Thursday, 20th

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Ellie entered the front door to her apartment. She was exhausted.

"Hey babe!" said an overly alert Devon.

Ellie did her best to muster half a smile before landing on the couch. She hoped some of the energy from Devon's morning stationary bike workout would rub off on her.

"That bad huh?" he continued.

"Yeah, I think everyone at the convention must've eaten something bad. I'm gonna go take a shower and go to bed, okay?"

Devon continued pedalling in place. "Okay honey."

Ellie managed to lift herself up and made her way down the hall. The sound from a videogame came from behind Chuck's closed door.

"Hey, you better get going if don't want to be late for work!" she yelled towards it.

"Thanks but I have the day off!" was the reply she got back.

Her eyes widened and her nose slightly wrinkled a bit. Morgan had a way of bringing about an alertness that several cups of coffee hadn't.

She turned around and abruptly walked into the room.

"Morgan! What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Morning Ellie," he said in an upbeat tone, "everything alright?"

"No Morgan, everything is not alright. What are you doing here? Where's Chuck?"

Morgan paused his game. "No need to worry, Chuck left with plenty of time."

"This morning," he motioned with the controller still in his hand, "I am dedicated to improving my craft. As a fellow professional, I'm sure you understand."

Ellie's voice was becoming noticeably frayed. "Isn't there somewhere else you can be dedicated"

"Hey, I heard yelling, everything okay babe?"

As Devon entered Chuck's room, he spotted Morgan. "Bro! Know what next Monday is???"

"Of course I do," he said almost defensively, "I'd never forget Chuck's birthday." He began to smile proudly, "I already got him something too. I got him on the super-exclusive preorder waiting list for Dangeresque 3!"

Morgan's excitement fell on deaf ears. Instead of sharing enthusiasm, he simply got two blank stares.

"C'mon, it's only the most highly anticipated preorder waiting list for 2007!!!"

To his dismay, the blank stares at him continued. "Well, Chuck's gonna love it. What are you getting him?"

It was Devon's turn to smile with excitement. "We're gonna throw him a huge party!"

Ellie turned and shot him a look of concern. "Oh Devon no. No no no no."

Morgan seemed surprised. "A party?"

"What's wrong babe?" Devon asked innocently.

Ellie decided to stop things from getting out of hand. "No one from the Buy More is coming to this party."

Morgan looked visibly confused. "Wait, if no one from the Buy More is invited, then who will be there?"

Ellie's exhaustion made her even more threatening. "People Morgan. Real, normal, live people. People from work."

"We're gonna get Chuck a girlfriend!" Devon chimed in.

As Ellie glared at her boyfriend, Morgan thought the idea over. "Is that even legal?" he asked aloud.

Ellie's glare shifted back to the other troublesome male in the room. "It's time for Chuck to move on and that includes moving on from the Buy More!"

"I can't take this right now," she said raising her hands into the air as she left the room. "I'm going to bed."

Morgan sat down on the edge of Chuck's bed looking distraught.

Captain Awesome waited a moment before making sure Ellie was out of range.

"Don't worry bro," he said in a lowered tone as he slapped the side of Morgan's shoulder.

"You're Chuck's best bud, of course you can come."

"Really?" Morgan replied, lightening up a little.

"Really," was Awesome's assertive answer.

Morgan tried to imagine what Ellie and Awesome had in mind. A party, with no one but him from the Buy More. Real people.

"I don't get it," he admitted shrugging.

Awesome tried to keep his party energy from making its way down the hall. "There will be women there Morgan. Lots of available women."

Morgan struggled to weigh his options. If Captain Awesome was talking about women like this, then they'd likely be hot. He wasn't sure he was ready to think of someone else the way he thought of Ellie, but maybe he'd give Awesome's scenario the benefit of the doubt.

He stood up and straighted out his shirt. "And these women, they'll be in to me?"

"Don't sweat it," Awesome said, "a bunch of the guys will be there. Just throw the ball around with us, and you'll blend right in."

"Wait - if you guys are gonna be throwing something around," Morgan said nervously, "shouldn't I have some kind of... safety padding... or something?"

Awesome began to laugh. "What, how about a cup?"

Morgan shook his head, "No thanks, I'm not thirsty."

Captain's confusion gave Morgan the moment to make his decision. "Alright. Cool, I'm in."

Awesome stood proudly. "Cool indeed. Dude! We are bringing in the reinforcements - it's gonna be crazygonuts awesome! High-five bro!"

---------------

Charlene removed the last wireless printer from her cart and put it onto the display shelf.

She looked at her watch, it was 13:42. She could only wonder how Big Mike thought unloading the new inventory was going to take all day. She had hours to go, and no work left to fill it.

Charlene realized her work performance would make her stand out from her coworkers. She needed to make sure she didn't become 'employee of the month' or anything.

She began evaluating her options - she could either pace herself and work slower, or she could use her remaining time to goof off like everyone else. She smiled. The latter choice sounded more like a fun way to maintain her cover.

As she began towing her cart back to the rear storage room, she reflected a moment on her assignment. It was now into her third full day and there hadn't been any further developments in her mission. She still didn't have a better idea of what, where, or who might be involved in this 'information exchange' at the Buy More.

It wasn't unusual for these kinds of short missions with simple objectives to have little intel. Likely anyone here at the Buy More that might possibly become a threat to the exchange had been checked out and passed. Beyond that, they wouldn't have prepared full intel sheets for her to review.

She had taken the initiative during times like this to gather her own intel. Charlene preferred having a good idea of the scope of the situation, knowing what was going on, and having at least a conceptual idea of what the variables were. The frustrating thing for her was that she had been left with a lot of unknowns.

Assignments with this many unknowns could be vague for good reason. Normally it meant that there was something highly important at stake. For the information exchange to involve one or more civilians, and unaware at that, the importance of the mission suggested just the opposite.

She had actively amused herself by imagining if anyone here would be one of those possible 'unaware civilians'. To that end, she had mentally ranked her new coworkers into a list. At first it seemed like it would just be a fun thing to do, but with the mission seemingly getting longer each day and with surprising sources of information, she had a list that she felt was fairly solid.

At the lower end of the list, she was pretty confident that Big Mike would not be a likely candidate. From what she could tell, he preferred a management style where he didn't know what was really going on, and if he found out it would be by accident. She imagined someone could pull the fire alarm, and he would just ask to be told when the fire was out.

Lester was also a safe bet at the bottom of the list. Since he had tried his pick-up line on Tuesday morning, she had definitely put him in the aloof category. As far as she had been able to notice, he regularly spent his time trying to sound clever by usually incorrectly quoting TV and movie references. Fortunately for him, his soulmate Jeff seemed to be the only one who found it entertaining.

Speaking of Jeff, Charlene also had him safely in the not-involved end of her list. Despite Jeff's uncanny peripheral awareness, it seemed like his general real-world awareness was a bit off. While it surely made life difficult for him, she guessed at least he got to share that same out-of-world existence with his friend.

Ranking closer to the middle of her list, Harry Tang just barely scored as also unlikely. Setting him apart from many of the seasonal employees that appeared lower in the list, Harry at least had an awareness and an attention for what was going on at the Buy More. What hurt his chances somewhat were his tendencies to often notice the wrong things. Unless someone involved in the exchange was violating a Buy More company policy, the whole operation could almost take place right in front of him. She found it funny how Jeff had inconspicuously snuck around his back for an early lunch while he lectured some poor delivery person on the proper protocol for Buy More deliveries.

If nothing else, she personally hoped neither Jeff, Lester, nor Harry would end up becoming involved.

Towards the top of her possible candidates, she had essentially narrowed it down to three higher scoring possibilities.

Charlene found Morgan rather likable. He had come across as friendly, thoughtful, loyal to his friends, and just a tad hyper. Despite the sound of the advice he had given her on her first night, Morgan had a truly useful sense of what was going on at the Buy More. Charlene had quickly learned that when he spotted her noticing Chuck on her first full day.

In his favor, Morgan actually had a pretty good cover. With his appearance and his behavior, no one seemed to take him seriously or perceive him as a threat - even when he tried.

Charlene wishfully kept Morgan out of the top two spots on her list for a good reason. Successfully executing an information exchange, involving secrets of some level, required a low-key attitude and discretion. All it had taken Charlene to get him to open up on Tuesday morning was her brief mention of playing Nintendo games from the mid-80's. By midday they were having lunch together, and he had eventually managed between bites to tell her several stories about pretty much everyone there. While Morgan had in fact been a very valuable source of information to her cause, she didn't want Morgan's weakness to negatively impact national security.

Charlene as of yet found it hard to decide which of her two remaining candidates should take the top spot. While it was unclear how many, if at all, civilians may be involved, she hoped these two weren't involved at the same time. She was fairly sure that their two differing styles would clash. Right now her top spot on the list leaned slightly towards Anna.

Anna stood out from her coworkers at the Buy More. In the three days Charlene had been on duty, Anna had already demonstrated that she had the strongest willpower and self control of anyone.

According to Morgan, she was also still a bit of a mystery too - even after having been here almost a year. He had noted on several occasions where she would reveal something from her otherwise secretive past. Most of the time it would either totally surprise them or totally scare them. Morgan had also told her at great length the story of how Anna had been able to get him back into his computer after he accidentally locked himself out. Charlene couldn't help but feel a little good herself the way Morgan boasted Anna's technical prowess. Not every guy felt comfortable around skilled 'hacker chicks'.

What had really caught Charlene's attention though was when Morgan brought up a story about Anna's sword practice. According to him, a few weeks ago a Buy More ad group decided it would be a really good idea to have employees record videos after hours reviewing movies, games, and products. After one of these 'reality-ads', Jeff began to take down the camera. Anna instructed him to leave it - that she would be recording herself performing martial arts. Jeff had begun to object until he saw the very real sword at her side.

Charlene felt that if Anna had only just arrived at the Buy More recently, the CIA might possibly have considered her a formidable counter-agent.

Far less intimidating, and far less likely to be wielding a sword, Chuck in many ways was Anna's opposite. Chuck was friendly and considerate to both his coworkers and customers alike. He didn't hold anything back, and all his openness eliminated any potential for mystery. It was hard to imagine that he didn't hold some secrets from his best friend, but Morgan's assertions carried some weight.

Like Anna, nearly everyone took Chuck serious, including Anna. It seemed that the Nerd Herd and Buy More employees looked to Chuck whenever it was time for someone to make decisions. Morgan had made it a point to emphasize that it was Chuck's 'good-heartedness' that had earned that kind of respect, and not just being in the right place at the right time.

Charlene's observations had so far supported most of Morgan's claims. While admiring his attention to detail and his ability to get things done, she felt a bit better that she wasn't the only one at the store that held that quality in high regard. Ultimately she felt bad for him - a work ethic like his meant he likely didn't fit in with his peers.

Charlene figured that if Chuck was involved in the exchange, things would run smoothly. His level of honesty and obvious sense of responsibility would make sure he did the right thing for his country.

She did feel she would need to keep a closer eye on him however. His will wasn't nearly as strong as Anna's. When Chuck's workload thinned, and when no one was around, he looked slightly depressed. Morgan had implied that there was something that regularly bothered Chuck, but he hadn't been willing to mention it in any further detail. If the situation got complicated during the exchange, that trait could be his Achilles heel.
Charlene pulled her cart into the rear storage room, and placed it with the other empty inventory carts.

As her phone began to ring, she felt eager to possibly learn any additional mission information.

"Sir?"

Graham was brief. "We're sending out two additional agents to add to your team. They both have technical backgrounds, but less field experience than you. I want you to take the lead on this assignment. They will be posing as transfer employees from the same Buy More as you, so you'll have an excuse to be seen together."

Charlene felt herself become alarmed. A mission objective this simple and short term shouldn't require establishing a team.

"Sir, has there been a change in the mission?"

"No. The mission will proceed as designed. We want to ensure no one is tracking the exchange. Your team will be the extra eyes to make sure that no one trails you or the source."

"Sir, can you provide information on the exchange itself?"

"Details about this mission remain classified. You and your team will be briefed on a need to know basis."

"Details on your new team," he continued, "are being delivered to your hotel room. They will arrive at the Buy More tomorrow. I suggest you read over their field history - they're going to be depending on you."

Graham's voice became a little more personable. "I understand you want to know more about your mission, but you will need to operate at this level for the time being."

"I understand sir." Charlene tried not to sound disappointed.

"Good," Graham concluded, ending the call.

---------------

Charlene turned on her lamp and took a sip of coffee.

She opened the first personnel folder. The rookie agent had just graduated, and had no listed field experience. For this mission, his cover name would be 'Fernando'.

Charlene looked at his picture. She flipped back to the first page to verify 'Fernando' was indeed male.

'Fernando' was probably going to be a handful. His scores at the academy were alarmingly bad. The only way he could've graduated with scores like that was through influential connections.

"Great," she said out loud. She reached for the other folder to see if it held any more promise.

The next agent appeared no less visibly inconspicuous. His large curly hair was styled more in step with the 1980's.

At least Agent Johnson had some field experience, she thought.

Unlike Charlene, Michael had willingly joined the CIA. From there he had followed a similar path to hers. He spent most of his time performing duties as a technical specialist within the CIA. His proficiency to his trade and his personality had earned him the respect and recommendation from his superiors.

Michael's specialties were in electronic security, surveillance, and audio/video systems. A skillset like that could come in very useful as an agent. His academy scores were significantly better than Fernando's. He had rapidly progressed through his courses, only to struggle with the deception and seduction portions.

She chuckled. Hopefully there wouldn't be any need for anyone to do any seducing at the Buy More.

Charlene took another sip of coffee and set the folders aside.

"Reinforcements..." she said to herself trying to sound positive.