The+Perfect+Team

before i start writing, i just need to let everyone know that i don't write short stories, i write novels. so i will only be posting the prologue and chapter 1

__The Perfect Team__

By: Kelsey Santistevan

__Prologue Twenty Years Ago__

Lightning flashed and thunder crashed. Rain was pouring down heavily on the metal roof of the house. The tall trees did little to protect the large house against the downpour. A scream of pain was heard from inside the building. A tall man rushed inside, his auburn hair and clothes soaking wet, with a nervous expression on his face. He was breathing heavily, eagerly waiting for permission to enter the room in which he was not allowed inside. Another scream was heard, this time accompanied by a high-pitched cry. The man yanked open the door, and saw a short woman standing beside a bed. The woman was holding a small baby with a tuff of black hair on its head. "Sir," the short woman said, "can you please step outside? Your wife is not finished with childbirth… there’s still another one on the way. I will come and get you soon." The man nodded in understanding and quietly shut the door behind him. In a couple of minutes, the short woman cracked open the door and motioned the man inside. This time, he also saw his wife laying on the bed, holding another small baby, although this one had auburn colored hair just like his. "What are their names?" the man asked in eagerness. Breathing heavily, his wife answered, "the one that the nursemaid is holding is named Ember… and this one is Esper… they’re both girls…" The man smiled and offered to take the baby so his wife could rest. She put Esper into her husband’s arms. Just then, another man broke through the door. He had an urgent look in his deep blue eyes. "Curtis, what’s wrong?" the man holding Esper asked, a worried tone in his voice. "Robert, they’ve done it. We need to get everyone out of Washington now. We have thirty minutes at the most… after that it’ll be too late. You, and Kelly, and your children need to get out of here." Robert looked at Curtis, and then Kelly, and back at Curtis. "Curtis," he said, "my wife can’t be moved. And if she can’t go, then I will stay here with her." "Robert," Curtis pleaded, "please. You have to leave. We’ll arrange for Kelly to be safely moved out of the city. You can’t just abandon your children like this." Robert sighed deeply, and looked Curtis in the eyes. "You know there’s no time for that. I’ve seen what they’re capable of. Washington will be flattened to the ground in less than twenty-five minutes. Take Ember and Esper… and go. You have a wife, and a young son. Go for them." "Robert-" "Please, I’m begging you…" Curtis looked at Robert and his wife, who was now breathing extremely heavily. He nodded, took Ember and Esper, and walked out the door and into the pouring rain. A tall woman with light brown hair came running out of a tan-colored Honda Odyssey. Her expression changed from worry to shock when he saw the two children in her husband’s arms. Curtis said, "Robert refused to leave Kelly, but he asked me to take his newly born children. Hurry, we have little time left. Is James in the car?" "Yes." His wife replied. "I’ll put these two in his extra carseats. What are their names?" Curtis nodded toward the one with the black tuff of hair. "This one is Ember." And he looked over at the one with the auburn hair. "And his one is Esper." With that, the couple rushed over to the car. As fast as they could, they fastened the little twins into the carseats and sped away. After about twenty minutes, when they were safely away from the city, Curtis heard a deafening explosion. He turned around and saw a bright orange mushroom cloud where the capitol city of Washington D.C. once was.

__Chapter 1 Inauguration Day - 2161__

A tall woman with flowing black hair and hazel eyes walked through a crowd of people. Beside her was another woman with long auburn hair. They both wore black sunglasses and high heeled shoes. It was bright outside, and there were no clouds in the sky. Today was the inauguration of President James Howl, the youngest ever to become President of the United States, or what was left of it that hadn't been destroyed in the war. Twenty years ago, terrorists set off a nuclear bomb that destroyed the formed capital city of Washington D.C. The capital is no Williamsburg, Virginia. Since the explosion, the presidency age was reduced to twenty-one, making James an eligible candidate, as he was one when the explosion occurred. James, soon to be the sixty-third president, now stood on the new capital, facing a crowd of cheering people. The two women walked through the crowd and up the steps of the capital building. When they were stopped by two security guards, the one with the black hair said, "Ember Howl, Core Collections Officer of the CIA." The one with the auburn hair added, "Esper Howl, Counterterrorist Agent of the FBI." The security guards nodded and allowed them to pass. The twins took off their sunglasses and hugged their adopted brother. He smiled at them, and motioned for them to sit down next to their adopted father and mother. Ember and Esper grew up with the Howls ever since the explosion twenty years ago. While Ember worked with the CIA and Esper with the FBI, the agencies had grown close together since the attack. CIA officers and FBI agents now work together on the same projects, analyze the same data, and serve in the same councils and embassies together. Ember and Esper work in the field together, and they were what both agencies called "The Perfect Team". The clock struck twelve noon, and thw crowd started to cheer wildly as James stepped up to the podium and was sworn in as the sixty-third president.