November 13

Jasper came to work the next morning a little bit earlier than usual. Hyper-punctuality was a symptom of his nervousness; it happened all the time. And Jasper had a good reason to be nervous. The kidnapping was still fresh in his mind, and now, not only did he have the afternoon meeting with Boss to worry about, but also the fact that Morgan was possibly spying on him at all times. There was no sign of any operative-- no sign of a blue coverall, anyway-- and Jasper was feeling rather confident in his much more masculine looking shirt this morning: a baby blue short-sleeve. By the time middle management started trickling in later on the morning, Jasper felt better and less nervous after an Operative-free hour of sorting mail and catching up on his filing. In fact, he would have been in excellent shape for the meeting with Boss had his actual boss, Mark Leland not called him in for a chat about fifteen minutes to lunch.

Jasper re-read the short memo with a suffocating sense of horror. The only reason that he knew people at his level ever had meetings with Mr. Leland was when they were hired, and when they were fired. Suddenly the possibility of him being canned from two jobs, his IntraGlobal position, and that of an Operative, could actually happen. There was only one thing Mr. Leland would be firing him for, and that was what he had been doing between the hours of three and five yesterday.

A film of cold sweat settled over Jasper's skin. He thought of Roger Gordon, the quite, meek man behind the desk at shipping and receiving. Roger was dead, that's what the Operatives had told him. Dead because he'd failed at the job Jasper was currently trying to do. If he died, who would feed his cat?

Jasper forced himself into Mr. Leland's office on the tenth floor. The secretary waved toward the heavy mahogany door. "He's expecting you, go right on in." Jasper opened the door a crack and slipped in. A rich, midnight blue rug stretched from the door to a giant antique desk at the end of the room. Mr. Leland, with his thinning, white hair, trimmed beard and tiny round spectacles sat in a large leather chair. Jasper nodded to his boss, but stood straighter only when he saw a blond woman standing at Mr. Leland's side, the same woman he'd avoided eye contact with the day before at the elevator.

"Mr. Kleff. Thank you for seeing me, this won't take long."

Jasper couldn't speak. He could barely tear his eyes away from the woman, who stared straight ahead with a steely grey gaze. Mr. Leland barely acknowledged her presence. He shuffled a few papers on his desk.

"Mr. Kleff, it has been brought to my attention that you were detained by security yesterday and escorted from the top floor, specifically from the foyer outside the Benedict Room. Is this true?" Mr. Leland lifted his eyes from the pages and pushed up his glasses.

"Yes, sir." Jasper felt like he was breathing through a straw. His words, he knew, were barely above a whisper.

"I'm curious about this because according to your job description, your duties are restricted mostly to the 16th floor, the mail room and occasionally some of the accounting offices. What were you doing outside the Benedict Room?" Mr. Leland cocked his head slightly to the left, as though he were genuinely interested in sequence of catastrophes, coincidences and mistakes that led Jasper to an area he had no viable excuse to be in.

"I--" Jasper began, again stealing a look at the woman. She was unnerving. "There was a man. He dropped his wallet and I followed him. I was trying to return his wallet. I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be in that room."

Mr. Leland knew Jasper was lying. He could see the words written in bright red ink across his perspiring brow. He let Jasper hang for a moment. The boy didn't know anything. Not yet. He didn't look like an Operative, but one could never be too sure. That Gordon was about as pale and anemic as his beanpole of a son, and he'd nearly brought the entire project down. No, there was no way of being sure, but there was no reason he couldn't keep an eye on Jasper. "Did you find him?"

Jasper blinked. "Um--"

"The man who lost his wallet, did you return it to him?"

He bought it, Jasper thought, actually feeling the blood flow back into his face. "I did. I found him in the lobby, after-- later on, as he was leaving the building."

Mr. Leland scanned the security report in his hands. For a moment he doubted his own suspicions about Jasper. IntraGlobal personnel had clearly reported Mr. Kleff speaking with a rough-looking individual, a man, immediately following the meeting in the Benedict Room. There was no mention of a wallet changing persons, but they could have missed it. Jasper could be telling the truth. "Well that's good," said Mr. Leland. "That's all Mr. Kleff. Enjoy your lunch."

Jasper stood still for a moment before realizing he was free to go. He backed up a few steps, nodding his thanks and then turned to leave practically running out of the office. He checked his watch. Ten minutes before he had to meet the Operatives in the park. Not too shabby, Jasper thought.

He started whistling as he swung out the revolving doors onto the street. Jasper felt like he'd made it past the an incredible obstacle. He'd pulled the wool over Mr. Leland's eyes. Just like that-- right out of the blue-- he'd come up with an absolutely brilliant lie. It had even trumped the tactic he'd used the day before with Myla. There was something in him Jasper never even knew existed.

Jasper walked swiftly down the street, vaguely aware of the lunchtime crowd slowly pressing in on him. His mind was drifting, wandering over toward the men's clothing store-- top of the line-- where he would soon be picking out a tuxedo. Maybe he'd start smoking cigars. He'd definitely have to get a better haircut.

The crowd was getting thicker. Jasper turned the corner only to encounter more people. He found himself getting shunted to the side, his shoulder eventually coming into contact with a red brick wall. Jasper pushed forward, wondering if lunch in downtown Edmonton was always this busy. He usually brought a sandwich to work. Jasper couldn't find his way back into the middle of the crowd, so he edged along the wall. The park was just ahead, but a gap in the wall where a set of double black doors were, gaped open. Jasper pushed on, but before he knew it, he'd been sucked into the red brick building by a long pair of hairy arms.

The door slammed shut; it was pitch black inside. "Hey!" Jasper gasped.

"Shut up, you moron." It was Lucas. He led Jasper through the darkness toward a band of light on the floor about 30 feet ahead of them. The air was ice cold, and a constant hum quickly indicated they were in the middle of a giant industrial fridge. The reached the band of light, which turned out to be a huge metal door and Lucas pulled hard on the latch. Rita was on the other side of the door, her hands on her hips. Lucas pushed Jasper into the tiny concrete room The floor and walls were painted a greyish-blue. A buzzing neon light swung from wires hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey, I thought we were meeting in the park," said Jasper.

"We were. Till you went and nearly brought IntraGlobal security right to us," spat Pete.

"What?!" Jasper sputtered, spinning around to face each of the Operatives. "What are you talking about? They have no idea--"

Rita rolled her eyes. "You have so much to learn," she muttered. "Listen, what were you doing this morning? Did you have any unusual encounters or conversations or did you try to do anything stupid?"

Jasper balked. How could they know about his meeting? "I was called in to see my boss, Mr. Leland. He wanted to ask me about-- something that happened yesterday when I tried to get into that meeting in the Benedict Room."

"Good gravy." Rita shook her head. "Following this meeting with Leland, did you or did you not come straight out here to meet with us?" Spit was flying out of her mouth.

"Yeah, I didn't want to be late." Jasper surrepticiously wiped a bead of spit from his cheek.

"Did you, by chance, happen to take a look behind you to see security guards, dressed in IntraGlobal uniforms, no less, following you?"

"No--" Jasper smacked himself in the forehead. "No, I didn't even look."

"Exactly. You didn't look, you didn't think," said Rita, on the verge of yelling. "What you have to realize Jasper, is that somehow between the time we intercepted you yesterday and this afternoon, you've landed yourself in IntraGlobal's radar. You haven't been caught, but you came close. This completely changes your mission. We'll have to tell Boss."

"I'm sorry," said Jasper, eyeing Morgan, who did not betray a hint of what they'd talked about the day before.

"He's coming in," said Pete, waving the tiny white radio and holding it, while Jasper and the other Operatives crowded around him.

"Operatives, are we all in?" The Boss' voice crackled through the speaker.

"Here Boss," said Pete and Morgan at the same time.

"Operative Jasper, what do you have to report?"

Jasper opened his mouth to speak, but Rita butted in. "He's been compromised Boss. IntraGlobal knows something is going on with him."

"Let him speak, Operative. Jasper, has something happened?"

Jasper took a shuddered breath and recounted everything that Mr. Leland had said. Without waiting for Boss to prompt him, he launched into what had happened the day before at the Benedict Room, and the meeting he would be scheduling with Myla.

"You sound worried, Operative, but you've done a good job," Boss said, sounding a bit amused. Rita raised her eyebrows at Jasper, who could only stop holding his breath. "I knew there was a good chance, considering your level of experience, that something like this would happen. But you handled it well. We're just going to have to be more careful from now on. Don't speak of us, don't even think of us when you're in the IntraGlobal building. Go directly home after work. Operative Lucas will provide you with an untraceable cellular phone. Now as for this meeting you've arranged." Boss paused, waiting for Jasper to answer.

"Oh, yes. With Myla," said Jasper still recovering from his close call.

"Call her immediately. We will only tell her who we are if it becomes absolutely necessary. Until then, see if you can get the information you need using other methods. Once you've set up a meeting, contact Operative Pete, who will give you further instructions to ensure that IntraGlobal remains unaware of your conversations with Miss. Ritsmartin. Is this clear, Operative Jasper?"

Jasper nodded, but then spoke up, realizing Boss couldn't see him. "Yes sir. I mean Boss."

"Excellent. Good job, Operatives, I will contact you individually tomorrow for an update."