"Zach! Shut up! You're going to set off the sensors!" I yelled as I lowered myself into the museum. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING could go wrong tonight, or my career as a spy would be terminated.
"I'm sorry Lorraine! It's not my fault my shoes are loud!" Zach retorted. I rolled my eyes as I hit the floor.
"You're going to blow our cover, Zach. When I agreed for you to be my partner, I thought you'd be a professional!" I grumbled as I smoothed out my outfit (.com/cgi/set?id=39044276) and fixed my hat. I reached into my utility belt and grabbed my camera eliminator. I scanned the ceiling with my eyes; twenty-four cameras in total. "Okay, give me the ladder." I instructed.
"Well maybe I wanna do the camera eliminating this time..." Zach pouted. I glared at him.
"Look Zach, we don't have much time, just-"
"No, let me do it." He commanded. I'd never heard so much force in his tone, especially since he was always flirting with me.
"Just hurry up, and make sure they don't see you. Bossman'll have a fit if we get caught."
"Don't worry, baby; I've got this." He winked as he climbed up the ladder. 'Baby' He says. How stupid. I've known Zach for a few years since we'd been working together. We were FBI spies; the best in the biz. So obviously they'd put us together. Our styles of work were so different though. I was quiet, stealth-like, seductive, and great at kicking ass. Zach, on the other hand, was loud, impatient, but quick and always looking for a challenge. So in a way; we balanced each other out. "See Lorraine? Painless." Zach said as he handed me my tool and folded the ladder up.
"Yeah, whatever."
"You know you love me..." He whispered as his hand brushed against my exposed stomach. Why did I wear the low-cut jeans? I thought to myself. Sure, he was hot. Very hot actually. All my friends were so jealous he was my partner. But Zachary Porter was ANNOYING AS HELL! He was just constantly trying to get with me.
"Okay, next objective...get to the 'Chamber Office'"
"What's the mission here anyway?" Zach asked as he followed me.
"Did you not read the assignment packet Boss man gave you?" I asked, slightly annoyed.
"Oh, I burned it. My apartment got kinda cold one night, so I threw that paper into the fireplace." He said, chuckling at my annoyance. I groaned.
"Since I'm the ONLY intelligent person who works for the Bureau; I'll tell you. The CIA had received some intelligence that a plan to steal some sacred artifact had been sent to the Smithsonian, which in case you didn't know, is the huge building we are in right now. It holds some of the most important documents and artifacts in U.S. History. What we're here for is to hack into the master computer, send the messages to the CIA, and find and stop the culprit...that I have a feeling is in here right now. You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down Zach?" I explained. He nodded as he walked beside me. I had my PDA with me, which sent me all the instructions for the mission.
"So where exactly is the 'Chamber Office'?" Zach asked as he looked around at all the dark images and figures.
"You'd think I'd remember; I surveyed this place yesterday..." I said, frustrated with myself.
"You look so cute when you're frustrated, Lorraine," Zach smirked. Despite myself, I felt my cheeks flush red. "And you look even cuter when you blush for me." He whispered as his hand brushed against mine. I let myself smirk idiotically as I jerked my hand away.
"Yo, we have a MISSION to focus on, okay?" I said as I hopped up a couple stairs.
"But it's so hard to focus when you've got that red lipstick and those beyond sexy boots on...you're so hot." He said a mixture of truth and lust in his voice. I rolled my eyes and tried to regain my focus; that whole blushing thing was just a formality, wasn't it? I didn't actually want him as more than a partner, right? Right. I'm right. I always am.
"Shut up, Zach." I said as we rounded a corner. Just as we reached the third level of the museum, I stopped abruptly. I swung my arm out to stop him too.
"What's- sensors right?" He said as he analyzed the wide hallway.
"Mmmhmm." I said as I studied the faint, green laser beams.
"What do you say we maneuver around this bitch, huh?"
"That's the smartest thing you've said all night!" I said as I checked my watch; 1 AM.
I went in first, only because I'm more slender. I swung my body every-which-way, never touching the beams. I'd done this so many times; it was like a second language. Then I stopped midway. Fucking computer nerds making the laser beams harder than they need to be.
"You stuck?" A low voice said in my ear. I shivered slightly as I felt Zach's breath in my ear. How did he get directly behind me and not set anything off? We were so close I could feel the metal of his belt buckle on the small of my back. As much as I hated to admit it; I loved being so close to him. So, if he wants me so bad, why not tease him a little? I brought my arms up and wrapped them around his neck. I could feel his heart pounding in his chest as I rapidly spun around to face him, putting myself in an easier position to get out of this laser-maze.
"Not anymore..." I said lowly as I gazed into his bright hazel eyes. His hands slid into my pockets and dragged me closer to him. "Hi..." I whispered, a hint of a smile appearing on my face. Zach bit his lips as He looked at me, and I mean checked me out ;)
"Hey..." He said. I could tell his breathing was getting rough. I leaned up even closer and pressed my lips to his, but for the record, we weren't kissing.
"Zach..." I said quietly. His breathing pace quickened and he slid his hands from my pockets to my back.
"Y-Yeah?"
"We've got a mission to complete." I smirked as I twirled around him and found my way out of the beams. He stood there shocked and aroused for a few minutes. I entered the security code into the control box. "Yo lover boy, you comin'?" I said as I began to walk away. I heard his footsteps pound behind me.
"Don't you ever tease me like that again, Lorraine."
"You're talking as if you never tease me."
"I don't."
"Yes you do, Zach, and I don't mind it because I actually enjoy it. It all becomes a problem when you're distracting us from our mission." I said in a huff, quickening my pace. I could almost feel his smile as he walked behind me. "FOUND IT!" I almost yelled as I quickly hurried over to the chamber door. I let Zach pick the lock.
"You wanna go in? I've done enough tonight."
"You haven't even gotten started." He said as he took my hand, looked both ways, and shut the door.
"Okay, this is pretty high security stuff; you should take it from here and disable all the alarms and such." Zach said as he leaned against the door frame.
"Then what're you gonna do! Just stand there like an imbecile?" I yelled in a whisper. He smirked at me. That devilish, cute smirk he always gave me.
"I'm gonna check you out of course." He said, almost laughing out loud at my disgusted expression. "Just kidding baby, just kidding. When you disable the stuff, I'll just saunter into that little nerd cave, hack into the computer, get the info...then I can take you home..." He said, biting his lip. I rolled my eyes for the thousandth time that night.
"You're a pervert."
"And you're a hottie." He retorted. We were wasting time. It was now 2:45 AM, and I wanted to be back by sunrise. I flipped and jumped and crawled through more laser beams, disabled all the cameras, and unlocked the door to the so-called "nerd cave". Zach walked over and opened the other door.
"See, now you forgot the part where we were supposed to catch the creep that put D.C. into a panic. What if they actually are here? You gonna just leave me here alone?" I said. Normally, Zach and I split up all the time, we prefer it that way. But we were dealing with a criminal mastermind. He had thrown the whole country into a state of hysteria. First it was the dumbass threat to steal The Declaration of Independence. Then it was random bomb scares and computer hackings that sent people over the edge. Quite frankly; I was scared. I had no idea if this person was armed, whether they were a male or female, or even if they were still in the city. But I had a strong sense they were here, in the Smithsonian...following out every move. It freaked the absolute shit outta me.
"Whoa...are you asking me to protect you? Lorraine Kanyike? The finest agent the Bureau has ever seen, wants me to PROTECT her? Man, this is gonna get around..." Zach said. I smacked him in the arm.
"Just listen, alright? I don't know if I'm up to fight tonight...with the criminal...or actually, you Zachary." I said as I waved him away. He placed my cheek in the palm of his hand.
"Again, you know you love me."
"Yeah, hurry up and finish here so we can get married... -_-" I grumbled as I leaned against the door frame. He chuckled as he went inside and began to work. A few minutes passed. "Zach, you almost done? I think I heard something." I said as I stood up straighter. There it was again. The light, airy footsteps. I reached into my belt and pulled out my hand-gun. The footsteps came closer and closer. I loaded the gun and waited. "Zach-"
"Almost done...just lemme email this file to-" I heard the chamber door creak open.
"Zach..." I said nervously. Of course, Zach has the friggin' flashlight. Why was it dark in here anyway? "Fuck it." I whispered as I dashed into the computer room, shut the door, and locked it.
"You okay?"
"DO I LOOK OKAY? I swear; whoever is doing this is here. They almost got me..." A sudden rush of embarrassment filled me. "I must look like such a fake...oh my god; I could've totally taken whoever was out there!" I said. Zach gave me a half-hearted smile.
"Hey, even the best agent needs to crack sometime. Look, I'm almost done here; we'll take that thing out there together. 'Cuz that's what partners do, you understand me?" Zach smiled. That was one of the things I loved about him; he always made things better. I sighed and nodded. I went next to him and sat down on the desk. I took off the leather jacket and laid it across the table.
"So, what exactly was in those messages? Was this physco gonna steal like a bust of George Washington or something?"
"Yeah, I wish it was that simple. This friggin' computer is ancient; it took me five minutes to figure it out."
"It's all strategy. They use an old computer 'cuz criminals won't know how to use it. It's kinda stupid, but people fall for it all the time. Like you." I smiled as I gripped the edge of the desk. I felt Zach staring at me. "What?" I asked innocently. Zach snapped his attention back to his task. "You can tell me, Zach. 'Cuz that's what partners do." I said, mocking his words. He laughed as he sat back in the chair.
"You just...confuse me." He said. I furrowed my brow.
"Is that a good confuse or a bad one?" I asked. Zach's gaze locked with mine as he stood in front of me, unconsciously spreading my legs wider so he could stand between them.
"Lorraine, you most definitely confuse me in the best way possible." He said. Our lips were literally millimeters away from each other. Part of me wanted to tell him to get back to work...but the other part wanted to stay locked in this position forever.
"Elaborate on that, please." I whispered. Zach closed the space in between our lips. I gasped noiselessly as he leaned in deeper, almost pushing me onto the desk. I put a hand on his chest. "What're you doing? We don't-."
"We have time." He said as he took my hand and ran my fingers through his hair. I sighed in defeat. There was no use; once Zach had his mind on something, there was no point in trying to stop him. His lips molded into mine again as he pushed me back onto the desk.
"We're going to get into so much trouble for this..." I breathed quietly.
"You just don't know how to live..." He moaned while kissing my neck. I gasped as Zach slipped his tongue into my mouth. Zach's hands rubbed my sides as he moaned in ecstasy at the feeling of our lips moving together the way they did. Zach pulled away and left small, loving kisses on my neck. Kisses that made me feel like I was on fire, but in the best possible way. Kisses that were so strong, they were sure to leave reminders later.
"Zach..." I groaned softly as my back involuntarily arched up to his touch. Everything about him knocked the wind out of me; it took everything in my power to stop from screaming out. "Zach, please..."
"I've got you baby girl, try to keep it in."
"I-I can't..."
"Yeah you can, you do it every time you see me." He said with a grin.
"Zach...now's not the time..." I said before I moaned loudly as he bit my bottom lip and took it in between his teeth. Just then, a loud shot registered in my ears. It momentarily threw me out of my state of paradise before Zach kissed me again. "Did you hear that?"
"Is it okay if we choose to ignore it? The doors locked...we've got all night..." He whispered sensually in my ear as he bit down on my earlobe. I shivered as I considered the thought. He chuckled darkly as if he understood my body language.
"No...I don't want you to get fired. Us to get fired." I said slowly sitting up. Zach half-heartedly moved off of me. I could tell he was disappointed. He wanted me more than anything and I kept pushing him away. I ran my fingers through his hair and caressed his cheek.
"Listen Zach, you can have me...any way you want me...once we get this dude who's interrupting our downtime. ;)" I said sincerely. To be honest, I would've dropped the whole god-damn mission to stay in that office locked away with Zach. His eyes widened as he contemplated the comment.
"Let's kick some ass." He smiled as he quickly finished his work on the computer and opened the door.
"You have your gun?" I asked as I opened the other door.
"Always..." Another loud shot rang out.
"This way." I instructed as I rounded a sharp corner. The cold metal of a gun pounded into my temple.
"Move away..." A light, airy voice of a woman commanded. I rolled my eyes. Obviously an amateur. Zach knew the procedure.
"Okay lady, we're not gonna hurt you, too much. Just let her go, then we can handcuff you, and the rest will hopefully be painless." Zach said rationally. The woman tightened her grip around my neck. I raised my arm with the gun and smashed it into her head, not enough to do anything, just enough to make her flinch in sudden pain.
"On the wall, NOW." I commanded. The woman agreed without hesitation.
"Shit..." I heard Zach mutter from behind me. As soon as I finished cuffing the the woman, I turned around and saw the scariest thing of my life. This dude was legit three times bigger than me. Like I'm talkin' six feet tall, 300 pounds, scary and menacing. He had a huge gun pressed against Zach's head and my heart started pounding rapidly. I could not let this guy kill Zach, because by the look on his face, he'd have no problem doing so. I breathed calmly and took a step closer.
"Okay...this is just not adding up..." I began. "Why would you hack into a museum computer? I don't understand. If this whole thing is about money, shouldn't you like rob a bank or something? 'Cuz THAT crime wouldn't involve wasting our time. This has got to be the-"
"SHUT UP!" The stranger bellowed. I silenced immediately. "The shitty-ass FBI killed our daughter last year, we just thought that if the FBI lost some of its own, they'd have a little more compassion." He explained. My eyes went wide. I had heard about that case, Zach and I had covered it. But we never killed her.
"Oh my god...I'm...I'm sorry. But is killing him really gonna change anything? Your daughter won't be proud from wherever she is. If you pull that trigger; the only thing that's gonna happen is you getting charged with homicide. Now look, I am truly sorry about your daughter, and I'm almost positive that I can get you and your little accomplice here no jail time," I paused as I heard Zach gasp for air, " But please, just don't shoot him; Zach means so much to me." I said sincerely. The man contemplated my plea and dropped Zach. A sigh of relief filled me...until a loud shot rang out and a sharp pain entered my shoulder. I'd been shot. Zach was by my side in no time.
"You okay?" He asked as if this was a regular occurrence.
"Yeah, some douche I totally vouched for just shot me in the shoulder and there's blood oozing all over my clothes; I'm just swell Zach." I said through gritted teeth. He laughed as he kissed my cheek and sat me up.
"Easy there, back-up's got them, and the first aid kit is in my car. C'mon." He instructed as he stood me up. I looked at my hand and it was covered in blood.
"Damn...my clothes are ruined..." I said as we snuck out the back door. Zach opened the back door of his Range Rover and led me inside. I winced slightly as I edged further into the car.
"Okay, off with the shirt." Zach ordered as He rummaged through the kit. I looked at him skeptically.
"This isn't just another ploy to get me naked, right?" I asked mock-cautiously.
"You're hilarious. If we don't treat that, it'll be all disgusting and gross and I'll be forced not to look at you. And I really like looking at you ;)" He winked. I sighed as I slid out of my shirt. Zach stared at me briefly before he grabbed he alcohol from the kit. "This might sting a little..." He said as he edged closer to me; impossibly closer. I hissed painfully; this was precisely the reason I hated gunshots. "Shh..." Zach soothed as he softly kissed my cheek.
"Is it bad?"
"No, absolutely not. The bullet didn't even do anything. It just penetrated the skin a little. Nothing serious." He said as he grabbed the bandage and wrapped me up.
"Thanks Zach." I said as I reached for my shirt. He clutched my wrist and lowered it.
"Did you mean what you said? Back in the museum?" He asked me as he inched closer. My breathing became uneven as he pushed me against the window.
"Zach-"
"Did you mean it? Lorraine I have to know...do I really mean so much to you?" He asked. I sighed heavily.
"Yes Zach, I meant every word. I think me..." I paused. I just couldn't say it. Zach's bright hazel eyes bore into mine with such a strong, intense passion, waiting for me to finish my sentence. I forced my eyes away from him. No, this wasn't happening.
"Tell me..." He pressed on. I groaned in annoyance.
"Fine. You know what Zach? I love you. Okay? I just love everything about you. I love working with you, and hearing you flirt with me all the time, and knowing you'll always be there even when I'm acting a bitch; I just fucking love you. I love you so much Zach, alright? Now can I have my shirt back?" I said in a huff. He sat back for a moment but then passed me my shirt. As soon as I pulled it over my head and smoothed it out; his lips harshly pushed into mine. I had an urge to pull away; but I couldn't.
" I love you too. I love you so much. You don't even know- I just wanna be with you." He whispered against my lips; sending shivers through me.
"Zach," I began quietly.
"You just love to ruin everything, don't you?" He chuckled as his lips meandered over to mine again. God knows how long we were in that car. Seconds, minutes, HOURS, who knows...but all I remembered from that night was eventually driving off to Zach's apartment and doing it all again ;)
"There's something 'bout the way you sleep when you're lying next to me...I don't know how you do your thing, no, but you do it you do it you do it to me3" (Do It To Me All-Star Weekend) Zach whispered in my ear as I could feel my eyelids slowly drop.
"Pretty song, Zach..." I said as I yawned. Zach kissed my forehead as he pulled me in closer to his bare chest.
"And to think this was just another night on the job ;)"