THREE

I held on to the hope that maybe the Commander hadn’t gotten around to reading the report and would assign me a wholly wonderful mission that I would succeed so well in, last night wouldn’t matter. I held on to this hope all during the school day, on my bike ride after school in the suburbs of San Martin, through the swooshing automatic doors of U.E. headquarters, and down the stainless steel and frosted glass hallways. I held on to it even as I entered the Control Room, decorated to look something like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, and found my mentor Melissa Gates and our leader Commander Eckle waiting for me in the padded briefing chairs.

The wall behind Commander Eckle was one giant computer screen, but instead of something interesting for my viewing pleasure it just had the U.E. symbol morphing into a map of the world and then back again.

“I read your rather interesting report of last night’s mission, Katie.” Commander Eckle’s wrinkled bulldog face trained on me.

My hope disappeared. He had read the report.

“While I commend you for fixing your mistake, I want to remind you that we minimize our risk by preventing these mistakes from happening in the first place.”

I dug my fingers into the futuristic foam chair and said nothing. Melissa, my ever-majestic redheaded mentor, also said nothing.

“Before we further discuss the unfortunate incidences of last night, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate you on getting the information we were looking for. It seemed odd that a large international company would fire the company president, a position second in command only to the C.E.O., without releasing the cause to the press–usually companies like this love to manipulate the media and draw attention to themselves. Since it’s an international company, it falls under our jurisdiction to discover any illegal activities this firing might have been covering up. The information you found was crucial to our knowledge of the situation.”

“I want you to know we do appreciate your successes. You have a great deal of potential. You consistently succeed in our training modules, you find creative ways to solve problems unanticipated by even the top spies here, and your grasp of languages is unparalleled.”

I was waiting for the “however.” Compliments from Commander Eckle always seemed to end with a “however.”

I wasn’t disappointed.

“However,” Commander Eckle’s fat furry eyebrows lowered, “Due to last night’s debacle…”

Debacle? I couldn’t believe that the Commander was calling it a debacle. I had gotten what we needed, hadn’t I? A mishap maybe, but certainly not a debacle.

Commander Eckle was still talking, “have decided to pair you with a partner…”

“What?” This was worse than I had anticipated. Occasionally, we teamed up on a mission-to-mission basis, but a partner? A partner was an ongoing sort of deal. One that was sure to slow me down. How was I ever going to save the world at this rate?

Commander Eckle raised his furry eyebrows and tilted his head to one side. “I understand the allure of going it alone, but, Katie, this isn’t the first time that something has gone wrong on one of your missions…”

“I haven’t made a mistake in months.”

“Yes, but those past mistakes were significant.” Commander Eckle pressed his fingertips against one another in a steeple, placing them under his chin. “The chickens, Katie?”

“I couldn’t just leave them there all piled up in those tiny cages…” I stopped myself, remembering the lecture on how spies were there to observe and report and leave the action to the proper authorities. I really did not want to sit through it again.

Commander Eckle sighed a deep sigh that seemed to come from right down at the bottom of his toes. This was a sigh that he reserved especially for me. “You shouldn’t look at this as a punishment, but as an opportunity. You have been paired with a partner, Katie, and you’re just going to have to live with it. You can file a request through the proper channels to be a solo operator again and we will review it at our next meeting. In the meantime, I would like to introduce you to your new partner.”

Commander Eckle leaned forward and pressed a button on the table in front of us. I caught Melissa’s eye across the table. She smiled in a suspicious sort of way.

Why was she enjoying this? What was so funny about me getting a partner?

When the door opened, I understood. In walked an Adonis wannabe–blonde hair, blue eyes, biceps galore. How did this guy become a spy? Seriously, the guy even had dimples. There was nothing inconspicuous about him. He would blow our cover for sure. I couldn’t imagine that he could walk into a room without turning the head of every woman there. I’m sure Melissa thought me getting paired with an underwear model was a regular laugh riot.

“Jaisen, may I introduce you to your new partner, Katie Carlyle,” Commander Eckle said.

The blonde god held his hand out.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Katie,” Jaisen said with a slight German accent. He took the seat across from the Commander.

What about all of that brain power that we need in the spy business? Clearly, this guy’s attributes were in other departments. I snuck a peek. He was sitting with his hands on his knees, without a care in the world, apparently listening to Commander Eckle. Or just making it look like he was. There was no doubt that he was too beautiful to be smart.

Plus, his name was Jaisen. J-A-I-S-E-N. Spelled just like that. I knew this because it was printed right at the top of the brief that Commander Eckle handed me. It read “Operatives: Katie Carlyle and Jaisen Bax.” My grip on the document tightened. Did the guy not know how to spell, even?

“Your partner this evening is new to Southern California and I know that you will make him feel welcome.”

They had stuck me with a rookie. Can you believe that? I have been a Novice Spy for nine months now and I was an apprentice-in-training for three years before that and they stick me with some new guy who, for all I knew, had barely gotten out of training. He wasn’t even from here so who knows if his training was anywhere near as super-vigilant as mine had been. This was going to slow me down big time. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and peeked again at Jaisen out of the corner of my eye. He even looked like a rookie—his greenness showed right through his attractive veneer.

“Jaisen comes to us most recently from Germany,” Commander Eckle rolled on in his relentless narrative. “His parents are Americans who have spent the last fifteen years living abroad in various parts of Europe.”

If they wanted me to work with someone with a German accent why didn’t they send me to Germany! Or anywhere in Europe for that matter. I was looking to branch out.

“I’m sure it will be your pleasure to introduce Jaisen to the Southern California branch of the U.E.” Commander Eckle nodded at me.

Why did they pick me anyway? Cora, my fellow Novice Spy, could have done it. Cora would have loved showing the ropes to a hot young rookie. That would have been right up her ally. But is there any justice in this world? No. That is why La Femme Fatale Fellow Novice Spy Cora was out torturing cats or something instead of in the U.E. Control Room with Jaisen.

Commander Eckle was still rambling on. “…In order to further investigate these matters from last night, we are posting you and Jaisen on top of the hill overlooking the ONC Corp. complex. The complex houses the central administrative building for the entire international company. The company has a strict policy regarding its curfew. ONC Corp. closes at 2300 hours and no personnel are supposed to enter the building again until it opens again at 0500 hours. We want to know who is making midnight visits to the building and why. We want to know if any of this has to do with Franklin Culpepper and his recent dismissal.”

With the push of a button the U.E. symbol on the wall morphed into the face of a thin middle-aged man with wire-rimmed glasses. Franklin Culpepper. His skin was papery and wrinkled and so freckled that his skin appeared freckle-colored.

“What is our cover?” I asked innocently, not yet realizing just how warped this plan was.

“You two have snuck out to go on a date. I believe that this hill above the ONC Corp. building has the reputation as a ‘lookout’ hill. Is that what they are called now Melissa?”

“Yes, sir. I believe so,” Melissa said, with a perfectly straight face.

Mr. Flex-much and I were going on a make-out mission. Like this was even slightly believable. This was going to take all of my acting skills as an undercover agent. Why would I be with a guy who has more biceps than brains? Do I look like the kind of girl who would value that? Do I?

“Katie?”

“Hmm?” I looked up to see that everyone was staring at me.

“I said, do you think you can handle that?” Commander Eckle said.

“Um, yeah. Sure.” I nodded. Then I smiled. Smiling always works on Commander Eckle.

“Good.”

“And it’s Veronica, sir. Veronica LeSage,” I said.

Commander Eckle’s fat eyebrows went up.

“The name that I am assuming for tonight’s mission.” Veronica Lesage was a great name. I had spent hours coming up with code names, we got to choose our own when the mission was low profile, and this was currently my favorite. Because, really, who was going to take someone named Katie seriously?

“Right.” Commander Eckle sighed. Again. “I’m so glad that you thought of it,” though he didn’t look all that glad to me.

He looked over at Melissa.

“Hey, I didn’t encourage her.” Melissa crossed her arms defensively.

I saw a tiny glimmer of a smile on the fat furry eyebrowed one–you had to really look to catch this sort of thing.

Melissa continued, “I wasn’t nearly this much trouble.”

Commander Eckle just kept looking at her.

“There’s nothing wrong with a good code name.” Melissa’s uncrossed her arms and sat up straighter.

Commander Eckle turned back to me. “Lieutenant Gates, please get Veronica, her gear for this evening’s mission and then take her for training.”