Page 30 of Checkmate

Olly jumps up onto the table and hisses at Kai. “Piss off you wrinkly devil.”

“Hey, you leave him alone,” I admonish and Olly struts over to me and dips his head for a scratch. I stand and pick him up, heading for the living room. I flop down on the couch and Olly curls up on a throw pillow. Kai joins me, picking up my legs and taking a seat on the couch, resting my legs across his lap.

“What’s the deal with this mission?”

Kai laughs. “You make it sound so much more exciting than it is. Occasionally certain teams get assignments. We expected them to come now that we have you, but we thought we had more time to train as a team before that happened. Normally we wouldn’t have group assignments since we’re technically handlers. Mr. Z may have singled us out due to our abilities if a team needed our help, especially after you left, but now you’re back. It shouldn’t be anything too complicated since he didn’t give us notice and we have you with us.”

“And we just have to do what he asks?” I raise an inquisitive brow.

“That’s the general idea. Other teams do it because they want to, us though, we don’t really believe that we have a choice. We were created and now it’s time for us to shine. And I know it’s hard for you to believe but we like what we do, we just don’t like that man at the top.”

“I don’t even know the full list of my abilities.” I whine, changing the subject, I don’t want to get into it about Mr. Z right now. He can go eat a bag of dicks and choke on them for all I care, but I definitely want a front row seat to that show.

“Don’t worry about it. You just turn up and look pretty and leave the rest to us.” He winks.

“Oh yeah and what's your best ability, huh?”

“It’s very similar to x-ray vision but I don’t have the best control over it. Luckily for me I’m really good at sneaking up on people when I need to. It helps that I'm not six foot six and built like a biker.”

“Are you shitting me? That’s awesome! Why did you guys all get the good stuff?”

Kai laughs and finishes ordering us food, then flicks a button and a tv raises up from within the damn wall. He picks some random movie and we both just chill curled up on the couch in our little bubble until our food gets here.

***

Kai and I spent a few hours relaxing, eating food and he made some really horrible concoction that he claims helps with hangovers. I now know why; it’s so damn revolting that my stomach coiled as soon as it went down and then it came straight back up.

I came upstairs an hour ago to get dressed when Brennan informed me that he had my outfit sent up to my room. Normally I would kick up a stink about a man dictating what I wear especially when this is now the second time–first time was dinner with Mr. Z, and now Brennan–but I figure this is a job and I want to prove my worth. If I’m ever going to get close enough to my biological father to make him believe that I’m on his side then I need to rein in my temper tantrums.

I pull the dress out of the garment bag and reconsider that tantrum. There is barely any material and there's no way I will be able to wear any underwear. I drop my towel and shimmy into the dress. It's a tight blood red dress that crosses at the front and ties behind my neck, leaving my cleavage on full display and my ass barely covered. The front is tight enough that my breasts look fantastic and pop.

The shoe box that accompanied the garment bag has a pair of matching red heels and I slip them onto my feet. They’re a lot more comfortable than they look and damn, they make my legs look great. After I finish applying my makeup, there's a knock at the door and Brennan pops his head in. He takes his time looking over my outfit, lust filling his eyes. He clears his throat and the lust disperses as he pulls himself together.

“We're about to brief.”

I nod and grab my purse, slipping my phone and lipstick inside, and follow Brennan down the stairs. All of them are already dressed in suits, their hair slicked back, and I even notice the expensive watches they wear. The kitchen bench is covered in all different types of weapons. It momentarily shocks me, but I don’t know why I’m so surprised. It’s not like I expected them to go unarmed and I have seen them all carry before.

“Jolie, this is for you,” Chester says, holding out a diamond bracelet. “It has a GPS tracker inside. We also have a fake perfume that’s actually mace, so be careful, and a lipstick that flips up into a knife and a fake ID.”

He hands them to me carefully and I put them into my purse. Once everyone has their weapons of choice, the bench is cleared and Brennan places a blueprint down onto the table.

“Jolie, your mark will be in the bar. Your job is to keep him preoccupied while we're upstairs searching his room.”

“Wait, you’re trying to tell me that it's going to take the five of you to break into one room?” I give them a mocking glare and roll my eyes. “Kai is more than capable of doing that by himself.”

“We were instructed to go in as a team. I will memorise all of the documents, Kai will get us in.” Brennan says and Kai cuts him off.

“Creed and Chester are the muscle in case we get our asses caught and Trace will be outside in a van scanning the surveillance tapes for any faces he recognises.”

“Fair enough. Do we have a picture of the guy I have to entertain?” I say and wiggle my brows.

“You don’t have to fuck him Little Angel, just keep him interested and above all else, keep him at that bar. We will need half an hour tops.”

“That I can do,” I say with a small nod. Brennan sifts through a file on the table next to him and hands me a photo of my mark. He's fairly attractive for a guy most likely in his forties. Everyone starts to move around the room and I hand Brennan back the photo.

“His name is Martin Simpson. He's an extremely wealthy man, but I can’t stress enough that you do not leave that bar with him. He is associated with some very bad things and he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to exploit you.”

“What’s he into?”

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