Anna arrived early, her uncertainty gone as she strode confidently to the reception desk.
"Anna Devane for Sean Donley."
"Yes, Miss. Devane, welcome back," said the same beautiful blonde, picking up the phone, "Hello, Beatrice, Anna Devane here for Sean, um, Mr. Donely… Thank you."
"Go right up," she said, handing Anna her badge.
"Thank you. I'll send your regards to Sean," Anna said with an understanding smile.
"Thanks," she said, a blush sweeping across her cheeks.
Anna rode the elevator to the 12th floor expecting to see Beatrice and her auburn chignon but there was no one to greet her. Her fingers ached and heart started to pound. How was she supposed to get up to the 45th floor? This was obviously a test… Anna needed to get beyond that mahogany door, but how? Why didn't she pay attention to the buttons Beatrice pushed instead of the woman's graceful fingers!? She took a deep cleansing breath. The code had to be in the files she read the day before. Her head shuffled through numbers and dates, finally settling on 1958, the year Sean joined the Bureau. She keyed in the number, the buttons beeped and the door clicked open. With a small sigh of achievement, Anna walked through it and summoned the elevator to the 45th floor.
When the elevator doors opened, Sean and Beatrice were standing there, looking like proud parents.
"You made it," he said with a grin.
"I did!" Anna replied confidently as she removed her coat and handed it to Beatrice.
"Nice suit."
"Thanks," she said warily.
"I liked it better yesterday."
"It's the only one I own."
"We'll have to rectify that. Bea, care to do a little shopping today?"
"You know I love a chance to shop," Beatrice responded with a smile.
She took Anna's sizes as Sean rattled off a list of things he felt she needed. Anna followed along as the two adults quickly walked through the office, feeling like a dress-up doll.
"She'll need at least two suits, slacks too… and tops, blouses… sweaters… and shoes! Oh, a coat too. Can you get a coat in spring? We have to, this coat is a mess…"
"It's the only coat I have," Anna interjected.
"Well, we'll soon fix that," Sean said, "I'm sure there's more… you know better than I do, Bea."
"Yes. I'll get everything she needs."
"Get luggage too, 4 pieces should do."
"Anna, dear, what's your favorite color?" Beatrice asked, kindly.
"Uh… red…" Anna responded confused by the whirl of activity around her, "Is all of this necessary?"
"Yes, we'll be leaving for London tomorrow. Oh! That reminds me, do you have your passport?"
"Yes."
"Let me see it," Sean asked as she fished it out of her purse. He looked at the picture of a 12 year old Anna, "Oh, no. This won't do. Bea, let's get this passport updated ASAP, then you can head out."
Beatrice took the document and left the office, returning a few moments later with a passport camera. She stood Anna against the wall and quickly snapped a picture of the confused girl.
"Can I get one more shot with you not looking like a deer in headlights?"
"Oh, sorry," Anna took a deep breath and quickly regained her composure. This time she was ready.
"Great," Beatrice said, "I'll get this taken care of right away," and with that she left the office.
"That was a lot," Anna said as she sat down across from Sean's desk.
"I know it's overwhelming, but it's necessary. We need to prove to the other directors that you're ready for this work despite your age and inexperience, and a lot of that is in the presentation. We'll be making a new you, chic and sophisticated and this is the first step. You're not a 16 year old B-girl rolling drunks in a pub anymore, you're an international intelligence agent, or at least you soon will be, and you need to look and act the part."
Anna nodded silently.
"I understand."
"Things are going to feel like a whirlwind for a while, we're completely changing your life in a week, but for this to work, you have to play it cool. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Good."
There was a knock at the door and Beatrice entered.
"They're ready for her in the testing room."
"Thanks, Bea. Are you ready?"
"I feel like if I said yes, I'd be lying."
"You're right, there is no ready, but I have faith in your skill and what I see in you. I know you're the right person for this and I'm never wrong," he said with a wink.
"You're never wrong?" Anna asked incredulously.
"Well… there might have been one time when I was 10…" Sean said laughing.
Anna laughed at his attempt to ease her tension.
"You've got this, Anna. We'll be doing the psychological and aptitude tests first, then after lunch you'll have your physical tests."
"Okay," Anna said with a nervous smile, "I'm ready."
5 hours later, Anna emerged from the testing room, mentally and emotionally raw. It was grueling, the questions intrusive. She had no idea if she did well, there didn't seem to be any "right" answers. She just operated on instinct and answered their questions with unflinching honesty. The WSB was going to know what they were getting in Anna Devane, she could only hope she was what they wanted. She ran her hands through her hair, and nervously chewed at her lower lip as she collapsed on a bench. Closing her eyes she stretched her neck and tried to mentally prepare herself for the second half of the day. When she opened her eyes, there was a cup of tea before them.
"You look like you could use this," Sean said as he sat next to her.
"Thanks. I think I underestimated just how hard this would be."
She sipped the tea and let the warm liquid calm her frazzled nerves.
"Maybe they're right… Maybe this is crazy and I'm just too young. There's a reason the Bureau doesn't recruit teenagers," she sighed, "I just felt so stupid."
"They do that intentionally, you know, knock you off kilter like that. It's part of the test, to see how you react when stressed."
"Oh…" she sighed as she sipped her tea, "That makes sense."
"Are you hungry?"
"Not really…"
"Too bad. You need to eat. You have more to do today."
Sean fed her, then it was time for the physical part of the testing. Anna wasn't worried, this was where she excelled. She changed into a green leotard, white shorts, and tennis shoes with knee socks. When she emerged from the dressing room, jaws dropped and collars tightened. She was fully aware of the effect the outfit had on every man in the room, she'd planned on it. If she couldn't get them with her smarts, she'd use her other gifts, so to speak. Anna beamed, enjoying the reaction.
A young man in a lab coat approached her.
"Um, hello Miss Devane, I'm Michael, I mean Agent, sorry, I mean, Doctor Thompson. I mean, I'm also an agent, but I'm a doctor first, so I guess you would just call me doctor... I'm sorry… I guess I'm distracted…" he said, trying and failing to look away from her body.
"That's okay," she said, dropping her voice to a sultry note, "I know I've had a long day… I can't be the only one…"
"Oh, um, yeah… sorry."
Anna moved closer to the flustered man.
"You're awfully young to be a doctor, Dr. Thompson."
"You're awfully young to be an agent, Miss Devane."
"I'm older than I look," he said with a blush.
"I'm not," Anna returned with a wink, unable to suppress a small giggle.
The man visibly gulped.
"So!" he said, a little too loud, trying to move things along, "I guess we'll start with flexibility, can you touch your toes?"
She bent down easily, touched her toes, then wrapped her arms around her lower legs, flattening herself like a closed switchblade. The poor man could only blink as she straightened herself once more.
"Yes. I can. I can do this too..."
Anna kicked off her shoes and then lowered herself down to the floor in a right side split, bending forward to her toes, then shifted to a full split, stretching left then right, followed by a left side split. To finish the whole display, she easily lifted herself from the ground and finished with a full développé, her perfectly pointed foot high above her head.
"Flexible enough for you?" she purred with a bat of her eyelashes as she slowly lowered her extended leg.
The man practically swooned.
"Are you okay, Dr. Thompson?"
Sean watched the whole scene from behind a two-way mirror. He was impressed by how easily she played the man but annoyed at her overt display. This wasn't the time or place. He shook his head and continued to observe.
"What's next?" she demurred.
"Um, uh… strength."
He led her to a series of machines that tested her upper and lower body strength. After that was a series of stamina tests.
"Do you run, Miss Devane?"
"I try to get in a few miles when I can," she said with a smile.
"Good, this won't be hard then," he replied with a kind chuckle.
He was trying to lighten the mood… how sweet, Anna thought. She couldn't deny, he was kind of cute in an awkward way. In another time and place she could see them having coffee, walking hand in hand, but Anna knew this was hardly the time.
With shaky hands, he applied a series of electrodes to Anna's chest and pulse points and then started her running on the treadmill. She ran for half an hour as he changed the speed and incline on the machine and asked her a series of random questions. When she finished she was covered in sweat, which somehow made her even more alluring. She stepped off the machine and her legs went to jelly as she fell into Dr. Thompson's arms.
"Oh! I've never run on one of these machines before, I guess I wasn't ready for the change between moving and still…" she bit her lower lip and gazed into his eyes, "Looks like it's my turn to apologize," she said with a smile.
"No apology necessary," he said with a gulp.
She smiled brightly as he handed her a towel.
"Thank you, Dr. Thompson, you've been so kind."
"I wish I could say this was over, but we have medical tests to do."
"Fun," she said sarcastically.
He checked reflexes, took her temperature and blood pressure, drew blood.
"That wasn't too painful," she said with a smile.
"Oh, good. I wouldn't want to hurt you," he said with a wink.
She smiled with a blush as he helped her off the table and bid her farewell. Before she could change back into her street clothes, Sean entered the room.
"That was some show you put on there."
"What are you talking about?" Anna blinked innocently.
"You nearly made the man faint."
Anna shrugged, "Isn't that why I'm here?"
"Yes and no," Sean sighed with a bit of exasperation, "Anna… there's a time and a place… Get changed and meet me in my office."
Anna did as she was told and was back in Sean's office within 15 minutes.
"So, what's next?" she asked.
"We check you out of your boarding house, and you come back to the hotel with me."
"Excuse me?" Anna asked with a bit of shock in her voice.
"Anna… please… after the display I just saw, it's hard to see you acting all puritanical and demure."
Anna's face flushed. Was this the end goal all along? Was she being played? God! She could kick herself for being so naive. She began to look around for a way out, any way out.
"I can't believe I fell for all of this."
"What are you talking about?"
"You! All of this! God, Sean, why all the games!? If sex was what you wanted, why all of this? Is that your kink? Offering girls a way out only to screw them and leave them behind?!" Anna was shaking with terror and anger. She thought her instincts were better.
"God Anna! Calm down! I'm not lying to you. I'm not playing games. And I most assuredly do not want to screw you! I have a 2 bedroom suite at the hotel. You'll have your own room. You can even lock the door if you like!"
Anna blinked at him and started to calm down.
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
Anna sighed a deep sigh of relief.
"Sorry."
"Bea is having everything she's bought for you delivered to my suite, we fly to London tomorrow morning, it just makes sense that we tie off the loose ends of your current life tonight."
"Well... when you put it like that."
Sean laughed, "I can't believe you thought this was all an elaborate act to get you in bed!"
"Well…"
"Seriously, Anna, if I wanted you like that, I could have had you that first night."
She blinked at him, a secret in her heart. Sure… she'd let him believe that.
"I want you for the WSB, Anna. That's all."