Freetown, Sierra Leone
Antony-42
"We're finally free."
The dark blue night sky burned orange from the heat of the smoldering buildings in the distance. I watched from our hotel's rooftop as our life for the past 13 years crumbled down. I sipped on my iced drink and savored the alcohol. Now, we can get back to different operations.
"Come in, report on the casualty count. They want more than 90% deceased in the area." My beautiful wife sat by the pool monitoring the situation on her laptop making sure the perimeter was secure and that the mission went off without a hitch.
"Make sure to funnel the survivors to the kill grounds, I don't care how you do it but make sure you eliminate as many people as possible, Fox5 out." She took a deep sigh after disconnecting. In her exhaustion she started chuckling. "I am so ready to leave this shit hole. 13 years of espionage, keeping up this façade of the perfect wife and mother. My god, the company really had us in deep this time. At first I would of never understood being assigned to this underdeveloped country, but who knew they were sitting on such plentiful natural resources." We've been working with The Company for over 20 years, this is by far the longest time we spent on a mission. We had sub-missions all over the continent but being forced to raise a family of two children was never something I wanted in life. Being a father was never for me. Being a husband with Shaun already took a selflessness that took me to the brim. To genuinely share my life with one person is the most I could ever do. As usual they made the pay as lucrative as the work suggested. Honestly, we wouldn't have to work again a day in our life. The company would never allow that though, this was a gig that you're in until the company let you go themselves. That usually meant death anyway.
Looking between my smiling wife and the orange tainted sky I gave a sigh of relief. I felt no type of way destabilizing this continent. Preventing alliances, souring diplomatic relationships, assassinating competent leaders, we did our job to perfection. The description of the mission was to assimilate into an African country, become the model politician with a wife and family. Use that position to prevent a united continent in any way possible. After you have destroyed all possible possibilities of that happening, destroy the evidence that you were ever involved in politics. With this, our home and family has been destroyed. I bribed local news to not even acknowledge that this happen. On an international level this tragedy would never even cross their radar. I already stepped down from my diplomatic position with my replacement already performing my duties like I never left. Many people might remember me being mentioned in the news with a fake name, that will never be used with this face again. Many people don't pay attention to that level of government anyway. I had performed my job perfectly and was ready to move on with no regrets.
"Now this looks like a party." A familiar voice could be heard from behind me near the exit to the lower floors.
"Lucius, what brings you here?" I was on full guard. Lucius was a colleague of mine. He's worked for the company far longer than both of us. I was under him when I first entered the company. I met Shaun for the first time on a mission while I was his subordinate. Our ages were close, but he's always been my senior. For all the time I've known him, he's kept me at arm's length. Never disclosing too much about himself. I always see him as someone that has a separate agenda then he lets on. His actions have shown that over the years. His orders to us have always been one thing but then watching him operate on a mission he does something entirely different. Always exponentially growing the success or impact of a mission. In the end, he would get the most credit. The most benefits, pay raises, and time off. His time off was the only chance we had to make a name for ourselves. I've never been overly emotional about other people. Showing biases and negative emotion towards other people is discouraged in this line of work. It blinds you and trips you up. However, whenever this man was around, I had the upmost awareness and guard up. So, the next question is why was he here? He came around every few years to check progress or perform his own operation. Now the job is done he had no reason to show his face in front of us.
"Lucius how surprising to see you here." My wife rose from her seat and put her hands behind her back. She gave a huge smile, trying to distract from the fact she was hiding a weapon. That's my girl. "Is this business or leisure? We've just finished our work here so there's no reason we would conflict with any work you have nearby." Lucius matched her smile and took his time to reply.
"There's no need for such hostilities, is this the way you treat your senior after such a massive accomplishment." His smile never wavered, the emotions on his face gave no indication of nervousness. "It's a celebration, a decade and a half operation has finally come to a close. There are drinks here, let your senior listen to your worries as you revel in your success." I put on my smiling mask as well. Just like I've seen him do thousands of times.
"Thank you, for your consideration but I haven't had time alone with my wife for over a decade. I would like to spend that time with her. You understand right?" All of our masks around each other never wavered. If someone outside our situation entered now, it would look like a pleasant conversation about the weather. Lucius was the first to crack first and gave a look of disappointment.
"I understand completely, you may have been forced to get married by the company, but I've known you long enough to know that you don't mind the arrangement. So, I'll let you have the time you so richly deserve." Lucius turned to leave, but I didn't let down my guard yet. There was a real reason why he was here, and I wasn't going to relax even if he left. My eyes started to dart to my surroundings to surmise anything unusual but Lucius opened his mouth again before leaving. "Before I forget, I wanted to give you some notification from above. We no longer have the relationship of senior and junior. Your efforts on this mission has granted you Executive status. You have climbed up to the highest status you can achieve. Congratulations, we may now build your team out to compliment your skill sets now for the future." Not a word was said from us to his notification of the news. "With that I'll see you all around. Maybe I'll see you at the next Executive meeting." With that he left never showing his expression as he gave the news. I wasn't sure if it was a genuine congratulations or any malice behind it. Regardless there was nothing he could do about it anymore, even if he wanted to. We now hold the same power as him, any infighting would not be tolerated. Well I've never seen another Executive before so I wouldn't know how he acts around his equals.
I looked at my wife's face as we stood together in silence. It lasted a whole minute before she busted out laughing uncontrollably. I looked at her surprise, she truly couldn't help herself. "I'm sorry." As she kept laughing. "I just can't picture you in charge of a whole organization." Uncontrollably laughing until she fell onto her chair, holding her stomach. I admit it was infectious because I started laughing as well. This is why I loved her, the job of a lifetime and there was no room to take it seriously. From brats in the slum eavesdropping on some crime lord, now a sophisticated Executive giving orders with little to no supervision. Shaun finished laughing and returned to her calm demeanor while still smiling. "So, Antony what's the plan now that this assignment has finished." I walked over to my wife and cuddled up next to her. We watched the blazing fire in the distance grow brighter as the night slowly went on.
"Live life to the fullest while staying alive for each other like we always have." There's nothing else I wanted in life. I had nothing when I entered the company and by pure chance the 'everything' I've obtained are both sitting in this chair. I would burn the world for this person and betray the world for my own safety.