CHAPTER 7

Zach parked his car on a Monday morning and immediately went out, reaching for his phone in his jacket pocket. He saw his secretary calling him.

“Yes, Anne?”

“You have one interview for the translator this morning, sir,” she immediately informed, a hint of amusement in her voice. “She’s already here along with her credentials. It looks good.”

“Just one?!” He asked intently as he made his way to the elevator to bring him up.

He then ended the call when he got in the car and pressed the number to his floor level. He frowned slightly at the thought of only reaching one person for the job. He then started planning in his mind to have qualified agents enrolled in foreign languages just to further up their performance.

“Morning, Zach,” some of his officemates greeted when they passed each other along the hallway.

The minute he turned left towards his office; he was greeted by the view of a long-legged woman with smooth, fair skin. His eyes followed the legs and it led to someone, wearing a pair of office skirt, blouse and blazer, whose face is hidden behind today’s newspaper that she is reading.

“Good morning,” he greeted formally.

To his surprise, the interviewee folded the newspaper and looked up at him.

Alexandra Walters stood up and extended her hand, smiling warmly.

“Good morning, Mr. Montgomery,” she greeted formally. She waited for him to shake her hand but finally lowered it when he didn’t. Her face remained passive, showing no reaction at his unpleasantness. “I was informed that your office is looking for a translator.”

Zach looked at her intently.

“How did you know about it?” He asked firmly. “As far as I know, it is being kept under the radar. How did you know that we’re looking for one?”

“I have a friend, who has a cousin, who has a friend of a friend that works here,” she answered calmly. “I have a degree in International Relations. I submitted my resume to your secretary, which states all my credentials. I’m confident that I’m qualified for this job.”

He looked at Anne, who handed Alex’s resume and look at it.

“Shall I bring her to the small meeting room?” Anne asked patiently.

“No need,” Zach answered as he handed back the resume. He looked at Alex. “I’m sorry, Ms. Walters. But you’re not the one we’re looking for.”

“How so?” She asked firmly.

Zach looked at her straightly at her challenging question.

“The one we need translation for is a highly classified case,” he pointed out, racking his mind to find a reason. “We might be needing that person on site once we catch the masterminds.”

Alex gave him a look of exasperation.

“Right. And, with my background, you think that I’m not qualified for the job,” she said sarcastically. She looked him up and down and then crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a smirk. “Or is it because I’m a woman? Really, Mr. FBI. Are you that threaten?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Ms. Walters,” he returned seriously. “I know what you did before but there’s no place for that in my office.”

Alex raised her eyebrows at that comment.

“I believe this interview is finish,” he then said when she was about to open her mouth. He then looked at his secretary. “Let me know if there will be other applicants for the position. Call Thomas to my office in fifteen minutes. I need the report on the footages he had gathered.”

Zach then looked at Alex, who is still standing in front of him.

“Is there anything else, Ms. Walters?” He asked pointedly.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Good luck finding a translator, then, Mr. FBI,” she said as she picked up her bag. “But trust me when I say that you will have a hard time getting one. And, if you say that it’s highly classified, if I’m in your shoes, I will not tarry.”

“What makes you say that, Ms. Walters?” He asked. “Are you perhaps connected to the crime?”

“I’m still really wondering how you got to this position with the way your thinking,” she returned. She folded the newspaper and pushed it hardly to his chest, which shows the headline of the blast that happened. “Perhaps you can get your clues from the newspapers and go from there.”

She then said something before taking off.

“Excuse me?!” He called out. “What did you say?”

Alex turned to him, her eyes looking coldly at him.

“It’s as$hole in Russian, Mr. FBI,” she quipped then took off.

Zach stared at her back, dumbfounded before holding out his hand to Anne to read her resume again. He opened the folder and his eyes scanned through the basic information. Born July 07, 1994, to mother, Amelia Walters. There was no mentioned of her father but a stepfather, Edward Bishop. She graduated with a degree in International Relations from Princeton University and then enlisted in the US Marine Corps for two years. There was then no additional work information after she went back home, except what he knows that she is running a diner with her aunt and younger sister.

He flipped through the second page and cursed inwardly as he gripped the paper when he read the languages that she knows. Alexandra Walters is knowledgeable both in speaking and reading on several languages, particularly, Russian, French, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin and Korean. Languages that are considered critical in their field of work.

“I told you her credentials looks good,” Anne pointed out when he lowered the file.

“How the hell can one woman learn this much?” He asked.

“Maybe she got nothing to do when she came back home from enlistment and started learning them,” Anne answered as she reached for one file on her desk and opened it. “I talked to her for a while and found out that she also learned a bit on Urdu, Farsi and Pashto. If CIA or probably our higher ups, knows about what she can speak, they wouldn’t hesitate in getting her. No questions asked.”

Zach closed the folder in irritation and handed it back to her.

“Hold all my meetings,” he ordered firmly. “I’m going after her.”