Double Agent

○ eight ○

I follow the random girl through the office until we reach metal double doors. She scans her eye into a contraption on the wall.

"Welcome, Agent Ford."

His sister, or cousin.

I can't see the room at first, because we seem to be in a containment chamber. It back-flashes blue, and a white fog coats us, before a sensor scans us up and down.

We walk into a pristine white lab. Scientists in white lab coats carry trays and apparatus around. Machines beep and microscopes litter the room. On a screen are live culture cameras of the things I believe are in incubators at the far end of the room.

She puts on her own coat, laying some test tubes and a few agar dishes on the table.

"I'm Anna. It's nice to meet you. This won't take too long," she smiles warmly.

She pricks my finger, drawing blood and mixing it with some other shit. She checks my blood pressure, blood oxygen, blood sugar, and asks me to pee in a cup. I spit into a little container and she performs tests on that too. She takes skin samples, putting them into a plastic dish and storing them.

Then she gets out a computer, asking me for all my information. So I tell her everything. Who I am, where I come from, what I was.

Name? Isadora Liana Rinaldi.

Date of birth? 14th October, I think. I haven't celebrated it in a long time.

Parents? Luca Rinaldi and Paula Rossi.

Occupation? Working for your brother.

Relatives? Heavy silence. I don't have any more family.

Allergies? Don't know. But none till now.

Identification? None, I was knocked out and then taken before I could retrieve my ID card.

Place of birth? Palermo, Italy.

Education? Taught by a maid, Lucienne, because my mother forgot about my education after the second grade. Read the encyclopaedia a few times, and a lot of newspapers. I don't say that though. I say I don't know. I don't want to seem stupid in front of this gorgeous, smart-looking sciency brunette. I sigh. I probably looked so fucking stupid and naive to everyone who saw me walk through this goddamn building.

"Okay, this next part will be a headache because you do have to do a general knowledge test and then an IQ test. Then a few short subject tests. It will be quite long but you'll manage."

I groan internally as she passes me a sleek tablet propped up and hands me a stylus.

The tests confuse me. I haven't done any in a long time, but I didn't know the questions were going to be common fucking knowlege. It's like they thought I was really stupid or something. I try to ignore the tugging feeling in my heart at the lack of my education.

I take about two hours total for all the tests. She takes the tablet from me to evaluate my results and purses her lip at them. Shit.

She guides me over to a black box lined with a few markers. Handing me a flat headset to put over my eyes, she lets me choose my weapons. A gun, a knife, a crossbow. I grab the knife readily, knowing I was trained to use it by some of the best assassins back home.

"It's a virtual simulation. The thing under you is a moving box. It follows your movements so you always remain in the centre. Dummies will shoot out from the side so you will be dealing with mass, yeah? Be prepared. Your job? Defend yourself. You can feel pain." She attaches a few wires under pieces of tape to my temples and goes to a control panel screen, where I see a layout of my task.