“Cream and sugar?” she asked.
“No thank you.”
The women looked out of place at the table. Agent Strong peered down her nose at Kyle’s biology homework. Agent Monroe sat in front of a large plastic place mat featuring a cheerful map of the United States complete with cartoon Mount Rushmore in the center and a smiling alligator over Florida. “You’re probably used to more detailed maps,” Gabby quipped.
“Please take a seat, ma’am.” They were telling her to sit down in her own kitchen. It hit her, maybe they were here because someone else was in trouble.
“Is it Phil?” Was he some kind of white-collar criminal and she’d never known it? Last time she’d seen him, she’d barely recognized him in skinny jeans, a tight shirt with a flipped-up collar, and a fake tan with a radioactive glow. The divorce was wearing him.
“Relax, ma’am, and take a seat.”
Gabby moved a lunch box off the chair. In the chaos, Kyle had forgotten the leftover ramen she had begged to take. School lunch was fine for Kyle. Lucas not so much. Between all of his allergies and his gluten intolerance, she needed to take a Xanax to let anyone else feed him. The woman who looked like an honest-to-God Bond girl started pushing papers in front of her. “Please sign here.”
Gabby tried to stop shaking, but her signature came out like her grandmother’s, overly careful but still squiggly. “I got syrup on the paper. Does it matter?” The pages were definitely going to stick together.
Bond Girl blew out a breath, clearly exasperated. “Initial here and add your date of birth, please.”
Gabby didn’t have enough time or focus to read any of the documents. She caught glimpses of words: Nondisclosure, NationalSecurity,Secrets,Severe Penalties,Punishment,Jail Time.
She looked at their belts for handcuffs and guns. Who was going to take Kyle to horseback riding tonight if they arrested her?
Alice Strong looked like her name, all hard angles with a severe face, the kind of woman who didn’t ever need help opening jars, the kind of woman who probably didn’t even need to open jars because she only ate takeout at her desk.
Gabby looked between them. “I’m sure whatever I did was an accident. I’m very prone to accidents.” They stared back, and shekept going. “Give me a simple task, and I’m bound to turn it into a national security problem.”
As she laughed nervously at her own joke, the women exchanged a look, and Gabby said, “See. I can’t stop putting my foot in my mouth.” All they needed to do was feed her a few details, and she’d confess to anything.
Gabby started straightening up, making piles of paper that should be recycled, just for something to do with her hands.
Loud and slow, Agent Strong explained, “You’re not in any trouble.”
“Yet,” Valentina said sharply.
Agent Strong cautioned the other agent with a look. In a dead-serious tone of voice, she said, “We’re here to offer you a job.” She didn’t appear to be kidding.
Gabby dropped the paper she’d been straightening down on the table. When she saw it was the schematic of all of her flaws, including the distance between her boobs and her navel (4.5 inches), she snatched it back.
“What?” She couldn’t have heard them right.
“The CIA needs your help.”
Hadn’t they noticed her double chin? “You’re kidding.”
Alice Strong looked at Gabby, the same way Gabby looked at the kids when she was at the end of her rope. “Kidding? This is no laughing matter. We need you.”
Gabby had seen movies where the CIA approached genius college students who knew tae kwon do and had brains like supercomputers. Gabby had just burned pancakes. She was eight credits shy of having an English degree she would never get.
The CIA had interrupted her while she was inspecting a mole on her inner thigh and trying to remember the signs of cancer:irregular edges, color variations, growth. Maybe the CIA needed a mom who could solve problems with a ramped-up anxiety level and mastery of WebMD.
“I do need a job,” she said. “I got divorced recently, and you know how that goes.” She looked up to see two blank faces. Alice and Valentina looked like they had no idea what she was talking about. “I was thinking of something at a department store over the holidays, but I guess, if the CIA wants me.”
Agent Monroe looked like she was trying hard not to roll her eyes.
Agent Strong said, “This is serious, Ms. Greene.”
“But really, I don’t understand. Why on earth do you needmy help?” She fingered the corner of Kyle’s biology homework. Kyle had gotten a B minus.
Valentina slid a photograph across the table toward Gabby. “This was Agent Darcy Dagger. We need a replacement for her.”
