For good, till death
...And then some!

CHAPTER 1

The Beginning of the End.

Sixteenth July.

The tip-tap of Bajak’s twisted stick echoed on the stone floor. "I’ll demonstrate," he said adjusting his thick-framed glasses. "Remember though, we aren't at full power." He waddled towards a large black computer set into the dark rock wall. His deformed fingers caressed each black painted dial with the gentleness of a child and chanted tenderly each letter that was typed. A fleeting symphony of wind chimes filled the room. The sweet smell of lilac drifted around them and temporarily overpowered the smell of mildew and death.
        "No!" shouted King horrified by the moment of beauty. The scream of escaping steam silenced him and he watched as silent lightning played around a metal plate in the center of the room. Yellow curling smoke brought with it the acrid smell of sulfur as the plate began to radiate. Swaying to Bajak’s frantic song a large beam of blue light danced over the glowing plate, then in an instant the lightning and smoke cleared.
        "No!" shouted King. "No, no!"
The transparent outline of a beautiful woman stood within the light, a sweet smile played upon her lips and her slender arm stretched toward the two men.
        "Damn you, Bajak! I said no angels!"
"She is the leader. She will convert the has-been PIA to our ways, watch." He typed slowly onto his black keyboard and the blue light began to fade. For a split second her true form became visible and she lashed out as a horrified scream rang around the room. Spitting through long yellow teeth she vanished in a whirl of dark green smoke.
        "See! She is from the underworld, not an angel," Bajak said in his mad croaky voice. "When the power is up we will bring her through and she will bring others with her to help us prepare for the take-over. Remember that they will need humans to live, so we must prepare. Then Kijac will be invincible.".
.King rubbed his long bony hands together and chuckled like a dying rabbit.         "Lovely, lovely, all this planning. I knew we could do it. Now both of us will get what we want. You, recognition from the world of science. Me revenge on Henn, Sukoloff and Pia. The world is mine, Henn, mine... Mine..."        He slowly left the room and laughing walked into the deep underground caverns of KIJAC headquarters. "Mine, Henn, mine!"

Although his dark hair was thinner and streaked with gray, age had altered neither his bearing nor the sense of dress that had always given him the look of one of New York's swingers. His mischievous twinkling smile was still capable of weakening the knees of lady employees within the organization.
    However, today the twinkle had dimmed and the brow deeply furrowed. Alex Henn, sat in the comfortable office scanning the agents seated around the long polished table. The impossible had happened—the threat had become a reality—closure would come to PIA.
        A lump came to his throat as he watched two agents at the far end of the table. Misty images of times long gone swirled around him as he listened to them argue. They reminded him of another time. A time when super spies reigned supreme in 'The Cold War' and an invisible Iron Curtain divided the world. A time when PIA had been great even if its agents were short-lived. For the last two years, PIA was primarily a private investigation agency with its few agents given trifling spying missions and rare excitement. Most agents left PIA, only returning for training updates. Everyone was longing for the return of excitement and danger.
        "That’s it, Henn, enough is enough!" shouted PIA’s controller, Matt Vinton.
        "Sir?"
        "This is the final straw," he yelled waving a letter in the air. "There is no point in carrying on, we are finished. I called the big bods with their ridiculous pen-pushing ideas and they agree you are to take over. But if I were you I’d read this first," he added, his face reddened with anger.

Rumors had been rife about the government wishing to close PIA and the letter in Henn's hand confirmed that. Shutdown would have come years before but PIA was also the front for training agents to the peak of readiness. Should a situation arise, other secret service agencies knew they could count on their fighting force. Now, the letter confirmed, there were no more spies—no more threats of world domination and no Cold War. There was no need for an organization as large and as expensive as PIA, even as a training facility. Henn's dream of becoming controller had become a reality, but not how he wanted it. No interview, no instructions about the secrets hidden deep within the organization, he was a walk-in leader for a dying PIA. This was to be their last few weeks.

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