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the agency,
Arthur had a large budget at his discretion. Evan looked around at
the décor, and figured that a fair amount of the budget had gone
into his office.
    “ He said that he has a few
minutes,” Mildred said as she returned.
    Evan got up from the couch and headed for
the office door. “Thank you, Mildred,” he said as he went
inside.
    Arthur stood up behind his desk as Evan
entered. “Come on in and sit down.”
    Evan took a seat in one of the two chairs in
front of Arthur’s desk.
    “ What’s on your mind,
Evan?” Arthur said.
    “ I’m going to need a
sitter,” Evan replied. “For a couple of days.”
    Agents with children that went on missions
sometimes requested that the agency place someone in the home of
the agent while they were away. Such as, if the spouse were
uncomfortable being alone or as in Evan’s case if there were no
spouse at home. The agency had a separate department comprised of
individuals whose job it was to stay at an agent’s house and serve
as a form of bodyguard. The name of the department was Agent
Assistance, but the agents just called them sitters. The people
within the Agent Assistance department weren’t too keen on the
nickname because they were mostly young men fresh out of the armed
forces.
    “ Hmm,” Arthur said as he
arched is brow. “You know you don’t need me to get that done.
Mildred can take care of that. In fact, you never come down here to
see me at all, to my gratitude. It would seem that there is
something else on your mind.”
    Evan sat back in his chair and smiled.
“You’re right. I’ve heard rumors that you may be retiring. I just
wanted to hear from you what your plans were.”
    “ Angling for my job, are
we?” Arthur said.
    This prompted both Arthur and Evan to laugh.
Arthur had told Evan several times over the years that he would be
a perfect replacement when Arthur retired. Every time, Evan had
told him that he had no interest in heading the agency.
    “ The rumors are true,”
Arthur said. “I have been the director of this agency for a long
time. It is about time that I retire while I can still fish. I have
not decided the exact date, but it will be soon. Why are you
asking?”
    Evan took a more serious tone. “I ask
because there is someone that I know that is acutely interested in
replacing you. If that happens, it influences my future with the
agency.”
    “ Karl,” Arthur said,
shaking his head.
    Evan did not answer.
    Arthur leaned forward on his desk. “You and
I both know that there is a congressional committee made up of
presidential appointees that oversee this organization. It is there
as a safeguard, owing to the extreme secretive nature of our work
and the potential for the abuse of power by the President. I answer
to them, and they choose my successor. They do not tend to choose
ex-agents for the position so I wouldn’t worry about Karl getting
the job.”
    “ Why don’t they choose
ex-agents?” Evan asked.
    “ The committee is made up
of bureaucrats and pencil pushers,” Arthur said. “People who have
been appointed as a political favor. They are people that have
attended the finest schools and consider people that didn’t to be
beneath them. Their perception is that agents are reckless and not
all that bright. They believe that the supervision over the agency
would be less strict and that the agents would get away with
whatever they wanted.”
    “ That would be funny if it
weren’t so sad,” Evan said.
    “ If you would let me
submit your name, I will try to push them to make an
exception.”
    “ Thank you for the offer,”
Evan said. “I’m afraid I’m still not interested.”
    Arthur leaned back in his chair. “Fair
enough. Now, let’s see about getting you a sitter.” He pressed the
intercom button on his desk. “Mildred, would you bring in the
Agency Assistance personnel list? Thank you.”
    Arthur turned back to Evan. “I hear from the
studio that your daughter has stopped her martial art