Part Five
or: the boss, the spy, and the secretary
New to this story? Read the first part here!
Missed Part Four? Read it here!
The first person Myla and Reina saw as they walked into the Washington field office was Amy, the secretary. As usual, she was dressed in jarringly bright colors that nonetheless looked lovely on her.
“Myla! Reina!” She came around her desk to give Reina a hug. Myla stepped back before Amy could subject her to one, too.
“Is Tom here?” she asked instead.
Amy nodded solemnly. “He’s waiting for you,” she replied quietly, glancing around as though someone might overhear.
“How is he?” Reina asked.
“Annoyed.”
“Well, let’s not keep him waiting then,” Myla determined, and motioned for Reina that it was time to go.
Tom was an odd sort of boss, Myla thought as they walked down the hallway. He’d been a field agent, many years ago, and had gotten a bullet in his leg for it. Refusing to retire, he was installed as the head of the Washington field office, where he tried to live vicariously through the lives of the agents he was in charge of. This meant insisting that everyone called him by his first name, acting like he was half his age, and pretending he was a cool friend instead of an overbearing boss.
“Myla. Reina,” Tom greeted them when they came into his office. He shook each of their hands firmly before sitting down in a chair that he believed was more majestic than it actually was.
“Hello, Tom,” Myla replied.
“Hi, Tom.”
“Let’s get right down to business, shall we?” The girls didn’t reply, and after an awkward pause, Tom nodded and continued. “The President of the United States has gone missing. On your watch. And if that wasn’t enough, you then disobeyed orders.”
This was news to Myla. “We did? How?”
“Didn’t I tell you to go to the police station?”
“But we did go to the station,” Reina piped up.
“You didn’t say how long we had to stay there,” Myla added, guessing at Tom’s point. He sighed, in that sort of ‘I’m not mad, I’m disappointed’ way that parents sometimes do.
“It was implied that you should stay there until the officers let you leave.”
“But they thought we were suspects,” Myla explained. “Detective Williams was going to waste time interrogating us while the trail went cold.”
“And that leads us to the rest of your misdeeds. Starting your own investigation!? What were you thinking?”
“We wanted to help,” Reina said plaintively.
“It was a rhetorical question, Reina. The point here is that I’m putting you on probation.”
“What!?” This came from both girls. Sure, they’d done some things they shouldn’t have. And yeah, this wasn’t the first time that had happened. But… they were really good agents, even if it didn’t seem like it sometimes. After all, not everyone got to protect the POTUS.
“You heard me,” their boss confirmed.
“But–”
“No, Myla! This is the last straw. You’re lucky I’m not firing you two.” This stopped the girls from even thinking about further protests. “Now, along with being suspended, I’m assigning an agent to keep an eye on you.”
“You’re going to spy on us?” Reina asked incredulously.
“Not spy. Aven is just going to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t get in trouble.” Myla’s scowl deepened as Tom called Aven into the room. They’d met before.
“Hello, Myla. Hi, Reina,” Aven said, nodding to each of them. Myla squinted at her suspiciously.
“Aven generously offered to be the one to keep an eye on you, so I hope you don’t give her any trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” Myla and Reina responded, as though they were schoolchildren in the principal’s office. Tom gave them all a few more instructions—which Myla studiously ignored—and then they were dismissed.
As they walked back down the familiar hallway, Reina began pestering Aven, who seemed puzzled but answered every question. Myla listened carefully, trying to find any weaknesses in their spy that she might exploit. Unfortunately, Aven seemed like a good, if very boring, Secret Service agent. That is, until they made it back to Amy at the front desk.
“You’re done already?” she seemed surprised.
“I guess so,” Myla replied. “I think Tom wanted to get rid of us as fast as possible.”
Amy gave them a sympathetic look. “Yeah… I heard about your probation. But at least Aven’s with you, so you know things won’t be boring!”
Myla looked at Aven sideways, trying to figure out what interest Amy had in her. The secretary had also turned to Aven, continuing her chatter on a new topic.
“And Aven, I hope everything works out,” she said. “With that love triangle and all. Let me know what happens, ‘kay?”
“It’s not really a love triangle,” Aven protested. Her words were calm, but her cheeks flushed bright red, betraying her. This was a weakness to exploit if Myla had ever seen one.
They started heading out, but Amy wasn’t done yet.
“Y’know, if I were you, I’d break both their hearts,” she advised.
“This is why you’re not in a love triangle, Amy!” Aven called as the door closed behind her. Reina snickered a little.
“Do you know where My Car is?” Myla asked.
“Yes, actually. A police officer named Nolan Valentine dropped it off before you got here. He also mentioned that Reina took his… fidget spinner?”
“Whoops,” Reina said, pulling the spinner out of her pocket. “I’ll return it to him.”
The three agents located My Car, and Aven insisted that she drive, being the oldest and the only one not on probation.
“Fine with me,” Myla agreed as she got into the passenger seat. She tried to hide her smile as Aven started the car. The engine wasn’t loud, but there was a second hum underneath it that you could only noticed if you were looking for it. Hearing it, Myla gave up and grinned.
“My Car!” she exclaimed happily.
“Myla!” My Car replied, with no less joy.
Aven jumped and gave a shriek.