Chapter 2: Vacation Mission

The alarm kept ringing, but Adira ignored it for a long time. When she finally go the strength to get up, she looked to see, "7:30". Her eyes widened and she scrambled up only to stumble to the floor. "I'm gonna be late!" she yelled. She quickly got ready for work. With only dressing in a t-shirt, yoga pants and tennishoes, she left with a bed head and dark circles around her eye.

At the Balm Newspaper Department everyone was in a commotion about the new pictures retrieved from the famous " Concealed Photographer". The gossip was spreading, the article deadline is today, and everyone is fitting the new drug dealer story into the paper. While the crowd was in a rush, Quincy, Adira's coworker, waited patiently for her dear friend to spill the new news. 

Biting her nails anxiously for Adira's arrival, a familiar figure appeared in the entrance way. Gasping she skipped to give Adira a big bear hug, but she stopped; practicaly froze in place in the presence of her dear friend. Seeing the fatigued body slouching, she covered her cheeks with her hands. Grasping the shoulders and staring into the sapphire eyes she basically yelled, "Adira! What happened to you!? You look like you got ran over by a semi truck!"

"God, why are you so loud in the morning?" Adira let out a big yawn and stretched. Quicy followed as she quickly checked in. walking into the break room she grabbed a poptart and went straight to her desk not realising the baby duckling, Quincy, was talking. By the time she sat down, Quincy was out of breath. Cofused she said with weary eyes, "Watcha say?"

"Ugh! I said what the hell happened to you? Explain young lady!" Quicy glared at Adira for a long period of time. Sighing, Adira replied, "I stayed up late again." Quincy's mouth dropped to the floor. shaking her head she crossed her arm and continueously staring at the typing zombie. Pulling out a chair she sat down, "Adira you need a vacation. When was the last time you actually had one?"

Adira stopped, let out a deep sigh and smiled at her troubled friend. "I don't have the money and I am perfectly fine. I will have a day off in a couple of days anyways. No need to worry." Trying to prove to Quicy with a big grin didnt work out as planned. "What can I do to please you?"

Slouching back in the chair she sat there in a train of thought, her serious face suddenly turned into a devilish smirk. With that face it was obvious she had an intelligent plan in mind. An aura was given off. This aura made Adira a little suspisious. "What's running through you satanic mind?"

Putting her arm around Adira's neck Quincy looked at her with a bright smile and said, "You, me, and the Zodiac Hot Spring!" Adira raised an eyebrow at the idea. "Oh, come on! Not only can we relax, but we can also check out some hot guys!" Elbowing her friend and giving a couple of winks she added, "I'm paying/"

Adira thought for a moment and said, "Tell me when and I will think about it." The silly friend squelled in excitment at the news, and quickly responded while grasping both of Adira's hands within her own, "I will plan right away. My article is almost done anyways!" Afterward, she ran to her workdesk. Smiling at the active commotion around her, she went back to work. 

Finishing up her daytime work article titled, "Hot Dog Fire!". The famous restraunt known for their delectable hot dogs caught on fire after an employee didn't properly throw a cigarette away. Once done, she leaned back and relaxed. What to do now, she thought. 

Behind her was a large bald man with a wide glowig smile. He noticed that Adira was done with her article. He decided to visit her for a moment. "How's my young writer doing?" Adira looked up and gave him a smile back. 

"Hey, Greg. I'm doing well. How's Ann doing?" 

"She is doing wonderful! The fever went down and she should be back to work in no time." Greg is Adira's boss. He looked at the written article and looked back at Adira. He suddenly remembered something and made a strange face. "What?" Adira said in response to the sudden suspicious facial feature. "Sorry, I just remembered that Sheriff John called and wanted me to tell you to come by his office when you get off work."

Adira stood up and nodded, "I have some time left before I clock out. Is there anything I can do?" Greg laughed and patted on her back.

"I sure am lucky to have hired you!" Adira tilted her head in confusion. "Most of the employees here would relax and pretend to work. But you," he giggled once again, "you actually work than relax." He looked around to see what she could do, and at the corner of his wrinkled eye he spotted a small pile of files. "Frank was supposed to organise those files alphabetically, but he got food poisoning. You think you can handle it?"

Adira nodded and went straight to the pile of papers. It took the right amount of time to organise everything for her to clock out. She gathered her belongings, clocked out, and said goodbye to her coworkers. Reminded of the meeting with John, she quickly walked to the police department. She was welcomed by everyone as soon as she walked in. The phones were ringing every minute and all the officers were lively. 

She made it through the throng of officers to the sheriffs office. Knocking a few times she said, "It's Adira. I'm coming in." When she walked in there was not only Sheriff John, but also a few familiar faces from the FBI. Agent Richard, Agent Vin, and Agent Will stood around the sheriff''s desk. She knew immediately that the meeting must be important if there was more than one agent in the office so she shut the door.

"Oh, Adira! I'm sorry, I forgot I was going to have you stop by." John said apologetically. 

"It's okay," Adira said shyly because of all the pairs of eyes staring at her. "May I join in?" The men looked at each other and nodded in approval. Joining in, she grabbed an extra chair and sat down.

Vin spoke up, "As I was saying, this man is very dangerous and we need someone to come help investigate. We know he must be selling weapons illegally, but we need to catch him doing in the act to get the proof." This statement immediatly caught the attention of Adira. She slid her chair closer to her better.

"Why do you need our help? What about one of your men?" John said looking unsure of the situation.

Richard sat at the edge of the desk and explained, "All of our troops are hunting down different groups of criminals. This month has been quite buisy, and we are low on men."

"But there is one problem," all the agent's attention went to him, "No one here is properly trained enough to sneak in alone. where exaclty are you going to catch this guy?"

"Zodiac Hot Spring," Will said.

A light bulb immediatly lit up above Adira's head, "Excuse me." All of them looked at her. "If need someone to catch this guy that you are talking about, I will do it." All of them looked at each other with concern written all over their faces. "What?"

Will walked up to Adira and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Adira, I know you have been doing well on catching criminals, but this is too dangerous." Adira looked up at him gravely and said, "I know that. You say your short of men, and someone who can sneak around. You should know very well I am the best in this whole building at sneaking into danger just like when I intruded on that large gang who burned down the old library. And not only that, I am actually going to Zodiav Hot Spring with a friend of mine for vacation."

Will went to argue but Richard interupted, "Let her do it." Everyone in the room immediatley looked at him. "What she says is true." He walked up to Will, "You and I know very well, she is well experienced with knowing the ropes around criminals. She has caught a terrorist making a bomb and left unnoticed. We caught him only a few hours later. If it wasn't for her, half of this small city could have been ashes!"

Will sighed. Looking up at Adira and Richard. Then looked at Vin and John who bob their heads in agreement. "Well, when you say it that way, I can't disagree." He walked up to Adira who waited for his approval. "Adira," She stood their shaking in excitement waiting impatiently, "will you help us cature the man in the act?"

"Yes!" Adira yelled jumping. Quickly realising her sudden outburst she stopped and sat calmly in her seat.

Everyone smiled at the young lady. Will reached out his hand and Adira grabbed ahold to give him a quick handshake, "Welcome to the team/"

"Thank you!" Adira was about to leave, but forgot John wanted to talk to her about something. "Oh, John what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

John reached into his drawer and pulled out a wallet. "You dropped this when you walked out last night." He handed it to Adira. She said thank you and left the police station satisfied. The sheriff giggled, "Such a lively thing."

Adira was told that the man she was to stalk was to arrive at the hot spring next week. So with that much information, she called Quicy to have her plan the vacation for next week. And afterward, she notified her boss that she would need a week vaction. The boss was quite pleased for he knows how dedicated Adira is to her work. She went home and counted the days away till it was time to take on her vacation mission.