Life of Maggie Marshall

A Week Later... *edited*

Westminster Base Camp: A Week Later

8:00am

Today is the start date of my mission; I am absolutely determined to find Leon. There is a soft tingle in my bones and a spring in my step. Nancie even noticed I was in a good mood. She had been on cloud nine since she had been accepted at the SASDT. I will miss her when she goes.

 I hear a soft knock on the door and I give the person permission to enter. It’s Nancie.

‘Morning,’ she says with a bright smile.

‘Hey Nancie, today’s the day,’ I say as I brush my hair back into a high ponytail.

‘You know that the LSA rarely accept new agents if they haven’t done our full training. Well, we have a new agent starting tomorrow,’ she says.

‘Forensics, electronics, engineering, locating, training, testing or observing? You know, FEELTTO?’ I say.

Nancie works in the forensics department; I work in the observation department, my mum in the locating and my dad in the engineering. I wanted to go into the testing department, but my mum and dad said that they would like me to be an observer.

‘They’re in observing, I think,’ replies Nancie.

‘Lucky them,’ I mumble as I lace up my converses.

I love personal missions. You wear your normal clothes; can go anywhere you want, as long as you complete the mission. Nancie isn’t allowed to do a personal mission because she is soon going to be moving to Texas. She is allowed to be my mission assistant though.

I am wearing shorts today. Usually, because it is so wet and damp in London, I rarely where shorts at all. I am wearing denim shorts, white converses and a loose white top with a red star in the center. Nancie is wearing purple shorts with a white top covered in little green butterflies and orange converses. We look quite alright.

I follow Nancie out of the door, but not before I lock my room. WBC (Westminster Base Camp) is so vast, that we accommodate 199 agents and we have 21 spare rooms. The 400 others agents either have their own home or have accommodation at another base. I love my room, floor 5, room 219. Nancie’s room is 218 and the room next to me is empty.

When I was 13, Nancie and I made a secret entrance to get into each other’s rooms after dark. It was a bit like a secret door, but Layla Constance, a horrid agent who I hated, found out and told our Head of Base. Layla left two years ago because she was moving to New York.

Nancie and I walk side-by-side down floor 5 corridor. All the corridors to bedrooms have velvety red carpet and the doors are wooden and gold. I love it here. We step into the lift and descend to floor -4. This is where all the locating devices are kept. I pass my mum in the office. Every floor above ground floor is beautifully old and decorated with ornate decorations and wood. Below ground floor everything is glass and metal. It’s because all rooms above ground floor are either meeting rooms or bedrooms. Rooms below are technological spy rooms.

We find a free computer in the corner of a location room and start work. First of all, we log onto the government records and look for Leon. Nothing. His name does not exist apparently.

‘What the heck?’ says Nancie.

‘He does exist, I mean, you saw him right?’ I say, an unusual humourless laugh in my voice.

‘Yes, definitely. Something’s up, Maggie. He has been erased from records. It could be temporary, when spy records change they take them off the site ,’ says Nancie.

‘Why would his record change though?’ I say, frowning at the screen.

‘I don’t know, but I think we should discuss it over a smoothie,’ says Nancie.

‘Good plan,’ I say as we shut down the computer.