Chapter 2 The new mission

My Dad had been part of the D.T.A. as one of their lawyers. A rival gang targeted my older brother Joshua when I was 10 years old back in 2010. That’s when D.T.A. decided to pull me into the alliance. Mom already worked for them as she took on the role of taking care of children we rescued, orphans and children that were just caught in the crossfire. I was good at what I did and could take out men triple my size. I felt like an actual undercover agent, but D.T.A. still forced me to go to school. They wanted all their agents that were underage to still have some sort of childhood and be educated. That way, we appeared, as usual, everyday children.

“Why did you join D.T.A?” Peanut asked as we snuck across the heavily surveyed storage yard. She asked a lot of questions for an agent, which made me cautious.

“Just to cause a little trouble,” I smirked and ducked down as a guard flashed his torchlight in our direction. Peanut and I knocked out another guard and hid his body in an empty barrel.

“We make a good team.” She cheered.

“No, I’m just good at what I do.” I rolled my eyes, and she shrugged. We set up a distraction which sent the guards running that way as we snuck out of the gate. We ran across the street and dived into the gutter on the side of the road. It was full of rubbish and smelled like a dead rat. Something wet squished under my hand, which made me cringe. Peanut followed me as we crawled our way to an area out of view. I was thankful to finally leave the street gutters.

“This way,” I instructed her, and we ran over to where my handler said a car would be waiting for the two of us.

“I can’t believe we got out alive!” Peanut smiled. “Well done Taine Mecer.”

“How do you know my name?” I questioned and held a gun to her head.

“Woah! I’m your new handler. The leader of D.T.A. believed you were ready to move up and take on more responsibility. They were right.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Your old handler is about to phone.” She added, and a phone started ringing from the car. I kept my gun pointed at Peanut and opened the car door. A phone was left on the passenger’s seat, so I picked it up and answered.

“Lekker time for a coke, ey?” A familiar voice asked. That was our code to prove the D.T.A was on the phone.

“With a stukkie wors.” I replied.

“Well done on completing your mission, Shiv. You can lower the gun from agent Peanut now.” My former handler stated; I nodded and put the gun down. “Good. We have received word from the leader of D.T.A, she wants you to take on a new mission of utmost importance. She asked for you personally. Peanut will discuss the details with you. It was good working with you. Good luck, my boy.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I remarked, and the line went silent. So, my Dad was my former handler. His code name was also Dad, ironically. “So, this was all a test?” I asked Peanut. We climbed into the car, and Peanut started the engine.

“No. My cover was compromised; I really did need to be retrieved. That knife in your shoe came in handy. Is that a new upgrade on the gear?” Peanut inquired.

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, then that’s new. I’ve been undercover for a few years; it feels good to finally be able to end the mission. I was given a list of names with a picture of each person before I went in. My informer said one of you would be my new apprentice when I got out. Guess you were the lucky chosen one.”

“Can we please discuss my new mission?” I asked, irritated. I didn’t care about her life story or how she became my handler. There were more important things to talk about.

“Right. The leader of D.T.A. wanted to find the perfect candidate to go undercover at a high school called Encore High. The target starts in grade 8 this year. Your mission is to get closer to the target. Let me remind you, this mission is to be taken seriously. This will be the most important task of your life as a D.T.A. agent. I can’t stress how important this mission is.”

Great, back to school. Back to my hometown, Morningside. Why couldn’t I just drop out and focus on my training? But no, D.T.A encouraged me to finish my studies. At least I’ll be on a mission, a mission directly from the leader. My target had to be the child of someone compelling. Like a corrupt politician, the leader of a powerful gang… perhaps even the president?

We drove out of East London, which was where Peanut was held captive. I had been all over South Africa doing missions during the December school holidays. It was early January 2014; at least I had a few days left before school started.

“When do I start?” I questioned.

“As a grade 8, you will start in 3 days. It is a day before the rest of the school so that you can be initiated and introduced to their system. Encore High is a private school; all the details and information you need is in an envelope in the cubby hole.”

“And the target?” I asked and grabbed the envelope.

“There’s a picture of her inside. No other details are given beside her name and what she looks like.” Peanut explained. I stuck my hand into the envelope and pulled out a small picture.

The girl was about my age. She was white with brown eyes and long straight brown hair. There wasn’t anything about her that made her stand out. She looked like any ordinary girl. She was pretty, but a just above average sort of pretty. I had seen better looking; heck, I had been with better-looking girls before.

I turned over the picture and read the targets name out loud, “Jane Randall.”