What Divides Us

New Assignment

“So nice of you do join us Ms. Pennington.”  The Director’s voice is laced with sarcasm; her secretary smiles at me apologetically, but her smile fades quickly as if that small action could get her fired.  Hmm, it just occurred to me that I’ve never bothered to learn her name, that’s a shame.

Leaning against the doorframe, I decide to cut to the chase before she wastes anymore of my precious time.  “Why did you call me here?”  My voice comes out sounding bored and slightly disrespectful.  Perfect.

She purses her ruby lips and shoots a look to her secretary, as if to say ‘look what I have to deal with.’  Then she turns her attention to me once more, this time her expression smug.  “You’re here to begin preparation for your next mission.”

            “Preparation?” I fume.  Usually, agents are prepped when they fail their previous mission, coming back from a long leave of absence, or if they’re just starting out.  I haven’t needed preparation since I was eleven, and I can’t help but feel a little confused and distressed.  Had I shown regress in the quality of my assignments?  I push that thought aside; I’ve had over twenty successful missions under my belt.  True, I may have “improvised” and not listened to direct orders, but why would she penalize me now, after months have passed?

            “Indeed.  You will need plenty of preparation for this assignment.  It will be your first long term undercover assignment,” she says.  Before I can retort, she continues, “You will have one day to prepare yourself.  Do not disappoint me Alex.”  She returns to the paperwork on her desk, obviously dismissing me, but I don’t leave.  I stand there until the Director looks up at me again.

            “You never told me what my mission was,” I state simply.  What am I, some kind of mind reader? 

             “How silly of me!  You’ll be attending a local high school in order to protect the ‘package.’”  A wicked smile forms on her pale face.  She hands me a folder.  “Here are the details of your assignment. I wish you the best of luck.”  I resist the urge to jump onto her oak desk and strangle the sarcasm out of her.  Deciding to be the bigger person, I simply say a quick thank you and briskly exit her office.  That woman certainly knows how to push my buttons.  I clench my fists repeatedly as I stalk to my room.

            Thankfully, my room was empty of undesired visitors.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Candace and I enjoy Caleb’s company, but I’m more comfortable with solitude.  It is in my nature to welcome isolation.  I open my manila envelope and read through its contents.

            Identification: Agent 0007 (Alexandria Pennington)

            Mission/Execution: Protect the package at all costs.  Package is known as Lucas Price.  **See attached photo and description** Befriend him and be sure that no harm comes to him.  He is the son of a wealthy and prominent CEO of Boise Electronics.  We have strong evidence pointing to a potential kidnapping attempt of your package. 

            Service Support: Other young agents from sister organizations will be undercover as well, their reasons classified.  You can trust them as long as sufficient identification is given.

            Communications: Socialize with other students at the high school and use your birth name.  Any information extracted from the students could be potentially useful in your assignment.  Additionally Agent 0006 (Caleb Waters) will guide you through your concealed earpiece at all times.

Risks/Concerns: In addition, eliminate the threat of Agent 0013.  She/he left our agency and works for an unknown source.  Agent 0013 will attempt to abduct your package, by all means necessary including kidnapping/killing you as well.  Unfortunately, there is no other information to give you in order to distinguish him/her.  There is no margin for error.

Preparation: Meet in the Recreation room at 5PM sharp tonight for preparation. 

            I pull out the picture of Lucas.  Quickly, I scan the picture and save it to memory: pale skin, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and approximately 5’11.  Great, I have to find this guy in a crowd of two thousand hormonal teens.  I stash the photo and the papers inside my jacket and head toward the Recreation, bracing myself for the worst. 

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 “Hi!!” a petite girl squeals.  “It’s such an honor to meet you Agent!!!!”  As she jumps up and down, her blond coils bounce with her. 

I extend my hand.  “Thank you.”  I try not to let my initial revulsion appear on my face.  “But I think I’m in the wrong place…”  I attempt to back out of the room slowly.

She giggles manically.  “Nope, silly!!  You’re in the right place.  I’m here to mentor you.  I’m Michelle Paque.”

“Mentor me?  What the hell for?!?” I fume.  This has to be a joke.  How is Mrs. Sunshine and unicorns going to mentor me?  More importantly, what can she teach me?  Caleb must have put her up to this or something.

She looks slightly taken aback by my harsh tone of voice.  “Ummm, I’m supposed to prepare you for high school…” Her eyes widen if she fears that I’ll actually physically hurt her.  Great, now I feel like a jerk.

I attempt to smile apologetically, but it probably looks scarier than my normal vacant expression.  “It’s just high school.  There shouldn’t be much to learn.  I have more knowledge than a college graduate; I don’t think I’ll have any trouble keeping up academically.  Plus I have more experience with the real world than they do, so that won’t pose as an issue.”

She laughs breathily and shakes her head as if I’m a naïve child.  “Look, Alex.  I’ve been undercover as a high school student for a few years now and let me tell you one thing.”  With lightning fast reflexes she grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me down to her eye level.  Her speed surprises me.  What surprises me more is the fact that I underestimated me and I swear quietly under my breath.  “Do NOT underestimate high school students and do not underestimate Agent 0013.  You don’t know anything about the real world.   You and I, we’ve lived in a bubble our entire lives. We only know what the agency tells us; for all we know, they could be feeding us a bunch of lies, we could be doing something evil yet think it’s good because that’s what they tell us.  The worst part is that we probably won’t ever be able to experience the best thing in life!!”  Her rant astounds me.  I had never really questioned what the agency had told us, so her theory that we’re all living a lie strikes me hard.  And what does she mean we won’t ever experience “the best thing in life?”  I’m pretty sure that feeling I get when I punch someone in the face is probably the best experience I could have…But she’s right.  What more is outside our agency?

She steps back.  “Ready to learn?”  I nod briskly.

For the next few hours she discussed tactics on how to gain Lucas’s trust and how to appear like a normal high school student.  At the end of our lesson, she hands me a suitcase.  I give her a quizzical look and she just laughs.

“If you want to blend in, you have to dress the part,” she opens the suitcase that is filled with numerous outfits.

I shrug and take the suitcase from her.  “Thank you.”  And I actually mean it. 

She smiles and shrugs.  “No problem.  If you need any help at school, just come find me.  I sit at the popular table.”

Popular table?  What the hell is that?  Instead of voicing my confusion, I simply nod and exit the Recreation room.  While I walk back to my room, I mull over what Michelle had said about Agent 0013.  The fact that I have no clue as to what this agent looks like almost alarms me.  Almost.  But what bothers me the most is that she claimed we won’t ever experience the greatest thing in life.  That strikes a chord with me.  I probably won’t experience a lot of things because I’m stuck here at the agency.  But what is the best thing in life?