Arvin Sloane rested his elbows on the edge of his massive desk. He peered across at the teenage girl sitting opposite him. She had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and wore a bemused expression. "Ms. Bristow," Arvin said, "I understand you've been asked to stay here while your mother goes to Moldavia."
The girl shrugged. "I guess so."
"So, Ms. Bristow, while…"
"Julia. My name is Julia."
"Julia Irina. I
know." Arvin smiled, a little sadly. "Anyway, Agent Mariel
Hemingway will be showing you around."
"I know my way around,
Mr. Sloane," Julia said. "Marshall showed me around when I was
here last time."
Arvin took a sip of water from his cut glass carafe. "Very well, but Agent Hemingway has been assigned to you."
The door to Arvin's office opened, and a honey-blond woman approached his desk. She was lithe and trim, clad in a sharply tailored green tweed suit. Her high heels clicked authoritatively as she smartly crossed the floor to the desk. Julia surmised this was Agent Mariel Hemingway.
"Agent Hemingway, I'd like you to meet Julia Bristow," Arvin said. Julia rolled her eyes, slumping in the richly upholstered chair.
"You're Agent Bristow's daughter?" the woman asked.
Julia took a deep breath and tried to ignore the woman.
"I have a briefing," Arvin said. "I'll leave you to get acquainted." He left the office, the door closing softly behind him.
Julia stood up, grabbing her canvas backpack. "I'm going to hang out with Marshall. You don't need to follow me."
Agent Hemingway said nothing, but the look of shock on her face gave Julia a sort of twisted pleasure as she left Arvin's office and turned down the hallway to where Marshall J. Flinkman's spacious office was.
Marshall was at his desk, studiously hacking something while salsa music blared. "Hey, Julia!" he said excitedly as soon as she realized he was there. "I have something for you. Well, two somethings, actually."
"What is it?" she asked, smiling at the man.
He fished into his pocket, and came out with two things – a pink gum eraser and a bracelet. "The eraser's really a microphone. And the bracelet, well, it's just a bracelet, but it was really pretty, so I thought you'd like it."
Julia accepted the two gifts readily, tucking the eraser into the front pocket of her backpack and slipping the bracelet around her wrist. "What're you doing today?" she asked.
Marshall shrugged offhandedly. "Not much, I guess. Why are you here?"
"Mom's going to Moldavia," Julia said dryly. "And I'm here, in the safekeeping of Agent Mariel Hemingway."
Marshall snorted.
"Isn't she hilarious?"
"I'm sure she's selling
tickets to the other agents," Julia said. "Come see Agent
Bristow's scarred, genius, freak of a daughter!"
Marshall laughed, if a little nervously. Then he said, looking down the hall, "Your mom and Arvin – I mean, Mr. Sloane – are coming. Here, hide in the closet."
Julia dove into the closet, tugging the steel door shut after her. She heard the door to Marshall's office open, then close. Then her mother said, "Marshall, something's come up."
"Uh… what is it?" Marshall asked, attempting to sound normal.
"We've discovered that Pyoter Ovganova has recently installed a fourth security program on the server, one created by the Rambaldi seekers known as the Society of the Fifth," Sydney said.
"What is it?" Marshall repeated.
"A mock-up of the system is on this disk," Arvin said.
There was silence for a moment. Julia inched her way forward until she could peer through the slats in the door. Marshall had a horrified expression on his face. "I… I can't hack this," he said at last.
"You can't?" Arvin and Sydney said as one. Arvin continued, "Who can?'
Marshall paused. Then he said, "Julia could."
In surprised, Julia tumbled out of the closet.