Lone Wolf Narrative

“That’s impressive, boss, “ I said. “What about Lone Wolf?”

“Hopefully Reade will help us with that problem, “ Darrow chuckled. “But if he doesn’t work with us, we’ll bring in some of our more persuasive agents.”

“Sounds like a plan, “ I said.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!” Darrow said, and took another sip of coffee.

I stood up, put on my coat, and exited the office. I had a long afternoon ahead of me.

***

I stepped outside into the pouring rain, turning up the collar of my coat against the wind. After making sure my discreet earpiece was in place, I climbed behind the wheel of one of our black SUVs. I started the engine, and pulled out onto the busy street.

“Martin, where’s our guy?” I asked after activating my earpiece.

“We’ve located him with

I was on my way home from the store with a load of groceries to restock my pantry. Despite being a successful developer, I prefered to live modestly. My house, my car, and my belongings were not particularly flashy. But I liked it that way. I got behind the wheel of my pre-owned sedan, switched on my wipers against the rain, and began the drive home. Once I reached the downtown streets, I shifted into the middle lane and kept up with traffic.

Suddenly, I heard sirens. I glanced into my rear view mirror on instinct. There was a police car with its lights on directly behind me. I checked my speedometer and realized I was a bit over the limit. I put on my signal and moved into the far right lane. The police car moved with me. I sighed heavily, put on my hazard lights, and pulled over to the shoulder of the road.

The police car pulled over with me and waited behind me. I kept my eyes glued to the rear view mirror, waiting for the officer to walk up and give me a ticket. He never left his car, though. He appeared to be talking into his radio. My first thought was that perhaps he was running my plates to see if anything in my record was amiss. In today’s society, such practices were not unusual. I carefully reviewed my activities in my head, trying to figure out if I had broken any law, no matter how small. But no matter how hard I tried, the only offense I could come up with was my broad interpretation of the speed

My hands were roughly cuffed behind my back, a black cloth bag was placed over my head, and I was roughly shoved into what I assumed was the back of the NSA agent’s car.

I could hear voices faintly from outside the car.

“Stay here with this vehicle. One of our agents will come by to pick it up as evidence, “ the agent said.

“Yes, sir, “ said another voice.

I could only assume this was the police officer. The door of the agent’s car opened, slammed shut, and the car took off at a terrifying speed. My heart raced uncontrollably as I transported to destinations unknown.

***

After what felt like an eternity, the black cloth was removed roughly from my head. I blinked and squinted, trying to adjust to the bright lights around me. From what little my strained eyes could see, I was handcuffed to a table in a plain, brightly lit room. The agent from before was seated in front of me. On either side of him were men dressed in dark colored suits, presumably other agents.

“Hello, Mr. Reade, “ the man said formally. “I’m Agent Erikson of the NSA. These are my associates, Agent Smith and Agent Blitz. Do you know why we’ve brought you in