November 3

"Lavender Blue?" Pete gave Rita an amused look. "Well aren't you the super spy."

"She was making fun of his shirt," said Lucas, chuckling. He was so tall that it was almost comical to see him hunched over on the wheel well.

Pete, in contrast, sat comfortably in his makeshift chair. "Shut up, I'm not an idiot."

"Maybe. But your upper body strength could use some work," said Lucas, crossing his arms and leaning back as much as he could against the curved van walls.

"I told you, he kicked me," spat Pete.

"Boys! Now, really," said Rita, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Don't call me a boy Rita, I'm three years older than you," said Pete. The bickering continued back and forth and Jasper was instantly transported back to the days he used to ride to the family cabin with his four older siblings. Except now he was bound and recently gagged, sitting upright precariously in a bouncing van heading God knows where. Lucas's threat to let Jasper "sleep with the fishes" was wearing thin now that it was obvious these weren't the evil masterminds their actions may have suggested. And now, though he was still frightened for his safety, Jasper was beginning to become more curious as to why exactly he was where he was and where these people were taking him.

The van slowed noticeably and Jasper slid forward, then sideways as the driver took a sharp right. The van left the smooth pavement and bounced onto a rougher road, slowing again before eventually stopping all together. The engine was cut and the motor purred into a stuffy silence. Rita, Pete and Lucas stood up, hunched over, and clambered to the back door of the van, which swung open to reveal its driver: a sour-looking blonde man who looked no older than Jasper.

"Good job Morgan," said Rita, who slid out of the van onto a gravel road.

Morgan only rolled his eyes and walked away from the back door, up the side of the van. "I drove. I could have done more."

"Morgan, don't start. We have to de-brief," said Pete, hopping out of the van after Rita. He turned back and grabbed Jasper by the feet, pulling him out a little and then going to work on the yellow nylon rope wrapped several times around his ankles. "Listen, I know this is probably extremely strange for you, but we really need you to cooperate. We don't have a lot of time and as soon as I get these things untied--" Pete grunted, having some problems with the knots. "Lucas, what the hell did you do?"

Lucas pushed Pete aside and yanked on the end of the rope. The knot fell apart instantly. Pete ignored Lucas's haughty look and went to work on the rope around Jasper's wrists. "We have operatives in the trees so if you want to run off you won't get very far. Plus, we're not really here to hurt you. In fact, we need your help more than anything else."

"Then why'd you tackle me? Couldn't you have set up a meeting with me or e-mailed?" Jasper pulled on the rope and squirmed his arms out of the bind.

Pete stopped what he was doing and looked up at Jasper, as though he'd been caught off guard by the question. "We have our reasons," he said shortly, and then left Jasper to help himself out of the back of the van. They were in a lightly wooded area, with picnic tables and fire pits scattered among a few cleared areas. Jasper immediately recognized where they were: in a large city park not far from the downtown core. But it was early fall, and first thing in the morning on a weekday, so there wasn't anyone else around. Jasper briefly considered making a run for it, but he wasn't a very fast runner. Plus he would run out of steam in about five minutes. He was also growing more and more curious by the minute as to what these people, who were no longer in the least threatening, were up to. Jasper followed Pete around to the front of the van, where Morgan, Lucas and Rita were standing around a weathered picnic table, looking intently at a small white device.

"Sit down," said Rita.

Jasper stayed a few feet away from the table. "Tell me why I'm here," he said, trying to sound intimidating. Though, even he knew at that point that the purple shirt and alfalfa hair-do weren't doing him any favours.

Rita crossed her arms. "Buddy, we're doing the best we can here. So just sit down, listen to the radio and do what we say or--"

"We'll tie you up again," blurted Lucas.

"Oh no, not with more of your death knots you're not," said Pete. The two men looked like they were about to pounce on each other, but Rita stepped in between them.

"Can you tell me who you are at least?" Jasper watched as each member of the kidnapping crew eyed the white radio on the picnic table carefully before turning back to him.

"He's not coming on," said Rita to Pete.

"May as well fill him in," replied Pete. "Just until the official de-briefing." Morgan and Lucas nodded in agreement and Rita motioned for Jasper to come closer, which he tentatively did.

"We don't have a name," Pete began. "I mean, we all have names, but the group we work for doesn't."

"Why don't you have a name?" asked Jasper. He was beginning to question the authenticity of this kidnapping. This wasn't going the way television and movies led him to believe a kidnapping might got. Shouldn't they be pistol-whipping him by now?

"We don't have a name because we don't exist," said Rita. "Not on paper, anyway. There's a lot to it, but all you need to know about is the four of us and the job we're trying to do here, which is pretty important. See, this group that we work for is kind of like an international watchdog for things like governments, monarchies, any group or organization that has a lot of power."

"Like multi-national companies," said Pete, putting one leg up on the bench of the picnic table. "Like IntraGlobal ComSphere."

"Wait, so you're like, spies?" laughed Jasper. He couldn't help it. The very idea of him being kidnapped by a group of coverall-wearing spies was hilarious.

"Surveillance work is only party of what we do," said Pete. "We've been keeping an eye on the company you work for. That's part of the reason why you're here today."

"Is IntraGlobal doing something wrong?" said Jasper.

Rita and Pete eyed one another. "We have information about certain activities occurring at this location. We had an operative working within the company, but he was killed last week," said Rita.

"What?! Killed?" Jasper's extremities went suddenly cold.

"He was careless and he became involved with matters he shouldn't have. We need you to replace him," said Rita, giving no indication she knew or even felt sorry for her colleague who had died.

"Me?! But I can't," squeaked Jasper.

"You have to," sighed Pete. "It's an international law enforced by our leaders and punishable by deportation from whatever country you currently reside in. You really have no choice but to cooperate."

"It's like jury duty," added Lucas.

"But what do you need me to do?" said Jasper. He felt out of breath, like someone had tapped his lungs and was sucking the air out through a straw.

"That's what the Boss is going to tell us, if he ever tunes in," said Pete, giving the small white radio a gentle tap. The other three returned their stares to the radio as Jasper tried to make sense of what he'd just been told. Logically, this couldn't be happening. There was no such thing as a no-name international watchdog group. Surely he'd have heard about it on CNN or something. And even if there was, why would they want Jasper? He couldn't even keep a straight face in a game of poker.

Jasper was just about to ask that very question when a man's voice crackled over the radio, and all four kidnappers leaned in close to hear the tinny voice.

"Operatives? Are we all in?"