14:00 hours
Devina parked the car in the shoddy parking deck in downtown Detroit and exited. From the outside no one would have ever guess it housed a level 1 military funded research facility underneath. Walking towards the elevator she pressed the up button then down button in fast sequence and entered the elevator. Once inside she waited as the elevator went down, past all the available floors listed. The doors opened and she entered into a well-lit hallway with an astringent smell of a research laboratory. Walking down the windowless hall she came upon a door and entered into a meeting room with others inside.
"Agent Strauss, you're right on time" the man standing said. His short military buzz cut gave him a hard demeanor and his steel grey eyes glared into her.
"Lieutenant Douglass," Devina said towards the man, her greeting brief.
The rest of the room looked up at her entrance, a man and a woman in white lab coats denoting their research status, and one man, Agent Kent in all black.
"Devina, you look beautiful as ever" Kent said, his blue eyes gazing at her lustfully as he stood and pulled a chair for her.
Devina walked towards him and sat down. She smiled at her on and off again lover, their relationship purely physical given their secret agent status. His long blond hair curled at the nape of his neck and his handsome face and toned body a mask for the true spy that he was.
She looked away from him towards the man standing and said, "I got the files."
She placed her tampon/usb drive on the table and pushed it forward. One of the research scientists, the woman, grabbed it and plugged it into her computer.
"This is great, it's all here," she said excitedly.
"What exactly is it?" Ltd. Douglass said his voice impatient.
"It's the rRNA sequences of the bacteriophage H87YN. He is doing exactly what we thought he was; genomic analysis," she replied never looking up from her screen.
"Isn't that the one the World health organization (WHO) banned from all experimentation?" Devina asked.
"Yes the very same given that it was synthesized in a laboratory against all regulations," the woman replied.
"Okay fine, he's doing illegal research, but you still have yet to explain why this is so internationally significant," Ltd. Douglass said, his voice booming with impatience.
"What it means," the other male scientist began his voice cutting through the silence. "Is that he is trying to develop a vaccine for it."
"But the WHO has isolated the bacteriophage in a secret facility so that it will never spread among the human population," Devina cut in, confusion in her voice.
"Precisely. Which means that if he is conducting research, then someone knows that is will go into population soon, and they are paying him to create a vaccine," the male scientist said.
"But how can that person know that it will happen, unless they are orchestrating the release of the bacteriophage?" Kent said, answering his own question.
The room was quiet as they sat there thinking of the consequences of such an event.
"Devina, we need you to infiltrate Sanofi Pharmaceuticals and collect as much information as possible. We will secure you a job interview through one of our inside men in their administration department, but that is all we can do without raising suspicion," Lt. Douglass said.
"Exactly what am I supposed to be looking for," She asked.
"Any low grid laboratories that only he has access to, all information on his day to day habits, current projects that he is working on both publicly and privately, you know the drill. We will need a report every two weeks, and we will contact you about the drop off destination,"
Lt. Douglass looked her in the eye, "We need you to get as close as possible to him, given his attraction to you at the gala last night it shouldn't be too hard for you to get into his personal life,"
Catching his meaning Agent Kent pounded his fist on the table.
"You want her to sleep with him! This is insane! She is not some whore you get to throw at people, she is a federal agent for god's sake!" He began to stand as he yelled at Lt. Douglass.
Devina placed her hand on his arm, pulling him down to his chair and spoke, "Lt. I understand my mission, when do you want me to head out?" Agent Kent looked at her incredulously.
"You're interview is in two days in Paris, France and your plane leaves tomorrow morning, make sure you're at the airport by 09:00 hours," Lt. Douglass then left the room but not before staring down agent Kent, who stared right back.
"C'mon let's go somewhere and grab some food," Devina said to Kent as she too walked out the door to the garage where her car was.
They rode to the restaurant in silence, when Kent suddenly said, "Take me to my hotel, and come with me we can get food there,"
Devina turned the car around and drove towards the hotel.
Once there they walked towards the elevator and rode up in silence. Exiting the elevator, Kent swiftly walked to his room, almost leaving Devina behind, then opened his door. She followed, and was soon pulled inside his room viscously, and grabbed by the back of the head.
"Why are you doing this? Why did you agree to this assignment?" He asked, pain evident in his eyes. Devina tried not to wince as his grip tightened in her hair.
"You know why, the same reason why you accept every assignment thrown your way. Don't you throw your sanctimonious bullshit at me when you know you have done far worse than this," she huffed.
"So what you're just going to sleep with him? Will you fuck him like you fuck me? Hmm? Cause you're real good at that," he said savagely while leaning in to her face.
She slapped him and he laughed, rubbing his face and replied, "Sometimes when were done fucking I feel like it was all an act, like the emotions you felt during sex were only in that moment, and then you roll over and get dressed and leave like it never happened"
Devina winced as she knew she could not deny his description of her. She sighed and said, "We have no lives anymore, we gave that up once we became spies. If I try to leave or refuse an assignment, they will hunt me down and kill me because I know too much,"
