. You're a spy woman, use your brain. There has to be another option." Kelly said from the floor, pouring water onto Alex's face as he focused on trying to help Julianne. Alex coughed.
"I've got enough problems without you trying to drown me Kelly." He protested with an interspersed hack. Kelly stopped his pouring and sent Alex a genuinely apologetic look.
"Stop your whining. You get shot and all you do is whine. Suck it up." Kelly returned. Alex laughed. Julianne had stopped in a corner and sat cross legged, her head in her hands, quietly sat in contemplation.
"I've got it!" She exclaimed happily, standing to her feet and remaining hunched to avoid the ceiling.
"Good. I knew you'd do it. What's the plan?" Kelly asked excitedly.
"Smoke and mirrors." Julianne replied. Kelly raised a skeptical eyebrow and sighed.
"That's the best you can do, come up with the title of an operation?" Kelly demanded.
"No, not exactly. We'll use smoke though." Julianne said excitedly, rummaging through her pants pockets and taking out two plastic cylinders the size of her hand. Kelly stared at them blankly.
"Alex already tried smoke. It doesn't fool these guys. They're thugs, they're not hooligans." Kelly objected, once the scope of the plan dawned on him. Alex looked as though he would protest, but remained silent.
"It's the only option we've got momentarily. I don't know how long they'll keep us alive. If you want to thwart El Cid and reap the benefits we have to escape." Her mouth became a thin line of determination and Kelly could see arguing would be fruitless.
"I'm in. I'll do what I can to help." Alex said from the floor faintly.
"That's the spirit." Julianne said brightly, exchanging a concerned look with Kelly before explaining her plan.
"It's simple enough. We open a smoke canister next to the door. The cracks are large enough the smoke will seep underneath and flood the hallway. You are better off to El Cid alive than dead, so their task will be to open the door and find us. We'll over power them and then run for it." She said briskly. She did not approve of the plan herself, there were too many outside variables to consider, too many things that could go wrong, starting with their collapsing from the smoke and ending with their obvious lack of man power.
"Kelly, your part in this plot is to get Alex out of here as fast as you can. You'll have to carry him. No offense Alex." She added, knowing agents would rather die than be rescued and carried out of a mission.
"None taken. Just as long as he doesn't gloat." Alex murmured. Kelly sputtered.
"Why am I volunteered for the heavy lifting? Kelly Robinson ain't no beast of burden." He objected loudly, climbing self righteously to his feet.
"You're not a beast of burden Kelly. You've got the most important job. Think of it this way, you're the transporter of the vital information. Do this for me, and I know you'll receive a medal in Washington, maybe even two." She said, bringing her arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner, gently cajoling him into doing as she requested.
Kelly let a slow smile grow to his lips.
"Well, if you put it that way. Transporter of the vital information… I like the sound of that." He whispered in a strange and proud awe.
"Alex, your duty is to…" He interrupted her.
"Stay alive? Why am I suddenly the damsel in distress with all of this?" He grumbled good naturedly.
"Shut up Kelly." Alex and Julianne both ordered, sensing the sarcastic diatribe ready to ooze from his lips. Kelly waved and clapped his hand over his mouth, muffling the words as he walked to a corner to unleash them.
"You're not. You'll be productive in all of this too. If you swoon though you will be demoted to damsel and distress, understood?" She threatened and he nodded in mock seriousness.
"Once the initial guards are down, I need you to carry a gun and fire from Kelly's shoulder. This way our rear and front flanks are protected." She murmured softly, taking out the other cylinder from her pocket and examining it carefully.
"Kelly, move him over there and be ready to run. Once we start moving, don't stop. Agreed?" She asked them both sternly. Both nodded hesitantly.
"When I count to three, hold your breath." She warned them, crossing over to the door and placing a canister on each side. With quick movements she pulled up on the tabs on the top of the cans and ran to a corner by the door.
"Three." She called with a cough, attempting to hold her breath and conserve her air through the choking smoke. Loud hacking coughs and frenzied yells echoed through the hallway next to the door and the sound of scraping of wood against wood after that. Shoulders threw themselves at the wooden door and it fell away as if it were nothing. Vaguely, she could make out through the blinding smoke the figures of two men. She waited with baited breath until they inched near enough for her to attack.
"Kelly, run!" She ordered high kicking one man and bringing him to the ground and tackling the other with all her might. In a moment, Kelly was grunting at her side, with Alex thrown haphazardly over his shoulder. Moving swiftly, she knelt and retrieved three large guns, silently hoping it would be all they needed.
"Mush!" Alex called out to Kelly with a smirk. Forgetting Alex was on his shoulder, Kelly turned around to reprimand him as if Alex were behind him. He sighed.
"You'd better hope we don't make it to Tahiti because you're a dead man. I said it before I ain't your beast of burden. My grandmother will agree too. She'll break the rest of your nose." Kelly replied sarcastically over the din. They reached the end of the hallway and the smoke cleared away. Creaking stairs revealed the presence of a new threat and hearing the sounds of the thundering herd, Julianne pushed them backwards. Nervously, she tugged on a door knob and entered, pulling Kelly by the collar into the room with surprising strength. They landed with a soft thud on the bed, Alex sandwiched between Kelly and Julianne.
"Tell me this isn't part of the plan." He groaned.
"I don't know man, it's kind of cozy. Give me a hug." Kelly said, squeezing Alex and Julianne. Both yelped, particularly Julianne who remained on the bottom of the dog pile. Kelly stood and re-shouldered Alex, allowing Julianne to slide off the bed and onto the floor. She handed them each a gun.
"What's the rest of the plan?" Kelly asked, excitement gleaming in the center of his dark eyes.
"I don't have one." Julianne confessed in a whisper, hearing the men discussing their plans outside the door.
"What? What the hell kind of special operations agent are you" What do you mean you don't have a plan?" Kelly demanded and Alex sighed in frustration.
"That's as far as I got." She said, standing to her feet and creeping toward the window.
The view revealed the open and expansive parking lot, now under heavy patrol. At the end of the parking lot sat the government negotiators and the Red Cross vans.
"It's old fashioned but it will have to work. We've got to climb down the remaining three flights with the bed sheets." She said, beginning to throw off the quilted comforter and tugging at the white sheets.
"You're joking?" Alex asked her from Kelly's shoulder and she shook her head.
"I'm afraid I'm not. We'll tie the sheets together then open the window. I'll continue to target the guards while you two lower the sheets and climb down. Then once you're down, keep running. The police should understand the escape and hopefully draw some of their fire with their own." Julianne explained, beading sweat in her exertion to tie the sheets tightly.
Kelly placed Alex on the floor and moved feverishly to help Julianne, hearing outside the door the frantic searches through the rooms by the guards. When the last sheet had been knotted and anchored securely to the bed post, Julianne softly slid the window open.
"Good luck." She told them sincerely; worry creasing her brow as she lined up her first shot from the eave of the window's edge. With a nod, Kelly unfurled the white sheets and they sailed to the ground. Julianne unleashed her first shot, striking the first man and bringing him helplessly to the ground. The other men patrolling circled around in terror before taking cover and trying to discover the identity of the sniper. She gave Kelly a nod and began shooting again, as he slid with great effort out the window and began to scale down the wall of the hotel. Shots rang out and Julianne returned them as accurately as possible. One came within inches of hitting Kelly's head. Startled he nearly let go of the makeshift rope but managed to cling to it. He continued to scale down.
His feet touched the ground and he dove off to the side, seeing the armored guards racing toward them angrily. Julianne let off another hail of gunfire until it stopped unexpectedly. Kelly looked up in surprise and adjusted Alex on his back more securely.
"You alright?" He asked the silent man. Alex nodded.
"I'm well enough. Just don't drop me ok." Alex pleaded and Kelly agreed.
"I'm a beast of burden, I'm not stupid." Kelly replied in a whisper, hearing the men approach the bushes where they were hiding. Alex surveyed the hotel walls and observed Julianne starting her desent unnoticed down the wall. He grew nervous.
"Kelly, we've got to run." Alex whispered to him.
"No way man, that's suicide. If you have a death wish that's one thing, but don't include me in that sickness." Kelly griped logically and Alex shook his head.
"Have I ever let you down before?" Alex asked him seriously and Kelly started to list the occasions but Alex stopped him.
"Fine, have I ever failed to save your neck?" Alex asked him and Kelly shook his head.
"Trust me on this one ok? For the sewer!" Alex said, in memory of their first mission together and their unlikely escape into a sewer.
"No, for Tahiti. Let's go." Kelly said, hunkering over and crouching to run. He took off at a sprint, the bushes rattling behind them, announcing their escape. The men turned their attention away from the hotel and towards the two men running. Alex fired from his upside down position, managing to hit only two of the guards out of twenty. As Julianne predicted, the swat police took up their weapons and provided aide to the two men.
"Where's Julianne, I don't see her." Alex called out to Kelly.
"Forget it, I'm not going back and you can't either. We'll just have to keep running like she suggested." Kelly said in exhaustion, panting from the strain of carrying Alex and keeping up his pace. At last they had reached the end of the parking lot and anxious medics surrounded them, immediately moving Alex to a stretcher and cold water into Kelly's hands.
"Wait, we've got another friend in there!" Alex objected excitedly, struggling against the medics to watch if Julianne followed.
Kelly joined in the fray.
"You can't just leave her there to die. No one could fight off twenty armed men." Kelly objected.
"Well, well. I do believe they care." A feminine voice called smugly from behind them. Both men turned and immediately relaxed.
"What took you so long? I've been here for hours." She said with a yawn and a stretch, sitting by Alex's side and watching with anxious eyes while the medics attended to his wound.
"That's some pretty good planning in there for spur of the moment." Alex complimented. Julianne smiled.
"I saw it in a movie." She said with a shrug. Kelly strode over to them each and gave them a massive hug.
"Team work friends, team work. That's the answer. We were the Harlem Globe Trotters back there." Kelly said, hugging them both again, ignoring the warnings from the medic.
"I wouldn't work with either you ever again though." Julianne said, growing very serious. Both men's faces dropped considerably.
"Why? I mean, sure Kelly's obnoxious, but that's no reason to hold it against us." Alex said. Kelly nodded in agreement.
"It's not that. It's that I had to search all day for two boxes of Vaseline and neither of you used it." She joked and both men laughed.
"All joking aside, would you consider being part of our team. It'll be great, we'll be unstoppable." Alex said enthusiastically while Kelly continued to nod, trying to gage her reaction.
"Well…I've heard Tahiti is nice this time of year." She replied, a bright smile growing on her face.


Coming Soon:

I Spy: Join partners Alex, Kelly and Julianne as they journey to Tahiti and train the latest recruits for BNS. What starts as a simple training mission soon becomes more complicated as Kelly and Alex can hardly keep their eyes and arms away from the new female recruits in Tahiti. Training season goes well until female agents start disappearing. Is there a connection between the twelve missing teenaged Americans and the missing agents? Will jealousy start to rock the relationship between Alex, Kelly and Julianne? Find out in the next installment…




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