“There,” Twitch pointed through the rain-dotted windshield. “Pink umbrella out in front of the Starbucks. Pull over here and I’ll walk over to her.” Twitch hopped out and trotted across the street, shielding her head from the rain with her hands. Sofria was an analyst with a low-level clearance. As such, her identity wasn’t closely guarded, but nevertheless, she had a barebones social media presence. Twitch had still managed to find a picture of her, but it didn’t do her justice. Her exotic features—Indian, Twitch guessed—were framed by a sheet of jet-black hair. As Twitch approached, Sofria shifted her feet from side to side and scanned the area like a scalper looking for buyers. Twitch chuckled; she wouldn’t last one day in the field.
“Sofria?” Twitch waved.
Sofria looked as though she was going to shush her but stopped herself with her lips pursed. She nodded once. Glanced around again.
“So. How do we do this?”
Twitch could barely contain her amusement.
“How long have you worked for the...”
At Sofria’s panicked look, Twitch rephrased.
“How long have you been at your current job?”
“Six months.”
“Okay, well, in situations like this, SOP is you retrieve the file from your bag, and very, very carefully place it in my hands.”
Sofria listened intently, then caught on.
“There’s no need to be a bitch about it. I’ve never done this before.”
Twitch nodded in approval. The newbie analyst had a backbone.
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist. It’s just a file. You’re just a worker bee. I’m just an IT grunt. Give it here, and you can be drinking a vanilla latte in no time.”
“Oh, that does sound good.” With that, Sofria retrieved the flash drive from her bag and gave it to Twitch.
“Awesome. Your first live drop was a success.”
Twitch’s use of the espionage term had Sofria glancing around again. Twitch pocketed the flash drive and waved.
“Thanks for this. See you around.”
“Here,” Sofria extended her hand. “Take my umbrella. I live right here, and the skies have opened.”
“Thanks.” Twitch gifted her with a genuine freckle-faced smile. “I’ll try to get it back to you.”
With that, Twitch, sheltered by the bright pink umbrella, trotted back to the car, and they were on their way to the roadside motel to get some sleep and prepare.