Never trust a spy, trust me

Chapter 7

Thankfully, I had managed to sneak through the hallway to the staircase. I had a slim hope that no one would see me walking upstairs from this floor. Wrong. Mr. Rehum appeared out of thin air, looking dazed. Was he in a trance? He was dressed in black but that made no sense. Bosses don't go on spy missions. He was looking for someone, I just couldn't figure out who. From his stance, I could tell something was wrong.

He seemed to have spotted someone and walked shakily towards nowhere. I glanced in his direction, then he turned around. I gaped incredulously and for the first time made long eye contact with him. His eyes were blood-shot red. His hair was disheveled, he was a complete mess. He ventured towards me and I was half afraid, half concerned. He appeared to be either drunk or tired perhaps both. As if sensing my intention to help him, he grabbed my arm and then shoved me in the elevator.

I swear I saw him come in too but there was no visible presence beside me though I still heard heavy breathing that was not mine. Had I just imagined him? I exited the elevator and treaded to my room. I heard footsteps. I turn around, no one was there. Dang it, I had to be more careful and carry my spy gadgets with me everywhere. I hurriedly unlocked my door and then turned around.

"Who's there?" I shouted to the air in panic. I got another shove but into my room and the door closed of its own accord. There were no such things as ghosts right? Mr. Rehum appeared again. I pinched him to see if he was real. He frowned. I gasped. He was real but how! The answer came to me; it was through some sort of camouflage technology.  

He blinked several times before saying, "I'll explain this in the morning but would you mind if I slept on your couch?"

It would be beyond the compassion of humanity to deny his request in the state he was in so I offered him my bed instead while I would sleep on the couch. He asked if I was sure, I nodded and he shrugged before dropping unto the bed. I laid down, staring around my room. I made out the faint outlines of the furniture: a simple desk with a light, a full-sized bed with a bed stand, a chair with wheels beside the desk, a simple styled nightstand, a small dresser and instead of a wardrobe was a closet.

I stared at my boss's face. Whoa...he actually looked young and childish. Now that I thought about it, he would be around his late twenties, too young to be a boss. I added that to my mental list of what I needed to investigate. I finally removed my glasses from my face when Mr. Rehum began to snore. Ugh...I shut my eyes and tried to sleep.

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Morning greeted me with a pillow thrown at my face. I flung it back at my boss who was already in morning attire drying his hair with a towel. I almost gagged, he better had not used my towel! "Thanks for ruining my beauty sleep."

"I only threw the pillow to fill the space in your mouth," he explained. I narrowed my eyes at him, hiding my embarrassment. I slept with my mouth open quite often. "Get dressed will you? We're going out."

Going out could have two different meanings, either date or just an outing. By no means did I assume he meant the first meaning, still technically a date was an outing. I was about to kick him out of my room but I was horrified of what people would think of me if they saw a man coming out of my room especially my boss. He unnerved me again by somehow sensing my thoughts and gave a faint smile. "It's okay, Autumn. People are accustomed to seeing me walk out of girls' rooms and oh, sorry about last night."

I opened my mouth in shock. That meant he sleeps with...I was still so naive, thinking everyone especially those close to me would have my sense of dignity but that wasn't meant to be. I changed the topic, I disliked thinking about such stuff. "How did you pull off the invisibility act?"

He touched his shirt. "This is an invisibility cloak. It can camouflage to anything and even change the appearance of its actual shape. Japanese made."

"It's Harry Potter's invisibility cloak come to life," we both chimed in unison.

"Wow." I had read an article about it but there was only one cloak, it must have been expensive and seeing it was different from hearing about it. He showed off its features by changing the color of his shirt. I felt the fabric, it was surprisingly rough. "What's the price?"

"Let's just say this agency got it as a gift."

"And how come you have it?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

Great...another thing to investigate. I pushed him out of my room and dressed casually in jeans and flats with my hair open, so much easier to put into a style not I had several styles to choose from. I was ready within 15 minutes. I opened my door and almost forgot to grab my spy purse. It was the only purse I had containing some an extremely limited amount of make-up, a brush, a mini binoculars, 2 thin pieces of stick on night vision plastic to fit the shape of my glasses' lenses, a small silver gun, 2 small bottles of perfume which was actually nerve gas and some kinda of smoke, a ring which deactivated all minor electrical devices within a few feet only, a pointy pen with a light that could read text in "invisible" ink, a cellphone with a GPS and Internet, etc.  

Mr. Rehum was surprisingly still outside with the air of patience or was it withheld impatience? He commanded me to give him my keys so I did so grudgingly. At one point, I thought he was going to open my door but he wasn't a gentleman to me at least. I could have cared less. Then, when he started the engine, he randomly said, "You can call me Riley."

Um ok. Riley Rehum certainly had a ring to it. I usually was never the impatient one still I asked, "Where are we going?" Oops...I should have said where he was taking me. The 'we' sounded too...

"Well to eat of course!" All of this just to have breakfast. Such a guy!

 "So Riley, why this all of a sudden?"

"You'll see Autumn. All for a good cause," he replied cheerfully. Did he want to discuss something important with me? I was suddenly nervous. This was my first time being with a guy in a car or even going somewhere...sigh. Being 18 and still not having a single date. "We'll even discuss Mr. Dawson."

Mr. Dawson was Blake and Jonathan's last name so which one did he mean?

"s," he added. Oh, both. I formed a smile followed by a frown. He gave me a knowing smile and I blushed profusely. "Um maybe we could leave one Mr. Dawson out?" I suggested. I was so not going to talk about Blake to him. Just even mentioning Blake, heat radiated from my cheeks. If bro Jack was here, he would have said something like, "Aww...cute." I sighed again I missed bro too.

"He's the cousin of the subject," he informed me. Blake never told me if he had a cousin named Callista. Then again Autumn, I chided myself, you're not supposed to know every aspect of his life, no matter how much I wanted to. A triple sigh. Sighs were my way of not forming tears. I would never want Mr. Rehum to see me crying over something as little as this. I turned on the music and listened to "In the End" by Linkin Park.

Riley glanced at me. "We've reached the end of our car trip." I got out of the car and walked to some cafe with him. I was not conscious of each step I was taking, I was still so depressed, missing someone whom I've never met. If he was there I would have said, "Sometimes I think I need you so badly, I can't go on in life for another day." As cliché as it sounded to me, it rang true. I became more content since I was honest with myself. Riley and I were seated and after we were served, he began our discussion. The real reason for this outing was a delicious treat of apology in disguise.