"What are you doing?" Karyn asked, sounding both eager and impatient. "Stop looking at your wallet and let's go. What if the Smiths decide to come back early or something?"
Not knowing what else to do, Gary stuck his wallet back in his pocket and followed Karyn out of the house. Letting his new "partner" lead the way, they came to a non-descript, somewhat run-down looking tan hatchback. He was about to get in and drive when Karyn suddenly made a beeline straight for that side.
"Hey, maybe you better let me drive."
"Why?"
"Well - I've got more experience driving than you do. Besides, you're just a kid!"
"Gary, I know everything the agency taught us. Besides, thanks to you, I'm plenty old enough to drive now."
"Huh?"
"Come on," she said as she slipped behind the wheel, "You don't think the government's going to let a teenager be an agent, do you?"
Gary looked at Karyn and realized with a start that she was right - the effects of the wish had aged her from 17 to somewhere in her mid-20's. "Wa-wait," he stammered as he got in the car, "You know about the wish? And what it did?!?"
"Obviously," she replied, "After all, I was right there when you made it and I heard every word."
"But you're not upset or anything?"
"No reason to be - I mean, we're partners now, right? That's what partents do. I trust you, you trust me."
Gary suddenly realized that he did trust Karyn - that he could and would trust her with his life, just as she could and would hers with him. Somehow, thought both unsettled and reassured him.
After a few minutes, Karyn had taken them to a deserted section of town. She turned into a dead-end alley and stopped before a dumpster. She tapped the horn three times, waited, and tapped it four more times. Suddenly, the dumpster seemed to fold in on itself, revealing a ramp that angled down. Karyn drove down the ramp and into a tunnel that seemed to go on for miles. Fianlly, though, a light appeared around a bend.
The car emerged into a large conrete and steel cavern, filled with many different types of vehicles. As Karyn pulled to a stop, a crew of people in jumpsuits emerged, opening the door for them. One of them, a slender black woman in a green jumpsuit approached them. "Agent Meadows," she said, "Agent Baxter, welcome back. The Man wants to see you ASAP."
