The Job
Questions. At the beginning of any type of relationship, it is only natural to want to get to know the other person. Inevitably that curiosity and thirst for knowledge leads to one thing… Inquiries, in other words, Questions... Lots and lots of questions. And, when you care for someone and wish for something more than friendship, that curiosity and hunger only multiply tenfold. So, you ask...Questions. And that is how it all started, with a question… well that, a girl, and a job…
The fateful job in question was going very well so far. Chloe and Nadine had been contracted by a sweet old couple that Nadine had found. The couple hadn’t searched them out or posted any job offers on any sites, instead, Nadine had seen a small news clipping about them and their situation. The artifact that they were currently trying to recover was a family heirloom that had been in the client’s family for so long that it had even survived through the holocaust, but it had been stolen from them. The couple had tried to take things the legal way but since the stolen piece was so old that they didn’t have any proper documents or proof of ownership other than an ancient photograph of an ancestor with it, and it wasn’t enough to get it back. Nadine had talked to Chloe afterward and had immediately jumped on board in making this their next job and together they had sought them out in an attempt to help. The reward wasn’t at all a significant figure, but the stolen treasure was said to be in the possession of a man who had obtained countless other priceless artifacts, each and everyone taken by force from their true owners over many years. After finding that out, Chloe and Nadine decided that relieving the man of a few antiquities putting them on the market, and returning to the adorable old couple with what was taken from them was the right course of action to take.
Right now Chloe sighed out in relief as she looked herself over in the bathroom mirror as she prepared to tie up her hair into her signature ponytail for what she was about to do. She rather liked the way she looked tonight. Her grey eyes really stood out after having applied a winged eyeliner with a simple light peach and pink eyeshadow that looked natural and not heavy or caked on. On her lips, she wore a lipstick that was a dark dirty red with undertones of brown. It wasn’t bright but it was still red. She wanted a pop of her signature color since she was stuck wearing black for Jergen Bushea’s black and white tie lavish get together, not that she wasn’t wearing the hell out of the backless number she was wearing, but she would have preferred to wear her red dress.
She bit her lip as she tied her hair. She couldn’t wait to get back home and out of this dress. The look Nadine had given her had sent a delicious shiver down her spine, and she herself wanted to get Nadine out of her Bartender’s outfit and finally let Nadine taste her. Unconsciously she rubbed at her left ear then shook her head.
First things first, she had to slip out of the lady’s room in this man’s mansion of a house and finish the job while Nadine kept an eye on all the guests and security as she served drinks behind the counter in the ballroom where the event was being held. She was glad she was alone now and not being asked to dance or flirted with by the countless men, and a few women, on the dance floor, because she was already taken not to mention her feet were killing her in the heels she was wearing. She looked down at her shoes in annoyance, she’d have to take them off before she left the lay’s room and attempted to knick the couple’s prized possession. No longer wasting any time, she quickly slid down to the floor and started by removing the buckle on the outer side of her ankle followed by removing her left shoe. Then she turned her right leg and paused to caress the newly acquired soul mark on her outer right ankle.
Since her mark had appeared a little over a month ago, it had never failed to make her smile. The mark itself was the color of a freckle and looked as if it were a henna tattoo. It was a reminder of the love that started to bloom between them on their first mission together in India nearly seven months ago. As a whole, it looked like a heart. On the left half was a profile of an Indian elephant head with its trunk extended down and the tusk of Ganesh under its ear and around its jaw. On the right half was the profile of a monkey facing the elephant with its tail curled to create the other hump of the heart with the word ‘Love’ making the point at the bottom starting at the elephant trunk and going along the beginning of the monkey’s tail, and in between everything is a smaller solid heart. Chloe still couldn’t believe she’d gotten so lucky. Nadine was the perfect woman and the matching mark, that had appeared under her left palm on her wrist, proved that they were both made for each other and no one else. She loved her mark and she loved her Nadine even more so. Smiling she removed her shoe stood up and left the bathroom with her high heels in hand.
As Chloe was making her way through the long hall to get to the lower level of the giant house, her earpiece came to life.
“Chloe you there?” Nadine asked in a hushed tone.
“Yeah China, I’m here. How’s it looking out there” She asked in reply as she continued walking.
“Everything is good here” Nadine replied looking around the room.”All the security we’ve seen during our steak outs are all here, and accounted for, with the guests making sure they don’t take anything that is on display in here, not that that stopped you” She laughed, as she started cleaning a dirty glass that was left on the drink bar’s counter. “Anyway, what’s your status on what we’re actually here for?”
Chloe’s frame relaxed as she stopped hugging the wall and taking measured steps “Well now that I know there’s no one to worry about it shouldn’t take me so long, I just have to get down the stairs and pick the lock then I can knick the item then we can leave” she answered as she took the stairs down.
“Okay, that sounds good, but with one modification I’m going to stay and finish my shift here so I don’t arouse any suspicion” she countered.
“Nadine I don’t feel comfortable leaving you a-” She was interrupted cutting her off as her earpiece sounded again
“Excuse me I’d like a Negroni and make it a double,” Said a voice that dripped of life long privilege and entitlement.
“Yes sir, coming right up.” Nadine turned around at the bar finishing their conversation as she grabbed the gin, the Campari, and the sweet vermouth. “Get what you need and get out Chloe. I’ll meet you back at our motel room with the duffel. I’ll be fine.”She declared in a swift hushed tone, concluding their conversation by turning off the piece in her ear.
“Nadine?...Nadine…? China?...aaaand she turned off her earpiece… aaaand now I’m talking to myself” She sighed as she turned off and remover the now useless device pulled out her lock picking set and got to work on the door to the left at the bottom of the stairs. “If anything happens...Stubborn dic-” The door’s lock gave way there we go,” she said triumphantly as she let herself into the man’s office room and closed the door.
Turning around, she finally got her first look at the old couple’s treasure, and what a treasure it was. Right on top of the desk in front of her was a beautiful necklace. Seventeenth-century in design if she wasn’t mistaken. It was beautiful. The centerpiece was a round ruby surrounded by small diamonds and surrounding the diamonds there was there were pieces of gold filigree that made the centerpiece as a whole look like a flower. Hanging from the centerpiece there were three smaller rubies and each had a single pearl held under them. The middle a black pearl, and the two outer ones both a white pearl. Holding it all together were two strings each a combination of small rubies, regular pearls, and black pearls. It was definitely her kind of necklace, and she appreciated its history, where it had been, all it had seen, and everything its previous owners had been through. With the necklace now in hand, she slipped it into her dress’s hidden pocket and slowly left the room. Closing the door behind her, she looked up to make sure the security camera was still angled to see further into the hallway and not Jergen’s office door like she had placed it earlier.
She was just going to head back up the stairs when she heard a door behind her open. “Shit” Jergen must have hired more security for the night, which actually made a lot of sense.
“Hey what are you doing down here?” the henchman asked grabbing her shoulder from behind.
She did the only thing she could think of. She held up her shoes higher, hiccuped, and prepared to slur her words. * hiccup * “ I neeeed to * hiccup * use the toilet” she replied.
He didn’t buy it. “You’re going to have to come with me,” He said grabbing her arm and twisting it hard behind her back.
She was officially blown. Using her other arm, she elbowed him in the solar plexus making him let her go, then turned and kicked him into the hallway table. Thinking she had him down and out, she turned to hurry up the stairs and leave when pain exploded through her head. She fell like a ton of bricks. The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was seeing that goon standing above her with the broken leg of the end table in his hands. “Na..dine…