“An assistant?” Jennie’s head tilted to the left. “You mean, you’re…”
Tom extended a hand across the desk, his manner frantic. “Pleased to meet you! Tom Hopkins, PA to the SAiC. Is there anything I can get for you today? Coffee? Tea? A mint? A hot chocolate? Oh, you’d like a meeting with Rogers? Let me have a look at his calendar. Sure thing, he’ll be free in…thirteen months.”
Jennie shook her head in disbelief. “I had no idea things would change so much.”
Tom sat back and exhaled, taking a moment to calm himself. “I’m sorry, Ms. King. It’s just a real fall from grace to go from commanding a team to operating as Rogers’ secretary. Don’t get me wrong, it has its perks, but things really have snowballed here. The scale that we’re growing at, we’re still trying to find ways to make things work.”
“But why are you filling a PA role?” Jennie couldn’t get her head around it. “Why couldn’t you continue your old position? Your team respected you. They would have died for you, and many did.”
Tom nodded solemnly. “I know, I know. I thought things would be okay, too. I had a good few weeks rebuilding my team and getting things in order under the pressures of the growing department. However, they needed someone experienced enough to look at the allocation of agency resources, and it just so happens I’m the best man for the job.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Jennie asked.
“I do what I’m needed to do. That’s the way it goes,” Hopkins replied.
The phone rang, the sound filling the silence that followed Hopkins’ words. He frowned at the phone before finally picking up the receiver. After a series of “Yes,” and “Umms,” he placed the receiver back down.
“Lucky us, one of our agents has blocked in two other cars,” he grumbled. “The best of the best, my ass.” He glanced at Jennie as if suddenly remembering she was there. “I’m sorry, you came in here for something. What problems could possibly befall the incredible Genevieve King?” His tone was sarcastic, but she sensed no malice in them, only a kind of sore jealousy.
“I need my men back, Hopkins,” Jennie commanded. “They’re off in the field with the other agents, when I need them for my own endeavors. I was promised that we’d be kept abreast of changes and my team would be left alone, and I’m now finding that issues are cropping up that have involved us in the past, and that my people have been ordered by the SIA to accompany your units.”
Tom shrugged, sadness in his eyes. “Join the club. Do you know who they got to replace me?”
Jennie remained tight-lipped.
“Daggro.” Hopkins laughed and shook his head. “Fucking Daggro, the ambitious bitch. A great field operative, but she’d been coming for my role for years. I tried to persuade Rogers to take on Rhone, but she’d already got her claws into him. As I say, Ms. King, times change. Better get used to it.”
Jennie shook her head, a sly grin on her face. “Is that your final answer?”
Hopkins looked at her apologetically. “It’s the only answer I’ve got.” He leaned forward and rifled through the paperwork again. “Look, I’ll speak to Rogers when I get him alone, but I don’t know what more I can do from my position. The department is going through a huge shift in the wake of recent events. The President is on our back—the goddamn President. He has the final say. No arguments.”
Jennie rose to her feet and gave a resolute nod. “Well, thank you for your time, Agent Hopkins. It’s been truly worthwhile.”
Tom couldn’t help but laugh. “Off the record, I like you, Jennie. I always have. Whatever you’ve got planned—and don’t think I’m stupid enough to know you haven’t got an ace up your sleeve—just be careful, okay? You may have struck a deal with the Queen and the President, but that doesn’t mean that your journey will be easy. There’s still everything to play for here.”
Jennie smiled. “Oh, don’t I know it.”
She turned to leave. As she opened the door, Hopkins added, “My money’s on you, Ms. King.” He turned his attention to Rogers’ computer as the door closed behind her.
* * *
Jennie was deep in thought when she took a left at the cross-junction and made her way toward Hendrick’s lab.
There was no denying that it was Hendrick’s lab anymore. Proctor had yielded defeat to the man who outmatched his knowledge of the chemicals and substances that blurred the barrier between life and death. After weeks of fighting for the top spot, Proctor happily took second and obeyed Hendrick’s orders and commands.
Jennie heard the chatter in the hallway before she’d made it to the next corner. The sounds were familiar, the jostling and banter of high school jocks. There was laughter, play fighting, and the unmistakable chatter of what one jock had done with a female agent the night before.
A boisterous voice laughed. “She’ll have a tough time walking straight today, I assure you.”
“I thought she wasn’t that into you?”
“Funny what happens when alcohol gets involved,” the first voice retorted.
Jennie rounded the corner and saw the five of them, dressed in their SIA fatigues. They were young, in their early twenties, and they were handsome for the most part.
A shitty attitude can sour a pretty man.
Jennie kept her focus on her way ahead but could feel the hungry eyes on her as she strode on past. It was a hazard of her pain, she supposed. Sure, wearing a leather corset wasn’t always comfortable, but that was what kept her sharp. If she was constantly in some sort of pain, she’d always be prepared and on edge. Who could really hurt her that badly when she was already hurting herself?
A long whistle came out of one of the guys’ mouths. Jennie closed her eyes and sighed.
The leery agent muttered loudly enough to be heard. “Of course, if I had known steak was on the table, I wouldn’t have gone for a cheap-ass burger last night.”
A couple of the other guys laughed but hissed at him to shut up. Another whispered, “Dude, don’t you know who that is?”
“Who cares? Women are women. All it takes is a little alcohol and a measure of charm and they all go weak at the knees.” He raised his voice. “Ain’t that right, darling?”
Jennie stopped in her tracks. She had been more than happy to carry on while they kept their ridiculous chauvinism to themselves. She’d had enough of her fair share of men lusting after her tight form, drawn by her glow of fiery hair. There was little to surprise her anymore. But, since these men were a part of the SIA—the SIA she had helped get to where it was today—she figured a lesson was in order.
Jennie composed herself and spun on the spot. She used her most sickly sweet voice. “I’m sorry, gentlemen. What was that?”
There was a rumble of awkward laughter. The instigator of the group, a young man with his hair quiffed up at the front, gave a cocky smile. He broke from the group and took a few brave steps toward her. “I said you’re pretty hot, darling. You don’t seem half as scary as people say.”
Jennie knew he knew who she was. “Are you sure about that?
The agent bit his lip. “I know what you’re capable of. Must be lonely at the top. Bet you need a strong, handsome guy at your side just to get through the cold nights. What do you think?”
Jennie closed the gap between them, and his eyes flickered for just a second. She bit her lip and leaned toward him, then at the last minute, nodded toward his group. “I’ll take your mate on the right.”
The other lad, a guy with a crop of blond hair, choked.
Quiff frowned. “I thought you’d be better than that.” He closed the gap entirely and wrapped a hand around her waist. A moment later, he was sliding it toward her ass.
Jennie waited for her moment. When he finally slapped her ass, she knew it was time.
Jennie grabbed the guy’s wrist and held it firm. She spun and twisted his arm at the same time, using her weight as the fulcrum to throw him into a messy barrel roll.
He landed on his back on the laminate floor and strugg
led to get to his feet, but Jennie held her grip on his wrist, shifting her grip to apply pressure to his wrist and his knuckles. As she did this, she placed a boot against his throat to discourage further chat.
One of his group made a step forward to help him but froze the instant he met Jennie’s icy glare. A single popping sound came from one of his fingers before he yielded and cried out his surrender.
Jennie bent closer to the complaining guy on the floor. His jaw was clenched against the pain as he attempted to hold in his anguish. “You’re brave, I’ll give you that. But if you so much as look at my ass again, let alone think about slapping it, I’ll make sure you’re never able to use your hands again. Can’t fire a weapon without a trigger finger, can we?”
“You can’t do this.” The guy was still wriggling, despite Jennie’s warnings. “We’re SIA personnel. We’ll have HR on your ass so fast that you’ll be out the door before you can regret not taking me up on my offer. I’m a good time, baby.”
Jennie snorted in disbelief. She had to give it to him; even under duress, he was confident. Annoyingly, that’d get him far in this business.
“You may be personnel, but I’m not.” Jennie applied extra pressure to his thumb and gave a measured twist. She felt the thumb come free from its socket as it became looser than the rest of his fingers. “The SIA is really in trouble if you’re the standard of agent they’re turning out. It was shockingly easy to incapacitate you.”
The guy howled in pain, letting it all out into the corridor. A few agents had joined to watch by the others, more amused than worried.
Jennie released his hand and pushed it back toward him with a smile. “Might I suggest you apply for a refresher course in hand-to-hand? When your reminder to show some respect heals, of course.”
His thumb smacked on the ground, and he yelled again. “I’ll get you for this, bitch. I’ll get you!”
Jennie strode away, making extra effort to shake her hips. She glanced over her shoulder. “Baby, you’ll never have anyone like me.”
She placed her middle finger behind her head and headed onto Hendrick’s lab. The others waited until Jennie was out of sight before running to help him up off the floor.
* * *
“How long was I away for?”
Jennie marveled at the changes to the laboratory. What had previously been a single room crammed with all the equipment needed to make a science lab function had been expanded through both the east and west walls.
Construction was still underway on the east wall extension, but through a large archway on the west wall, Jennie could make out additional tables, as well as a stack of cardboard boxes, all labeled “Caution: Fragile.”
“Eight days, thirteen hours, and two minutes,” Hendrick replied without irony.
“Eight days?” Jennie retorted. “I was away for a week.”
Hendrick nodded. “But you haven’t visited the lab in eight days.”
Jennie laughed and inspected the changes. A team of three workers was drilling and hammering the east wall, kicking up clouds of dust into the lab. “They work fast, don’t they?”
Hendrick, who looked like a naked mole rat turned human, removed his glasses and cleaned off a fresh layer of fine dust. “It’s all about speed at the moment. No one in here cares about the finer parts of the work that needs to be conducted in order to advance our progress.” He traced a finger across a table and left a clean smudge behind. “Look at this. Non-stop dust. We can’t work in these conditions.”
“Then why are you?” Jennie motioned to the workers. “Why not wait until they’re gone?”
“Because the alternative means fraternizing with an ever-expanding group of agents,” Hendrick replied. “I’m not sure if you’ve met the new wave, but they’re not my type of people. Besides, I’m happiest when I’m occupied and focused on a job at hand. Dust or no dust, I’ll find a way to make this work. In fact, I already have. Come, see.”
Jennie followed Hendrick toward a cubicle that had been created in the far corner of the room from a white PVC shower curtain. The cubicle had no air leaks, or any gaps among the folds of the fabric, and was large enough to house two people, maybe even three at a push.
Inside was one of their smaller desks, filled with the instruments Hendrick had been busy working with.
“What is this?” Jennie picked up an object the size of a board game die. She twisted it in her hands before Hendrick realized what she was doing and quickly snatched it from her.
“Be careful with that!” Hendrick tutted and placed the object delicately back on the table. “As our means of imbuing objects is advancing, we’re working on new devices that expand the limitations of what we’ve previously known can be accomplished in the spectral plane. We’ve imbued firearms, handcuffs, goggles, you name it, we’ve mostly found ways to make them effective in spectral combat.”
“So, this is a way to play Monopoly with ghosts?” Jennie chuckled.
Hendrick was not impressed. “This might be the most important device I’ve created yet. It’s a prototype, mind, but it has yielded positive results so far.”
“What does it do?”
Hendrick studied Jennie for a few moments with scrutinous eyes. She began to wonder if she was going to be live bait for his experiment when he shouldered past her and into the lab.
Jennie followed Hendrick out of the curtain.
He spotted a nearby specter. The ghost was resting against a table and trying to scroll on the screen of an iPad.
“Hey, Ashleigh!”
The specter hunted for the source of the call and found Hendrick. “You know this sucks, right? Can’t you change the hardware on these things so they recognize spectral touch? All I want to do is read the goddamn news—”
Hendrick tossed the tiny cube at him before he could finish. The minute the cube made contact with his spectral flesh, it erupted in a brilliant white. Threads of light exploded from every angle, shooting out like the webs of a spider. They blanketed him and wrapped around his body, and he fell to the floor.
Jennie’s mouth fell agape.
Ashleigh sighed. “Should I expect that every time I ask you a question?”
The trace of a laugh came across Hendrick’s face. “Good work, soldier. I’m indebted for your service. As before, wait ten minutes, and you’ll be free.”
Hendrick disappeared back into the curtained area without a word. Jennie stared at the specter in amused shock.
“Oh, I don’t mind this,” Ashleigh explained without a hint of annoyance. “I’m literally employed to be the guinea pig for the R&D lab. It’s not too bad. Pays well, but then…” He nodded at the bonds holding him still. “Shit like this happens.”
Jennie left the bemused Ashleigh on the floor and followed Hendrick back into the cubicle. She burst out laughing. “Is this really your job now? Torturing specters with new inventions?”
“Part of it,” Hendrick replied without mirth. “Every job has its perks, I suppose. The real thrill comes from the invention. Pretty slick, don’t you think?”
“I’ll say,” Jennie admired.
Hendrick picked up a pencil sketch he had drawn and laid it flat on the table. “Imagine a dozen of those contraptions firing from a single shot. You’d have half your enemies down and bound before you’d even started the fight.”
Jennie gave Hendrick a look. He didn’t have to face her to see it; he had always been instinctual that way. “What?”
“Remember your days in London, producing perfumes and concoctions for the Paranormal Court and me? Who’d have thought you’d have such an affinity for firearms and combat?”
Hendrick nodded. “After decades working in one medium, it’s nice to put that knowledge to use in a world where it matters. With you fronting the SIA’s progress, I feel like I’m making a real contribution to spectral science.”
A sadness came over Jennie. Although Hendrick believed in her, she knew the progress wasn’t entirely for her. As long as she was a cog in t
he SIA’s machine, all the progress would be in the name of the SIA. She needed to break free, establish her own organization before she got swept up in this rapid pace of progress from the SIA.
“Speaking of,” Jennie started. “I may have something that I need you to look at. It’s going to take a bit of work, but the reward will be massive.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Jennie tapped her lip, thinking about the best way to explain what it is she wanted. “How would you feel about creating a power source that amplifies spectral activity and detects that which cannot be detected?”
Hendrick raised his eyebrows. She could almost see the whites of his eyes through the squinting behind his glasses. “Go on…”
Chapter Six
Washington DC, USA
Two days later, Jennie stood with her hands on her hips, looking more like a superhero than a regular mortal. “I’m going back to Richmond, and I’m taking a team with me.”
She had always stood out among the SIA, with her selection of vintage clothing a stark contrast to their fatigues, and now more so than ever as the numbers of black-clad agents increased in volume through the halls.
Daggro glanced up from her desk, a smug expression on her face. “On what grounds?”
Jennie looked around the old office that had once belonged to Hopkins. Daggro had wasted no time in making it her own, removing all traces of his personal items and replacing them with…well, nothing. The office was as cold and barren as she had learned Daggro to be.
“My reasons are my own,” came Jennie’s tight-lipped reply.
Daggro leaned back and let out a dramatic exhalation. She rested her hands on her stomach, just inches from her SIA regulation pistols, and chewed her lip. “I’m not sure I can allow you to do that without proper authorization.”
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 5