The Secret Service ~~~

1 - If The File Fits

Chapter One - If The File Fits

The ground's grass had been cut.

The table inside had been laid.

The cobwebs had been swept.

The beds had been made.

Bridget, Manius, and Maddox stood in the doorway. Their navy clothes were fresh and crimped, the collars turned down, and their hair was neatly done. Though the manor was well kept, they hadn't seen it done this well in years. While it had inhabitants, now it was going to see fresh blood - hopefully the kind that would stain and stick.

They waited by the front doors, the fresh air washing over them. Standing together they looked intimidating and it wasn't helped when Lucas and Petra arrived. They were in charge.

Petra had been there the longest of the two - she'd arrived when she was fourteen. Lucas had arrived three years later at eighteen. The two had taken their time to come and work together, but now there was only them left. The ownership of the place and the legacy - one that had to go on - was given to them, which meant it would eventually have to be passed on.

From far away, it would be hard to spot the manor, even in the middle of nowhere. The Scottish hills gave an air of privacy and those who found and looked didn't for long.

The manor was beautiful, and soon it was to be full of the life it deserved and hearts that could beat inside of it again - just how it should always be.

* * *

Hailey stepped out of the car elegantly, which was hard to do in a tight dress. Though the invitation hadn't said to dress to impress, there was no harm in at least trying - if her mother ever taught her anything, it was that impressions lasted from the first moment.

She carefully walked along the wide path. Her suitcase dragged behind her, making almost as much racket as her heels. She much preferred to be in converse but again, impressions mattered here.

It was hard to hide the excitement as it wove onto her face. Years - that was how long her mother had kept the secret, longer than the one she and her husband had kept about being in the CIA. This was different. This was more exciting. Why her mother had ever changed was beyond Hailey's understanding. Being part of the CIA, you were hidden but everyone also knew about the CIA. And this wasn't that.

A man with striking ginger hair met her at the door. He didn't wear a smile and that didn't change when she smiled at him. "I'm here for my interview?" She said, hoping he knew what was going on.

He swept his arm sideways. "This way."

Hailey had no time to take in her surroundings, so little time that she might as well have been blindfolded. The only thing she got a taste of was the smell of something cooking somewhere. Before she knew it, she was being ushered up stairs and then down corridors and then she was being sat in a small room.

The room had nothing but a desk and two chairs. Hailey looked for cameras or something that could hide one. She came up a loss. She sat.

* * *

Kade tucked his hair behind his ears. "Kade," he answered. "Kade Evans."

"Age?" Asked the woman with a tight top bun and a scrawny face.

"Twenty."

"And you were invited?"

Kade dug out the invitation. He threw the card across the table, still able to see the white writing on top. It was both simple yet perplexing. He'd been invited here. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but being ushered into a room with no explanation upon arrival wasn't it.