Episode 1: Carter… Nick Carter
Part 2
He could not help but keep his eye on Carter as he strolled around the office searching for something.
He had moved cautiously into the shadows as the agent passed him on his way towards his secretary.
He had watched as Nick pulled Mr. Lancybassy into the closet and caught muffled conversation.
Before anyone noticed, he had quickly turned and walked in the opposite direction, as Nick had emerged from the closet and started talking with Red Jewel.
A smirk had crossed his face as he watched Nick move in the opposite direction of what he desired. It had been close. They could have caught him when they glanced in his direction, but then they turned and walked away, presumably to Red’s office. It had been easy to make his way across the rest of the office unnoticed; no one else would be looking for him, and no one else knew what it was he carried.
He sat at his desk as a flash of blond hair went by, signaling that Nick was on the move again. He almost jumped from his seat, but just like that, the blond was out of sight. He was almost joyous at being able to pull the wool over the agent’s eyes for as long as he had. He was sure Carter would have caught him by now.
Running his hands through his hair, he sighed and wondered if the item Nick searched for would be safer elsewhere. He looked around, wondering where to put it, and then he grinned, as he knew the perfect place to keep it out of Carter’s reach.
***
In the next hallway, Nick happened upon a sight that lifted his mood: three attractive HimTak ladies all in one spot. Unfortunately, they were flirting with Joshua Scott Chasez, otherwise known as Shazam. Since he’d barely started before Nick, he had the higher 006 rank. Sure, some people would say he was a “testament to the agency.” But really, he was a wannabe ladies’ man who just prided himself on being too perfect.
Exactly the reason he would think he could get away with stealing the precious, Nick thought as he trotted over to them, quickly fixing his scowl into the best smile he had. “Thanks for keeping my favorite girls company while I was running late, Shazam.”
To be honest, he didn’t know their names at all. They could have been new recruits, agents, secretaries, assistants, who knows. But he did know that they shouldn’t waste their time with any other agents, especially Shazam. Their flirty giggles were the only response he needed to further insert himself into their conversation.
“I can’t stay very long, though. I have a top-secret mission to get back to.”
Shazam cocked an eyebrow as he stared at Nick in suspicion. “Some top-secret mission if you’re still hanging around here, Carter.”
Nick stuck his finger into Shazam’s face. “Pretty suspicious of you to question my top-secret mission.”
“Pretty suspicious that you have a top-secret mission.”
“Why?” Nick leaned toward him until he was inches from his nose. His nostrils flared as he spoke, betraying his nonchalance. “You jealous?”
“Did you just sniff me?” Shazam pushed Nick away from him in disgust.
“Typical Shazam, cowardly fighting an unarmed man too preoccupied in his work.” Nick hoped this kind of regrettable display would rile his opponent up enough to reveal any secret he had about the precious.
“What,” Shazam said through gritted teeth.
“More like, Sham-zam.” Nick shrugged, laughing under his breath at his own joke.
“That’s it, Carter. You. Me. Training room. Now.” Fire spewed from Shazam’s piercing blue eyes.
Within ten minutes, they reached the training room. In the meantime, their gaggle of onlookers had grown from three women to a crowd of HimTak employees (including one secretary who clearly knew more than he’d let on originally).
While Nick was distracted by waving to the crowd, Shazam tossed a wooden training sword at Nick’s back. However, Nick caught it with ease as he turned to his opponent. “That could have bokken my back.” Nick grinned.
“No one likes your jokes, Carter!”
“Here’s the deal.” Nick’s tone became serious as he brushed aside the showmanship. “When we make a scorable point, we get to ask one question. Winner at two points.”
“Stop wagering basic rules at me and start fighting! Looks like your secretary is ready to ref if you’re lucky to get even one point.”
Nick glanced back to see Lancy holding two flags with a hastily written 006 and 008 on them. When did he have time to make those? Nick stared at him dumbfounded.
However, he didn’t have long to focus on his confusion when he heard a familiar whoosh at his back. He ducked in time to avoid getting knocked in the head by Shazam’s bokken and, luckily, managed to land a hit on his opponent’s left side. Nick glanced over his shoulder, confirming that Lancy enthusiastically waved the 008 flag over his head.
Shazam gripped his rib. “Lucky shot.” He spat.
“Where were you at 1400 hours today?” Nick thrust the tip of his practice sword toward Shazam’s face with a dramatic flourish.
“At 1400 hours? You should probably ask K.”
“K didn’t challenge me to a fight to avoid my questions.” Nick smirked. “Try again, ShamWow. Where were you at 1400 hours?” Immediately after he said it, his smirk became a cringe as he chided himself in his thoughts. Damn it, ShamWows are actually good at their jobs. I’m running out of ways to call him a sham!
“In my office, where else would I be?” Despite answering, Shazam took that moment of Nick’s quiet reflection to attempt his previous strike again. This time, he landed a blow right to Nick’s collarbone, knocking him to the mat below.
After catching sight of Lancy dejectedly waving the 006 flag, Nick groaned as he tried to sit up. However, Shazam quickly thrust the tip of his sword into Nick’s chest.
“My turn to humor your ridiculous game. What kind of top-secret mission involves you questioning me?”
“None of your business. It’s top-secret for a reason… Shamster Dance.” Nick cringed again, thinking that maybe his next top-secret mission should involve coming up with better nicknames for this… well… sham.
The wooden sword poked further into Nick’s chest. “Try again.”
With a swing of the wooden blade, Nick quickly disarmed Shazam, sending it to the ground beside him. And, thankfully, stopping the imminent bruise forming on his chest — unlike sham jokes, weird words for bruises were never going to be helpful for him. Free from his opponent’s weapon, Nick jumped to his feet somewhat gracefully, brandishing his sword aloft. “A good agent never shares his top secrets.”
Shazam brushed off the wooden sword and raised it to tap Nick’s blade. “Seems like this final point should be a fair one.”
“I haven’t been cheating.” Nick gritted his teeth.
For a few moments, the two actually engaged in a legitimate kendo bout, rather than the haphazardly distracted — and illegal in actual competition — match they’d managed only moments before. Unlike their bickering, the actual clatter of the wooden swords against each other, attempted strikes, and executed blocks bored their audience, and it dwindled with each passing second.
At that moment, Nick managed to strike the place where Shazam’s padded wrist protector would have been. “Two points!” he shouted, momentarily forgetting that the interrogation had been his objective in the match as Lancy, their sole remaining onlooker, waved the 008 flag high.
“Ridiculous.” Shazam scowled.
With another flourish, Nick jabbed the sword toward Shazam’s nose. “If you were near my office, what did you notice about the precious on my desk?”
Shazam batted the sword away and grabbed Nick by the collar. “Is that what this is about? Completely ridiculous! Like you would deserve any top-secret missions when you spend all day playing here!”
Nick’s pulse raced as he turned red from collar to hair, then lunged at Shazam, knocking him to the ground. As they landed and Nick pulled back to swing at him, a very distinctive female voice shouted from behind him.
“Hey!” In seconds, the woman grabbed his shoulders from behind and pulled him off of Shazam. “Knock it off, both of you!”
It took a couple of moments before Nick came back to his senses and let go of JC, whose face also turned a bright shade of red. He pushed himself back to his feet, then looked at the woman who continued to clutch his arm tightly.
Diamond Divine.
Without another word, she dragged him from the room. Nick just followed her lead, trying to collect his thoughts and, at the same time, trying to estimate Diamond’s reaction.
“You did good out there, but I think you need to start training in martial arts again. JC caught you off guard too many times.” The words slipped from her beautifully shaped red lips, followed by a soft giggle.
Nick frowned; this girl never ceased to amaze him for one single day. “How the hell do you know what was going on out there anyway?”
“I have eyes and ears everywhere, Carter.” She smiled coyly with a wink, then flounced down the hallway with a bouncy sashay in her step. Moments later, the sound of his footsteps followed her closely. Indeed, she had just given him a slight lead to follow on his mission.
“You were in the surveillance room again, weren’t you?” As they walked through the long corridor, only the sounds of their shoes on the dark marble floor broke the silence — the squeak of his sneakers and the clack of her heels.
Diamond gave a slight nod. “It’s become kind of a reality TV addiction for me, like Big Brother or something like that. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you half of the things I’ve seen.” She grinned mischievously.
“Oh no, so you have juicy secrets on everyone hidden in your closet?” Nick replied, wiggling his eyebrows, as he stopped in front of the elevators and pushed the up arrow button.
Diamond stopped by his side. “I only have your juicy secrets hidden in my closet, sweetheart.”
Nick looked at the petite blonde incredulously. That was Diamond Divine for you. Perfectly matching the initials of her real name, Desiree Dubaiser, she was quite a handful of a woman. They had been especially close since she earned her rank as Agent 009, and they had this unsolved chemistry between them. Nick couldn’t help but flirt back and forth with her, knowing full well she enjoyed it as much as he did. From many perspectives, she was a woman to die for: smart, witty, and sexy, not to mention talented. Her flirtatious behavior was a killer for many men, unfortunately including Nick, to some extent.
Stop staring at her like a drooling high school kid, he thought to himself. You have to focus on your mission. He darted his eyes away from her and looked at the numbers above the elevator, noticing it was only one floor above where they were.
“I won’t say a word until you interrogate me, sitting on a chair with a light bulb above my head.”
The sultry whisper startled him. He turned to look at her one more time, more incredulous than ever. The elevator beeped, and she walked in.
“But elevators work fine for me too. Didn’t know you had such a fantasy, Carter.” She spoke his name in another seductive whisper.
He gulped and tried to forego the rush of blood in his veins and stepped inside the elevator. Once the doors were closed, he was able to make sentences again.
“So you know about my mission.”
“You think I wouldn’t? It’s only what everyone’s been talking about… or at least what Lancybassy was talking about.” She giggled. “And my answer is no.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Should I believe you?”
Diamond smiled with a feigned innocent look on her face. She stepped forward, facing Nick’s body with only an inch left between them. Moving her right arm around his neck, she slowly pulled him to herself, mumbling a soft “yes” in his ear.
Totally caught up in the heat of the moment, as her hand traced down to his chin and along his tie, slowly pulling it, Nick even forgot what she was saying yes to, inhaling her sweet magnolia smell. Just as his hands were about to grab her thin waist in her red dress, they heard the inevitable beep of the elevator again.
Diamond gently pushed Nick away from her body when the doors opened to a large hallway, where Agent Jay stood waiting in the middle, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Good timing, 008. I’m glad you didn’t make me push the dial button again. Now please follow me.”
Nick’s shoulders slumped as he stepped out of the elevator and followed Jay. When he glanced back, Diamond waved a small bye to him, with a smug smirk upon her lovely face.
Nick followed Jay down the hall with a furrowed brow. There were only a handful of employees left for him to question, and he wasn’t any closer to finding his precious. He glanced curiously at the man he called his boss, although one would never know it by his appearance.
Jay was a colorful character, indeed. Despite the strict dress code at the agency, Jay proudly sported several pieces of jewelry that dangled from random piercings. His extensive body paint also protruded from the neck and sleeves of his suit.
Yes, 003 was just radical enough to be the man Nick was searching for. But Alexander James McLean was no fool, and Nick knew that better than anyone. He looked up to the man, much like a father, and owed him credit for everything he knew. Nick would have to be crafty to get any answers out of Jay. His typical interrogation methods were no match for his mentor.
“What have you been up to today?” he asked as he casually strolled through the door to Jay’s office.
“I have a mission for you, 008.”
“A new assignment? Really?”
At the idea of a job, Nick momentarily forgot his personal vendetta. Jay gave a light chuckle, and his eyes climbed a bookshelf at the far end of his office. A big box rested on the shelf nearest the ceiling, well beyond the reach of Jay. “Agent 008, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get that box for me.”
While Nick’s hope was crushed, his annoyance was kicked into overdrive. Apparently, his hiatus was still in effect.
“Do you think this is a joke?” Nick said, holding onto his temper by only a mere thread. “I’m going crazy sitting around here all day while everyone else is busy saving the world. And would you please stop calling me 008? You know I hate that!”
Jay contained his laughter. Although he found his protégé very amusing, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. What happened to Nick would have shaken anyone up. Jay was concerned for Nick, but he also knew the young agent well and knew a little harassment might be just what the doctor ordered. “Well, we have to call you something, and 007 is already taken,” he continued to tease.
“Well, why can’t I have something cool like you?” Nick whined.
“When you’re as cool as me, then you can have a cool nickname. Until then, why don’t you just get that box for me?”
“Why don’t you just get it yourself? I’m not that desperate for an assignment yet.”
Jay finally let go of his laughter and pointed to a chair that stood at the base of the bookshelf. “Even standing on that, I can’t reach that box. You’re well over six feet, dude. That makes you my number one point man.”
With a grunt, Nick huffed himself up onto the chair and retrieved the box without difficulty. “Mission accomplished, Sir,” Nick spouted sarcastically as he dropped the box onto Jay’s large, messy desk.
The box dropped with a thud, sending a stack of papers flying from the desk. Nick was stunned by what had been hiding beneath the documents. He leaned forward to examine the evidence: a thick red substance splattered on the tabletop. Nick wafted the air around it toward his nose, and a distinct aroma filled his nostrils.
This was the clue he’d been looking for. The object of his desire had been here, sitting atop this very desk.
Nick spun around, sending his boss an accusing glare. “Where have you been today? Say around 1400 hours?” he questioned with intensity.
“What is this?” Jay giggled. “An interrogation?”
“I’m on a mission!” Nick demanded.
“Not any mission I assigned you.”
“It’s a self-imposed mission. To find something that was taken from me.”
“And just what would that be?” Jay asked, deciding to play along.
To Nick, this was not a joke. The missing object was precious to him, and he wanted it back! His eyes narrowed, and he found himself in a stand-off with the very man he looked up to more than anyone. “The truth,” he answered. “I’m in search of the truth!”
Nick slid his index finger through the cold, wet substance on the desk and held it out where Jay could see it. “And you, my friend, look very guilty!”
Jay’s deep, brown eyes sparkled playfully as a wide smirk spread across his face. “Give it up, 008,” he challenged deviously. “I don’t have what it is that you’re looking for.”
Nick studied his opponent carefully for a moment. “No,” he replied, “but you know who does!”
Jay raised an eyebrow, daring Carter with his eyes. “A Himitsu Takana agent never talks,” he said with an evil laugh.
Nick knew this to be true firsthand. No matter what kind of torture he put Jay through, he would never give up the location of his precious.
Nick backed off respectfully but didn’t back down. “No matter,” he said confidently as he made his way to the exit. “Agent Carter… Nick Carter… always gets his man.” Nick slammed the door shut behind him as he left the office with renewed determination.
Jay relaxed, and a proud smile crept over him. With a slight shake of his head, he smirked and then whispered to the empty office, “Good luck, kid.”
***