Chapter 1: The Interview
Br-ring! Br-ring!
"Ugh!" groaned 22-year old Cameron Morgan.
"Cammie, get up! It's 7:30! Better get ready for our interviews!" cried Rebecca Baxter.
Fluttering her eyes open, Cammie glanced around the room. Elizabeth Sutton, or Liz was struggling to button a soft, creamy yellow blouse with ruffles along the edges. A few yards away, Macey McHenry was unzipping her stylish black suitcase that she had brought along with her to their exciting sleepover at Cammie's apartment located in Langley, Virginia which was near her old school, Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Women. To outsiders such as you, the reader, it would have been known as a school for rich, snobby girls, but the truth was...
It was a girls school for young spies in training. Yup! you got that right. Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey were spies in training. Well they once were. Since last June, about 2 months ago, they had graduated and had spent the summer together before August came around the corner, the month when everybody was preparing to go back to school, college, work, etc. In Cammie and her friends case, it was getting a job. Specifically, a CIA job. A few weeks ago, there was a secret notice for all graduated spies to interview with CIA agents for a specified job based on ability, training, and intelligence.
Today, all four girls were going to their interview scheduled on August 4, 2020 at 8:00 am sharp. They all knew that they had to give their interviewers a good impression. Who would want some lousy, late girl for a top secret, important job?
Slipping on her plain white ruffled Forever 21 blouse and mid-length Pro Ralph Lauren skirt which she secured with a flashy choke belt, she was ready...well almost. Sling her Louis Vuitton matching purse, she pulled a pair of sparkling midnight blue Mercedes-Benz CL600 Class keys.
Together, the four of them, hand in hand whooshed down a flight of glossy, marble stairs before arriving at the elegant Versailles Palace apartment lobby. Through the glass sliding doors and out to the crisp morning air, walked the the quadruple.
Pulling the doors of the dark blue car, the slid in as Cammie inserted the key, fitting it perfectly in the keyhole.
In a matter of seconds, they were gliding silently through the still quite vacant streets of the famous city. Pass sparkling skyscrapers in the morning sun and the various 5-star hotels.
Turning around the curb and driving down the smooth, paved street of the Langley CIA Headquarters, Cammie pulled to a slow stop right in front of the massive, daring skyscraper. It was definitely the tallest building in Langley and possibly Virginia. With an astonishing 124 stories, it stood proud and defiantly, looming above everything else, casting a slight yet beautiful shadow.
"Oh my gosh! Where did the time go?" questioned a frantic Liz.
"It's 7:50! We better hurry or else we'll be late. You know it does take quite a while to reach the 124th floor where the interviews are located!"
"Calm down Liz, we'll get there at 8:00 and possibly a minute sooner," reassured Cammie who was always calm and expressionless except around either her friends or family.
"But we better hurry. You know, every second counts so let's move it!" shouted Liz in return.
Together, the stepped away from the humid, hot air and into the building which was a big change. It was cool yet somehow refreshing. Even the scent felt like a relief. It didn't smell though it did, kind of. Well that's what Cammie thought.
Slipping through the closing elevator doors, they made it just in time before the elevator lurched up at a pretty fast speed-for an elevator and many people, but of course not spies. It was an essential criteria of not only their P&E classes, but also Cove Ops.
After what seemed like hours, but was actually a few minutes, the elevator lurched to a complete stop.
Glancing around, Cammie was some what surprised to see that Bex was a bit nervous.
Wow! How in the world is she ever nervous! She was only nervous back then when we had they had had the SATs. Yes, one not so comforting thought was the SATs that they had every year from age 18 to 21. Instead of the usual Scholastic Aptitude Test, SATs stood for Spy Acceleration Test. And back then, Bex had done perfectly fine on the test. She was place as second out of all the results of their spy grade that took them. Who place first may you ask? It of course was Cammie. The downside of her achievement was that she had to share it with somebody else. Someone guy named Zach, Zane, Zone, or Zayde. Whatever! It was then that Cammie truly knew there were spy schools for boys. Thinking about it back then, Cammie realized how stupid she was. How was it that her long lost dad had become a spy, much less Mr. Solomon, her Cove Ops teacher?
Stepping out of the elevator, she was met by a vast, elegant hall filled with soft, plush carpets, graceful chairs, exquisitely carved vases, and what appeared to be portraits of certain people-people such as her mom! Yes! To her left and a few portraits down, there was a picture that she was familiar to. It was the one when her mom had graduated. She was wearing a red strapless gown, somewhat similar to the one that Cammie had worn to an ball at her school that really was an assessment for dancing and disguises. The gown her mother wore fell past her knees, just slightly brushing the floor. A few ruffles here and there were lining every crease in the dress. The few beads that were strung all across made her glisten in the light. Her mother looked so beautiful! She still was beautiful right now! Sighing, she wondered how she could possibly have been related to her mother that looked so much like a goddess, possibly even prettier than Aphrodite!
Glancing down the hallway, she spotted a delicate sign framed in gold, positioned right next to a door with not a doorknob, but an delicate curved one, somewhat resembling a wave.
"Ready?" questioned Cammie.
After a moments silence, they all replied in unision, "Yes!"
Smiling, Cammie gently knocked against the hard, wooden door.
In reply, a deep, low voice said,"Please come in."
GIngerly stepping through the doorway, the girls were face to face with an enormous room with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the now busy streets of Langley.
Her eyes sweeping across the room, Cammie took in the creeamy walls, cold temperature, rough yet detailed carpet , and lastly the very little furniture. Place near the center of the room was a large desk piled neatly with papers, files, folders, and more papers. Behind the Hi-Tech 2000 CIA TouchProof screen, was a slightly aging man in his mid-forties. He was well dressed in a formal black suit with a cream-yellow shirt and red-striped tie. On his jacket suit was a small badge that Tom Paleceitti, Director.
"Sir, we are here for our 8:00 interviews," informed Bex.
"Yes, yes. Well let's begin right away and get over it. The sooner the better. You girls are quite nervous i presume? Anyways, I shall call each of you one by one. You will enter the conference room where I shall ask you a few question that shall determine which, what, and possibly if you get a job.
"Okay, may I please have Ms. Macey McHenry. Please follow me."
Mr. Paleceitti led Macey into a door near the far corner of the room. Hmm... wondered Cammie. She hadn't noticed it before. Hopefully my spy skills aren't become sluggish. Whatever it was, she really needed improved and fast.
After and unbearable, nervous, and quite tense 19 minutes and 39 seconds, the three heard the room open and to a relieved Macey.
"Ms. Elizabeth Sutton, you're next," called the Director.
Nervously, Liz stood, well more like hopped up and sprang to the door before slightly slamming it behind her.
"How was it Macey?," asked Bex.
"Based on your expression, I think it went quite well or well you thought it went okay. Am I right?," Cammie curiously said.
"It wasn't too hard. He just asked some questions, jotted down notes, and asked more." replied Macey.
"Phew! I thought you would have to do something harder than just questions! Remember the SATs, you had to break that code! It was nearly impossible, but luckily I got it just before time was up! Otherwise, how would I have gotten to be second best?" exclaimed Bex.
Click!
Glancing up, Cammie spotted a bouncy Liz with a huge smile plastered over her face.
Well someone did well...
"I think I did okay, well good. Well, that's what I think. Hopefully I didn't do bad. I mean I could've. Right? Well based on my calculations, there's about only a 3.81% chance that I messed up and did horrible. Well, that is kind of a lot, right?" blurted out Liz so fast that Cammie had a hard time making out the words.
"Liz", sighed Cammie,"You probably did better than good or fine, I think you did superb! Let's just hope we all did as well."
"Really? You think so! Well I calculated again and theres a 97.61908% chance that we will do perfectly fine and make it. So chances are, we all, I mean will do good, possibly better."
"Ms. Cameron Morgan, you are next. Please come in as since we have only 12 minutes."
"Sorry," responded Cammie as she rushed towards the door.
Plopping down in the cushioned seat that sat empty across from Mr. Paleceitti, she took a deep breath and faced him.
"Okay, I will ask you 10 or so questions and you will answer them. Got it?"
Nodding, Cammie lifted her head up prepared.
"And something else-"
"What?"
"Please make sure you answer them honestly. Okay?:
"Okay,"guarenteed Cammie.
"First question, why, how and, when did you wish to become a spy agent?"
"Well, ever since I was little, when I learned how to talk, I dreamed of becoming a spy since both of my parents are ones. And well I guess it was the joy of seeing my parents complete one after another mission successfully that I really knew what I wanted. Ever since my father went missing, I truly understood the dangers and horrors of becoming one. But that didn't stop me, it only encouraged me. Becoming a spy won't only guarentee me adventure and missions like no other, but it will allow me a chance, even if it's so tiny that you can't see it, it will all the same be a chance to find my father or even the truth of why and how he went missing."
"Okay, there's a change of plans. You may go now."
Yikes! Did I do something wrong?
As Cammie got up, she hoped that dissapointment didn't cross her face.
Exiting the door, she ran towards her friends.
They were all so surprised, why had she been so fast to finish?
And they all crossed their fingers to hope that not only they, but that they all got their hopes, their dreams and wishes before they got up to face the results, the truth, the life ahead of them...