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It was pitch black, and Agent Z stopped for a
moment to let his eyes adjust to the dark. The twelve year-old secret
agent knew what he had to do. And he knew that
they’d do anything to stop him from accomplishing his mission.
Taking a deep breath, Agent Z ran out of the alley
and across the empty street. He jumped over one large puddle, but landed
with his left foot on a large oil slick. This caused him to slide
forward and almost lose his balance.
Staggering forward, he quickly regained his footing.
Then he heard a strange sound behind him. He turned and saw a powerful
motorcycle roaring down the street, speeding directly towards him!
Agent Z stood on the balls of his feet, his knees
slightly bent, as the black motorcycle raced closer and closer. He
waited… and waited… and waited… until the bike was only a few
yards away. Then, his body captured in the glare of the motorcycle’s
large headlight, Agent Z leapt sideways!
The bike missed him by mere inches. Agent Z landed
hard on the sidewalk, rolling over and over. He quickly jumped to
his feet and turned back to the street. He saw that the street was empty
— the motorcycle had turned the corner and continued on.
When he was sure that the deadly bike wasn’t
coming back, Agent Z relaxed slightly. He crept over to the darkened
entrance of the nearest building, and climbed the short flight of stairs
to the doorway. Then tried the door.
It was locked.
There was a glass panel next to the doorknob. Agent
Z took off his baseball hat, wrapped it around his right hand, and
smashed in the panel. Putting the cap back on his head, he reached
through the broken glass and unlocked the door from the inside.
Agent Z pushed the door open, and walked cautiously
into the shadowy entranceway. He tiptoed down the hall, taking care to
make as little noise as possible.
There was a flight of stairs at the back of the
building. Assured that he hadn’t been seen or heard, Agent Z turned to
climb the stairs. He put his right foot on the first step — and then
quickly threw himself backwards against the far wall!
Agent Z had felt something give under his foot when
he stepped onto the stairs. Then his protective instincts had kicked
in.
Just in front of him, a large knife had dropped
from the ceiling. It was aimed at whomever was standing on the second
step. If he would have continued up the stairs, he’d have been hit —
and probably sliced in two!
Walking carefully back to the stairwell, Agent Z
tested the first step again. This time, nothing happened. He tested the
second step. Still nothing. Third step. Nothing. Fourth, fifth, sixth
steps. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Confident that only the first step had been booby
trapped, Agent Z continued to the top of the stairs. Then he stopped.
The second-floor hallway was dark and silent.
Still, Agent Z sensed danger ahead. There was something — or
someone — up ahead, waiting for him.
Agent Z reached into his pocket and came back with
a handful of pennies and nickels and quarters. Smiling to himself, the
junior secret agent took careful aim. Then he flung the change down the
hallway — hard.
There was a loud clattering noise as the coins
bounced off the wooden floor and rolled down the hallway — followed by
the deafening roar of machine gun fire!
The coins had set off some sort of motion sensor
which activated the automatic weapons. The guns were positioned to catch
any trespassers in a deadly crossfire.
Agent Z waited a full thirty seconds for the
shooting to stop, the guns running out of ammunition. Then he made his
way cautiously down the hall.
He looked into the first doorway. There he saw an
Army-issue machine gun, rigged up to fire automatically. The gun barrel
was still hot, and the floor of the room was covered with spent shells.
The room across the hall was much the same, with a
hot machine gun and hundreds of spent shells. Agent Z peered into the
third and fourth doorways, and found similar setups.
When he
reached the fifth doorway, the last one on the right, Agent Z opened the
door and saw an empty room. There was no machine gun, no furniture, no
nothing — except for a curiously open window.
Why was the window open? Agent Z thought to
himself. Then he decided to find out.
Agent Z walked into the room. He stepped towards
the window — and then felt the floor give way beneath him!
He’d walked onto a trap door! Now he was falling
down a darkened shaft. He curled himself into a ball, then landed with a
hard thump! on the ground several stories below
Agent Z laid on the damp earthen floor. His
breath was knocked out of him. He waited for the stars to clear from his
eyes, then checked his body for any broken bones. Everything was in the
right place and in the right number of pieces, so he rose slowly to his
feet and tried to get a feel for his surroundings.
He was below the building, in a basement of some
sort. That much he knew. The floor was dirt, and there was a musty smell
in the air. A thin ray of light came from the far corner of the basement.
He started to walk in that direction.
Before Agent Z could reach the other side of the
room, the ray of light became a beacon. The wooden door burst open —
and a half-dozen black-clad Ninjas rushed out, ready for battle!
Agent Z took up a defensive stance as the deadly
warriors surrounded him. They circled him slowly, only their eyes
showing through their black face masks. Their fingers were closed
together and pointed forward in attack mode.
Then, with a loud cry, the Ninjas attacked!
From every angle, Agent Z saw Ninjas flying towards
him. He ducked his head and rolled forward, causing the two Ninjas on
either side of him to leap into each other. They crashed together with a
loud thump! and then fell helplessly to the ground.
Agent Z rolled between the two front Ninjas. He
went into a crouch and swept his leg round in a circle. He caught the
Ninjas in the backs of their legs, sending them tumbling forward onto
the basement’s dirt floor.
The two rear Ninjas held back for a moment, then
leapt over the chaos on the ground. The landed directly in front of
Agent Z. Their uncovered eyes were filled with cold determination, their
bodies ready to deliver killing blows.
Agent Z was still crouched low to the ground.
Before the two Ninjas could act, he dropped onto his back — and kicked
upward with both his feet! His kicks caught the Ninjas between their
legs, hard, and dropped them to their knees.
Leaping to his feet, Agent Z karate-chopped the two
Ninjas on the backs of their necks. They wouldn’t be any further
trouble.
Looking up, he saw that the first two Ninjas were
back their feet. They had positioned themselves on either side of him
again. Agent Z reached out with both hands, grabbed his two attackers by
the fronts of their black bodysuits, and slammed them together! Their
heads met with a sickening crunch!, then they slid to the ground,
unconscious.
That left just two more Ninjas, the pair who had
started out in front of him. He turned to face the first one, who
started making animal noises and waving his hands in sharp attacking
motions. Agent Z waited until the Ninja finished his impressive display
— and then punched him hard on the nose!
The Ninja fell back, totally taken by surprise.
Pressing his advantage, Agent Z followed with a left to the Ninja’s
midsection, then a roundhouse right to the side of his head. When the
Ninja bent over in pain, Agent Z used his knee to kick upwards into the
Ninja’s chin. At the same time, he brought both his hands down hard on
the back of the Ninja’s head.
Agent Z eased backward as the Ninja fell face
forward into the dirt. He didn’t get back up.
Five down, one to go, Agent Z thought. He
turned to face the last attacker — just in time to catch a powerful
kick in the side!
As Agent Z went down, the Ninja let out a shrill
cry. The attacker launched himself into the air — directly towards the
fallen agent.
Agent Z rolled out of the way at the last moment,
and the Ninja flew harmlessly overhead, landing directly behind him. The
stricken agent curled himself into a ball, seemingly in pain. Sensing a
weakened opponent, the Ninja eased forward and prepared to deliver a
knockout strike.
The Ninja tensed, and then kicked forward with his
right foot. Agent Z, faking his injury, uncurled himself and
rolled onto his back. Then he reached up and grabbed the Ninja’s
foot — and used his attacker’s forward motion to throw him up and over his
head!
The Ninja landed on his back, hard. Before he could
get up, Agent Z leapt on him and went straight for the Ninja’s throat.
Agent Z pressed his hands into the warrior’s windpipe and squeezed
hard. The Ninja struggled for several seconds, his eyes bulging out of
his head. Then he finally gasped and went silent.
Agent Z rose to his feet, slowly, willing his
heartbeat back to normal. Then he turned and made a 360-degree scan of
the basement. Assured that the area was secure, he walked slowly over to
the still-open doorway.
He peered into the doorway. There was a long
passageway ahead. Cautiously, he walked down the passageway, until he
came to a stairway. It led up a single flight. He tested each step, then
climbed to the top. There he found a locked wooden door.
The door wouldn’t budge. Agent Z backed down a
few steps, gathered up his strength, and then raced back up the stairs.
Flying forward, he hit the door hard, splintering the wood and snapping
the door off its hinges.
Agent Z tumbled out the door and into the alleyway
beyond. He rolled along the ground, then pushed himself to his feet and
looked around. He was back exactly where he started — in the alleyway
just off the main street!
Standing there in the dark, he heard a noise from
up above. He turned to look, and saw a shadow up on the rooftop. The
shadow threw something down into the alley. Quickly, Agent Z hit the
dirt, then heard a muffled thud! as the object landed somewhere
behind him.
The thud! was followed by a hiss! The
stinging in his eyes told Agent Z it was tear gas. He took his baseball
cap off his head and put it over his face, using it as a makeshift gas
mask.
Coughing hard, Agent Z staggered out of the
alleyway — and directly into the arms of a huge goon!
Agent Z looked up, and saw that he was being held
by some sort of monstrous fiend. The brute was almost seven feet tall,
with shoulders as wide as a small car and arms as thick as lampposts.
The monster’s face was craggy and covered with hideous scars, and his
breath smelled of dead things.
Agent Z knew he was in trouble.
The giant chuckled to himself as Agent Z struggled
to get free. The monster held him several feet off the ground, and his
feet pedaled back and forth helplessly in the empty air. He fought
harder and harder against the creature’s steel-cable muscles, but to
no avail. The huge beast was too strong for him.
Agent Z felt the monster tighten his grip, and he
felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs. He knew he had to act
fast, before he passed out — or was crushed by the brute’s powerful
grip.
Somehow, Agent Z managed to free one of his arms
from the beast’s deadly embrace. He reached down to his belt, and felt
around until he found a small compartment hidden inside. He opened the
compartment, grabbed what appeared to be a small dart, and thrust the
dart into the monster’s arm — hard.
The fiend let out a howl, and immediately released
his grip. Agent Z dropped to the ground, caught his breath, and then
backed away from the oversized creature.
The huge man continued to howl — first in pain,
then in rage. He pulled the dart from his arm, tossed it over his
shoulder, and then turned his attention back to Agent Z.
Then, as the knock-out drug in the dart took
effect, the monster’s eyes glazed over. His breathing slowed, he
groaned loudly, then he stumbled forward. The beast took two halting
steps, then — a strange smile on his hideous face — he fell
face-forward onto the sidewalk.
Agent Z thought he looked almost peaceful laying
there, a harmless beast at rest.
For the first time in several minutes, there was
silence. Agent Z turned around, slowly. There was no movement in any
direction.
Is it over? he wondered to himself. Then he
decided that he must stay on his guard until he was safely off of these
killing streets.
Keeping an eye on the rooftop of the nearby
building, Agent Z started walking slowly down the street. He was walking
away from the alley, past the darkened building.
Agent Z stopped every few seconds to listen for
footsteps. He heard nothing. Then he continued to walk through and
around the puddles on the sidewalk, his shadow falling eerily across the
pavement.
When he reached the first cross street, Agent Z
edged close to the nearest building. He carefully peered around the
corner, but there was nothing there. He looked back over his shoulder,
and confirmed that he wasn’t being followed. Then he crept slowly
around the corner.
That was a mistake.
When he turned the corner, Agent Z came
face-to-face with small man holding a large Smith & Wesson Model 37
revolver. The small man pulled the trigger — then the gun jumped in
his hand with a resounding boom!
The blast hit Agent Z square in his chest, knocking
him backwards and to the ground. Leaning forward, the twelve year-old
secret agent stared down at the growing red spot on the front of his
shirt.
Then, from off to the side, he heard a familiar
voice.
“Agent Z is dead!”
Watch for Agent
Z and the Midnight Ultimatum, coming soon! |