Chapter 14
Hihi, Mrs & Mrs Smith.
Emergency mission.
The telecommunication awards (TTAs) might be a target for terrorist group The Sisters of Liberty, more specifically tonight’s host Imogen Morgan and her family.
You MUST stop the attack. If you do not this mission will be considered a failure. It is imperative no one at the TTAs is harmed. They are vital assets to the FBI.
What to wear will be delivered to your house at a moment's notice, the location is already in your GPS.
They’d had to make up an excuse for Jen and Alice to leave and luckily they seemed to take it well. All that was said was that they needed to do this again sometime, and Agatha and Rio had wanted nothing more.
Agatha was waiting by the front door after chugging down what felt like a gallon of water to sober her up in the clothes she’d be instructed to wear. A form-fitted black suit with no blouse underneath so you could see the deep purple lace bra she was wearing and black kitten heels. She wasn’t sure if she should keep the red lipstick on but decided to do so anyway. They were going to an award show after all.
The elevator pinged and Rio stepped out. She didn’t bother holding in her laugh.
The agency had made them match. They looked identical down to the red lipstick. The only difference was that Rio wore a forest green lace bra to Agatha’s purple.
“For fucksake,” Rio mumbled although she was smiling.
“I think we look hot,” Agatha said. “I would want to fuck us if I saw us coming.”
Rio rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”
***
Rio parked their car a block away from the event location. Upon their arrival, Hihi sent another message instructing them to say their names to the security detail at the door and to wait for further instructions once inside. They were to act like the married couple they’d been assigned to be.
Agatha took Rio’s hand in hers as they approached the event. She wasn’t kidding about what she said earlier. They looked hot, like one of those couples you see modelling for high-end fashion brands. She thought maybe it was cringe of her to think so, but she didn’t care. If your wife was as hot as Rio Vidal, you would think shit like this too.
The event was being hosted in an off-Broadway theatre that needed refurbishing three decades ago. The place reeked of the 90s, paint was falling off the walls, the chairs in the entrance were covered in a thick layer of dust. Wasn’t this supposed to be a prestigious award show? Why had they chosen here of all places?
“Names?” The security guard said as she approached.
“Agatha Smith.”
“Rio Smith.”
The guard laughed before she said something Agatha didn’t catch.
“Spread your legs,” the security guard told her.
Agatha raised an eyebrow, and Rio shot the woman a look that would’ve crushed lesser mortals souls and withered their bodies to ashes.
“Oh, sorry. I mean I need to pat you down for weapons,” she laughed, realising the error in her choice of words.
Agatha nodded and Rio’s eyes narrowed further as the guard approached Agatha. She had to force herself not to laugh.
Rio’s jealousy over the smallest comment was unexpected, she didn’t seem like the jealous type. Until she had started to open up, she had always been awkward and somewhat shy. None of those traits screamed possessive bitch. She might give Agatha a run for her money.
Agatha slid her gun from its holster and discreetly passed it to Rio underneath her suit jacket. One thing she hated about The Smith’s Programme was that they couldn’t have badges or have license to carry their guns around wherever they pleased. They had to pose as normal law-abiding citizens. It was a pain in Agatha’s ass.
She wouldn’t be lying if she said this security guard was being…thorough. She was taking her sweet time with the pat down, often repeating the action on a limb she’d done more than once. Agatha could feel Rio twitching next to her. She wouldn’t be surprised if Rio’s finger accidentally slipped and one of the two guns she was holding went off.
“I think you’re done,” her wife all but growled at the security guard.
The other woman blinked as if she hadn’t realised what she was doing.
She cleared her throat. “Erm…yes. Your turn,” she said to Rio.
Rio gave her a bitter smile before storming over to her, stepping in front of Agatha to block the woman’s access to her just in case she felt the need to make up an excuse to touch her again.
Rio shoved the guns into Agatha’s hands and waited for her pat down.
It was over in seconds, the other woman probably scared Rio would bite her head off or something.
“Oh, so you can move quicker than snail's pace. Never would’ve guessed by all that attention you were giving my wife.”
Agatha turned away to hide her smile. Rio sounded just like her.
“I…I…” the security guard stuttered.
“I think you owe her an apology,” Rio said, nodding her head towards Agatha.
“Sorry,” she said without looking up. She mumbled another apology to Rio before scurrying away.
Rio watched after her, daggers in her eyes.
It was Agatha slipping her gun back in her gun holster that snapped her attention away. She let her hand rest on Rio’s waist as the other woman’s eyes locked on her.
“So, you’re the jealous type?” Agatha raised an eyebrow.
Rio didn’t bother denying it, she just shrugged.
“And just when I thought you couldn’t get any hotter,” Agatha smirked, letting her hand slide across Rio’s stomach as she walked away from her.
***
Rio found herself in a dim corridor on the second floor of the theatre.
Hihi had sent them further instructions. They were to split up. Agatha was to stay in the audience and monitor any suspicious movement from there, and Rio was to cover the second floor and its balconies.
Her gun was trained in front of her as she scanned the corridor. So far everything appeared normal. Rio hated it. Her anxiety was at an all-time high. In situations like this when everything appears ‘normal’ they most definitely are not. She just wished there was a tell, something that stuck out, something that seemed out of the blue.
She drew closer to a pair of double doors, the sounds of muffled laughter behind it. She put her gun away as she approached the door. A woman in an all-black suit holding a gun would raise some suspicions among audience members.
Rio pushed on the double doors before hands grabbed her. One covered her mouth the other wrapped around her body forcing her backwards. The suddenness of the action had caught her off guard, and it was only when she was being dragged through another set of doors and into a darker corridor did her instincts kick in.
She elbowed her attacker which earned a grunt from behind. Rio spun on them, hand flying to her gun to aim and potentially shoot when she froze just like she had the first time she saw the woman.
“Alice?!” Rio whisper yelled.
“Hey,” Alice replied, her hands still up because Rio hadn’t lowered her gun.
“What the hell! I could’ve shot you!” She dropped her gun. “What are you…”
It was then Rio took in her appearance. She was dressed the exact same as her except her lace bra was orange instead of Rio’s green.
“You’re in the programme.” Rio wasn’t asking, she already knew the answer.
Alice nodded. “As are you.”
“You wanted to be a cop last time I checked.”
“Isn’t a special agent just a glorified version of that?”
Rio raised her eyebrows as if to say, ‘True.’
“What about you? Didn’t you want to be a biologist?”
“Taxonomist,” Rio corrected.
Alice scoffed. “Yeah, so how’d you end up in the FBI?”
“Life.”
Alice tilted her head as if to say, ‘Fair enough.’
Footsteps sounding in the corridor next to them snapped the two women back to the mission at hand.
“We’re not done talking about this,” Alice whispered.
Rio pulled her gun out and Alice followed suit. She cracked open the door slightly and there in the corridor were twenty or so people all in black suits. Rio locked eyes with Alice, her face wearing a perplexed expression. Were they FBI agents or something else?
They waited, watching to see how the suited people acted to determine who they were. They didn’t seem to be doing much. They weren’t even talking to one another, just standing around twiddling their thumbs. They didn’t seem alert enough to be agents, but they weren’t moving with any purpose to be potential terrorists.
So…who were they?
Alice and Rio stayed hidden behind their door for a good five minutes before the suited people actually did something. They started disappearing into the different doors leading into the theatre. Once the last person had entered, the two women finally left their spot and ran to open the double doors.
They were locked.
Rio yanked as hard as she could. The door didn’t budge. They tried every door along the corridor, the verdict was the same. The doors had been bolted shut.
“Shit,” Rio whispered as she pressed her com. “I know you can’t reply but I’m just letting you know they’ve locked the doors on the second floor. Gonna try the ground floor now,” she told Agatha.
“How many agents do you think are here?” Alice said.
“I don’t know. It’s a bit fucking stupid they didn’t tell us about other agents being here.”
“I guess we’re technically not supposed to know about anyone else in the programme,” Alice said, nodding to the door they’d just come from.
“But then how do we know who the enemy is and who’s not?” Rio replied as she opened the door and slipped through.
She briefly wondered if she should trust Alice. She had no proof that she was actually in the programme. All she had was Alice’s word. She could be lying. She could be part of The Daughters of Liberty.
On this rare occasion, Rio chose to be naïve. Alice had been her best friend once, joining a terrorist group seemed extremely out of character even if she couldn’t technically claim to know the woman anymore after over a decade of no contact.
They ran down the corridor, pushed open the door at the end of it, and flew down the stairs to the ground floor.
Alice and Rio froze as they opened the doors to the reception.
Guns. Multiple. Were trained on them.
“Hands up!” A man in a black suit boomed.
“It’s okay we’re-”
Rio nudged her to keep quiet. They had to be smart; she didn’t know if they were agents or not.
The two women complied, putting their hands up in surrender.
“Grab their weapons,” the man said.
Two black-suited figures came towards them and Rio had to fight the urge to react. Usually, she’d try to figure out an escape plan, but she was well and truly trapped, and she had to worry about Alice. It wasn’t like if she were with Agatha. The other woman would probably read what she was about to do before she did it.
Agatha.
Was she okay? Was she being held at gunpoint too? She hadn’t heard from her wife since they parted ways.
A sick feeling began to twist Rio’s stomach.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three gunshots rang out from within the theatre. Everyone in the reception froze as screams sounded. Next, the locked doors started moving as people tried to get out. More gunshots sounded and the black-suited people surrounding Rio and Alice turned their guns to the double doors.
Shit.
This was going to turn into a bloodbath.
BANG!
Rio whipped to the side to see a body fall to the ground.
A burst of FBI agents wearing bulletproof vests with ‘FBI’ in big bold yellow stormed the building. The suited people turned; fire arms raised.
“FBI, put your weapons down and keep your arms up,” a woman yelled. “We outnumber you. It is in your best interest to comply unless you want this to get messy.”
Rio recognised that voice.
She locked eyes with the owner of said voice and her stomach twisted. It was her former boss, Lila Calderu.
She snapped her eyes away to catch the last of the suited people to put their weapons down. The FBI agents moved in, barking orders and arresting the criminals.
Two agents started approaching Alice and Rio before Lila intervened.
“They're with us,” she said.
The agents nodded and retreated.
“Mrs and Mrs Smith,” Lila greeted.
“Long time no see, Agent C,” Alice replied.
The nickname. That came with familiarity. How had Rio never come across Alice in her entire time working for the FBI?
“Hello, Alice,” Lila smiled. “Hello, Rio.”
Rio stared at her. She was the reason she had been dropped from the main field; she was the reason she’d had to start living under an alias permanently, she was the reason…
She met her wife.
“Hello, Agent Calderu.”
The sound of splitting wood sounded and the locked doors to the theatre smacked open. The reception was now rid of criminals and the frightened audience could leave the theatre without any obstacles.
Rio watched the onslaught of people, all terrified, some covered in blood, some crying.
“I must deal with this,” Lila said, turning to leave with her fingers pressed to her com. She paused before she added, “Find your wives.”
The words activated something in Rio. It was like she was a magnet with the one and only urge to find its opposite.
She looked to Alice who nodded for her to go ahead.
Rio nodded back before she pushed her way through the crowd towards the theatre. She felt like she was drowning, like she was swimming against the tide trying to drag her under. She didn’t care. She fought harder, pushing and elbowing until she could climb onto a chair and seek out her wife.
She couldn’t see her.
A slither of fear started to inch its way up Rio’s body. Medics were crouching around limp bodies; FBI agents were carrying out arrests alongside other agents in The Smith’s Programme in their black suits.
Rio’s eyes landed on the stage for the first time. There was a huge blood stain, and a black body bag was being placed next to a dead body. She couldn’t tell who it was.
“You looking for someone?”
That voice. Rio loved that voice.
She looked down to see Agatha staring up at her.
Rio didn’t bother hiding her smile as she dropped down from the chair and into her wife’s arms. Agatha squeezed her tightly.
She knew this wasn’t professional, that they should be acting like agents right now. But as always when it came to Agatha.
Fuck professionalism.