The Perfect Agent - Part 1

Matt looked at the hourglass and the screen and sighed. "Come on" he growled.

Even with the the agency's most powerful computer it was taking hours. Hours he didn't have. Hours he should have been dedicating to his actual work.

A voice sounded behind him "Mr Fyfe?". Matt's shoulders sagged Verity Milterton. His boss, his undoubtedly pissed-off boss.

Her clipped tones spoke of a woman who didn't suffer fools "Do you mind telling me why the South America Desk are still waiting for their weekly monitoring report and you are here sat down here staring at a data dump?"

Matt began to gather himself to explain but before he could she leaned over at the screen "Are those bank details" she glowered at him, her tone instantly more frosty "What's going on here? Why are you processing bank transactions on a government computer?"

Matt was busted, there was no point in any pre-amble. He just had to lay out what he'd found "I think I might have a lead on Venus".

The sentence hung in the air.

Venus Phillips was one of the agency's top field agents, she had disappeared two weeks ago whilst investigating a strange case. It wasn't expected to be remotely dangerous. There had been several reports in the media about a brain-drain in the science industry. In the space of 6 months 8 of the world's top female chemists, DNA experts and neuro-scientists had all handed in their notice and left their positions. Several big health projects had been delayed. There was a minor furore in several science journals. Venus had been curious because all the scientists had been women, leading lights and role-models in a male dominated industry. Venus had persuaded Verity to allow her to do some investigation and then...nothing.

Verity breathed heavily, she looked like she was trying to decide between fury and curiosity "You have three minutes".

Matt took a deep breath "I was looking through Venus' emails on her last case"

Verity took a step back "Her emails? How did you get access. You don't have clearance for that!"

This was going badly "Miss Milterton I am sorry, I told the techs I needed a report she'd sent...it's my fault but I was sure there'd be something to go on"

Verity stared at her junior agent "And?"

Matt breathed a sigh of relief "Nothing much but I found a few things worth searching about in one of her field logs. Most of it lead nowhere but I found a reference to the word 'Femitropin'"

Verity's eyes narrowed as if scrolling through her mental archives "What?"

Matt continued "I have no idea, it is just a word....nothing about it on any of our archives, nothing on any databases, nothing online but I found a reference to it on a Wikileaks archive"

Again Verity stared, frowning at him "What did it say"

Matt was becoming more hopeful now "Not a lot, it was in a huge dump of emailed hacked from various pharmaceuticals and cosmetics companies by animal rights activists...there was an internal email from Kali Incorporated talking a list of company projects that were being closed. It was sent by Cassi Demeter, their CEO, she is..."

Verity snapped "I've heard of Cassi Demeter, everyone has..." then she paused for a moment "...Okay so a reference from Venus and an email from a cosmetics CEO. Not exactly much to go on".

Matt realised his chance was slipping away "I know, I managed to get some details for the scientists who disappeared and looked into their bank details, phone logs, mail records"

Again Verity cut him off genuinely angry now "WHAT? Personal data? How? That could get our entire department locked down and investigated!"

"Verity please" Matt pleaded "...I have got something. All the scientists had special deliveries come in from anonymous couriers just before they finished their jobs. Every one from the same company. Also they all had phonecalls from Geneva in the weeks leading up to them moving. I crunched the data on our supercomputer and the deliveries were from a subsidiary of Kali Industries. The phone calls were going to the same cells as Kali's main lab in Switzerland.....there is a link"

Verity pulled up a seat now, Matt was sure he'd persuaded his boss there was a lead worth following now. Verity Milterton was the first woman to be placed in charge of the nation's secret service and undoubtedly brilliantly intelligent she had a reputation for being tough, demanding but fair and open.

"Kali is a huge international company, we'd need to get someone in their head office" Verity mused

Matt took a deep breath "That is what I am doing now. I tracked Demeter's movements and the calls to the scientists all coincide with her location" He pointed at the screen "I am sure the bank payments will coincide too. She's in London now, we need to track her, I can get on the inside"

"You? Matt you know agents won't be cleared for field work until they have five years experience. No I'm sorry I will pass this onto one of the operatives". Matt had worked for the agency for over two years now and in that time had proved adept in most fields. He had supported agents on their operations but his burning ambition was to join their ranks.

"We don't have resource, they are all in South America or the middle east. If we let this chance go we might lose our lead on Venus" he pleaded

Verity sighed. The entire department had been shocked when Venus had disappeared. It was the first loss under Verity's tenure in command. Her absence hung over the office. Everyone knew the risks field agents took but this was just a routine check and Venus had seemed utterly indestructible. Cool, smart & tough she had been Verity's protege. A hero to the women who worked there and probably each and every male would admit to having a crush on her...for Venus to disappear was unthinkable.

Verity looked at Matt "Have you told anyone about this?"

"No..." he replied "I knew I'd get my arse kicked" he added suppressing a smile

"Well don't, I don't want this getting out and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. Prepare your data, put it on a disc then bury it, delete everything that might get us shut-down. Get back to your job and I will start pulling some strings" said Verity "We will meet at 7am on Wednesday morning"

Inwardly Matt gave a cheer. It was Monday morning now, two days to wait.