Chapter 1: Debriefing
1 DEBRIEFING
Office of the Principal
Nathan Hale Building
The Academy of Espionage
Washington, DC
May 15
1500 hours
The principal was acting stranger than usual.
In my sixteen months at the CIA’s Academy of Espionage, I had seen the principal display many aspects of his personality, none of which were good. He had been angry, bitter, paranoid, churlish, jealous, contemptuous, ornery, disdainful, mercurial, obnoxious, flummoxed, confused, passive-aggressive, and just plain mean. But the day I was assigned to Operation Deadly Manatee, his behavior was the most unsettling of all.
He was trying to be nice.
With most people, of course, this would have been a good thing. But with the principal it felt wrong, as though he was fighting every natural instinct he had. Watching him try to be nice was like watching a tiger try to eat a salad.
“Benjamin!” he exclaimed upon opening the door to his office, with what was obviously forced enthusiasm. “Such a pleasure to see you!”
“Er… thanks,” I said warily.
“Please come in. Make yourself comfortable. Everyone else will be here soon.” The principal waved me into his office and attempted to smile. It was evident that the man hadn’t smiled very much and wasn’t quite sure how to do it. Instead of appearing friendly and welcoming, he looked like someone suffering from a bad case of indigestion.
I cautiously stepped into his office―or rather, what remained of it. Nine months earlier, I had accidentally blown up the principal’s office with a mortar round. (Which explained some of the principal’s general ill temper toward me, but not all of it.) Budget issues and red tape had kept the repairs from proceeding quickly, forcing the principal to temporarily relocate his office to a broom closet, which he had been extremely peeved about. When I had been notified to report to his original office, I expected to find that it had been restored to its previous condition.
This was not the case. In fact, almost no work had been done on the office at all. The entire exterior wall was still missing. A haphazard attempt had been made to reinforce that side of the room with a spindly framework of two-by-fours, but there was still a gaping hole―and since we were on the fifth floor of the Nathan Hale Administration Building, this meant that a misstep could result in a quick plummet down to the campus quadrangle. The furniture hadn’t been replaced and was all slightly charred, while what remained of the carpet smelled like a doused campfire. The principal’s beloved desk, which had been incinerated in the blast, had been replaced by a wobbly piece of plywood laid across two sawhorses―although the principal had managed to procure a new rolling chair.
“I recognize that it’s still a work in progress,” the principal said weakly. “They won’t be able to start the repairs until December. But I just couldn’t take working in that broom closet anymore. And now that it’s spring, it’s not so bad. I kind of like th...e open design. All the fresh air is invigorating.”
“I can see that,” I said as supportively as I could. The hole in the wall certainly let in plenty of fresh air. And pigeons. A dozen of them were roosting in what remained of the ceiling, which meant that a good amount of the floor was speckled with pigeon droppings.
The principal ignored them and made a show of taking a deep breath. “Ah. It’s far better than all the stale, recirculated air you’d get in a normal office. I suppose, in a way, I ought to thank you for destroying this place.” He attempted another smile for me, although I had the sense that he didn’t feel like smiling at all, and that he was only playing at being nice to mask his natural enraged state.
I wondered what was going on.
There was a knock at the door. The principal started back for it, intending to open it, but this proved unnecessary when the hinges simply tore free from the damaged frame, and the door toppled into the office.
This revealed four more people standing in the doorway, all of whom had apparently also been summoned to the meeting.
Two were fellow students from spy school: Mike Brezinski and Erica Hale. Mike had been my best friend in my normal life, back before I had been recruited to the academy. I was supposed to keep the academy’s existence a secret from Mike (as well as everyone else on earth), but he had eventually figured out where I was really going and been rewarded for his cleverness by getting recruited.
Meanwhile, Erica had known about the academy for her entire life, as she was a legacy. She came from a long line of spies and had been training since a very young age to follow in her family’s footsteps. Thus, she was significantly more talented than any of her fellow trainees at school―and most actual spies as well.
The other two invitees were Erica’s parents. Catherine Hale was an exceptionally talented agent for Britain’s MI6―and a doting mother. Somehow she found a way to balance both lives and was as adept at thwarting criminals as she was at baking cookies.
Meanwhile, Alexander Hale was a fraud. Until very recently, his greatest skill as a spy had been convincing people that he was skilled as a spy. This had worked for him for quite a long time, and he had been respected and admired by his peers, until he was finally found out and disgraced. Since then, he had managed to redeem himself slightly, after ending up on a few missions with me―along with Catherine, Erica, and Mike.
“Greetings!” the principal exclaimed as pleasantly as he could. “Welcome, everyone! I’m glad you could make it!”
The other four responded to this in varying ways. Catherine and Erica both regarded the principal suspiciously, probably wondering what could explain his friendliness, while Mike was more cautious, as though he suspected that perhaps the real principal had been kidnapped and replaced with an impostor. Alexander didn’t appear to notice any difference at all.
“It’s good to see you, too,” he said, shaking the principal’s hand. “I like the new layout of the office. Very spacious. So, what’s the reason for this get-together?”
“I’d be happy to explain that.” A woman I had never met brusquely swept into the room. She appeared to be in her forties, wore a tailored business suit, and had a briefcase handcuffed to her right wrist. She didn’t seem at all surprised by the state of the principal’s office, which indicated to me that she had been there before. “I’m Indira Kapoor, deputy director of operations at the CIA. I’ve been paying close attention to your careers, and I must say, most of you have done some very impressive work.” She turned slightly away from Alexander as she said this, as if to make it clear that the phrase “most of you” didn’t apply to him.
Alexander appeared not to notice this, either. “Why, thank you,” he said, flashing Indira a suave smile.
Alexander was a very handsome man, and I had seen his smile make other women go weak in the knees, but Indira was impervious to it. Instead, she kept her gaze locked on Erica, Mike, and me. “I recognize that, due to many mistakes on the part of the Agency, the three of you have ended up on missions far earlier than would normally be recommended for young agents. But you have all handled yourselves capably and acted with ingenuity and skill, which is obviously a testament to the education you have received at this institution.” She shifted her attention to the principal. “So I suppose I owe you congratulations as well.”
The principal now flashed what appeared to be an actual smile. “Thank you, Deputy Kapoor. I’ve done my best to whip these junior agents into shape.” He plopped down into his desk chair and waved the rest of us to a charbroiled sofa.
I suddenly understood the reason for the principal’s shift in personality. We were making him look good.
To my side, Erica bristled with anger. There were plenty of good things about the Academy of Espionage, but the principal wasn’t one of them. If anything, he’d b
Gibbs, Stuart [저]
전체 0개의 구매후기가 있습니다.
인터파크도서는 고객님의 단순 변심에 의한 교환과 반품에 드는 비용은 고객님이 지불케 됩니다.
단, 상품이나 서비스 자체의 하자로 인한 교환 및 반품은 무료로 반품 됩니다.
교환 및 반품이 가능한 경우
상품을 공급 받은 날로부터 7일이내 가능 공급받으신 상품의 내용이 표시, 광고 내용과 다르거나 다르게 이행된 경우에는 공급받은 날로부터 3개월 이내, 혹은 그사실을 알게 된 날 또는 알 수 있었던 날로부터 30일 이내 상품에 아무런 하자가 없는 경우 소비자의 고객변심에 의한 교환은 상품의 포장상태 등이 전혀 손상되지 않은 경우에 한하여 가능
교환 및 반품이 불가능한 경우
구매확정 이후(오픈마켓상품에 한함) 고객님의 책임 있는 사유로 상품 등이 멸실 또는 훼손된 경우
(단, 상품의 내용을 확인하기 위하여 포장 등을 훼손한 경우는 제외) 시간이 지남에 따라 재판매가 곤란할 정도로 물품의 가치가 떨어진 경우 포장 개봉되어 상품 가치가 훼손된 경우
다배송지의 경우 반품 환불
다배송지의 경우 다른 지역의 반품을 동시에 진행할 수 없습니다. 1개 지역의 반품이 완료된 후 다른 지역 반품을 진행할 수 있으므로, 이점 양해해 주시기 바랍니다.
중고상품의 교환
중고상품은 제한된 재고 내에서 판매가 이루어지므로, 교환은 불가능합니다.
오픈마켓 상품의 환불
오픈마켓상품에 대한 책임은 원칙적으로 업체에게 있으므로, 교환/반품 접수시 반드시 판매자와 협의 후 반품 접수를 하셔야하며, 반품접수 없이 반송하거나, 우편으로 보낼 경우 상품 확인이 어려워 환불이 불가능할 수 있으니 유의하시기 바랍니다.
배송예정일 안내
인터파크 도서는 모든 상품에 대해 배송완료예정일을 웹사이트에 표시하고 있습니다.
<인터파크 직배송 상품>
상품은 월~토요일 오전 10시 이전 주문분에 대하여 당일 출고/당일 배송완료를 보장하는 상품입니다.
상품은 서울지역/평일 주문분은 당일 출고/익일 배송완료를 보장하며, 서울외지역/평일 주문분의 경우는 오후 6시까지 주문분에 대하여 익일 배송완료를 보장하는 상품입니다. (단, 월요일은 12시까지 주문에 한함)
상품은, 입고예정일(제품출시일)+택배사배송일(1일)에 배송완료를 보장합니다.
~
상품은 유통특성상 인터파크에서 재고를 보유하지 않은 상품으로 주문일+기준출고일+택배사배송일(1일)에 배송완료를 보장합니다.(토/공휴일은 배송기간에 포함되지 않습니다.) ※기준출고일:인터파크가 상품을 수급하여 물류창고에서 포장/출고하기까지 소요되는 시간
<업체 직접배송/오픈마켓 상품>
~
상품은 업체가 주문을 확인하고, 출고하기까지 걸리는 시간입니다. 주문일+기준출고일+택배사배송일(2일)에 배송완료를 보장합니다.(토/공휴일은 배송기간에 포함되지 않습니다.) ※5일이내 출고가 시작되지 않을시, 오픈마켓 상품은 자동으로 주문이 취소되며, 고객님께 품절보상금을 지급해 드립니다.
배송비 안내
도서(중고도서 포함)만 구매하시면 : 배송비 2,000원 (1만원이상 구매 시 무료배송) 음반/DVD만 구매하시면 : 배송비 1,500원 (2만원이상 구매 시 무료배송) 잡지/만화/기프트만 구매하시면 : 배송비 2,000원 (2만원이상 구매 시 무료배송) 도서와 음반/DVD를 함께 구매하시면 : 배송비 1,500원 1만원이상 구매 시 무료배송) 도서와 잡지/만화/기프트/중고직배송상품을 함께 구매하시면 : 2,000원 (1만원이상 구매 시 무료배송) 업체직접배송상품을 구매시 : 업체별로 상이한 배송비 적용
* 세트상품의 경우 부분취소 시 추가 배송비가 부과될 수 있습니다.
* 북카트에서 배송비없애기 버튼을 클릭하셔서, 동일업체상품을 조금 더 구매하시면, 배송비를 절약하실 수 있습니다.
해외배송 안내
인터파크도서에서는 국내에서 주문하시거나 해외에서 주문하여 해외로 배송을 원하실 경우 DHL과 특약으로 책정된 요금표에
의해 개인이 이용하는 경우보다 배송요금을 크게 낮추며 DHL(www.dhl.co.kr)로 해외배송 서비스를 제공합니다. 해외배송은 도서/CD/DVD 상품에 한해 서비스하고 있으며, 다른 상품을 북카트에 함께 담으실 경우 해외배송이 불가합니다.
해외주문배송 서비스는 인터파크 도서 회원 가입을 하셔야만 신청 가능합니다.
알아두세요!!!
도매상 및 제작사 사정에 따라 품절/절판 등의 사유로 취소될 수 있습니다. 오픈마켓업체의 배송지연시 주문이 자동으로 취소될 수 있습니다. 출고가능 시간이 서로 다른 상품을 함께 주문할 경우 출고가능 시간이 가장 긴 기준으로 배송됩니다. 유통의 특성상 출고기간은 예정보다 앞당겨지거나 늦춰질 수 있습니다. 택배사 배송일인 서울 및 수도권은 1~2일, 지방은 2~3일, 도서, 산간, 군부대는 3일 이상의 시간이 소요됩니다.
;)
전체 0개의 구매후기가 있습니다.
교환 및 반품이 가능한 경우 
상품을 공급 받은 날로부터 7일이내 가능 
상품은 월~토요일 오전 10시 이전 주문분에 대하여 당일 출고/당일 배송완료를 보장하는 상품입니다.
상품은 서울지역/평일 주문분은 당일 출고/익일 배송완료를 보장하며,
상품은, 입고예정일(제품출시일)+택배사배송일(1일)에 배송완료를 보장합니다.
~ 
상품은 유통특성상 인터파크에서 재고를 보유하지 않은 상품으로
상품은 업체가 주문을 확인하고, 출고하기까지 걸리는 시간입니다.
