Kiana thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious, and she decided to help him out and lighten things up a little.
“It’s nice to hear you like women’s breasts. I would have been pretty disappointed if you didn’t.”
They both laughed and luckily Jacen recovered quickly from his faux pas. They spent the next thirty minutes exchanging basic information about one another, and he said he lived with his dad, who was an accountant. Kiana gave him her standard USIA cover story that she was from Anaheim and had moved to Mill Creek when Michael was transferred by his company to its Seattle office.
“What does your dad do?” Jacen asked.
“He’s a car salesman.”
Jacen nodded. “What was it like living in Anaheim? I’ve never been there before.”
“It was nice. The weather is great most of the time. And there’s a lot to do. Lots of shopping and restaurants.”
“Sweet. What do you think of the Pacific Northwest so far?”
“It’s really nice. I like it a lot.”
A mischievous smile formed on his lips. “I’m going to ask you that same question next February.”
“February? Why?”
“It usually starts raining here in October. And it doesn’t usually stop until June or July the following year. By February, you’ll be so sick of it you’ll want to jump off of the top of the Space Needle.”
Kiana chuckled. “I’ve heard similar stories from other people. Is it really that bad?”
“It doesn’t get too cold here and snow is pretty rare, maybe a couple of days per year. But the rain will finish you off. It’s pretty depressing at times. That reminds me of an old joke - you probably don’t know it since you’re so new here. How do you know when it’s spring in Seattle?”
“How?”
“The rain is warmer.”
She laughed. But then she thought of something. “Spring is baseball and softball season. How do we play if it rains so much?”
“You just do. Most schools have turf fields nowadays so they can handle it, and unless it’s a complete downpour the coaches usually have us play. After all, around here if you don’t play in the rain, you don’t play.”
Kiana was amazed. “What a difference from southern California. In southern California, if a single drop of rain falls from the sky everyone heads for their cars and calls it a day.”
They laughed. The rest of their dinner was more of the same, mostly small talk and nothing really that interesting or exciting but Kiana loved it anyway. There was just something about Jacen that made her feel comfortable and at ease. Perhaps it was his easy going style, or the way he talked, or the way he looked at her (his eyes were mesmerizing), and he seemed so natural and sincere. Unlike most teenage boys, he wasn’t cocky or aggressive at all, and he didn’t seem to be trying to impress her in the least. He seemed like he was just being himself and just trying to have as good a time as possible.
After dinner, he asked if she wanted to go to a friend’s house where a few of his buddies (mostly fellow players on Jackson’s baseball team) were hanging out. Kiana had always enjoyed hanging out with baseball players (for many reasons), and to be completely honest, she really didn’t care what she and Jacen were doing as long as they were together. So they drove back to Mill Creek and went to a house that wasn’t too far from hers. There were about ten people there, mostly guys but also a few girls and Kiana knew most of them from school. Everyone was on the back patio roasting marshmallows over a small, propane barbeque, then using the marshmallows to make s’mores. Everyone laughed as a boy named John Franco got his marshmallow too close to the grill and it burst into flames. He tried to blow it out, but it was a crumpled, burned mess in no time. Jacen made Kiana one and unlike John he got it perfect -- golden brown just the way she liked it.
“You’re pretty good at that,” she said.
“I’m a man of many talents,” he said. “Unfortunately, not too many of them are useful.”
Kiana started to blush as he reached up and wiped a small piece of marshmallow from her chin.
After finishing their s’mores, John broke out a game and they all joined in, playing on a large table in the house’s dining room. The game was called Ultra 7 and Jacen told her it was really fun, and after just a few minutes of play she had no choice but to agree. In some ways it was similar to UNO and the object was to be the first player to get rid of all of his or her cards. Each player started with seven and they got rid of them by playing them on top of another card that was either the same color (blue, green, red, or yellow), number (one, two, three, or four), or suit (clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades). But the real fun began when a player played an ‘action’ card. The action cards had special instructions on them and they made the players do various things. One card, for instance, made the next player roll a die and draw a number of cards equal to the number he or she rolled, another card made two players trade their hands, another card made two players switch seats, and another allowed a player to immediately take another turn. But the card everyone loved the most was called GRAB. Whenever someone played a GRAB card, all of the players had to grab one of the spoons that was sitting in the middle of the table. The tricky part, however, was the fact there were one fewer spoons than the number of players so each time someone ended up empty handed. As a penalty for not getting a spoon, he or she had to draw two cards. As such, they fought like madmen to get one. More than once spoons went flying through the air as players fought for and scrambled after them, and one time there was a tug-of-war when Jacen and John grabbed the same spoon at the same time. It was incredibly funny and they laughed heartily after every melee. But at one point, one of the boys, a tall kid named Jamal Smith, looked at Kiana and said, “It’s amazing. Kiana gets a spoon every time.”
It was true. Up to that point, GRAB cards had been played at least ten times, but Kiana had yet to be penalized. She had always ended up with a spoon and she had always ended up with one easily.
She smiled. “I have fast reflexes.”
“That must be why you’re so good at taekwondo,” John said.
“That taekwondo is so dope,” Jamal said. “You’ve got to teach us some moves.”
Kiana was a little reluctant but they begged her, so she finally acquiesced and went with them into the living room where she taught them a couple of basic stances, then a simple block.
“I wanna do that kick thing,” John said. “The one you did to Brett. It was incredible.”
So she taught them how to a do a basic snap kick, and it was actually pretty fun for a while, watching them all standing there in their socks in the living room kicking at one another, but the fun came to a quick and unfortunate end when Jamal and John got too close together and John ended up with a bloody nose. As such, they decided it would be better if they returned to Ultra 7, so they headed back to the dining room and resumed their game. But then something new happened. Jamal said, “Let’s add the DARE cards.”
“Sweet,” the other players said.
Kiana did not know what they were talking about. “What are the DARE cards?”
“They’re some more of the action cards,” Jacen said. “They’re from one of the game’s expansion packs so we only use them on occasion. Like all of the action cards, there is one of each color. Whenever you play one you get to dare another player to do something, anything you want. If they do it, they get to discard two cards.”
Kiana nodded and play resumed. Within a couple of minutes, John played a yellow DARE card.
“I dare Jamal to drink a cup of ketchup.”
Kiana’s eyes got big and she couldn’t really believe what happened next, but Jamal actually did it. John poured him a glass of ketchup and everyone started chanting “CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” as he tipped it back and drank it. It was extremely gross and at one point Kiana’s stomach got queasy but it was funny nonetheless. Everyone cheered as Jamal finished the glass and slammed it triumphantly on the table in front of him.
“So
tasty,” he said.
Play resumed and there was a mad scramble as Jamal’s girlfriend, who was a pretty girl named Rochelle Webber, played a GRAB card and somehow Jamal, John, and another boy named Francis McGrath ended up under the table fighting over a spoon (they all had a piece of it). Everyone’s eyes got big, however, as the melee ended and they looked over and saw Kiana sitting there with a smile on her face. She had two spoons in her hand.
“You got two?” John said. “At once? No one has ever done that before.”
Kiana shrugged. For her, it hadn’t been that difficult at all.
Play continued and everyone laughed as Jamal played the blue DARE card and dared Francis to lick the bottom of his shoe. It was arguably the grossest, most disgusting thing Kiana had ever seen, but Francis removed a shoe and ran his tongue from one end of it to the other, and he even said, “Yum,” when he was done.
The highlight of the night, however, happened about twenty minutes later. Rochelle played the red DARE card, shot a quick glance at Kiana, then looked over at Jacen. A mischievous look appeared in her eyes. “Let’s liven things up a little. I dare Jacen to kiss Kiana on the lips.”
For a brief second, Kiana couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Jacen was supposed to kiss her? Technically, it was their first date so she wasn’t certain kissing was appropriate, but at the same time she really didn’t have an issue with it since she liked Jacen so much. As such, when he turned to her and asked, “Is it okay?” she didn’t hesitate with an answer.
The entire room cheered as he leaned over and kissed her, and she enjoyed every second of it. In the past, she had kissed a few boys but it had never been like that. Although she and Jacen were still on their first date and they had only known each other for a short period of time, she knew one thing for certain.
He was the one for her.
Chapter 28
Kiana sat in Beckman’s office, directly across from Beckman herself, and Christine sat to her side.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Beckman said. “Especially you, Kiana. I know it must be difficult to get out of class easily.”
Actually, it hadn’t been difficult at all. Kiana had been in her history class when she had received Beckman’s text telling her to report to USIA’s headquarters immediately and she had simply raised her hand, told her teacher she felt ill, and asked to go to the nurse’s office. On the way to the nurse’s office, she had made a slight ‘detour’ through the school’s parking lot and off she went.
“Anyway,” Beckman said. “I have an assignment I’m sending the two of you on. It’s of utmost importance so I need you to depart immediately.”
“Is my dad coming?” Kiana asked.
“Unfortunately, I sent your dad on an assignment this morning to Dallas and he won’t be back until this evening. We don’t have time to wait for his return so the two of you are going to have to handle this one on your own.”
Kiana nodded but she wasn’t happy about it, not at all. She had assumed the majority of her initial missions, if not all of them, would involve Michael, and that made her comfortable since she was so familiar with him. She wasn’t certain she would be as comfortable working with another agent, especially Christine.
Regardless, she had no choice. Beckman was in charge and Kiana wanted to impress her so she was going to do whatever she asked even if that meant going on a mission with an agent she didn’t really like.
Beckman handed them a photo. It was of a man in his early thirties with short, dark hair, brown eyes, thin lips, narrow cheeks, and a small scar right on the tip of his chin.
“This is Reginald Johnson. The two of you probably don’t know him since you’re new here, but he’s one of our top field agents. I’ve had him working on an assignment for a while now, a smuggling operation, and he recently made a breakthrough that led him to Chiang Mai.”
“Chiang Mai?” Kiana asked. She had never heard of Chiang Mai before.
“It’s a city in Thailand about three hundred miles north of Bangkok. Anyway, Johnson was working with a USIA contact in Chiang Mai, a man named Lewis Armstrong, and their most recent report said they had identified a man who they believed was the smuggling operation’s ring leader. Unfortunately, however, Johnson has now disappeared. I have reason to think his cover was blown and he was captured.”
“What kind of smuggling was involved?” Christine asked.
“Drugs.”
“I thought most drugs come from Mexico,” Kiana said, “or South America? Not Asia.”
Beckman smiled. “Nowadays, drugs come from everywhere.”
“What do you want us to do?” Christine asked.
“I want you to take the next flight to Chiang Mai and rendezvous with Armstrong. I spoke with him this morning and he thinks he may know where the smugglers are holding Johnson. I want the two of you to locate and recover him as soon as possible.”
“What about Armstrong?” Christine asked. “If he’s already there, in Thailand, why can’t he recover Johnson himeslf?”
“Armstrong is an informant, and a good one, but he’s not an agent. He doesn’t have the skills or the training necessary to carry out a rescue op himself. On top of that, I’m not exactly certain what we’re dealing with here. From Johnson’s reports, it sounded like the smuggling operation was a pretty small one but I don’t know for certain and I don’t want to take any chances.”
Kiana and Christine nodded.
“Christine,” Beckman continued. “Since you’re the senior agent on this assignment you’ll be in charge. Kiana, you will provide backup and whatever assistance Christine needs. At this point, your main objective is to find and recover Johnson. I’m not concerned with the smuggling operation, and we will deal with it later, as and when we deem appropriate. For now, focus solely on recovering Johnson. At the same time, however, since Kiana has little experience in the field, I want you to proceed with caution. Christine, if you sense there is no way for the two of you to recover Johnson without facing unnecessary risk, contact me for further instructions. Understood?”
Christine nodded.
“Off you go,” Beckman said. “Once you arrive in Thailand, I want a report on your progress every two hours. If you miss a report I will send additional agents.” She looked at Kiana. “Including your father.”
They were driven quickly back to their homes, to grab a few items for the trip (clothing, toiletries, etc.), then taken to Sea-Tac airport, which was about thirty minutes from the USIA’s headquarters in Bellevue. Less than an hour after that, they were onboard a flight to Chiang Mai. It was a thirteen hour flight with a stop in Taipei, Taiwan. For the first four hours, Kiana kept primarily to herself and listened to music on her iPhone, and for an hour after that she played video games and watched some videos. But finally she got bored and decided she wanted to talk to someone.
“What are you reading?”
Christine sat next to her, silently reading an ebook on her iPad.
“The Hunger Games.”
Kiana’s eyes got big. “I love The Hunger Games. I read it a while back. I really like the part at the end where they threaten to eat the poisonous berries. I never saw that -”
She realized her mistake the second she said it. She had given away the book’s ending. Or at least a portion of it.
“Sorry.”
Christine laughed. “It’s no big deal. I’ve already read the entire series twice. But I like it so much I keep reading it over and over and I never get tired of it.”
“Me, neither. What did you like better, the books or the movies?”
“Definitely the books.”
“Me, too. They’re much more intense.”
For a brief second Kiana was a bit surprised, and a little pleased. She didn’t know why, but for some inexplicable reason she hadn’t expected she and Christine to have anything in common.
“Your dad told me you like Twilight,” Christine said. “And Harry Potter. Is that true?”
Kiana nodded.
“Yeah. How about you?”
“I love Twilight. But I’m not much into Harry Potter. Ron is kinda cute, however.”
They sat there for a couple of minutes, silent. For some strange reason, which was probably just pure boredom, Kiana actually wanted to continue the conversation but at first she didn’t know what to say. But then she recalled something Christine had said a few minutes prior. Her comment, “Your dad told me . . .”
“Does my dad talk about me much?”
Christine chuckled. “All the time. You’re his pride and joy. He talks about you so much I felt like I knew you even before I had actually met you.”
Kiana was perplexed. “What does he talk about?”
“Everything. And like all dads, he likes to brag.”
“About what?”
“How you’re doing in school, how you’re doing with your taekwondo, and softball of course. He loves softball.”
“What’d he say?”
“A lot. I know your whole career. Originally, like most girls you played Little League but you did so well during your first year he switched you to a select team called the Ladybugs. The Ladybugs weren’t very good, but when the other teams saw how well you were doing they all started recruiting you. He said some of them would even wait for you in the parking lot after games just so they could try to talk to you and get you to switch teams. After the Ladybugs, you switched to a team called the Express and you played for them for a year, then you went to the Lady Sharks. On the Lady Sharks you hit your first out-of-the-park home run, which is amazing since thirteen-year-old girls never hit out-of-the-park home runs. At least according to your dad.”
At that point Kiana couldn’t help but add a little to the story. “My dad still has the ball. He paid two little boys to climb the outfield fence and get it for him.”
“I’ve seen it. It was one of the first things he showed me when I came to your house for the first time.”
“What about you? Do you like softball?”
Christine nodded. “When I was your age I played for the Sparks for three years. I wasn’t an All-Star like you but I had a good time anyway.”
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