Roppongi District, Tokyo
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Room 2016
16:22 JST

Gabriel walked into their Grand Twin room and took an appreciative look around. "Nice digs," he commented. The room was spacious enough, with two beds and a night table lined along the wall to his left, and a desk with one chair and a 32 inch flat screen TV at his right. Between the beds and desk, and directly in front of him, ran a length of windows which boasted a panoramic eastern view of the Tokyo cityscape. In truth, though, his attention wasn't so much on the room as it was on his partner as she walked past him and dropped her suitcase onto the bed closest to the windows.

"There's so much mahogany in here, I bet they used a whole tree," Riley observed. Spotting the television, she nodded towards it. "Let's hook up the tablet and see if Nelson's got any more intel."

"Yeah," Gabriel replied absently, staying where he was. It might have looked like he was admiring the view of the red and white striped Tokyo Tower off in the distance, but in truth he had been watching his partner for tells since before getting on the elevator.

After a few seconds of watching her unzip her suitcase, Gabriel sighed.

Riley had a damn good poker face.

Giving up for the moment, he turned to the other bed and unceremoniously dropped his suitcase onto it, feeling more than a little frustrated at the whole situation.

Ever since Griffin had bounced into the lobby with that idiot smile on his face, Gabriel had been trying to figure out what was going on. It didn't take a chip in his brain to know that something wasn't adding up, and it bothered him that Riley seemed to be in conspiracy mode over it. He didn't buy her claim for a second that Griffin's Prince Charming routine was brought on by some random change of heart. Griffin wasn't the type, for one. And there was no reason for them to be on such good terms considering how things in Syria had ended.

Unless…

A vice clamped hard in Gabriel's chest.

Unless Riley and Griffin had secretly gotten back together.

Gabriel let out a long, deep sigh as the vice tightened around his heart, and he wasn't sure what bothered him more: the fact that Riley might have actually hooked back up with that idiot, or the fact that he cared so damn much.

Christ – no. Stop. He didn't care. He didn't care, and there was nothing going on between his partner and that joke of a Detail Leader. No way, no how. She hated him. There had to be some other piece of the puzzle he was missing.

But what? And why was Riley hiding it?

Of course, all Gabriel had to do was use the chip to pull up her phone records, check her texts and emails, her bank statements, track the GPS on her car…she'd be furious, probably murder him for it, but at least he'd know the truth in about five –

"Hey," Riley cut in. She was staring at him expectantly; a roll of HDMI cable in her hands. "You okay, space cadet?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Gabriel realized he'd been staring blankly at his unopened suitcase for easily a minute. She probably thought he was trying to unpack it with his mind. Gabriel turned to her in reply, taking in the small tease of a smile on her lips, the watchfulness in her sharp blue-green eyes, the way the late day sunlight streaming through the windows backlit her with a golden glow.

"Gabriel…?"

Damn it, he couldn't do it. He couldn't use the chip to get his answers. Not when it would mean breaking his promise to not snoop into her private life. Riley trusted him and he couldn't violate that trust, no matter how tempted he was. She meant more to him than that.

And besides, he didn't care.

"Yeah, I'm good. Never better," Gabriel replied, reaching for the cable. "Although probably not as good as Griffin, judging from that Colgate smile he gave you. Practically needed sunglasses."

Okay, just because he wasn't going behind Riley's back with the chip didn't mean he couldn't still fish for answers above board. But not because he cared. He didn't. He was just…screening.

She handed him the cable with a shrug. "Hadn't noticed."

Gabriel frowned at the lie. Was Riley trying to mess with his head?

Taking a tablet and power cord from her suitcase, she turned away from him and went to the desk to plug the tablet in.

"I'm just saying," he continued, unraveling the HDMI cable, "you better be careful or you'll have a little Secret Service puppy following you around trying to hump your leg."

Riley shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. "Ew." Having plugged in the tablet, she left it to power up on the desk and turned around to confront him. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe we're both just being professionals and doing our jobs?" She raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms. "You should try it sometime."

Gabriel joined her at the desk and plugged the cable into the television. Flashing his best charming devil grin, he leaned close and captured her piercing eyes. "And make your life easier? Now why would I wanna do that?"

Although Gabriel had put himself a little too much into Riley's space, she didn't do anything but look up at him defiantly. "Good point," she murmured dryly. "I should just accept the fact that you're always going to be a pain in my ass."

The vice in his chest tightened again, and Gabriel surprised himself with his soft affirmation. "Always."

Christ, what?

Gabriel recovered quickly. "If you're lucky, that is."

Reaching quickly for the tablet, he plugged the other end of the cable into it and flipped on the TV. Riley remained silent, although he could tell she was watching him as she took a seat in the chair and he set the tablet in front of her. She immediately started to go through the passwords and connect to CDOC's secured network. The television flashed from a local news station to a black screen showing the red words of TRANSMISSION CONNECTING, and a second later, Nelson appeared on the screen. Dressed in his typical sweater-vest, he looked a bit bleary eyed behind his glasses. Although, that wasn't surprising considering the time was nearing 3:30 a.m. back in Virginia.

Riley gave him a sympathetic smile, positioning the tablet so its internal webcam would capture both her and Gabriel as he stood beside the chair. "Morning, sunshine," she said to the man on the television.

"In my books, it's not morning until I actually see the sun. This is just very, very…late. But hey," Nelson reached off screen and revealed a black, oversized coffee mug in the shape of Darth Vader's head. "That's why we invented these bad boys!" He smiled, taking a long sip.

Jameson came into view and hovered over Nelson's shoulder. "Just make sure I know to cover you when you're in the bathroom every five minutes," he said to his friend, looking only slightly more alert.

"Hey, Jameson," Riley said in greeting. "What's our status?"

Turning his attention to them both, the agent got down to business with a shake of his head. "Still no new intel about the second national. There hasn't been any more chatter since the initial interception, either."

"No surprises there," Gabriel replied. "You manage to get into the hotel's cams?"

Nelson set down his Vader mug and tapped at his keyboard. "Sure did. Man, there's a lot of them. I'm counting at least twenty on every floor. These guys don't mess around with security, huh?"

"Considering how pricey this place is, I'd say it's the least they can do," Riley stated. "So no new leads, but anything change with the op? Are the parameters the same?"

"No, actually," Jameson replied, glancing at something off screen. "Some new orders just came down the pipes."

Gabriel exchanged a wary look with Riley. "Go on."

"This isn't a wet op anymore," the agent continued. "When you find these guys, Prime Minister Abe has asked that whoever's behind this be taken alive, so watch where you're aiming."

"Yeah," Nelson chimed in, pointing his fingers into guns and randomly firing in the air. "So Gabriel, none of that pew pew pew you do."

Jameson raised an eyebrow. "Right. Basically, Abe wants to make an example out of these yakuza members, and he can't do that if they're dead. Everything else is proceedings as planned, though. You find these guys, and take them out of play."

Gabriel wasn't too much of a fan of the new orders. "That'll make things harder," he observed. "Bet he'll be regretting it when a gang member is holding a gun to his head and using him as a human shield."

Riley looked up at him; her expression serious. "You'll just have to find these guys before it gets to that point, and we'll take them out quietly. I don't want another 'uh oh' to deal with."

The last 'uh oh' had been the shooting of a Russian terrorist in California, who had made the fatal mistake of trying to aim his shotgun at Riley's chest. Nothing about that killing had been an accident.

"You're such a killjoy," Gabriel teased as he glanced at his watch. "And speaking of killjoys, shouldn't you be calling your new BFF? Don't want to make him wait, now, do we?"

Riley shot him a warning look as she stood from the chair. "I'll be quick," she said, walking towards the phone on the nightstand.

Unsurprisingly, both Jameson and Nelson looked confused. "Did we…miss something?" Jameson asked.

Gabriel shrugged and stole Riley's seat, half listening to her as she began speaking to someone on the other end of the line. "Just her and Griffin being all friendly and making plans together. Sure he stole her promotion, lied about it to her face, and was a huge prick in Syria, but hey – what's a little backstabbing between friends?"

Gabriel's neck snapped forward as something soft collided with the back of his head. Riley had thrown a pillow at him without breaking conversation.

Nelson stared, loudly whispering "I think she heard you."

Roppongi District, Tokyo
Grand Hyatt Tokyo Third Floor
16:31 JST

Riley's eyes were sharp as she stepped off the elevator into the large foyer. The first thing she noticed was how cool the air was as goose bumps raised under her blazer, and she guessed the temperature had been turned low in order to counteract the future body heat from hundreds of people.

Hmm. Air conditioning. Ventilation system. Maybe she'd ask Gabriel to chip more information about that when she was less annoyed at him.

Walking into the space, Riley pictured the building specs and immediately spotted the bar counter at her right. Orientating herself, she knew that behind her ran a curving flight of stairs which descended to the second floor, and an escalator beyond that. Straight ahead, a waiter walked out of one of the doors leading to the Grand Ballroom, carrying a tray of champagne bottles for the bar, and Riley could hear the tuning of stringed instruments wafting after him.

"Your bestie's in there," Gabriel said, nodding to where the waiter had just emerged. "He's talking to the General Manager." With an exaggerated sweep of his hand towards the ballroom, he motioned for her to lead the way. "Shall we get this over with?" he asked with sarcastic sweetness.

Riley elbowed him as she walked off, wondering who else she could ask about the ventilation system. She was still pissed that Gabriel had told Jameson and Nelson about Griffin's change in attitude, and if those two started grilling her, she'd break something. Like Gabriel's head. Or maybe Griffin's. Preferably both.

Riley set her jaw, forcing out her aggravation.

Stay on problem.

Coming to a stop in one of the entranceways, she moved her eyes critically around the Grand Ballroom, taking in the details and looking for problem areas. The room was massive – just under half the size of a football field – with row after row of tables covered in cream coloured linens and topped with fine china and bamboo centerpieces. In one corner, a bartender set up his cart next to a string quartet as they ran through a sound check on a raised platform. Down at the other end of the room, near a second bar cart, Griffin was holding a clipboard and speaking to a Caucasian man she recognized from her prep report as the hotel's manager. The man looked to be in his late 40's, with short dark hair and a crisp business suit.

Riley sensed Gabriel behind her. "Anything yet?" she asked.

There was a pause as his chip pulled information. "Nope – all clean. Although that second violin could use a tuning."

"Great, only 657 people to go." She turned to him, feeling smug. "And it's the viola that's off."

Gabriel smirked. "Remind me to buy you symphony tickets for your birthday."

"Riley!" Griffin had spotted her and waved with the clipboard, motioning for her to join him and the manager.

Crossing her arms, she gave Gabriel a warning look. "Remember; don't do anything too chippy. And be nice," she ordered, before walking towards the two men.

"When am I not?" he replied, following after.

As they made their way over, Riley continued scanning the room. She took in the twenty-foot ceiling with its red-tinted droplights, and tried to decide if plastic explosives could be hiding amongst the wires. She noted the absence of windows, which meant no sniper could make a long-distance shot from a nearby building, but also meant that any shooting would end up being close-range. She counted 60 tables and wondered how easy it would be to tape a gun underneath the tablecloth.

Griffin gestured to her as they drew near, speaking to the General Manager who looked anxious as he straightened his tie. "Christophe, this is Special Agent Riley Neal. Former Secret Service. She and her partner will be the ones focused solely on finding and stopping whoever is behind this assassination attempt. Riley, this is Christophe Lorvo; the GM."

Riley extended her hand and Lorvo shook it firmly. "Pleasure to meet you," she said. "Your hotel is lovely."

"The pleasure is mine." Lorvo gave her a weak smile, speaking in a noticeable French accent. "I have heard nothing but good things about you from Agent Griffin, and trust you will take care of this…issue…as discreetly and quickly as possible. I do not want my guests to know that anything is amiss." The man looked like he hadn't slept in a day, which was probably true. There was a lot at stake for Lorvo; not just lives, but his hotel's reputation.

"Of course," Riley replied, wondering exactly what those 'good things' were as she motioned to Gabriel. "And this is my partner; Special Agent Gabriel Vaughn."

Gabriel appraised the man. "You initiated a 'Smiles for All' fundraising campaign after the earthquakes in 2011. Raised quite a lot of money for disaster relief." He extended his hand, smiling. "It's nice to see big chains not forgetting that they're still part of a community."

Despite his nerves, Lorvo beamed. "Thank you very much," he replied, shaking the offered hand enthusiastically. "We of course opened our doors to all those without electricity or who were unable to return home after the earthquake. Roppongi Hills uses its own source of power, so we weren't affected by the power outages."

Griffin nodded. "That reminds me. I want you to take Agent Harris down to the breaker room so she can check for tampering." He spoke into the com at his wrist. "Barbara, I'm sending Christophe to you." As Lorvo left to meet the agent, Griffin turned his attention to Riley. "Welcome to party central," he smiled, gesturing around like it was him who had the title of GM.

For the next thirty minutes, Griffin was happy to play tour guide as he walked Riley through the kitchen and around the room, answering her questions, and pointing out changes in the set up. The string quartet, for instance, had moved at the last minute from one corner of the room to the other in order to have better lighting. Although Gabriel had gone on the sweep with them, he had remained mercifully silent; probably busy running facial recognitions and background checks on everyone he saw both in person and on the cams.

Ending their inspection by one of the bar carts, Riley glanced at her watch before turning to Gabriel. "We'd better go change soon. We still need to do a sweep of the garage before Abe comes."

"Agent Neal?" Lorvo appeared at her side, now dressed in a tuxedo for the evening's events. He nervously pulled at his bowtie. "May I have a word, please?"

She glanced at Gabriel. "Sure."

Lorvo led her a few paces away as he fidgeted with the cufflinks at his wrist. "I do not mean to add more pressure on top of what I can imagine is a very stressful task for you," he began. "But please, I beg you to take care of this issue as quickly as possible. The safety of our guests is paramount."

Riley nodded, feeling sorry for the man. "You don't have to worry about a thing," she said reassuringly. "America sent its top agent to find these guys."

Even if America's top agent was a pain in her ass.

Lorvo nodded, but didn't relax. "Thank you," he said, forcing a smile. "I very much appreciate it."

As the GM walked away, Riley turned back to see Gabriel looking at her like he couldn't choose between laughing hysterically and murdering someone. Saying something to Griffin she couldn't hear, he moved purposefully towards her. She eyed him cautiously. Something was definitely up.

"We done here?" Gabriel asked, a bit forcefully.

Riley crossed her arms. "What's going on?" Looking over his shoulder, she saw Griffin flipping through the pages on his clipboard. "What were you two talking about?"

"Cookie recipes," Gabriel snapped. "Let's go."

She paused for a moment, trying to decide whether it was worth prodding him. No, not here. Riley gave him a nod instead. "Yeah, okay. Let's get changed."

They walked towards the elevators. The door opened instantly on their approach – had Gabriel done that? – and he punched the button for the twentieth floor once they were inside. By that point, Riley could practically feel the anger radiating off of him in waves. She stared at him. "Okay, spill. What's going on? What's got you all riled up all of a sudden?"

Gabriel looked straight ahead and at first Riley was afraid he was going to ignore her. Then, after a moment, he let out a long, slow sigh; the kind he reserved for when he was really pissed off. "That guy doesn't deserve you, you know," he finally murmured.

What the hell…?

"Who, Griffin?" Riley eyed him warily, trying to decipher the origin of his comment. "No one said he did."

Gabriel didn't reply. In fact, the rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence.