Fashionista - Chapter 02

by Steve and Hklaw

‘Excellent, ready to go,’ Claire said as she glanced up from typing a text momentarily then back down to the screen to complete the message. ‘The car is waiting downstairs to take us to the Newark Airport then to London, along the way I can fill you in on what to expect and of course a few stories that I promised you,’ she said.

‘What about your clothes and your place?’ Jessica asked a little curious that she had no bag.

‘I have clothes at my place in London and as for the apartment, not to worry,’ Claire smiled

‘But the lease at all the contents, some of which I’m sure are sensitive,” she added choosing the last word carefully.

“Not to worry about the lease I own the building, oh and that reminds me, rent here is now free.  I’ll just take care of that with a text right now, sorry for ignoring you so much.  I’ll have my personal contents and the things I want shipped back, but another agent can make use of the space I’m sure. 

There rent taken care of, now let’s go.’

Jessica didn’t really know what to say, so she stayed quiet on the ride down the elevator and for part of the car ride until Claire finally spoke.

‘This isn’t school you can ask questions or we can just talk, get to know each other a little better, if you like, I’m sure you have a million or more questions for me,” Claire said as they sped along.

‘Is it safe in front of..’ Jessica said her index finger pointing at the driver.

‘Oh yes, perfectly safe, but if you want to wait, that’s fine as well,’ the spy answered.

‘How many agents will I be working with?’ Jessica asked.

‘Currently we have 40 female agents with another 20 coming in the next few months,’ Claire answered.

‘Strange I thought there’d be more than that.’

Claire gave Jessica the Reader’s Digest version of what had happened or more specifically what she had done with breaking away from COIL and taking the agents she, one, wanted and two, could convince to come over to FORCE.  Then came the explanation of the destruction of DOOM and the formation of TRIDENT with the Poison Geisha, The Silkworms and The Strippers Guild and how she brought in as many DOOM agents as she could find at first just to save their lives and then to see if they wanted to join, all did.

‘Is your head spinning yet, because believe me there’s more detail to come,’ Claire laughed a little then continued.  ‘The DOOM agents naturally didn’t trust much at first, but we’re over that, but they have a way of thinking that is both good and bad.’

‘What do you mean?’ Jessica asked.

‘DOOM agents were always trained or brainwashed if you want to make the mission the priority, they were expendable, very high risk takers and consequently deadly adversaries.’

‘There are that many ‘bad girls’ around?’ Jessica said somewhat astonished.

‘You’d be surprised, the rewards were incredible, much better than being a ‘good girl spy’ and besides good and bad are relative terms, my bad is just your indulgence.  I used to question like you, but then I came to the realization that those questions have a null value.  Trident killed off as many DOOM agents as they could, but they couldn’t get them all and this is where DOOM’s brainwashing of their agents played to FORCE’s advantage.  The older the agent means that they are very good and consequently very hard to eliminate, those are the ones we got and they have proven to be our edge.  They however have also proven to be a bit of a headache to reprogram, if you will,’ Claire said and then Jessica jumped in.

‘You don’t want them to be high risk or against incredible odds agents, you want them around, because and if you’ll let play the game for a bit, you really care about these women, there like sisters or a sorority if you like.  That’s one part and the other is that they have so much knowledge to pass along, there really a database of talent, but I think most of the weight with you is one the first part.’

‘You are good,” Claire said.  ‘This life gets into your blood, the action, the adventure, the eroticism, I’d be lying if I didn’t add that and like any drug that this is, you need more and more to sustain that high.  Some agents, most in fact, do this really well, so want it all the time; those are the former DOOM agents.  I used to be just like that always more more more, but thankfully I changed, I manage it better now, but it took my friends to bring me to that.  These former DOOM ladies, they do not listen well and that goes for fashion as well, they like what they like, it works for them, so they use it.  Part of your job is to push them into new ideas, they will push back, but I think you’re more than a match for that.  Well here we are, have your passport ready and then its England bound, with a stopover in Iceland for fuel,’ Claire said as the Limo pulled into the private departures terminal.

The two flashed through customs, Jessica thought she could get used to this, no more hassles or security checks and then they walked to the plane, a Gulfstream G550 and a waiting young woman at the stair ramp.

‘Good evening Miss Baxter,’ she said.

‘Honestly Rachel how many times have I told you to call me Claire, good evening as well,’ she said with a playful smile to Rachel and a kiss on her cheek.  ‘Rachel Sparks this is Jessica Collins, Rachel will be your Admin.  Trust me when I say other senior members of the staff are going to hate you, she is the best at what she does and she can do everything,’ Claire smiled as she touched Rachel’s arm in acknowledgement. 

‘Thank you Miss, ah I mean Claire.  It’s great to meet you Jessica, we’re all ready to go, dinner in about an hour and a half, but first,’ There was a long pause while Rachel forced the almost verbalized Miss from her throat and replaced it with Claire. ‘We need to go over some things and then I’m officially all yours Miss Collins, oh jeez I mean Jessica.’

‘See she learns fast,” Claire said as she and the others made their way up the stairs and into their seats the plane in the air several minutes later.

‘If you’ll excuse me Jessica, Rachel and I need to go over a few things, I should be back in time for dinner, if not just go ahead without me,’ Claire said as she made her way forward.

Jessica could guess this probably involved missions and secrets and agents and all kinds of crazy things she let her mind play on and she was not offended that she was not included, how could she be, several hours ago she was escaping certain death with something she couldn’t even in her craziest fantasies imagined existed.  So instead she focused on her new assistant, what she was wearing, what she should be wearing if Jessica had her way.  She heard low rumbles from the two as they looked at a tablet together, much too far away for Jessica to see.  Fingers typed and moved data about, occasionally the words of send this agent, she could never make out the names, but she could tell it was a highly charged dialogue.

‘Maybe someday,’ she allowed herself to imagine before coming back to reality as Claire and Rachel joined her and dinner was served. 

‘I suppose I’ll be designing for mostly statuesque supermodel body types,’ Jessica said by way breaking the silence during the meal that the other two diners were clearly enjoying.  Jessica had to admit the food was excellent, but the silence was not.

Rachel gave a soft cough and reached for her glass of wine glancing at Claire who looked amused.

‘You want to field that question or should I,’ Claire looking bemused said to Rachel.

Jessica’s new assistant decided she needed to pick up the ball to show she was really able to the task in front of her new boss. 

‘It’s not quite like that Miss Collins,’ she began.

‘All my friends call me Jessica,’ she interrupted, but said in a tone that could only be taken as warm and friendly.

Rachel warmed inside to this and continued. ‘Those type of women you’re thinking about, runway models or the ones you see in fashion magazines, all angles and size 0 to say 3, that hold no appeal  to either our opponents or to us as agents.’  She could see Jessica was a little confused by this round about statement, clearly she needed to expand.  ‘The type of woman you describe may make the clothes your displaying look great or photograph fantastically but in our world and indeed the real world they hold little sexual appeal to either sex and can in fact be a turn off or worse, fail to register any reaction at all.  We need our agents to stand out in a room or on a mission, they do this through a variety of means, some acquired, such as the contribution you will be making some because of training, but above all they must be fantastic looking but not so much as they become intimidating so that they are not approachable, in other words being out of the league of the intended contacts.’ She avoided using the term targets feeling it was best to ease into that area once Jessica was more immersed in the organization.  ‘Our agents range from size five to 16, the agents from size 12 to 16 we call Plus , those women all are between 5’9” and 6’3” and while some of those on the taller end are not true pluses we put them in that area.  That being said, they are striking women with incredible abilities.  Perhaps a picture or pictures in this case will illustrate this better,’ Rachel said as she fiddled with her tablet and passed it to Jessica.  A sample of the agents we have.’

Jessica swiped through a series of about ten or so pictures of women all of them stunning but as Rachel had said none too far off the charts, but all beautiful and she could see that all of them had that certain confident look in their eye, that made them even more appealing.

 

‘If you excuse me for a little while I have some final reports to send and then I can start my new position,’ Rachel said as she left for the front of the plane.

Claire took this as he cue to explain more to Jessica.

“I’m going to tell you some background information not only on me, but the organization and some of the people within it.  I’ll be as detailed as possible and much of it you’re going to find fantastic, incredible, impossible maybe even, so brace yourself,’ Claire offered.

‘Nothing could shock me now, not after today,’ the fashion designer smiled confidently.

‘Then prepare to be shocked,’ Claire half laughed half smiled and began.

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *                          

When the plane landed Jessica said nothing and Claire and Rachel let her be.  Her mind was spinning with all the details of what she’d been told.  She really began to wonder if she’d step Thru the Looking Glass. 

A car was waiting and it whisked them into London and The Savoy, a light rain falling in the darkness as they sped along, Claire and Rachel talking while Jessica looked out the window.  She popped back to the present as the car stopped and a man opened the door.  Welcome to The Savoy Miss Collins as he offered her his hand to help her out of the car.  Someone else fetched the luggage from the car’s boot as Rachel was helped out as well.

‘So this is really it, this is the start, it’s actually happening,’ Jessica thought was she looked around.  Then she became aware of something else, this was also Rachel’s new beginning and as far as she could tell a major jump up the ladder, no longer just doing other peoples task’s she would now be directly affecting operations and missions, she had no room to fail and Jessica realized she had no room to fail her.  She was used to this pressure, her firm, started by encouragement from Millicent and money given as a gift had not been built by shirking from a challenge or running away, it had almost been lost that way, until someone came along and reminded her of what she used to be.  Jessica straightened herself, gathered herself and assumed the posture and confidence of a person who not only belonged to this setting but expected to belong and she expected Rachel to be right there with her. 

‘I’ll see you two tomorrow,’ Claire said through the window then disappeared round the bend in the drive and into the night.

‘I assume are rooms are a joining?’ Jessica asked as they made their way inside. 

‘’Yes,’

‘Excellent, I don’t know about you but I’m very tired I’d like to get some sleep and then we can begin to plot our strategy.  How about you come to my room about 8am we’ll order breakfast and begin,’ Jessica asked leaving all the details about what she may want about the agents blank as a test to see where Rachel’s talents lay.  How much she brought to the table and what she had to wait for  her assistant to acquire would go a long way to seeing how competent she was and how they would mesh together.  It would be a work in progress on many levels.

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *            

Rachel knocked and came through the door the next morning precisely on time, normally she would have been earlier in the office, but she to needed to feel out Jessica, she didn’t want to seem too much a keener and look phony in the prospect.

‘One of us is either way over dressed or way under dressed,’ Rachel laughed as she looked at the contrast. ‘And I think it’s me,’ she added with a laugh.  ‘Sorry but its second nature, another day at the office and I was on auto pilot, you always try and look your best, I’ll just be a minute and change in something less formal,’ she finished seeing that Jessica was in yoga pants and a long sleeve top.

‘No, wait a minute please Rachel, this is very fortunate for both of us,’ Jessica said.

‘How so?’ she replied.

“I need to learn the FORCE culture and I need you to explain it to me and on a personal  level you get to be the first client of my services,’ she said and led her over to the table for breakfast.  ‘We can talk while we eat or more importantly you can talk and I’ll listen.’

Rachel poured herself a cup of tea and took a sip then began.  ‘FORCE’s philosophy is right from COIL’s, always look your best for several reasons.  A well-dressed woman exudes confidence and sex appeal and that is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal.  It gets other people to defer to you, it throws off the game of opponents, for example, if a male agent is after you or your trying at attract him, how you look, affects how you move, affects how you act, confidence or not and these working in conjunction can give you the advantage you need.  If the opponent finds you eye catching and appealing they naturally have thoughts about you, that strays their mind for the primary objective and gives you control, if you know how to use it and that can be the difference between success and failure and sometimes life and death.  Once you have that philosophy it just becomes second nature to always try and look your best, besides what woman doesn’t want to,’ she explained.  ‘That’s for you, now how is this fortunate for me?’  Rachel added referencing Jessica’s second part of her question.

 ‘Last night I read your dossier, along with some others, but yours was the most important because we are going to be a team, it’s not me, although that may be the face that gets presented, for good and bad to the agents, but however they chose to see it, that’s on them.  Everything and I mean everything we do for them will be our decision together.  You and I will remake, remodel , repackage, whatever phrase you want to use, these women, but it will be us together,’ Jessica said he voice serious.

‘I don’t understand where this is going,’ Rachel asked a little concerned.

‘When I look at you right now I see me 10 to 12 years ago, that’s when I started to change.  I had just come out of a relationship, a long one that I thought was going to end up in marriage, it didn’t.  Things got said that, well I took to heart, foolishly and it took all that time and Claire and this crazy life changing event to shake me back to believing in myself.  In know I may not look it at this moment, but I can dress very well, which brings us back to you.  I’m going to go out on a very long and very thin limb here and really test our fledgling partner/friendships we have.  When you came in the first time, you looked great, very well put together, in the real world of business you would be above probably everyone, but from what I understand, in the rarified world of the spy game you would be just background and trust me, you’re not background material.  I’ll push it farther and say I noticed this the first time I met you, Claire popped, you were happy for her to pop.  Why don’t you want to pop?  I know what this says,’ Jessica offered waving the tablet she had with Rachel’s dossier on it, very static and factual, Parsons Institute for Design, top honours. Cranfield School of Management MBA, again top honours.  This is all way more than I’ve achieved and in way shorter a time frame.  It took me those 10-12 years to come back to where I was and I’ll be dammed if I’m going to sit back and watch that happen to my new friend in this venture,’ Jessica said ending her speech and sitting back.  She knew how Rachel responded would determine how good this whole enterprise was going to be.

Rachel had never been talked to like this by anyone at FORCE or for that matter by anyone else, she was little taken aback and sat there processing what had just happened for what seemed an eternity to her.  It’s true she had friends at FORCE, well more colleagues if she was honest with herself, Jessica didn’t want or more correctly demand that, she wanted something that usually didn’t happen in, as she put it, the spy game.  It was true Claire, Lady Alice and others did have close friendships, she could discern that from various things, body language, easy banter and looks, but that was reserved for a few people, a clique and there were cliques within FORCE, not exclusionary ones where she wasn’t wanted, but small cliques of trusted intimates, built for the support of each member, she had never felt excluded or marginalized, she knew she was a valued member of the organization, but not a true insider, if that was the right term and then it hit her, here was a woman, also an outsider, even more so than she was, but she was not going to see herself as that, she would force her way  inside to the very core of FORCE, its agents and to a very large extent form  and inform how they would successful and she was asking for help, asking Rachel to be an insider.

‘There are things that have been omitted from that dossier, not because their classified and you don’t have access, I made sure you have the high level clearance, not the highest, not yet anyway, but because I asked for them to be taken out and Claire agreed.  My parents were I’m told killed in a car crash when I was 3, I was not with them and have no memory of any of this.  I grew up in a foster home in Utica.  My foster parents were nice people, kind and generous, but I was not there’s and when after years of trying, they had a very late life child of their own.  I as you so politely couched it, faded into the background.  You know I didn’t take Home Studies, as they called at Thomas R Proctor High School, until my junior year.  Design became my outlet, my teacher, Mrs. Presnicki, said I had more talent than she could ever direct, she guided me along, but let me do and try almost anything I wanted.  I don’t think she ever gave me any assignments; she just gave me an A and let me experiment.  That room and all those magazines and trade journals, she managed to dig up at home, she said although I know she bought most of them for me, became my family.  You know I designed and sewed 8 prom dresses for senior year, I was told they were the hit of the night by the girls who went, I didn’t as you can gather from my statement and I’ll come to that in a while.  I’m sorry, this is rather, to be truthful painful, I need a cup of tea,’ Rachel said as she got up and walked about to the table hoping the stroll would calm her.

‘I graduated and well didn’t know what was next or even what to do, I had no money, the state doesn’t not offer financing for orphans and well I was on my own, my foster family would be getting no more money for me so I had to leave within the next month, when my birthday would happen and the cheques would stop.  Things as they say were not looking so good, then it came.  A letter from Parsons saying I had been awarded a series of partial scholarships that when added up made almost a fulltime one. ‘

‘Mrs. Presnicki,’ Jessica said.

‘She saved my life,’ Rachel said wiping her eyes.  ‘Anyway off I went and as you say and are correct I once again faded into the background, all the girls and guys were so outgoing and positive, big ego’s, I’ve never had I always believed my work was my expression for right or wrong.  I did have one friend, Alvice Papin, she was from Rouyn, in France, quite like me we hit it off in silence, as she would say, clichéd as it may sound she was the sister I never had.  The summer we graduated she invited me to come to France, her treat and spend time with her and her family in Provence, her mom was some high up civil official and her dad had something to do with CERN, she, comma she explained was something of a disappointment having chosen art over hard science or hard management , so I was the buffer, but it was a free trip and something I could have never done on my own and with my best friend, what could go wrong,’ Rachel said her voice falling away.

‘What happened to you?’ Jessica asked.

‘To me, nothing.  When we landed we were met by the Surete and they told Alvice her parents had been killed just outside the airport while trying to merge into traffic.  How is that for coincidence, my parents and hers, my bad luck visited upon my only friend.  Needless to say it was not much of a trip, over before it began, except for dealing with the police and this Interpol Inspector.  She was clever, dogged and closed always looking and listening.  I went to the funeral, spent a couple of months with Alvice as she cleared things up and helped her move to Paris, she started her own jewelry  design business with the money from the insurance and selling her parents places.  She does really well now, super high end pieces, big money, collects Faberge Eggs and his old jewelry, her designs are like his but I think even better, I even have one as a gift, she’s still my best friend.

Anyway I had to get home and find a job, nobody in Paris seemed interested, so back to New York it was.  I made it as far as the airport when a certain Interpol Inspector showed up again and told me she had a few more questions for me and I needed to accompany her.  Next thing I know I’m on a private plane to London with the crazy woman who’s explaining all about some organization she works for called COIL and how she wants to recruit me for an splinter group she’s forming called FORCE.  If we had been on a train I think I would have jumped.  She knew so much about me I really started to believe her and she seemed nice, strange but nice.  Anyway when we landed, we had dinner and she told me I could leave right now if I wanted to and slid and envelope across the table.  Inside was $100,000.00 to take if I wanted to and leave right now, get on a plane and go home, no strings,’ Rachel said.

‘I never got that offer!” Jessica  responded somewhat hurt.

‘It was coming, but Claire had you after the escape, she told me, you were hooked,’ Rachel answered.

‘That money was awfully tempting, but like you I wanted to know more, so I pushed the envelope back and the rest is history,’ Rachel finished.

‘I don’t think that’s quite the end of your story,’ Jessica interjected.

‘You have the skills of the Interpol Inspector,’ Rachel smiled and Jessica inwardly smiled as well.

‘I was offered and accepted the honour and challenge of training to be an agent under COIL which was really like training on the job as I was actually one of Claire’s earliest moles inside COIL.  They trained me and I spied on them for FORCE.  Far as I know they never found out while I was there, so in that sense I was a good spy, in terms of the training though I was pronouncedly average,’ Rachel  accepted.

‘Why your very pretty, excellent figure, obviously very intelligent, you would seem to have it all,’ Jessica questioned.

‘You forgot to mention athletic, I’m that as well, but there’s more to it than that, there is one aspect I never could fully incorporate and it’s the hardest.  As it has been explained to me; Beautiful women are one cent a dozen. Beautiful women who are also smart are five cents a dozen. Beautiful women who are smart and athletic are ten cents a dozen.  Beautiful women who are smart, athletic and mentally and physically tough are twenty-five cents a dozen.  Beautiful women who are all of the above and confident in all situations are a dollar a dozen.  The last one is all attitude all the time, it never goes away.  You walk into a room and without projecting it you know exactly what you want and how to get it without looking like you want it.  In short you cannot doubt yourself or your abilities even for a flash or you’ll end up dead.  I doubt myself at times, so I knew I could never be an agent, I have all the training, but even when I was at COIL I was terrified.  I remember being so thankful when it was all over and I came in from the cold.  I was sent to get my MBA and did well,’ she finished. 

‘Well just because you don’t want to be an agent anymore, doesn’t mean we won’t dress like them, after all who’s going to listen to two fashionista’s who aren’t.’ Jessica said

‘To that end I have some ideas and I’m sure you have some was well.  Let’s say we approach it like this, brainstorm how we will tackle the evaluation, what tools we need and once we’re done, we’ll come up with a time line on implementation and develop follow up procedures to see if it’s working, what we need to change and so on,’ Rachel answered and they dove right in.

They each thought it was 2 or maybe 3 days later when they had finally got the schedule to where they liked it, had it approved and made the first appoints, Rachel suggesting the trainee’s as they were the most static and then moving into doing the field agents by regional location.  The trainee’s also had the added bonus of path of least resistance, as they were not yet married to a fashion style.

They had already talked to Gina Perini in Milan, a former agent she made custom lingerie and nightgowns of all descriptions for the agents, she was completely on board as neither Rachel nor Jessica had any experience in this area of fashion

‘I love that idea of the 360 camera,’ Rachel said.

‘It will provide instant feedback and as they say the camera does not lie.  When can you get me the mission details for the all the agents from their last 10 assignments?’ Jessica asked.

‘I have to go through Claire and Alice first, sorry but I think you understand, being a newbie and all, that Intel is very sensitive.  I sent the request 5 hours ago, so it won’t be long, telling tales out of school I know there is something big on right now, she is usually faster than this,’ Rachel said a trace of worry in her voice. 

‘I think we need to have a shower and a rest then we can get back at this.  But before that we are going shopping for you Rachel.  When we show up had FORCE you and I are going to wow even the best dressed agents,’ Jessica said.

‘First impressions,’ Rachel smiled.

*             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *             *            

‘We’re out of time Claire’, Alice said again with more urgency this time.

‘You mean, they’re out of time,’ Claire answered, her tone short and sharp as she reached for the ComLink button and pushed it.  ‘Commence Operation Walk Off Captain,’ she said into her headset microphone the patched the audio into the Operations Room speaker system.

‘Base runner this is Home Plate turn to port 115 descend to angels 2.’

‘Roger Home Plate.’

‘Base runner target is now green, repeat target is now green, you are 250 miles from base, maintain speed.’

‘Roger Home Plate locking MGS to SGS, confirmed lock, countdown at T minus 20 seconds.’

‘Acknowledge base runner we confirm and copy.’

‘Camera’s to lock and sync.’

‘Copy that base runner we have eyes’

The large monitor in the Operations flashed to life showing the same picture as the pilot and the Naval Ops Room had. A large picture out the front of the plane with a smaller inset from the missiles camera. 

‘Missile away Home Plate, turning 035 will swing around and give you visual of result, enjoy the show.’

‘Copy base runner.’

The screen inverted, now the missile was the large picture.  All eyes in both Ops Rooms watched the bird scream toward its target, a tiny spec on the water one second and then a flash of fire and gray smoke a second later, then the eyes shifted to Claire.

The spy was had her arms crossed hugging her sides as she looked up and down, her breathing heavy and shallow as she rocked back and forth on her heels.  A well-manicured hand came up to her eyes several times, quickly and then returned to its folded position about her waist, her sharp eyes stealing glance hoping nobody notice. 

‘Home plate coming up on visual.’

‘Roger base runner.’

The screen inverted once again, a few fires burned on the remaining vegetation, but the small island Athol was reduced to charred rock and scorched sand.

‘Excellent visual base runner we confirm direct hit, well done, turn to starboard 323, make angels 3 see you on the flight deck.’

‘Acknowledged, base runner out.’

Claire freed one hand and switched the ComLink back to her alone and pressed the talk button.  Thank you  Captain, the usual excellent job by the United States Navy, give my congratulations to the pilot, CB 1 out,’ she said, her voice smooth and flat not betraying the roiling inside emotions.

‘Claire,’ Alice said from a little ways away looking to reach out.

Claire Baxter put a hand up to stop her, wiped her eyes again and turned away from the small group of woman looking at her.

‘Damm!’ she said as the tears came in a torrent the spy’s body bending over at the waist and shaking violently.  Alice was instantly at her side, arms enfolding her. 

Jessica turned to see Rachel looking away, tears coming to her as well, she slipped a hand into hers and squeezed.  That moment of reassurance helped Rachel, she wiped her eyes and turned taking Jessica in tow.

‘Undoubtedly you heard our raised voices on the plane, it was about that,’ Rachel said as they walked along to their new office.

‘Yes but I couldn’t make out what or who it was about,’ Jessica answered.

‘The mission was to recover part of a crashed intelligence satellite memory before others could, it was highly risky, they were much closer to it than we were, except for two agents.  We hoped they could get there before them, but they were isolated and on their own, the island Athol is out in the Indian Ocean.  If they couldn’t get it by a certain time and radio in the plan was to destroy it by bombing the island, better no one has it than have it fall into the wrong hands,’ Rachel explained

‘And whose hands are those?’ Jessica asked, her voice curious but serious.

‘The Silkworms,’ Rachel answered then decided to add an explanation as she knew Jessica would know nothing of this.  ‘An ancient organization that started in India, but has spread.  They draw their recruits from older women, at the start it was widows, but they now recruit older single woman as well.  You have to be over 50 to join and of course it goes without saying stunning.  They started out as mainly assassins but quickly evolved into a true intelligence outfit.  They are very deadly opponents.’

Jessica surprised herself by accepting this information calmly, but she was more than intrigued by it.

‘Anyway,’ oh I’m sorry,’ Rachel said wiping away another set of tears.  You saw the result, we lost two agents, a couple, every agents loss hurts, but Quinn and Cindy were special to everyone, and no one more so than Claire.  Cindy Krutzler is, was the Head of the Plus Division.  She and Quinn were two of our best agents.

Jessica did remember Cindy from reading her dossier.  She was one of the few agents that she didn’t want to change anything about.

‘As you can imagine now is not a good time to talk to Claire, I will reschedule the meeting for when she is ready,’ Rachel said as she pushed open the door to their new offices a pile of boxes indicating all the things they had ordered had arrived, even without Claire’s approval she knew there was no turning back, they could start immediately. 

The next day they did indeed have their meeting and everything was provided, including the mission reports which Jessica began to instantly pore over and absorbed making notes in the margins at a frantic rate even as the two they boarded  the plane to take meet their first agent, the FORCE recruits.