November 6

Jasper was starting to panic. First day as an Operative in the-- no-name group, and he was already screwing up. All he had to do was sit in on a meeting in the Benedict Room, which has seemed so simple, given the characters traipsing in the room. But he'd been unceremoniously escorted out of the building, the single security guard stationed on the top floor unaware Jasper even worked at IntraGlobal. He knew he wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. Did he look like Tom Cruise? No. And now the world as he knew it was going to come to an end-- at least that's what Boss had made it sound like if he failed. Things had started out alright. The Operatives, who more or less turned out to be an alright group, despite the kidnapping, had delivered him back at work, less than an hour after he'd been taken. The only person who had noticed his absence was Mike, the mail room guy, who was apoplectic, fretting about the fact that the accountants on floor four hadn't gotten their overnight express mail. The number crunchers didn't seem to notice when Jasper had dropped off the parcels, leading Jasper to conclude that Mike took both their jobs way too seriously.

Jasper had performed the morning's tasks as he did everyday. After a few runs to the copy room, it was as if his meeting with the Operatives had never taken place. The only constant reminder was the pinch of his new shoes, half a size too small. Rita had presented them to him on their way back to the IntraGlobal building.

She pulled of innocuous-looking brown shoes from a box and handed Jasper the left shoe. "That's the normal one. Under the heel of the right, here," she twisted the heel of the shoe, which opened to reveal a tiny compartment, packed with a mish-mash of items. "You've got all you'll ever need in a tight spot. One match, a beacon, piano wire, miniature flash bomb and cyanide capsule."

Jasper chose to forget that last item existed. "No phone?" he joked lamely.

Pete grabbed the right shoe from Rita and tossed it over to Jasper. "Shoe phones are inefficient. Besides, we became the laughing stock of secret organizations worldwide after Get Smart became popular."

Jasper examined the shoe carefully before pulling off his own and slipping on the new pair. "Is this why you wanted to look at my shoe in the elevator?" he asked Rita.

"We needed your size," she said. "We didn't have it exactly, I hope these ones fit you all right."

Jasper struggled with the second shoe, wincing as his big toe crumpled against the end. "They're fine. Lucas, what about when you were asking me for the time?"

Lucas grinned and pulled the electric organizer out of his pocket. "Checkin' you for bugs," he said.

Jasper nodded. "And you?" he acknowledged Pete.

"Oh, right!" Pete reached into his coverall pocket and pulled out a wallet, tossing it to Jasper, who took a second to realize it was his own. "Sorry, man. We needed to make sure we had the right guy."

Back at work, it was easy enough to find out when the Benedict Room would be in use. The schedules for all boardrooms was kept at the front desk on the main floor, and Jasper had managed to convince Bea Porter, the front desk clerk who had been with IntraGlobal for ages, that he needed the schedule to confirm an appointment for one of the executives. With the knowledge that the room would be in use for only an hour in the afternoon, Jasper was confident he would be able to meet with Boss the next day with some concrete information. Unfortunately he hadn't taken into account the fact that it might not have been an open meeting. Mr. Sandu had turned him away the second Jasper himself had proven he didn't belong. Now he was skulking about the elevators on the main floor, hoping to recognize one of the people who had gone into the meeting, and maybe get some information out of them. The problem was, that because he'd arrived late, he'd only seen two people enter the Benedict Room: a scruffy man in his late-20s, and a young woman about his age.

It must have been a short meeting, because it wasn't long before Jasper spotted Simon stepping off the elevator and digging a cigarette out of his back pocket. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if this man was the sort of person who would take any comment the wrong way. It was true Jasper had never actually come across such a volatile person in real life, but he had seen them in the movies. But his trepidation was nothing compared to the thought of talking to Boss the next day with nothing to tell him.

"Excuse me! Hey! Um." Jasper dodged between a few suits before catching up to Simon, who was patting down his shirt, searching for a lighter.

"You gotta light?" Simon had stopped to face Jasper, his cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth.

Jasper thought briefly of the match in the heel of his shoe, but shook his head. "Sorry, no. Actually I just needed to ask you a question about the meeting you were just in."

"Can we do this outside, man?" said Simon, digging in both his back pockets and, failing to find a lighter, stopped a man in a navy suit. "You have a light, dude?" The man brushed Simon's hand off his arm and walked away without answering.

"I was just wondering. I was actually supposed to be in the meeting, but my car broke down and then they wouldn't let me in because it had already started. And it's pretty important that I know what they talked about and--" Jasper stopped, realizing Simon wasn't paying much attention to him. In his search for a lighter he'd come across half a granola bar and was busy munching on it. Jasper couldn't tear his eyes away from the sizable piece of lint hanging off the end of it.

"Uh--" Jasper started again, but someone interrupted him from behind.

"You tried to get into the training session, didn't you?"

He turned around. It was the young woman who'd gone into the Benedict Room right before Simon had. She was fixing her hair into a ponytail. Jasper moved his mouth but no words came out.

"Are you trying to get the job too?"

Jasper watched out of the corner of his eye as Simon wandered out of the building. Probably for the best, he decided. "Job? Yeah, well, I was trying to get into the meeting anyway."

"My name is Myla, by the way. You didn't miss much. I bet you can make another appointment." Myla smiled and started walking again, assuming her conversation with Sir Lavender was over. But he limped on after her, as if his shoes were too small for his feet.

"I'm Jasper. Actually I was kind of hoping someone could tell me what happened."

Myla hitched up the bag on her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Not much. I mean, she didn't say anything I didn't know already. Except of course what we'd be getting paid." Myla blew out her cheeks and grinned. "I could move out of my parents' house. Hell, I could put a down payment on a condo. School is for suckers." She pushed on the revolving door. "Well I'll see ya around Jasper. Good luck with the job."

Jasper watched helplessly as Myla stepped out onto the street and walked off. Job? Wasn't he looking for something physical? A product of some sort? He glanced over his shoulder to make sure none of his supervisors caught him stepping out an hour early and followed Myla out the door.

"Wait a sec! Wait," he said, jogging up beside her. Myla gave Jasper a reproachful look, instantly regretting making any contact with him. He looked so innocent. "Sorry. I don't mean to, like, bother you or anything, but it's really important that I know exactly what happened in that meeting."

"Why?" Myla jabbed at the crosswalk button and tapped her foot.

"Because--" Jasper paused. He hadn't thought this far ahead. The truth would make him sound like a lunatic, but what lie wouldn't? Myla was staring straight ahead, clearly creeped out, but she was his only hope. He decided to go with a watered-down version of the truth. The light changed, and they both stepped off the sidewalk at the same time. "I need to know because IntraGlobal might be doing something wrong, and we-- I mean I-- need to find out what it is. And apparently, this thing, was supposed to be there, or happening, or whatever at the meeting this afternoon."

Myla stepped up on the sidewalk and slowed her pace considerably. "So you're not trying to hit on me?"

Jasper almost laughed, but thought better of it. "No."

Myla took a breath, looked at Jasper for a few seconds and then sighed. "Okay then. Do you want to sit down for a sec?" She motioned to a soggy-looking bus bench. "You might have the wrong meeting though, because none of it seemed bad or wrong to me."

"I don't care. Just tell me everything," said Jasper.

Myla placed her bag on her lap and looked down the street to see if her bus was coming. "Alright. So this lady, Miss. Irons, talked about the job and basically everything they told me over the phone." She explained the market research, the hours and the $5,000 a week stipend, at which Jasper almost fell off the bench. "So, nothing really unusual, I mean, apart from the secrecy. But I suppose that's to be expected. They probably don't want their products leaked to any competition. Hey, you're not from another company are you?"

"No," said Jasper, figuring out how many weeks it would take for him to make $5,000.

"Good, because I was having a total Charlie and the Chocolate Factory flashback," laughed Myla. Noticing no reaction from Jasper, she rolled her eyes. "You know, the part where the guy from the other chocolate factory is like, whispering into the kids' ears and, yeah. Okay, I'm a dork. I'll shut up." Myla stood up, seeing her bus about two blocks down. She dug through her bag, trying to find her bus pass.

"Don't you think it's weird they're paying you so much?" Jasper stood up as well, hoping for a red light to delay the bus an extra 30 seconds. He had something here, he could feel it.

Myla shrugged. "Trust me. If you were me right now, you wouldn't care." She stepped closer to the crowd of people starting to line up for the bus. It had been green lights all the way and the number 54 was right on schedule. Myla waved to Jasper. "Good luck with your -- conspiracy thing."

Jasper watched the bus approach with horror. This wasn't nearly enough information. He needed more! He tried thinking back to every spy movie he'd ever watched. What would James Bond do? What would Austin Powers do, for that matter? They'd have Myla in bed by now, that's for sure. Plus she'd probably be wearing a white bikini and Jasper would be standing in his bathrobe, sipping a martini instead of willing a city bus to crash with only the powers of mind. Jasper's head snapped up as the bus heaved to a stop. "Myla! Can I take you out sometime?"

A couple of 13-year-olds with skateboards burst out laughing. Myla looked back at Jasper, mortified. But he looked so desperate and maybe a tiny bit cute. It's why she'd talked to him in the first place. That and to save him from Simon. The line snaked forward and Myla stepped onto the bus. "My last name is Ritsmartin. It's the only one in the book."