CHAPTER ONE

Candy arrived at the office ten minutes earlier then her normal early time. The Professor had asked here to come early, and she was excited thinking that this might finally be the day she could go on her first assignment.

The first thing she saw when she entered the lobby was Larry sitting in one of the chairs. His face and demeaner showed that something was terribly wrong. She walked over to where he sat and softly said,

"Good Morning Agent Turnbuckle."

Larry looked up at her with tears in his eyes. This caused her to instantly knelt in front of him.

"Larry, what's wrong? What happened?"

"She…she broke off our engagement. Just like that! one month before our wedding," He said through his tears, and bowed his head.

"Oh Larry, I am so sorry."

Candy's expression now changed.

"This doesn't have anything to do with me does it…I mean I will ask for a transfer; I will talk to the Director right away!"

"No, no Candy. That was the first thing I asked, I made all those offers also."

He paused and gathered himself a bit.

"She stated it has nothing to do with you or any other female agent. She says she fully trusts me. That is what is so sad. I asked everything I could think of, and she always said that was not the reason, but she never would give a reason."

Larry started to tear up again when the Professor walked up.

"Come on you two, the Director wants to see us before his briefing this morning."

The Professor headed towards the elevators. Candy helped Larry to stand, and they followed in behind him. It was a quiet ride up to the eighth floor. This was commonly known as the Director's floor, although the Director's office was quite small and the only enclosure on the entire floor. All the outside walls were full length glass like, the elevator walls, and the walls to the Director's office walls were also made from the same material.

The floor was a buzz of activity as the three agents made their way to the Director's office. He glanced up to see them on their way and motioned for them to come straight in.

"Shut the door Professor and have a seat."

The Director finished what he was working on before he continued.

"I have told the Professor some of this. But I wanted to tell you two directly before our briefing this morning. The assignment that the three of you will be working on is the most delicate situation we have faced in an exceedingly long time."

The Director paused and took a deep breath.

"Agent Smith, normally I would never dream of assigning a rookie agent, to this kind of mission. However, your training scores are the highest I have ever seen, but even more importantly, my most experienced lead agent specifically requested you."

The Director now look Candy squarely in the eyes and stated.

"Just because you are given this assignment, it does not guarantee what type of assignments you will receive in the future."

"I understand Director," Candy replied softly.

"That goes for all of you! Now head on down to the briefing room, I will join you all in a few minutes."

The three of them left the Director's office and headed to the elevator without saying a word to anyone.

Director Washington had been a part of the TimeLine agency for over forty years, and its Director for a little over ten. As an agent he had often been critical of the Directors. He felt for the most part that they were becoming way too "soft". He always swore that if he ever became Director, that things would be different.

Now having held the post and truly having a taste of how many games must be played. He was beginning to wish he never took the position. However, he was exactly the man for the job. If it were not for his total working knowledge of all aspects of the agency, his bosses would have continued to use and misuse the agency for their own political gain. It was this plus his charisma, that had earned him the respect of all under him.

He finished up a few things and joined the agents down in the briefing room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please."

The Director began his briefing in the usual manner. He dispensed with the normal five to six-minute run down of mostly routine notes and memos. This is where "normal" stopped. The expression on the Directors' face was one most in that room had never seen before.

"I have two assignments that I need the following agents to handle."

He paused and pulled up the assignments.

"This first one will go to agents Louis and Shark, and the next two agents Abbot and Casteel."

The Director took and deep breath before he continued.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have no problem telling you that in all my years with the agency, I have never seen as case like the next one I need to assign out. This assignment will be led by Professor Kingsley. He will head up three sets of agents."

A large roar of mumbling broke out in the room. The Director quickly quieted the noise.

"The teams of agents working under him will be Team one, agents Larson and Neilson. Team two, agents Peters and Reynolds, and Team three, agents Turnbuckle and Smith."

The announcement of agent Smith brought another low roar of mumbling.

"Any agent that wishes to discuss my decision can take it up with me in private, in my office, after all are dismissed!" The Director said in a tone that indicated that it would not be a wise career choice to take him up on his offer.

"As you are aware, no information is given out in these meetings about what these assignments are. However, I will tell you this much. This agency is facing one of the biggest challenges of its life. In almost every assignment that an agent takes on, he or she has the upper hand. This is due to experience, training, and superior technology and equipment. This last mission assigned does not have any of those advantages because…They will be up against one that used to be one of us."

This time the buzz in the room was almost deafening. The Director again quieted everyone.

"This agency is until further notice under a security code #10. All agents that are not on current assignments are to report to their lock-down positions. You all are dismissed."

The Director left, and the mumbling and grumbling started again. It was a mixture of wanting to know why the rookie agent got assigned to the biggest case in the agent's history, and that of who it was that has turned on their fellow agents. There was also a spattering of having to be on lock-down mode for who knows how long.

The teams that the Professor was leading waited outside the Directors office as the first two teams took their turns getting the details of their assignments from the Director. When it was their turn, the seven agents filed in. They were all handed tablets. When turned on, the first thing they saw was a picture of Nick Vanbarrow.

Nick had not only been a fine agent for thirty-seven years, but he also served as temporary Director several times as a fill in measure until a new Director was appointed.

"Some of you may be aware that he left when I was appointed Director. Officially, he retired at that time. Unofficially. he was very unhappy with again be passed up and said some statements that caused the agency to put a surveillance team on him. This of course only in raged him further, and the last set of agents were found in a distant time cavern only last week."

The Director paused and leaned back in his chair.

"The background information I am about to share is completely off the record and is only to help you get a better idea what you are up against. It became rapidly apparent that Nick and I were the two front runners for the Director's job. We were both of us were very outspoken on how it was time for the agency to return to the purpose for which it was formed. It was time for it to stop being used for political gain. We were given two weeks to write out what we would do if given the job. It was during that time that I was able to see just how much of a strangle hold the ones on the Head Council had on the agency to further their own political agenda, and how deeply woven their policy had become. I therefore knew that if I were going to be able to make changes, it would have to be gradually."

The Director paused for a moment.

"Nick, as usual did his wholesale changes proposals, and thus I was given the job. At first Nick seemed to take it in stride. I explained privately, how I could use him to help me bring about gradual change."

The Director sat up, then stood up. His eyes seem to begin to blaze.

"It was like something inside him exploded. He got a strange look on his face, then did a half grin."

"No thanks, I have a better plan. I am retiring," he told me in a growl.

The Director calmed down and sat.

"Agents, Nick was one of the smartest, most creative agents we have ever had. He was bold, fearless, and not afraid to, and often did, push the limits an agent could go. When he left, he not only managed to steal files and equipment, but also invited several other agents to join him. We are not sure at this point how many have and if all that did have left the agency, thus the announcement at our briefing to possibly flush any out who still might be here feeding him information. As I mentioned, Nick is sharp and knows our methods and limitations. This gives him advantages we have not faced before. Study up well on this profile. I have given the Professor some professional latitude.

I selected you agents because you have been able to think outside the box on many occasions, and still stay within our codes. I guarantee that this assignment will call on all your creative abilities. Your equipment list is also included in this case file. I suggest you gather and assemble your equipment, which you will notice is brand new, this is in hopes of catching Nick a little off guard. I then suggest you find a secure meeting room to study and discuss this case. Any questions should be directed to the Professor.-Dismissed."

The Agents filed back out and headed for the supply/equipment room. Besides their "creativity," Agents Larson and Neilson were experts in weapons and explosives, Agents Peters and Reynolds expertise was in the fields of electronics and communication. These Agents gathered all their standard equipment then gathered some optional pieces they thought they would need.

Agents Turnbuckle and Smith were given a list of "special" items to gather, besides their standard issue. When they meet the Professor in the meeting room, he had a genuinely concerned look on his face.

"Before you begin your studies, I have just been informed that the time/location destination on our assignment, was gathered from our Time sensor array. This is, as you know, is where we normally begin our investigation because this is where time is out of balance."

The Professor stood and paced a bit.

"As we have been informed, Nick knows very well our standard operating procedure. As I see it, we have two choices. We could proceed to that location first, because it is the most solid evidence we have, or we could, through our study of his profile and other records we have, choose another location, both are filled with negative possibilities."

He sat back in his chair and stared at the agents,

"So, study well my friends, our life and the life of the agency may depend on our making the right choice."