I am working on two other stories that will be updated within the week. This just came to me and I wanted to make sure I didn't forget it. Hope you guys enjoy it! Reviews will be truly appreciated! Also, the names might be a bit confusing (you'll see ) so PM if it gets too complicated.
It was a bit past 10am when Emily woke up for the first time. She growled as she realized that she had only slept two hours and noticed she was still wearing the same outfit she had worn that night. As she got up to undress out of her tight and short Black dress, removing her black garter belt and stockings and an incredibly uncomfortable bra, Emily looked around her room and repeated the facts of her new life:
My name is Samantha Silver. I am twenty-eight years old. I was born and raised in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. My parents, both Greek immigrants, were poor. I started college at American University but couldn't finish it due to raising debt and inability to pay my credit card loans. That was the original reason I became an escort…
And repeating the facts of her new life, over and over in her head, she fell asleep.
It was almost 10pm when Emily left her room. While an old house in the historic district in D.C., Madame Iris' house was spectacular. It was three stories high arranged like a coliseum or an old hotel; rooms arranged on different floors around a large open area that used to be the living and dining rooms. Twelve rooms: three on the first floor, one for Iris and the other two for the two male staffers, four rooms on the second flood and five rooms on the top floor, all inhabited by Iris' girls. Emily was in one of the top floor rooms; a room that had previously been inhabited by Zola and Sophia. It was these two women's mysterious deaths that brought her here, to her current undercover assignment.
This wasn't Emily's first assignment and- barring something awful- it was not going to be her last. She had been with Interpol for over ten years. While trained in the US military, she was recruited by the international organization shortly after graduating from West Point. Emily had dreamed of a career in the military but with her being gay and out and Don't Ask Don't Tell still being the law, she joined the international organization hoping to make a career elsewhere.
At the age of twenty-five, she joined Interpol's deep undercover unit, where she has been since. In the past eight years she has been Lauren, Jessica, Emma, Susan and many many others to the point where she often forgets that she is in fact, Emily. Even most of the major events in her adult life all happened while she was undercover. It was as Susan that she first fell in love; it was as Jessica that she learned her father had past away; it was as Lauren that she came out to her mother. She was rarely Emily and she had come to realize that she was more comfortable being other women, such as a drug dealer, an arms dealer and now a high-class sex worker, than she was just being Emily.
She walked out of her room and inspected the ballroom. The house's historic living and dining room had been converted into a ballroom where senators, presidents, ambassadors and other rich and powerful men and women came to be entertained by the beautiful women hand-picked and recruited by Madame Iris. She herself came to fame as Nixon's mistress.
Iris was a kind woman and even though clearly exploitative of her girls, she was thoughtful and loving to them. Most of the women were lost souls, about half were illegal immigrants- as Zola and Sophia had been- and life at Iris' house wasn't half bad. The women were treated kindly by Iris, the men paid them generously and Iris let them keep a large portion of the money. Because of who their clients were, these women were essentially immune to prosecution and arrests. It was a comfortable life, specially when compared to the life that most other sex workers have.
Emily walks onto the ballroom feeling the powerful men staring at her and takes a place at the bar. The bartender brings her a very dry martini and they make brief eye contact. Emily is happy to see Steve, well, now in his new life as Will, the charming bartender. She and Steve were at West Point together and have been partners for their entire careers. Both left the military because of their sexual orientation and both have been doing deep undercover for most of their adult life. They have a special bond; a bond that while rooted in their undercover work, goes beyond that. They are friends, family, arguably the only family the two of them really care for.
Standing right next to Emily, Steve points out, "the Mexican and Russian ambassadors are at table five. They have been drinking for a couple of hours now, the two men we are tagging haven't arrived yet and it looks like they might not come tonight," he says as he wipes the counter. As Emily gets up to make her way to table five, Steve whispers, "that red dress looks amazing on you. Makes me wish that I was a fancy high class prostitute..."
Taking a time to laugh with her friend, Emily finishes her martini and waits for Steve to make her a new one. Then, putting her game face on, she strides towards the ambassadors.
Two women, with deep connections to the Russian mob have been murdered in the past two weeks. The women died mysteriously; but Interpol recently found out that they were poisoned. No one knows how they were poisoned; worse, no one knows what they were poisoned with. Because of their mob connections and the fact that they were both Eastern European illegal immigrants whose immigration papers were illegally obtained, Interpol was called into the investigation by the Pentagon. Emily and Steve are to find out what happened to the women. They are not alone in the case but in order to protect their undercover assignments, the other Interpol and Pentagon agents don't know about Emily and Steve. The only other person in the house that knows about Steve and Emily is Madame Iris, who apparently has mob connections herself and is now truly afraid for her life. She also has agreed to help in exchange for immunity for the many labor violations, health violations and prostitution accusations.
The night had been comfortable but unsuccessful. Emily was making good conversation with the ambassadors, though she was unable to find out any pertinent information. Both men made an attempt to return with her to her room but she dismissed both attempts arguing that she had already schedule clients. She had kept an eye on the other women, Iris' eight other girls and the other high-class companions that Iris' would hire on a nightly basis. These women were pre-selected and allowed to work the ballroom. They were also in line if and when the rooms at the Iris' mansion open up.
The women were all drinking and eating- just like their rich and powerful companions, Emily observed. This likely means that the house's food and drinks were safe. The killings had been targeted; poisoning a bottle of bourbon would have caused random killings. It had to be a more personal approach. Emily first thought that it was something in the room since the victims both lived in that room but it had been wiped and swabbed thoroughly- it wasn't in the room. It frustrated Emily that she couldn't figure out how and with what the women had been poisoned.
At almost 5am, Emily walks back to the bar where Steve is getting ready to close. They share a defeated look; neither of them was able to gather any useful information that night. The past couple of days had been productive. Emily was had been able to identify some of the customers as leaders in the Russian mob. Steve had been able to isolate their credit card numbers and they were able to track these men's finances with the Interpol Technology and Research Team. But they hadn't been able to find a connection between the men and the murdered women and the medical examiner hadn't been able to identify the poison.
"Oh my God Sarah, SARAH! Sarah, wake up!" Emily heard as she and Steve both ran up the stairs into Sarah's, one of Iris' girls, room. Katie, another one of the girls, was kneeled on the ground, with the friend's torso on her lap, violently shaking her friend. Looking at Sarah, Emily knew that she had been dead for about three hours since her body was in the beginning stages of rigor mortis. "Shit," Steve whispered under his breath as he walked out of the room. Emily knew he was going to make contact with Interpol and let them know what just happened.
Emily sat next to Katie and held her. The woman was shaken, as is expected, and Emily waited until she was done crying. The noises downstairs indicated to Emily that some time in the past fifteen minutes since she had held Katie, the police was called and were making their way upstairs. Soon, police officers asked the women to leave the room and started to prep what was now a crime scene. Emily took Katie to her room in order try to calm the woman down as she was now a main witness in a murder case and the police would likely want to talk to her.
Walking into her room, Emily kneeled in front of Katie who was now sitting on her bed and handed her a cup of water. "Thanks, Sam," Katie whispered. "What is happening? Why is this happening to us?" Katie asked as she started to sob again. Kate had been the house for several years and this was the third friend she had lost in less than a month. "I don't know," Emily answered honestly. She hated that she didn't know.
"Lie down Kate, you need to get some rest," Emily pleaded knowing that soon the police would want to talk to the two women. "I can't sleep," Kate explained, "I keep seeing her… her body." "Here," Emily volunteered, "I'll lie down with you." And as the women made themselves comfortable in bed, Steve appeared at the door.
"Samantha, Kate, the FBI has been called." Steve said and while he had addresses Katie, the information was only for Emily's sake. Shit, she thought. This is going to turn into a jurisdictional clusterfuck. And as Steve walked out, Emily asked,
"Will, what do they know?" knowing that Katie was none the wiser to the real meaning behind this question and that Steve would know that her inquiry wasn't about what they knew about the case but what they knew about their undercover assignment, she was relieved when Steve, with confidence, answered, "nothing."
