Chapter 65
Mireya
Play - Forget Her by Jeff Buckley
Showtime
Hayzel laces her fingers in mine as we all walk up the cobbled driveway.
“It’ll be okay, Mireya,” she shrugs casually. “Right? Tell me it’s not a bad thing.”
She’s nervous, that’s new. My best friend, the social butterfly, is nervous about this exercise.
I grab her hand and intertwine it with mine, “It will, think of it as one of the parties we used to have back in the day. But safer.”
She nods before kissing my cheek and says, “Okay, good luck, Reya.”
The heels on our stilettos clip against the cobbled ground and the sound rings in my ears as we head inside. The door to one of the smaller classrooms is opened and we are greeted by Ms. Green who ushers us all inside.
She shuts the classroom door and closes the curtain. Ethan and Will are standing looking dapper in their three piece suits and Damien is sitting on one of the small tables talking to a few other instructors and looking over all of us.
When silence spreads across the room, he stands up and talks. “As field officers or operatives, you must be able to recruit people or gain vital information from your marks face-to-face.” He pauses before continuing, “In this case, tonight, you’ll be using your mind and body.”
Ms. Green says next, “Your objective is to create more of a personal relationship with your mark in order to gain information that's needed.”
She holds up a brown beat up leather satchel and stares at every student. “Here is all the information you need on your target ladies, Mister Caldwell has the same for the male agents,” she continues. “Your fake IDs and the name of your targets are in the envelopes.”
One-by-one we line up to retrieve our own.
I grip the faded picture in my hand before analyzing the small text that says Marc Cooper.
He’s older, mature and he’s an MI6 agent. British… he shouldn't be that hard to find.
In my other hand is my false identity card. Tonight I’m Roxanne Shay, a girl from New York who’s just moved here to Seraphin Bay for a new start in life.
“Mireya,” Hayzel appears next to me looking slightly frazzled. “Help me with this, I’m not sure if I can remember my false name.”
I slip my documents back into the envelope, tucking it under my arm before taking hers. I know this is not allowed, we should not know our fake identities, but I'm not going to sit back and watch my best friend fail this mission.
I remove everything from the envelope taking note of Hayzel’s false ID. ‘Lily Addams’ and her target is ‘Gregory Gould’ , a business tycoon who’s travelled here from Los Angeles.
“Okay, he seems like the kind of person who can easily spot when someone is telling a lie, so keep your conversations sweet and short. You’re a girl from Boston here for the weekend to sight see and meet some old friends.
” I look up at her before continuing, “You’re Lilly Addams, sweet, shy but outgoing when you’re in social settings.
Stick to one drink and one drink only Hayz, don’t get drunk tonight. ”
She nods her head but I don’t feel convinced.
“Who are you?” I let my hands fall to my sides.
“H—” she stammers but continues, “I mean, Lily Addams.”
“Who. Are. You?” I ask sternly.
“Lily Addams.”
“Again,” I tell her.
“My name is Lily Addams,” she replies more confidently than before, which leaves me smiling.
“See, you’ll be okay.” I grip her arms to give her a small shake. “I’ll still be with you tonight so if all else fails you can try to find me and accidentally bump into me with your drink.”
“Right, right. I can do this.”
“Here,” I hold out her documents and she takes them from me before moving to stand at my side, studying them.
“If I didn’t know you better I’d say you were an undercover agent already,” Damien says, startling me. He touches my hand softly but before I can say anything my head snaps towards Ms. Green who’s standing by the door checking her watch.
“You’re being loud about your favoritism, Mister Caldwell,” I whisper, looking up at him.
A faint smirk appears on his lips as he takes a step back.
“Okay, everyone get ready!” Ms. Green's voice booms and I see everyone discard their envelopes, handing them back to her or Damien.
I line up to exit watching everyone else file out of the room. I smooth out my dress, bending slightly to pick up the small train pooling at my feet and I feel Damien’s hand capturing my shoulder.
“Remember, I’ll be watching you. I’ll be in there with you,” he mouths before exiting the room.
I give it a few seconds before following him.
It’s showtime.
Play - Paradise Circus by Massive Attack, Hope Sandoval
The energy in the room feels electric as I head over towards the bar to order a drink. I know it may sound stupid to drink as you’re undercover or on a job but, I need something if I’m going to keep the persona of ‘Roxanne Shay’ going.
“What can I get you, darling?” the bartender asks as I arrive. I look around the open bar area scanning the crowd for my target.
Far on the left side, mid-forties, already starting the bottle he ordered.
Our eyes meet for a second and I smile shyly tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. Men are easy to manipulate. All it takes is a sweet smile, a bit of attention, and they’ll come right to you. I’ve been doing that all my life, almost had to learn it to get myself out of really difficult situations.
I’m hesitant before replying to the bartender but then I see him from the corner of my eyes, moving toward me.
Bingo…
“I'll have a vodka martini,” I reply as I dig around for my clutch for any loose dollar bills.
“I'll get this,” a deep British voice appears next to me and I look up to meet his gaze.
Here he is.
“No, no. It's okay,” I reply, trying to sound flustered.
“Marc Cooper,” he holds out his hand and I take it.
“Roxanne Shay,” I lied.
“Hmmm,” his mouth thins into a line as he gives me the once over.
“What?”
“You don’t look like a Roxanne Shay,” he tells me teasingly.
I place my hand onto the bar for support as I turn towards him. “And what does a Roxanne Shay look like?”
He moves his body closer to mine before leaning over to whisper in my ear, “Certainly not as beautiful as you.”
I cover my hand with my face, turning slightly so I can pretend to blush.
“Here you go,” the bartender appears and he places my drink down in front of me. “One vodka martini.” He slips a black napkin underneath my glass and I pick up my clutch to look for the cash again.
“Thank you.”
“It’s alright, I’ve already put your drink on my tab.”
I look up to see Marc still peering down at me. I smile before picking up my glass and taking a quick sip. “So, Mister Cooper,” I say softly. “What brings you here tonight?”
“You mean, apart from standing here and looking at an exquisite creature like you?”
Men are so predictable.
“I’m here for business actually, my company thought it would be beneficial for them if they mingle with charities and other social gatherings for promotion.”
Oh, so he’s chosen to lie, that’s interesting.
I nod my head pretending to be engaged in the conversation as I glance around the bar. I spot Hayzel at a table flirting with her target. He has his hand on her ass and she has her prettiest smile plastered on her face.
I fight back the urge to laugh. It seems she didn’t need my help after all.
My eyes snap back to Marc and I’m back listening to our conversation. He flirts, telling me a little more about his background and family back in England.
He is a single man, lives alone, and never had kids either.
Which I didn’t believe at all going off the tan line around his ring finger but I guess we are all pretending to be someone else tonight.
Yet another lie I have caught him out on.
He pretends to accidentally touch my hand and arm in a suggestive manner and I entertain keeping up the false persona.
I flirt, also telling him about the life of Roxanne Shay which leaves him bemused.
“I just need to go to the bathroom quickly,” I tell him and he nods his head.
“I’ll get us another round of drinks.”
I smile at him sweetly before twisting on my heel to head towards the bathroom.
I push through the sea of people who are standing near the bathroom, and spot Will talking seductively to an older but very attractive woman in the corner of the room.
I shake my head venturing forwards until I reach the women’s bathroom.
The bathroom is buzzing with women touching up their makeup or perfume. They leave quickly after that, and I’m all alone in there.
My reflection is strange.
I don’t look like myself tonight but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
Deep breaths, Mireya.
I run my hand through my hair as I head towards the sink to wash my hands when I hear the door being pushed open.
When I look up in the mirror, I see him behind me.
Damien.
He steps closer towards me, caging me there with both his arms. “How is it going?” He asks, eyes searching my face for anything unpleasant or to see if I’m withholding something from him.
I shrug my shoulders before answering, “As well as expected I suppose.” I look at the door before glancing back at him. “You shouldn’t be in here, Damien…”
“I don’t like the way he looks at you,” he says, crowding me. I didn’t realize what he was doing until my back hit the sink. “Is this allowed? Feeling sick when I see him smiling too long when he looks at you?”
Jealousy?
“Don’t do that…”
“Doing what? Letting you flirt with a man who wants to take you back to his room because you have to do it for a stupid exercise?”
“You shouldn't even talk to me tonight and you know that.”
“Do I look like I care, Miss Vitelli?”
“You set boundaries and you’re almost crossing them, Mister Caldwell.”
I watch something flash in his eyes.
“Boundaries are always crossed when it comes to you Mireya,” he whispers as his hand tightens on the sink. “I’m trying my hardest not to kill him when he touches you.”
“Why is that,” I say curiously.
“Because I hate the way he looks at you like you're his tonight,” he says between gritted teeth and it startles me a bit.
“That shouldn’t even be a problem,” I whisper.
“Would you like seeing me touching a woman’s arm and smiling like I’m thinking about fucking her?”
I feel a strange sensation in my body, warmth mixed with anger, like the image of this alone is already making me mad. “No…”
“Exactly. So if he touches you again or does anything inappropriately I will kill him.”
“Not if I kill him first,” I say, leaving him standing there alone before walking back out.
I pretend to sound out of breath when I get back to the small table I was at. Marc is sitting down now, his hand resting near our freshly ordered drinks.
“Is everything okay?” He asks as he looks at my slightly flustered face.
But I can feel Damien’s eyes, watching me, like he promised. And the thought of him keeping an eye on me is weirdly attractive.
“Yes,” I nod, grabbing my drink to take a sip. “There was just a huge queue by the bathroom, I wasn’t long was I?”
“No, not at all,” he says with a wide smile. “Listen, I hope I’m not being too forward but what do you say we take this little party back up to my room?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.” I drain the remains of my drink before grabbing my clutch and slipping it underneath my arm. I can feel his hand at the small of my back leading me towards the elevator, and just before the doors close, Damien appears.
His eyes meet mine and I smile to reassure him, although it feels like I’m trying to reassure myself…