Chapter 8 – Secret Spy

'Thanks for doing this, Booth' Angela said, smiling sweetly at him

'Yeah…well, if it means you'll lay off me for the rest of the week, I'm willing to sacrifice my time for it' Booth said, stepping into the interview room.

A young man sat at the table, smoking a cigarette and grinning. He wore baggy paint-splattered overalls, a muddy-green beanie, and had long hippy-like dreadlocks. Another dead-beat artist.

'Special Agent Seely Booth.' Booth said, shaking the man's greasy hand, which he then wiped on his trousers 'I'm interviewing you for your job today.'

'Right, man.' The guy said 'I'm Jay Levi, like, well, I think I am, but ya never know, y'know?' he gazed at the ceiling in a trance-like manner, clearly out of it.

Booth frowned, 'Mr Levi, are you high?'

Jay snorted. 'Just Jay, how dumb do you think I am, man? This is a coppers place; they could slam me in jail again!' he puffed on his cigarette, inhaling deeply and sighing

Booth leant over, hands on the table and gave him a sinister look. 'You wouldn't be lying to me, would you Jay?'

'N-n-no, man!' Jay's eyes focused momentarily, dashing from side to side, 'is it just me, or is this room getting smaller…WOAH! Your head is huge, man!'

Booth growled, snatching the cigarette from Jay's hand.

'Hey! That was mine, man! I would've given ya one if you just asked!' Jay complained, rolling his eyes

Booth sniffed the end of the cigarette. He suddenly felt woozy, and had to hold onto the chair so as not to fall over.

'It's a joint, Booth' Angela's voice projected through his earpiece, laughter could be heard in the background 'he's obviously as high as a bird, just kick him out and get another person in.'

'Right.' Booth said, he still felt dizzy as he dragged Jay out of the interrogation room.

'Next!' Booth called.

Inside sat a mousy, young girl, with nerdy turtle-rimmed glasses, and her head buried in a thick resume.

'Leah Trayworth, I assume?' Booth smiled, pleased to have a relatively normal squint to interview

'Yes.'

'No!' Angela hissed through the speaker 'not her! She's another squint, I need someone intelligent but arty, not another Zack or Hodgens!'

Booth looked the squint up and down, and then shook his head. 'Thankyou for your time, Ms Trayworth, next!' he called, ushering the befuddled woman out of his interview room

'Next!' he called again, and this time a normal looking woman followed him into the room, checking outside he noted that the waiting room was empty, and he sighed in relief, he'd been interviewing Angela's fellow artists for the past four days, and he thought they were all slightly bonkers.

Booth re-entered the interview room, and was surprised at how the woman still looked normal. She had an athletic build, had long, brown hair, that was tucked into two seperate plaits, brooding, misty-blue eyes, and was wearing black jeans and a dress-suit top with a simple, white blouse underneath.

'Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Special Agent Seely Booth, and today I am interviewing you on behalf of Ms Angela Montenegro.'

'Nice to meet you. I'm Mia Piper, and I assume my employer is behind that?' she said, gesturing towards the one-way glass

'Wow. She's good.' Angela whispered into the microphone

'And before anyone says I'm good or disagrees, I've watched plenty of crime TV shows, so I know the drill. You've done a background check on me, so by now you should know that I am 24, Australian, I speak French, play the bass guitar, and am the lead singer in my band 'The Purple Dragons', which, I might add, I did not name.'

'Really good.' Booth whispered back.

'I'm assuming you're talking to Ms Montenegro via the BlueTooth device in your ear?' Mia asked, winking cheekily at the mirror

'What?' the question had caught Booth off guard, and he was clearly disgruntled

Mia crossed her arms and legs, raising her eyebrows in an 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' way. This irritated Booth immensely.

Mia coughed. 'And I did my own little background check. I know you were in the army as a sniper, that you have a son called Parker, and that you currently have a gun strapped to your leg as well as one in your coat pocket. I also know that Ms Montenegro is the daughter of Billy Gibbons, and "Angela Montenegro" is not her birth name. ' She grinned, Mia liked messing with people, it was amusing to see there reactions.

'How did she-?' Angela started into the earpiece, then frowned 'that's only accessible through a Police Data System!'

'If you'd done your research correctly, you'd know that I was a Police Cadet in Australia for two years, and that I have a PhD in Human Psychology.'

'Right..' He said to Mia, and then hissed into his microphone, 'I don't like her.'

'I do.' Angela said, stepping into the room, 'You're hired.'

Angela and Mia shook hands, exchanged a smile, and walked away, leaving Booth with verbal whiplash and conflicting emotions.