Cattie Get Your Gun

Chapter 5

I nervously tapped my fingers on my knee as Sam drove around the parking lot of the CIA headquarters. I kept glancing at my phone, waiting for the call from Nora, demanding to know why I was not in school. Sam had promised I would be back before I had class with Mr. Smithers, but we were already twenty minutes behind schedule since Sam had woken up late and the traffic from Fosco to McLean, Virginia made the journey significantly longer than we had been anticipating. We had left so early in the morning to get to the CIA Headquarters that I had begun to doze off a couple times during the trip, only jerking awake when my head hit Jack's shoulder. Samuel Poppy, in all his immense greatness and intelligence, had decided to schedule us to meet with Mr. Valentine as soon as he arrived for work.

Actually, it seemed as though Mr. Valentine had been held up a bit that morning too, since we passed by the parking spot reserved for him and it was empty. Sam looked around quickly before backing right into the parking spot, as if he was not taking a space reserved for the freaking Director of the CIA. Melany was glaring at him the whole time he was straightening out the Tesla, but by this point I think we had all learned that it was best to just not say anything when Sam did something that was extremely questionable. In this particular scenario it is best to point out that questionable actually means outrageously idiotic.

"I actually have to drop a package off from my parents," Sam explained to us as we got out of the car and he began walking around to the trunk, "so I'll be in shortly."

"What?" Melany asked him, sounding as nervous as I felt. "But you organized this meeting."

"And I have complete faith you'll do just fine without me." Sam walked by Melany with a package tucked under his arm, giving her a quick peck on the forehead that she met with a forced grimace. "You all know what to do and the questions you need to ask. I'll see you guys soon."

As Sam walked away, Nolan, Melany, Jack, and I looked around at each other in bewilderment before deciding that the smartest thing to do at that point was probably just to enter the building. No need to get the CIA all riled up because there was a group of teenage hooligans plotting in their parking lot. My phone buzzed loudly and I quickly shut it off, not even checking who the call was from. "That your boyfriend?" Jack mocked me with a grin. I shot him a look, which was my usual response whenever he tried to make fun of me for what happened nearly a week before in the cafeteria with Francisco. Honestly, I had gone on that date with Francisco, but there was nothing more than that at this point seeing as boys were not exactly the first thing on my mind...even attractive boys with pine-scented cars.

"It's so...clean," Nolan remarked once we had stepped inside the main lobby. "Absolutely pristine."

"You're standing in the headquarters of one of the most prominent agencies in the world, scheduled to meet the director, and you comment on the housekeeping?" I asked Nolan dryly.

"I'm a janitorial enthusiast."

"You're something alright," Jack muttered before leading the way to an elevator at the back of the lobby where we scanned cards Sam had given us the day before. "I feel like a spy right now."

"I feel like a spy all the time," Nolan said so seriously we all stared at him until the elevator doors opened.

"Is it bad I'm so nervous?" I asked Melany while I pressed the button for the floor Sam had told us to go to when we got inside. It was strange, the way the words rolled off my tongue so openly in front of people I had known for such a short time. Under normal circumstances, even with people I knew well, I would not have even thought to express any feelings of uncertainty or anxiety. "I feel like people are watching me at all times in this place."

"They probably are," Melany whispered back. "I feel like they have bugs everywhere. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me what I had for breakfast last week."