It was a stormy night. Random flashes of lightning revealed the shadow of a man. Surrounded by tall, treeless mountains and a lighthouse in the middle of a still and dark sea, the man’s shadow seemed to be a magnet for a larger shadow that appeared to be following it from the sea to the shore. As the larger shadow hit the sandy beach, it came to a complete halt. The man then turned , approached the dark mass, and retrieved a black bag from it. Strapping the bag to his back, he started messing with the goggles he wore. Through this man’s eyes, everything that was dark, black, void seemed to magically transform into a green light.
Who was this black figure of a man? His identity could not be revealed, for he can only be known as a shadow. This ghost man was a top-secret, active operative sent on a mission to secure vital information. This information had been stolen by a rogue and corrupt corporation. The corporation kept this information secured by secluding themselves on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Shadow’s only mission was to retrieve the information without raising any alarm or suspicion. The information held an important link to an ex-Navy SEAL’s 17-year-old son, so raising an alarm risked that child’s assassination.
Shadow turned around and headed forward to the mountain. There seemed to be a camouflaged path leading up the mountain. Looking at the path, Shadow was careful not to make noise and avoid stepping on any dry twigs along the way. The only sound was the rustle of the grasses and leaves lying on the mountainside. He slowly crept up to the bend of the mountain. Halfway up, he stopped to peek around the corner and saw a hint of light.
He disabled his night-vision goggles to see two large, heavily armed, and probably highly trained men with military grade equipment resting around a small campfire. He also spotted a ventilation system or shaft leading into the mountain. Shadow reached into his bag to pull out a scoped rifle – not to shoot bullets, but to fire a little audio bug. The bug emitted whistling noises as a distraction to lure the enemy away, giving Shadow enough time to hide or escape. He fired the bug at the farthest corner from himself.
The bug’s shrill whistles alerted the guards and drew them away as Shadow quietly snuck through the light that the small fire created and into the dark shadows of the mountain. At the mouth of the shaft there was a ladder which seemed to lead down into another tunnel or room. Gently pressing his toes to the rungs of the ladder, he let himself down without being sighted by the first guards. As he touched down from the ladder, he seemed to be in a long and pitch black tunnel. The floors were wet, meaning that these were some sort of irrigation tunnels. Shadow switched on his night vision again.
After a couple of steps, Shadow stopped. He could hear the echoes of at least two more guards talking somewhere nearby as they patrolled the area. Trying not to splash, he moved as quickly as he could to the nearest exit tunnel on his right. He looked around the corner, but could not see anyone. He moved on to the next tunnel, looked around the corner, and still could not see the guards– though he was able to see another light coming from a single hanging bulb, which told him where he needed to go. Suddenly, as he took a step forward, out of the edge of his goggles he could see three bright green humanoid figures coming toward him.
Where would he hide? His best bet was to lay flat, sideways against the wall, and try to blend in to it with the darkness to protect him. As he silently got down and in place, three guards proceeded toward him. He started sweating bullets as the guards came closer to him, but they suddenly stopped. One of the guards stared at Shadow and slowly walked toward him. Thinking quickly, Shadow quietly grabbed a pebble and threw it down the adjacent tunnel. The other two armed guards went racing down that tunnel in search of an intruder. The ploy fazed the guard coming towards Shadow for a few seconds, but he kept staring at Shadow.
Shadow felt a lump in his throat as he thought that this might be his last mission. The continued to approach; as he did, Shadow closed his eyes and tried to become even more still. Suddenly the guard stopped, bent over and said, “There it is! I thought I lost you,” as he picked up a shiny coin. The guard proceeded to walk down the tunnel right in front of Shadow. Shadow wiped the sweat from his forehead in relief, but quickly realized that the tunnel the guard was going down was the lighted tunnel — and it seemed to come to a dead end. He had only seconds to figure out some solution to this dilemma. The only absolute thing he knew was that he had to quietly take out the guard before he reached that lighted place.
As he thought, a brilliant idea came to him: he could use his silenced rifle, replace it with stun bullets and shoot out the light, giving him enough time to grab the guard from behind and place him in a choke hold. Shadow quickly crept up the tunnel through the shadows to shoot the light bulb. When he got close enough he stopped, carefully aimed, and shot out the light. The armed guard reacted with bewilderment, nervously whipping out his assault rifle and spinning around in order to catch a glimpse of the intruder. He saw nothing, but assuming there was an intruder somewhere the guard slowly walked back down the tunnel toward Shadow again.
Now all Shadow had to do was to wait until the guard passed him, so he could creep up behind him and grab him. The guard kept cautiously walking down the tunnel, but was too focused ahead to see Shadow hiding in the tunnel. Finally the guard passed, so Shadow very slowly stuck one foot out and moved directly behind the guard. Shadow stood up and quickly grabbed the guard around the neck. The guard then dropped his weapon in shock and panic.
As the guard dropped his weapon Shadow grabbed his wrist and firmly pressed into the wrist’s pressure point to assume control of the guard’s body. He slowly dragged the guard back into the shadows of the tunnel, stopping only to apply greater force by wrapping his arm around the guard’s neck. With circulation to the brain cut off, the guard’s body shut down and he dropped, unconscious, to the ground. Shadow pushed the guard’s legs and arms together, pushing him against the wall to be blanketed by darkness. Shadow quickly moved to the shattered light bulb.
When Shadow reached the path he could see it was actually another ladder leading up to another room. The good thing was that the room was not lighted this time. Shadow slowly climbed up the ladder, then stopped and looked to ensure there were no guards around. He pulled himself out of the small shaft and onto the floor of the room. The room seemed to be surrounded by four walls with only one door. He walked to the door, bent down, and took out a snakelike device – an optic cable — from his pack.
Once more lying on his side, Shadow put the cable to his eye and slid the other end under the door. He moved it side to side, using the cable as a scope to look around the room. From what he could see, he was just outside of some kind of control room with plenty of guards roaming around inside. Shadow slid the cable more to the center of the room, and — just his luck– saw a guard coming toward the door. He would be quickly revealed if he did not hide or move. He pulled the cable from the door, returned it to his bag, and backtracked to the tunnel. He slipped halfway down the ladder and used a loose floor tile to cover himself. Again he held his breath and stayed completely still, once more fearing immediate detection.
Shadow heard the door open and close. The guard’s footsteps grew first louder, then softer as he headed for a creaky chair nearby. Soon Shadow could also smell smoke drifting down the little shaft. Apparently the guard just needed a smoke break. After a few minutes of waiting, Shadow could hear a small tap on the floor followed by stomping. Again the footsteps came towards him and then away again as he heard the door open and close.
It was completely silent. Shadow removed the tile, climbed out of the shaft, and found himself back on the floor. He reached into his bag again for his optic cable and slid it under the door. He was all clear, but there were too many guards in between him and the other side of the control room. He could see that the room was lit by computer screens, and assumed that one of those computers was probably the one holding the information. Shadow pulled the cable again, got back up, and looked around the room in search of some other way around the guards.
He could not see any other way but to return to the tunnel, though; unfortunately, he knew there were two more guards waiting for him down there. There must be another way. He sighed and started walking back to the shaft, but came up with another idea. He realized he had forgotten to check for any ventilation system opening or exit from this room. He looked up, as he knew that most ventilation systems would be close to the ceiling. Shadow was gratified to discover a ventilation shaft almost immediately; the problem was that it was secured by a barred covering and it was high up.
The first obstacle was minor; by pushing the chair against the wall he would be able to reach high enough to get into the shaft. He also had a drill to unscrew the shaft’s cover, but his drill bit was only the right size to remove two of the cover’s four screws. Again he had to think quickly. He looked in his bag, which contained only the silenced rifle, his drill, his optic cable, some tiny metal melting explosives, a lighter, a parabolic microphone, his gas mask, a couple gas grenades and his emergency cell phone. His best option was to use the tiny explosives to take off those other two screws.
The good thing was that the explosives were so small that he could actually hold the covering while it melted through the screws. With the walls in the room and the covering pressed against the explosives the tiny explosions would be quiet enough that none of the guards could hear him. He grabbed his drill and the explosives from the bag. He also grabbed the chair from the other side of the room and placed it flush against the wall under the vent. He stood on the chair and unscrewed the two top screws. He placed the tiny explosives on the two bottom corners of the covering, lit their fuses and held the covering tight. Seconds later there was a pop and jolt and he could see a thin line of smoke coming from the corners. Shortly thereafter there was another pop and the covering came loose in his grasp.
Slowly he lowered the covering to the ground. He looked up at the vent, raised his arms, and pulled himself inside. It was so cramped around him, though, that he was forced to crawl on his elbows. He slowly crawled, trying not to hit the vent sides with his elbows. After half an hour of halting progress the shaft began to open wider — wide enough that Shadow was able to comfortably sit in the vent. Right below him he could see a bright light shining up through the cracks of another barred ventilation exit. He could hear a voice coming from the ventilation exit below, but it was not clear enough to make out the words.
From his bag he then took out another device. It looked like a small satellite dish. This was his parabolic dish microphone and amplifier. Shadow put on the attached headphones and listened in on the enemy’s conversation. This is what he heard:
“I just don’t trust the general much anymore and I’m not sure what this information is — but I have a bad feeling about it.”
“I wouldn’t be too worried about the general; he is top notch. We have a very good security system with high-quality software. No one could get in here, no one can find us! The information must be really important. So as far as I am concerned, if the general thinks it is really important to protect so should we. Now let’s get back on patrol.”
There was silence, and Shadow could hear the door open and close. He put the amplifier away. The covering looked only to be held on by two screws, which meant it must be a swinging cover. It seemed to be well-lit in there—this must be the computer-filled room he was looking for. He lowered himself down into the room, dropped to the floor, and took out his optic cable again. He slid it under the door and looked to see that the coast was clear, then got up and found the mainframe computer where the information should be held.
Shadow slowly opened a control panel to the mainframe, which popped out a keyboard. All he had to do was find the information, pass the encrypted coding over it to disable any alarm, and pull out the hard-drive he needed. After a few minutes of searching and some decryption he was able to slide out the external hard drive sleeve from the mainframe. As he did this, he remembered that the only way he was able to see inside the room originally was, obviously, that there was a large window beside the door… a window which revealed the entire contents of the room. Shadow looked over at the window with a gulp, but it was already too late — the guards had spotted him. In a flash he reached into his bag and pulled out a gas grenade and his mask. He quickly jumped up and ran over to the vent. He threw the mask up first, then jumped — but missed the edge of the shaft and fell back on the ground.
At least ten guards were sprinting towards the door now, assault rifles in hand, armed and ready to fire. Shadow got up and tried again; this time he caught the edge of the vent. Dangling from above, Shadow knew the guards were deadly close now. He could hear them vigorously rattle the doorknob. Shadow hastily pulled himself up as he heard the guards burst in the room but a guard managed to grab his foot despite his haste. Shadow looked down at the guard, smiled, and dropped the grenade. As the guard saw this he yelled, “Get back! Gas!”
The guard let go of Shadow’s foot and jumped back. Shadow finished pulling himself up and quickly put on the gas mask, for in seconds the vent was engulfed by toxic gas. Shadow pulled out his cell phone and called for an immediate extraction. He was commanded to get to the roof. Shadow carried on through the shaft to find the roof exit. After some time he dropped out of the shaft, hoping to find a staircase instead.
Shadow found a staircase that he hoped would lead to the roof, but was stopped by three armed guards. He was forced to surrender, slowly put down his bag and the hard-drive, and walk toward them. When he got right up to them they turned him around and firmly hit him on the back of the head. When Shadow woke up he was looking at a single bright light in a dark room that smelled like body sweat and trash. He was tied to a wooden chair.
What can Shadow do now? What will happen to him? Is he doomed in the hands of the enemy now? Is the boy in danger of assassination now?..