"Jake! Jake!"

I fluttered my eyes opened in confusion as I mentally came back to reality. I was sleeping...dreaming...

"Jake!" I heard a familiar voice hiss quietly from behind me; the voice was accompanied by aggressive shaking. My eyes shot wide open and I immediately flipped myself over to the other side, seeing who the heck was waking me up in the middle of the night and give them a punch, then go back to sleep. But I couldn't do that, since it was Poncho who was waking me up.

I scanned him with my eyes from head to toe in cold fright to see if my eyes were deceiving me in the dark, but there was no mistake it was him; that glowing wheelchair of his gave him away--so did his voice.

"Jake, let's talk some business while the others are asleep," Poncho said while doing some movements in the dark.

Who the hell is this 'Jake'? I certainly wasn't Jake--I don't even know a Jake! I just shot him a facial expression of half disgusted and half bewilderment, hoping he'll get the message that I wasn't Jake.

"Oh, right!" Poncho breathed out. "I have to call you 'Alek' here, so that you won't be given away or there won't be any suspicion. But it's like as if they know your real name." He chuckled a bit. "C'mon, let's go to my room before we get some interference." He then turned his wheelchair around and began gliding toward the exit.

I would've stayed there in my bed and gone back to sleep, but I was getting a feeling that I should just play along with Poncho. Andrea did say that someone was mimicking me while I was gone...maybe this Jake guy was-- But why would Poncho want him? He's acting really friendly toward him; I know that by the tone of his voice.

I thought more about this situation while I was in while following Poncho across the main room, toward his office. We entered his office, which was lit up; it blinded me for a moment since I was used to the dark, but after a few moments of endurance, my eyes adjusted to it.

Poncho halted behind his desk and extended his hand toward an empty seat that was on the other side of the desk.

I just stood there, darting my eyes from the seat to him.

"Sit down, please," he told me placidly.

I warily made my way to the chair and sat down slowly; I had no idea what was going on. Pretend to be this Jake guy...I don't even know how he acts like! Well, pretend like you know what's going on. I nodded my head at that idea. I like it.

"Okay," Poncho started while turning on the screen that was embedded on the top of his desk, "we need to finalize the date of when we're going to commence Operation Paroxysm. Do you have a suggestion?"

What the hell is 'Operation Paroxysm'? was all I thought. I took in a deep breath to maintain my composure and not give away any signs of puzzlement. "Can you say what Operation Paroxysm is? Just to see if we both think of it the same way?"

"Ah, good thinking there! Let's finalize the plan to make sure we got everything in check! That'll be fine!" Poncho began tapping and dragging his finger on his desk's top, since it was now fully on. "So..." He gazed down at the screen. "...with your teleportation powers, we go to the school, then teleport again into the basement, which is located underneath the football field. With your powers mixed up with mine and our weapons, we blow up the surrounding area as many times as we need to until we find the Machine Of The World. We retrieve that machine and go over to your base, since the kids would be here, of course. Sounds good."

I could not believe what I just heard. Isn't his operation Poncho was going over is the EXACT THING WE'RE FIGHTING AGAINST?! Is he evil? Can I no longer trust Poncho that he's the good guy? And he's not even going to include me and the others in this plan--just him and some Jake guy. I need to know who Jake is...but how can I ask him without giving myself away? Poncho's evil, I declared mentally.

"So, with that fresh in our minds--" Poncho points to his head for a moment. "--when should we do this?"

Should I give him a date? I should, I can't do something to give myself away and denying the question or the operation would bring in some intense questioning. It seems like this Jake guy already promised Poncho that he would have a date. But now I have to bring up the date. "How about..." I looked up at the ceiling while thinking hard. "...in two days at night?"

Poncho nodded his head in thought while sticking out his bottom lip; he then put on his smile with raised eyebrows. "Alright sounds good!" He then extended out his hand toward across the desk, toward me.

I stared at it, thinking why he had his hand out at me. Then I remembered why; I shook it as firmly as I could.

Poncho brought his hand back to himself. "Glad to be doing business with you! I can't wait to complete this so that I can walk again--it's not easy maneuvering in this thing, y'know." He mumbled while looking down, adjusting something that was behind the desk, "If only I didn't run out of those shots that let me walk again." He then straightened up again, looking at me. "Well, you can leave now, have a good night sleep."

Oh, thank you! I quickly got up and fast walked over to the door. But before I was to open it, I heard Poncho call out to me: "And you're doing a great job pretending to be like Alek! You're acting just like him! Keep up the great work!"

I slowly scanned my fingertip in shock, opening the door. I then rushed out of there and back into my room. I need to tell the others what just happened!

«««««»»»»»

"Wait, are you saying...that Poncho...is evil?" Andrea asked me with huge eyes.

All four of us, Andrea, Bree, Cade, and I, were in my room right after breakfast the next day; Poncho told us we had thirty minutes to get ready for some practice drills. I estimated that this conversation shouldn't take more than thirty minutes; I'll make it less than thirty minutes.

"Yes, it's true!" I told her, throwing my arms in the air. I was sitting on my swivel chair and the others were sitting on the edge of my bed. "Poncho wanted to blow up the school! With some Jake guy!"

"But who is this 'Jake dude'?" Cade asked while furrowing his eyebrows. "I don't know anyone by the name of Jake."

"Same here," Andrea piped in. "Unless we ask Poncho if he knows anyone by the name of Jake--"

"No!" I snapped. "Don't mention anything to him that'll make him be suspicious. I don't want him knowing that it was actually me who he said the plan to. I don't want to blow my cover!"

"Okay, okay..." Andrea nodded her head while turning her gaze over to Bree, who was sitting quietly. "Katt?"

She blinked for a moment and snapped her head toward her. "Yeah?"

"Do you know anyone who's name is 'Jake'?"

"Um..." Her eyes darted to the other side as she was thinking. "I did know a Jake...but I hadn't seen him in like two years..." She gazed back at Andrea, first stealing a glance at me; she was blushing a lot.

"Oh, well that would be irrelevant--"

"...he used to go to our school," she finished off.

Andrea rose her eyebrows as she had her eyes on her. "Really?"

"Yeah, he was in my class...back in eighth grade..."

"Oh yeah!" Cade cut in loudly. "I know who you're talkin' about! Jake McCoy! Yeah, yeah, his brother was in my grade! They left a long time ago--"

"Two years ago," Bree specified.

"Irrelevant," I told them in a monotoned voice, telling them to shut up about some classmate I had no idea about. "We'll find who Jake is. I hope Poncho will talk to me again as if I'm Jake, see if I get more clues."

Andrea nodded her head. "Okay, sounds good! But for now, let's pretend like we know nothing of this." She then traced her thumb and pointer finger across her lips horizontally, turned them a few times against the corner of her lips, then flung her hand behind her shoulder. Whatever that was for. "Everyone fine with that?"

We all nodded our heads in agreement.

"Alright good!" She got up. "Now let's go get ready for training before Poncho catches us." She began walking toward the exit with Bree and Cade following her. She then turned around and gazed at me. "Oh, and Russia--thanks for telling us this! I highly appreciate it!"

I nodded my head with a smile I couldn't help but show.