I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1) (Sophie Green Mystery)

helpfully.
    “Of course not. In License to Kill , he was a rogue agent. He still saved the day and got the girl.”
    I ignored that. I wasn’t really interested in getting any girls. “So you want someone who’s disobedient?”
    “No, I want someone with a brain. A lot of squaddies, they’re in it because they’re good at following orders. And they’re good at following orders because they’re crap at thinking for themselves. And that’s great, because the army always needs squaddies. But we need intelligence. We need stubbornness. We need someone who’ll see the mission right through.”
    I took Tammy off him. I needed a diversion. My head was whirling.
    “I was impressed with you today,” Luke said again, reaching out and touching my hair. “I’ve been watching you since I started at Ace. You’re bright and confident and you can think on your feet.”
    This was true. When you had a hundred and fifty passengers demanding to know what compensation they were going to get for a two hour delay (none) and threatening you with legal action, you learned to spout comforting drivel.
    “Plus,” Luke added with a smile, “you’re like a bulldog with a rag. Tell me, if the twin had driven away in that car, what would you have done?”
    I shrugged. “Got in one of the tugs and gone after him.”
    “You think a tug can keep up with a Corolla?”
    “I think Tammy could keep up with a Corolla.”
    He smiled properly. “And what would you have done when you caught him?”
    I blinked. “What I did today.”
    “Did you plan that?”
    “No. How could I?”
    “You thought on your feet. You didn’t consider the consequences for yourself, you just went after him. Sophie, do you want to come and work for SO17?”

Chapter Four
     
    It was weird, but after he’d gone I didn’t feel as surreal as I’d thought. I fed Tammy and ran a bath and read my book and went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I ended up switching on the video and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer throw herself into that abyss for the millionth time.
    You see, it was like when she found out about the Initiative and became one of their sort of agents. Only Buffy could do all this cool Slayer stuff, all her athletics and stamina and accelerated healing and super senses and stuff, whereas I…I could touch my toes. If I warmed up, I could kick Chalker in the head. But only if I wasn’t wearing jeans. Which I usually am.
    Oh, bollocks. It was nothing like Buffy at all.
    Hey, I wonder if Luke has all those cool gadgets like Riley had? Or like Bond? If I was a secret agent would I get to run around in sexy leather outfits and outrageous wigs like Sydney Bristow?
    Note to self, try and watch an entire episode of Alias without going off into fantasies about Michael Vartan.
    Luke gave me a mobile number to call him on with my decision. But how the hell did I make a decision like that?
    When it came down to it, was there really a single reason why I should become a spy?
    It was sexy, yeah, but it was dangerous, really dangerous. There was a scar on Luke’s upper arm that I saw once when I thought he was Luca. He said he got it in a motorbike accident in Rome, but even at the time I thought that was made up. The scar was nasty, too. Looked like it was made with a blade.
    I didn’t like blades.
    He carried a gun. The guy I caught today—I still didn’t know his name, call him Brown 2—he had a gun too. Would I have to carry one? I didn’t know anything about guns. I could tell I don’t like them, and that was about it.
    God, this was hard. He even told me the pay wouldn’t be that great. But still a boost to my Ace pay, which in turn would go down because I’d be working there part time for appearance’s sake…
    He told me that if I take this up then it would have to be a total secret. I couldn’t even tell anyone about the existence of SO17, let alone that I was working for them.
    Because I was going to end up working for them. If I didn’t, I’d spend the rest of my life checking baggage for a low-cost airline. And that was a thought so wretched it made me feel physically ill.
    The name’s Green. Sophie Green.
    You know what? I need a new name.
    I made the call not long after the sun came up. On a normal day, I might be on my way to work right now. But I had a feeling there weren’t going to be many more normal days for me.
    “Okay,” I said when Luke answered. “I’m in.”
    I could hear the pause as he grinned. “Knew you would