Chapter 2: Rome

Jim and Ruby disembarked the plane, luggage in hand. To Ruby's surprise, Seb was there with a rental car, an Alfa Romeo. Grinning widely at Ruby's expression, he twirled his sunglasses on one finger and put them on, dangling his car keys.

"I thought you were on vacation, Seb." Ruby said as they got closer.

The old soldier gave her a cocky glance. "I've been here for a week on vacation, Ruby. I come off vacation right now as Jim's here so we can get to work."

"So what's the first thing on our agenda, Jim?" they got into the car as Seb started it up.

Jim took his shades off. "First off we have a function to go to tonight. It's a black tie affair."

"I need to get gussied up, eh?" Ruby was glad she'd thought to bring her makeup bag and heels with her. If she knew Jim, there would be a few options already to pick from in the bedroom.

"Yes indeed. I took the liberty to have Seb get you a few dresses and shoes you can choose from."

"Oh!" Ruby rubbed her hands together like she couldn't wait to get started. Jim put his arm around her with a grin as he couldn't wait to see the end result. She was pretty enough in her everyday clothes but he sometimes did like to see her all dressed up.

At the villa, Ruby nearly dropped her duffel bag and suitcase as she took in the sight of the Mediterranean style little house and décor. Jim, who had always rented that villa whenever he was in Italy, just smirked as Ruby picked up her things and hauled them inside.

All the walls were white, facing the water was a porch that had a roof over it. The kitchen was thoroughly modern, a bedroom was off the living room, painted a very light shade of brown which made Jim think of beach sand.

"Oh wow!" Ruby was in love with the porch which had a chaise lounge on it. Tieback curtains were rustling softly as a small breeze came in off the ocean. The curtains were sheer with tints of white that had prints of seashells along the borders.

"I always knew I'd be bringing you back here." Jim remarked as Ruby stepped off the porch. The villa was upon a high rocky shelf so they were looking down at the village and the inlet to the sea.

"Back here?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes," Jim answered as they sat themselves down on the living room couch. "remember I was here in this villa for two years. I sat on this couch and thought about you, knowing I would bring you here so we could fill this place with happy memories."

"You were setting up a criminal network here for two years?"

"It was a very long and complicated process," he explained. "I made several contacts, essentially reproducing my business model here and there's an Italian man, Fabian, who's the Italian me, so to speak. He will be running the outfit once we work out all the kinks. Last year I had my tech support crew down here to try to work out some computer glitches. They did most of them but there's some glitches I want you to look at."

"Shouldn't all the kinks be worked out beforehand? It should be smooth running now, right?"

"There's been a lot of setbacks," Jim told her. "Fabian had some walkouts because they weren't making a lot of money, some new clients wouldn't pony up the fees, and they don't have a lot of people right now so they're underemployed."

"Oh. Do you need me to train some ladies to charm the money out of the penny pinchers?" Jim laughed as Ruby slid her leg into his lap. "Should I don my Vicky Renegade character?"

"You might want to. Now we need to get dressed up for the black tie event tonight."

Ruby stood up as Jim did. "Good thing Magnussen won't be there."

"Sherlock killed him," Jim led his wife into the bedroom, pushing aside the sliding closet door. "choose your poison, darling."

"Oh!" Ruby selected a black and red dress. She hustled into the bathroom, pulling on the frock effortlessly. The top of the dress was black, under her bust to mid thigh was red. There were no sleeves to the dress; it was a low cut neckline. Ruby selected her black sandals with the chunky kitten heel.

Jim had given her a pair of red ruby earrings set in gold so she put those on along with the matching necklace. She emptied her makeup bag on the counter, selecting what she wanted and applied it to her face. With her outfit, Ruby felt a bright red lipstick would work well. After applying it, she stashed her phone and the lipstick in her black clutch purse, she presented herself to Jim for his approval.

He was dressed in a Westwood tuxedo with plenty of hairspray to keep his locks down. Ruby grinned widely seeing him looking so sharp and handsome, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Well hello there, sexy lady." Jim purred into her ear. "I hope I'm on your dance card this evening."

"Maybe," Ruby was coy as he led her out to the Alfa. Seb gave her a complimentary wolf whistle. "thanks, Seb."

"Did you set this party up?" Ruby peered out the window.

"I suggested it to Fabian and he did everything." Jim got out of the car and gave his hand to Ruby.

"It's almost like something out of the Count Of Monte Cristo," his wife told him, seeing the Greco-Roman building looming up with expertly groomed topiaries and garden lighting.

Inside the building there was a ballroom with polished hardwood floors, paintings gilded in gold and silver, a string quartet in one corner, and a massive hors d'oeuvre table nearby. Waiters in Georgian costume went back and forth from the kitchen as the chandeliers overhead, long ago converted to electricity, were illuminated brightly.

"My gosh. I've never seen something so elaborate."

"Don't start feeling like you've been out-classed my dear," Jim sensed her uneasiness. "you are the classiest lady here you know."

Ruby flashed him a smile. "Thanks, honey."

"You're welcome. May I have this dance?" he held out his hand.

"Of course, my dear." she joined hands with him and they walked out onto the dance floor. Ruby wasn't a very good dancer and neither was Jim, but he'd had more lessons than she did. Sensing her nervousness, Jim began to direct her how to dance properly on the floor. Both of them were soon effortlessly gliding along the floor.

When the song ended, Jim dipped Ruby playfully, eliciting a laugh of pleasure from her as she stood back upright.

"Hello, Jim. This must be Ruby." a tall blonde haired man with deep blue eyes wearing a Tom Ford tuxedo ambushed them at the refreshment table.

"Fabian," Jim picked up a champagne flute and handed one to Ruby. "lovely party."

"Thank you. This must be Ruby," Fabian kissed the back of her hand. "pleasure. You look stunning."

"Thank you, my good sir." he smiled at her.

"So where are we with the network issues, Fabian?" Jim always wanted to get down to business.

"I would say about ninety percent of them have been solved. Someone tried to cut costs and buy inferior network command modules. We are still having some coding issues."

"Ruby here can take a look at them," Jim put an arm around his wife. "she was a computer programmer who specializes in networks."

"Wonderful," Fabian glanced at Ruby. "I hope you're up for the challenge, Mrs. Moriarty."

"Trust me sir, I definitely am." Ruby tempered her enthusiasm, sensing that it would be off putting to Fabian to hear it. The Italian criminal network couldn't hire any programmers locally given the nature of what the network was for, so they had to improvise with what they had. Jim had felt Ruby would be able to set it right for months now.