Inside the briefing room at headquarters where STS Agents sat in rows to receive their marching orders, a projection wall displayed a picture of the two female kidnappers taken from security camera video. Remi Konnard, Captain of the Guard, stood at the front of the room and explained the pictures while a somber, pensive Luc sat as a member of the audience. Captain Konnard first explained the current picture behind him on the wall.

“We’ve been able to trace these two women back to the Order of One Justice’s spy network. Even they were unaware of their orders until the last minute. What remains a mystery is how the two knew about the prototype vehicle’s ability to transform into a submarine and whether it was their plan all along to steal it and use it as the getaway vehicle.”

The next picture showed the twins Anaelle and Marielle who were kidnapped by the two spies.

“These two girls were the kidnappers’ target. They’re the twin daughters of Dr. Leandre Renard. We think the Order will try to get to Dr. Renard by using them as hostages. What they want with Dr. Renard is unknown exactly. The doctor has been informed of the kidnapping. I heard he took the news better than expected.”

The next picture up on the wall was of the High School parking lot where the kidnapping took place.

“The two spies were successful in their kidnapping attempt because they attacked a soft target. Since the High School parking lot is outside the protected zone, the two spies were able to get in without passing through the security checkpoint. Also, the two STS Agents on duty that day were new recruits who did not respond properly to the situation due to their lack of training and experience.”

Hearing about the two new, inexperienced recruits was like a kick to the gut for Luc. He bit his lower lip and reprimanded himself for minimizing his old job as “lunch lady” of the High School.

I wasn’t there for them! If I was there, I might have been able to stop those spies from kidnapping the girls. Those new guys were probably too scared to draw their weapons, but not me. I would have pulled my gun and shot them dead if I had to. I was too proud of myself to think the job was below my abilities, but now the girls have been nabbed and I don’t even know if Viviane knows yet. I shouldn’t have been so eager to leave that post!

The picture on the wall changed one last time. It was a fuzzy picture of G. Case Carswell, leader of the Order of One Justice and suspect number one. Case was half-turned away so that his face only showed the back of his jaw, a little bit of his cheek and just a hint of an eye and a nose. Case’s hand covered his mouth further obscuring his identity. Captain Konnard went on to explain.

“Our intelligence tells us that this is G. Case Carswell, founder and current leader of the Order and our primary suspect in this kidnapping. We don’t know much about him, but we do know that he has some kind of serious respiratory illness which causes him difficulty breathing and that he coughs occasionally when his disease flares up as seen in this photo. He’s hiding somewhere beyond our borders under the protection of some nation willing to provide safe harbor for him. Which country it is we do not know. We believe it is he who has the twins and the stolen data from the National Laboratory.”

The last picture disappeared from behind Captain Konnard leaving a blank wall. Captain Konnard paused for a moment before he wrapped up his briefing.

“That is all we know right now. Thank you for attending and let’s get back to work.”

With the briefing over, STS Agents got up from their chairs to leave, but Luc lingered in his seat holding his head with his hand and staring at the ground but looking at nothing. Captain Konnard noticed the dejected Luc and walked up to him to have a word.

“Agent Luc, I can tell by that look on your face that you blame yourself for the girls’ kidnapping. Am I right?”

Luc did not feel like answering, but still replied with a voice that was almost inaudible. “Yes, sir.”

“It’s not your fault. Remember, I reassigned you to the National Laboratory and put those two new recruits at the High School. If anyone’s to blame, it should be me for making that last-minute personnel change.”

“You couldn’t have known what was going to happen, but I could have just been satisfied with my post and not complained about it for the past year. You know, I could have insisted to stay on that assignment, but because of my big head, I jumped at the chance to be reassigned somewhere other than the High School. I was just full of myself thinking that I was too good to be there!”

Captain Konnard tried to console Luc. “I know that if you were on duty that day, you wouldn’t have hesitated to take control of the situation even if you had to shoot and kill those two spies with your weapon. But you just weren’t there, so it’s not your fault, Luc. In time, you’ll realize that.”

Luc remained somber and pensive. If the Captain’s words were supposed to absolve him of his guilt, they did not work.

“Until then, I need you to shape up and get back out there!”

“Yes, sir.” Luc did not sound like he was going to shape up, but he did get up and dragged himself back out there.

Duty called.