I had never been to prison. I’ve robbed 55 banks, but the last heist had ended differently. I got caught. Anxiety rushed through my blood. I might be facing up to 50 years in prison, and I have nobody to back me up. I have to come up with a plan to get out. But how? I have no idea how to get myself out of this one.
I am Todd Peterson and I’m being held at a maximum detention center in Cuba. I have been here for almost five years. But today something will happen that will turn everything around.

My breakfast should have been here by now. Then, I heard the mini-door open.
The guard said, “The warden has requested to speak with you.”
“What does he want this time?”
“That’s classified information,” he said.
I followed him down the hallway bound by handcuffs. As I walk into the office I noticed the President of the United States was there with the warden and a military general. I sat down in the chair and the President began to speak.
He said, “The United States has recently encountered a problem. His name is Steven Piff. He has made a new type of bomb. If you get hit by its radiation, your cells separate and you fall apart.”
“So?” I said.
“We are making you an offer. You can help us and get out of jail, or you can rot in prison,” said the President.
“I’ll help you if it means getting out of this dump,” I responded quickly. I couldn’t believe I would get a second chance. If I didn’t succeed, at least I would die a free man.
I am being extracted to a secret military base in Madagascar. Once I get there, we will discuss what our plan of attack is. It sounds like this Steven Piff is pretty dangerous. I was reading his profile, and he is responsible for over one million lives. I have no idea why they haven’t tried to take this guy down earlier.
I arrived at the military base at 5:25 A.M. As I walked in, most of the soldiers gave me dirty looks except for one named General Havoc. He greeted me with openness and began to talk with me.
He said,"I have read about you and I am very impressed with your skills. You have robbed many places with swiftness and preciseness. Since you have these unique abilities, we are going to use you to steal Mr. Piff’s bomb. Hopefully you can get it before he launches it. You will be working with my top men. Their names are Viper, Groundhog, Weasel, and Rhino. Any questions?"
I said, "No sir. When do we start?"
"Now," he said.
Four men walked in the room. They were the men who will be working with me on this mission. Viper was a mid-sized African who had a scar straight down his left eye. Groundhog was big and broad shouldered American, smoking a cigar. Weasel was a small Latino with a laptop in his hand. Rhino was a mid-sized Japanese man wearing a bandana.
Viper said,"I'm Viper and I'm in charge here. This is Groundhog; he is the muscle of the group. And this is Weasel. He may be small but don't underestimate him. We call him Mighty Mouse. Rhino is the brains of the group."
I said, ”Nice to meet you. Now, here is a map of Mr. Piff’s headquarters on Ascension Island. There is a small vent at the south entrance of his base. We will sneak in through there, and that vent should take us right next to the missile silo. We will then cut a hole in the wall, and take the chemicals out of the missile. After that, we will meet an extraction boat right where we entered.”
Rhino asked, “What weapons will we be armed with?”
I answered, “2015 plasma rifles. Let’s roll out.”
A small speed boat took us to Ascension Island at midnight. I threw an EMP grenade to shut down the cameras and alarm system. Then, Groundhog planted explosives on the vent, and blew it away. We crept down the passageway until we stumbled upon a group of soldiers. As we looked closer we saw that Steven Piff was among them. Viper whistled.
Steven ordered, “You two. Go check out what that was.”
The henchmen responded, “Sir yes sir.”
Weasel and Rhino shot them once they saw us, it alerted the other soldiers and we were outnumbered.
Viper said to us,”Put your weapons down.”
Weasel argued, “But!”
Viper hissed, “No buts. Just listen to me.”
We all threw our guns down and surrendered. They marched us to the control room, and put us in handcuffs. I looked at a map and saw all the targets Piff was aiming for. He was planning to hit Beijing, Hong Kong, Berlin, Madrid, and New York. Mr. Piff walked over to me with a smug grin on his face.
He said, “So this is who they sent to stop me? You’re a joke.”
I responded, “You’re smaller than I expected. In fact, you’re nothing like what I expected. You have a bowl cut, a patchy beard, and you wear turtle necks. Destined for stupidness.”
He spit back at me,”No one talks to me like that!”
Then he got a taser and shocked me. After that I spit in his face. As he was about shock me again, the door exploded, and I heard gunshots. Steven pushed a button and he fell down a trap door. The strangers killed the rest of PIff’s men. Their leader broke our handcuffs off.
He said,”I am Agent Simmons of the SIS. We learned about your mission and decided to help you.”
I said, “Good thing you came when you did, or else I’m not sure if we would still be alive right now.”
Simmons said,” You can thank me later. We have a missile to disarm and take.”
We rushed to the missile silo. Piff hadn’t launched it yet. Rhino took a panel off the side of the missile.
He said,”Give me a minute to disarm it.”
We guarded the door to the silo, then we heard Rhino gasp.
He told us,”The missile is launching in 2 minutes, and there’s not enough time to disarm it!”
Viper yelled in frustration,”Dang it Piff!”
Simmons asked,”Now what do we do?”
I said,”I’ll tell you what we are going to do. You guys will go to the extraction point, and I will set off the missile manually.”
Groundhog said,”You don’t have to do this!”
I said,”I have done a lot of wrong in my life, and if anybody is doing this it will be me.”
Viper said,”You heard him. Get to the extraction point.” He then said to me,“It has been a pleasure working with you. Farewell.”
“Same to you Viper. Now go,” I responded. They left the silo and rushed to the extraction point. I heard a strange noise behind me, and I turned around. There stood Steven clapping his hands.
He said, “So you are trying to play hero?  Nevertheless, you will not stop me.”
I began to speak but then he turned into a giant moth. He then flew at me, and I reached for my plasma rifle. Right before I shot him, he knocked my gun away, and started punching me. I then looked over to the missile and saw there was only 30 seconds until launch. I got up and started beating him into the ground with my fists. He stopped moving, and I rushed over to the missile. Right before I reached it, Steven grabbed my foot. I then pulled out my giant fly swatter and crushed him.
He yelled in agony,”Noooooo!”
I said,”Here goes nothing,” and I pressed the activate button. At that moment the whole island disappeared.