A Chance Too Good To Miss

A Chance Too Good To Miss

By Samuel Lees

Note: This story contains strong language

The sky was covered with steely grey clouds and as the drizzle gently settled on the dull and depressed streets; Alexander Sokolov checked his watch for the tenth time that afternoon. It read half – past one. Just another three hours to go until Alexander had finished yet another tedious and repetitive shift and go home, not that he had anything at home. In fact, Alexander didn’t really have anything at all. He worked as a Librarian, which he thought would be calm and relaxing, but he was wrong. It was repetitive and tedious and depressing. Doing nothing but sit at the front desk trying to make himself look busy as he waited for someone to come up to him for help or to take a book out. Not many people came into the Library during his shift. Fewer people would visit the Library today due to the foul weather. The only people who came in today were children accompanied by their parents to replace their Library books. It was common for these children to ponder aloud to whether or not Alexander was a Pirate because he was wearing an eye patch over his right eye. Their parents would often try to discourage these comments on Alex’s appearance and would always apologise on their behalf. Alexander on the other hand didn’t mind these comments, as he always found them to be humorous. However, these comments did cast Alex’s mind back to his past; memories that he didn’t always enjoy cherishing.

Alexander came from a family that had a long and established military tradition with nearly all of the men pursuing a career in the Armed Forces. Alexander was not an exception to this tradition as during his school days, he would enlist himself as a cadet for the Royal Navy. However, his time with the Navy was very contentious as he would always get into fights with his fellow cadets. Even the smallest signs such the way someone else was looking or speaking to him could trigger his rages and he would start throwing his fists with precise and force. His relationships with his commanding officers were no different as it was common for Alexander to question their demands or flat out refuse to follow their orders, usually saying that they were dumb and if this was actually given in battle then he would die. This constant streak of unprovoked aggression and insubordination would often result in a constant streak of punishments and reports. In fact, Alexander didn’t know a period when he wasn’t being punished for punching a cadet in the middle of their face or telling an officer to shut the fuck up. Upon reflection, one would wonder why Alexander wasn’t kicked out of the Cadets for poor discipline. Well, despite this lack of discipline, Alexander was talented and determined when he actually did the tasks he was meant to do, and when he did them, he put in all of his effort to ensure that they were done to impeccable standards. This brought the attention of MI6, who had heard of this young hot head who would consistently perform top of his class even if he would end up giving everyone black eyes, who would recruit him into the Service as a Secret Agent.

Alexander had read countless books and seen countless films starring Secret Agents and he had deeply admired them for their bravery and courage, whilst also envying them for their alleged glamorous life style, wishing he could have just that. He would be even more excited for his first mission after the months of extensive training he received, learning to sneak around, plant bombs, to steal and to kill. He was tasked with attempting to break into and plant a bomb in the apartment of a Russian spy that would hopefully kill him. Everything was going swimmingly, Alex had managed to break into the building without being noticed and he had found, what he had thought would be a suitable place to plant the bomb. He picked out his bed side table and would hook the detonator to the alarm clock so it would explode when the alarm would ring. However, there would be a problem. A big problem. Alexander would get the wiring completely wrong and would result in the bomb detonating whilst he was leaving the room. If it had been a couple of seconds earlier, then Alexander would have died. However, that had not been the case and Alex had managed to survive despite losing his right eye and picking up a few burns. But, despite surviving, Alexander had picked up a bit of trauma, as the whole debacle had made him realise something. The Secret Service was not like it had been portrayed as in the movies. It was dangerous and dirty and nothing as glamorous as the books and films had described. It had been this reality that prompted him to retire after he had been discharged from hospital. This retirement would lead Alexander in the hunt for the quiet life, which he would find in an Oldham library. He had been a Librarian for a year now, and although it was safe, it was too safe. Performing the same half-hearted tasks day after day, week after week, month after month had made his life a complete and utter bore. And it wasn’t just his job that had depressed him, but his complete and utter inability to make friends as it had seemed that everyone he had met were unpleasant or just plain stupid so that Alexander could not get along with them and therefore he had no friends. “Even the Secret Service was better than this” he had thought, “as even though it was dangerous and brutal, it was exciting. And, furthermore, everyone did look out for each other, making it easy to make friends,” he continued. “And yet, I am stuck in this tedious monotony of a job in a complete and utter shithole surrounded by absolute idiots!”

However, Alexander’s rage fuelled thoughts were interrupted when he saw a mature looking gentleman, dressed in a smart suit approach him. He stopped and the front desk and asked “to see Agent Sigma.”

Alexander was puzzled, as in the Service he was given the code name of ‘Agent Sigma’, “of course”, he nervously replied, “please, come this way.” Alexander led this stranger to an empty staff room and once they had both made themselves comfortable, this stranger introduced himself. “I am Paul Byrne, and I am the new head of MI6,” he confidently said.

“Nice to meet you,” replied Alex.

“Now, I should explain to you why I am here,” said Paul, “well, since I have took over MI6 last month, it was revealed that there had been a double agent in MI6. This person had been leaking classified intelligence and sabotaging equipment, in fact, I believe this same person was responsible for tampering with the bomb you took on your first mission, so it would kill you and not that enemy agent,” explained Paul. “I have taken it to be my mission to find this leak in MI6 and cover it up. However, given that this mole has the information of every single active agent and what they are doing, I have had to find retired agents such as yourself and try to convince them to return.”

It had been a few moments for Alexander to digest this revelation. He knew he had to make his mind up then and there, just like he knew why he had left the agency in the first place, just like he knew why he detested his job and looked for any way to escape it. Moments had pasted before Alex would speak up saying, “you want me to come out of retirement and return to MI6,” he had stated.

“Correct,” replied Paul.

“Admittedly, I was nearly killed during my last mission, however I feel that I am now over it, and a return to MI6, means that I will be able to leave the current hellhole that I call my situation,” stated Alex.

“So, do you want to come back?” Paul asked.

“Yes,” replied Alexander “I do.”