Ali and Johnny Are Recruited

Upstairs in the former Dimera mansion, Sami peeks one more time at the sleeping twins before closing the bedroom door and going downstairs.

Inside the twins' bedroom Ali listens at the door. As soon as she is sure Sami is downstairs she gives the all clear.

"I thought she'd never leave." Johnny says hoping out of his crib

"Yeah well you COULD be a little less into the breast feeding thing you know." Ali rolls her eyes.

"Hey, I can't help it." Johnny grins "I'm Italian after all."

"Yeah in your dreams," Ali says "You're about as Italian as Pizza Hut."

Suddenly a panel in the wall opens and Ciara Brady steps out.

"Who are you!" Ali gasps "And what are you doing coming out of the wall?"

"Should I get mom?" Johnny asks "I can try crying, but she doesn't always pay attention to that. I could knock something over, maybe Uncle John would come to see what we broke this time."

"Calm down you two." Ciara says "I'm family. Well sort of family. We're cousins I guess. I'm Ciara and my dad's your Uncle Bo."

Ali takes a long look at Ciara and whispers to Johnny, "I've heard of her. But very few people have ever actually seen her."

"How can we be sure it's actually her then?" Johnny asks

"Well, I figure she has to be who she says she is" Ali explains "Who else would claim to have Bo and Hope as parents if it weren't true?"

Johnny nods in agreement and the twins turn their attention back to Ciara.

"Well are you done deciding if I'm for real or not?" Ciara asks

"We believe you," Ali says "But that still doesn't explain what you are doing here."

"I'm here to recruit you." Ciara gets right to the point. "To be an operative in the ISA."

Again Ali and Johnny exchange looks. "The ISA? REALLY?" Johnny is excited "But we are just kids, what can we do?"

"For years the ISA has used the kids of Salem as undercover agents." Ciara explains "They can listen in on conversations and not be suspected, they can move freely in areas where an adult would be arrested or at the least suspected of spying. And above all else, they are, on the whole, much more intelligent than any of the adults"

The twins nod as each point is explained.

"Right now, we have several operations going, and we are down one very important agent. Your cousin Claire. She had to leave with her dimwit parents to avoid any suspicion. And although she has escaped them, she can't re-surface until it is time to let the rest of Salem know they are missing at sea."

"Belle and Shawn are missing?" Johnny says "Well that's going to send mom into one of her classic whining fits."

"Not to mention how freaked out Grandma Marlena is going to be." Ali agrees

"Uncle John will be ticked they lost his boat already." Johnny grins "But at least he was smart enough to get a butt load of insurance on it before they left, so that will ease his pain, so to speak."

"See now that's the kind of information we're talking about!" Ciara says "I bet there aren't many adults who know John insured Belle and Shawn's boat for a lot of money."

"I don't think anyone else knows." Ali says "Didn't he have you down in his office with him that day you wouldn't take a nap? Mom was upstairs with me and asked him to watch you while she gave me a bath."

"Yeah, he had me on his lap and was showing me all these papers, telling me what they all were and explaining how this deal was going to make him this much money, and that deal was going to bring down this company." Johnny says

"Now you get it." Ciara says "Adults don't think us kids can even begin to understand what they are talking about when they show us things like bank statements and office papers. They just think we like to hear them talk, but we don't know what they are saying. When in reality we do."

"So you want us to join you and the ISA and help spy on the grown ups?" Ali says "What's in it for us?"

"Pretty much everything." Ciara says "You get to travel around the world, have unlimited expense accounts, and best of all you get to find out just how stupid the grown ups really are. You will be amazed at how much you can get away with just by being 'a good kid'. Parents figure if a kid is behaved they can ignore them. And they do."

"But what about cookies?" Johnny says "I heard stories about Claire getting unlimited cookies. Is that true?"

"Of course not Johnny!" Ali says "No one gets unlimited cookies."

Ciara smiles "IF you join us, you wil."

The twins' eyes grow wide at this.

"You mean it's true?" Ali gasps "We can have all the cookies we want?"

"And crackers!" Johnny says excitedly "Please tell me we get crackers too!"

"Cookies, crackers, candy, ice cream, chips. Whatever you want, you get it. And more." Ciara smiles "And the best part, if you play your cards right, they leave you with Doug and Julie. And when you're with them, the sky's the limit. Toys until you fall asleep standing up, snacks any time, and no one ever ever ever tells you no!"

"And all we have to do is keep our eyes and ears open and report back the things we hear the grown ups talk about?" Ali says

"At first yes." Ciara says "Then later you'll be gathering information other ways. Like taking pictures of documents, checking computers for information and sending that to us, getting copies of discs, things like that. You won't be asked to do anything really complicated until you go through your training."

"Wow," Johnny says "It all sounds really cool. What do you say Ali? Are we in?"

Ali sits quietly for a few minutes, thinking.

"So how long can we do this? I mean, at what age do we stop?" Ali asks

"Usually around 12 or so" Ciara says "About the time your mind gets over run with hormones and you start acting stupid. You know like an adult."

"But there have to be some of you who last into adulthood. Otherwise there wouldn't be any grown up agents." Johnny says

"There are, there are." Ciara says "And I'm not saying you guys won't be among the few who do make it. But you have to understand, if you become useless to us, we will erase your memory of your time with us and you'll never know the difference."

"So is erasing our memory dangerous?" Ali asks

"Well I won't lie, we have had our failures." Ciara says "Hope, Kayla, Bo...and of course our worst ever, Shawn and Belle."

"Shawn and Belle were kid agents?" Johnny gasps "What happened?"

"There was an unfortunate incident with the memory erasing process." Ciara says "Too much was removed, and well, lets just say the agent responsible was punished."

"Who was it?" Ali whispers

"Steve Johnson" Ciara says "His punishment was he had to come back from his faked death and live with your Aunt Kayla again. Needless to say, he was not happy about it. But you can't mess up as bad as he did and not expect to pay the price."

"Wow" the twins say together.

"Okay, now the time has come, are you guys in?" Ciara asks.

"YES!" Ali and Johnny don't hesitate with their answer.

"Great, now let's get you started on your first assignment." Ciara says