The Watchmen Files || Shades of Reason || Prologue

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1993

A deep blue van idled next to the curb of the Hôtel Très Belle on the French Riviera. Inside the typical looking vehicle, four Watchmen were preparing for their mission, Hans Kruger and his partner Clark Barton, and partners Mike Graham and Cesar Russell. Kruger was perfecting his disguise in a small hanging mirror that dangled from the ceiling of the van while the other three booted up the computers.

   "You ready for this, Hans?" Barton poked at the surveillance equipment as it began to turn on (these are the '90s we're talking about).

   Kruger glanced at his partner in the mirror. "You think I'm not ready for the job?" he asked rather sharply, his ice blue eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly.

   Barton shook his head. "I just thought flirtation wasn't really your forte."

   Kruger's brow smoothed, and he finished applying his disguise and turned around. "It's a job," he explained simply.

   "I'll tell Jackie that sometime," Graham muttered under his breath. As Kruger shot him a look, Graham pretended to be busy with the computer while Russell snickered into his hand.

   "Ready?" Barton interrupted, handing Kruger his custom-fitted earpiece.

   Kruger nodded and took the earpiece, fitting it perfectly into his ear. "Comm check."

   "Comm's good," Graham reported. "Good luck out there, man."

   "You'll need it," Russell muttered under his breath.

   Kruger closed his eyes for a moment, his expression completely blank. Then his eyes sprang open, a cheerful smile brightened his pale face, and stepped out of the van onto the sunny French sidewalk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1993 (fifteen minutes earlier)

   Lila Norland (someday to become Norris) stepped out with her parents into the crowded ballroom. The party was a "thank you" to the many donors whom had helped make InterTech a force to be reckoned with. It was also the place her parents, the heads of InterTech, hoped that she would meet the husband who would assist her in running the organization one day. She was 18 years old, with naturally curly brown hair and hazel eyes. And at five foot six, high heels bought at a high end London department store complemented her elegant dress. She looked and felt like a million bucks. Which she was worth. Her parents had become rich with their illegal business dealings, selling things on the black market. Which afforded her many expensive things to show off to her friends at boarding school. But now she had graduated, and was being taken under her parent's wings to prepare for the massive task of running InterTech. The only child of Edward and Cate Norland, Lila was poised to inherit the company once they could no longer handle the day-to-day operations.

   But all that was in the future. Today was about enjoying the party.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2013

  

"Jeremy? Yo, Jeremiah!"

   "Huh?" nineteen year old Jeremy Stone jerked his head up from over a pile of old reports. "What'd you say, Joe?"

   Twenty year old Jonas Parker rolled his eyes. The two had only just finished their Watchmen training a week ago and had been assigned their first mission as rookies only two days previously. They were on a plane to their mission as they spoke. "I said, what have you found out?" he repeated.

   Jeremy waved a handful of reports that he has half finished reading. "Well, as we were told, Captain Barton, before he was Captain Barton, and Doctor Hans J. Kruger, along with Sargent Graham and Cesar Russell were assigned to extract some information from the heads of InterTech, Cate and Edward Norland, and went after their heiress daughter, Lila, who now runs it with her husband Quentin. They also have a daughter named Briella. I don't have many particulars, I've only gotten about half way through this stack of field reports," he gestured to the haphazard pile.

   "Interesting, I'll have to add that to my notes." Jonas snatched his brand new "field book" (as he called it) and started to scrawl on the fresh pages. His steady brown eyes scanned his notes and his neatly combed dark hair glinted under the overhead lights.

   Jeremy hunkered down back over his field reports, picking up the one he'd not finished reading. Jonas twisted in his seat to peer at his teammate. Jeremiah Stone, known by everyone in training as "Jeremy", and himself were very different from one another. While Jeremy could be hot-headed and reckless, Jonas always thought things over and had a backup plan.

   He glanced out the window of the plane. "Hey, Jeremy, you'd better finish reading soon. We're coming up on land."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2013 (earlier that year)

   Ginger Hollens grabbed her backpack and planted a kiss on her brother's cheek. "See you later, Simon." She wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "You too, Nora!" she called over her shoulder towards her sister as she stepped out from under their cover porch into the rain.

   Ginger's private school was located half way across the city of Boston from her house, so she waited under the covered bus stop for her bus. Raindrops landed with a plop into the puddles on the sidewalk, and cars swept the water out of the way with their tires, wetting Ginger's black converse shoes.

   Tugging at the zipper of her backpack, Ginger withdrew a stack of papers stapled together. Her lines for her school's upcoming play "The Sound of Music" where she had the role of Liesl, was going to be her big debut, she was sure of it. She also hoped sincerely that Simon could attend. Ever since their parents had died a few years ago, she and her elder sister Nora had lived with Simon, who worked at a company called SuperTech. The siblings had all become very close, but now that Simon was working on a very important (and top secret) project, Nora and Ginger had begun to drift apart from him. They themselves grew closer, going out for milkshakes and cheeseburgers and such, but with his busy schedule, they hardly ever saw him.

   I really hope he can make it to my play, Ginger mused as her bus pulled up. I hope, I hope, I hope.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   "But MOM!" Briella Norris, better known as Brie, called as she stomped after her mother, the infamous Lila Norris. She had inherited her hazel eyes from her mother, and they were giving off angry sparks that told all of the minions scurrying about to stay away. "Mom!" she cried, grabbing Lila's elbow and catching up to her. "I don't want to stay here over summer vacation! I wanted to go stay with Grandma and Grandpa Norland in France!"

   Lila rolled her eyes. "Brie, listen to me. You need to learn about the family business. Grandma and Grandpa used to run InterTech, but it's so much more now, and you are going to run it with your husband someday, so you need to learn how it works, and how to handle it."

   Brie stomped her foot. "Well, maybe you should have kept me around instead of sending me to boarding school if you wanted me to learn so much!"

   Lila's eyes blazed. "We did what was best for you, Briella. You know that."

   "Ahem, Mrs. Norris?" Lila's personal assistant interrupted warily. "Dominik Kruger is here to see you and Mr. Norris."

   Brie sighed as her mother flitted off to go meet with the second-in-command of Hydra. She wondered what they were planning this time.

Whew! And to think I wrote most of that last night! I only wrote the part with Brie this morning :)

 Anyway, I hope you liked it! Drop me a comment here or on Pinterest! And follow my board Shades of Reason to get the latest stuff on this book!

~Willow