4. Four
4
FOUR
ELIANA RICHARDS
CIA Academy, 2017
Diary Entry
Welcome to hell week.
I’d never thought this would happen so early in my career, but making our second week at the academy to the worst one of all of them, is a nice way to sort out the cadets that were not worthy for a position at the Agency. Nobody told me that we would be screamed out of bed at 5am and shooshed around the farm—that’s what they call the CIAU around here—like we’re military cadets. I thought this was only a thing from bad movies about soldiers. Apparently not. They try to break our bodies before the regular university day would even start.
And with regular day I mean interrogation simulations, shooting courses, and a lot of PowerPoint presentations with graphic pictures of dead CIA Agents. It’s only Wednesday, but I already learned over twenty different scenarios how I’ll get myself killed in the field.
But my personal hell was, and will forever be, sharing the same classes as Peter Davis.
Of course, he doesn’t seem to be shocked by the torture we have to endure. He’s the first to answer every question, even before my sleep-driven brain has computed the words.
Mr. Overachiever.
The professors love him and I don’t know if it is because he’s trying to shove up their asses or just because he’s a good student. No matter what it was, he and I both survived hell week, meaning we’d spend the next three years together. I still don’t understand why he’s even here, but of course, I wouldn’t ask. Sometimes I think he only decided for the CIA because he knew he would see me here again and he could make my life a living hell once more .
Congratulations, Peter Davis. Goal accomplished.
But not even that asshole of a man will come into my way to become the CIA’s best agent, even though he tried really hard. I would not let history repeat itself.
Mihaela and I have calls every evening, analyzing our days and Peter’s stupid comments and teacher’s pet behavior. It’s only been a couple of weeks on the farm, but we already have a top 5 list of the most embarrassing comments he made.
Top 1 was that losing a comrade in the field might be hard for a couple of days, but will make you stronger in the long run. As right as this statement might be, saying it right after we learned the likelihoods of survival from a gunshot wound depending on the location on your body, was just bluntly stupid.
What do you want to prove, Peter Davis?
That you’re a badass agent that only focuses on the job and doesn’t have any emotions? It might be news to you, but a cold-hearted killing machine is not what the CIA is looking for. Quite the opposite, to be honest, as an ego as big as yours is a big risk for any kind of field work. You’re not a bounty hunter at the Agency. You’ll work in a team and have each other’s backs.
This is not how teammates behave, Peter.
But knowing him for so long, I know that it’s only a facade, a role he’s playing. Because the Peter that I know is a very insecure little bastard who only pretends to be badass. It’s something you can see in his eyes. Eyes will always give your bluff away if you’re not a highly trained undercover agent. And Peter Davis is definitely none of that.
He might have gotten a bit of confidence coming from being an important player in our high school’s football team, but that’s all.
I have three years to figure out what direction he wants to specialize in so I can go for something else. The curse of being around him held way too long already and it’s time to break it.
No more Peter Davis in my life after this!