"Alora Hunt to the principal's office," declared the loudspeaker.
Alora stood and gathered her books.
"Alora," her history teacher said, "your report on the mistakes of Aldridge Ames is due on Friday. Don't forget."
"It's done ma'am," Alora said, putting the books into her satchel.
Five minutes later, she was standing in front of a large door labeled:
M.F. Roland
Acting Principal
Y-LANE
(Young Ladies Academy for National Espionage)
She knocked hard twice and the door slid open. Inside was a large elevator-like room with a keypad and speaker opposite the door. Alora typed her password on the keypad. A lens popped out of the wall. Alora closed one eye and looked into it.
"Retinal scan confirmed, Alora Patrice Hunt," the speaker said. The doors closed behind Alora for a moment. When they reopened, she was standing in a small secretary's office.
"Agent Pink," the blonde woman in her mid-twenties said, "go right in."
"Thanks, VP," Alora replied. She walked to a door on the other side of the room.
"You wanted me, Chief?" She asked the large African-American woman behind the desk as she entered the 'Principal's Office'.
"Agent Pink," the Chief said, "please have a seat."
Alora sat down.
"It will not surprise you that I have a mission ready for you," the Chief said, "it's a pretty small task, but I need an agent I trust to do the job."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
"Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to recover a stolen engagement ring with a nanochip embedded inside it. It's in the mansion of a Mr. Gamut on the South side. He had the ring stolen and we need it back. You'll have a team of four: You, Agent String-Bean, and Agents Spec and Span."
"Why is the nanochip in the ring anyway?" Alora asked.
"It's a pretty special ring, Agent Pink," the Chief said, "It's top of the line weaponry, something any country would want to get a hold of. So, do you accept?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good. Here are the mission notes. You have four days." She handed a folder to Alora. "Oh," she added, remembering, "and if you or any member of your team is caught or killed, the VP will disavow all knowledge of your actions. Get to work."
Agent String-Bean was codenamed for her long, slender form. Her real name was Kelsey Plutomas, but even civilians called her String-Bean or Bean. Her hair was bleached platinum blonde and fell straight and silky around her shoulders. She was seventeen, a year older than Alora. Her expertise was in gymnastics, the art of disguise and distraction.
Agents Spec and Span were actually twins Deborah and Melissa Turner. Debbie, or Spec, had curly, black hair and specialized in gadgets and hacking. Mel, or Span, had light brown, wavy hair and was skilled in detonation and surveillance. They were fifteen.
The four girls were plopped on the floor of Alora's modest room, papers strewn in front of them.
"Bean," Alora briefed, "Mr. Gamut has a ten-year-old girl. Tomorrow, you'll go to their house dressed as a little neighborhood girl who wants to play with the daughter. The Gamut's girl is starved for a playmate and will insist you stay. While you're there, you will place bugs and cameras around the house. You will also find the little girl's computer. She is on the same mainframe as her father and the rest of the household. Connect our transmitter to her USB so Spec can hack in later. Friday we'll go in for the kill."
The three girls nodded.
"Now..." Alora began.
She was cut off by a knock on the door.
"Lori, I just wanted to..." it was her mother, Nyah Hunt. "Oh," she said, seeing the other girls, "I didn't know you had company."
"We're just studying, Mom."
"Would you girls like anything to drink?" Nyah asked.
String-bean and Span shook their heads, but Spec said that she would really like some water. Span elbowed her.
"Thanks, Mom. You can go now."
Nyah rolled her eyes and left the room.
"Sorry about that guys," Alora said and they went back to work.
An hour later they had almost everything worked out. There was another knock.
"Mom," Alora said, "We're kind of busy now."
"Your father's on the phone," Nyah said through the door.
Alora sighed and went into the hall, closing the door behind her.
"Why does he want to talk to me?" she asked.
"He hasn't seen you in two months," Nyah said.
"That's his own fault," Alora spat with resentment.
"Lori," Nyah reprimanded, "He's on a mission."
"Yeah, well so am I."
"Just give him five minutes."
Alora sighed and took the portable from her mother's hand. She turned it on and reluctantly put it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Lora," Ethan Hunt's voice flooded onto the line, "What are you up to?"
"Homework," Alora said simply.
"Mission homework?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Anything I can help with?"
"Not really."
"Okay."
"Um, Dad?"
"Yeah."
"When are you coming home?"
The silence hung like a blanket in the air.
"I don't know," Ethan said finally.
Alora just sighed. She had expected that answer.
"I'll come home as soon as I can."
"Okay."
"I miss you, Lora."
"I miss you too, Dad."
"I love you."
Alora wanted to say 'then why don't you come home?' but she was more mature than that.
"Love you," she said.
"Bye," he said.
She was about to respond, but there was a click on the other end of the line.
"Dad?" she asked the phone. There was no reply.
String-Bean pulled the moving van up to a vacant house. She was the only one of the girls that could drive the others legally. They were on a road with tall fences that surrounded huge mansions. Chief had gotten them the key to this empty house so they could 'move in'.
The girls all grabbed boxes and made a few trips to the house.
"Now this is good headquarters," Span said when she entered the spacious house.
Spec and Span set up the laptop and satellite system while String-Bean and Alora set up wardrobe. Y-LANE Missions were always organized and the girls were taught to assemble stations. When they were done, String Bean went to work on her little girl disguise. She pulled out some Sophie shorts and a flattening Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt. Her new ensemble along with pigtails and some gook that made her nose stick up made her look at least five years younger than she really was.
"Your name is Patricia Tyler and you're twelve years old," Alora told her, "your family just moved in and your father is a brain surgeon."
"Brain surgeons make a lot of money, Pink," Span commented, "but do you think it's enough to live in this neighborhood?"
"Her mother is a very successful business woman," Spec suggested, "with both incomes they should be okay."
They all agreed on that and Spec situated String Bean with gadgets- an earpiece, a voice-modification strip, children's glasses with a camera and voice transmitter built-in and her bugs and cameras to place around the mansion. When she was ready, they sent her on her way, the other three huddling around the computer to watch.
Bean bounded up to the mansion, in character all the way, and rang the doorbell. A small man opened it.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"I'm Patty Tyler," she said in the little girl voice the modification strip gave her, "we moved in today and the nice man down the street said there was a girl my age who lived here."
"Yes," the man said, faintly amused, "Elsa is ten."
"Well," Bean told him, "I'm turning twelve next month, but most my friends are younger than me anyway, so I'm used to being the oldest. Are you her dad?"
"No," the man laughed, "I'm just the butler, miss. I'll ask Master Gamut if it's alright for you to play with Elsa."
He receded into the house.
"How's it going Patty?" Alora asked playfully over the transmitter.
"Doing well," String-Bean replied in a whisper, "I think I'm in."
"Keep it up," Spec said, "You're doing great."
The man returned a moment later and ushered String Bean inside.
"Miss Elsa," he called up the humongous staircase, "you have a visitor."
There was a loud rumbling above them then a young girl came flying down the stairs.
"Who is it, Richard?" the girl asked.
"This is Patty from down the street, she just moved in."
"I'm Elsa," the girl said, smiling at String Bean, "let's go play upstairs."
"Okay," String Bean said.
Elsa's room was huge. It was lined with toys and books and dolls.
"What do you want to play?" she asked.
"Hide and go seek!" String-Bean said, considering how hard it would be to bug the place if this girl was watching."
"Okay, you be it."
String Bean's strategy worked pretty well and she had the house bugged by noon. By then, Elsa was hungry and they went downstairs for lunch. They were eating when a large man in a suit came in.
"That's Mr. Gamut," Alora told String Bean.
"Is this the little girl from down the street?" Mr. Gamut asked his daughter.
"This is Patty, Daddy," she told him.
"Where are you from, Patty?" he asked String Bean.
"New York," she said.
"So why did you move?" he asked.
"Daddy got transferred here."
"What does daddy do?"
"Daddy fixes brains," she said.
"He's a surgeon?"
"Yep."
"And what does your mother do?"
"Mommy's a business woman."
He proceeded to ask questions about her life and Alora knew she would slip up soon.
"We need to get her out of there," she said to the other two agents.
"And we do that how?" Span asked.
"One of us can go in as her mother and tell her she needs to come home," Alora suggested.
"And which of us is going to do that?" Span asked.
"Pink will," Spec volunteered.
"Thanks, Spec," Alora said sarcastically.
They threw together a quick 'working mom' outfit.
"I'm on my way to get you, Bean," Alora told her.
She hurried over to the mansion. The same butler opened the door.
"Hello," Alora said executively, "I think my daughter is here and it's time for her to come home."
"You're Mrs. Tyler?" the butler asked.
"I am."
"Come right this way, madam."
He led her into the dining room where String Bean, Elsa and Mr. Gamut were. String Bean's mouth dropped a bit.
"Patty, honey," Alora said maternally, "time to come home."
"But, Mom," she pleaded, picking up on the charade quickly, "Can't I stay a little longer?"
"Patty," Alora said firmly, "you need to come home and unpack."
"Okay," String Bean said, rising slowly, as if this was very disappointing.
"Come back soon, Patty," Elsa said hopefully.
"Thank you for letting her come," Alora said to Mr. Gamut.
"Anytime, Ms..."
"Tyler," she said, "Mrs. Sarah Tyler."
"You look too young to be this girl's mother," he commented.
"Oh," she said, acting flattered although she was worried that he suspected her, "you're too kind. Patty here is adopted, though."
"You're not wearing your wedding ring," he observed.
If the other comment had worried her, this one stunned her.
"I-I," she stammered, "had to take it to be adjusted and it's jot done yet."
"I understand," he said, "my wife took hers to be 'adjusted' a few years ago. She lives in Manhattan now."
Alora's eyes went wide.
"Ethan and I are very happy, Sir," she told him, using her father's name.
"Whatever you say," he said disbelievingly. "What is it you do, Sarah?"
Alora searched the room for ideas. She spotted a car magazine on the desk.
"I work for Porsche," she said, "I'm a designer."
"Oh," he said surprised, "which cars have you worked on?"
"Get out of there, Pink," Span said over her earpiece.
"Patty, sweetheart," Alora said, "We need to go."
String Bean ran over and grabbed Alora's hand.
"Okay, Mommy," she said.
"Anytime you want to come over and talk business, Sarah," Mr. Gamut said, taking her hand and kissing it gently, "Our doors will always be open to you."
Alora half-smiled, pulling her hand out of his. She said a thank you and led String Bean quickly to the door. When they were safely down the road, Alora wiped her hand on her skirt.
"What a slirm," she said in disgust.
"Ethan would be furious," Spec laughed.
"Like I'd tell my father about this," Alora replied, "He'd come down and shoot the guy right here and now."
"I meant your 'husband', Ethan," Spec said.
"Oh."
"What a minute," Span said, "your father is Ethan Hunt?"
"Yeah," Alora said, "so?"
"He's only one of the best agents ever to work for the CIA," Span said.
"He's not that great," Alora said.
"Pink," Sting Bean said, "your father is a living legend!"
"Take your strip off," Alora said to String Bean who still sounded twelve.
She sheepishly peeled the long, transparent voice-modifying strip off her neck.
"She's correct in her assessment, though, Pink," Spec said, "actually, I have to write a paper on Ethan Hunt next week."
"For what?" Alora asked.
"English," Spec said, "I have to write a paper on my favorite agent. I'm still deciding between him and Luther Stickell."
"Luther does more in your field," Alora said, "He's a really nice guy, too."
"You know Luther Stickell, too?" Span asked, amazed.
"Yeah, he's a good friend of Dad's."
"Next thing your going to tell me," String Bean said, "is that you know Nyah Hall."
Alora laughed out loud.
"You know Nyah Hall, Bean," she said, "It's Nyah Hunt now."
String Bean's mouth dropped open.
"Nyah Hall is your mother?" she exclaimed.
Alora nodded.
"And to think," Spec said, "she was going to bring me some water!"
"It's really not that big of a deal, guys," Alora said, "They're just normal people."
"You're really lucky, Pink," String-Bean said.
Alora rolled her eyes.
"Well, at least your parent's are agents," String-Bean said, "My parents think I go to prep school."
Alora said nothing, hating the fact that she was a Hunt.