Nineteen And Nine

“I’m sure that it did.” Scotch responded.

“You were saying?” Mr. McLeod prompted turning back to Pen.

“The target was dead when we arrived. That is unusual. Isn’t it?” Pen asked.

“It is slightly atypical. Keep in mind that the targets are not on our list for neutralization because they are good people.”

“They’ve all done bad things?” Pen asked.

“Yes of course.”

“People who do bad things typically have numerous enemies. So it wouldn’t be completely unusual.” She agreed.

“It’s not.” Mr. McLeod agreed. “We are the best, typically we do get to them first.” Mr. McLeod looked at Scotch. “Isn’t that right Scotch?”

Scotch closed his open mouth quickly. It was like his supervisor had been abducted by aliens and replaced with someone who was completely unflappable. “Yes.” He agreed.

Mr. McLeod stood and held out a hand to Pen. He cradled her hand in his own for several moments. “Thank you so much for bringing this incident to my attention. I hope that I was able to alleviate your concerns.”

“Yes. Thank you sir.”

Scotch looked at Pen and rose from his seat. Taking the cue, she stood as well. Scotch guided her from the conference room. “I told you that nothing was wrong. Do you believe me now?” He never heard a response, only saw her nod in his peripheral vision. Scotch hurried Pen to the offices upstairs. The sooner he saw her leave, the sooner he could settle in and get to work.

Scotch re-entered the office the following afternoon. He perused the room to find that the issues from the day before had been resolved. Nothing new sat on his desk. Pen’s desk was neat as usual but untouched since she left earlier that morning. He looked around the room more slowly. No sign of Pen. No sign of any activity related to Pen either. Scotch stopped one of the other special consultants. “Have you seen Pen?”

She smiled and pointed down. “She’s been in the lab for hours.”

Scotch nodded and headed below ground. He found her in the chemistry lab. She was wearing the standard lab coat, gloves, safety goggles and mask over her clothes. Scotch grabbed a mask upon entering and held it over his mouth and nose. He watched as she carefully placed her sample into a dish. He waited as she finished what she was doing.

She looked at her lab mate. “Note that the poison is still testing as active twenty minutes postmortem. Adjustment to formula unsuccessful.”

The lab mate nodded to her. “I’m sure you’ll get it right the next time.” She encouraged.

“I hope so. I won’t be allowed in this lab much longer if I don’t prove my worth.” Pen countered. She turned and looked at Scotch. “Hello.” From the lilt in her voice Scotch guessed that Pen was smiling.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Adjustment 24 to my perfect poison.”

“Perfect Poison?”

“I have been working on a poison that kills a rodent or pest immediately but dissipates on contact when certain postmortem chemicals are detected.”

Scotch waits for Pen to speak English.

“This poison detects enzymes that are released after the animal has died. The poison reacts to these postmortem enzymes by losing its toxicity.”

“So it only works as long as whatever ingested it is still alive then it begins to break down?” Scotch asked.

“It is for rodent control. I invented it so the family pet wouldn’t die if the animal ate a rodent that did not die of natural causes. The side effect is...”

“...after the poison begins to break down it can no longer be detected by standard toxicity tests.” Scotch said finishing her thought.

“Until this has been finished and is in use for several years...let’s just say that this is going to be untraceable to the rest of the world for a while.” Pen added.

“Which is why Corporate brought you in.”

“It was why they told me they brought me in. They wanted me to finish developing it so I could develop a test for detecting it. In an effort to protect their people.”

“Did they tell you that they really loved Spot and Fluffy too?” Scotch asked grinning.

“You don’t think I’m that naive do you?” Pen shook her head. “I would have seen the ‘We Love Animals’ song and dance coming from a mile away. What are you doing here?”

“I work here.” Scotch said. “Spy, remember?”

“As you keep saying. What are you doing in the chemistry lab?”

“Looking for you.”

“You found me.” Pen cleaned up her mess and headed in the direction of the exit. She removed her gloves, mask, and goggles, placing them in their proper receptacles.

Scotch followed suit.

“I’m glad that you found me. I have something to say to you. Nineteen.”

“Nineteen what?”

“Nineteen bodies. In 1983’s “Never Say Never Again” starring Sean Connery there were nineteen bodies. Four agents went down, fourteen died, and one was diverted.”

“Weren’t there more?”

“There were nine more but the first nine weren’t really killed. It was a training exercise.”

“Wow.”

“What?” Pen asked.

“I didn’t think that you’d actually watch a James Bond movie and count the bodies.”

“I wish I hadn’t. There were a lot of dead agents.” Pen stopped and looked Scotch. “You said that people do that. They watch James Bond movies and count the bodies.”

Scotch’s brown eyes warmed and the spy grinned.

“You were lying?”

“A spy has to be good at lying. Don’t feel bad. I have had a lot of practice.”

“I can’t believe that you made feel like I wasn’t a professional because I had never watched a James Bond movie much less counted the bodies.”

Scotch continued to grin.

“You are so macabre.”

“Says the woman who formulates new poisons when she should be sleeping.”

“I slept.” Pen argued then yawned. “Chemistry is an art. You have to work on it when inspiration strikes.”

“That’s what a notebook on the nightstand is for. To write things down. That way you work with a clear head.”

Bryan, Mr. McLeod's assistant stopped the pair on the way to their desks, “Speaking of clear heads. Thanks for staying late and getting your reports in so quickly.” Bryan looked at Scotch. “You have got to stop sleeping at your desk. There were three rows of random letters running along the bottom of your forms. That’s the second time this month. What were you still doing here at four-thirty in the morning? You came back into headquarters at one a.m.”

Scotch paled and shifted a bit. “I was working on something.”

*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.