by Marie Astor
“It’s okay, Maddie. Don’t worry about it,” Ally said. Hearing Ron’s name still hurt, but she wasn’t going to admit it. It was unbelievable how quickly Ron had disappeared from her life. After she had given him back the engagement ring, he had been intent on winning her back, assuring her that nothing would change between them. They had spent an awkward week at Duke leading up to graduation. Mr. and Mrs. Graystone had been there too, and the four of them had several more awkward dinners. Viola had even gone so far as to apologize to Ally. After graduation Ally and Maddie left for New York, and Ron went to Boston to intern at his father’s law firm; he was supposed to start law school in the fall. He had promised to visit often, but every weekend he had tried to come up had ended in a cancellation, as he’d been too busy at work. Slowly, Ron’s phone calls began to grow further and further apart, until they stopped completely. Of course she could’ve called him herself, could have pleaded with him to take her back, apologized to Viola, and eaten humble pie. But Ally wasn’t going to do that. Not because of her pride, but because it hurt too much to know that Ron didn’t love her, not enough to fight for her. Maddie had been furious with her brother, and despite Ally’s attempts to stop her, insisted on yelling at him over the phone and telling him that he was an idiot. Ally was mortified, but she needn’t have worried: Viola Graystone’s grip on her son was too firm for anyone to loosen it. Later on Ally learned from Maddie that Ron had reunited with Annette Beale, the very same girlfriend who had cheated on him while she was away at college, but now that she was back in Boston past transgressions were forgotten.
“Can you believe that I’m going to change my last name to Prendergast? Madeline Prendergast sounds so high and mighty, like some uptight matron from a PBS channel drama.”
“No more so than Madeline Graystone,” Ally teased her. “You don’t have to change your name if you don’t want to, you know. It’s the twenty-first century. I’m sure Skip would be okay with it.”
Maddie grinned. “I’m pretty sure he would be, and I bet it’d tick off my mother. I think I might just do that. Oh, I’m so excited, Ally. I didn’t think I would be, but I am. Skip wants a quick wedding—we’re thinking about eloping. Mother is going to have a fit! You’re going to help me pick out the dress, aren’t you? It’ll have to be something stylish and practical, so that I could pack it with me on the plane. Oh, and I almost forgot—and I won’t take no for an answer—the apartment is paid off until the end of the year, and I’m going to reassign the lease to you. It’s the least I could do. I feel so guilty dumping my friend at a moment’s notice.”
Ally gulped. Of all the people in her life—and there had been many prior to her misfortune—Maddie was the only one who had stuck by her side. And now she couldn’t even tell her the truth about her life-changing news. She didn’t deserve to be Maddie’s friend.
“Oh, Ally, please don’t cry! Things will work out! You’ll get a job soon, and you’ll meet a great guy—someone who will love you and fight for you, not like my bum of a brother.”
Ally shook her head, smiling. Maddie was so sweet. “It’s not that. I’m so grateful to you Maddie, for everything, and I’m so happy for you. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accept your gift though—”
“Ally! I told you I won’t hear of it!”
“It’s just that I’ve got a job and I’ll be moving too,” Ally blurted out before thinking it through.
“You did? What job? When? Where?”
“This morning. It’s for a small consulting firm out in California.” Ally gave the company name that the agency instructed her to use for cover. “They also have a small office in New York,” Ally lied, surprised by how effortlessly the words were rolling off her tongue. “I’m supposed to start training on Monday.”
“That’s great news! I’m so happy for you! We’d better start packing then. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” Maddie drew Ally into a long hug. “California is so far away. Promise that we’ll keep in touch!” She hugged Ally again.
“I’ll try, Maddie,” Ally whispered. After all, this wasn’t a complete lie. She meant every word, but whether she’d be able to keep it wasn’t entirely up to her. “What are you going to do about the apartment?” Ally asked, feeling guilty.
“One of the girls at the office was looking for an apartment after breaking up with her boyfriend, so I’ll sublet it to her. And if she doesn’t want it, I’ll find someone else. This is New York City. People are always looking for apartments in New York. But right now I don’t want to talk about that. I want to celebrate the beginning of our new lives!” Maddie rushed into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. “I snuck this into the fridge last night.” She grinned. “I had a feeling that Skip might pop the question, but I had no idea that we’d be celebrating your good news too!” Maddie popped the cork and poured the champagne. “Here’s to the rest of our lives!”
“To the rest of our lives,” Ally repeated, raising the glass to her lips. She didn’t stop drinking until the glass was empty. To her this toast had a different meaning. She was saying goodbye to everything she knew, everything except for one thing: the memory of her father’s name. The beginning of her new life would have to wait until his name was cleared.
Chapter 9
On Monday morning Ally entered the lobby of the same building where she had met with Marion Phillips a week ago. Just as she had been instructed, Ally was dressed casually in a pair of jeans, a short-sleeved top, and a pair of rubber-soled shoes. With her she had a suitcase in which she had packed enough clothes to last her for the duration of the training. The rest of her possessions had been packed in boxes and shipped off to the storage facility that Gladys had told Ally to use.
After checking in with the front desk security, Ally was told to leave her suitcase with security and proceed upstairs to the same floor where she had interviewed with Marion. As Ally left her suitcase in the assigned spot, she noticed that there were several suitcases there already and wondered if those belonged to other members of the training program. It made sense, but up until now she hadn’t thought that there would be other people in the program. What if the agency would make them compete for the same job spot, eliminating them one by one? Ally squared her shoulders. No one was going to edge her out of this program.
Once she arrived at the designated floor, Ally was greeted by Gladys Moon.
“Good morning, Ally,” Gladys said, checking off something on the clipboard she was holding. “Please proceed to conference room A for the orientation.”
Ally nodded and did as she was told. At least Gladys had remembered Ally’s name.
Inside conference room A there was already a group of thirteen people assembled, seated alongside an oblong mahogany table. As Ally made her way to take one of the two remaining empty seats, she was conscious of silent stares burrowing into her. She could sense competition in the air, but she refused to let it bother her. She wasn’t there to make friends.
At exactly eight a.m. Marion Phillips entered the room and made her way to the front, her heels making no sound on the carpeted floor. For several moments she stood silently observing the group. Just as the first time when Ally had seen her, Marion looked stunning. Today she was dressed in a caramel-colored suit with a pencil skirt that hugged her hips tightly, her long legs made even longer by black stiletto heels. Marion was several decades older than all the women in the room, but this morning she put them all to shame. Ally wondered if looking the part of a femme fatale was going to be covered at the training.
“Good morning,” Marion said brightly. “I am delighted to welcome you all to our training program. Congratulations on making the first cut. You have all gone through a rigorous selection process and you were all admitted to the program based on the qualities that you have to offer. That being said, do not take your being here for granted. The next three months will not be easy, and only those of you who are truly qualified to be a part of this agency will make the cut—”
&
nbsp; Just then Marion was interrupted by the sound of the door being opened. A girl of about Ally’s age entered the room. A mane of curly red hair ran down her shoulders. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt tied right under her ribs that exposed her flat, ripped stomach and very short jeans shorts. Her long legs were clad in knee-high boots—an impractical choice of footwear given the smoldering summer heat, but undeniably a sexy one. The girl seemed to be genuinely unaware of the admiring male glances and the jealous female ones, as she nonchalantly made her way past Marion and settled in the last remaining seat next to Ally.
“Sorry I’m late, everyone,” the girl said. “My name is Delilah,” she added, flashing a wide grin.
“Nice to meet you, Delilah. I’m Ally.” Ally smiled, feeling that the redhead could use a friendly gesture with all the cold stares in the room.
“Introductions will come later,” Marion said curtly. “As I was saying, only a few of you”—she eyed Delilah pointedly—“will make the cut. During the next three months you will acquire skills that are not taught at any school. You will learn how to extract information and how to analyze it. You will learn to make alliances and you will learn to defeat your competition. Most importantly, you will learn what it takes to be a great agent, an asset to this organization, which is the reason why you are all here in this room today. In a few minutes you will be boarding transportation which will take you to the training facility. You are not to disclose the location of the facility to anyone—as you have been told, all personal communication devices are prohibited within the training facility. Violation of the rules will results in termination from the program. This is your chance to be a part of something great, something that truly matters.” Marion paused, eyeing the group, her eyes lingering on each person for a few terrifying moments. “Any last-minute doubts? You’ll save everyone a lot of trouble if you bow out now.”
Ally could hear Delilah squirming in her seat, hastily untying her shirt tails to cover her stomach.
“Good luck to you all,” Marion said. “I hope to see all of you in three months. Mr. O’Brian will take it from here,” Marion added, nodding toward an average-height man who had seemed to materialize out of thin air and was now standing next to her. No one had seen or heard him enter the room.
“Good morning, recruits. My name is Frederick O’Brian and I’ll be accompanying you to the training compound, which is located in Connecticut. Now if you will all follow me, we will proceed to the garage where a bus is awaiting you.”
***
With a look of consternation on his face, Jake Morrissey watched a bus, that he knew was transporting the new recruits, enter the training compound. Never in his wildest dreams—or nightmares for that matter—had he imagined that he would become an instructor at the agency’s training facility. It seemed that only yesterday he had been a young recruit eagerly arriving at the training compound; but seem as it might, it had been almost nine years ago. At times it felt surreal that he would be turning thirty this year. Thirty was supposed to be the age at which a man could measure his accomplishments, an age by which a man was meant to lay down the foundation for the rest of his life. At least that was what his father had always told him, but now that Jake was nearing the milestone age, he didn’t feel anything of the kind. So it left only two possibilities: either his father had been mistaken, or Jake was a failure. And lately, Jake had been inclined to lean toward the latter.
“Ready for your first class, Jakie?” Ryan Waters teased him.
“I’d like to hope so, Mr. Waters.” Ryan Waters had been a training instructor for the agency for almost thirty years. He had been Jake’s instructor when Jake had first arrived at the training compound and had taught Jake everything he knew. Unfortunately, Jake hadn’t been a good enough student.
“You know, you can call me Ryan.” Waters grinned. “You’re one of us now.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Mr. Waters. I’m still earning my stripes,” Jake quipped. He looked at the folders of recruit files on his desk. He had studied each and every one of them with obsessive detail. If he were going to be an instructor, he was going to give it his all, however little that might be.
“You’d better hurry up about it. I’m not teaching anymore. I’ve been made director of training and now my duties are administrative only. No more classrooms, thank you very much. I’m passing the torch to you, kid.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Waters chuckled. “First day jitters? Wish I could remember that day. Feels like I’ve been here forever.” Waters shook his head, eyeing the folders on Jake’s desk. “You might as well chuck those. You of all people don’t need a personnel file to get a read on a person, Jake. It was always one of your strongest skills, among your other talents. I never told you this, but you were one of my favorite students. I guess as they say it’s better late than never.” Waters winked.
“Thank you, sir. I hope I’ll be as good at passing these skills as you say I was good at learning them.”
“Not just learning, Jake, but using them too. You were a damn good agent, and still are.”
“I appreciate that, sir,” Jake said quietly. He really didn’t feel like he deserved Waters’ praise, but Jake couldn’t deny that it was nice to hear.
“Remember, you’re the boss. Oh, I almost forgot.” He paused to place an apple on Jake’s desk. “This is for you. Happy first day of school.”
“Thanks, boss. I think a bottle of scotch would’ve been handier. I could use a drink to steady my nerves,” Jake admitted.
“Nah, you’ll do fine. Better than fine. Just don’t let them see your fear—they can sense it, like dogs.” Waters chuckled as he slapped Jake on the shoulder and walked out the door.
“Thanks a lot,” Jake muttered and bit into the apple in an effort to distract himself from his impending doom.
If he’d known he’d be this nervous about facing a group of fresh recruits, he’d never have signed up for the job. He didn’t remember being this nervous before his first assignment, but then it had been a long time ago. Maybe he should’ve been more nervous then. Instead he’d been confident of his skills, which in hindsight seemed minimal, but back then he’d thought differently and he’d aced his first assignment and every single one after that, until the last one. The one that had gone bad: the one that was the reason why he was about to face a class of green recruits. Even though his name was cleared, in his mind he’d botched the job, and he simply couldn’t face going back into the field again. So it was between becoming another administrative bureaucrat at the agency or becoming a training instructor. Jake chose the latter. His father would have preferred him to choose the former, but Jake was well past the age of pleasing his father, and his father was no longer there to express his disappointment.
Jake turned his attention back to the recruit files. Inside each folder were details ranging from each individual’s height and weight to their academic performance, even their favorite color. The old Jake Morrissey would’ve relied on his people reading skills, which Waters had so generously praised, but the new Jake Morrissey, or at least the Jake Morrissey that Jake was intent on becoming, was going to do his homework. In all there were fifteen recruits; a smaller crop than usual, but then these days there weren’t too many college graduates eager to work for the agency. The past few years had seen an explosion in the energy industry, and most graduates opted for jobs with oil, gas, or engineering firms. And then it wasn’t as though the agency openly advertised its positions; it was very covert and somewhat unorthodox in its search for potential candidates.
The agency had a recruiting team, but Marion personally interviewed and approved each candidate for the training program. She’d been the one to interview Jake as well. The interview had only lasted fifteen minutes, and he was surprised at the end of it to hear that he’d made the program. In fact, he was a little disappointed. His plan had been to head to Calgary to work for his uncle at an oil refinery. Not because he was particul
arly excited about the job, but because he loved the beautiful views and vast, open space he remembered from his childhood vacations. His uncle was a foreman at a local oil refinery there and he’d secretly promised a job to Jake, who as the son of a Canadian citizen, had dual citizenship. If Jake’s father had known about this secret pact he would’ve been furious: he’d worked so hard to escape the exact fate that Jake was hungering after. But as it had turned out, Jake’s father had gotten his way after all. At least it had looked that way until Jake screwed it all up.
Jake flipped through the folders again. The majority were the usual suspects: career recruits, as Jake called them. These were graduates of the leading engineering schools who had excellent GPAs, numerous extracurricular activities, and impressive internships. They could have had their pick of jobs, but they chose the agency, and it was easy for Jake to guess why: political ambition. The agency could be the perfect springboard for a political career if one played one’s cards right. This was something his father had said when he’d secured Jake an interview at the agency right after his college graduation. If only Jake had listened to his old man and had gone after a desk job at the agency. Instead he’d wowed his instructors during training and scored high on all the skills required for fieldwork. His college GPA was just above average; he’d never been too keen on studying, but he was great at reading people and getting information out of them. He was also a pretty good shot and could hold his own in hand-to-hand combat. Most would never guess, but being a field agent for an undercover division of the Department of Energy required all the skills that Jake was good at. His glory days were behind him though. Now his job was to pass his skills on to the new recruits. Suddenly he was surprised to find himself pondering which of his new students would succeed the most; the fact that he could influence the outcome intrigued him. Perhaps this teaching gig wasn’t going to be as bad as he had thought.
