Spy Game
Tanner frowned, almost the perfect impression of hurt surprise, but I ignored it and spun as soon as I heard his office door open. Light footsteps on plush carpet told me exactly where the two grunts behind me were going to be, and a single swing was enough to take both of them down and have them cradling soon-to-be bruised faces.
“Thank you, Director Tanner,” I said, straightening my tie. I'd considered business casual, but felt like I owed it to myself to get dressed up this one last time. Hell or high water, I wasn't leaving this firm, even if I had to burn the building to the ground. My fortieth birthday had come and gone in the last month, and I'd realized just what a heaping bank account and eight Central American governments on my tail got me in life – and that was exactly nothing. With any luck, Tanner would bench me after I botched a few missions, and I could ride a desk until I found someone worth settling with over the long haul. “I'm pleased to be here.”
“This way,” Tanner said, moving his lithe form out from behind the large oak desk. I took a moment to study the head of EPSIS as he swept by me for the door; though he was well-built and had the nondescript features so many spies wanted, he was shorter than any of the others I'd worked for in the industry. From my time around the best and worst the world of professional spying had to offer, I knew that Tanner's height was something of an inside joke, and something he took very seriously.
“What do you think of our new HQ?” He asked as we stepped out into the main hallway. “I know you've seen our old one at least once.” Tanner smiled at that – it was no secret I'd been able to infiltrate six out of the ten top agencies in the world during my time on the job, and EPSIS had been the first. Ten years ago, they'd just been breaking into the business, and while they didn't have anything worth taking when I slipped inside, I'd done it more to prove I could than for any other reason. My boss at the time hadn't even ordered the mission, but was quick enough to take credit once he realized what I had been doing with my spare time.
“I like it,” I said, reaching out to strong-arm the tall man hiding in a branching hallway. This was standard fare for a new contract position, but I was growing weary of the game. Thought Tanner wasn't the best in the business, I'd at least hoped for something new. “It's a shorter drive from home.”
The little man shot me a dark glare, but there wasn't really anything he could say in response to my thinly veiled and not particularly funny insult. Calling me on it would just be awkward, and my statement wasn't so far out of bounds that he'd even be able to prove I meant anything by it. I did, of course, but that was because I liked to push and see what I could get away with every time I met a new supervisor. Some thought I was a laugh riot, others wanted me dead after the first words from my mouth. Tanner seemed to lie somewhere in the middle – a pleasant lack of interest either way, which was exactly why I'd chosen EPSIS. Sure, they paid less than NILCOM, and weren't nearly as exciting as WEX, but they had what I needed at my age – a way out of the game.
Tanner didn't speak again until we reached a gunmetal elevator door, and then waved me inside ahead of him when the door opened. I declined, of course, and he was forced to pretend like there wasn't another EPSIS employee lying in wait above our heads. Halfway through the ride down I couldn't resist and jumped up with an extended fist, striking the hiding man solidly in the midsection. He grunted but didn't fall, and Tanner pretended as though nothing had happened. I smiled. Perfect.
Exit into the basement brought us exactly where I'd expected – the gadget lab. Every agency needed one to stay competitive, and they were the main targets whenever a raid was conducted. Most of the technology in the field was similar, owing to the massive amounts of intellectual property theft that went on behind the scenes. For my part, I didn't care where my tech came from or who designed it so long as it worked. I'd left WEX for just that reason – their ops were high-level, but they tried to cut corners on gear. Three agents were killed by their own tech in the time I was there, and that was enough to get me out the door. Danger I could handle, so long as it was coming from somewhere else. If it was a ticking time-bomb somewhere on my own body that might go off the next time I made a phone call or tried to poison-dart a guard, I wasn't interested.
“Agent Gelnik,” Tanner pulled my attention back to his underground lab, “I'd like you to meet Doctor Stephanie Mell.”
“A pleasure, Agent.” The voice came with a slow drawl from a tall redhead I'd never seen before. I knew most of the brains hired by the agencies over the years, but Dr. Mell must have been a new addition to the EPSIS team, a far cry from the standard collection of old men with wild hair and a thousand whirling ideas on how to do science!
“I couldn't agree more, Dr. Mell.” It was a bit smarmy, I'll grant, but she was stunning. Though the white lab coat she had on was pristine and perfectly tailored, it only served to shore up the fact that she was a woman of near-perfect proportions. Not one of the stick-figures I'd seen so many times over the course of missions, breakable things sent by their masters to seduce and then poison me, but a real woman, with curves in the right places and a brain to match. Of all the dangers Tanner had thrown my way, this was the only one that posed a real risk.
“I'll let you two get acquainted,” Tanner turned on his heel and walked for the elevator. “Come see me when you're done, Gelnik – your first mission starts tonight.”
I nodded, not really listening. This was going to be trouble.
- D
No comments:
Post a Comment