rated * nontraditional
Top Agent Jacqueline
by Alexi
Part One
Jacqueline was waiting to be summoned. As the top agent of the Top Secret Time Travel Agency (TSTTA), she knew that being summoned was pretty important.
So, she wondered, her brown eyes glowing, what would it be this time? A hair-raising experience that would save the world? A quest to destroy some imperfection in history?
She felt again the twinges of fear and determination that marked the start of a quest. Querrrrrterpetackkkk! Jacqueline jumped, her red-brown hair swinging. She sighed, then pulled out her Top Secret Summoner device.
Speaking into in she announced softly, “Agent Jacqueline reporting.”
Her device beeped at her loudly, disturbing the quiet of the waiting room and causing several agents to look at her disapprovingly. How come, she thought irritably, my TSS is the only one that always annoys someone, including me, when it goes off? She jabbed a button on her device. Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing happened. “You stupid, crazy, utterly useless machine,” Jacqueline growled under her breath. “How come that--?”
Suddenly she was surrounded in a blinding fog, and was moving so fast that it took her breath away. She landed with a sickening thud on top of the desk in her boss’s office. She was pleased that it had worked. She was not pleased, needless to say, to be on the extraordinarily high wooden desk. Her boss, Mr. Barker, however, who was used to her lighting-fast appearances, merely called out to her, “There you are. You might as well seat yourself comfortably. I have a feeling this is going to take a while.”
The auburn-haired girl regarded him with suspicion before climbing off and getting into a comfortable chair.
He began, “As you no doubt know, you are my best agent. Certainly, I have told you so myself, have I not? Anyway, I have one of the most important of any case that we have done! Of course I must assign you to it. Your mission, should you decide to--no, that’s not right. An assignment is an assignment, not a choice. It is this: By now the Trixie Belden books should have finished reprinting, but they have not even started. We have reason to believe that the person that should have brought up the idea in the first place has lost interest in it! It is your job, my friend, to convince her otherwise.”
Jacqueline stared at him in disbelief. “You want me to go convince some lady to print some children’s books. Children’s books. Me? And all I have to do is talk her into it. That’s my super-important mission?!?”
“It’s not that easy, I’m afraid. You have to travel back in time and collect various important artifacts that are crucial to changing her mind. At the same time you must refrain from doing anything that would change how the stories go. If you make a mistake, you must fix it. You will present her with a time capsule containing the items. Don’t you realize how important this is? With all the junk that is being printed these days for children, these books are precious gems. We must face it. This is essential to people’s children’s growing up. The best books ever written for kids have the possibility of disappearing!”
She thought, rather crossly, that he might well suffer from severe exaggeration, if there was such a thing.
Mr. Barker went on. “You will be invisible, but you will have mass. You will have most of your gadgets with you, but they will be able to hear you if you make a noise. Your gadgets will be silenced. You must not affect the way the books go. What would happen if Trixie and Honey never met Jim? Diana never joined? Trixie never completed a single mystery? That is what you must not cause.
“When you get hold of one of the articles, take it and put it in these. It will be transported to headquarters into the time capsule. An instant copy will be made and put back where you found the real one.”
‘These’ were some bags that glowed only to an agent who carried a TSS. When something was put in them, the item and bag glowed silently, then sped off to headquarters. Jacqueline knew them well. In her more important cases, they used them to send criminal evidence to the lab.
He continued. “Now that’s about it, my dear. Any questions?
Jacqueline hesitated. On one hand she wanted to ask, ‘Why can’t I be in Cuba preventing civil war like most of your top agents? Or going back in time and keeping things going how they should, but not about a children’s book series?’ On the other hand, she knew it wouldn’t do any good. His mind was made up. Also, she was being overworked. As his top agent, he could trust her to do just about anything they needed. The result: She did almost everything. This sounded more like a game, and, though she knew it would be a challenge, she would not have to tax her mind so heavily.
Another thing she knew was that being so advanced had a price. For her, it was that the machinery was allergic to her. It was noisy, slow, over fast, and silent by turns, whenever she was using it. The only time it did not act that way was on her top cases. Typical life, and cases like this one were when it misbehaved. She would have to deal with it, though.
“Yes, sir. When do I start?”
Her boss smiled, obviously pleased.
“ Report here tomorrow morning, Agent Jacqueline. We will send you off then. Oh, and one more thing. If you have the object in your hand, it will be invisible, as will your TSTTA devices.”
Jacqueline was at the agency bright and early the next morning. She had her TSS with her, and her special transport bags, and a SSA (Super Secret Alarm).
The brown-eyed girl waited impatiently for James Barker to arrive, her slim body taut. Why am I so nervous? she asked herself. This will be amazingly easy compared to most of the stuff I’ve done. She knew instantly. Because if you make a mistake, a thirteen-year-old girl and her friends might end up dead. You’re dealing with criminals here as well as in your other cases.
Why are we messing with history like this!?! If make a bad enough mistake, the series might never exist, not just never be reprinted.
A job is a job, Jacqueline told herself sternly. You are going to do it, and do it well.
Just after she made this determined statement, Mr. Barker came out.
“Ah, good. Somehow I knew you’d be here early. Then again, it’s not exactly surprising. You always are.”
Jacqueline smiled slightly. He was right. “Yes, sir. I have everything I need.”
“Not quite, my dear. I know that you, being eighteen, have a better memory than we old people, but all the same I’d better present you with a list of the items you must attain.”
She wouldn’t have called him old, exactly, at 45, but she certainly wouldn’t have called him young. She waited, this time patiently, for him to pull out the list.
The list read:
Book #1
1.Rubber seat cushion from the water witch
2. Peter Rabbit Comic
3.Jim’s great-aunt’s ring .
Jacqueline took the blue PPSUE. (Paper-Plastic-Steel-Unidentified Element) slip. This seemed so ridiculous, like a treasure hunt.
“There you go, Agent Jacqueline. It is made of 100% non-destructible PPSUE mixture. It will not disintegrate. I will give you the next book’s list when your first mission is accomplished. I am also giving you this book, The Secret of the Mansion so that you know if something is going wrong. Good-luck, and good-bye.”
“Goodbye, sir.”
The tall girl carefully pressed a button on her TSS. It clicked and whirred softly, jerking her into the choking mists that signified time travel in 2051.
PLONK! Jacqueline landed on the warm soil so hard that it knocked the breath out of her. As she gasped for air, she looked to the left and saw Trixie Belden transplanting tomatoes with her mother.
“Oh, Moms” she heard Trixie moan “I’ll just die if I don’t have a horse.”
“Yes!” Jacqueline cried under her breath. “I got here relatively safely, no broken bones, no…Whoa! Hold on a second! I’m not supposed to be here. You darn machine! Take me where I told you to go, right this instant!”
Her TSS groaned at her in a can’t-she-take-a-joke kind of tone, before taking her off the ground and into the cloudy tunnel of transport.
She managed to hear, as she sped off, Trixie saying, “I don’t c-”
Well, at least I didn’t cause any problems there! Jacqueline thought triumphantly, as went forward to the right destination.
She landed with a loud splash in the Wheelers' lake.
Fortunately for her, Trixie and Honey were preoccupied, and didn’t notice the noise. “Oh, Honey, there’s that stray dog again. See him up there by the big oak?” Jacqueline heard Trixie gasp.
It took the auburn-haired girl several minutes to locate the dog. It wouldn’t do her any good to be bitten by the stray. While she knew she couldn’t be seen, the dog could surely smell her and might bite in the right direction. That would cause many problems, and of course she wasn’t overwhelmingly fond of getting bitten.
While Jacqueline was searching, a fair amount of time had passed. Listening closely, Jacqueline heard Trixie announce, “Hit him on the head with an oar, of course.” In a last moment panic, she realized she was almost out of time to grab her first item on the list. She swam around the boat as fast as she could, which was just in time for her to see Trixie throw the rubber seat cushion (the item Jacqueline had to grab) at the stray.
As the seat cushion flying at the dog, Jacqueline gave desperate leap into the air to catch it. All time stopped when she touched it, leaving her suspended in mid-air.
She knew it must have be planned by Mr. Barker, because Trixie and Honey were frozen in time, while Jacqueline was simply stuck where she was. Besides, her various gadgets were shining, an indicator that it had something to do with the agency. She calmly placed the rubber seat in a transport bag. It glowed silently, then disappeared.
As soon as it was gone a replacement cushion materialized just where the other had been. Then time unfroze.
The cushion fell and hit the stray on the face. He yelped and retreated, at the same time Jacqueline crashed into the water. Trixie stared first at the place where the top agent had fallen. The blonde studied it for a couple seconds before muttering, “Must have been the seat cushion.”
At that point Honey pushed the boat out of the cove, then gasped, “You’re simply wonderful, Trixie!”
Jacqueline sagged with relief as she realized she hadn’t effected the book in any important way. That was what they were supposed to say next.
She oh-so-slowly pulled herself up out of the water to avoid making any noise, and sneaked away from the lake. Despite her best intentions, there was enough sloshing and dripping to alert any person that was paying more attention than the two girls were.
“What a relief!” The slim girl burst out as soon as she got safely away. “But I’m sopping wet. And how am I supposed to sneak around if I’m sloshing like this? Hmm…” A sly smile spread over her pretty face. “As my boss said, what’s the use of time traveling if you can’t use it to your advantage?”
She pressed a button on her TSS. It protested this (in its opinion) outrageously unfair request by sounding like a screech owl, but complied.
A moment later she found herself in steaming heat. Jacqueline sighed with contentment. Ancient Egypt in its early stages was the perfect place to dry off in the sunshine. To be sure, she had to dodge the occasional farmer and animal, but it would only take a few minutes for her to dry off.
A little bit later, Jacqueline consulted her watch. It was time for her to leave. If she managed it right, she could possibly grab her next item (Bobby’s Peter Rabbit comic) before she had to interrupt her mission (again) in order to get something to eat.
Jacqueline scrunched up her face in disgust. She hated stopping what she was doing for seemingly unimportant things like that. It seemed that she’d barely gotten started when she had to stop!
She pushed a dial on her TSS. Instead of complaining, it roughly lifted her into the cloud-like atmosphere of time-travel and let her drop. As Jacqueline plummeted downward, she put her arms around her head to protect herself. She did see, despite her current state, a fellow agent soaring upward at a leisurely pace. I wonder where he is going. And how he gets his machine to behave! I’m going to teach mine a lesson! How she would be able to do that she wasn’t sure, but the thought was comforting.
“Listen here!” Jacqueline screeched over the deafening noise of wind in her ears, and the sound of her red-brown hair flapping. “If you don’t behave right now, I’ll give you to one of the office agents, and you know how boring that is! Deny it all you want, I’m the one who gives you the most interesting job!”
Her TSS let her fall for a few more seconds-to show her that its spirit wasn’t broken-before gently lifting her up and letting her float to where she was going.
Jacqueline landed gracefully on the carpet in Bobby’s room, in a pose that made her look as if she had been dancing. What will it come up with next? The brown-eyed girl wondered. I’ll say this: I do have to give my TSS points for originality!
When she arrived, Bobby had been sleeping peacefully. As she cautiously approached the bed, he jerked himself upright and screamed, “I’m thirsty and hung-gry! Holp!” Jacqueline tensed as she heard Trixie call back, “Okay, Bobby, I’ll be with you in a sec.” A moment later, Jacqueline heard Trixie rushing up the stairs. One, two, three, four, five, six…The agent counted slowly. Seven…Trixie came into the room. Eight, nine, ten… Bobby greeted Trixie with, “Straws. You know I have to have straws!” Eleven, twelve-The blond sat. Jacqueline snapped to attention. “Any moment now!” She breathed softly. Trixie laughed. “Here’s a whole box of colored straws which your friend, Miss Trask, sent you. Red, green, blue, yellow, every color in the rainbow, Bobby. Take-” Here Trixie put down her tray (and Peter Rabbit) to give her little brother his choice of straws. “-Your choice.”
Jacqueline reached over the bed and almost had Peter Rabbit in her hands-DONG-DONG-DONG! The old clock chimed three. Jacqueline jumped at least four inches and knocked over the cup on Bobby’s tray. She grabbed the book.
In the instant quiet that followed, ignoring the pineapple juice spilled onto the tray and all over her arm, she pulled out her Secret of the Mansion copy. “Okay, here we go. Chapter twelve, page 14…159…160. Oh, great. He’s supposed to eat his cookies and drink his pineapple juice next. At least he’s focused on his straws right now.” She thought for a minute, her brown eyes troubled. “Looks like I don’t have a choice. It’s a gamble, but if I don’t do anything they’re bound to notice that his cookies are soaking wet.”
With Peter Rabbit still in her hand, the auburn-haired girl picked up the tray and headed downstairs.
Once there, Jacqueline tried to find a trashcan to dump the soggy cookies into. After looking in the pantry, under the sink, in various other places upstairs as well as downstairs, she was just about ready to give up. At that moment she realized that her TSS was oddly missing. Realization hit her. “TSS! One more stupid trick like that and I’ll go right back and give you to the Office agents! I mean it! Come here, and bring all those trashcans with you! What a stupid joke! I’m surprised you even think it’s funny!” The top agent fumed.
Her sulking gadget appeared in her hand; around her were suddenly arranged ten mostly empty waste bins. Jacqueline glared at her marginally sorry device. She dumped the cookies in one of the bins, quickly washed the pineapple cup out, and filled it with fresh juice. She grabbed a few cookies, put them on a tray, and stalked to the base of the steps.
Her TSS lifted her quickly and carefully up to Bobby’s room. It was apparently trying to make amends. “Now you listen here! The only reason that you’re sorry is because I made you stop! I didn’t do anything to you, and I don’t want you acting like I did!” Jacqueline accused.
Her machine whined at her plaintively, before meekly disappearing to put the trashcans away without being asked.
She carefully placed the tray exactly where it had been before, then hurriedly surveyed the bedroom. Everything was as it should be.
Please, let this work, she pleaded silently. She placed Peter Rabbit inside of a transport bag. It shimmered and vanished.
The room suddenly buzzed into action.
Bobby squealed with delight. “I’ll take a norange one and a labbender one. Labbender is sometimes almost always my very favrit color.”
Trixie however, had noticed the sound before Jacqueline stopped time. She stared at the tray in confusion. “I guess I bumped the tray?” she stated questioningly.
Bobby had different ideas about what was important. “Tell me what you found at the mansion!” He demanded in an excited tone while eagerly munching on cookies.
Trixie’s attention was instantly diverted. “Nothing much.” The blonde replied evasively. “The rooms are filled with piles of junk. You can see it through the windows.” She added hastily.
I’m actually shocked that that worked, Jacqueline thought with intense relief. I must say I’ll never look at pineapple juice the same way again!
With that, top agent Jacqueline vanished from the room.
“This time I can get there before they do, and I’m going to.” Jacqueline stated decisively. She was sitting in the time tunnel, on a seat invisible (even to her). It had been provided for her by an apologetic TSS, who was trying to regain favor in her eyes.
“I’m tired of having to dodge people. I know that sometimes it’s unavoidable, but I can get that engagement ring very easily with no one there.” She told the gadget conversationally. Pleased to be acknowledged by the still miffed agent, the machine gave an emphatic noise of agreement.
“I do think that you need to be recharged before we continue. I need to get something to eat, as well as change my clothes. I still have pineapple juice on my sleeve. Then again, I had better not change my clothes, because the place we are going after we take a break is filthy. (Even more so than my shirt!) And by the way, if you hadn’t taken me to some places that I didn’t need to go, we wouldn’t have had to stop so soon.”
The Bleeeet her TSS gave sounded like a protest.
“All right, so only one place that we didn’t have to go to. Still, it slowed us down. And you know better.”
Her device refused to reply.
Jacqueline continued. “I can’t talk to you when you are recharging-in other words, sleeping-so I’m explaining where we re going to you now, as it is complicated. That way I can also prove to you that you did understand me if you make some ‘mistake’.”
The tall girl fixed her eye sternly upon the guilty party’s head.
“So here is where we’re supposed to go: we are going to the miser’s mansion shortly after that pilot bailed out of his exploding plane. Following me so far? But we need to go after all of the reporters leave, because their reaction to an invisible someone opening a secret compartment leaves things to be desired. Got it? Good.
“We also need to do it in the gap between when Trixie and Honey go home, and when they come back. Trixie’s suspicious enough already without seeing a picture frame open seemingly of its own accord. Understand?”
The TSS gave an ear-piercing shriek of affirment.
“Then let’s get going.”
Exactly one half-hour later, a fed Jacqueline and a recharged TSS were back in the time tunnel. Jacqueline, true to her word, had not changed her outfit, and she was perfumed lightly with the scent of pineapple juice.
“Hurry up, TSS. We’ve been ready to go for at least five minutes. What’s keeping you?”
If her TSS had been human, he would have held his fingers to his lips.
Puzzled, the tall girl fell silent. Her TSS might be a prankster, but it was as determined to help the agency as she was. If it wanted her to be quiet, there must be a reason.
A cold, strong gust of wind blew past them, cutting through her clothes and giving her a chill. It was then that it struck her. Normally, this passage was alive with cheerful echoing of banter between the TSTTA agents, and the occasional frustrated sound of an irritated TSS. Now, the soundlessness was deafening. Apprehensive, the slender woman glanced around. Something wasn’t right.
A dark-haired man was rising in the dreadfully silent corridor of time travel. And he wasn’t an agent.
Jacqueline clenched her teeth. Above all, mission or no mission, as top agent of TSTTA, her first priority was to stop intruders and the harm they created. What was more, she recognized that man. Richard Markhor was one of the higher criminals in a large organization of law-breakers that she knew all to well.
The leader was remembered by all who knew him for his deadly twists of history. Hopelessness and fear were the emotions he enjoyed the most in others. There was nothing that he loved more than mayhem.
Here, in Jacqueline’s own turf, the brunet man now in the tunnel was at her mercy. She knew also that catching him wouldn’t do any good before she knew what he was after. What was so important that he risked traveling here so soon after his organization’s recent, however temporary, defeat?
His master was clever, she had to admit. Sending his people here right now was a brilliant tactic. All the higher agents were in Cuba. And you, she told herself sternly, would be, too, if you had had a say in it.
The newer, lesser agents would probably not notice that their visitor was a false friend. They were also less likely to patrol the space, causing the abrupt silence that had unnerved her earlier.
Jacqueline watched the man through narrowed brown eyes.
With a soft whistle from his SCS (Secret Criminal Summoner), the suspect vanished.
Without even being asked, her TSS followed him.
Jacqueline let out her breath in amazement. Here she was, just where she was going before she saw Richard Markhor. And he was there too.
He was going here!?! What is all this about a simple children’s books series? What do they care? When I get back from this, I’m going to get an explanation from my boss! The top agent vowed.
The auburn-haired girl could see that Richard was heading for the mansion.
From the warning sounds her TSS was giving her, she could tell they were after the same thing. Well, you’re not going to get it. She thought angrily.
“TSS?” she asked hopefully. Her TSS, showing unusual willingness, brought her to the still life painting that concealed the engagement ring.
“This has got to be fast. Fortunately, he doesn’t know I’m here. He’s moving slow.” She muttered. Jacqueline jabbed the stiff looking apple that hid the release button. It swung open. “TSS, I’ll need you to be right here. I may need to get out of here in a hurry...What now?” She demanded while grabbing the ring. Everything else froze, but still Jacqueline hurried. It didn’t stop other time travelers. She stuck the ring into the transport bag. The ring was now safe.
The TSS’s cries were becoming more urgent. “If you need to go somewhere, do it, but first get another top agent here as fast as you can! This isn’t going to be nice! I know I could probably catch him myself, but what if he summons some one, and I’m stuck here!?!” She exclaimed in exasperation.
Her TSS BLOOPED and vanished, as Jacqueline slammed shut the secret door.
Five seconds later, two top agents materialized into view. She was close friends with both Raziya and Kabili. The two were siblings, their unusual looks causing most to look at them a second time. They both had silky black curls, copper skin, and dark hazel eyes, but their resemblance ended there. Kabili had the harsh appearance of a man who had seen too much, and would do whatever was necessary to defend what he held dear against all the odds. As he was hugely muscular and six ft. six inches tall, no one wanted to cross him.
His sister Raziya was five ft. five and charming. Her dimpled grin and sudden, joyful peals of laughter were contagious, causing most to smile. Jacqueline needed her. The eighteen-year-old girl knew that she had the job she was meant for, but at times she was deeply troubled by what she faced.
She was apt to be discouraged, feeling deeply the suffering that others endured. It was her friend Raziya that cheered her when Jacqueline felt like she could never smile again.
Kabili and his sister both had small handguns and carried daggers. Raziya wore a puzzled expression as she handed Jacqueline one of each, no doubt wondering what was going on.
The agent didn’t have to wait long to find out.
A sudden BLEEP BLOP caused the tense agents to clutch their weapons even tighter.
A smug TSS instantly sped into the room, accompanied by sounds of curses outside, and followed by Richard Markhor’s SCS! Jacqueline’s TSS chattered loudly and excitedly into her ear, “You did wonderfully to get your ‘friend’ away from him! But explain it later, okay?” Jacqueline praised her contraption. It cheeped in agitation, but moved itself out of the agents’ way.
A furious Richard stormed into the living room, but stopped short when he saw Jacqueline, Kabili and Raziya. He paled as he involuntarily reached for his SCS. It, of course, was not there, courtesy of TSS.
“Okay, buddy, come over here nice and calmly and you’ll save yourself a lot of problems.” Kabili’s tone was civil. His face betrayed a different message. Richard was infamous for his vile acts. He was typically more careful than this, and so never had been caught.
Jacqueline too was having trouble holding in her temper. It showed through her stiff and unmoving posture.
Raziya was the only one who, to the casual observer, would appear calm; if one looked at her carefully, you could see her eyes were shooting sparks.
For a moment it seemed like Richard would do something desperate.
Then all the fight drained out of him, and he walked meekly over Kabili, who placed handcuffs on him.
“Okay, guys, let’s get going. I have some questions for James. I have feeling that he knows more than he’s been saying about this Trixie business,” Jacqueline announced crisply. “TSS, very good job. When we get back to headquarters, I want you to explain it to me. I don’t understand how…Never mind. Tell me when we get there. Oh, and bring your friend.”
A few seconds later, Jacqueline, Raziya, and Kabili dropped into James Barker’s office. Both Kabili and Raziya looked surprised at the abrupt landing, but Raziya burst into laughter at her brother’s expression.
“Why don’t you make your TSS work?” It was Kabili, looking slightly irritated.
Jacqueline snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”
At this point the conversation and Raziya’s gaiety were cut short by the entrance of their boss.
“Hello, my dear!-Why, Agent Kabili, Agent Raziya, welcome. I thought you were in Cuba-WHAT! How on earth did you capture Richard Markhor? We’ve never been able to capture him before. Congratulations!”
Jacqueline spoke up sourly,“ I think, sir, that he felt as uncomfortable in the Trixie books as I did, and so he wasn’t prepared.
“Mr. Barker, I think you owe me an explanation. One: What is so important about the Trixie Belden books that both criminals and agents are trying to get artifacts from them, and Two: Why didn’t you tell me the answer to that earlier, instead of just leaving me to figure it out?”
Throughout this whole tirade, James Barker had been opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
He sighed. “Jacqueline, the reason I didn’t tell you is because I didn’t know. Do you really think I’d send you in blind?
“The reason I want to get the books reprinted is because of the recruting power they have.” Here he began to pace. “Do you have any idea how many children that grew up on Trixie Belden mysteries have become my agents? But it has been over a hundred years since the first one was printed, and the old books are slowly crumbling into nothingness. We need new ones! The number of agents I have been getting has slowly been dwindling as the numbers of Trixie books lessen. I think that those darn criminals--” Mr. Barker glared at Richard. “--have figured out that if they destroy the artifacts that we are after, it will ruin our chances of convincing the woman that should think of reprinting them to do it. It hadn’t occurred to me that they might try that tactic to stop the flow of my agents. I foolishly thought it wouldn’t matter whether you knew why I needed the books, as long as you knew that I needed them.
“Now, I have a question for you. How did you catch…that man?”
He gestured disdainfully at Richard.
Jacqueline glanced at her TSS expectantly. CHIRRRRPPP! KADOOROOM! BEEEEEP! BUMMPPRRETTERR! “Wait! Slow down!” the tall girl cried laughingly.
YEEEEERRRCH!… QUAKEEEESUM!…KAAARRRKKCCSAAA!… BLOOP! “Thanks, TSS. Good for you!”
She turned to the other agents. “TSS took Richard’s SCS, so that he couldn’t escape from Raziya, Kabili and I.
“TSS says that his friend-Richard’s SCS-didn’t like what Richard was doing, and has decided that he’ll do what he likes-” JAALOOP! “-Excuse me, she’ll do what she likes. What do you mean, she?” KAPOOT! “Oh, SCSs are made somewhat differently than TSSs. They’re all females.” Jacqueline rolled her eyes. “To get back to my point, SCS here has decided to help us, not them.”
Raziya and Kabili were staring her. Mr. Barker seemed amused.
“What now?” The top agent demanded, her hands on her hips.
“You can understand your TSS!?!” Raziya’s dark hazel eyes were wide. “Mine never says anything that I can understand. You knew what that mess of beeps meant just a moment ago?”
It was Jacqueline’s turn to stare. “You mean you can’t tell what your TSS is saying? I know what your TSS said, and what SCS over there said, though it’s a slightly different dialect. Even your TSS doesn’t make you understand what it means?”
“No, it doesn’t tell me! What’s more-”
Mr. Barker broke in. “There are reasons other than just skill and experience that you are my highest agent, Jacqueline. Surely you know that by now. No, don’t break in. I’m not finished. And--oh, yes! You’ve got to get going! Got to beat those criminals to the next book! I’ve got a list right here of what you need to get.” He reached into his pocket.
“Here we are!”
The list read:
Book two
Joeanne Darnell’s first hair ribbon that she drops
Mrs. Smith’s locket
The tire jack that Jim uses.
Jim’s Christening mug and his Bible
Joeanne’s second hair ribbon that she gets caught in a bushJacqueline took the list. “Thank you, sir. I’d better get going-”
“Yes, but you’re going with Kabili. Good luck on your next mission. Goodbye!”
For heaven’s sake! He won’t let us get a word in edgewise! Oh, well.
“Goodbye, Mr. Barker,” she said out loud, as she spoke into her TSS.
Still looked resigned that he had to go with Jacqueline, Kabili echoed her statement. “Goodbye.”
A thick smoke filled their lungs as they sped into the time tunnel, heading towards their next mission.
The End
NOTES: THE NEXT PART IN THIS STORY IS ‘THE MISSION CONTINUES.’ THIS PART IS NOT YET WRITTEN, (AS OF APRIL THE 13, 2005) BUT WILL BE POSTED SOON.