For some reason, he loved thievery. As he silently swept through the house, Alejandro felt ecstatic. Every valuable that he found away in the house and stored brought him a little more joy. He had come to love what he did, but it hadn't started this way. Alejandro had only started on the life of crime because he needed to. His parents had been killed for reasons he never fully knew. Alejandro started off stealing food when he was hungry. He kept moving up to bigger and more expensive items until he was stealing for the sake of stealing. Either way, he had become extremely good at what he did, and there was nowhere he feared to enter.

One day, he was stealing a family’s jewelry when someone woke up. To be safe, he pulled out a blackjack, his weapon of choice since it could be used non-fatally. He snuck up behind the person and hit them on the head, catching them as they fell to avoid sound. Unlike other times, he felt the strange presence of blood on his hand. He took a closer look at the body that was now barely breathing with growing concern. He brought the person into the light to see that his concern was warranted. He had struck down a mere child and the blow might have been devastating. He had never wanted to kill anyone, let alone a child. He began to sob, not caring anymore whether he was caught. In fact, he even wanted to be caught. A murderer shouldn't be allowed to live in society and he belonged in jail.

The loud fit of sobbing woke up the owners of the house. Waking up to see a darkly clothed man in the hallway, they immediately pressed the button for police on their security system. When the police arrived, they found Alejandro in the same spot, over the child’s body. They picked him up and threw him into the back of the police car. At the police station, he offered no resistance as they went through the procedure of locking him in a cell. He stayed in that cell for only a few days before he had a visitor. It was a suited man who walked with a sense of authority down the hall to Alejandro’s cell. When the man arrived, he looked at Alejandro for a long time before he spoke.

“So you’re the thief we've heard about. There’s a long list of places you've broken into” said the suit as he casually leaned against the wall.

“So? What does it matter to you?” asked Alejandro

“Well, you’re parents were working against the government, so I’m making sure you’re not putting the skills to use in the same manner.”

“Of course not. I don’t even know what my parents did.”

The suited man beckoned to a guard and told him something quietly. The guard opened the cell door and led them both outside.

“The name’s Andrew. Now that we have a little privacy, tell me everything you know about your parents” demanded the suited man.

“I don’t know anything about them. I don’t even understand what they did to get killed.”

“They were in contact with Brazilian forces who are resisting our attempt to add them to the United States of the Americas.”

Alejandro had heard about the conflicts on the news. The USTA was having trouble subjugating Brazil, the last country on the American continents to remain independent. Brazil was supported by many of the European powers after the former USA decided to started annexing nations and building the “Empire on a Hill.”

“Now, I’m going to offer you a chance that not many children of traitors would get” continued Andrew, “You can redeem your family if you use your skills to work for us.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to do anything like that. I killed a child, I don’t want to risk something like that again. I’d rather just stay in prison.”

“If you don’t, you won’t be staying in prison. You’ll be assumed to be a traitor like you’re parents and put to death.”

Alejandro tried to find a way out, but he couldn’t. No matter what he said to Andrew, those were his only two options. In the end, he decided to go along with Andrew to see what they wanted him to do. Andrew took him to a USTA Intelligence station nearby to debrief him on the mission. One room that he passed was full of monitors that were displaying video feeds from all around the country. Some of them were even displaying people in their own homes. When they finally reached their destination, he was instructed to sit down as another man came in to explain the plan.

Alejandro was told that they chose him not just for his skills, but also his background and Latin ethnicity. He was to run to the border with Brazil and pretend to be a refuge. His Latin American appearance would allow him to reach the border and give him a chance of being accepted in. When they questioned him, he would reveal the identity of his parents. The murder of his parents would be the reason he fled the USTA and came to Brazil. Since his parents were a great asset to Brazil’s continued independence, they should let him in. The goal of this and the point that Alejandro was against was to assassinate a Brazilian leader, Gustavo Cardoso, which would cause chaos in the country.

“I can’t. The reason I even turned myself in was because I murdered someone. Now you want me to go assassinate someone?” resisted Alejandro.

“It’s either his death or yours” replied Andrew.

“Oh and if you think about giving up on the mission, we’ll make sure we find you.”
Alejandro was left with that thought as he was taken to the Brazilian border. From there, the plan worked perfectly, getting him into Brazil. He was received as a hero as the first person to escape from the USTA and son of two Brazilian agents who died in the service of freedom. He was taken to Rio de Janeiro where he was given residence at a hotel. Alejandro hadn’t expected to receive this kind of treatment.
A Brazilian official came in and told him that he was to meet with a few people. Alejandro was led to the capital building and sat in a room with a committee of Brazilian leaders, including Gustavo. They began asking him questions about his time in the USTA. He answered every question until they started asking about his journey to Brazil. He was briefed on the story of his journey by Andrew, but he wasn’t prepared for intense questioning. He ended up confusing facts and contradicting his previous statements.
“Look, we know that USTA sent you. Why don’t you tell us why they did.” said Gustavo

Alejandro didn’t know what to do. He told them that they found him in prison and sent him to Brazil to kill Gustavo.

“You don’t seem like a trained professional. Did you event want this?” asked one of the men.

“It was either this or my death, but I didn’t actually want to kill anyone. All I ever wanted to do was just steal until that got me caught in this situation.” replied Alejandro.

The men once again turned to each other and discussed what they just heard. They decided to give Alejandro a chance.

Soon, Alejandro was back in the USTA. This time he was entering under command of Brazil. Brazil faked the death of Gustavo in order get him back in and earn the trust of USTA officers. With the success of his mission, he was taken into the intelligence agency with the possibility of one or two more missions. He was allowed to enter one room in the station where they had initially briefed him. One night he was left alone to work on propaganda to convince other nations to allow the annexation of Brazil. There were other workers in the building but not many, and his guard had been called off to another job. He decided that this was his opportunity to sneak into a specific room. He had seen this room on the first day he had been brought in here from prison. Inside, he was able to steal several discs of recording and a document describing the surveillance project and its process.

With these, he could make his way back to Brazil. This evidence of the USTA’s complete surveillance and control over its citizens would be sure to convince other world powers to support Brazil. Over time, they might even be convinced to force the USTA to release all of the nations they had annexed and bring their power in check. He was truly received as a hero in Brazil this time as the man who was able to steal information vital to the hope of the eventual defeat of the USTA.