Hands of blisters from countless days of typing on the computer, and today was his final day doing that; at least, that was what Xavier Winter thought.
He was just in front of the computer displaying the flickering lights on the world maps. Each light signifies a spy that was sent abroad.
"1521, can I get an update on the situation?" Xavier asked the spy through his headphones.
"Everything is fine so far. I just have some trouble figuring out why I am here. This market seems pretty-" Before Agent 1521 could finish what he was saying, the connection between Xavier and him was cut off.
Xavier readjusted the connection, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reestablish the connection properly, "Agent 1521, is everything going okay?" He asked without response, "Agent 1521, is everything okay there, over?" He asked again but with nothing but the static sound from the radio.
Seeing that Agent 1521 was not responding, he pressed the red button on his table and talked through his microphone, "We have a connection problem with Agent 1521; please figure this out." He said before sighing and staring back at the flickering lights on the computer.
"On it." The technical support agent said before walking up to him and starting to change the signals, but his face looked visibly confused before he turned to look at Xavier, "Uhm, I don't know how to say this, but there is no problem with the connection." He said.
Upon hearing this, Xavier grew more concerned as he started asking again, "Agent 1521, is everything going okay?" He asked again but raised his voice, but instead of getting a response, he heard screams and shouting.
His eyes widened before he quickly turned his head to face the technical support agent, "Agent 1521 is down! Get backup!" He shouted.
As all the agents heard this, they stopped what they were doing, "I said get back up!" He shouted before he heard multiple beeps on his computer, "What the?" He said before slowly looking at the flickering lights disappearing on the map, "Oh shit!" He cursed.
The rest of the support agents, just like Xavier himself, also saw on their computers and started panicking. Xavier pressed the red button again and put the microphone close to his mouth, "This is code red for all the agents; all the agents dispatched are down." He said with his voice being transmitted all throughout the building.
"What the hell is going on?" The support team captain asked while running into the room.
"They are all dead! All of them!" Xavier shouted while pointing to the computer.
"That's impossible!" The captain shouted as he looked at the computer himself.
"Wait!" Another agent said, "There is one agent still alive!" She continued.
The captain rushed towards her, took her headphones away, and put them on, "Agent 1000! Are you okay?" He asked while panicking that he only had one agent left abroad.
"For now! Captain, I need a jet right where I am heading now! Bring the jet at least 5km in front of me!" He shouted.
"What's going on?!" The captain asked worryingly.
"They are after me! They are gonna kill me!" Agent 1000 shouted.
"Okay! We will be sending the jet right now." The captain replied before putting the headphones on the desk and taking out his cell phone before dialling a number as fast as he could, "Jet now!!!" He shouted.
Meanwhile, Xavier was sitting down, still shocked that his last day at work would be chaotic.
***
A few hours later, the support agents were waiting in an airport before a jet flew down on the field.
They waited patiently until the pilot and Agent 1000 came out of the jet; the captain immediately ran towards them with the support agents following him from behind.
"Are you okay?" The captain asked as he looked at the tired-out Agent 1000.
"Fortunately, yes." Agent 1000 replied while smiling. "But, I don't think you will like what I am about to say." He added.
"It's fine. We'll talk afterwards, you should rest for now." The captain said while helping Agent 1000 to get into the car.
"What the heck is going on really?" Xavier whispered to himself. The agents dispatched were one of the best in the world; they were given almost enough resources and were trained to go against multiple enemies, and never in his long career has he seen one die. This was a new experience for him.
As soon as they again reached the agency building, the support agents had nothing to do as all of the agents they had been supporting were now dead.
And Xavier was no exception, doing nothing but drinking the coffee that he had packed for the day.
"Hey Xavier." A young man who has eyeglasses said while walking up to him.
"Yeah, Marky. What's up?" He asked.
Mark, a new agent on the team, walked up to him and sat on a chair across from him, "So what now?" He asked, confused about what was going to happen.
"What do you mean?" Xavier asked for clarification.
"I mean, you are a veteran here, you should know what's going to happen now right?" Mark asked.
Upon hearing this, Xavier chuckled, "I have never experienced this in my entire career of being a support agent, never. And to e honest, I don't know what the upper level members will do about this." He explained.
Mark looked down, dissatisfied with the answer, "But I will be able to keep my job right?" He asked.
"Oh sure. But probably not as a support agent, maybe you will an agent." Xavier said while smiling.
"What about you?" Mark asked.
"Me?" Xavier asked, wanting to know what Mark meant.
"I mean, what are you going to do after this?" Mark clarified.
"Today is my last day. I will be going back home spending the whole week with my family." He said while pulling out a photo of his wife before his phone rang in his pocket.
As he pulled out the flip phone, he saw that the captain was calling him, and as he picked up, "Xavier, I need you to come to conference room now." He said.