The Agent's Daughter (33 page)

“
Of the United States?”
Melina asked with a confused tone in her voice.

“
Are you planning a family
trip to Washington?” Travis asked, very excited.

Before Evan could answer, everyone’s
attention was drawn to a commotion in the hallway just outside the
room.

A moment later, President Elizabeth Stone
walked through the door.

“
Hello everyone,” she said
cheerfully as she looked around the room. When her eyes met Evan’s
she gave him a wink. He knew what she meant. It was The President’s
way of telling Evan that he had done a superb job. He smiled and
nodded back.

Arthur greeted her near the door. “It’s good
to see you Madam President.”

“
I heard about the meeting
this morning,” she said. “I know William’s actions were not your
fault. Thank you for what you did. You have saved me from a painful
and damaging investigation by the Senate.”

“
That was a factor in the
decision to step down,” he said.

“
You are a good man,
Arthur,” she said, extending her hand. “I will always be in your
debt.”

Arthur took her hand and shook it. “It has
been an honor serving your administration.”

She smiled at Arthur and then turned and
walked toward Laura with her arms open wide. “All right, where is
Sleeping Beauty?”

Melina and Travis, eyes wide open slowly
backed up and let the President take their place beside their
mother.

“
Nice of you to stop by,
Madam President,” Laura said, laughing at the absurdity. “Hope it
wasn’t too much trouble?”

President Stone took one of Laura’s hands.
“Not too much. My staff has me making a policy speech in California
this evening. I just made sure we had to stop off in Dallas to
refuel.”

“
Isn’t Air Force One able
to fly across the country without refueling?” Travis asked, not
getting the President’s joke.

“
Travis, honey,” Laura
said. “She was just joking.”

President Stone put her hand on Travis’s
shoulder. “I’m afraid I’m not the best joke teller. I did not truly
make them land the plane to refuel. But I will tell you a little
secret. In addition to stopping by to see how your mother was
doing, I have something to discuss with everyone else in your
family.”

Travis’ eyes widened. “Even me?”

“
Let’s start with you,”
she said. “Now, I understand you were able to crack the agency
password system and break into the network using a new algorithm
that you developed.”

“
Uh… yeah,” he answered.
His face pale as his excitement turned to panic at being busted by
the President.

“
Oh, don’t worry. You are
not in trouble. In fact, your situation is quite the opposite. The
head of information technology security at the agency was so
impressed with your ability that he wants you to come in and brief
his staff on your algorithm.”

“
How about that, big guy,”
Evan said. “You and I can ride into work together.”

Travis raised his arms above his head. “All
right!”

President Stone turned to Melina. “As for
you, dear, I understand you demonstrated exceptional skills and a
level head while you were being held captive yesterday. Almost as
if you were a field agent. Were you aware that there is a co-op
program for college students to work at the agency during the
summer? The students get to learn about all aspects of the agency.
Everything from how the tools group makes those fancy gadgets to
how the field agents learn to blend into their surroundings. The
agency gets thousands of applications, but there are only seven
openings.”

“
That sounds fantastic!”
Melina said.

“
Well, I think you are one
of those rare people that the agency needs more of,” the President
said. “If it is okay with you, I’d like to recommend you for
inclusion into the co-op program this summer.”

Melina looked at her confused. “Um… the
program is for college students. I don’t know if my parents told
you or not, but I’m still in high school.”

“
I know, dear. That
shouldn’t be a problem,” the President said as she winked at
Melina. “Let’s just say that I have some influence with the new
head of the agency.”

This time Evan looked at the President
confused. “Madam President, Arthur just resigned this morning. You
already have his successor in place?”

“
Why, Evan,” the President
said as she turned around. “I rather hoped you would take the
job.”

“
But Arthur said that the
agency oversight committee didn’t want to appoint a field agent
into the position.”

The President laughed. “Phooey. The members
of the agency oversight committee serve at my discretion. If they
don’t want you for the job, then they will be ex-members of the
agency oversight committee.”

Evan turned to Laura. “What do you think?
Should I give up being a field agent and take over the agency?”

“
Let me see now,” Laura
said. “You can either continue being a field agent where you are
frequently away from me and the kids, and are in danger of being
killed, or you can have a nice, safe job where the family is never
without you.”

Evan turned back to the President. “I’ll
take the job.”

…………………………
.

Melina stood at her locker going through the
notebook for her first period physics class. She had been a little
busy over the weekend, so she was fortunate that there was no
homework. That was not the case in math or language arts, but she
would deal with that later.

As she closed her locker, she heard a voice
behind her.

“
Hey.”

She turned around and saw Alex standing
before her, a few feet away.

“
Hey,” she said
back.

Melina had not seen Alex since Saturday
night when she abruptly waved goodbye as Angela led her toward the
car. And she had been rather busy since then. She spent Saturday
night at the safe house and then the next day she got her mother
back. She had wanted to call Alex, but she was not sure where they
stood. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? They had held hands and
hung out together between classes the past week, but they had not
gone out as a couple.

Then there was that kiss.

“
I heard about your mom,”
Alex said. He seemed tentative and unsure.

“
It’s quite the shock,”
Melina said. “I still can’t believe that she is awake. I am so
happy.”

“
Is she home yet?” Alex
asked.

“
No. They are keeping her
there for a few more days for observation, but I am going to visit
her every day. I spent the whole day there yesterday. I got home at
midnight. We had so much to catch up on. I never left her side. It
was incredible. We had long conversations like when she was still
asleep, only this time she answered back.”

Alex smiled but did not say anything. He
looked as if he were thinking about something.

Melina stepped closer to him. “Alex, is
there something wrong?”

He looked away from her down the hall, and
then looked back into her eyes. “Kinda. It’s just that I was
wondering if ...”

And then he tailed off. Melina looked
confused as she waited for him to finish.

“
Alex, what is it?” Melina
asked, unsure what was on his mind.

He took a deep breath and continued. “It’s
just that… well, we kissed the other night and uh… I like you… and
I don’t know if you feel the same… and well, I, uh we didn’t get a
chance to talk, so I… uh… don’t know how you felt about the kiss.
And… uh… I was wondering if you wanted to be boyfriend and
girlfriend?”

That sounded way smoother when he rehearsed
it at home.

Melina paused for a moment to collect her
thoughts. “Alex, I-”

“
Hey, Alex!” a voice
behind him said.

He turned around and saw Ellen Barrow
standing in front of him.

“
Not now, Ellen,” Melina
said stiffly.

“
What?” she sniffed. “Did
I interrupt a serious conversation? What could this geek possibly
have to talk to you about?”

“
We were kinda talking
about something important,” Alex said as he turned to Melina. “I
had a question for her.”

Melina smiled and looked him in the eyes.
“And I have an answer.”

She walked up to Alex, put her arms around
his neck, and pressed her lips to his. He closed his eyes, put his
arms around her waist and kissed her back. This kiss was even
better than the last one. And longer too. They would not have
stopped, but the five-minute bell rang.

When Melina opened her eyes, she saw dozens
of her fellow students frozen at their lockers, their eyes wide
open. She also spied the back of Ellen’s head as she stormed down
the hall toward her locker.

“
You certainly have a way
with words,” Alex said as he stepped back and gathered
himself.

“
Nothin’ to see here. Move
along,” Melina said laughing as she waved her arm in the direction
of the gawkers.

“
Nothing to see where?”
Jean said as she walked up to Melina. She greeted Alex with a soft
punch to the arm.

Melina shrugged.

Jean gave Melina a giant hug. “Oooh. I got
your text. I’m so happy about your mom.”

“
Thanks Jean,” Melina said
as she reached over to shut her locker. “Come with us, I’ll tell
you about it on the way.”

Melina held out her hand to Alex. He smiled
and took it, their fingers gently interlocked.

“
Let’s go,” Melina said as
they started down the hall.

Halfway down the hall, Melina noticed Ellen
Barrow standing in front of her locker. Then she remembered
something Jean had said to her the previous week.

“
Hold on a sec,” Melina
said as she broke away from Alex and Jean and walked toward
Ellen.

Ellen was talking with a few of her
followers when Melina approached.

“
What do you want?” Ellen
said coldly as she took a sip out of the bottled water in her
hand.

Melina stood in front of Ellen and held out
her arm. Then she slowly raised it. As she did, water from the
water bottle began to rise out of it. As it did, it formed a
perfect column in mid-air as if it were being poured out, only
straight up.

Then Melina flicked her fingers and the
water column sprayed into Ellen’s face, soaking her.

“
I’ll tell you what I
want,” Melina said. “Stay away from my boyfriend, or I will break
both your arms.”

Melina turned and walked back toward Alex
and Jean.

“
I see you still have that
ugly watch,” Alex said as he gave Melina a knowing
glance.

“
How did you do that?”
Jean asked, still looking back at Ellen trying to dry
herself.

Melina smiled. “Oh, it’s just a little trick
my dad taught me.”

###