Peril Squad: The Beginning

Peril Squad began in the government organization SAP (Secret Adventure Protocol) because of a computer glitch. A member of the IT department was writing a program to email everyone the daily lunch menu and accidentally sent an email to three operatives and offered them a job.

The first was Tatiana Cotton, feared tracker and jungle warrior. Everyone assumed she had died years before, so SAP was very surprised to get a reply email from her accepting the job. She showed up wearing a jacket made of bones and looked so scary that no one had the nerve to tell her there had been a mistake.

The second was Orlando Montoya. His specialties were gadgets and machines. He bragged that he could make a machine out of anything. This was not true, which made him very annoying to be around. SAP had been about to fire him when he got the email and accepted the offer to join Peril Squad.

The last was Marina Pham, weapons expert. She probably could make a weapon out of anything but she preferred her designer Smuzi sub-machine gun. She was very fashion conscious and always wore a dress, even under her body armor.

The last member of Peril Squad was 15-year-old Oscar Vargas. He got lost on a field trip to SAP headquarters and wandered into the Peril Squad meeting room. They decided to let him join after he brought them all sodas. He had no real skills and was usually quite lazy. He was, however, the only person who could understand what Tatiana was saying most of the time, which was a bonus.

Peril Squad gathered on the edge of the savanna. Their helicopter had lifted off, leaving them alone in the wilderness.

“Let me tell you the mission,” Orlando said. He was not the leader, but he had grabbed the mission envelope and had refused to tell anyone else what was in it until they were on the ground.

Tatiana grunted. “She says it’s about stinkin’ time,” Oscar said. Marina and Tatiana bumped fists.

“We are going to find a soldier that deserted and came out into the jungle to set up his own little kingdom,” Orlando said. “This is going to take cunning and sneaking. So let’s go. I’ll take the lead.”

Orlando started out into the thick foliage. However, since he only had super goggles and a utility belt, he could not get through the plants. Tatiana sighed and pulled out her machete and began to cut a path.

They walked through the high grasses for a few hours until they came to a huge tree that had been sliced off at the top.

“I’ll bet if we climb up there, we could see around for miles,” Marina said. She slung her Smuzi on her back and pulled out her special climbing gloves with rubies on the back. By the time she had them on, Tatiana was already high above them.

“After you,” Orlando said to Marina.

“I can’t climb,” Oscar said.

“Fine, you stand guard down here,” Marina said. She started to climb the tree.

“What do I do if something comes?” Oscar said.

“Just yell,” Orlando said. He patted Oscar on the shoulder. “Go Peril Squad.”

Ten minutes later, Tatiana had reached the top. Marina and Orlando were still far below.

Tatiana shouted down.

“What?” Marina asked.

“She says to hurry up,” Oscar shouted from below them. He yawned. The hike had been tiring, and it was scorching. He lay down on a huge leaf and pulled another one over him.

Orlando was getting tired too. He wondered if he could make a catapult to just throw him to the top. Maybe if he climbed out on one of the springy branches, it would bend down and then fling him up. He started to climb out.

“Where are you going?” Marina shouted.

“I’ll meet you at the top,” Orlando said. He climbed out to the very end, but the branch would not go down. He was about to start jumping on it when something caught his eye. He flipped down his super goggles and went to the very end of the branch to have a closer look.

From the top, Tatiana shouted something.

“What?” Marina shouted back. There was no response from Oscar. Tatiana was pointing to the side and motioning wildly. Marina stopped and looked at her hands. This tree was getting them all grubby. She decided to change her gloves.

Down at the bottom of the tree, Oscar was sleeping peacefully. Orlando was balancing on the end of the branch fiddling with his goggles and Marina was hanging on the side of the tree and digging in her pack for a fresh pair of gloves. Tatiana growled and sighed.

What did Orlando and Tatiana see?

Will Oscar get a good nap?

Will Marina be able to get the tree stains out of her gloves? Find out in the next installment of Peril Squad!