Free Operation by Tony Ruggiero Page B

she had asked about it, to which she received no satisfactory answer to explain it. However, the way in which the creature spoke when asked had given Samantha a lasting impression of that moment. The creature had simply smiled and said, “What price we have placed on our existence always possesses a cost that is greater then what we can afford to pay, so we always remain indebted.”
    What she had meant by that the creature had never truly explained—so Samantha let it drop.
    Samantha never called the creature by its name. Their relationship was purely professional and not of a personal nature on any level. There was not any sort of female bonding between them because Samantha refused to believe that the creature was an actual woman. The creature was an abomination. Their talks were always professional, succinct and about mission requirements. Despite her personal contempt, Samantha was not totally heartless. She allowed the creature a range of freedom as long as it did not pursue any interests that were in contrast to hers or the agency’s mission.
    The agency kept an eye on her movements, where she went and what she did. She was sure the creature was aware of this but apparently never felt the need to discuss it. When Samantha occasionally looked at the reports of where she had gone or what she had done, the creature focused on two types of action: either scouring for information about the world and its people, or entering into long periods of extended sleep for months at a time. At best it appeared to Samantha as if the creature was searching for something and the long periods of inactivity meant she was biding her time until she found what she sought.
    When the creature was put into use on an agency mission, she did as she was told without any questions and with the strictest compliance. The creature was the perfect assassin—ensuring a guaranteed kill. That was her prime function. Her talents were not wasted on anything trivial such as surveillance or similar type low risk missions.
    Samantha made it a point to follow orders and agency doctrine. Never had she questioned orders or directives. However, she had always thought the creature underutilized. They should have used her more often instead of for just high risk missions. Her talents went to waste during the long periods of hibernation whereas her abilities were worth at least the manpower of five agents, maybe more. But that was a decision made above her pay grade even if she thought it was wrong, she followed it and kept her ideas about how the creature could be better utilized to herself.
    “Shit…” she cursed to herself. “That’s back door logic if I ever heard any.”
    Samantha rose from her desk and began to pace her office. She knew what her thoughts were doing and she didn’t feel comfortable with it. She was trying to rationalize using the creature on her current assignment in direct contradiction to agency policy. She tried to place the pros and cons in some kind of order so that she could evaluate them.
    There were risks—the op would expose the creature to unnecessary danger. Then there was the unknown of what it would do or how it would react to the discovery of more of her own kind. Would it change her disposition toward what she did for the agency—or would her behavior remain the same?
    On the other hand, not using her abilities on the mission also meant that the potential existed for the two additional creatures to fall into the wrong hands. If that happened the United States would lose its advantage and possibly be exposed for having used the creature for over sixty years and that would not be good.
    The controversy over the pros and cons of an op ran through her mind. What risks would endanger the creature? She was virtually indestructible. As far as the possibility of her attitude changing toward the agency after the discovery, she couldn’t go against the agency because of the explosive device. Even in a worse case scenario if she