I placed my feet on top of my sleek, modern L-shaped desk and closed eyes.

"Aaah." I sighed as I placed my arms behind my head and leaned back against the chair, "getting a 7 wasn't bad. I do enjoy being a Double Agent as well as a Case Officer-"

"But what you're not happy about is the fact that you have to share an office with three other people." says the familiar Libby Hale who I have despised ever since she beat me to the pulp at a test of combat during "The Spy Games" and being a better liar than me - she even scored an 8!

"Oh, shut up you ratchet-" Armani sneered.

"-don't you dare call me that!"Libby shot back.

"Ladies! Ladies, enough with the pointless mini bickering. I think since Aria is Case Officer," Valerio turned to me and then looked at Armani (who sat behind a desk opposite me) before whispering, "sorry Armani even if you're a SpyMaster, John Elmer's still in charge, you're still a rookie and Aria's just received a Mission," then back at me, "Check your inbox."

I followed his instructions - he even got up to help me (and this time he wore a deep navy polo shirt, with his top button undone and matching cuffed trousers). So eventually, I found the email, with Valerio's help, which I read out loud, "From J.Elmer: Your first mission as the Alpha Team is to 'babysit' the newly elected President of America from being assassinated. The president has not revealed his face because of this and would be taking refuge in one of your homes. Two of you will be guarding the president while the rest of you will be on standby in case the mission is compromised. Choose your roles - I wish you the best of luck." I gave Valerio the look, They expect me to do this? He gave me a nod as a reply.

Libby called, "Oi, hot stuff! Who's doing what?"

"I think she's referring to you, Valerio," Armani said to him whose attention was now elsewhere.

"Oh, moi?" he asked realising who was talking to him and pointing to himself, "Check on Armani's computer if you wanna know."

Armani explained to me that Libby has been flirting with him since "The Spy games" even though she was pretty, he had no interest in her.

So he walked over to Libby's desk and leaned incredibly close, their noses nearly touching, "don't bother trying to win me over because you never will, besides I don't like you."

He left her sitting there dumbfounded with her mouth hanging open then as he left, her eyes narrowed when she looked in my direction and I raised my hands as if saying, "I took no part in this."

I could tell Armani and Valerio- feeling smug he was- were enjoying this, but Libby wasn't and she was giving me the evil eye while I was just examining my nails waiting for the next instructions.
"A'right," he resumed plopping down onto his office chair, "Aria and Armani, you'll be actively taking part in the mission, Libby and I will be your backup."

I gave him a genuine smile to tell him good luck because he'll need it. He seemed to have gotten the message and returned it. I then heard a ping from Armani's phone which she told us, "Elmer texted me and said that I and Aria should meet him at the reception so he could give us our gadgets as well as how the mission will work."

"Ok, let's go," I say, both of us got up and I saluted him (which Libby rolled her eyes) before we left the office.

Armani walked at a faster pace than me but after a few moments, she noticed I didn't match her pace, "C' mon, Aria hurry up. We got our first mission together! I'm super surprised you've been chosen for the job though."

"Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are," I replied.

Walking through a 20m long reinforced concrete corridor, I looked up, same fluorescent lighting and down, vinyl flooring. The doors on either side were made of Aluminium. At the end of the corridor, what I guessed was a lift concealed by a flush door with the sign "Floor 47" above it.

"Would you like to do the honours?" I turned to Armani as we stood in front of the door/lift.

"Yeah, sure." She kneels down, with her honey brown eyes, looked through the keyhole as the familiar laser scanned her irises then a flash of green light and a click signalling to us that we could now have access to the lift.

*********

We arrived at the reception and we waited for John to appear. As we waited, I asked Armani, "How did they get... (y'know the information the lift and other high-security doors) to unlock them by scanning your eyes?"

Her brow furrowed in concentration before she answered, "They probably took the info from us when we were children... like babies and our parents secretly signed us up to this organisation and never told us."

"You're right." Said the receptionist (who wore red lipstick and her black hair was in a high bun) who caused our heads to whip in her direction, "Aria Fortescue, Age 20, born 2210 5th October and your code is confidential. Armani Moore, Age 21, born 2209 16th May and your code is also confidential. Yes, your parents did sign you guys up but secretly like you said, Armani. Mrs Eleanor did you sign you up Aria and Mr Julian did sign you up Armani and they never told you anything...You're welcome."

I heard someone cough and turned to find John ready to lead us. As he took his leave with us following, the receptionist shouted, "Good luck!" And we yelled back our thanks. I even heard John mutter, "so unprofessional, Morgan" before he scanned his irises and we took another short lift ride. Now you must be wondering why so many lifts? Remember, UBSA's HQ is underground and is a neighbour to the underground stations around London and nobody knows. There regular lifts and lifts that go up, down and sideways which would take a while to get used to plus, both of us are terrified of lifts.

We exit one of the multi-directional lifts, though we were still on floor 47, we went in more deeper in this maze than ever before. We walked through another corridor but this time wider (same vinyl flooring and reinforced concrete walls) with glass cases of century-old spy gadgets lining the walls with a corridor or an Aluminium door in-between and it becomes a pattern. John, who was leading, stopped at a similar Aluminium door, but instead of scanning his irises, he used his hand by placing it on some sort of pad attached to the wall beside the door. I and Armani give each other a look of confusion then another familiar click and we were inside a storeroom with dim circular lights on the ceiling and wooden flooring. On either side, there were shelves about 5m high all with black rectangular cases on top labelled with some sort of code- wow, security measures.

Pause - you may be wondering, what about The Spy Games? Ok, long story short, I got an Okay rank - in my opinion - but I did pretty well according to Valerio although if I wasn't so nervous I would've breezed being good at convincing. I was excellent at handling spies though, that's where I got Case Officer title from. When it was over, Valerio dropped me off in front of his apartment so I could continue my journey home. He did offer to take me for a cup of coffee, but I refused to tell him that Gal would probably be wondering where I was. Oh and by the time I got home it was night. Demanding where I went, I did not say a word and just went to bed. The next day, Valerio called me and now I am here about to carry out my first mission.
Resume - This is definitely a short story which turned out to be long.

John takes out a case labelled with the first letter, "R" and a bunch of symbols that I don't understand. Opening it John said to us, "These are your gadgets, Ajoka sunglasses - which can record everything you see and hear at 30 frames per second, Rx10 mobile jammer - it comes in handy preventing the enemy calling backup. Just press the button at the top to activate it, a laser gun and..." he points to, "Stilettos?" Armani asked.

"With a heel blade in well, each heel." Replied John.

"That's cool, but there's only one pair and one laser gun," I said.

"Let's do the old classic of Rock, Paper and Scissors for the Stilettos." Suggested Armani.

"That'll be a good idea." Agreed John smiling widely revealing more wrinkles.

Together we chanted "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and we looked at each other's hands. Triumphantly I said, "I win the Stilettos." Because I chose scissors while Armani chose paper.

She pouted trying to convince me to change my mind and take the laser gun, but I stood my ground.

"Ok, ladies. Now, I've set up an agent as a replacement for the President although one of you will be guarding the replacement where he'll be staying at 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister. The term used for this is 'Window Dressing'."

"Is the Prime Minister aware?" I ask.

"Oh, yes." He replied then asked, "who will be hosting the President?"

"I will!" Armani's hand shot up and I sighed in relief.

"Ok, Aria. Valerio is going to drop you off at 10 Downing street where you'll be with another bodyguard who is hired by their government. Armani and I, with another one of their bodyguards, will pick the President from the airport and take him to Armani's home. Any Questions?"

"Nope."

"Ok, take your gadgets," which we did, "and let your first Mission begin."