RING
A woman, nearing her thirties, wakes from a dead sleep at the sound. Her heart instantly quickening in speed as she reaches for the hotel phone, she halts just before picking up the receiver, waiting to see if it rings again. Praying it doesn't.
RING
"Shit," she curses and picks up. "Hello?"
"Ms. Smith," it's the hotel receptionist, "there are some gentlemen here asking for you, I know it's late but they say it's urgent."
"What are they wearing?" 'Ms. Smith' asks, but it doesn't matter because she is already pushing her clothes into her one small travel bag as quickly as possible.
"Excuse m-"
"What are they wearing!" the woman yells impatiently, as if everything rides on this one small detail, when in reality she knows no matter what she's leaving this hotel in a few moments. She's slipping her feet into a pair of running shoes and straightening her shorts and tank top.
"Um… expensive looking suits?"
CLICK 'Ms. Smith' slams the receiver back into place.
"How did they find me?" she asks her reflection as she hastily ties her long blonde hair out of her face. But there's no time to really wonder about that now. She tosses her bag over one shoulder and grabs her blue suede charm bracelet off the nightstand and sprints out the door.
She hesitates for a fraction of a moment only to fascine her bracelet on her wrist and check a specific charm. "Real," she gasps aloud and takes off toward the fire escape.
She's glad when the emergency door gives way easily when she bumps it with her hip. The alarms in the whole building instantly squeal to life, exactly as she intended. The other hotel guests would be swarming out of the building, hopefully slowing down the men that are after her.
The dim lights in the stairwell make the flashes from the emergency lights all the more disorienting, sending the blonde woman stumbling down a handful of steps. She lands awkwardly on her bag, a heel of one of her shoes slamming painfully into her ribs. She lets a few choice words escape but continues her sprint down the last two flights of stairs before throwing open the back doors into a Paris alleyway…
…and crashing right into someone who tries to grab her. She feels the smooth silk of a tie, catches the scent of some expensive cologne and twists her body at the last second. The man finds purchase only on her bag and she just lets it go, knowing that if they get her she will be wearing an orange jumpsuit with a number on it for the rest of her life. Or perhaps, she tells herself, I'll be wearing her best dress in a coffin.
"Wait, sweetheart!" he calls. That voice sounds so familiar, but she can't afford to stop if she's not sure.
"Alice, darling wait!"
Then the voice registers Alice spins around in shock. "Eames?" she pants, out of breath. "What the hell," and collapses onto the dirty cement, unable to keep her feet beneath her.
Eames strolls over and tosses her bag at her feet. "He was right, you really are in a lot of trouble aren't you?"
"Who says I'm in trouble? And I'm not, what makes you think that I am?"
"Is it normal for a woman to run from her hotel room into a dark alley then when she has visitors?" he teases while rocking back on the balls of his feet, fists in his trouser pockets.
Alice just shrugs noncommittally, but can't help a playful smile from rising to her lips.
The door Alice had just come out of bangs open and then closed, "Eames, did she come out this way?" A man calls.
"I've got her over here. You gave her quite a start it seems."
The footsteps get closer and closer until finally this man steps into the light and stops, "Dom!" Alice speaks in a voice overflowing with emotion and gets to her feet to throw her arms around Dom and hugs him.
Dom is taken aback, the last time he and his baby sister had seen each other this friendly exchange wouldn't have seemed so awkward, but a woman hasn't hugged Dom in quite some time, not in the real world anyway. He awkwardly pats her back and smoothes wisps of hair from her face. "Hey, Alice."
"How did you find me?"
"I found you." Another voice says; Alice looks over Dom's shoulder toward the emergency exit door. The door is open, so when the emergency light inside flashes again Alice realizes who this third man is.
The Point Man.
"Arthur, well if anyone could find me I guess it would be you."
"Don't encourage him, love." Eames warns.
Alice giggles at the natural tension in the air between these two men. They have never gotten along well and it's comforting to know that not all things change with time. She steps away from Dom and scoops her bag off of the ground.
Arthur walks over and holds a hand out for her bag. Always the gentleman. Alice passes the bag to him, she's not a girl to be doted on, but it's late and she's too tired to let her pride get the best of her.
"Let's get out of here before the cops show up." Dom suggests, and leads his three companions out of the alley and to a small dark gray car.
Arthur pops the trunk and tosses Alice's bag in before shutting it and sliding into the passengers seat. Dom takes the wheel; Alice sits behind him and Eames behind Arthur. Eames promptly punches Arthur's headrest, Alice stifles a giggle with the back of her hand, Arthur responds to the taunt by violently reclining his seat. Eames grimaces in pain when the chair smashes his knees, while Alice can't help but to burst into laughter as Dom looks on disapprovingly. Arthur gives Eames a smug grin, and puts his seat back into the correct position.
Alice catches Dom's eye in the rearview mirror and he gives her a single shake of his head. She gets the message and lets the laughter die on her lips and turns her head to watch the Paris city lights fly by.
Unable to bear the deafening silence any long Alice asks, to no one in particular, "Why are you here to get me anyway?"
"We've got a very big job lined up for us, haven't we boys?" Eames starts.
"I might be able to go home, if we do this right." Dom says softly. Alice scoots forward in her seat to rub Dom's shoulder comfortingly; he reaches up with his free hand, keeping the other securely on the wheel, to give her fingers a soft squeeze.
"We still have to work out the exact plan, but we need you on the team again." Arthur continues for the trio, "No matter how we do it it's going to be tricky. We need you, because you're the best architect we know."
"You'll be working with some one else though, quite good for a beginner. A new girl, she's in college, lovely thing really." Eames interrupts.
"You're hurting my feelings over here Eamsey." Alice whines while holding a hand dramatically over her heart. "And you mean I'm the strangest architect you know, Arthur."
"I didn't want it to come off as an insult, but yes; you have the most bizarre way of looking at things and we're going to need that."
"So what do you say?" Dom asks, again catching his sister's eye in the rearview.
"I'm in. One condition though."
Dom raises a brow in anticipation.
"Who ever is getting you cleared… I want the same deal."
It's quiet for a moment; the three men pass cautious glances at one another. Dom and Arthur speak at the same time, "I can't make that promise, Alice." "Alice, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," she growls at Arthur defensively, "not really anyway. No more than what you are all doing. But I got caught – set up, really – people, especially powerful people, don't like others poking around inside their brains. So when they wake up and find one of the people who was in their dream hooked up to them on a machine they tend to want justice."
Eames was a bit confused, "You got caught?"
"The dream started to collapse, The Mark realized he was dreaming, we failed the mission. My 'team' left me there as a scapegoat." Alice explained as she pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the car window, "There are more and more charges being made as Extraction becomes more popular. Theft, trespassing, people are trying to get assault added and God only knows what else; and I'm up against some important people, people with money and power. I'm looking at a long prison sentence."
"Oh," is all Arthur says. Eames lets out a long dwindling whistle.
"I'll ask Saito in the morning if he can get cut you the same deal." Dom assures her.
"Thank you, Dom. Where am I supposed to stay until then?"
"With me," Dom tells her. "We're staying in a hotel not too far from the warehouse we'll be working in. I'll get you your own room tomorrow after everything's settled."
Alice yawns, "Okay big brother. Wake me when we get there."
But of course no one has the heart to wake her when she looks so peaceful, even if she is cramped against the car door. Eames bids the two men goodnight and much to Arthur's displeasure kisses a handful of Alice's golden hair before departing. Dom picks up the woman carefully as not to wake her and carries her up to his suite, Arthur following close behind with Alice's travel bag.
"I'll have her to the warehouse by ten, make sure everyone's there by then for me." Dom instructs a he gingerly lays Alice down on the pullout couch.
"Sure." Arthur pauses, not wanting to step out of line, then continues, "Dom, do you really think this is a good idea?"
The older man nods, "You've seen Mal in there. I brought Ariadne onto the team because I don't know how she sets things up yet. Alice is mostly for insurance. I know I won't be able to understand just how her dreams work, and the projections won't either. She's spontaneous, she can do things on her toes in a dream that no one else would ever, excuse the poor pun, dream of. You said it yourself, she does some fantastic things to perception and the mind."