“That’s all correct, sir. I—”
But he didn’t let me finish.
“I’ve got something coming—a mission, undercover, very, very important stuff, De Ver.”
It was all I could do not to jump and throw my fists in the air.
“I see,” I said—the very image of composed perfection.
“It would require you to travel and to be away for several days.” He turned his eyes back to the sheet. “You don’t really have any experience with undercover missions.”
“That’s just because I’ve never been given the chance, Chief. I’m a hard worker, and I’m dedicated, and—”
“Doesn’t really matter. You won’t be leading the case—Agent Mathews will. You will only be helping.”
I tried my best to hold back a flinch.
“Oh. Okay.” I knew Aaron Mathews. He was one of the big shot agents, too, and he had an office all to himself. I’d never actually spoken to him, but he’d never been rude to me for no reason, either. Patricia would probably know a lot more about him.
“It’s a big mission so it will require two agents, but since he’s the more experienced one of the two, he will be in charge,” Chief Randall said.
“I understand. And then after this one, you’ll give me a mission all by myself.” I said it only half-jokingly. Maybe that’s why the Chief didn’t laugh.
“Sure, De Ver,” he said, nodding, his blue eyes taking in my face. He actually looked…sad.
My God, I’d have given anything right now to wear a different face. Why the hell couldn’t I find a dye to actually stick to my hair and not wash off right away? Better yet, why hadn’t I bought those brown contacts I’d gone to check? I looked like a freaking kid, for God’s sake! Of course nobody here was going to take me seriously.
“Chief Randall, I know I’ve never been on a mission before. Like I said, I was never asked, but I promise you that I will do my absolute best. I know everything about everything, and I promise you that you won’t regret sending me in with Mathews.”
The Chief thought about it for a long moment. It was like now that he had me in front of him, and he saw my face, and he thought God knows what, he was suddenly having second thoughts.
That was it. I was going to buy a wig and some contacts today.
“Come back before the end of your shift for details. I’ll have them ready for you then.” He reached for the piles of paper I’d folded near the corner and spread them out into a mess within three seconds again.
Me? I didn’t even care. I couldn’t have cared less that his desk was a huge mess, and my hands didn’t even itch anymore.
I was going on a mission.
No—I was going on an undercover mission.
Good ole me, the little pink pixie. I had a job away from the desk.
“Thank you, sir,” I said with barely any voice. I was trying to stop myself from screaming my guts out.
“Yeah, yeah, sure, De Ver. Not a word about this to anyone, you hear me? Nothing at all. Close the door on the way out.” With his face buried in the documents in front of him, he didn’t look up at me again.
I was flying, not walking among my colleagues to get to my desk.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t see anything until my shoulder bumped into someone, hard.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, a second before I realized that it was Malcom Diaz holding his shoulder. “Oh.”
I smiled, then my mouth opened again to say hi, but I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to talk to him at all. And the way his cheeks suddenly flushed, and he lowered his head and kept on moving away from me like his tail was on fire confirmed it for me. So strange, that guy. We’d met when I first came here, and we talked a few times. I actually liked him, and I thought he liked me, too—until a few days later, he started ignoring me, not even saying hi when he saw me walking by. He never gave me an explanation and never gave me the chance to ask, either. Just one of the mysteries of Manhattan, I guessed.
“What was it? What did he say?” Hunter asked even before I sat down behind my desk, erasing every thought of Malcom from my mind.
Oh, no. “Erm…nothing.” Why hadn’t I thought up a lie to tell them? The Chief said not to say anything to anyone at all.