My Life as a Spy

Trapped beneath the rubble, my heart raced wildly with fear as I realized my life could possibly have reached its closing stages. How had this come about? There had to have been a breach in confidentiality within the inner circle. Every step had been meticulously planned, down the minutest of detail yet something had gone terribly wrong. As I lay here dying, my mind recoils back to the events of yesterday afternoon.

Eighteen government trained personnel, myself included, stepped off onto the tarmac after a tiring 18 hr flight from Germany. Our mission had not yet been disclosed. The most information we had been given were the itineraries detailing our flight to the states. Asking questions quickly became an irritation as no one would tell us anything.

We had all received a letter from the president requesting, more less demanding our immediate presence in Washington. Looking around at the lot, we all appeared to have the same physical characteristics, similar attitudes & personality traits. It was slightly unnerving knowing there were so many other clones of myself, or I of them.

At long last we were ushered into the inner realms of the oval office to discuss what was so desperate of our attention that they would ship us halfway around the world on secrecy.

"Ladies, Gentleman, we've encountered a situation here at the White House. You've been summoned to assist based on your abilities to infiltrate the most highly secured networks in the world. Your physical specifications are critical. If you haven't already noticed, you were chosen based on your ability to replicate one another. At the closing of each operation, you will be briefed on the status of your next assignment. Individually you will only be given a piece of the puzzle so that none of you at any given time are fully aware of our mission. Do your job as you're commanded and everything will be just fine."

Sounded simple enough, until my piece of the puzzle fell directly in my lap. My partner & I were given the task of hacking into the master hard drive containing top secret information to obtain a single file that could demolish the foundation of the United States government.

Security clearance had been given to us for specified locations pertaining only to our mission at hand. Passing through the corridors, soundless as snails, we made our way into the cavernous vault wherein pulses the life source of America as we know it. We fastidiously synchronized each & every movement right down to the oxygen entering and escaping our lungs. Our margin for error thwarted any misfortunate mistakes. Not only our lives, but that of millions of others was at stake.
With painstaking accuracy, I proceeded to maneuver into position in preparation to enter the inner circle of the tomb of imprisoned information. As my partner manipulated the keypad, a slight rumble beneath our feet set our senses on fire.
"Did you feel that?" he hissed. Nodding slowly, motionless at full alert, my ears strained to make out the faint sounds coming from inside the vault. Deafening silence rang vociferously as though nothing had interrupted its swelling energy. I smiled weakly at my partner trying to believe it had truly been nothing. "Keep going."

A split second later we were standing in front of an intricately complex system of equations that, when deciphered, would lead us to our next step in the mission.

Each equation had to be solved in a systematic pattern in order to successfully proceed to the next sequential configuration. We had gone over the procedure countless times till we slept, dreamed & breathed the choreographed routine. One mistake and the whole mission would go up in smoke. Just as we reached the halfway point of completion, an earsplitting alarm shrieked above us as the building began to shake violently. What could possibly have gone wrong? Debris began to fall from the ceiling as we struggled with the recalcitrant reinforced steel door that would lead us to safety. Before we could persuade the door to allocate our escape, the floor began to relinquish under the tremendous pressure impacted by the explosion somewhere beneath our feet. A fracture split between my partner and me as we searched desperately for a way out of the devastation.

"Jump!" Hesitating for a split second cost my partner his life. The floor he was standing on collapsed, swallowing him whole. Adrenaline pulsed out of control as I clung to shreds of sanity still wildly, franticly searching for a way out. Each breath I failed to escape brought me closer to my own demise. I turned to make a run for it down the stairs. Just as I opened the door, another wall collapsed behind me. Everything moved in slow motion for what seemed an eternity.
An explosion from deep within the stairwell pushed me backwards into the crumbling ruins where I'd been standing only moments ago. My home in Germany, the last conversation with my mother, that boy I never kissed in grade school, why did I say those things to my sister? Memories overwhelmed me till I couldn't hold back the tears. This was it.

The floor caved in as I wondered how long it would take for anyone to figure out what had really gone wrong here today. Landing with a crushing blow to the head, blackness crowded in around me. For the next what seemed like hours, consciousness came & went as I pondered the cause of it all.

So now here we are, squashed beneath the cinder, my mind still reeling with bewildered confusion. My eyes could no longer hold themselves open. Life was slipping away from me as a thief in the night. Would anyone ever know the truth?