Presidents, Spies, and Boys, Oh My!

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The chauffeur (whom I had since learned was named Richard) turned down another corner onto the Vauxhall bridge. From there, I got my first look at the MI6 headquarters. I gasped, stricken with awe. The architecture of the building was unique but, strangely, it fit in perfectly where it was. Vauxhall Bridge was busy and we reached the headquarters building in ten minutes (TEN FREAKING MINUTES!)

Richard pulled into the parking garage, which was underground, and flashed an ID card to a guard carrying what I recognized to be an AR-15 machine gun. In other words, a very deadly gun. The guard nodded, peering in the car for a minute to check our other ID's. Following Garret's lead, I pulled out my CIA ID and showed it to him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Aren't you a bit too young to be working for the CIA, love?" he asked in a suspicious tone.

I felt offended. Of course not! I am a CIA employee, aren't I? Besides, there are agents younger than me from both Project N and the normal recruitment...that's a long and, might I add, classified story. 

"She's part of the Project N program, Nigel." Leland said.

The guard, Nigel, nodded, all the confusion wiped straight off his face. I bit back a frosty (and not so ladylike) retort as I shoved my ID back into my pocket. Nigel let us through and soon we were parked and inside the MI6 building. Despite the fact that I was in a totally different country, it seemed normal for me. People chatted over coffee cups and walked purposefully around the headquarters. I followed Garret and Leland, feeling strangely at home among all the other spies.

"Ember, Garret, unfortunately we don't have visitors passes at the moment. Could you both use your CIA ID's for the moment?" Leland asked us as we passed through a metal detector manned by another guard with half of his nose missing.

A chill ran up my spine. Life as a spy is never, ever normal. Ever. I gave him my best smile as I walked through the metal detector and showed him my CIA ID.

Again, he gave me the same look Nigel had but didn't speak. He moved onto Garret and let us go about our business. Leland ushered us to an elevator, pressing the button to summon it. My shoes clicked over the polished marble floors.

"Leland, where exactly are we going?" I asked as the elevator doors opened with a ding.

We filed into the elevator and Leland pressed a button for the seventh floor. The doors slid shut and the elevator lurched as it began it's ascent.

"We're going to meet your new partners, Miss Rhinehart. They are going to be assigned to guard the royal family due to the death of their previous agent."

Death of the previous agent? A million ways on how that agent could have died ran through my head like a whacked-out slideshow. None were pretty. Jeez. I nodded.

"Um, how exactly did the previous agent die?" I asked.

Leland cleared his throat.

"I'm afraid that's classified, Miss Rhinehart."

Oh. Duh. Of course. I'm such an idiot.

"Right. That makes sense." I answered, clasping my hands behind my back as the elevator lurched to a stop and the doors slid open once again.

Getting off, we entered a hallway lined with conference rooms and offices. Silver plaques on the door read what each room was. The floor was still polished white marble. Leland stopped at a conference room labeled Conference Room A-15. He knocked on the door before opening it. I peered around Garret's shoulder into the room as we filed in. The door slammed shut behind me. I jumped, despite all my years of spy training. Then I cursed myself for doing so. 

"Ah, Miss Rhinehart. Mr. Thompson. Welcome to SIS." said a warm male voice from the long conference table lined with chairs.

I found the source of the voice. Sitting at the head of the table, smiling a warm, welcoming smile, was a man in his late fifties wearing a gray suit and red tie. His salt and pepper hair confirmed his age for me. His green eyes had laugh lines when he smiled and his upperlip was dusted by gray hairs. I sat next to Garret, shaking his hand after the man shook Garret's. Leland sat on the man's right hand side.

"My name is William Burke. I am the director of SIS. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

I plastered a smile on my face and nodded a polite greeting. Garret smiled but looked tense as he laid his hands down on the smooth surface of the mahogany table. His usual calm and collected composure was up, but so was his guard. I tried to mimic his composure but failed miserably. Giving up, I sat back and kept my hands in my lap like a good little spy. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Burke. Let's get down to business, shall we?" Garret answered.

Mr. Burke nodded, his smile falling as he pulled out a manila folder and handed it to me. I took the folder, which had TOP SECRET scrawled across the from in bright red letters, and opened it. Three pictures caught my eyes immediately, paper-clipped to the file. Beneath them, paperwork piled up. 

"Now, Miss Rhinehart, these are three suspicious characters that my agents have been keeping an eye on for quite a while. First, we have Miss Charlotte Hazelle. Miss Hazelle is a former MI5 officer. My sources believe that she mixed herself up in the terrorist network to save her late boyfriend, Mr. Jacob Marsh. If our information is correct, Miss Hazelle was blackmailed by the network. Jacob was found murdered in his flat several weeks ago. The source, a bullet wound to the chest. The injury was fatal and killed him instantly."

I glanced at the picture of Charlotte Hazelle. It was black and white (most likely taken by a security camera in a store or on the streets) and grainy but showed her features clearly enough. Her hair was cut into a short bob style, straightened paper thin. She was petite and small boned, like a bird. Her attire, yoga pants and a sports bra, showed her petite body. Her face was small with a pointed nose. Her eyes, from close analysis, had a slight tilt to them that hinted at Asian blood. Then, thinking about her boyfriend, I thought about Joshua. He had been on the jet, but we hadn't talked. I didn't even see him until we were standing on the runway and boarding the plane. We didn't talk then either. I've had the feeling that Joshua is mad-

"Miss Rhinehart? Miss Rhinehart, are you all right?" a voice cut through.

I shook my head like an Etch-A-Sketch board. Burke, Leland, and Garret were watching me. My cheeks heated in an embarrassed blush. I'm so stupid. 

"I'm sorry, what was that again?" I mumbled.

Burke raised an eyebrow and glanced at Garret and Leland before speaking.

"Miss Rhinehart, is something bothering you? You seem uncomfortable." Burke asked.

I shrugged. Should I tell them? Garret will freak out to hear about Joshua but-

"It's nothing. Before I came here I had a little argument with my boyfriend Joshua-"

Garret's eyebrows shot straight up as he whirled around in his seat to face me.

"Boyfriend?! Did you just say boyfriend?!" he asked, clearly surprised.

Biting my lip and looking down at my lap, I nodded. What came next surprised even me. Garret stood up and grabbed my by the shirt collar, excusing us as he dragged me out into the hallway. Oh. Shit. I'm going to have it now. Time for the fatherly lecture.