I showed up for class ready for a challenge. I wasn’t disappointed: “Write a short story 1,500 words or less in two hours, based on the prompt pumpkin spice.”

I decided to try the spy genre for the first time, inspired by a true story told to me by a real FBI agent (shoutout to Dru!) who visited my apprenticeship program to talk with us writers about spy skillz.

Happy reading!

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“The code word is pumpkin spice,” I whispered into the headset. My low voice transferred from the empty apartment room to a tiny speaker in my partner’s ear. Jason, the other agent on this sting operation, stood next to me. We stared at my partner’s form on the screen.

Tina gave no jolt or sign of acknowledgement that she’d heard a whisper in her ear, even though she knew I could see her. 

My partner looked gorgeous in every disguise, this time decked out in makeup, dark sultry eyes, her hair dark brown at the top and yellow at the ends. Her skin had been tanned in a sunbed to the degree that you couldn’t tell she wasn’t a latino waitress. Not even in a tank top and skinny jeans with midriff showing.

I adjusted the collar of my shirt and cleared my throat. 

I’d helped her put together the disguise, of course. And even as she glided and gleamed onscreen, I knew she actually felt very uncomfortable. The occasional “immodest requirements” of our job was a downside for her and I respected that.

Personally, the most immodest I’d gotten was too-small swim trunks, but I understood her dilemma.

“The government’s using my body, you know,” she always told me. And I’d bob my head in unverbalized agreement. Tina left me tongue-tied.

Jason shifted, lifting his hand from the desk. “I’m going in.”

I turned to look at him. Jason had dark circles under his eyes–newborn baby at home–and his disguise felt incomplete. 

I scanned my friend. “Wallet.”

Jason stared at me for a moment before making a three-sixty of the room. It was mostly empty, but we’d needed to make our move-in day look real, so an unassembled mattress and bedframe leaned against one wall. The blind was pulled. 

More staging effort had been put into the living room, with a couch and a coffee table and some intentional clutter and purposely placed boxes so if anyone looked in through the door when we left the apartment, they wouldn’t wonder why we didn’t stay there overnight or why the apartment was empty. It would look like we were still in the process of moving in…three friends just setting up a household together. Don’t mind us.

The only part of the apartment that had been set up for actual use was the equipment necessary for our base of operation. Two headsets for the speakers in Jason and Tina’s ears that we’d tested earlier. One hung from the edge of the computer monitor, connected to my laptop, and papers and cords crossed the table surface. There, on the desk, sat his wallet with the money for buying his dinner at the diner down the street. 

He swiped it from the desk and scowled. “Last time that happens.”

He’d insisted to the agent in charge that he was ready to return to the field. I kind of wondered if he was fully awake. 

Jason took a deep breath and stalked from the room. The apartment door slammed shut behind him.

As he settled into his part of the sting operation, I checked my watch and stuck the headphones over my ears.

Loud laughter blasted my eardrums and I jerked the headphones away. So the loud laughter group still hadn’t left. 

The microphone hid behind a painting of a dove hanging above the favorite booth of our gang lord target. 

Our deal with the restaurant owner included one mic, one camera, Tina’s short time job as a waitress, and her complete control over the booths along the far wall. 

Another agent had reported the gang lord as ten minutes away from the restaurant.

Tina pressured the group at the tapped table to leave but they sent her away for something, probably dessert. 

I watched her and wondered if I’d gone too far when I kissed her as part of our moving-in charade. She hadn’t said anything about it. Not a single thing.

Maybe I should bring it up. 

Did she think I was using her body just like the government? Because that wasn’t what I meant at all.

She seated Jason two booths away from the dove painting booth. I watched from the clock hidden high on the wall above the entrance. We’d only been allowed one camera in the restaurant, so our agents had picked a wide angle position, showing the entire dining room.

Tina returned to the laughing table with a handful of checks and a pie order to go. Only allowed to listen to five seconds of noncriminal conversation on the mic, I waited to listen in again and only caught the end of her speech, “–need this booth for other customers.”

The jaunty party made their way out the door with their pie to go just as the gang lord we were trying to arrest walked through the door.

Tina seated him, tried to keep her order-taking short, and left the rest to me.

The gang lord’s bushy dark brown beard and black hoodie pulled down low obscured everything about him except for his short lumpy stature. A tall thin henchman accompanied him.

As soon as they finished talking about the weather and lowered their voices, I knew this was it. 

They talked about the disposal of a body after a recent fight–he hadn’t killed the guy, personally, so that was not enough for a long jail sentence, which was what he needed. Then they planned a bank robbery. Bingo!

I spoke into Tina’s ear after gathering enough incriminating evidence to arrest this guy. “We’re ready.”

While Tina unentangled herself from taking an order, I scribbled notes. Everything the men had said must be recorded correctly and match with the tape recording or the court case would stall.

A curt voice rang out. “Check please.” 

I glanced at the screen to see Tina nearing the gang lord’s table. She laughed. “Does anyone want dessert first? We serve pumpkin spice muffins.”

I tensed. Time for Jason to jump into action. My eyes flicked to his table on screen, but he sat still in his booth, staring down into his coffee cup in a kind of stupor.

I grabbed the headset and pressed the speak button. “Pumpkin spice, pumpkin spice!” Nothing from Jason.

I glanced at Tina, helpless. This gang lord was notorious for his quick finger on the trigger and the call to retreat.

A slight flicker of her eyes towards the camera embedded in the clock on the restaurant wall made me realize my mistake. I’d grabbed the wrong headset. 

I’d spoken into her ear instead of his, and she’d been standing there for a minute too long already.

I jerked Jason’s headset from the corner of the computer and pressed the speak button again. “Pumpkin spice,” I said deliberately. “I repeat, pumpkin spice.”

He jerked upright and glanced around.

The gang lord had started to scoot from the booth. “He’ll pay for the grub,” emerged from the beard as he put Tina between him and Jason.

Tina stepped back as the gang lord reached for her wrist and Jason sprung from the booth. 

The gang lord yanked Tina towards him by just her wrist and wrestled a gun to her temple. I jumped up, knocking my chair backwards. It cracked when it hit the bare apartment floor. 

Jason skidded to a halt and stared at the gang lord. He couldn’t do much more than I could with Tina at the gang lord’s mercy.

The second guy, the guy the gang lord was meeting, still hadn’t moved from the booth. Weak nerves for this kind of business. Maybe the gang lord would kill him after he killed Tina. 

Then Tina swung her elbow towards the gang lord, breaking his grip at the weak point between his thumb and forefinger just like we had trained. She broke free and Jason restarted his sprint, executing a perfect tackle, handcuffs in hand. After a moment of scuffle on the floor, Jason handcuffed the gang lord and announced. “You’re under arrest.”

The room erupted in cheers. 

I collapsed into a sitting position on the floor and smiled. 

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You should write your own pumpkin spice inspired story and submit it to The Company Writers contest for prizes. It’s judged by bestselling author Thirzah Griffioen, who wrote a guest post for me last week. Learn more and enter the contest here!