| Revelations | |||
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The Baha Bar June 17, 2008, 0830 hours He looked up at the building, his eyes filled with it. It was at least ten stories, something he would never have guessed. Unless it wasn't their base of operations. If it was well�. it was sure as hell exposed. Maybe they believed they could hide in plain sight. Not a bad idea in theory, but one which he didn't find comforting. The RGZS was hidden underground, and that was something that made him feel better, an idea that he was more than comfortable with. This was different. He followed Polyakov to the door, and then inside. It was a bar, no doubt about that. For some reason his eyes scanned along the bottles looking for some Starka vodka� no, evidently the Americans didn't have a Russian's fine taste. He smiled when he remembered what nationality he truly was, but the point still stood because as far as he was concerned he was Russian now. Well, mostly. They were met by someone who didn't offer a name. Instead they were led through a door, which in turn led them down a fairly long tunnel. Maybe not a tunnel in the traditional sense of the word, seeing as it brightly lit and� yes, painted. Pale cream. How very odd, he thought. At the end of the tunnel there was another door. Their guide swiped a card and the door opened, revealing a lift. The trio entered it, then waited for it to reach their destination. Which was up in the higher floors of the building, seeing as the lift was going up. So he was right after all. The lift eventually stopped, and they followed their guide into what appeared to be a lounge of some kind. There were two people standing there. Two people; one male and one female. The male was new to him. A touch over six foot, he guessed, with an air of authority about him. Mid-thirties. Blue eyes that betrayed intelligence. Would he be the boss? Nikolai wondered. He wasn't too sure on that. After all, his boss wasn't here, so maybe the Americans would have their deputy meeting his opposite number. Or maybe they would have the Boss greeting them, just to show how important they were� "Gray Wellman," the man said as he thrust out a hand. Nikolai was surprised to hear the voice was British. "Evgraf Polyakov," Polyakov replied, taking the hand and shaking it firmly. "And this is Nikolai Plekhanov." Nikolai took the hand that was offered to him. Surprisingly he couldn't tell if it was the hand of a shooter. Should that trouble me? he asked himself. It was all going so quickly now, and he hadn't decided if that was a good thing or not. After all, he could remember saying to Innokentiy that working with the Americans could only benefit them, but now, standing here at the headquarters (an educated guess on his behalf) of the American agency, shaking the hand of one of their top people (another guess), it all seemed a lot less safe. "This is Paige Casey," Gray said, introducing the sexy blonde he had only known as Trouble. So that's your name. It would normally not have been such a big thing, but actually knowing her name meant something to him, because in their line of work anonymity was everything. Without any outwardly visible signs his fears eased. He watched as she took Polyakov's hand, smiling at him. He could almost imagine the old bastard staring at the curvy creature before him� but then remembered that Comrade Evgraf's blood had been cold a long time. It was enough for an internal chuckle. She turned to him. The short sleeved t-shirt she was wearing seemed to be masculine in as much as it wanted to cling to her body. With curves on display and a smile on her face she took his hand and shook it. "Nikolai, pleased to meet you." "The pleasure is all mine, Paige," he replied, smiling back at her. This certainly was strange. He had expected to maybe see her, say hello and that, but not be met by her. Maybe the organisers of this little get together had some sense after all. Either that or they wanted to fuck with his head some more. "I hope your flight went well and you found the accommodations satisfactory?" He heard Gray say to Evgraf. The reply was to be expected, and he found himself tuning the conversation out as he concentrated on the dark green spheres that were watching him. He could get lost in those eyes, he realised. Amusement was what he saw there at the moment, yet he knew those orbs could hold all manner of things, not all of them good. Was there something there now? Hidden beneath the amusement and smiles that they currently held? There was a glimmer of something there, something that was trying to remain hidden. Yet he was searching for it, curiosity getting the better of him. It was there, if only you knew where to look, and he was finding out just where that was� He lost it as she blinked. He looked to Evgraf Polyakov, who motioned for him to follow. He guessed it must be meeting time. Always a favourite with people like him who just wanted to be moving all the time. Sitting still, listening to people talking about this and that, well it wasn't exactly how he would choose to spend his time. Then again, he didn't have a choice in the matter. Maybe, he brightened, I'll have a chance to find the Mystery I'm seeking in Paige's eyes. She manoeuvred herself next to him as they walked behind the two senior men. Ideally they would break away now, maybe head off to a shooting range or something, just anywhere but a meeting room. Hell, he needed some exercise, not a lesson in how to feign interest and not fall asleep. Despite him knowing the significance of this meeting, and knowing that there was the potential to learn an awful lot about these people and their agency, he still didn't want to be here. He felt he could learn all he needed to know without having it fed to him in a room. Just like when he'd been learning Spanish at school a few years ago. In two years of lessons he hadn't learned much more than the basics, simply because his mind rebelled against the idea of being force-fed information. Yet after five days on the school Spanish trip he had picked up a fair amount of the language, something he put down to simply being out of the classroom environment. And a meeting room was simply a classroom for adults. "Welcome back to New York, Moonlighter," he heard her whisper. His eyes darted to hers, seeing the smile there and grinning back. Despite all of the emotions he had felt over the past few hours, then one that was with him at the moment was pure intrigue. Maybe this could be� well, if not fun then definitely less boring than he'd first anticipated. "Thanks. Just glad to be here under better circumstances," he replied. "Don't be so sure of yourself�you haven't seen the itinerary," she said with a wink. He tilted his head at her, realising that his previous thought could have been both right and wrong in the same instance. The meeting would indeed be boring, but Paige would somehow make it less so. They entered the conference room and took their seats. Nikolai found himself sitting across from Paige. She was still quite beautiful, even without a gun in her hand. That thought gave birth to a silent chuckle, which he translated into another smile at her. Still, she wasn't as pretty as Yelena, though as far as he was concerned no one was. Nonetheless, Paige was indeed attractive, and he was sure that she used her charms very effectively when she needed to. He was also sure that her looks got her into all manner of trouble. He was about to expand on that thought when someone else entered the room. It was another male. Another male who was taller than he was. Damn, he was starting to feel like a right short-arse. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he could out shoot anyone in this room. In fact, he told himself, it's more like this building. The man was introduced as Simon O'Rourke, and apparently he was the resident computer specialist which every agency seemed to need now. Would he be a match for Lisovsky? That was something he wouldn't be able to answer right now, but still, it was an interesting question. In fact, how would the personnel of the two agencies match up, man for man? Actually, his mind corrected him, person for person. He guessed he would just have to wait and see. The new man, Simon, took his seat, and the meeting began. The formalities were played out for the first few minutes, as was to be expected. After that the meeting proper began. Nikolai just sat back and tried to keep a neutral face. He wasn't going to be saying much, if anything; Evgraf was the voice of the RGZS. Besides, he seemed to be getting along quite well with his opposite number, and interrupting them when they were clearly enjoying the game being played out before them � and it was a game, a game of poker without the cards � would not be the correct course of action. He would have to just sit here and endure it. Like Paige and Simon were having to do. In fact, he found it quite strange to be thinking of them by their real names, like he had been given access to something forbidden to others. At the same time it felt strange knowing that they also knew his name. The meeting continued, punctuated by small grins between him and Paige at the sheer boringness of it all. He was soon discovering that the tedium of the situation was affecting his ability to concentrate on the conversation stuff, and despite his annoyance at having to sit through it all it was important stuff. This meeting could, in theory, lead the way to his agency working with the Americans. Americans. The label suddenly didn't seem to fit. The man talking to Evgraf Polyakov was a Brit. Come to think of it, Bella sounded Irish. Now, in this business it was standard procedure to mask your identity and origins, so he could be wrong, but for some reason he didn't think he was. What would that mean then? If it wasn't an American operation, but a multinational one? He sighed. Another question he would be unable to answer in the near future, if at all. Instead of trying to figure it out he turned his attention back to Paige. She was currently playing with her hair, twisting it round her fingers. She seemed bored as hell, which was no real surprise. The computer guy, Simon, was staring at a part of the wall, and was obviously just as bored. All three of them wanted out of there. If this meeting was meant to build bridges between the two agencies then it was working admirably, for they finding common ground in their loathing of just sitting in meetings. He smiled across at Paige, who had looked up at him again. God help us. He lost track of time. It had to have been a good couple of hours at least, and he found himself wishing Paige had told him more than just how bad the itinerary was, like exactly how long he was going to have to sit here. If only he could have gotten a copy of� "Gray," he heard a voice say, and as it was female he knew it had to belong to Paige. His head snapped up to look at her, his eyes flicking across to her superior, clearly unprepared for the interruption. "Yes," Wellman replied, trying to regain his composure by the look of it. "You guys seem to be hitting it off well and all, do you mind if maybe Nikolai and myself, you know�got out of here?" Nikolai sat still. He didn't know quite what to make of the situation. He had guessed that she was a little unorthodox, but this was definitely not expected. In fact, it was kind of like him. Well, not this time, as he still felt the need to impress Polyakov, but on another occasion he would have probably done the same. Scary. "Out of�here," Gray shook his head. Apparently, he still hadn't recovered from her interruption. "Yes, our forte is not in this meeting, no offence, but I think we could learn a few things�maybe�outside, a tour or something." "Oh, yes, of course. We'll meet back here for lunch?" Gray enquired. Nikolai was now trying to reassess her relationship with him. Must be good if he hadn't chewed her head off, he surmised. "Sure, lunch sounds great," Paige smiled and got up. Nikolai stood up as well, looking down at Evgraf. He seemed just as confused by everything as everyone else. Apart from Paige of course. "Don't worry," she said with a grin aimed at Evgraf, "I'll take good care of him." Polyakov simply smiled politely back, then looked at Nikolai. Nikolai simply shrugged. He had nothing to lose here, she was taking all the risks. He would owe her though, if this all worked out. He was about to follow her when she stopped. "I could use Simon's help," she said. "Yes, that's fine," Gray waved a hand at her without even looking. She was good, Nikolai thought as he followed them out of the room. It was a great feeling walking through that door. If he'd been single he could have kissed her for it. "God, that was pure hell," Simon said with a sigh. "You owe me big," Paige said to him. "Yeah, no kidding," he mumbled before walking away stretching, leaving Paige and Nikolai alone and free. She grinned at him. "You, too." "Yeah, ok, I can accept that. Wasn't the most fun I've ever had." He smiled again at her. It seemed to happen a lot, he'd noticed. She was, it appeared, a fairly happy person. "So, what do you want to do?" she asked him. He thought about that for a moment. What he really wanted to do was go home and cuddle up with Yelena, but seeing as that wasn't a viable option� "Well, after a long flight and a boring meeting I could do with a workout." "You're kidding, right?" The look on her face told him she didn't quite believe him. "Nope. A nice long swim would be perfect. Works all the muscle groups," he informed her. "Swim," she said, clearly thinking. "We have a training facility about a half hour away, has a big pool, you could swim, I have some work I can do, then we'll do lunch, then�figure something out." It sounded like a plan, and a good one at that. His mind was already thinking ahead to diving into some cool, refreshing water. "Sounds good to me." "I knew you were strange," she said with a shake of her head. "Hey Anne?" "Yes?" he heard a voice say, and turned to see a woman walking towards them. "When Gray comes up for air, can you tell him we went to Edison and we won't make lunch?" "Sure," the woman replied, "and dinner?" "Tell him we'll definitely make dinner." "Ok, very well," the woman replied before moving on. So, they wouldn't be going to lunch. Sounded like she had plans, and that was� "Why is swimming strange?" he said as he nudged her, only just remembering what she had said. Paige shook her head. "Who works out after a long flight?" "I do. Swimming is very relaxing�" "Drinking is relaxing. C'mon, we'll get you relaxed�oh, and there's no way in hell we're making dinner," she said. "Somehow I didn't think so," he replied, wondering what the day had in store for him. It was going to be interesting, and he had a good idea that she'd be good company. He'd find out eventually. First he needed to swim some lengths� Return |
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