With a Pull of a Trigger

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

An Actress’ Disguise

The door opened, a slim woman in her thirties walking inside the room quickly, closing the door behind her. She had flaming red hair, the long wavy tresses swaying and framing her face in the way a model’s hair would when faced with a fan for a photo shoot, the effect of the cold breeze coming from the air conditioning of the room. She was tall, about six feet, and had long shapely legs. She was wearing a plain black long sleeved blouse, a sleek black pencil skirt which accentuated her hips, and black high heels, shiny and loud against the granite floor. She was wearing simple earrings made of white gold and an identification card was clipped to her collar. She quickly walked towards the front of the room, in front of her trainees and planted her hands on the glass desk in front of her. She looked at her students, all twelve of them, and spoke, loud and clear.

“My name is Vivienne Levalle. You can call me Miss Levalle, or Agent Levalle. Am I clear?”

Nods of assent could be seen from her position between the desk and the whiteboard behind her.

The corners of her mouth curled upward a bit, not quite making it into a smile and not quite a frown, somehow making her look more mysterious much alike Mona Lisa. “Let’s start then.”

The room was cold, and Reini was tempted to rub her arms for warmth but didn’t dare to. After all, she was seated in the very front and center, just across the glass desk.

“Lies,” the agent said, writing the word on the whiteboard for a moment before quickly turning to look at her trainees again. “We tell them to our friends, we tell them to our enemies, we tell them to family, and eventually, we tell them to ourselves.”

Reini looked at the agent as the agent underlined the word and turned back to look at them again. “The best spies are the best liars the world has ever seen. Despite that, the greatest spies are also the greatest human lie detectors. To be an agent, you have to be good at both. One without the other is useless and might lead to an early demise which you would, I’m sure, like to avoid.”

Vivienne sat down and clasped her hands, putting them on the desk. Her face was the very picture of calm, despite the fact that her poker face made it impossible for them to profile her.

“Bring out your notebooks.”

The trainees leaned to their right where they put their bags, leaning against their chairs. Reini took her notebook, an orange spiral notebook with a white dolphin in front, and a pen, quickly putting them on her desk after. She opened her notebook and opened her pen, prepared to write.

“Write notes if you want to pass,” the agent said coolly. “Signs of deception include, but is not limited to; the person becoming stiff and trying to occupy less space than possible, expressions not matching the person’s words or delayed expressions, avoidance of eye contact, increased pulse, and atypical mannerisms.”

Reini quickly wrote down everything in her notebook. She was amazed as to how the agent could teach them all without even a notebook or book as a guide but then she remembered that agents were used to teaching from memory.

“You have to look for these signs so that you would know if a target is telling the truth or not. Most importantly, you have to look for these signs so that you would know if you are lying to yourself or not. Spies are the best liars and more often than not, they manage to fool themselves and lie about things that matter. This is not a good idea, everybody. A spy who keeps everything in is a spy in danger of becoming rogue. The minute a spy manages to lie to himself is the minute a spy’s foundation crumbles.”