Friday Night - The Red Room
The Red Room easily lived up to its name. The walls were draped in red fabric, the warped modern chairs made of translucent red plastic. Even the lighting was mostly red, apart from the changing lights of the dance floor which swayed through a selection of bright colors in time with the deafening beat of the music. The lower half of the club was full to the brim, an impressive layout allowing more distinguished guests to escape the crowd in higher levels which looked out over the dancers in an almost royal way. A woman with dark shoulder length hair moved among the upper level with a practiced grace that made her subtly stand out from the others. Green stones glittered in her silver jewelry, making an impressive statement of wealth as they hung nonchalantly from her neck, wrist and ears. The deep colour of the stones complemented her bright green eyes and drew the eye of every man in the room to her skin, left seductively bare around her shoulders, neck and a little of her back, but which was mostly hidden behind a figure-complementing black dress. The woman held herself confidently, with a look in her eyes that assured those close enough to see it that she was on a mission. A mission that most men hoped included them.
Across the room a figure seated in shadows lent over to give a few short commands to his body guards, motioning to the figure in black and green and commanding leave of the women clinging around him.
A few minutes later a new figure entered the scene. His blonde hair was messily styled and his suit attractively untidy. The quality and newness of his clothing gave him an air of wealth that suited him easily to the upper half of the club and his exceedingly smooth and charismatic manner charmed all he talked to. He found his way to the bar, instantly attracting service and ordering himself a drink, sending wide smiles that reached his twinkling blue eyes with ease to the bar-keep as he did so. Confidence oozed out of his every pore and drew the eyes of every woman there. His eyes however, carefully scanned the faces of the room, on the look out for one in particular, even as he chatted charmingly to the women who came and sat by him and who he smoothly turned away with his wedding ring. It was the shadowed table against the far wall of the room that drew his attention. The men standing not-so-inconspicuously nearby obviously bodyguards. From where he sat he could just see the bodies of two figures at the table, only able to catch glimpses of them through the crowd. The first figure was a man. Although his face was almost hidden, his whole posture oozed relaxation and absolute control. The other figure was a woman with dark hair, her green and silver jewelry glinting in the light; it was the particular face he had been looking for. He gestured to the waitress he had spent the night thoroughly charming and asked about the woman in the corner, to be told only that she was a little familiar and that every man in the joint had been sending her free drinks on their behalf all night. The man smiled, "Perfect," ordering a drink for the dark-haired woman and sending a message along with it.
At the table in the corner the woman leaned forward and re-crossed her legs. "So we have a deal?"
The man also leaned forward, his eyes trailing up and down before settling on her eyes, "Of sorts," he agreed, leaning back again and mock sighing as a waitress approached the table carrying two drinks. "One for both of us is it this time?"
"Yes Mr Monary, from the blonde gentleman at the bar again." The light-haired waitress turned to the woman "He sent another message for you."
The woman sighed, "Could you stop bringing them please?"
The man smiled and laughed wryly. "What? Turning away free drinks? Why on earth would you want to do that? Let him buy us drinks, and keep bringing them my dear." He turned to face the woman again, "Now what's the message for our lovely lady here?"
"He said that jewelry looks lovely with your eyes and hopes you'll join him at the bar for a drink."
The green-eyed woman frowned inwardly. Why did that sound familiar she wondered, where had she heard that before? But she only raised her eyebrows at the man sitting across from her, "He's a forward one this one," she surmised before watching the waitress leave and returning to her former matter of business. Half a second later the clues clicked into place. A forward blonde-haired man who happened to send her her favorite drink and messages that sounded familiar? 'Oh crap' she thought. 'I really didn't need this tonight'.
She excused herself for a moment at the next available opportunity.
The man in the corner watched closely as the woman headed towards the bathroom. Half a minute later he didn't miss the movement of a blonde head from the bar disappearing in a similar direction.
"What the hell are you doing here Jane?" Lisbon whispered angrily, pulling her consultant away into a hidden corner of the club's upper level and pushing him against the wall.
"Woah, calm down girl. You can't say you're not happy to see me." Jane smiled cheekily, hands in the air as if in surrender.
"Yes I can, because I am really not. Not at all. What were you thinking?" She asked, eyes on the look out for any listening ears.
"I was thinking it was a nice night for a drink at a club", he said, straightening his shirt.
"Please don't screw with me Jane. How did you find out? No, don't tell me, you probably hypnotized someone."
"Of course not, that'd be illegal" Jane admonished. "I have to say, I'm very impressed with you, you're doing a great job out here. You should do it more often." Lisbon glared at him, but Jane could see her anger dissipating very slightly. "I wanted to come say hi, get some excitement, I've been very bored."
"Whatever Jane. You need to leave. Now."
"This man causing you any trouble Janet my dear?" The man from the corner walked into view, two bodyguards looming close behind him. Lisbon took a second to slip back into character, mind racing as she turned around, running through her conversation with Jane to find an excuse. For once she was very annoyed to come across a perfect cover for the situation, Jane was going to have a field day. "Not really Max, just old boyfriends who don't know when to give up." She said, turning around to glare at Jane, really hoping he wouldn't make the most of the opportunity that had presented itself, "He was just about to LEAVE."
Jane had been sizing up the man in front of him. He had taken an instant disliking to him as soon as he opened his mouth. There was a smooth cruelty about the way he talked that Jane was for once wary of. The man - Max - was a little taller than Jane, and older too. His short dark hair was carefully styled, but with a hint of unruly-ness, his eyes were an interesting shade of blue with intermittent specks of an almost grey colour, and there was a alarming coldness behind them. The suit he was wearing was tailored to fit him perfectly, top button casually left undone, but his shirt was slightly skewed around the collar and Jane noticed traces of glitter along the sleeves which he guessed came from whichever women he had been close to recently. Around his wrist was a gold, watch, huge and expensive-looking. For the first time, Jane decided that this was a situation he would only make worse by being in and though he did not like for a second the thought of Lisbon, or anyone for that matter, being alone with this man, he decided to follow Lisbon's lead and dove into character.
That didn't of course mean that he was going to let this opportunity to mess with Lisbon slide, and he was always up for a performance.
"Aww, come on darling" he crooned "I just wanted to see you. There's no harm in that right? Right?" he asked, shuffling closer to Lisbon then turning to smile at Max. "Who are you? Are you the new boyfriend? Have I been replaced?" He pouted slightly and turned back to Lisbon "Janet honey, have I?" then back to Max with a wide smile; "She's a feisty one this one, you'll want to look out for that," Jane told him conspiratorially, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
Lisbon was at the same time fighting off a smile and the great urge to punch Jane in the nose. Jane played the slightly drunk ex-boyfriend well.
"He's a business associate" she scowled "and you're leaving," she added, turning to face Max and walk away.
"Would you like the boys to see him out?" Max interjected. "Toughen him up a bit maybe?"
Lisbon couldn't help her eyes flickering back to Jane 'god, how do I get him out of this one', she wondered in a slight panic, the thought that she was the only one allowed to beat him up drifting through the back of her mind.
"He's not worth the time", she declared and walked away back to the corner table. Max turned a few seconds later, after eyeing Jane, to follow her. He gestured to one of his bodyguards to see the blonde man out.
~
The noise of the club was just a dull thumping from outside. Jane brushed the gravel off his suit, recovering from a slightly stronger then necessary push out the door, and continued to act a little drunk until he was well out of the sight of the club. As soon as he was, he jumped into his car and headed straight for the surveillance van parked a few streets away. The drug team had done a pretty good job of blending in, anyone who wasn't Jane wouldn't have spotted anything amiss. However Jane was Jane, and after doing a lap of the roads before going into the club he had worked out where they were straight away. He parked his car in the next street and wandered carefully down the road, knocking on the van's back door and smiling when he felt a sudden movement from inside. "It's Jane," he said whispering as audibly as he could, then standing back so that the door could open. It did a few moments later and he jumped inside. The team inside the truck were NOT happy with him. However Jane started talking before they had a chance to tell him off and didn't stop until he had convinced them to let him stay and keep an eye on things.
~
It was 4.26 on Saturday morning when Lisbon finally emerged from the club. Through the cameras hidden outside, they watched as she walked outside and hailed a cab. It wasn't until she had jumped out of the cab a few blocks away and gotten into 'Janet's' sleek red car that she spoke through the mic to the surveillance team. "How are you going guys, still awake?"
The man beginning to doze off on the other end of the mic jumped in his seat, much to Jane's amusement. "Of course" he murmured sleepily.
The team's boss, James Cadie, took over, knocking the sleepy younger man off the mic and taking over himself. "Good work Lisbon. We've got a lot on tape."
"None of it is real evidence though, he was so very careful to be cryptic."
"It doesn't matter, everything went to plan so he'll be caught as soon as we sort this deal."
"Mmm, mostly to plan. Sorry about Jane, I can't believe he wormed his way in like that. He is such a pain, as you very well know, I tell you, he..."
Jane took this opportunity to announce his presence, sweeping his legs down from the table they had been resting from and leaning over to the mic. "Hello Lisbon."
"Jane?!"
"The one and only"
"How the hell did you... you know what, never mind. You and I need to have a serious talk the next time I see you. You can't just bust into an undercover operation like that!"
There was a rustling sound as something was pulled across the surface of the mic. Jane would've bet his years wages on the fact that she was pulling her usual leather jacket on over the top of the gorgeous dress she had been wearing.
"Well I did, and I'm glad I did because I don't like that Max guy at all and after talking to these guys I think you need to update your profile on him."
Lisbon sighed, "We'll talk about this later Jane. Cadie? I'll see you for debriefing Monday afternoon. 4 o'clock? Sorry I can't make it in earlier but I would like to have a few hours sleep this weekend and I still have a lot of paper work to do."
"No problem Lisbon, we won't need you until then anyway. And we need you well rested. Now remember, you're not going home first, You have to..."
"I know," Lisbon interrupted "I have to drive around for a bit and go to 'Janet's' house and then on Sunday morning, if no-one's watching I'm allowed to go back to my house."
"That's undercover work for you." Cadie said with a smile.
"It's a good thing that you're used to having little sleep." Jane added, but the other two ignored him.
"Have a good weekend Cadie"
"You too Lisbon."
"As for you Jane, I'll see you on Monday morning."
Jane smiled at her tone of voice, he was going to pay for his fun tonight on Monday, "Night Lisbon." he said sweetly.
Lisbon grumbled in annoyance to herself as she disconnected the mic, deciding to pull it off completely. She was supposed to wait until she was home and pull it off in a gentle specific way, but she was tired and the mic had moved a bit and started digging into her side in a way that was exaggerated by her seat belt. Once it was out and folded carefully away in her glovebox she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a thin gold chain decorated with a simple cross. Lisbon clasped it back into its place around her neck with ease before she started the engine and began to drive. She reached over to grab her phone and switched it to silent. She didn't want Jane finding out 'Janet's' number - as she knew he would - and calling it to bother her. It wasn't until about half an hour into the drive that she noticed someone following her.