Too many reports to read thoroughly. I learned to scan for content. And pray I didn’t miss anything critical. People think being a spy means you’re an international man of mystery, driving fast cars and getting the girl. I guess that’s more enticing than the reality I see every day. But what I do is no less important, and, sometimes, it’s just as exciting. Really. Let me tell you about WRINKLED.

Projects have code names. You know that. You watch the movies, but they really do. WRINKLED was supposed to be routine. I was the new guy on shift, so I got it doled out to me with all the other routine projects. We had some hot stuff going on, I was the new guy. Sure, I wanted the hot projects that were needed for real world happenings, but I didn’t have thirty years of experience like my teammates. I was just happy to be part of the team, and I knew me taking these more routine projects served two purposes. First, I took care of day-to-day stuff so my more experienced colleagues could focus on what was hot now, and, second, I was getting experience that would allow me to handle the tough projects next time the need came around. And I’ve learned there’s always a next time. I intended to be ready.

WRINKLED was supposed to be a routine low level smuggling surveil. Routine. Get the goods. Nab the perps. Put ’em in jail. Next.

Except it wasn’t. Sure. We found out who was smuggling counterfeit denim into the country. Nothing to it. But wait. There’s more. At least, that’s what the infomercial would say. If I hadn’t been such a greenhorn working hard not to mess up, we might have left it at that. I didn’t want to screw things up for my teammates who were working on high priority projects, so, while I was making sure our “i”s were dotted and our “t”s were crossed, I noticed something else. But I wanted to be sure before I bugged anyone, so I waited. Like I said, the office was taking care of much higher priority stuff, and they didn’t need to be bothered for routine things. I went to work to gift wrap this little project for them, and by the time I realized just how big it was, I was in way over my head.

That’s when I realized I needed to get this project compartmentalized and bring in at least one of the guys with experience. But who? I decided to go to my boss with this one.

I approached his office and knocked on the doorframe. He looked up from his computer, “Mr. Michaels, do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure, have a seat.”

I sat down before laying out what I’d discovered. When I finished, he gave a long, low whistle. I could see he was running skill sets of my officemates through his mind. Finally, he turned to his phone, punched a few buttons on the intercom, and waited. “Would you come to my office, please?” After a brief pause, he said, “Thanks” before hanging up the handset.

Moments later, Virgil stepped into the office and slipped into the chair next to me, “What can I do for you, Boss?”

Mr. Michaels motioned in my direction, “Tell Virg what you told me.”

I repeated my tale then looked expectantly at Virgil.

He gave a slow nod and leaned back in his chair. After staring into the bookshelf above Mr. Michaels’ desk for what seemed like an eternity he said, “You want me to walk him through what happens next, right?”

Mr. Michaels nodded affirmatively.

Virgil leaned forward, clapped his hands onto his knees, stood up, and said, “You got it Boss. Come on, Angel, I’ll show you the ropes on where you go from here.”

I followed Virgil out of the office and to my cubicle. He sat in the chair near my work space, gestured for me to take my chair in front of my work station. “Bring up the project, please.”

He showed me who to contact about compartmentalizing the project. He filed the paperwork to get my clearance increased on an emergency basis so I could work on my own project. Then he took me around to the people I needed to know to take the next steps to gather and analyze the information we were getting so it could be exploited in a way that would increase our national security. Even I knew what was going down was big. Then we let nature take its course, providing assistance when needed. Project names aren’t supposed to translate to real life, but this one got WRINKLED in a hurry.

________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is a work of fiction. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in comments — what you liked or didn’t like. Each day will be a little different, so if you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.