Espion | Book One

Thirty One.

Headquarters was usually silent. When the elevator pinged, announcing her arrival, Anna was taken aback to see that no one rushed pass with papers in their hands, or that no one barked orders from across the room. She saw no agents chilling by the water cooler; everyone sat peacefully at their desks. Her boots echoed loudly in their silence, but, despite her surprise, she didn't linger very much on them.

Anna never cared enough about the others in the agency to strike up conversation. They knew her as the passing assassin, the fable girl who, only at seventeen years old, was the longest lasting agent in the agency. She never stopped by to say a word to anyone else but the boss. She was always going in and out, sometimes dressed in her mission garb, sometimes dressed in normal clothes, like now.

Eyes watched her pass over their desktops. Anna knew they were staring. They normally did. But there was something about this one that had her on edge. Their eyes beheld a secret, as if they knew something she didn't. Nearing Thomas' office, she slowed, watching them. Each time her eyes landed on someone, they looked away, but they were always quick to peruse her once again when those brown eyes of hers shifted away from them.

Finally, Anna stopped walking. She looked around at them, spotting Jackie standing close by. The girl was still in her mission garb, a tight leather suit that clung to her tiny frame. She was looking over some files when Anna approached. Her eyes lit with surprise when she saw who stood before her.

"What's going on?" Anna asked.

Jackie blinked again, two, three, four times. She closed the file and gave it back to the desk jockey, who rushed off with it. "Are you speaking to me?"

"You're the only one around, aren't you?"

"Oh? I think this is the first time you didn't look straight over my head." Jackie folded her arms and leaned against the wall. As a fellow assassin, she knew stealth was a part of her job, so the simple movement made no sound. Her slanted hazel eyes regarded Anna from head to toe. "What do you want, Annabelle?"

"I want to know what's going on here." Jackie's hostility merely bounced right off her. The dark skinned woman never liked her. Anna believed it was partly because she was her superior even thought Jackie was four years older, and partly because Anna never acknowledged her unless it was required.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Why is everyone so silent? And why are they staring at me?"

"Why don't you ask them that yourself?" Her lip quirked upwards and she fluffed her bouncy kinky curls. "If you want to go through all that trouble.

"Not worth it," Anna replied instantly. Despite the other woman's hostility, Anna never bothered to form a reaction to her. "Thomas is inside, right?"

At the call of Thomas' name, Jackie bristled. She envied the relationship they had, envied the fact that Anna was the only allowed to call him by his given name. Curtly, she nodded, then stood there staring into Anna's retreating back.

Anna ignored the rest of the eyes as she made the rest of the trip to Thomas' door. "Come in," came his rough voice from the other end at her knock. Anna slid in and closed the eyes out behind her.

Thomas was just coming off the phone. As he replaced the receiver, he looked up at Anna and his face lit up with happiness. "Oh, Annabelle! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm here requesting a formal mission."

Thomas blinked in bemusement. "A formal mission request? Care to elaborate?" He gestured to the chair before his desk.