"So tell me, boy, why do you come and land on my boat?" she asked through narrowed eyes.

Simon bolted up, wide-eyed.

"Where are we? How far are we from that bridge?" he asked franticly.

"What? When you landed? Two hours ago." She replied, tilting her head.

"Are we going to Colorado?"

"We? What's this WE?"

"Uh, are you headed for Colorado?"
"Yes, I am. So are you. I shoot you, the current will wash you up in Colorado, hopefully. Tell me who you are, now."

"You won't believe me." He replied.

"Try me."

"I'm just some kid being chased by the government because they claim I'm their experiment or something."

"Really, what's wrong with you."

"I found out I have incredible luck or some shit like that. At least that's what another escaped experiment told me before they killed him."

"You're a bad liar, but a very creative bad liar." She scoffed, raising her pistol to aim at him.

She went to fire, but just them her arm muscle cramped. She cursed, and grabbed the gun with the other hand.

She again went to fire, and she realized the safety was on. Next, the gun jammed. Then the metal holding the clip in broke and the bullets spilled about the floor.

She grimaced, but realized this gun had a bullet in the chamber. She walked over, crawled on top of the blankets, and pointed the gun at his temple.

Simon raised an eyebrow, and sighed. As she pulled the trigger, the boat was bumped, sending her flying a foot in the air. Her shot went through the window, and killed the man driving the boat that had just bumped theirs.

The man in the other boat was Richard Sturgeon, also known as the Fish Stalker. The Fish Stalker had killed thirteen people up and down this river, mainly on beaches at night. Infact, he had three more bodies in the back of his fishing boat.

Simon had just helped close the case before more were slaughtered. The truth was, S did this sort of thing all the time, without knowing about any of them.

The woman was angry, and grabbed Simon by the throat. She looked and realized he was aroused (Probable because they were both naked, on top of each other, with nothing but two comforters between them).

She let go of him, and pulled the covers open. She smiled, and climbed in bed. She snuggled up to him, and he sighed.

He reached up and turned off the lamp, as it had been dark outside when he awoke and now he was going back to sleep.

He put his arms around her, and groaned. "I hurt all over, but this should make for a good ending to a torturing day."

· · ·

Simon awoke around three in the morning, and sat up. The nameless woman lay out naked next to him. He quickly bolted to the closet, and opened it to reveal clothes.

He found his stuff, and quickly got dressed. He pushed the clothesline on his right out like a door to reveal an armory.

He shrugged, and turned around.

The lady was standing there, gun in hand and still naked. She had it up in the air, and was smiling. She tossed the gun into the armory, and shut the clothesline-door.

"Why'd you strip last night? Just like that, you were naked."

"I was actually going to kill you after I found out enough information, take a shower, and then dump your body in the river. But I decided you need more help than I do." She sighed, setting on the bed.

He sat down next to her.

"By the way, what is your name?" she asked. He smiled.

"Simon. My government name is Agent S, Agent S 8. Yours?"

"Jade. Real name's Rachael Ukland, daughter of the 'famous Ukland Enterprises' manager. Nice to meet you." She said, smiling. They shook hands, and laughed.

"What are you so anxious to go to Colorado for?" Jade asked, brushing her hair back. Simon noticed her actual looks now.

She looked five foot three, and had long brown hair. She was extremely beautiful, and her body seemed to have no modifications.

"I'm trying to find some guy. I have an address and a name, but that's all. It seemed to me that this was the guy in charge of this program, this Agent S shit. I need to talk to him and find out what I need to know." He answered.

"What do you need to know?"

"The first twelve years of my life. My memory starts at thirteen, I have no memory of my parents. It's just like I woke up in an Adoption Center with Amnesia at fourteen. I only remembered one thing…my name." He continued, sighing at memories.

She wiped his cheeks, and comforted him. He stopped, and his eyes dried up. Jade looked into his eyes.

"Lets go and find this guy. I want to help you. We can do it."

"No, it's too dangerous. I'll help you, and in return, you wait nearby until I get back from it. This guy is the head of the organization, he could have wrote the order to kill me himself. I go alone. Is that alright with you?"

"Fine, help me out."

"What's your story?" S replied.

"Long and complicated. Comfy? Good. Seems my father, Robert Ukland, had some ties with spies. His corporation is international. They profit probably 10 billion a year. They own tons of smaller companies."

Simon laid down and listened.

"A really talented spy, Firehawk, was hired to be his body guard. Daddy was afraid his competitor, William Burklin, would try and assassinate him, but Firehawk was previously hired to act as my father's bodyguard, and kill him."

Simon sat up, interested.

"Firehawk shot my father on his mansion terrace at my last birthday party. In the back, he shot him in the back. Then he pushed him over the edge. You see, behind out house was a canyon."

"Damn, that sucks."

"Yeah, I saw the whole thing."

He held her in his arms, and let her tears run down his chest. After a few minutes she finished, and leaned back up.

"So, what'd he give you?"

"What?!" she replied, startled.

"What'd your dad get you on your birthday?" he repeated.

"This necklace." She replied, lifting a gold necklace with a blue pendant on the end. It was quite beautiful, and embedded in the center with a quarter size diamond.

Simon got up, stood still, and thought He lifted a paper from inside his pocket. He read it.

"What's that?" Jade asked him.

"The information on that guy I'm going to see. It's a little past Boulder, in the forest. Where is Firehawk? It's apparent you're going to try and kill him."

"Wow, you picked that up easily. He's in Boulder."

"Gee, what luck."

"I guess that happens to you a lot."

"So, when do we get to Boulder?"

The door to the room opened, and both pulled guns at the person. It was blond guy in a sweat jacket, hood down, and hands in the pockets. He wore jeans and boots, and had a backpack on

"Bobby?" Jade asked.

"One n' only. Please ta' meet cha'." Bobby replied, leaning against the doorframe. Simon and Jade lowered their guns. Simon turned, and walked into the bathroom. He needed a shower.

· · ·

As Simon opened the shower door, he stopped. No one was in the room. He looked around, and drew his gun.

Simon walked across the room, and opened the door. He made his way up onto deck, and found Jade, Bobby, and some sailor.

"Who's the sailor?"

"Huh, oh." Jade replied, turning. "Who do you thinks been controlling the ship all this time?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, and his name is Ron."

Bobby turned around.

"So who are you?" Simon asked.

"Bobby. I lead a gang of ex-criminals who stop criminals. I'm out to kill Firehawk, so is she. Thought we should join up." Bobby replied.

"Oh."

"So how long until we get to boulder?" Simon said, again.

"We're there."

The ship pulled into port, and everyone got off except Ron. All three of them walked down the street, and entered the yard of a suburban house. They knocked on the front door. It opened to reveal a little twelve-year-old girl.

"Hello?" she replied, sweetly.

"Hello, I'm here to grub with y'alls." Bobby told her.

"Oh, hey Bobby. Come on in."

They all walked in, and the girl led them into a lounge-type room. The walls were filled with computer terminals hooked to big screens.

The little girl sat down at the round table in the middle of the room, and everyone sat across from her.

"Ok, everybody, here's the plan. Firehawk is a hit man with a hit list longer than the mob. Man has killed more people than you personally know."

"How many?" Simon asked.

"458, and 3 failed attempts."

"Who are the three fails?"

"A Spyder named Jumper, and Bobby here. Couldn't find the third." The girl explained.

"That explains his motive." Simon replied, then he said "We haven't been properly introduced."

"My name's Cipher. Yours?"
"Simon, Simon 8." S answered.

"Ok, anyways. Firehawk is having a birthday party tonight at 6:00 PM. He is hosting in his mansion up in the mountains. Jade and Bobby will go as a couple, and make their way close to him."

"What about me?" S asked.

"Well, I hadn't known you'd go along on this. Tell me your full, real name, and anything that will help me find information on you."

"Thanks. My name is Agent Simon 8. The program that created me was called Project S3-847. The guy running it is Agent 3· 4. The guy who tracks and kills us who have escaped is Ender, or Agent Omega, or Agent 13· 13."

"Good, that should help."

Cipher turned to the terminal, and zoomed through government files. Half the screen was encrypted, but Cipher read it like English. She stopped at a file with Simon's mug shots. She read it for a few moments before a giant skull appeared. She flipped the switch, and shut down the system.

"Damn. They must not want anyone to know about you. They tracked me in sixteen seconds. That's the record. The shortest before that was 23 seconds. Thanks, you helped break my record." Cipher smiled.

"What was that skull?" S asked.

"A cyanide virus. It downloads, starts, wipes and kills your entire system in four seconds total. Not to worry though, I shut it off before it could download."

"So, what am I to do?" S asked.

"Well, with your talents, anything you damn well please. So, shall we all discuss what the revised plan is, now that Simon's a member? Cipher?" Jade inquisited.

A Toyota pick-up pulled up across the street from the mansion. The three people inside looked at each other.

"Remember, after he's tagged, everybody meet up at Jade's boat on the river. I'll be late, I've got to swing by Agent 3· 4's mansion. It's two miles from here, so I'm leaving the motorcycle a block down the street in a dumpster. Good luck." S stated.

He put his hand forward, open.

"Good luck." Jade replied, shaking his hand.

"Good luck." Bobby replied, shaking his hand as well.

Simon unhooked the motorcycle off the back of the pickup, and drove it into down the street. Jade and Bobby got out, in formal dress wear, and walked across the street. Simon wished them luck.

· · ·

The party was big. It was a Masked Ball, and everyone had on masks.

Everybody was formally dressed, and, people were dancing on the ballroom floor. Infact, Jade and Bobby counted over a hundred people. Bobby and Jade were themselves dancing, and Bobby was constantly messing up.

Jade had ten years learning to dance, so she tried and teach him with minimal results. After a few hours, the dancing finished.

A man came down the stairs. He wore a mask as well, except his was a red bird face. This was no surprise.

"Hello, all my friends. You have all contributed to my fortunes, by helping finance my gun business. As you know, Filhur Guns is the leading pistol distributor in America." He announced. Firehawk walked down the last five steps, and stood before the audience.

"I also own several shops in this state and the surrounding states. I personally check them myself. I couldn't of done it all without loans from banks," He replied, pointing to a group of men, who smiled.

"Or contributions from my associates," he said, pointing to a group of gangster looking fellows.

"But that's not what you're all here for. You're here to celebrate my birthday." Firehawk finished, crowd cheering.

"Let's start the celebration.," He added. Everyone cheered.

"Let the party-" He started.

"Hey." Someone yelled.

"What?" Firehawk replied.

"Celebrate all the people you've murdered." Bobby added, pulling up his pistol to fire. Everyone panicked and ran through the front door.

Bobby had his UZI in his other hand, and Jade had two pistols. Bobby fired, but Firehawk dived behind a potted fern. Jade disappeared into the shadows.

Firehawk himself returned fire, but missed. Bobby started stepping back, when Firhawk stopped firing. Ten men appeared on each side of Bobby dressed in tuxes and all armed with sub machine guns. Bobby smiled.

He spun to the floor, spinning on his back, and firing the UZI. Five men fell. Bobby shot the chandelier, hurried onto his feet, and ran with gunshots trailing him.

The men looked up at a chandelier the size of a monster truck, which was falling at them very rapidly. Only two guys managed to jump out of the way in time, but Bobby gunned them down as well.

Ten more poured down the stairs. They were halfway, so Bobby reached into his pocked. He tossed a white blob onto the bottom steps, and fell to the floor as the front row of advancing men opened fire. He rolled out of the way, behind a fern.

Bobby pressed a detonator, and the bottom ten steps exploded. The remaining structure of stairs crumbled, and collapsed as well. The men on it fell, and half of them were impaled on the many broken support beams that were now exposed.

The other five fell into the rubble, and the rest of the falling stairs crushed the three of those survivors. The remaining two were gunned down by Bobby's waiting UZI.

Bobby had the sudden realization that he had lost his main way up to the second floor. He ran to the kitchen.

· · ·

Jade climbed up onto the second floor on the Trellis, and waited as ten guys ran by. Suddenly, through the window next to her, she saw the Chandelier fall and smash some men in the ballroom.

Down the walkway, she saw Firehawk running to the second story main hall. She climbed up all the way, and ran after him. He opened a door, turned, and pointed the gun at her.

They both fired, but she missed. Jade fell backwards, a bullet in her thigh. She fired as he escaped through the door. Suddenly she heard a rustling in back of her.

The tree behind her was rustling, and Bobby landed on the walkway next to her. She smiled.

"Bastard tagged me, so I'm going to stay here. Go get him." She said.

"Ok, you hang in there." He rep lied.

Bobby ran at the door through which the world's best assassin had escaped.

· · ·

Simon repelled up the wall on a rope attached to a grappling hook. He crashed through the window, and landed on a bed. S drew his UZI, and cautiously moved to the door.

He opened it to see an L hallway split off in front of him and to his left. In front of him stood Firehawk, pinned against the wall, and aiming around the corner at Bobby, who was advancing up the hall.

Firehawk spun around to fire at Simon, and paused. Simon raised his gun as well, and paused. Bobby came around the corner to see Simon and Firehawk at a standoff. Bobby aimed his gun at Firehawk.

Firehawk backed up and ran to the staircase. Simon held Bobby back.

"I saw his eyes. He recognized me." Simon explained. They both followed.

They came out on a balcony, and Firehawk was standing by the railing. He had his gun pointed up in the air, and was laughing.

"Oh, we meet again, Agent S. Don't you recognize me? My face remembers you." Firehawk started.

He removed the mask, and Agent S stood awed. Bobby was perplexed.

"I have survived an encounter with the famous Agent S, and lived. But oh no, he can't let that happen. So Agent S finds my other failed attempts, and tracks me down."

Agent S was speechless.

"Good work gentlemen, but I tire of the game." He told them, looking up at the moon, away from them.

Firehawk walked backwards, and spun around. He held a detonator in his hand. Simon and Bobby stepped back.

"I may die, but the explosives strapped to my corpse shall take you as well. See you in hell."

Suddenly, he was shot from behind. Jade was standing on the edge of the balcony. She had climbed over while Firehawk was talking. She pulled Firhawk back, and grabbed the detonator from his hand. She smiled.

"Ironic, isn't it?" she asked him as she threw him off the balcony. He screamed, falling forty feet to smash into the Japanese rock garden below.

Simon looked over the side, and even from here, could see the face. It was Tommy's face, with third degree burn marks covering it. Tommy must have made it out alive yesterday, and retreated back home to rest. Simon felt bad.

Jade pressed the detonator button, and the body below blew to bits. Bobby turned and walked away.

· · ·

Simon found his bike and rolled it out from behind the dumpster. He dusted it off, and got on. He started it and looked off. He could tell things would be different now. Jade was in love with him and he still loved Amy. He had to fix his life once and for all.

Continued Next Issue…

Back To Main Agent S Page