On the outskirts of Washington DC was a thirty-floor, high-rise building. The red brick façade was covered in windows, though specialty glass barred anyone from seeing what was inside. To most, it was a generic office building. But the International Intelligence Agency was anything but a run-of-the-mill business. No, what went on inside that building was of international importance. For in their hands lay the safety and security of the entire free world.

From training to briefings, anything and everything having to do with the IIA happened inside that building. But the heart of the agency rested on the topmost floor with the Unit Leaders or U.L.

Director Rokmond and the six other Unit Leaders sat around an oval, glass table. The director glanced down at his watch again. It was ten minutes past 9 o'clock am. This was one of the rare, unfortunate occasions that one of the leaders was late. Director Rokmond glanced at Forest Oclen, who sat perfectly still with his hands neatly folded on the table, then moved on to look at the empty seat beside the old spy.

Finally, the echo of rapid footsteps made its way through the hallway. The door opened and in stepped Juno Oclen, the last member of the entourage. She looked shorter than usual—perhaps due to her unusually poor posture and the fact that she wasn't wearing heels for once. Her face also seemed to be redder than usual. In a few quick movements, she slunk to her seat next to her husband. Forest smiled down at his wife and gave her hand a tiny squeeze before refocusing on the task at hand.

Ordinarily, being late to a U.L. meeting was highly frowned upon. However, given the present circumstances, few held it against Juno. The whole group decided not to mention the fact, to move on from it. There was no need to dwell on the past. Besides, Director Rokmond was sure that it wouldn't happen again.

"Good morning," he greeted. "I hope we are all ready to start the meeting."

Normally, he would have said 'I hope we are all having a pleasant day, so far,' but given the circumstances, that needed to be adjusted.

"Today, we have an important decision in front of us," the director proceeded. "After the unfortunate capture of Agent 24, we need to figure out how to proceed with the mission at hand."

The Director always used the professional numbers of the Agents in situations like this. It was a way to detach from the personal aspect involved, to remain objective in the face of a trying experience. The Agency has and always would come first. Right now, Xara was just another Agent who happened to be captured by WAOIC.

If Xara's parents had been anyone else, they would have flinched at the reference. But Forest and Juno were strong. They'd both been captured by the enemy in their spy careers. They'd been tortured and starved, but made it out stronger. If they could survive, surely Xara would too.

If, and only if, WAOIC wasn't planning on killing her.

"Only Agent 24 possessed the necessary skills to be successful in Mission WLM500. For one thing, she is the only agent to have met every single person attending the World Leader's Convention. She has talked with them all and remembers every single word, every last detail. She can also pick up on the actions people do that aren't normal. For example, she notices how a person holds a fork and knife. Do they look natural and relaxed while cutting a steak, or does it look more forced. She notices facial expressions, the slightest differentiations in the way a person smiles or frowns. She remembers every order that she has ever heard a person say. If someone who normally orders salads suddenly orders a steak, she takes note of it."

Director Rokmond paused as he scanned those at the table. The Unit Leaders frowned in concentration, slowly but surely processing what was being said.

The Director cleared his throat before continuing. "Essentially, she can also pick up on patterns. She can spot the little details that no one else would. To her mind, every person is an algorithm. Some people are more complex in what they do and how they react, but that complexity becomes an algorithm in and of itself. If a person does something that seems too predictable, and they're often unpredictable, that could be a give away.

Of course, there is variation between person to person. Some people may order a steak because they recently started a keto genic diet, or perhaps they're just in the mood. But still, anyone that breaks their usual conventions is someone to take note of. The imposter at the World Leader's Meeting will be a foremost Agent at WAOIC. In order to catch him or her, we have to be able to pick up on that one error, that one detail that the Imposter Agent couldn't have possibly known about who they are impersonating."

The Director returned to his seat, indicating that his spiel was done. The Leaders stared into space or down at the table, trying to sort out the impossible puzzle that the Director had just presented them with. Of course, they all knew this information about Xara. But The Director hoped that reminding the group of the skills needed for the job might spark some ideas on what to do next. Though, he did have an idea of his own. The problem was that it was the absolute last resort, the "in case of emergency plan" that they had been saving for eighteen years. Director Rokmond knew that once the secret weapon was used, there would be no going back.

"So...we need some agent who can notice things like Agent 24, process things like Agent 24, and pick out the correct enemy Agent, like Agent 24," Marcus Cuton, the second in command, stated slowly.

"In order to do that, the replacement needs to know every single person at that meeting well," Simon Inzer, a former impersonator, declared.

"They'd better also have the stamina and poker face, like Agent 24," Ola Rodebaugh chimed in. "We can't have an Agent who will bend to pressure."

"We need an Agent who will take charge," lead Agent Len Burin mused. "After all, they will be heading up the mission."

The Leaders fell silent for a few minutes, except for the light drumming of fingers on the table or feet tapping on the floor.

"It looks like we're going to need a team of Agents," Inga Streater declared at last.

"But even if we do use multiple Agents, can even a team replace Agent 24's skills and expertise?" Simon Inzer questioned.

Once again, the room fell still as they considered the situation. Almost simultaneously, they reached for their mugs of coffee. This job wasn't easy. Their work often consumed every bit of time they had during the day—and sometimes night, too.

The chewing of breakfast foods replaced any chatter that would have normally occurred. No one knew what to think or suggest. Anyway they looked at it, the mission was a dead end.

"You've given us a Herculean task to figure out, Director," Marcus laughed finally. He reached for his mug and took another long sip of coffee. "It's paradoxical. The only one who can replace Xar—um... Agent 24 is Agent 24 herself."

"Which is impossible," Ola finished. "Because she has been captured."

The Director sucked in a breath, preparing himself for what he was about to propose to the council. Once he suggested it, there was no going back. But deep down inside, he knew that it was their only hope.

"I have a solution," he began. The eyes of the Unit Leaders lit up, their posture a little straighter. Even Forest and Juno seemed to change, perhaps supposing that he was intending on rescuing their daughter.

Director Rokmond lifted a computer mouse from the table and pointed it at the screen on the opposite wall of the room. It lit up, displaying the image of Xara when she was a young girl. It was evident from the picture that from an early age, she's been conditioned for spy work. She wore a jacket and boots made from leather. Her shoulder-length black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. And though she smiled ever so slightly for the camera, her eyes shone with something fierce. Not even six-year-old Xara messed around.

"As you may remember, we always knew that there was something special about Agent 24. We knew that she was highly gifted, far from the average brain capacity. Thus when she was eighteen, we decided that if anything were to happen to her, we needed to have some sort of backup."

The image flipped to a laboratory. The image was fairly generic, displaying a table with various lab equipment, such as gloves and a microscope. But safely nestled on the back of the table was a single test tube containing a clear liquid.

"As you may remember, we decided to conduct undercover experimentation to create a clone of her. And, it was largely successful."

The left side of the screen switched back to the image of six-year-old Xara. But on the right side of the screen, an identical-looking face shone. Some may think that the photos were of the same person. But in actuality, the right side of the screen displayed the image of someone eighteen years younger.

The director changed the screen after a moment to show a more recent picture of their experiment, along with the words 'Agent 24₁.' Her features possessed the same intensity as her predecessor. She was so much more than a twin: she was a duplicate—a carbon copy, though even copies have the slightest of differences. What were these differences? She looked about half the age of the real Xara, and her eyes still shone with the liveliness of youth.

"Agent 24 sub one has the same memory capacity and attentiveness that the original Agent 24. Additionally, due to the memory scans and downloads that we did on Agent 24's brain every three months without her knowing, Agent 24 sub one will have all of the knowledge that the original Agent 24 had. She will know everything about the leaders at the world conference once we upload the data into her brain."

"But... we decided that she would only be for emergencies," Ola mentioned. "Do you think it's wise to let on that we have figured out how to clone people?"

"I agree," Len chimed in. "WAOIC will know immediately that Agent 24 sub one is a clone, since they have the real Agent in custody. Not only would we be revealing our secret weapon, but we would also be letting them know about this ground-breaking new technology we have developed."

"But there is no other way," Simon interjected. "Who else can complete this job? We've had this clone in hiding for eighteen years. It's time that we bring her out."

"Besides, there's no guarantee that WAOIC will know that Agent 24 sub one is a clone. They may just think that she's a trained double," Inga added.

"Precisely," Rokmond declared. "There is no other way to get the job done. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We should just be grateful that we have a backup. However, for the sake of security, no one except for Summit is permitted to know about Agent 24's capture. That will remain classified information."

"But is she ready?" Ola asked.

"She's been training her whole life to replace Xara," Juno asserted. Everyone turned to face Juno in surprise, though it melted quickly into soft smiles. The table fell silent, staring at the couple who'd lost their daughter.

Forest put his arm around Juno, a tiny small edging his lips. "You don't need to try to lessen the blow for us. Every Agent gets captured at some point. Heck, we've been captured many times. And yes, the situation is more grave since she has an awfully large target riding on her head." Forest grimaced. "It's 1.5 million dollars too large. But nevertheless, we are strong people. You don't need to tiptoe on eggshells around us. The shock will wear off in a few days, as it always does. Life will become business as usual.

"As for right now, let's focus on what's best for the mission. I'm not going to speak for Juno, but I think it's wisest to replace Agent 24 with Agent 24 sub one. We don't know what types of data WAOIC is after, but since some topics that will be discussed at that meeting are security and scientific advances, we'd better make darned well sure that they don't get into that meeting.

Agent 24 sub one the only logical choice to make for the job. I'd say go with the clone."

Juno nodded emphatically. "Who better to replace Xara with, then Xara herself?"

Marcus, Simon, and Inga nodded in agreement. Len shrugged his shoulders and took a bite of his bagel.

"Well, if that's the way the vote swings, so be it. I'm used to being in the minority," Len said.

Ola pursed her lips. Her eyes swept over those at the table. Clearly, none of them were planning to bend in their stance.

"So be it," she said after a moment. "Who am I to argue with the majority?"

"So we're in agreement?" Director Rokmond announced. "Agent 24 sub one will become the official replacement for Agent 24 during this case. No information will be disclosed about Agent 24's disappearance. As far as we're concerned, nothing happened. Agent 24 sub 1 will be known officially as Agent 24 from this day until the real Agent 24 is retrieved from enemy territory. In order to distinguish between the two, the real Agent 24 will known as Agent 24 sub zero: zero meaning 'doesn't exist.'"