Cactus Wren

Chapter One - A.M.F.

Voices murmur around me, an occasional laugh breaks through but overall it's white noise. People mingling and discussing their investments, which college their kid is going to, how their horse placed at the last show and advice on golf swings and favorite golf courses (local and world wide, of course). I carry my tray full of fancy hors d'oeuvres through the crowd, silently offering it to ladies and gentlemen in fancy dress. Just another nameless server, nothing to see here. I casually search the room for my contact and finally spot her standing against the west wall wearing a gold dress.

"Visual; West wall, gold." I report in, talking to the air around me. My small ear bud will pick up my voice without any problem.

"Confirmed. Proceed with drop." My teammate voices in my ear. I slowly make my way west until I approach the statuesque red head wearing the floor length, backless, metallic gold gown. She sees me approach and dismisses me with a bored glance.

"Napkin?" I ask. Her eyes turn back to me now with interest. She looks at me a beat before speaking.

"Pedigree." She responds. This our code; random. If she would have said 'no' or some other natural response like a kind of food then I would know she wasn't my contact but she responded with 'pedigree'.

Of course she did, I want to roll my eyes.

I offer her the cocktail napkin covering the slip of paper telling her where to meet me in thirty minutes time to make the drop. Mrs. Douglas has some information for the Academy regarding some associates of hers from the country club. Apparently they've been making some questionable business transactions that the Academy wants to investigate.

I've been apart of the Tucson, Arizona branch of the Academy for four years, this is by far one of the easier jobs. A simple contact and information retrieval. The food isn't bad either. I nod to her once she has the drop off information in hand and then I continue to move about the room. I need to kill thirty minutes now, maybe I can snag me a shrimp canapé from the kitchen.

Thirty minutes later I'm standing near the north wall, near the restrooms, when Mrs. Douglas walks over. She lifts the hand holding her now empty champagne flute, silently asking me to take it, along with the crumpled napkin which is now covering the flash drive I'm waiting for. I take the items and she continues to the ladies powder room while I walk back toward the kitchens and slip the flash drive into my bra since these server uniforms don't have pockets.

"Drop complete." I report in.

"Confirmed. Mission complete. Rendezvous at Mission Control for debriefing." They respond.

"On my way." Walking through the kitchens, I remove my apron and walk out the back door.

x X x

My phone buzzes as I leave the hotel room around the block from the banquet where mission control was set up. I've successfully passed off the flash drive to our Academy tech and have been dismissed for the night. Pulling out my phone I see a message from Candace, the team lead for the Elrey Team. I've been working with them on a trial basis for the past three months, seeing if we were a good match.

Candace: Hey! I heard you finished up your assignment. Family is going out for drinks and dancing at Congress. Want to come?

Ugh, I really don't want to but Mrs. Gutierrez always gets on my case about not trying to get to know these girls. I need to try harder to become apart of their family. I send my response as I walk to over to my car.

Rebbie: Sounds good. Need to change, be there in about an hour.

I drive my refurbished 1967 Ford Mustang toward my bungalow near downtown Tucson. I leave the windows down feeling the warm desert night air push over my heated skin. The air is filled with the sweet scent of the Lady of the Night cactus flowers, they only bloom at night in the summer. I pull into my driveway at the back of my house through the rear alley. Parking under the cover I turn the key and the deep rumble of the engine cuts off leaving the neighborhood silent excluding the cicadas buzzing in the trees. My security light clicks on as I walk up the path and I visually check the surrounding areas, confirming that my property hasn't been breached. This has been ingrained into my brain, always being alert. I unlock my door and enter my house and my orange tabby cat, Oscar, runs up to me meowing in greeting.