Jason Steed: Face-Off

Manfred Jurgen broke a small piece of cheese off a block and placed the remainder back in his lunch tin. He tucked the small piece in his pocket and left his security office to do his rounds.

  It was the same route he had done every night for the last twelve years. First the penguin exhibit followed by the flamingo and turtle pond, the Hippo experience, then his favorite the Ape House. After a long stop at the Ape House he would check the Australian outback animals, the butterfly house, the giraffe and zebra stables and finally the Big Cat area.

  Many people would think working as a night watchman for Berlin City Zoo was a boring job. But where Manfred was concerned they would be mistaken. Manfred loved it; he got to see his animals as he called them and talk to them. The job never paid much and it was lonely but it was what he preferred. The large birthmark on his face had destroyed any confidence he had had.

  At school he was constantly ridiculed and called cruel names. Now as a fifty-year-old man and in more acceptable times, he still noticed people staring and making faces at him. Many felt pity for him; some spoke loudly to him as if he was deaf. He wasn’t deaf, disabled or stupid; he just had a large birthmark.

  Alone at night in the city zoo he could walk his rounds with no one finger pointing or staring. The animals treated him just like any other human. And his favorite animal and friend was Einstein, a twenty-five year old orangutan who was the main attraction of the Ape house.

  Einstein thumped his chest and grunted, when he noticed Manfred walking towards his cage.

  “Einstein, how are you tonight my friend?” Manfred asked.

  The ape held out his hand and tilted his head waiting for his treat. Manfred passed him the piece of cheese. Slowly Einstein took it and placed the delicacy into his large mouth. He held his hand out of the cage for Manfred who took it and shook it.

  “You are very welcome my friend. I hear they may be bringing a female orangutan here from Munich Zoo. I hope they do, at least one of us can have a wife; you would make a good father Einstein,” Manfred said shaking the ape’s giant hand.

  Manfred paused and turned. He thought he heard a strange sound. Not that the zoo didn’t have its fair share of strange noises. The apes, birds, bears, elephants and giraffes all made strange noises. Even the occasional roar from the lion and tiger enclosures. This sound was vastly different.

  Einstein heard it too. He pulled back his hand and climbed to the top of his cage, his head looking from side to side trying to see where the sound had come from.

  “You heard it too Einstein eh? I better go and take a look. It could be kids again trying to spray graffiti. Nothing better to do. No discipline with kids today, that’s the problem. The Hitler Youth may have been strict but it taught teenagers respect.” Manfred complained. He strolled towards the end of the zoo searching with his flashlight.

  As Manfred rounded the corner of the penguin exhibit he noticed a van parked next to the leopard enclosure. He shined his flashlight and noticed a dark figure next to the van. Suddenly he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. The next thing Manfred knew he was waking up in the lion enclosure.

  He felt the back of his head; he was bleeding and felt groggy. That’s when he heard the low growl. A terrifying noise from deep inside the throat of the lion. As he tried to climb to his feet another roar from behind, before a lion pounced pinning Manfred to the ground.

  Einstein cowered down and had to cover his ears when he heard his friendly human screaming for help and trying to defend himself from a pack of lions. There would be no more midnight treats of cheese for him from now on. The large ape mourned the loss of his friend.

  Berlin Zoo and officials from the city launched an investigation. A large male leopard was missing and the remains of Manfred were found in the lion enclosure.

  Zoo and city officials wrongly concluded that Manfred had taken a bribe from a collector to sell the large cats. They managed to steal the leopard but when they tried to get a lion something went wrong and suspected that; Manfred was attacked. Manfred Jurgen’s good name was ruined, no one had any sympathy for a thief. A few zoo workers made statements that he was always a bit weird and shouldn’t have been working at the zoo.

  Einstein missed his midnight cheese treat and lost his only human friend. Einstein knew the truth but what an ape knew would never become public knowledge.

  *

  Chapter Five

  Dexter collected Jason from the airport. Jason was thrilled to be back in Turkey and looking forward to catching up with his friends and was hoping he would be given another mission. The secret spy school was the perfect place for Jason. He could mix with some of the most physically gifted children from around the world and keep the world a safer place.

  As it was Sunday the school was deserted above ground. But under the school, Infinity agents and operatives were busy checking monitors, listening in to phone conversations around the world and others were x-ray scanning tons of mail that was sent to or from terrorist suspects.

  “Nice to see you got back Jason.” A man’s voice said. Jason looked; he wasn’t sure who the man was that said it; all of Infinity staff knew of Jason Steed. They might not know him personally but he was the top junior agent. News had spread rapidly that someone had tried to assassinate him.

  “Thanks for picking me up, Dexter.” Jason said walking towards the room he shared with Connor.

  “Em. Jason where are you going?” Dexter asked.

  Jason stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “To my room?”

  “You need to be debriefed and because of the seriousness Quentin wants to talk to you himself,” Dexter said.

  “But I just got here. I need a shower and I wanted to see Connor,” Jason whined, although as soon as he said it he knew he would have to follow orders. That was the bad part of Infinity. You had be grown-up all the time. There wasn’t much time to hang with the friends he had made and fool around. Not that it didn’t happen. A bunch of clever-gifted children from ages eleven to eighteen found all sorts of ways to amuse themselves.

  One such thing was duck taping a harmonica to Dexter’s car. Every time he went over forty miles an hour it started to make a strange noise. For Thanksgiving they presented Dexter with caramel-covered apples to make the American feel at home, although they had swapped the apples with onions and hysterically watched as he bit into one.

  They once placed Jolly Ranchers gum candy in the showerhead of Quentin’s shower. As it warmed up, red and yellow sticky candy melted and rained down on him. Other pranks included oreo cookies having the cream taken out and replaced with toothpaste. All the pranks were done anonymously like any good spy in training would do. However things got out of hand when one of the students broke into the canteen and put extra strong laxative in the coffee. The entire academy staff was sick with diarrhea and had severe stomach cramps.

  The pranks kept the students smiling and although it annoyed the staff, they did seem to understand. Despite the fact they were young secret agents and were invaluable because no one would ever suspect them, they were after all still children with a ravenous appetite for fun.

  Quentin Roosevelt was studying a map with two Infinity agents. He looked up over his glasses as Jason and Dexter walked into his office.

  “Right then gentlemen, let’s continue this later. I need to take care of some business,” Quentin said folding the map up.

  Both agents nodded at Dexter and Jason and left them alone with Quentin.

  “Pleasant flight Jason?” Quentin asked.

  “Not really, I was treated like a kid and had to have a chaperone. The guy was annoying and it was more like him that needed a baby sitter not me,” Jason sighed.

  “Ah you mean Rob,” Quentin smiled. “A good agent. Yes he often acts like a surfer guy or dude, as he would call it. Top man he is, excellent marksman and brilliant with explosives.”

  “Explosives. Rob? Are we talking about the same person? He would blow himself up,” Jason frowned.

/>   “It’s just an act and it looks like it fooled you.” Dexter smiled much to the annoyance of Jason. “Besides you always seem to blow up something on every mission you do.”

  “First things first Jason. Did you tell anyone at home about Infinity?” Quentin asked.

  Jason squirmed in his seat. “Um. My dad and Brenda still believe this is just a school and nothing else.”

  Quentin’s eyes narrowed he studied the boy and waved his finger at him. “Clever answer, but that’s isn’t what I asked.”

  Jason swallowed hard. “He won’t tell anyone. He read my school report and in Rural Science I got a B plus, with a comment that said my aim is improving.”

  Dexter looked at Jason and Quentin. “Who are we talking about?”

  Quentin sighed heavily. “He’s talking about Scott Turner.”

  “What the kid with the high IQ. What did you tell him for?” Dexter snapped at Jason.

  “He guessed. He’s smart, very smart, smarter than you and he kinda worked it out when he read my school report. What was I supposed to say when he asked about my aim is improving?” Jason shrugged.

  Quentin nodded. “That was foolish of us to make such a comment. But Jason you’re an agent and agents have to make up stories and bend the truth a few times.”

  “Not to their best friends they don’t. Scott’s like a brother to me. I can’t lie to him. If I do that,” he paused, “well if I lie to him what’s the point of anything.” Jason folded his arms. “I have to be honest to someone and he is that someone.”

  “Can we trust him?” Dexter asked.

  “As much as you can trust me,” Jason said calmly.

  Both men looked at each other and seemed lost for words. Jason was surprised despite all of Infinity’s recourses of spies and contacts in every law enforcement agency across the world that they had no idea who had hired the assassin.

  The debrief lasted another fifteen minutes before he could finally go to his room. He knocked at the door and after a few second’s pause went in. Connor was standing in front of the mirror looking at himself wearing just his briefs.

  “Look what the cat dragged in,” Connor beamed. “Hello Mate.”

  Jason dropped his bags and walked towards Connor with an outstretched hand. “Connor good to see you, I’m glad to finally get out of the debrief.” Jason smiled.

  Connor ignored Jason’s hand and gave him a welcome hug. Jason stiffened; he felt weird getting a hug from a guy wearing briefs.

  “You’re just in time to meet Tony,” Connor boasted.

  “Um. Tony who’s he?” Jason asked.

  Connor lowered his arms and took a step back. “You are looking at him.”

  Jason tilted his head slightly to one side, narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Okay this is getting weird. I’m not sure I want to see him now.”

  “Look.” Connor smiled pointing at his chest. “Look.”

  Jason moved closer and looked at what Connor was pointing at. He had a single hair on his chest.

  “Meet Tony. My first chest hair. I called him Tony as he’s Tony one I got,” Connor laughed.

  Jason laughed at his joke at first and then as fast as lightning grabbed Connor’s only chest hair and plucked it.

  “Tony one you had,” Jason corrected.

  Most students in the same wing could hear Connor screaming curse words at the top of his voice for the next few minutes as he attacked him. Jason wasn’t sure if Connor was really upset or play-acting over losing his only chest hair. Connor and Jason wrestled on the ground until they kicked the mirror over, covering the pair in shards of broken glass.

  Luckily both boys were unhurt and finally stopped their fighting making them both laugh. They collected the pieces of broken mirror and placed it around the floor in the next dorm room and swapped it with that mirror. The room was unoccupied. Infinity staff discovered it later and suspected that it was Connor and Jason who broke it, but of course they denied any knowledge of it. Jason told Connor Dexter had instructed him just a few hours earlier that agents could bend the truth when needed. This seemed to be one of those times and would prevent them from running punishment laps in the morning.

  Chapter Six

  The regular routine at six in the morning above ground was followed by an enduring workout continued. By just after seven in the morning the Infinity students would go below the school again for a shower and breakfast. By nine they would go to some of the normal school lessons.

  Jason marveled at how it worked like a well-oiled machine. The regular students had no idea what some of their classmates did in other lessons underground. There was no sense of oppressive authority; the teachers were more like instructors and endlessly encouraging. Students were viewed as individuals pursuing their own ends within community, largely governing themselves.

  For Jason, Infinity was the closest he’d ever come to freedom. By Thursday he had settled in again and was enjoying being back. But once again he was called into Quentin’s office. As he walked down the corridor he had to force himself to slow down; he had a spring in his step and large grin on his face. If he was correct it would be another mission and that suited Jason just fine.

  “Come,” came the familiar voice as Jason knocked. He entered and found Quentin behind his desk. In front of his desk sat a rather sternlooking man. He was dressed in a white suit with a bright pink bow tie. Jason took a second look at the man; he appeared to be wearing make-up. His hair was un-naturally dyed jet black and was slicked back over his head and in a ponytail.

  “Ah Jason,” Quentin smiled. “I would like you to meet Sir Armand Blair.” He gestured towards the man.

  Jason walked forward and held out his hand. Armand stood and gently shook Jason’s fingers rather than his hand. He stood back, crossed his arms and looked Jason up and down.

  “Shoes,” Armand pointed. “Take them off.” He waved his fingers at Jason’s feet.

  Jason looked puzzled and looked back at Quentin who nodded for him to carry on. Jason kicked off his shoes.

  “Socks,” Armand said. “Off with them.”

  Jason pulled his socks off and looked even more confused.

  “Stand on your toes,” Armand ordered.

  Jason raised himself on tiptoe.

  “Higher,” Armand said gesturing with his own arms. He walked towards Jason and placed his hands under Jason’s arms and helped Jason go higher. “Up boy I want you on your toes.”

  Annoyed, Jason pulled away and stood flat on the floor again.

  “I’m not a ballet dancer,” Jason said loudly.

  Armand turned his back on Jason and sat back down looking at Quentin.

  “Out of the question. He’s too stiff and if you don’t mind me saying, rather rough. No Quentin even I couldn’t work with this,” Armand sassed.

  “Who’s he calling this?” Jason objected.

  “He’s the best we have at such short notice and he’s the best junior agent probably in the world,” Quentin replied. “Make it happen Armand.”

  Jason was delighted to hear he was the best junior agent in the world. He started to pull his socks back on. Armand spun around in his chair and studied the boy.

  “Can you do the splits?” Armand asked Jason.

  Jason smiled and lowered himself down, his legs spread straight either side of his body. “Of course I can, I hold several black belts in martial arts.”

  Armand nodded. “Several? That’s impressive,” he looked back at Quentin. “Very well. It’s an impossible task but if anyone can do it, I can. We will start tomorrow, five in the morning and I don’t do late.” He approached and held Jason’s chin in his hand. “Good looking boy, absolutely stunning blue eyes.”

  Armand released Jason and walked off, his hips swaying from side to side. Jason looked at Quentin and raised his eyebrows for an explanation.

  “Jason, Sir Armand Blair is the head of the Royal Ballet School. He is, or shall I say was, one of Britain
’s greatest ballet dancers. As a boy he attended Infinity; he had a natural ability to climb any building and could walk across any cable or tight rope. We never used him as an agent though. Armand has always been a little...”

  Quentin paused. “Well for the want of a better word, a little gentle. You cruel boys today would probably call him a nerd or a softie. So his skills never really came to use.

  “That is until now. The Royal Ballet School is performing at the Moscow State Academy in Russia. The accommodation building is next to the Russian KGB head quarters.” Quentin stopped for a drink of water before continuing.

  “We have a device attached to the building, a simple device that looks just like any other light on the outside of the building. But this one has a transmitter inside. We have been able to gathering intelligence for three years and it has saved the lives of many allied agents. However the special battery we have in it has gone flat. To put it simply, we just need you to stick a new battery in it.”

  Jason helped himself to a glass of water from Quentin’s desk. His hand trembled slightly as he poured.

  “Are you serious sir?” Jason asked.

  The stern look he got back was enough to convince him he was.

  “So,” Jason said sipping the water. “I have to what? Pretend I’m a ballet dancer. Then one night sneak out, break into the compound of the KGB headquarters and change a battery and get back without being seen.”

  “Yes. When you put it like that it’s quite simple really,” Quentin smiled.

  “Everything but one thing.” Jason said placing the glass back on the table.

  “And what might that be?”

  “I can’t do ballet,” Jason said.

  “That’s where Armand comes in. He will give you the mother of all crash courses. You have three weeks to learn enough ballet so you don’t blow your cover. You are already very fit and supple. I know you can dance so it won’t be too hard for you.”

  “I can dance?” Jason asked.

  “We have been watching you for a long time; we secretly filmed you at a party with Princess Catherine.”