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I do not own Kids Next Door

64. Multitasking

Ring! Ring!

Numbuh 362 heard the telephone in her Moonbase office ringing as if it was far away. She lifted her head from the desk and stared groggily at the clock. 3:30? Oh, shoot; she must have fallen asleep while she was reviewing the files on recent missions! She knew she shouldn't have had that root beer float right before bed the night before, but it had been such a long day…

Ring! Ring!

The urgency of the noise snapped Rachel to action. Quickly, she lifted a stack of papers and set them on the floor, revealing a cordless headset. She pressed a button and started down the hall, carrying the folders for today's meeting with the tactics officials.

"Kids Next Door Moonbase," she said into the mouthpiece. If she hurried, she would just have time to review her notes before the meeting.

"Numbuh 362, it's Numbuh 1. I have a question about that villain we put away yesterday."

"The one that tried to flood the world with soapy water, to give every kid a bath?"

"Yeah, that's him-" Rachel couldn't hear the rest of what Nigel was saying because at that moment Fanny hurried up to her and waved some papers in her face.

"This teenager escaped his decommissioning, and my team needs backup to go find him!"

"I did say that that one would escape," said Numbuh 362. "He was one of the best stealth operatives we had, and you didn't have enough equipment. Go to the tech lab and see what they can give you."

"He escaped? How did that happen? And...we don't have a tech lab. Just Numbuh 2's workroom."

"Sorry, Numbuh 1," she said as Fanny dashed off. "I had to talk to Numbuh 86 for a minute. What did you want to know about that villain?"

"Well, I see here in the reports that when Numbuh 5 apprehended him, he mentioned a large group of-"

"Numbuh 362! I need to talk to you about these mission specs. Someone keeps getting all the information wrong." Numbuh 65.3 held out a stack of forms over half his height.

"A large group of what?" Rachel said into the headphones, trying to ignore him for a second.

"No, sir, the mission specs. See here, where half of the dates are completely wrong, and over here, there are completely irrelevant things written in the Required Information field."

Numbuh 362 sighed and glanced at the top sheet of paper. "Yes, I see. I'll have the Form Filling Department look into that immediately."

"A large group of associates, ready to continue – Rachel, what does the Form Filling Department have to do with anything? I wanted to know if you had tracked down these supposed accomplices yet.

"Never mind. No, we haven't, but I sent sectors H and L to investigate. We should have a report soon." She groaned inwardly as Numbuh 60 headed her way.

"Sector H? Isn't that the sector that let Count Spankulot get away last month? Are you sure you should put them on something this important?

"Here's the latest batch of recruitment reports, sir," said Patton, saluting briskly.

Numbuh 362 smiled and nodded, taking the papers from him. "Listen, Numbuh 1, I know what I'm doing. Sector H is very competent, and with Sector L helping them they should have no trouble tracking down this group."

Numbuh 60 looked strangely at Rachel as he left, but she didn't really care. Just as long as he was gone.

"Still, maybe my team should go along as well, just in case."

Then Numbuh 362 really did groan as she saw Numbuh 13 hurryingly clumsily towards her.

"Well, if you don't think so…"

"No, that's not it," she reassured him as she ducked behind two kids from Sector AD carrying a large signboard. "If you really want to go help, then I suppose you can send a couple of operatives." She gasped as the kids moved away, and Numbuh 13 caught sight of her.

"Numbuh 362!" he called, waving his hand. He tripped on his shoelaces and fell flat on his face, but got up and continued running.

"Sorry, can't talk, very important Supreme Leader business, no time, maybe later!" Rachel called, almost running towards meeting room 862.

"What? Rachel, what is going on over there?"

"It's nothing," she panted. "Listen, you send some kids to check on the accomplice hunt and let me know what you find, okay?"

"All right then. You know, maybe you ought to take a break sometime soon, Numbuh 362. It sounds pretty busy up there. End transmission."

You have no idea, Rachel thought as she opened the door to the meeting room.

Then she stopped. Though she was sure that she was at least five minutes late, there was nobody in the room except Numbuh 27, the custodian for that floor.

"Where is everybody?" Rachel asked.

"What do you mean?"

"There's a tactics meeting today. I'm supposed to have at least eleven strategists in here right now. Where are they?"

Numbuh 27 gave her an odd look. "Sir, you canceled that meeting last week. Don't you remember?"

Numbuh 362 pictured her desktop calendar, so full of scribbles and cross-outs that she could barely read the dates. "Hm, I guess not."

She walked back toward her office, glad to have a couple of hours to look over Numbuh 60's new recruitment files. However, when she rounded the corner, she saw Numbuh 13 waiting impatiently just outside her door. She suddenly remembered that she had been meaning to check on the progress of the Moonbase scientists in the tech lab, on the opposite side of the Moonbase. The recruitment forms would just have to wait.

The End