Agent 38: A DID Spy Thriller (Various)

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BobaFettish1
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Post by BobaFettish1 »

Chapter Twenty Three: “Breaking The Chains”
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The blonde haired girl stared at me with a concerned look as she knelt at my side to finish removing my gag. As she did I began to glance around at my surroundings. As suspected, I was still laying on my stomach in the middle of the large cargo container, the interior of which was severely darkened now that the large doors in front of me had been sealed shut. The only light present filtered in through a series of golf ball sized holes that had been drilled into the walls of the giant metal box. It finally dawned on me that this young woman hadn’t simply appeared out of thin air to rescue me from my predicament; she was one of the slaves I had been imprisoned with. But she wasn’t chained up anymore. Thin red marks on her wrists showed where she had recently worn the metal shackles, and a bruised ring around her neck was a grim reminder of her former slave collar. She finally finished untying my gag and removed the dirty rag from my mouth. Just as she did, I let out a violent cough.

“Are you alright?” The young woman asked, tenderly.

“I... I think so,” I said hoarsely in between coughs and deep breaths.

“Soooo, are you some kind of secret agent or something?” She asked quizzically.

I started to answer, but suddenly realized I couldn’t. For the first time that I could remember, I didn’t know how to answer that question. For so long the Agency had been a part of my identity. Hell, it was my identity. I had given up everything and devoted my life to serving an entity that now ceased to exist. I had told myself that Caitlin James was gone, fully replaced by Agent 38. But who was Agent 38 now? What did it mean to be an Agent when there was no Agency?

I pondered the question and hesitated long enough for the girl to raise and eyebrow in confusion. I finally shook away the jumble of thoughts and finally spoke up in a monotone voice.

“I used to be.”

“Oh,” She said sheepishly. “I heard part of the message earlier. I’m... I’m sorry.”

A wave of emotions came flooding back into my mind. The pain, the anger, and the heartbreak threatened to overtake me once again, but I pushed it away. “It’s okay,” I said as reassuringly as I could.

While diligently working to remove the ropes and chains from my body, the blonde haired girl spoke almost non-stop. It seemed being bound and gagged for such a long time had made her ready to vomit words to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately for me I was very much a captive audience and, despite having my gag removed, I still couldn’t get a word in edgewise. As she worked to free me from my bonds she introduced herself as Emily Beck and proceeded to go on and on about the harrowing ordeal that had led to her being imprisoned here. She explained her kidnapping in excruciating detail, how she had been snatched by men in a white panel van on the way home from work, how she spent numerous days bound and gagged, and then eventually shackled and blindfolded inside this very cargo container. She complained about how much her legs had been cramping while being forced to sit so long and how much her wrists and ankles hurt from the handcuffs. She expressed concern about her husband back in New York and how much he would be worried about her.

It was hard not to zone out during Emily’s seemingly endless story time, but I at least pretended to listen most of the time. I did perk up a bit when she started explaining exactly how she and the other captives had managed to escape their shackles. “It was Vanessa who got us out of the chains,” Emily said, gesturing towards a young Latina woman standing near the door of the container. She wore a red collared shirt with black tights and red knee high boots. Vanessa was kneeling beside another strikingly similar woman that she was helping to release from the chains. The prisoner wore a business suit; red camisole, a black mini skirt and brown pantyhose with red high heels. “She said that after they tied you up she was feeling around on the floor and found a handcuff key," Emily continued. "And it fit everyone’s cuffs perfectly! I mean, how crazy is that?”

It wasn’t crazy at all, actually. After only a moment of pondering I suddenly realized what had happened. The handcuff key Vanessa had found was the same key that I had stored in my utility belt, the one that a henchmen had stripped from my person when I was captured. Perhaps by pure chance the key must have fallen out of the belt’s pouch and somehow landed within reach of one of my fellow prisoners. Vanessa has escaped her own hand and leg cuffs and was now working her way around to each of the other captives to free them with the same handcuff key.

As Emily carefully removed the rope from my hair I was finally able to pivot my head normally and I glanced backwards to see that more of the women were now moving about the cargo container, free of their shackles. From what I could tell, about half of the girls were still seated against the walls of the container, still chained hand and foot. The other half of them were busily helping the remaining prisoners unlock their cuffs.

After all they had been through, after all the mobsters had done to keep them restrained, and after what little I had been able to do to help them, they had still managed to escape completely on their own. And not only that, but they were rescuing me! I was impressed.

Suddenly I felt the presence of another set of hands on my body, specifically around my legs. I then noticed a young African American woman was helping Emily release me. She had dark skin, deep brow eyes and frizzy black hair held back in a bun. Her clothing consisted of lime green hospital scrubs with white sneakers.

“That’s Jackie,” Emily chimed in, as if to answer my unspoken questions about her helper. “She says she’s a surgeon, which apparently makes her good at lock picking.” Jackie was indeed hard at work digging into the keyhole of one of the locks with a thin piece of metal. She had already undone the locks and chains binding my arms and was focused on unlocking the padlock at my feet.

“Almost...” Jackie said through gritted teeth. “There!” She finally exclaimed as the lock popped open. The chains encasing my legs instantly became loose and fell to the floor in a clatter. Both women quickly went to work unraveling the chains from my limbs and it felt so good to be rid of the painful metal restraints. As the chains fell away I tried to move my arms and legs but quickly realized I couldn’t. I had completely forgotten that the chains were but the second layer of my bondage, the first being a hefty web of rope that had also been applied to my limbs. I was growing impatient of just lying there helplessly tied up, especially knowing everything that was at stake, but Emily and Jackie were now working as fast as they could to untie me.

Once they freed my arms from the ropes I flopped over onto my back and pulled myself up into a sitting position. I rubbed my wrists profusely trying to ward off the numbness and get my blood flowing again. Just as I did, I noticed that the rest of the women inside the cargo container were getting to their feet after being freed from their chains. Jackie and Emily finished removing the last portions of rope from around my ankles, and at last, I too was free.

I paused for a long moment, just sitting there silently. I was so exhausted, both physically and emotionally. I wanted a long hot bath and an even longer nap in a cool bed. For the first time in a very long time I didn’t know what would come next. I had no Agency to go back to, and no fellow agents to rely on. I knew going into this that I would be on my own, but I had yet to realize how truly alone I would end up being.

All the women looked directly at me, perhaps waiting for some grandiose inspirational speech about how we were going to escape. But truthfully I had no idea what to say, or what to do. What did these women expect from me? Did they see me as their savior? Some kind of dashing heroine that was going to jump into action and save them all?

Or did they see me for who I truly was? Another hapless prisoner who had been kidnapped, held captive, and just barely managing to avoid a life of slavery.

Despite the fact that I am... well, I was a highly trained secret agent, and also despite all my efforts to thwart the Boss’ plan, I had still ended up here, shackled and gagged without any means of escape. And it was these women, the ones I had set out to rescue in the first place, who had ended up rescuing me!

Perhaps I wasn’t so alone after all.

“Okay! First things first,” I said as I stepped towards the large double doors of the cargo container. I used both my hands to shove them hard, as if I was (stupidly) expecting results. Nonetheless, the doors rattled intensely but didn’t budge. I had seen enough of the outside of the container to know why; four vertical locking bars each with clamping handles kept the doors firmly in place. By design the cargo container would be impossible to open from the inside, mainly because it wasn’t designed to transport human beings.

“How do we get out of this thing?” Jackie asked, a hint of panic in her voice. I wasn’t eager to admit I had absolutely no idea so I didn’t speak. Thankfully someone else broke the awkward silence.

“Hey,” another feminine voice called out from the back of the cargo container behind us. “Look at this!” I quickly worked my way through the crowd of women with Emily and Jackie right on my heels. Several of the girls were huddled in the right corner of the container looking up at the ceiling curiously. They parted as I approached and a young brown skinned woman turned to face me. She was dressed in a brown burqa, blue sweater, a black skirt and brown sandals. She was gesturing towards the ceiling and I followed her gaze to a small hole in the corrugated metal above. It was no more than half a meter wide and appeared to be the result of something solid and sharp puncturing the top of the metal skin of the cargo container. The thick metal had been pressed inward until it had broken, leaving the hole open with ragged twisted edges of metal pointing down at us.

“This is the only opening I’ve found.” The woman said in accented English. Trying to climb through the small hole as it was would leave someone shredded. I reached up and began manipulating the shards of metal the best I could, bending them away from the opening and also managing to widen the hole just so. When I was finished my hands hurt like hell, but the opening seemed at least somewhat passable.

“Give me a boost,” I said gesturing towards the hole. Several of the women immediately came to my aid, hoisting me up into the air and towards the hole. I grabbed the sides of the opening, being careful not cut myself, and pulled my head through the hole. I peered out through the roof of the cargo container, examining the surroundings quickly and carefully. Thankfully none of the Boss’ minions were in sight, so I wouldn’t have to expect a fight after escaping the metal box. (Well, at least not immediately.) I repositioned myself in an effort to pull myself through the hole, slipping one of my arms up and onto the roof of the container. I stretched to pull my other arm through... but couldn’t.

Now, look, I have always prided myself on keeping my body as fit and flexible as possible. Being physically able to slip into a tight air duct, or more often than not, slip out of some tight ropes, has always been key. But it appears I misjudged the size of this hole and my ability to squeeze through it.

After several excruciatingly long moments of intense wiggling I realized there was just no way I could get through. I climbed back down into the container and let out a labored sigh. “Anyone that goes through there is gonna have to be super tiny!” As soon as I said the words, a lightbulb went off in my head. I then glanced towards the one person who might be able to fit through the hole. And apparently I wasn’t the only one with this epiphany since several of the other women were already staring at the best candidate.

“W-w-what’s everyone looking at me for?” Emily said, her voice trembling. Clearly she was well aware that all eyes inside the container were now laser focused on her.

“C’mon, it’ll be easy!” I said, in as much of a reassuring and optimistic tone as I could manage. Sure, I didn’t much like the idea of sending the smallest, and seemingly most defenseless member of our party out on a lone mission. But unfortunately we were running out of options quickly, and Emily’s thin frame and short stature had the best chance of slipping through the opening unscathed. “All you have to do after you’re through is climb down, go around to the door and open it. It’s simple!”

“But... but... I might not do it right!” Emily stammered. “Or... there might be bad guys out there!”

“You’ll be fine! You won’t have any trouble.” I said with fake confidence. “Emily, I know you’ve probably never been in a situation like this before. But you can do this. I believe in you.” I paused and gestured to the women standing around us. “And we're all counting on you.” Just then another loud thud rocked the ship, rattling the cargo container and almost knocking us off our feet. Emily took a deep breath and nodded, a nonverbal acceptance of her assignment. I could only imagine the fear and nervousness she was feeling, but it was a simple task and she was more than capable.

Working quickly, I knelt down and motioned for Emily to climb onto me. She did so promptly, wrapping her legs around my neck and seating herself atop my shoulders. I lined her up with opening in the ceiling and stood up, pushing her through. As expected, the thin young woman slipped through with relative ease and was soon standing on top of the container. She peered down through the hole at me, a wide eyed nervous expression on her face.

“Get to the door! Hurry!” I yelled up through the hole. If I couldn’t quiet her fears, I could at least try to keep her focused on the task at hand. Quickly, Emily’s face took on a determined look, and then she disappeared. Her footsteps could be heard on the top of the cargo container pacing back and forth, perhaps looking for a safe way to climb down from the top of the tall structure. Finally, she stepped towards the rear of the container and I heard her fumbling her way down to the floor. Suddenly, a loud crash could be heard outside.

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” Emily yelled from an unknown location. Jackie and I looked at each other nervously. Myself and several of the women inside drew ourselves up to the walls of the container and peered out of the small holes that were sporadically placed. We watched anxiously for Emily to make her move, and just then she appeared. She was now a bit dirty, having presumably fallen into a pile of refuse on her way down from the roof of the container. She dusted herself off and stumbled her way towards the front of the container, seemingly unaware that she had an audience. Seconds later the door of the container shuddered slightly and the sounds of clanging metal could be heard. I approached the door with Jackie and the rest of the former slaves at my back. The energy inside the container was palpable. Despite all of us escaping our chains, we were getting just a little stir crazy after being trapped inside the metal box for so long.

“Oh no!” Emily said suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” I called out to her through the door.

“There’s padlocks and chains on the door! I can’t open it!”

If I could reach the lock I knew I could pick it in a matter of seconds. But Emily was now our only shot at escaping.

“Okay, listen!” I yelled through the door. “Do you have a couple of hair pins on you?”

Emily hesitated. “Um, yeah. Why?”

“Well, you’re about to get a crash course in lock picking, sweetie.”

“What?! I can’t-“

“Yes you can. Trust me.”

Emily said nothing more, but it was clear she was not a fan of this idea. Regardless, she followed my instructions as I blindly taught her how to pick the lock. I explained every detail of the process, which included jamming the two hairpins into the keyhole of the padlock simultaneously in an effort to unlock the complex mechanism inside. While Emily was obviously lacking in confidence and bravery, she made up for it with intelligence and ingenuity. It didn’t take the young woman long to pick up on the complicated instructions, and soon she seemed to be making headway.

“Hey, I think I got it!” She suddenly yelled. "I think I..”

Suddenly Emily went silent.

“Emily? Did you get it?” I called to her, but got no answer.

“Emily!” Jackie echoed with a worried yell.

Suddenly the entire cargo container shuddered. The sound of rattling chains and creaking metal signaled that someone was trying to open the door. It could be Emily, but something didn’t seem right. I suddenly realized that if it came to a fight I was now completely unarmed, and that wouldn’t do. I glanced around on the floor and caught sight of something shiny. While a gun or a knife would have been a good companion, it appeared I would have to settle for a small metallic screwdriver. I picked it up and gripped it tightly as the uneasiness in my stomach churned.

The rattling of the doors stopped suddenly and I gripped the screwdriver tightly. Suddenly, both of the huge metal doors swung open and the bright lights outside left me blind for a moment. Finally, I took stock of what was in front of us.

There stood Emily, her blonde hair messy, her brown boots scuffed, and her clothes disheveled. And worse still, her wrists were now bound together in front of her. There were tears in her eyes and she looked as if she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. But the large hairy hand now clasped over her mouth prevented Emily from uttering a sound. The hand belonged to a large muscular man that stood at least two heads taller than the tiny girl. He had dark skin, long black hair, and his arms were covered in a swirl of faded tattoos. While clutching Emily’s face with his left hand, he used his right hand to press the muzzle of his handgun into his captive’s temple. Upon seeing all of us inside the cargo container he flashed a toothy grin.

“Going somewhere, ladies?” He asked in a joyfully evil tone.

Several of the women inside the cargo container gasped. A few others screamed in horror. All of us gaped at the unexpected appearance of the hostage taker. The man’s finger twitched ever so slightly as it gripped the gun’s trigger. The muzzle of the weapon was pressed firmly into the side of Emily’s skull. The man’s eyes were sparked full of excitement while Emily’s were filled with horror.

I knew he would be fast.

But I knew I was faster.

Suddenly I raised my hand, and in one quick motion sent the screwdriver I had found flying through the air. In less than a blink of an eye the shiny metal tool left my grasp and met with the face of Emily's captor. Even more gasps of shock and horror went up around me as the results of my attack became clear. The sharp and pointy end of the screwdriver had plunged itself into the man’s right eye. The man’s cheerful expression faded and his body went limp. Emily screamed as her attacker’s hand fell away from her mouth and she saw up close and personal what had become of him. With a loud metal thud the man fell backwards to the floor, leaving Emily standing alone with her hands still bound in front of her.

“Did... Did that seriously just happen?” Jackie said, her voice quivering.

“Nice shot.” Vanessa said with a smirk, clearly impressed.

“Are you alright?” I said as I quickly rushed to Emily’s aide, untying her hands and clutching her by the shoulders. She nodded quickly but said nothing. The young woman slowly turned around to look where the man had fallen behind her. As soon as she caught a glimpse of him she jerked away from the gruesome display.

“Is... is he dead?” She asked. I casually glanced towards the lifeless body.

“He better be.” I said callously. Emily gave me a blank stare and awkwardly continued to look away from the body. I shook off the grim composure. “I’m sorry.” I said with care.

“It’s okay,” Emily replies. “You... saved me. Thank you.”

“Just returning the favor, kid.” I said with a wink. Just then the throng of formerly imprisoned women stepped forward, finally walking out of the cargo container they had been trapped in for God knows how long. The bright lights of the ship’s interior stood in stark contrast to the dark interior of the cargo container and some of them were forced to shield their eyes against the intense glare.

“Where are we?” Another girl said, dressed in an orange and white cheerleading outfit.

“Okay, so long story short," I began. "We’re on a ship, and it’s stalled out and sinking in the middle of the ocean because we planted explosives in the engine room that blew a hole in the stern.

“Wait, what?” Jackie exclaimed. Most of the other women had similar dismayed reactions to the news.

"Oh, and our captors are working for a secret evil organization that wants to destroy the world." I added nonchalantly.

"I think I need to lie down." Emily said, burying her head in her hands.

"That's... kinda wicked, I'm not gonna lie." Vanessa responded.

I ignored their worried comments and walked over to one of the large pallets of cargo that was nearby. I was desperate to find anything inside the cargo hold that might be useful. The absence of any proper weapons or gear, combined with the purple and black wetsuit I had been forced to wear, I felt naked and defenseless. Each of the pallets was covered in a heavy gray tarp, obscuring their contents. I lifted each tarp carefully and examined what was underneath. Meanwhile, it was now becoming clear to everyone that one side of the cargo hold was higher than the other, a sure sign the ship was listing due to it taking on a large sum of ocean water. And the ship's condition would undoubtedly only get worse, and my fellow escapees were at wits’ end.

“So, what do we do?” Emily said, her voice growing frantic.

“How are we gonna get outta here?” The Latina girl dressed in business attire asked.

A raven haired girl dressed in a black and white baseball uniform spoke up, adding to the hysteria. “If they find out we escaped they’ll kill us!”

“Or they’ll just chain us up even worse.” Vanessa said sardonically.

I kept working my way through the various cargo pallets, having yet to find anything useful. Just then I heard Jackie speak up amongst the crowd of worried females.

“But we can’t go out there! They’ve got guns!”

Suddenly I remembered something. I rushed to one of the nearest pallets of cargo and quickly ripped off the tarp covering its contents. There, revealed for everyone to see, were crates of large AK-47 rifles. I grabbed another tarp and pulled it away from another pallet, revealing at least a hundred carefully packed handguns.

“Let’s level the playing field.”
Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

So glad you are back! Grandiose continuation. How the women help each other the throw of the screw driver? Brillant!
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BobaFettish1
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Post by BobaFettish1 »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago So glad you are back! Grandiose continuation. How the women help each other the throw of the screw driver? Brillant!
It's so good to be back, and I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the story! There's only a couple more chapters to go, which I look forward to posting soon. :D
Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

BobaFettish1 wrote: 3 years ago
Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago So glad you are back! Grandiose continuation. How the women help each other the throw of the screw driver? Brillant!
It's so good to be back, and I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the story! There's only a couple more chapters to go, which I look forward to posting soon. :D
Sounds good to me! I liked the way, you described the inner turmoil of Agent 38, when asked if she is an Agent, and she could not answer the question at first.
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Post by DesertFox »

I'm thoroughly enjoying this story. You're a great writer and the entire story arc is excellent. The action sequences are particularly entertaining!
Read my stuff: https://tugstories.com/search.php?autho ... 0&sr=posts

Or don't! Unlike the situations in my stories, it's entirely up to you!
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BobaFettish1
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Post by BobaFettish1 »

DesertFox wrote: 3 years ago I'm thoroughly enjoying this story. You're a great writer and the entire story arc is excellent. The action sequences are particularly entertaining!
Thank you so much! So glad you’re enjoying it! It means a lot. 😁
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