In the next morning after the discussion, the Smith family was having a bit more lively breakfast than usual. Bella fussed over Kaushik a bit more than usual, Richard planned the training schedule for Mike a bit more detailed than usual, Mike occasionally replying to the texts of his girl fan club, Kaushik scheduling a date with a cool beauty, you get the picture.

There was a sound of tire screeching just outside. Someone has just pulled over in front of their house. A mechanical voice resounded in the dining room, "Mr. Baines is approaching. Should I unlock the door?"

"Chief? This early?" Richard asked as if he could smell trouble. Francis was never a morning person. If he is early, then you can be sure it is for nothing good.

"No don't unlock the door. I will do it" Bella replied while getting up from the table.

The doorbell rang shortly after. Even with the development of integrated house AI, some old things like the doorbell and manual light switches never became obsolete. "It’s me, Francis. Can I come in?" Chief's muffled voice could be heard from other side of the door.

Bella opened the door and made a gesture for him to come in, "Please come in." Francis nodded in acceptance and got in. Strictly speaking, Bella did not need to open the door herself since their house AI could do that for them, but it was considered a sign of common courtesy to personally open the door for a guest.

"Please have a seat." Bella smiled and gestured towards an empty seat which already had an empty plate, as if the smith family had anticipated that Francis will drop by.

Francis smiled, "Hope you don’t mind even if I do." He took the empty seat and started helping himself. Most families had an old custom of arranging for an extra seat during meals. If any guest came by without any prior notice during meals, then he or she could be invited to share the table so that they don’t feel awkward.

"So what’s the matter chief? Something happen?" Richard asked while raising an eyebrow. If Francis had any bad news, he would have called, not show up in his doorstep. Since he showed up personally, it’s worse than bad news.

"I went to the orphan register office yesterday." He started after swallowing a mouthful. "Since Kaushik and Mike are legally adults now, they will have to be registered. They either need to be self-earning, or registered under a guardian."

"That sounds reasonable. What’s the problem?" Bella tilted her head. That sounded simple enough to understand, nothing to worry about.

"Problem is that you can’t adopt more than one at a time. Either Kaushik or Mike has to get a job and leave the family. Other gets to stay in the family." Francis let out a small sigh.

"What?" Richard and Bella shouted simultaneously. This was outrageous. What gives the government to right to declare that only one child can be adopted at one time?

"There was an incident some time back.” Francis tried to reason with the angry parents. “A family adopted several children, got orphan raising fund from the government, and used it for their own drug addiction instead of caring for the children. Whenever a child ended up dead due to malnutrition or mistreatment, they went and adopted another one."

"What?" All of them froze in their chair, face full of disbelief, previous anger forgotten.

"They always adopted children from different orphanage so no one suspected them at first. They force fed the children cheap alcohol, so that they would remain intoxicated and would not make a fuss or go out of the house. Most of the children succumbed to death within a month or two. They were caught after almost a year. One of the orphanage employee got suspicious of their behavior during adoption and reported it to her superior. They were acting strange, so the director of the orphanage followed them to their home and monitored them for 3 days to make sure the children were safe." Francis took a sip of water to wet his dry throat and continued, "None of the children came out of the house for 3 days straight. He got worried, and went to speak with the family. He made an excuse that it was a periodic check from the orphanage to make sure the children are ok. The family got hysteric, didn't let him in and said the children were sent to a relative's home and won't be back for a year. The director bid them goodbye with a smile on his face and went straight to the police. You can guess what happened next."

"How many?" Bella asked with a small voice.

"4 dead, buried in the backyard of their house in the middle of night. 2 were in critical condition, one of them didn't make it. The last 2 were with them for only 3 days, so they were in fairly good health." Francis also replied in a small voice. The whole table sat in silence for a minute and offered a silent prayer for the unfortunate souls.

"After their inhuman act, the new law has been passed restricting a family on how many children they can adopt at a time, along with many other clauses. Till now, you didn’t take orphan raising fund. You were using your own money to pay for them, so registering them was optional. I just had to act as a witness and periodically provide evidence that they were healthy." He paused to take another sip from his cup, "Now that they are adults, they will have to be registered. Either as self-dependent adults, or under a family name."

"But, that’s…" Bella angrily started to say something but she was cut off by Kaushik. "I will do it."

The table became deathly silent, although Francis kept eating as if he already knew the situation would turn out like this. "What did you say?" Bella couldn’t believe her ears. Did her precious son really just say that? Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "Please tell me you were..."

"Calm down mom. Let me explain." Kaushik clasped Bella’s hand and comforted her. "If the law states one of us has to get a job, then I will do just that. I get the job and Mike gets to register as a family member. Yes I won’t be your legal son, but I don’t think you will stop being my mother cause of that."

"That…" Bella stammered as she let the fact sink in. "That… is right. The law doesn’t state you have to leave the house. You can be my son and still do a job." Her face lighted up in happiness as she wiped her tears.

Richard smiled proudly at his son’s quick thinking and asked curiously, "What job are you going to do? Did you start looking for one?"

Mike gave a knowing smile, "He is gonna inherit your legacy, dad. I am pretty sure your employer won’t object."

Richard’s smile dropped a little in confusion, "My job? It’s pretty boring, you know. But, if you really wanna do it, I suppose that’s your choice. You will have to sort out the details with Chief."

Mike sighed and Kaushik kept stuffing his mouth without changing his expression. "Not that one dad. The other one." Mike dropped the bomb while giving a meaningful glance to Richard.

The table became silent again. And this time even Francis stopped eating. Richard’s affiliation with the Agency was a top secret matter. He never told it to Kaushik and Mike. He always told them that he is a clerk. So what could they be talking about?

"What other job are you talking about sweetheart?" Even Bella has become deadly serious. She knew the dangers that came with Richard’s actual job. While she may not object if Kaushik wanted tread in the same path as his father, the situation was different. It’s not about her son wanting to do it, but the means by which they found out about it. If her son could find out that kind of classified information, then there might be some kind of security breach which might jeopardize her husband’s life.

"Mom, you are thinking too much." Kaushik replied calmly. "I am not stupid you know. It’s dad’s work timings and attitude." He started to explain. "At first I didn’t think much of it. But over time I found out some things that didn’t add up. Like the extended vacations dad seemed to get all the time. No boss, no matter how lenient he is, would allow his subordinates that long vacation. It just doesn’t make sense. Then add in his work timings. Most of the days he went late and came back early, sometimes he would work late night shift but will have no lethargy on the following day, sometimes he would go on a long business trip packing only a handful of cloths. You know, once I put a GPS tracker in his luggage during one of his supposed business trip. And guess what? Even when he went on business trip, the tracker stayed inside dad’s office the whole time." Kaushik took a short breath and calmly stated, "The point is that, all it took was connecting the dots. I figured that this job dad does, it's some kind of secret thing and requires physical perfection which blends strength, agility, dexterity and presence of mind. And there are not many jobs which match that description. That's all.

The table again became silent after Kaushik stopped talking. After a while, Bella asked fearfully, "You didn't tell anyone anything about any of this, right sweetheart?"

"I did not." Kaushik and Mike both immediately and firmly answered. Bella released the breathe she was holding, relieved that her sons did not do anything stupid and jeopardized her husband's life.

"So what now?" Asked Kaushik, looking directly at each faces present at the table. It was the time for judgement.

"You have a good head on your shoulder." Francis started as he finished his meal. "According to the reports I have gotten from Richard, you have the wits and the training necessary to become an agent. However," he let his next words hang in the air for dramatic effect, "I am sure you know what this job entails and the dangers associated with it. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, I am pretty sure." Replied Kaushik. Francis shook his head while smiling, "an instant reply. Should've expected that."

"I know that I trained you well and I have full faith in your abilities. But couldn't you... you know, settle down for a quiet and peaceful desk job?" Richard asked with a knowing smile, as if he already knew the answer for his question, which he did.

"Sorry dad, but if I try to do some desk job for 8-9 hours per day for 5 days a week, boredom will kill me faster than a bullet to the head." Kaushik replied with a smile. Richard nodded in agreement, since this was the exact reason for which he signed up for this job.

Two of the three concerned person had already given their consent. Now all eyes fell upon Bella, who held the last and most important position in this discussion. If she declined, Kaushik will have to settle down for a desk job, no matter how much it bored him.

"Your father proposed to me after we dated for almost, almost 1 year I think." Bella furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember the dates. "On the day he proposed to me, he revealed the nature of his job, I revealed my inability to create a life, and we fell even further in love with each other that day." Her cheeks flushed a bit remembering the passionate night they had together after he proposed and she said yes. "After we got married, I asked him what he would have done if I said no after he revealed the nature of his job." Richard chuckled a bit remembering her reaction to his answer. Bella also smiled and continued, "He said he would have injected me with a hallucinogenic drug which he kept in a small syringe concealed behind his back. I would have promptly passed out and after waking up, I would feel like all of it was a dream."

"But I am getting off track here. What I am trying to say is, he chose me because I am a woman with enough mental fortitude to accept the nature of his job and the dangers that come with it." Bella's eyes sharpened as she became serious. "With that said, I will not object to your decision." concluded Bella with a determined face.

"Phew", Kaushik made a grand gesture of cleaning off the sweat from his dry eyebrows. Mike grinned widely and Richard nodded as if he expected nothing less from his beloved wife.

Francis stopped eating and put down the spoon. "So it is settled then. Richard, I want you to bring your son to the SAC tomorrow. We will evaluate him and after that we will decide what to do."

Richard had a face full of surprises, "You are joking, right chief?"

Francis only stared at him without saying anything. Richard sighed, "Directly SAC? Shouldn't I bring him to the basic course first? And after he clears basic, will he be allowed in advanced course? And after advanced, to expert course? And after clearing ALL three courses with GOLD, to the Silent Assassin Course? Which may I remind you, even most of our veteran agents have problem clearing?"

Francis gave him a hard stare and replied with conviction "One of my most skilled operative, nay, THE most skilled operative, which is you, the only one in the entire history of Agency, to have cleared the SAC on the first try with flying colors, started training him when he was just a small kid. After being trained by YOU for more than a decade, I will be damned if I expect any less than gold rank in SAC even if this is his first try."

Richard slumped his shoulders at the sudden outburst of Francis. "All right, if you insist so much. Son, what do you think?" "No harm in trying, I guess." Answered Kaushik nonchalantly as his finished his breakfast.

"Can I go and watch?" Asked Mike with a hopeful voice. Francis replied that all of them are welcome to watch if they wanted.

"What about you Mike? What are you going to do? Enroll in a college and do higher education?" Curiously inquired Francis.

"I wanna join the military, special forces unit. I have been training with that in mind." Shrugged Mike. "Should I hope that you can introduce me to someone?"

Francis laughed and nodded, "As a matter of fact, yes you should. Tomorrow there will be some people from special forces who will be watching Kaushik's performance. I will introduce you to them. After that, you are on your own."

Mike gave him a thumbs up, "That's all I need."

Francis left afterward and Kaushik went down into the basement for practice. His weapons of choice were mostly directed towards stealth. A fiberwire to strangle unsuspecting victim, a double edged karambit for close quarters, a silenced pistol for close to medium range, and a suppressed assault rifle for medium range. He picked up the fiberwire, used it to strangle wooden dummies. He picked up the karambit, practiced against a imaginary opponent. Then he went to the gun range, picked up the pistol, shot a few targets which popped up at random intervals. He did the same with the assault rifle.

A long time back, when Mike and Kaushik were just small kids, they asked Richard why they have a gun range in their basement. Richard just laughed and said he is a gun enthusiast, so he turned their basement into a gun range. They didn't think much of it since they also had some friends whose parents loved guns and paid weekly visits to public shooting range. Hell, most of those kids were decent enough shooter themselves. What's wrong with having a gun range in your basement, right?

Rest of the day went by peacefully. Bella personally chose a suit for Kaushik to wear next day. Kaushik was a bit unwilling since the Silent Assassin Course sounds very dangerous and the suit might get damaged, but Richard filled him in on what the SAC really is.

"SAC is the most difficult training course the Agency have devised over the years. Ones who can pass the SAC are the only people entrusted with the most secret and dangerous missions the Agency have available. In the entire records of the Agency, there had been only 17 people who have passed the test. Currently, only 6 of them are alive and on duty. I am one of those 6, and the only one who directly reports to Francis. Rumor has it that chief takes great pride in this particular fact, and I guess he is hoping for another SAC buster who will directly report to him." Richard explained with a small hint of amusement on his face.

"SAC buster? What does that even mean?" Kaushik had a confused look on his face.

Richard smiled weakly and replied, "My dad was a very bad agent. He passed the beginner course after 7 tries, and never passed the advanced course. Normally people pass the beginner course after 2 tries or 3 tries max. When I appeared for SAC, I was exactly your age and I chose to directly appear for SAC. People sarcastically wished me luck, some upfront ridiculed me. Even the director of the Agency personally wanted to meet me after hearing that I was the son of the failure. He declared that Agency will do anything I asked if I passed the SAC within 2 tries, and rest of the people in the room laughed at his joke. I came out of the room seething in rage, stomped towards the testing room. Francis stopped me before entering the course. I thought he was also gonna sprout some bullshit, but to the contrary, he didn't ridicule me, or sarcastically wished me luck. Rather he asked me if I was confident enough to pass the test. I simply answered yes and entered the course."

His smile grew wider from this point, "I breezed through the course and of course people couldn't believe what they were seeing. None expected me to finish the course, so nobody was at the finish point, except Francis. He alone was waiting for me at the finish line. He patted me on the shoulder and congratulated me for completing the course. I immediately met up with the director and demanded that he keep his end of bargain. He tried to wiggle out of it saying that I didn't have any proof which said such a promise was ever made. I was again getting angry, but Francis came to my rescue. He showed them a security footage where the director ridiculed me made that promise. You want to guess what I asked?"

Mike replied thoughtfully, "Maybe you had the director fired from his job?"

Kaushik shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe you spanked his butt?"

Francis fished out his mobile from his pocket and played a video on it. The video showed a middle aged man dancing to a song wearing only a pair of boots, underwear and necktie. Other people in the video are snickering at the poor man and Francis is outright laughing.

"Let me guess, the guy dancing in the video is the director." Said Mike while sniggering.

"Yep." Grinned Richard proudly, "I demanded that the director dance wearing only underwear and neck tie. I then recorded the whole thing with a spycam I had on me and uploaded it to every social media site I knew of. Believe it or not, that video achieved the most viewed video of the year award. After that incident, people gave me the nickname SAC buster, as in I busted the SAC of the director and the Agency."

Mike nodded in understanding, "Wow, that is a lot of responsibility on your shoulder bro. I would say good luck, but I don't think you will need it." He gave Kaushik a thumb up, which was returned by Kaushik.

"Alright, I get the part being a SAC buster. But what SAC is really?" asked Kaushik. "Do I have to go into a gun range and shoot dummies?"

"Not quite. Beginner, advanced and expert courses involve shooting dummies, scouting in the dark, hacking a terminal, blending in plain sight, assassination technique, reaction speed, things like that. SAC however, is a lot different than that. You are put in a virtually simulated environment and given designated targets. Your job is to kill the targets without raising any suspicion to yourself. You must not kill anyone other than the targets. You must not leave any witnesses or clues. You may use any kind of weaponry you deem suitable. You may use your environment to kill your targets." explained Richard as best as he could.

"Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" this thing didn't sound like anything to be of so much problem that veteran agents would not be able to do it.

"Seems like you do not understand the difficulty of this test. Let's say, there is a theater hall, filled with people who came to watch the opera show which is being performed by some famous artist. Among those spectators, there is a corrupt politician, who is surrounded by bodyguards, watching the show from a private room. Your target is the politician. How you will go about it? How you will kill the man without raising an suspicion?"

"I will, ah..." Kaushik held his chin in his hands and fell into a deep thought. How he would do it? Such a situation sounded quite difficult. "I will have to somehow force the politician out of the protection of his bodyguards. Maybe pass him a drink laced with laxatives, and after he goes to the toilet, kill him?"

Richard laughed out loudly, "That's my son. Never encountered such situation and already thinking up such viable solutions. You are definitely going to pass it in the first try, I am sure of it."