Not as it seems

Part 2

“Welcome back Ms. Tanner,” said Mr. McRae, the man who attends the door at our headquarters, tipping his hat at me as I approached the door. I smiled back politely before putting my eyes up to the retina scanner. A red beam quickly flashed across my wide, grey eyes twice and a small beep rang out as the shining steel doors before me, slid open effortlessly.

I was soon exposed to an enormous lobby consisting of mostly black marble and steel. Quite a few people were hustling about, probably because it was about six o’clock in the evening and most were still working. The name “Undercover Intelligence Agency” was engraved in large letters on a plaque clearly displayed in the center of the lobby. Of course, most people have heard of the CIA which stands for Central Intelligence Agency, and the UIA is basically the same type of organization except you know, more undercover.

“Hey, Cupcake,” of course, being a spy as well, my dad was able to catch me exactly as I entered the lobby, “how was the mission? I assume you got the recording. I mean, you didn’t run into any trouble did you?” After considering this thought, my Dad began to study me, looking for signs of injury.

See, like me, my dad had the whole average thing down as well- average height, dirty blonde hair like mine, and chocolate brown eyes. He was also wearing casual business clothes, probably since he had some undercover mission, so for a second I almost thought that we were having a normal father-daughter exchange. Almost.

“Relax Dad, I’m perfectly fine. I am a trained spy if you weren’t already aware,” I giggled slightly at his seriousness, “and of course I got the recording. I mean, who do you think I am?”

This caused him to chuckle as he slung his arm around my shoulders while we both headed up one of the spiral staircases towards our living quarters. “Sometimes I just forget that you’ve gotten so grown-up” my dad sighed as he gave my shoulders a squeeze.

“Oh gosh, Dad. Can we please not have this conversation where the father realizes his daughter isn’t ‘daddy’s little girl’ anymore? It’s a little too cliche for me.”

He chuckled again, “Well either way it is true. I’m so proud of you, Avery.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks Dad,” I tried to hide my smile, but he’s a spy. Of course he saw it.

Just as we walked into our apartment the smell of something burning got my attention and soon the high pitched beeping of the fire alarm filled the room.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot,” my mom began repeating this to herself as she frantically went to open the oven and began waving away the smoke. Before my dad and I went to save my mom from her misery, we both gave each other the same look--we were going to be ordering in tonight.

After we helped clear up the kitchen and reset the fire alarm, I went over to give my mom a welcome home hug because she was in Budapest for the past three days on an assignment. Both my parents try to switch on and off between their out of the country assignments, but sometimes it’s unavoidable and I’m stuck home alone. I always beg my parents to take me with them, but they claim that I’m “not quite ready yet,” even though I think I could handle myself just fine.

“So Mom, how did Budapest go?”

“It couldn’t have gone any better. How was your assignment today?”

“Easy as pie,” I shrugged nonchalantly with a smirk on my face, and my mom laughed. “Oh, but before I forget, I’m going to go drop off the recording in Mr. Brinson’s office. Can you guys figure out something for dinner?” I asked my parents and they both nodded.

“I’ll handle it, Holly,” My dad grinned at my mom and she rolled her eyes. I will admit, my mom is an amazing woman and she can do extraordinary things-- like deactivate a bomb  in Times Square during New Years or parachute out of a plane to steal a computer chip from a double agent--but cooking definitely is not one of her fortes.