The Spy You Trust

Chapter 2

Molly woke up with her face lying on papers. She must’ve fallen asleep while looking through the cop’s evidence on her parent’s case. She stretched her arms out and let out a big yawn. She grabbed the back of her chair and turned her upper body around to crack her back. She happened to catch a glance of her alarm clock. It read 8:27.

“s**t! I’m beyond late!” She jumped out of her chair and ran towards her dresser. The 20 pairs of the exact same shirts stared at her. It wasn’t much of a choice seeing as she was forced to wear the same outfit every day. Changing took point two seconds, and then she was out the door. Instead of going to the gym room like she did every day, she went to her boss’s office. She was told at lights out last night that she had a meeting with him at 8:30. It took 10 minutes just to get to his office from her room, so she was sure to be late. When she turned the corner, she quickly jumped into one of the two seats outside of his office. The other seat was occupied by a man who looked like he had to be at least 40. She put her head between her legs and tried to catch her breath. As she got older, it was getting harder for her to run as fast as she had when she was little.

“You alright there, Barbie?” The man next to her asked.

Molly sat up slowly and looked at him. “What did you say?”

The man grunted and readjusted himself in the chair. “I said you alright there, Barbie?”

“My name’s Molly, thank you very much. I’m fine. I’m just late for my appointment.”

“Ah. I see. You have an appointment with Director Marcello this morning.”

“Yeah. You don’t happen to have the time do you?”

The man looked down at his watch. “It’s 8:31. What time was your appointment?”

Molly let out a breath of air. “8:30. I just barely made it in time. Do you have an appointment too?”

“Yes.” He continued to look forward without any explanation.

“Ok, Mr. Talkative.” Molly rolled her eyes and looked down at her shoes. One tennis shoe was untied, so she reached down to tie it. As soon as she bent down the door opened.

Carrie, the assistant, walked out. “Molly. Director Marcello will see you now.”

* * *

Molly fidgeted in her chair while Marcello looked through papers. She had been sitting there for five minutes already, and he hadn’t said a word to her other than telling her to take a seat. She studied him as she sat there. His face was a face she would never be able to forget. He was the first person she saw after she found her parents. He had gray, balding hair and some stubble for a beard and mustache. Marcello was an old friend of her parents. He took her into his arms and from that moment on, she belonged to him. He adopted her right away and brought her to the institution a week later. For being her adoptive father, she rarely got the chance to see him; but that was ok with her because he reminded her of a time she’d prefer to forget. Finally she couldn’t handle the wait anymore.

“So, um, are you gonna tell me why you wanted to see me today or not?”

Marcello chuckled and realigned a stack of papers together. “You always were an impatient child weren’t you?”

“I’m not a child anymore” Molly mumbled.

“Hm? What was that?”

“Nothing. So why am I here?”

“Well, Molly, you’re 17 now. I think it’s time you finally went out.” Marcello folded his hands together in front of himself and smiled.

Molly just sat there. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Really?” She said in disbelief. “You’re gonna let me go out? On my own?”

“Well not alone. Not on your first time, but yes. I think it’s about time youʼve had your first mission. You’ve been training for it for 13 years.”

“Thank you so much! So who’s going with me? Charles? Please don’t tell me itʼs gonna be Layla. If it is, I’d prefer to wait to go by myself.”

Marcello smirked. “No it’s not gonna be Charles or Layla. It’s one of our older agents. Agent Durell.”

Molly had never heard of him before. “Ok. When am I gonna meet him?”

“Right now. Durell!” Marcello hollered outside the door.

Molly turned around to see who was coming in. She held back a groan when she saw the same man that she was talking to in the waiting room walk in. Durell took the seat next to Molly.

“Emphasis on the old.” She mumbled rolling her eyes.

“Nice to see you again, Barbie.” Durell said as he sat.

“I already told you my nameʼs Molly.” Molly shrunk in her chair while Director Marcello started to debrief them.

“I see you two have already met. Well this will make everything easier. Now. Letʼs get started on your debriefing.”

He stood up and started a projection. “This is the Museum of Modern Art. Two days ago this sapphire was taken out of the vault at 2:37 a.m.” A picture of a jewel showed up on the screen. It then switched to mug pictures of known thieves. “This is Zane Finnick and his younger brother Blake. They have been known to steal similar items from museums before.” Marcello turned off the projector and sat back down. “This is your mission. Investigate the Finnick brothers and find that sapphire. You have 48 hours. Now get out of my office.”

Molly got up and turned to leave. She paused when she noticed that Durell hadnʼt moved. “Are you coming?”

“I still have a few things to talk to the Director about. Iʼll be along shortly, Barbie.”

“Stop calling me that!” Molly stomped out of the office and slammed the door.