Family Fun in Michigan

Just then Agents J and T ran onto the roof. They hurried over to the edge by the fire escape where the rest of the Agents stood.
“Have they been caught?” asked Agent T as he/she caught his/her breath.
“Yep.” Agent P pointed to the men, who were being put into a police car.
“Good!” exclaimed Agent J. “I’m glad they’re captured and we’re all safe.”
Just then some FBI agents and policemen arrived on the roof to talk to the Agents. They questioned the Agents several times about what had happened. At last the Agents were finally allowed to leave.

When the Agents finally left the roof, they returned to the area where the President was still speaking. There they stayed to watch the rest of the President’s speech. After the President was done, the Agents went to their homes.

A few days later, the Agents met at their hideout to review what had happened.
“We might have been killed if it wasn’t for you,” Agent S told Agent T.
“We were incredibly lucky. So many things could have gone wrong,” replied Agent T.
“Yeah. If XXXXXXX hadn’t attempted to transmit the men’s conversation when XXX was captured, the men might have gotten away,” agreed Agent P.
“Not only that, but you, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX, and I might have all been killed. But we can’t forget about how you and XXXXXXXX stole the skateboards and were able to show the FBI which way the men had gone,” added Agent H.
“And how XXXXXXXX remembered that the men were on the roof, XXXXXXXX texted XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX that the men were coming, XXXXXXXX tackled the FBI agent, XXXXXXXX tackled the man, and XXXXXXXX intercepted the Man’s dart,” added Agent Q. “By the way, how did you know to put up your sign?” He/she turned to Agent N.
“What do you mean? I looked at my watch, and it was time for the men to shoot, so I put up my sign.”

Agent S looked puzzled. “The men were shooting much earlier than they planned. I overheard their phone call and tried to signal Agent H, but XXX didn’t understand,” explained Agent S. “Your watch must have been off.”
“But it was fine when when we arrived here. I made sure it was perfectly set so I would know exactly when to raise the sign.”
“That is an incredible coincidence. Your watch somehow
got off by XX minutes so that you put up your sign right as the Man shot? That is incredibly lucky,” marveled Agent J.
“I don’t think it was luck. I think it was God protecting us,” Agent N pointed out.
“You’re right. That’s too impossible to be a coincidence,” agreed Agent A.
“Let’s say a prayer to thank God for protecting us and the President,” suggested Agent M.
So the Agents formed a circle and said a prayer of thanks to God.

Just as they finished, they heard voices coming from the monitor that receives the video feed from Agent R. The Agents turned to look at it and saw Agents X and L standing in front of the robot.
“We’d like to talk to you. Meet us in the clearing in a few minutes,” Agent L was saying.
The Agents immediately departed their hideout and headed for the clearing where the President had camped.

As they walked, the Agents speculated why the FBI wanted to talk to them.
“They probably want to thank us for saving the President,” determined Agent A.
“You’re right. It’s almost certainly about that,” agreed Agent J.
“I hope this isn’t as bad as last time. Last time we saved the President, they thanked us by leaving,” complained Agent T.
“It would be really nice to get some sort of reward or recognition,” added Agent S, “but they’ll keep it all hush-hush.”
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” remarked Agent P as the Agents approached the clearing.

As the Agent reached the clearing, they saw Agents X and L waiting for them.

“We thought that since you were instrumental in preventing the President from being shot, you deserved to know a bit more about the men and their plans,” explained Agent L.
“You see, the man who shot at the President had been part of the group who kidnapped the President,” related Agent X. “Originally they had all been poachers in these woods. They found the President’s camp and realized whose it was. So they decided to kidnap the President and hold him for ransom.
“The man who shot at the President had piloted a helicopter and lowered ropes to which the fake Agent Z tied the President’s tent. But he was not there when the men were caught, so he got away. Apparently he wanted revenge for his comrades who were caught. He didn’t know about you and assumed the President had escaped on his own. So he and ‘Agent Z’ made plans to shoot the President.”
“Now that we’ve updated you, we want to reward you,” continued Agent L. “We’d present you with medals, and give you all kinds of awards, only, as you know, we have to keep this a secret. So we’re planning on having you stay in these woods and keep an eye out for more criminals here. Let us know if you see anything suspicious.”
“And in the future we’ll try to be better about answering emails,” added Agent X. “I didn’t check that email account until the day after the event, and if I had, we might have prevented the whole thing.”
“And we want to thank you, once again, for your efforts to stop the men. Without you, the President might have been shot and killed,” finished Agent L.

“You’re very welcome, but it wasn’t just us. So many things could have gone wrong, but God was protecting us,” replied Agent M.
There was an awkward silence.
Then Agent J said, “Thanks for telling us about the Man. Hopefully we’ll hear from you soon.”
“Bye!” added Agent P as the Agents followed Agent J out of the clearing.

The Agents were quiet as they walked back to the hideout. Once they got there, Agent Q broke the silence.
“Since they apparently won’t be rewarding us, let’s have a party. We’ll break out some snacks, and just relax for a while.”
“You’re right,” agreed Agents M. “We need a good party. But we’ll need some music. And we should have it outside.”

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` * ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` *Epilogue* ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` * ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
On a certain top secret date, in a certain top secret town, in a certain top-secret park, a certain group of people could be seen dancing by a creek. If you were there to watch them (please contact me at once), you would have noticed that one of them was not dancing, but was fishing in the creek. The rest were dancing to some music which seemed to come from the fisherman. “Uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah . . .”

© 2014 Christina Smith. All rights reserved.

Meanwhile, Agent Q was sitting near the Man’s comrade while he held him/her at gunpoint. The comrade hadn’t bothered to question him/her, and so both of them were sitting in silence.
Suddenly, the comrade’s phone rang. He answered it, and then frowned. He held the phone in front of him, and Agent Q could hear it. It was very hard to understand, but he/she could tell that there was someone other than the Man talking.
The comrade hung up and stood up. “Come on. We’re leaving,” he told Agent Q gruffly.
Agent Q walked in front of him as he kept him/her at gunpoint. Together they made their way to where the Man was stationed.

“If you try anything, I’ll shoot XXX,” threatened the Man, his gun still pointed the two Agents. “In fact, if I think that you’re going to try anything, I’ll shoot XXX.”
“You know that if you shoot anyone, I’ll shoot you,” replied the FBI agent. He kept his gun pointed at the Man, and the Man kept his gun pointed at the Agents.
Both of them would have stayed there for several more minutes, but suddenly Agent T came out of nowhere and tackled the FBI agent, screaming, “Duck!”

He/she had remained in the crowd holding his/her sign until he/she had received word that the FBI were going to investigate the Man. Then he/she had made his/her way toward the Man and seen Agent Q frantically pointing at the comrade, who was standing next to him/her behind the FBI and Agents who were confronting the Man. The comrade was aiming his gun, and as Agent T got closer, he/she saw that it was aimed toward the FBI agent.

Agent T had immediately sprinted to the FBI agent and tackled him. A dart flew over his head and stuck on Agent H’s jacket. The Man and his comrade broke into a run, fleeing toward the lobby area. The FBI agent leaped up and ran after them, followed by Agents M, Q, H, N, and S. But Agent J immediately texted Agents A and P. “They’re escaping! Now!”

Agents A and P had gotten bored just sitting on the roof. They had explored the roof and and found a pair of skateboards hiding behind a fan. They had then moved the skateboards to the opposite end of the roof so the men would be delayed trying to find them. Then the two Agents sat down near the edge of the roof by the fire escape and waited.
“I wish we could do more than just sit here and watch the men get away,” sighed Agent P.
“Yeah, the rest of them get to do all the fun stuff while we just sit here and wait,” agreed Agent A. “I wonder if we could somehow delay the men more.”
“But how? If we try anything, the men will kill us with their guns. Then we won’t be able to tell which way they go. They’ll probably get away, and we’ll be dead.”
“We wouldn’t get in their way. Just another delay, like hiding the guns.”
“Wait. I have it! We’ll block the door to the roof so the men can’t get through!”
“But they’ll know we were here, and if they get through, we’re dead.”
“You’re right. Too risky.”
The two Agents sat in silence, thinking.

“What if we could put something in front of the door to make it harder for them to get through?” asked Agent P.
“But how would we get through without removing it? But maybe. . . yes! We’ll put a sign on the door that says ‘Caution: slippery when wet.’ Then we’ll pour water on the floor so they’ll have to go slowly!” exclaimed Agent A.
“How do we get water to the roof?” asked Agent P.
“Hmm, we’d need buckets or something. Then again, we could use our water bottles.”
So the two Agents set to work. After they’d emptied their water bottles by the door, Agent P went off to find a drinking fountain with which to refill the water bottles, and to find a pen and paper for the sign. Agent A agreed to stay on the roof with the phone in case there was a change of plans.

Soon Agent P returned with a pen and paper and two newly filled water bottles. He/she began to empty the bottles onto the roof while Agent A went to work on the sign.
Just then Agent A’s phone went off. Agent A pulled it out and saw the text from Agent J. “They’re escaping! Now!”
“They’re coming!” Agent A cried.
Agent P finished emptying the water bottle and the two Agents ducked behind an air conditioning unit.

Meanwhile, Agents M, Q, H, N, and S, had lost the men in the lobby area. The FBI agent had alerted the security guards in case they tried to leave the building.
“We’ve got them trapped,” he told the Agents as they scanned the crowd to see which way the men had gone.
“But they planned to escape to the roof and go down the fire escape,” remembered Agent M.
“They did? Of course!” exclaimed the FBI agent. He took off running, and the Agents ran after him. As they ran, two other FBI agents joined them.

By then the man and his comrade had burst through the doorway to the roof. They ran past the air conditioning unit the Agents were hiding behind and continued toward the fan where they had hidden their skateboards. As they ran, the comrade slipped in the puddle and almost lost his balance, then kept running.
The Man reached the fan, stopped, and cursed violently. “Someone stole our boards. We’ll have to run for it!” he cried. Then he started toward the fire escape, his comrade close behind him.

As the men fled down the fire escape, the two Agents ran to the edge of the roof to see which way the men were going. Just as the men leaped off the fire escape, three FBI men arrived, followed by Agents M, Q, H, N, and S.
“They went that way!” exclaimed Agent P, pointing to the men who were running down the street.
The FBI men leaped off the roof and began to climb down the fire escape. As they did so, several police cars arrived and surrounded the men. The FBI agent had called backup as he and the Agents had run towards the stairs to the roof, so the police had been ready for the men. The Agents watched as the police handcuffed the men and took them away.

© 2014 Christina Smith. All rights reserved.