Chapter One
Julia slowly walked towards Percy's office, her high heels clicking on the cement floors. Julia was a pretty new agent, only having graduated to agent about two week previous. This was only the second time she had been recalled to Division from her cover lie. She was excited but nervous for the newest mission. So far her missions had been short and Julia was hoping for a deep cover mission. Her talents were strong there and she wanted to put them to use.
Knocking on the door, she heard it unlock and she walked in. Amanda was there along with Percy, Michael, and Birkhoff. "Julia! Nice to see you." Amanda cheerfully greeted her, "How has your cover been going?"
"Good." Julia replied, "But anxious to get on an op and get working."
Percy, Amanda and Michael grinned, but Birkhoff rolled his eyes. For as good of a tech as he was, he still had a problem with authority. "I'm glad to hear that." Percy replied, "Because we have a very important mission for you three."
"What's the mission?" Michael asked.
When Amanda and Percy smiled, Julia knew they might be in trouble. "We have gotten word that the Russian organization Googol will be infiltrating a music tour as security." Percy started to explain, "They are going to use the tour to travel the nation, meeting up with their various factions in the area. You three will be in deep cover trying to get information on their contacts."
"Undercover? On a music tour?" Birkhoff asked with distaste.
"A boy band to be more exact. It's 2000- they're all the rage." Amanda replied.
"Who will we be?" Julia asked, excited about the mission.
"Birkhoff will be working as a tech for the show. Michael will be Julia's manager and Julia, you will be the opening act for the band, Mandy Mae."
"What?" Birkhoff was clearly not having it, "I'm a tech! Why am I going out on a mission?"
"Because," Percy calmly replied, "They will be gone for six months and they are bound to need technical support at some point."
"Great." Birkhoff was frustrated, crossing his arms across his chest. "I get to go on tour with a bunch of boy band losers." Birkhoff's face was covered in frustration.
"I'm sure it won't be too bad." Michael tried to calm his friend. There was no need for Birkhoff to get canceled over a dislike of a mission, he knew.
"So do I have to audition for the opening spot?" Julia wanted to know how this was going to work since it was pretty much a dream come true for her.
"No." Percy replied. "We already have everything in place for you three. We'll have to get you trained on some songs to perform but you've already been given the job."
"Good." Julia knew it would be a little less pressure to not have the mission fail if she didn't get the job.
"When does the tour and the mission start?" Michael questioned, always the business man.
"A week-and-a-half from today. It is going to take a little bit of prep work, especially for Julia." Amanda explained.
Everyone sat silent for a few moments, letting the mission sink in. Julia had butterflies in her stomach, but she knew it would be okay. "Where do we start?" Julia finally asked.
"You need to be in Washington DC on March 24th. The tour starts on the 26th." Percy replied.
Julia sat excitedly listening. Not only was she finally able to go undercover and use those skills, but she was going to go undercover in one of her favorite things, music. Before coming to Division she had studied music- she was trained in signing, she could also play guitar, bass, keyboards, banjo and drums plus school instruments like trumpet, trombone, flute, violin and cello. Needless to say, they had targeted her for this mission because of her background- it worked out perfect for her and Division.
After their meeting,, Amanda took Julia to her office to start prepping for the mission. She showed Julia how to fix her hair to have a nice hair dew for the concert, since opening acts wouldn't have a stylist. Then Julia spent a couple of hours trying on clothes while she and Amanda put together a wardrobe for her to wear in the concert. Julia was a bit of a tomboy when it came to fashion and beauty, so Amanda needed to help her get the best stage look so everything was coordinated. After the few hours with Amanda Julia was able to fit in a short nap before meeting with a music producer they had paid to come in and teach Julia 10-12 songs to last her the six month tours on stage.
For the next week Julia got about four hours of sleep, wandering between the music producer and a choreographer who was working with her for the dances for her act. She didn't have much time to learn- normally someone would work to prepare for an opening act for a few months and Julia had to do it all in about a week. This just drove her harder. She was going on a mission with Michael- Percy's right hand man and Birkhoff- the head tech. There was no way that Julia go fail in any way on the mission, and if she could impress them, maybe she could get a promotion.
Two days before they had to leave to meet the tour in Washington DC, Michael, Birkhoff and Julia met in Amanda's office. They had to get their backstory straight before heading out on the road. Amanda had sent each of them a briefing packet to give them their backstory, which Julia had been studying between music and dance rehearsals. Julia found out that like her, Mandy Mae was 17-years-old and came from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She had been singing at family functions and in school from 5-years-old. When she was 13, she started performing at local events and parties. Michael's cover, Blake Wysley, had discovered her while she was performing at the Mall of America. She started getting professional gigs and Blake had been trying to get her more exposure with something bigger when Jameson Scott, the Division plant that made sure she got the job with the tour, gave her the opening job.
During the week that Julia had been learning the music and choreography, Birkhoff had been trained himself in the audio and visual aspects of a concert and Michael had learned the finer points of music management. Just a week later an outsider would never have guessed that the three of them were plants.
Amanda explained that they would be on tour with the biggest boy band in the country, Jaded. Jaded had a new number one CD, Masks, and this was the tour for that CD. The five guys in the band had been introduced as Kyle Larson, 25, Andrew Sauls, 21, Micah Johnson, 17, Paul Solarski, 22 and Brandon Clark, 24. They had formed in 1993 and in 1997 they had become super popular along with all the other boy bands of the time. Now they were superstars. Julia had been pretty lucky to get the opening job for them. She liked the music, so for her it would definitely be an interesting mission.
Now they sat in Amanda's office. Birkhoff was sitting there, once again with his arms crossed, still not happy about the mission. As normal Michael stood there, completely business, not saying a thing. "Are you guys ready for the mission." Amanda asked.
"I think so." Julia replied, I think I am starting to get everything down."
"I am ready to go." Michael replied.
"I'm set." Birkhoff rolled his eyes a little.
"Not happy with the assignment? We could always cancel you instead." Amanda glared at Birkhoff.
"Not interested." Birkhoff casually replied, "I'll just do the mission. I just won't be happy about it."
"Hey, at least they didn't put you in the band. They could make you dance." Michael tried to cheer Birkhoff up.
"Yeah, I think they'd figure out I'm a plant really fast." Birkhoff answered in reply.
"You got me there." Michael smiled as Birkhoff looked up at him.
"We'll be fine Birkhoff!" Julia tried to get him enthusiastic about the mission. "Michael and I will be there with you."
A few days later when they arrived in Washington DC, Birkhoff still wasn't real happy about the mission. They drove to the stadium, Birkhoff pouting in the backseat. The story was that Birkhoff's cover, Thad Michaels is Michael's cover's brother, which is why he would be arriving with Michael and Julia's covers. That way, with them being related, it would make sense when Birkhoff spent time with Michael and Julia- otherwise there might be questions about why the tech is hanging out with the musician and her manager. Michael finally pulled up and parked outside of the stadium, then turned to Julia. "Are you ready Ms. Mae?"
Julia took a deep breath, the butterflies in her stomach building up again. Nodding, she replied, "I think so."
"Let's go then." Michael smiled.
Opening the car doors, all of them got out of the car. Julia slipped on her sunglasses and they walked to the security door where Michael flashed their security badges. The security guard allowed them through to the backstage area. There were people everywhere. They were running around getting the final things set up for the concert. When they spotted the sound area, Birkhoff excused himself.
Michael and Julia stood there just looking around for a while before a young man approached them. "Are you Mandy Mae?" he asked, brushing blond hair from his eyes.
Nodding, Julia replied, "Yes, that's me."
"You're a little early, the guys are still on stage rehearsing. Head over to sound, they'll get your mike and your ears set up." He explained.
"I'm Blake, Mandy's manager." Michael held out his hand to the man who had greeted them, then added, "You are?"
"Sorry." The young man blushed, "Things have been crazy around here trying to get the tour off the round. I'm Ken McFarland, Jaded's tour manager."
"Nice to meet you." Julia shook his hand after Michael did.
"I gotta take off, but the stage is yours for rehearsal at 9:00 AM. I'll be out there to work with you." Ken replied, then rushing off with a wave.
After Ken had left, Julia headed to the sound people. Not too surprisingly, Birkhoff greeted her. "What can I help you with Mandy?" he asked her.
"I just need to be set up with a mike and my ears." She told him.
Birkhoff reached over and grabbed a microphone from the basket labeled with Mandy's name. Fastening the microphone box to her pants, he ran the wire up her back and put the microphone, a headset, around her neck. Then he grabbed her ears from the basket and hooked them up, for the moment draping them over her shoulders by their wires. Julia had never worn ears, the industry's name for the earpieces that the musician would wear to hear their music, but she knew it wouldn't be too difficult to get used to. "Here's the test." Birkhoff told her.
Julia held the ear in place while Birkhoff knelt down to reach the equipment and tested some music through it. "Good." Julia told him.
"Test the mike." He casually told her.
"Test 1,2, test, 1,2." Julia said into the mike.
"Everything looks good." Birkhoff replied, adjusting a couple of settings on the microphone.
"So how is it going so far?" Julia asked him.
"The audio guys are geeks." Birkhoff replied.
Julia laughed, "Um, last time I checked, so are you."
Birkhoff just glared up at her and replied, "Thanks."
"Just keep your ears open." Julia reminded him.
"10'4, Mandy." Birkhoff sneered back.
Mandy made her way back to Michael. "Birkhoff's still a little frustrated." She told him.
Michael just smiled. "Give him time. He'll get used to it and find a way to have fun. He just needs to find something to hack."
Smiling, Julia giggled. "Well, at least he doesn't have to be on stage in front of screaming fans." She replied.
"You'll be fine too. I'm here if you need me." Michael reminded her with a grin.