Free Jezebel's Ladder by Scott Rhine

in front of the church.”
    “And you don’t break your promises.
I like that about you, Buddy,” Jez said.
    ****
    Jez got to the airport on her jet
less than an hour before Trench Coat arrived. She decided to stick around to
greet him personally and pretend it had been her plan all along.
    Once in the limousine, Director
Baker opened with, “Young lady, I am your superior.”
    She replied with a very controlled,
“That remains to be seen. We do, however, have to work together.”
    On the long drive to the
headquarters, they hammered out the foundation for a working relationship based
on grudging mutual respect. Nevertheless, the spy kept discovering things to
berate Jezebel about. The tirade continued until they reached the HQ lobby.
Letting him out of the limo first, she snagged a grey hair that had fallen out.
It had become second nature to sample DNA from people she might want to spy on
later.
    Surprising them both, a perky,
five-foot-one blonde in pink short-shorts stood in the center of the lobby. Her
behind was emblazoned with the white logo “Juicy.” Twenty men waited on her
every whim. Even the chief spy was tongue-tied when she bounced up to them in
her Nikes and said, with a faint, Dutch accent, “Hi, I’m Nena. Are you my new
boss?”
    Her black-lace bra was visible
through the tattered, white shirt. She smelled like vanilla and the promise of
decathlon sex. Old men would probably keel over at her touch. At least one of
the guards was huffing on an inhaler at the prospect. However, she didn’t seem
to have a brain in her pretty, little head.
    Jez grasped her hand with a warm
smile. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Horvath. I am Daniel Fortune’s current
assistant. I’m here to show you the ropes, but the first thing we’re going to
do is take you shopping.”
    Nena clapped for a moment, and then
her radiant face dimmed. “Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?”
    Jez shook her head. “Not really. I
just wanted to spend some time getting to know you. After we get you some new
shoes, you’ll want outfits to go with them. At company expense, right Trench
Coat?”
    The British agent just nodded.
    Jez co-opted the limousine without
complaint.
    If I were evil , thought Jez, this girl could be a weapon .
    “Training starts at nine tomorrow,”
one agent shouted, wanting to make sure the new girl showed up.
    “Just put in a wake-up call for me
at the apartments for half an hour before tomorrow’s briefing on our
competition,” Jez requested on the way out.
    Jezebel honestly had a great time
with the new girl. Nena had been in an orphanage till age twelve and had never
learned the secret language of shoes. Jez took it as her sacred duty to
indoctrinate the girl, as well as to sell Daniel every chance she got. Jez
seemed to have taken on the role of de facto big sister for all of Eye Corps.
They stayed up till midnight talking and painting their toenails to match their
new acquisitions.

Chapter 10 – Spy School
     
    At 4:25 a.m., there was a knock at Jezebel’s door. Her first
thought was that Daniel had failed to report in. She raced to the door in her
baggy, gray UNLV sweats.
    When she saw the top of Daniel’s
head through the peep hole, she opened the door. “You’re not dead,” she said
groggily.
    “No, but you’re late!” he
explained. “I’m on my way to the conference now. For Dirt Bag, on the east
coast, it’s a 7:30 a.m. briefing. I don’t know why Trench Coat switched it at
the last second.”
    Jez growled. “I do. He’s trying to
get me fired.”
    “We’ve got to leave now; my driver
is waiting.”
    As Jez rushed into the living room
to slip on shoes and grab her fanny pack, Nena rolled over on the sofa bed and
moaned. The sheet shifted, revealing a one-inch strip of flesh that ran
uninterrupted from her calves to her neck. Daniel stared, open-mouthed, unable
to speak.
    Not wanting to wake her guest, Jez
said, “Go back to sleep, sweetie.” To Daniel, on the way out