"We need teams of six to start searching the area." Robert slammed his hands down on the podium. "Immediately." The large room, usually used for various training exercises, was now full of rows of metal folding chairs full of all the agents stationed in the area, all of them aware of the situation Robert was now facing.
All Robert got was blank stares. No, worse, his agents glanced at each other, but there was no team ups, no calling grids, just looks and silence.
“Well?” He raised his eyebrows and looked straight in the eyes of the person sitting directly in front of him. The agent immediately broke eye contact. “People, I need to see some hustle.” He waved his hand toward the door. Still nothing. Not even an awkward cough covering up an insult. “We have a shape shifting alien on the loose! We need to track them down now!”
Once again, he saw this room of agents look at each other without a single word. At least until Robert slammed his fist down.
“Sir!” A young agent squeaked as a few elbows pulled away from their sides.
“What?” He growled. Darting eyes and a bobbing Adam's apple reassured Robert he still had control of the situation.
“Uh,” the agent slouched, “well, I’m, er, we’re all just wondering…” The metal chair creaked as the agent fidgeted. “How exactly are we supposed to find a shape shifting alien, when, er, they could, um, look like anybody?”
Vein in his temple throbbing, Robert picked up the pen someone had left behind. He clenched it, and looked towards the window he couldn’t open. If he had been in his office, or the small conference room, he would have raised his arm in preparation to defenestrate the small object. As it was, on this makeshift stage in the large training room, Robert made do with slamming the pen back down on the podium.
“We find them by finding anyone whose behavior sticks out!”
Everyone looked at each other again. Robert gripped the edge of the podium. “Then somebody better come up with a plan for flushing the alien back out before they call their buddies for an invasion.” He pointed to the door. “Now!”
This time the agents scrambled. Metal chairs scraped the floor as they hurried from the room. Robert pinched the bridge of his nose as his agents filed out. There was plenty of murmurs now. There wasn’t much hope that his agents were whispering to each other on their brilliant plans.
He’d just have to come up with something himself.
Word count: 430
