This Chapter May or May Not Contain Trust - Ellen (35)

I took my time getting over to Ian and Greg's room. Had to give them time to get set up, and get suspicious. Whether they were becoming suspicious of each other, me, or the Agency, I really didn't care. I took a nap. I woke up. I put on my cute pajamas-- the ones with the bunnies on them-- and re-applied my makeup. When I was done, I looked the picture of innocence, not to mention wholly un-recruiter-like. The perfect outfit for being sneaky with boys. Not in the dirty way we did it as teenagers.
I arrived at the door of the boys' room, Ian's bag in hand, and knocked. From inside the room, I heard a thud, and two voices saying "Ow." They'd been hiding under the beds. Clever boys. I knocked again, and this time I heard a lot of shuffling and mumbling. I thought I heard Ian ask, "For you guys, did the ninjas knock?"
Then Greg's voice, hesitant: "Who is it?"
"Land shark," I answered.
"Ellen?" Greg was incredulous.
"Yes, but don't worry, I'm not here to seduce you. Not with the child in the room."
"So, why are you here?" Ian asked.
"I've got your bag. I assumed you'd want it."
There was a lot of scrabbling at the lock. Then indistinct arguing. Finally, I sighed, pulled out my passkey, unlocked the door, and entered. Ian and Greg stared at me.
"Oh." Ian scratched his head. "I guess I just locked us in, then. Sorry."
I dropped the bag on the floor and proceeded to make coffee, pretending to be surprised at the sight of the neatly made beds.
"Haven't you guys gone to bed yet?"
"Have you?" Greg asked, eyeing my perfect make-up job. I probably shouldn't have been so meticulous with that, come to think of it. Oh, well. I flashed him a smile.
"Don't you believe I look this lovely all the time, Greg?" He didn't answer.
I handed both he and Ian cups of Twenty-Second Coffee, at which Ian looked a bit surprised.
"How did you make is so fast?" he asked.
"You can do interesting things with time-travel," I answered, adding, "Not that the Agency advocates that sort of thing. You've heard of Instant Coffee? Some very high-ranking Agency officials think an instant is too long to wait. There is a theory that Twenty-Second Coffee may actually cause the breakdown of space time someday, but they view it as a small price to pay. These are highly caffeine-addicted people."
"How does it work?"
"Quickly," Greg and I answered at the same time.
Ian sipped his tentatively. "Not bad." He sat down on one of the beds. "Ellen?" Glancing at Greg nervously. "Are there really ninjas?"
"Yes, I've heard they do exist," I replied.
"I mean, are there ninjas in this hotel, that work for the Agency?"
"Now, what makes you think that?"
He shot Greg pretty much the same look that Greg was giving me. "I thought so. I thought you two were just cooking this up. And now I'm never going to sleep because of this stupid coffee."
That was when his eyes rolled back and he flopped back onto the bed, out like a light.
"Not necessarily," I responded.
Greg was livid. "You drugged him!"
"You can't prove that. Twenty-Second Coffee is very volatile."
"You drugged him!"
"And you knew I would. That's why you didn't drink yours."
"You lied to him!"
"I'm a recruiter."
"You lied to him!"
"I didn't lie. I just asked him why he thought there were ninjas. He could simply have answered, 'Because Greg told me about them,' which, yes, we knew you would. He just made an assumption as to my meaning. From tonight Ian has learned that he can't trust me, because I drugged him-- if he remembers that in the morning, and that he can't trust you because you didn't deliver ninjas. You see? You, sadly, played into the strategy. Obviously we couldn't use ninjas anyway, because in any case they wouldn't work on you. Unless you were suspecting we'd think that, in which case ninjas would have been the way to go. Unless you anticipated that we'd be thinking that way. Unless you thought we'd realize you'd be thinking that way and expecting the ninjas after all, which-- are you tired yet?"
"Very."
He looked it. Poor guy. I really did feel sorry for him, but that wasn't what he needed from me. My pity would just make him feel pathetic, I knew enough about Greg McIntosh to realize that. Instead I sat down next to him on the bed that Ian wasn't passed out on.
"Look," I told him. "I know you're mad. I don't blame you. If I were in your position, I'd be mad, too. But I'm asking you, please, not to be mad at me. If you're mad at me, then I'm sorry, Greg, but you're barking up the wrong tree. I can't promote you. I wish I could. I want your help on this mission."
"Why? You seem to be handling things." He tone was still not exactly friendly.
"Virgil's here. Not dead. Someone's messing with us. Or something. I've already let you in on more classified information than any recruit should know." Greg laughed a little. "I need you to respect me. I need that in order to lead the mission. But I want you to know that I still respect you. I want us to trust each other."
"I thought the first night is supposed to show recruits they can't trust anyone."
"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "If I can't count on you, who can I count on?"
Of course, we hadn't touched on half of the awkwardness the Agency had created by putting us in this situation, but we'd deal with it. Greg seemed to be accepting my peace offer.
"Ellen, when we were recruited... how come you didn't manage to take out any ninjas?"
"Well, I wasn't that well-trained then. Spent most of my time in libraries and bookstores, and there's only so much muscle you can build lifting and shelving books. Besides, they outnumbered us four to one. I figured I'd wait until the odds were more in my favor to make a move."
"You actually evaluated the situation and worked out the odds?"
"Yep. Jimmy didn't care for my method, but... there were a lot of things Jimmy didn't approve of."
"True." He looked around the room. "Okay, I give up. Where do the ninjas come in?"
"There's a panel in the closet. Want to see?"
I was right about Greg, I knew. You could always count on him. He opened the closet door and peered in. That was when I beckoned the ninjas in through the main entrance.
I was pretty impressed. Greg managed to take out two of them before the other two pinned his arms behind his back. I told them to let him go, and they dragged their incapacitated comrades out the door.
"Nothing personal," I told Greg. "And there really is a panel in there. It's just that for seven years I've regretted that I never got to see you getting your ass kicked by ninjas."
He stared at me speechlessly for about twenty seconds. I took the opportunity to make coffee. When his response came, I must admit, it surprised me.
"So, how did the girls do?"
Classified," I told him. "It's absolutely mandated by the Agency that I not tell you that Gillian took out two and Scarlett kicked one in a particularly sensitive area."
"Goodnight, Ellen."
"Goodnight, Greg."