Briella
Me, Syd and Colby leave the hut decked out in the finest duds we could find on such short notice. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a gown on a tropical island. We almost had to resort to wearing flower printed sundresses. Oh, the socialite horror!
“Syd, we’ll go over it one more time.”
“Colby, I’ve been at this almost as long as you have. I’ve gone undercover more times than I can count. I know what I need to do… keep Colm away from his phone. I’m not an amateur.”
“I know, but I promised Cross I’d keep an eye on you.”
“Fuck you man.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Was that supposed to be a secret?” Colby laughs as Cross calls him a few choice words.
“I’ll be fine. God, men. And people wonder why I don’t do relationships. Sex is where it’s at.”
We hear a growl through the ear pieces. “I’m pretty sure someone disagrees with you.” I laugh.
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Syd levels me with a glare.
“Hell yes, you assholes are always giving me shit about Colby and it’s about time you got a dose of your own medicine.”
Our banter seizes when we approach the building. It’s massive and looks out of place compared to the other buildings on the island. It structurally resembles a warehouse which shocks me. I would have thought they’d roll out the red carpet at the finest establishment for this party.
We already know there are four guards combined out front with one at the door checking names. We’ve already worked up a story as to why Syd’s with us. Colby gives our names to the guard and when he looks over the list he looks over towards Sydney with a death glare. This is almost too easy. He’s giving us the text book response.
“Who’s she? I don’t see her name on the list with you.”
“Sorry, my sister surprised us and dropped in on our honeymoon.” I roll my eyes letting him know it’s not the ideal situation. “We’re friends with Colm O’Leary if you’d like to ask him?”
“Sure, Colm’s friends with everyone.” He chuckles showing his sarcasm. The burly security guy pulls out his walkie talkie and asks for confirmation with our names and stating we have a friend. When he mentions Colm with sarcasm in his voice, as if we couldn’t be friends with someone of his importance, I wanna junk punch him.
“Let them in, the boss says he’ll meet them at the door.” Comes through in response.
I smile up at Colby and he pats my ass. He didn’t think this would work, clearly underestimating a woman’s skills of persuasion… not that I did much.
“I guess you got lucky tonight.” The guy lets us through the velvet ropes and into the party. As promised, once we get through the door we see my father making his way towards us.
“Welcome. What’s this about a friend I hear?” His eyes rake over Sydney’s body with approval.
“I’m so sorry, but we didn’t think you’d mind. You see, my sister thought she’d surprise us on our honeymoon…” I give him the same spiel, but he doesn’t look as put out as the security guard.
“Please, allow me to take your dear sister off your hands… so the newlyweds can have some time to themselves.” He looks at Sydney. “Shall we?”
“Catch ya later.”
I wave her goodbye and know she can get the job done. If anyone’s a master at seduction… if it comes down to it, it’s Sydney. That girl jumps from guy to guy so fast she has my head spinning. She can get the men panting after her with just one crook of her well sculpted eyebrow.
I cringe a little when Colm’s hand rests dangerously low on her back. By dangerously low I mean on her ass and I’m expecting Syd to deck him. But like a true professional, she runs a finger down the center of his chest and gives her megawatt smile.
We update the team on Syd’s current situation. We hear a growl and I know it’s Cross. Poor guy. I need to find out more about that situation later, much later after all this is said and done.
“We have three guards on us. Six, three and twelve o’clock.” Colby whispers in my ear.
I nod my understanding and pull him onto the dance floor. It’s weird actually being a couple and not having to play one any longer. But not weird in a bad way, it feels right. I shake that thought from my head needing to focus. This is not the time to be thinking about my future with Colby.
“Enjoy your dance, I’m gonna stay with Syd for the night to make sure everything’s on the up and up. Hopefully she can distract him with her wits.” Chantel chimes in.
“Let us know if anything seems fishy. Direct us to the best location so we’re close enough if something goes down.”
“Will do captain.”
Looking around all I see is sketchy characters mixed in with tourists. Men in designer suits and women wearing dresses that could pose as a second skin on their rail thin frames. The tourists are few and far between, but you can’t miss them. Looks of awe and admiration on their faces from the opulence of the décor and sophistication of the drinks.
Colby twirls me around the dancefloor for a while keeping an eye on things when I need a break
We notice some commotion and look over towards the entrance. Of course, Nadia is making her grand entrance. I’d expect nothing less after watching her for the past few days. Colm greets her by kissing the life out of her… and then I process the fact that Syd’s nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Syd?” I crane my neck around trying to see if I’ve missed her when I gave a once over to all the party goers. “Sky, do you see Syd anywhere?”
“She went out of view for a second before Nadia came in and then Colm was by himself. Let me check the other cameras.”
“Shit, I don’t like this.” Colby states while looking through the crowd.
“Don’t be obvious. Give the girls a chance to look around.”
“Something doesn’t feel right.” He squeezes my hand as we walk back on the dance floor. We sway back and forth waiting for some intel.
I look around and notice a back door that’s guarded. “Right behind you is a door. I have a feeling that since we can’t see Syd that that’s where she’d be taken.”
“Fuck,
“Agreed. I’m going to distract the guard and you need to get back there.”
“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here by yourself.” Colby states.
“I don’t like the idea of Sydney being alone with anyone in the Irish mob. I’m up here and I’ll make sure to stay on camera so the girls can see me, but I have a feeling I’ll be kicked out soon after you get through.” “No worries. Don’t forget, I’m trained to kick ass.” I smile to reassure him I’ll be fine.
“Guys…” And the fake smiles wipe from our faces.
“What is it Marcus? Did you find the shipment?”
“That was the plan, but there’s no boat.”
“What the fuck do you mean there’s no boat?”
“I meant what I said. Not so much as a tug boat’s come up to the dock and it was supposed to come in an hour ago. Something’s going on.”
“Stay where you are, we’re gonna try to get a look around and find Syd.”
“Syd’s missing?” Cross booms and I wince from the pain in my ear.
“Didn’t you hear us talking about it?”
“The signal was spotty for a few minutes. We had to reboot our ear pieces, I’m coming your way.”
“No, Cross stay put, we’ve got her and if we need you we’ll call you. Blowing our cover could be dangerous right now.”
“Fuck, okay keep me posted.”
“Let’s do this.”
“Chantel, split your tasks with Sky. One of you needs to follow Colby and the other has to stay with me in the party in case anything comes up.”
“Got ya, no worries.” Is the response we receive.
“Don’t be mad if I have to use some drastic measures to distract him.”
“I’m not going to like this am I?”
I roll my eyes and saunter away from Colby and over towards the guard. When I get a little closer I start to stagger my step. The big brute immediately zeroes in on me like I expected.
“Don’t forget the guys tailing you. You need to make them lose you in the crowd before you approach the door.”
“You say that like I’m a rookie. I’m wounded.” Colby laughs then goes silent. He loves a good challenge.
When I get closer to the security guard, I know I need to give Colby a few minutes to finish his task of losing the security detail. If they’re as good as they should be, one of the guard’s eyes will be on me. With how packed the dance floor is it shouldn’t be too difficult to lose the others.
“S’cuse me good sir. Can ya point me to the little girl’s room?” I slur.
He crosses his arms, less than amused. He points to the alcove right next to him without uttering a word to me.
“Silly me.” I
I run into the bathroom and stand there for a few moments before exiting back towards the guard. They need to think I was in here for a purpose. When I go to walk past him, I “trip” and topple towards the ground. Immediately hands are on me and I’m being lifted into the air.
“I think you’ve had enough tonight. I’m going to call someone to get you out of here.”
“But, why can’t you take me home big boy?” I wink at him and smile.
“I’ll pass.” He’s about to lift up his radio when I grab his face and pull it towards mine. For a small girl I have some strength, so when he tries to pull away I hold him to my lips for a good 15 seconds before he’s prying me off of him.
How gross, his breath is something I never want to experience ever again and I’m just praying that Colby got in there because I’m fairly certain I’m going to be ejected from this soiree like anticipated.
“That’s it, you’re out of here. Hey man, get her outta here.” He yells to one of his buddies. When he tries to haul me out, I shake his grip from my arm and state that I can leave of my own accord.
The guard is following me to the exit when I hear Colby in my ear. “I’m spanking your ass for that later.”
I look around to make sure the guards not close enough to hear me. “You say that as if I enjoyed his putrid breath.” I fake gag. “Please tell me you’re in.”
“I’m in, hang around in case I need back up.”
“Of course, good luck.”
“Shit I gotta go!”
I look back one last time before I walk out the door and see my father directing Nadia through the same door Colby just snuck through.
“Colby, Colm’s right on your heels with Nadia.” I try to warn him.
Silence.