The Boss Decides
Hi there, Alex Ames here. Hope you will enjoy this story. “The Test” is the sequel to my first full length “Teen Monster Hunters” novel. So if you like this one, please check out "Teen Monster Hunters" on Amazon or any other digital book store. But enough babbling, on with the story!
„Teen Monster Hunters“, now online available in print and as ebook.
“You must be kidding me!” Agent Black uttered and then remembered whom she was talking to and added a quick “Sir!”
“Have you ever seen me making a joke, Agent?” said Director Fletcher, He was addressing her with her title as was his custom because names were not important in the business they were in.
Black stared at her boss and thought for a moment. “When Agent Red had his fortieth birthday and dropped the cake and you told him to eat it off the fl...?”
“Nope, that wasn’t a joke either, though it could have been perceived as one. My comment was purely disciplinary in nature to make him take better care of expensive food the next time.”
Black reconsidered. “Well, then, no, Sir. Never a joke.”
“Then make it so!” Director Fletcher said.
“Is this an order?” Black replied.
“Have you ever seen me giving an order and not meaning it?” Fletcher raised an eyebrow, which was the only hair on his head.
“OK, I understand. But as you can see, I am reluctant,” Black muttered.
Fletcher stared at her. “It’s not called an order for nothing. It’s meant to be followed; your personal opinion is not relevant. We are defending democracy, we don’t practice it!”
“Sir, it is not so much a personal opinion, but more a matter of practicalities.”
“That might be, but it is still an order. And we are a paramilitary organization, and we work on orders. Orders are our bread-and-butter. And that means, Agent Black, no pumpernickel with honey for you.”
“Your analogy makes sense, Sir.”
“They always do, Agent.”
Black continued to stand before Fletchers’ office desk. Fletcher looked at his best agent. Black had come from the military service, ex-Army Ranger, the best of the best. Her hair was black, and she had a serious face with a small but visible scar above her left eye. Years of training had made her fit and muscular. Now she was all weapons, all situations, and a lot of brain. He had recruited her himself five years ago and trusted her insights and opinions.
“You are dismissed, Agent,” he said.
“Sir, with permission.”
“I respect you, Agent Black, but don’t overdo it. I only listen to you because you know more ways of killing me than I know ice cream flavors.”
“They are constantly developing new ice-cream flavors, Sir. With a little research you might be ahead of my....”
“Black, go on!”
“I don’t like involving kids into this,” Black said. “The youngest is thirteen, for God’s sake, and the oldest one is a mentally challenged guy with the speed of a panda, and not the Kung-Fu kind. And the middle one, well, there is potential in her, but she is fifteen. Fifteen! Do we want to entrust matters of global and interstellar security in the hands of three teenagers?”
“I read your post-op report from the Hawthorne affair, Black. Even you were impressed by them.”
“To be totally honest, I think they just stumbled into something, were in over their heads, and were just lucky that we bailed them out.”
“Your report sounded different.”
“Because I might have been inclined to making the operation sound a bit more favorable than it actually might have been,” Black admitted and her ears grew red, a trait she hated in herself.
“You spiked the report?”
“No spiking, Sir,” Black pedaled back. “Just... creative word-smithing.”
“And now creativity is exploding on your face?”
“Yes Sir, totally.”
“Rightfully so. This gives me even more pleasure of ordering you to bring the kids in and test them for operational duty,” Director Fletcher said.
Black breathed in and out, counted mentally to three. “All right, Sir.”
“Dismissed, Agent. Thank you.”
“Sir,” Black started again.
“What now?” Fletcher asked.
“And do you really want to bring them here?”
Fletcher stared at her. “What’s wrong with our facilities? We do all our second line evaluations here.”
“A lot of top secret stuff going on.”
“So?”
“They are kids, Sir. If we don’t take care, the Montgomery kid might make a live YouTube event out of it.”
“Give them a talk, show them the lay of the land. We want to bring them in, right?”
“There is ‘in’ and there is ‘in’, Sir. If you know what I mean,” Black argued.
“You don’t need to show them the launch codes,” Fletcher pointed out. “And keep them away from the other staff and the habitats. Just involve the people required for the evaluation.”
“But...”
“Black, the kids kept their promise and stayed mum about the Hawthorne affair?”
“Yes, Sir, they did.”
“Was that super-sensitive and top-secret?”
“Yes, Sir, it was.”
“Then what makes you think they will report to the New York Times right after their tests here?”
“Nothing, Sir. Just saying.”
“Black. We are back at the beginning of this conversation.”
“We are, Sir.”
“Are we any further ahead than when I first gave my orders?
“Not a single bit, Sir! You are a rock!”
“Dismissed.”
“Yes, Sir,”
“Get out of my sight.”
“Yes, Sir!” Fletcher turned around and left her boss’s office.
