IV.
Meanwhile, back in the ballroom, Hugh had returned from his phone call and Adrianna was working very hard to keep all of his attention focused on her. Flirting shamelessly with Hugh was in fact, a very simple task. To her delightful surprise, she had found Hugh to be insanely attractive at their first meeting, thus making her job all the more easier. He was tall, worked out at least five times a week and had brown eyes that could melt iron like butter.
At that very moment, she was babbling on to him about her lovely time in France, and how he really should come with her there some day when she noticed Bond walking very quickly towards her. She shot him a quizzical look, facially asking him if all was well. He shook his head violently and darted behind a cocktail waitress. Suddenly, Adrianna knew something was wrong. She looked again and Bond's blue eyes were almost frantic, yet his stance remained calm. He gestured to her silently. She nodded back.
At that exact moment, Hugh's cell phone went off.
"Excuse me just a moment." He smiled at her and picked up the phone. "Hello? Yes. What? A security breach? Your sure?"
Adrianna's insides plummeted. They were in deep shit now. She hurriedly glanced over to Bond who now looked furious that she had not left yet. Hugh hung up the phone and turned to her.
"Spot of trouble up at the office I'm afraid. Probably all nonsense but never the less, protocol, I must see to it. If you'll excuse me for a few moments?"
"Of course." She smiled, trying to keep her cool.
He grinned back and kissed her on the cheek.
"I'll hurry back as soon as I can." He whispered in her ear.
"Actually." Adrianna said. "I was thinking of calling it a night. I'm still a little jet lagged from the flight. I'll call you in the morning?"
"Of course. Get a good night's sleep." He replied gently and stroked her face.
From the other side of the room, Bond was growing very, very impatient.
"Come on." He muttered under his breath through gritted teeth.
Finally, Hugh departed and at once, Adrianna hurried over to Bond.
"What the hell happened?" She hissed, pulling him aside.
"We need to leave. I've already called the porter; he'll ship our luggage in the morning. Now, let's go."
He grabbed her arm and dragged her out to the terrace and quickly filled her in on the recent events.
"Dominic Greene?" Adrianna frowned as they descended the terrace steps onto the grounds. "What connection would Falcon have to Quantum?"
"Aside from the fact that they are both highly dangerous terrorist organizations? I literally have no idea." Bond replied as they walked quickly towards the parking lot. He pulled out the keys from his pocket. Aston Martin, courtesy of M. He unlocked the doors and slid into the front seat. By god, he loved that car. Adrianna quickly jumped into the passenger seat and Bond revved the engine, shifted gears and blew out of the parking lot.
"So where—" Adrianna asked as she struggled to remove her high heels with difficultly. "Are we going exactly?"
"Scotland." James replied. "Call M will you?" He tossed his blackberry to her. "Tell her we need to get on a flight immediately."
Adrianna yanked off her diamond necklace and earrings. "You could have at least grabbed me a change of clothes you know."
James rolled his eyes. "You can get some at the airport. Now make the call."
--
Meanwhile, up in the office Hugh was panicking.
"You're sure they hacked into the system? How is that even possible? My emails are all password protected."
"I'm sorry sir. But you shouldn't have left them open. Anyone who knew your password could easily have—"
"Nobody but me knows my password!" Hugh bellowed, slamming his fist down on the desk.
"Get my step brother on the phone immediately. Tell him that for the time being, Scotland has been compromised. And find out who the hell hacked into my computer!"
"Y-Yes sir. Right away sir."
Hugh slummed down in his chair, racking his brains. The security cameras had given him nothing. And besides, he knew all of his guests didn't he? None of them would dare to…
He started, suddenly realizing something for the first time.
"Erik!" He called.
"Yes Sir?"
"Run a background check on a Mr. Walter Clearwater from Oxford. Use the specialized system. Get back to me with results as quickly as you can."
"Certainly Mr. Clancy."
Another hotel working came rushing in with a phone.
"Mr. Fargo is on line four Mr. Clancy."
"Thank you."
He grabbed for the telephone.
"Trent? It's Hugh. Listen. We've got a small problem."
He glanced over at the screen where Erik was typing rapidly.
"No matches for Walter Clearwater in Oxford, sir."
Hugh gritted his teeth.
"Try Adrianna Greene."
--
Fifteen minutes later, James and Adrianna were running through the airport to get to there terminal. M had done her best, and managed to get them two seats on the midnight flight to Glasgow. Bond hurried to the desk just as the last passengers were making there way to the boarding tunnel.
"Hold the plane." He demanded. "We have tickets. They should be under the name Clearwater."
The airport employee glanced at the two of them suspiciously, Adrianna still in her ball gown, wearing a pair of running shoes and clutching a bag of clothes underneath her arm. And Bond, still in his tux, with his hair astray and his tie severely off center.
The employee tapped at her computer for a few moments and then sighed.
"Alright. Right this way please." She led them through the glass doors and towards a quick security check.
"Did you get any clothes for me?" James asked as the guard declared him clean and he stepped through the door.
"No. You're not the one wearing the dress." Adrianna replied and shoved past the guard, hurrying towards the doors that let out onto the runway.
By the time they were finally in their seats and off the ground, Bond let out a sigh, followed quickly by an order of scotch.
"I think Hugh has caught on." Adrianna said grimly as she opened up her cell phone. "Fourteen missed calls."
"Good." James smirked. "I hated being called Walter anyways."
"Well I guess so much for all my hard work." Adrianna snapped.
"You should thank me!" James exclaimed. "Now you get what you wanted in the first place. Running around the world after dangerous criminals."
She did not reply, but merely turned her head and looked out the window.
"No snappy comeback?" James teased. "I suppose I've made my point then. So enough with the sulking."
She turned around and shot him an icy glare but did not retort.
"So what's going on in Scotland?" She asked, as she stuffed her dress carelessly into a carry on bag and pulled her new black sweater over her head.
"That's where the next Falcon meeting is taking place, if I am correct in assuming."
"But why would Trent be inviting Hugh to the meeting? As far as I know Hugh has nothing to do with Falcon, aside from being related to Fargo."
"Perhaps dear old Hugh deceived you. You weren't growing fond of him, were you?"
"Fonder of him then your witty remarks." She grumbled.
"Cheer up Greene! You get to live life as a real double O now."
"Yes." She smiled tightly. "And I get to work with you. I must be blessed."
--
When they arrived in Scotland at four in the morning, it was relentlessly pouring rain. James hailed a cab and asked him to drop them off at the nearest hotel. They would have just enough time to sleep for a couple hours, call M and then lay a plan into action for tonight. Aside from Adrianna's terrible temper and their only luggage being a ball gown and James' wallet, things were going more or less all right.
The cab driver pulled into an old, crumbling hotel with red brick walls covered in ivy.
"Best on t' block." He said gruffly to James as he paid him with a fistful of bills. When they got inside, they discovered it was a busy little place, and very crowed.
"Two rooms please." Adrianna said curtly to the desk clerk.
"That won't be necessary." James cut in. "Just one."
Adrianna rolled her eyes and picked up the pen to sign the papers.
"What? My visa does have limits you know." He thanked the clerk and headed off towards the elevator, Adrianna followed him.
When they got in, James noticed she was being unbearably silent.
"What on earth is the matter with you?" He asked.
"Look, Bond." She snapped. "I know that you're enjoying and getting a kick out of this little partnership of ours but that doesn't necessarily mean that I am too."
James groaned. "Look, if your going to start guilt tripping me about Tuscany you should have done it days ago when I came to see you at the beach."
"This isn't about Tuscany!" She shouted, her face turning very red.
"No?" James hollered back, his temper getting the better of him. "You mean to tell me you don't give a damn about that at all? Your just being nasty to me for no reason?"
"My god!" Adrianna laughed. "You are unbelievable! It's like you want me to give you hell for it!"
"Go ahead!" James retorted. "I should damn well say I deserve it."
She did not reply. The doors opened and he glared at her, waiting for her to exit first. She did, and marched off down the hall with her back turned to him. He caught up to her.
"Well, say something." He demanded as they paused in front of the door.
"This is so childish." She snapped. "Look. I'm going to bed. You should too. When we wake up we'll pretend that this conversation didn't happen and stay focused on the mission. Is that clear?"
"Crystal." James growled and stalked into the bedroom. He yanked the comforter off of the bed.
"What are you doing?" Adrianna sighed, dropping her bag on the floor.
"Sleeping." He shot her a look of contempt and then stormed off to the coach on the other side of the room. He lay down and shut his eyes. He heard the door the bathroom slam shut followed by the noise of running water. He sighed heavily and rolled onto his side. It was going to be a very, very long mission.
--
-Please Review!-
Author's Note: Hmm, not sure if I like the way this chapter turned out of not. Meh. Let me know what your thinking. I know James is PMSing hardcore in this chapter bwaha and it's a tad out of character, But once I let you in on a bit more of what happened in Tuscany it shall all make sense. In due time! For a now, please review. I am debating on changing this chapter up a bit or not. Let me know your thoughts! Click that button! :D