Free Disruption by Steven Whibley Page B

seen in a Delta.” She gave an approving nod. “I have to admit, Captain, I thought we’d pulled the short straw getting you as our team leader. Don’t get me wrong, I was going to make the most of it, but even though you had some pretty good scores from previous camps, you just gave off an aura of . . .” She tapped her chin. “What’s the best term to use?”
    “Inexperience?” Amara asked.
    “Ignorance,” Juno suggested.
    My mouth tightened.
    “I was going to say fear,” Angie said. “Pure, monster-under-my-bed, blubbering-schoolgirl fear.” She flicked her hand at Amara and Juno. “But theirs work too.”
    “Well, I’m thrilled to have somehow proven you wrong. What, pray tell, did I do to redeem myself?”
    Yaakov turned his computer so the screen faced me. “We watched the challenge.”
    “They recorded it?” I took a couple quick steps across the room to Yaakov’s bed. “And you guys saw it?”
    I felt my cheeks heat up as everyone nodded. Then Rylee reached down and pushed a button. A movie played out in half speed. I leaned closer and realized I was watching myself.
    On screen I dodged my way across the field toward the soccer ball. Dark objects popped up behind me and blasted cones of paint. To my credit, I didn’t look half bad, and as I continued down the field, I actually started looking pretty athletic.
    I booted the soccer ball, and three dark objects popped off the ground. My on-screen self dropped to my stomach. I cringed at what was about to happen. There was no sound on the playback, but in an instant, a burst of flame consumed me. Black smoke lingered for a moment, only to be whisked away by a breeze. An oblong of singed grass surrounded me, and bits and pieces of shrapnel littered the area.
    Juno let out an excited whoopand slapped my back.
    I felt strangely detached from what I was seeing. For a moment I even felt sorry for the kid on screen who’d very nearly been killed.
    As the feed cut out and the screen darkened, I realized that the vantage point of the filming had been from above.
    “Who recorded that?” I asked. “I didn’t see anyone. I sure didn’t notice a helicopter or anything.”
    “Very funny,” Yaakov said. “If only there were some kind of high-tech hardware the Agency could put in space. If such a thing were ever invented, I propose we call them satellites . It would be the invention of the century, and the Agency could access them for their youth-training protocols.” He rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t that be something?”
    “Satellites?” I said. “Youth-training protocols?”
    “Porcupines,” Angie said with a smirk. “Skunks. Waterboarding.” She looked at me with raised eyebrows. “What? Are you the only one who gets to say random words?”
    Yaakov and Juno laughed and then abruptly stopped when there was a sharp knock at the door. Yaakov tapped his keyboard, and the screen went blank just as the door swung open. I swallowed as a woman only a couple inches taller than me entered the room. She had her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and a thin face with pointy features. One hand held a clipboard at her side, and the other was behind her back. She wore a foul, tight-lipped expression that made me think of an exterminator who’d just discovered a cabin full of rats and was now contemplating the very best way to kill them all.
    “Team Grizzly!”
    Her voice was like a cannon, and I jumped. Then I realized everyone was looking at me. I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of response she wanted, though. It’s not like she’d asked a question. I settled on, “Um, yes, ma’am?”
    “ Um, yes, ma’am ?” the woman repeated. She took a step closer and narrowed her eyes at me. “That’s how you’re going to speak to me? Like a frightened, stuttering schoolgirl?”
    Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have backed down. I’d gone toe-to-toe with teachers or other figures of authority, but that was because I knew that when push