The Agent's Daughter (8 page)

When Karl saw Evan, he dropped the free
weights that he was holding. They fell to the floor with a loud
crash.

“
Hello, Evan,” Karl said.
He made sure that he said Evan’s name with an inflection like it
was painful to say.

“
Nice to see you, Karl,”
Evan responded with appropriate sarcasm.

Karl selected a different set of weights
from the rack and continued to lift. “I hear that you are going to
try that hang glider stunt again. Always trying to show off.”

Evan scoffed. “I wouldn’t exactly classify
it as a stunt. I just suggested that a hang glider would be an
excellent way to get in close to that base and get out again. I
never suggested who would do it. If you would like to take my
place, the mission briefing is at three o’ clock.”

Karl dropped his weights again, walked over
to Evan, and stood right in front of him. “This mission is an
example of the crap that would not be happening if I were in charge
of the agents.”

“
You? In charge of the
agents?” Evan said as he laughed out loud. “What makes you think
that you ever would be put in charge of this place?”

“
It’s no secret that
Arthur is nearing retirement age,” Karl said. “It’s time that they
put an experienced agent in charge. Not one of those tools guys and
certainly not someone from outside the agency.”

Evan thought for a moment. He had not heard
that Arthur was retiring, but it made sense as he had seemed rather
aloof in the last few months.

Karl put his hand on Evan’s shoulder. “When
he retires, and they look for a replacement, I’m betting on
me.”

Evan lifted Karl’s hand off his shoulder and
turned to head for the locker room. “I wouldn’t bet all my chips on
that.”

…………………………
.

Evan entered the waiting area of Arthur’s
office and walked up to the desk of the administrative
assistant.

“
Hello, Mildred,” Evan
said as he approached. “Is Arthur available?”

Mildred had worked for Arthur since he
became head of the agency and she was a fixture outside his office.
She had a Midwestern charm and a ready smile for everyone.

“
Why, it is so nice to see
you, Evan,” Mildred said, “but you and I both know that he doesn’t
like to have people just show up at his office. And he’s not in a
particularly happy mood today.”

Evan gave her a serious look. “This is
important. Could you ask him if he has a few minutes?”

“
All right,” she said as
she winked at Evan. “Just you have a seat. I’ll be right
back”

Mildred got up and disappeared into Arthur’s
office. Evan sat down on one of the couches in what had to be the
largest office waiting area in town. As the head of the agency,
Arthur had a large budget at his discretion. Evan looked around at
the décor, and figured that a fair amount of the budget had gone
into his office.

“
He said that he has a few
minutes,” Mildred said as she returned.

Evan got up from the couch and headed for
the office door. “Thank you, Mildred,” he said as he went
inside.

Arthur stood up behind his desk as Evan
entered. “Come on in and sit down.”

Evan took a seat in one of the two chairs in
front of Arthur’s desk.

“
What’s on your mind,
Evan?” Arthur said.

“
I’m going to need a
sitter,” Evan replied. “For a couple of days.”

Agents with children that went on missions
sometimes requested that the agency place someone in the home of
the agent while they were away. Such as, if the spouse were
uncomfortable being alone or as in Evan’s case if there were no
spouse at home. The agency had a separate department comprised of
individuals whose job it was to stay at an agent’s house and serve
as a form of bodyguard. The name of the department was Agent
Assistance, but the agents just called them sitters. The people
within the Agent Assistance department weren’t too keen on the
nickname because they were mostly young men fresh out of the armed
forces.

“
Hmm,” Arthur said as he
arched is brow. “You know you don’t need me to get that done.
Mildred can take care of that. In fact, you never come down here to
see me at all, to my gratitude. It would seem that there is
something else on your mind.”

Evan sat back in his chair and smiled.
“You’re right. I’ve heard rumors that you may be retiring. I just
wanted to hear from you what your plans were.”

“
Angling for my job, are
we?” Arthur said.

This prompted both Arthur and Evan to laugh.
Arthur had told Evan several times over the years that he would be
a perfect replacement when Arthur retired. Every time, Evan had
told him that he had no interest in heading the agency.

“
The rumors are true,”
Arthur said. “I have been the director of this agency for a long
time. It is about time that I retire while I can still fish. I have
not decided the exact date, but it will be soon. Why are you
asking?”

Evan took a more serious tone. “I ask
because there is someone that I know that is acutely interested in
replacing you. If that happens, it influences my future with the
agency.”

“
Karl,” Arthur said,
shaking his head.

Evan did not answer.

Arthur leaned forward on his desk. “You and
I both know that there is a congressional committee made up of
presidential appointees that oversee this organization. It is there
as a safeguard, owing to the extreme secretive nature of our work
and the potential for the abuse of power by the President. I answer
to them, and they choose my successor. They do not tend to choose
ex-agents for the position so I wouldn’t worry about Karl getting
the job.”

“
Why don’t they choose
ex-agents?” Evan asked.

“
The committee is made up
of bureaucrats and pencil pushers,” Arthur said. “People who have
been appointed as a political favor. They are people that have
attended the finest schools and consider people that didn’t to be
beneath them. Their perception is that agents are reckless and not
all that bright. They believe that the supervision over the agency
would be less strict and that the agents would get away with
whatever they wanted.”

“
That would be funny if it
weren’t so sad,” Evan said.

“
If you would let me
submit your name, I will try to push them to make an
exception.”

“
Thank you for the offer,”
Evan said. “I’m afraid I’m still not interested.”

Arthur leaned back in his chair. “Fair
enough. Now, let’s see about getting you a sitter.” He pressed the
intercom button on his desk. “Mildred, would you bring in the
Agency Assistance personnel list? Thank you.”

Arthur turned back to Evan. “I hear from the
studio that your daughter has stopped her martial art studies.”

“
That is correct,” Evan
said. “She has gone through a difficult time since Laura’s
accident, and I am not pushing her.”

“
I don’t need to remind
you of the agency’s interest in the situation,” Arthur said,
leaning back in his chair. “You let me know if there is anything
that I can do.”

“
I understand,” Evan said.
“Thank you.”

Mildred entered the room carrying a printout
of all of the people in the Agent Assistance department that were
available. It had their name, age and a brief biography. She handed
the list to Evan.

Evan scanned the list until he came to a
name he recognized. He smiled and held up the list for Arthur to
see. “I want her.”

“
Angela Coleman?” Arthur
asked. “Quite a surprising choice. You do realize that she is about
your age. Not that there is anything wrong with being
forty-something.”

“
She is an ex-agent,” Evan
said. “And she is a fifth-degree black belt in four different forms
of martial arts. I pity anyone of any age that messes with
her.”

“
Then it is done,” Arthur
said, standing up from his chair. “We’ll send her over to your
house this afternoon. Is there anything else on your mind?
Tomorrow’s mission perhaps? Your first mission in a
while.”

“
Piece of cake,” Evan said
as he stood to leave. “Thank you for your time.”

…………………………
.

Melina sat on the school bus looking out the
window. Her dad could drop her and her brother Travis off at school
in the morning, but he was unable to get off work early enough to
pick them up. That meant that they were forced to take the bus on
the way home. Their neighbor, Mrs. Baker was kind enough to
volunteer to watch them until her dad got home from work. She would
not accept any money either. Mrs. Baker said that since her husband
had died, it was just lovely to have someone else in the house.

Melina had been sitting on the bus for a
while already when she spied Jean leaving the school building. For
some reason, the school dismissed the advanced classes early, so
each day Melina got to the bus five minutes before everyone else.
It worked out well as she could get a decent seat, within the
bounds of the seating hierarchy that existed on the bus, of
course.

The back of the bus was the top of the
hierarchy. It was populated by the recognized popular crowd as well
as any juniors or seniors that were not thought of as total geeks.
There did not tend to be many juniors and seniors that rode the bus
as anyone that had a driver’s license or that had a friend with a
license wanted no part of the bus scene. Technically, what was
considered the back of the bus for popularity purposes extended
forward to include the four rows up to, but not including, the
emergency exit row. The large section of middle rows was populated
by the anonymous nobodies. The average student. These kids were not
particularly popular, but were not notorious for just how unpopular
they were. The notoriously unpopular sat at the very front. It
worked out well as they needed to be near the bus driver, so they
would not be picked on by those in the back.

Melina was sitting in the emergency exit
row. Not because she wanted to be in the first row adjacent to the
popular back section, but because Jean was claustrophobic and felt
better if she sat where there was an exit. She made Melina promise
not to tell anyone about it.

Jean boarded the bus and made her way toward
the back. “Excuse me, madam. Is this seat taken?” she said as she
plopped down in the seat next to Melina.

Melina looked down her nose at Jean and gave
her a prim look. “Not at all. By all means, madam. Please sit down.
I should welcome the company.”

“
When did you get a
British accent?” Jean asked.

“
About the same time you
started referring to people as
madam
.”

They both smiled. They went through this
every day in one form or another. It was their usual.

“
So,” Jean started. “Is
there anything else to report on the Alex front?”

“
No,” Melina said. “We
have physics in the morning, but we have just that one class
together in the afternoon. We sit close together, but there was no
opportunity to talk in class today. Frerking lectured the whole
time. That lady is so dull she could kill me with her
voice.”

“
Did you get to talk at
all?” Jean asked.

“
I talked to him for a few
minutes after class,” Melina said. “We are going to get together at
my house sometime this week to start work on our
project.”

Jean smiled. “Just let me know what day.
I’ll come over and help you two out. Wink. Wink.”

“
Uh, no thank you Miss
Jean,” Melina said, with full eye roll. “I think that I can handle
this myself. We are not getting together tonight, why don’t you
come over and hang out. ”

Jean shook her head. “Can’t. My mom invited
the ladies that she plays cards with over tonight, and she asked if
I would help her out. How about this weekend. You have any
plans?”

“
Why, yes I do,” Melina
said. “You will never guess what my dad and I are going to
do.”

“
You’re finally going to
visit the History of Barbeque Museum downtown?”

Melina smiled. “Uh, no. I can’t believe that
you went to that.”

“
What can I say,” Jean
said. “I loves me some barbeque. I can’t believe that you were born
in Texas and have not been there. I thought it was required of the
natives.”

Melina grabbed Jean by the arm. “My dad is
going to practice driving with me this weekend.”

“
Whoa,” Jean said. “This
is huge for your dad.”

“
Yeah,” Melina said. “My
driver education instructor sent home a note that said that if I
did not practice at home that I was in danger of not passing the
class. I’m trying not to push my dad too hard about it, but he just
needs to stop worrying about me so much. It seems like he is afraid
of everything.”

“
Well. It sounds like
things might be working out for him,” Jean said. “Just go with it
for now.”

Melina looked away in imagination. “I can
see it now. I’ll get my license. My dad will let me use the car,
and we can escape the hell that is this bus ride. Won’t that be
awesome?”

Jean did not respond. Instead, she looked
toward the front of the bus. “Isn’t that your little brother
getting on the bus? He’s in seventh grade.”

“
Yeah,” Melina said,
looking at the front of the bus. “As part of the Castle Grant that
he won, he is going to be taking a few classes here at the high
school a couple of days a week. One of the teachers comes and picks
him up from his school. They are apparently setting up some new lab
here just for him. Today is his first day.”