Yep! I was right to leave it a cliffhanger. I couldn't leave it alone, haha.

Same rules apply as previous chapter. No own, yadda yadda.

Enjoy, and review please! :D

Rei stared. The man was round, short, and bald. He wore a green pinstripe suit and held a briefcase in the pudgy, soft fingers of his right hand. There was a watch on his left hand.

Rei sweatdropped and nearly fell over.

"Awh. Come on Hiwatari. Stop playing Mr. James Bond and get your ass into the chair. You know you ain't foolin' no one." The man spoke in an authoritative voice.

"Hn."

By now Rei's mind had gotten over the shock and began to overcompensate for the lost 10 seconds or so. It rushed through standard procedure, ignoring the other two people in the room as they continued exchanging words.

No weapons on him, no outline of weapons. Hair…none. Shoes...designer, suggests expensive tastes. No jewelry, except watch. Wants to be one time, punctual person. Also suggest he likes order. Clothes…green. Suggests growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Calming color. Obviously wants peace. Briefcase, black, standard, normal. Could hide small arms, but that can be overcome...(sniff)...Is that…Lady Speed Stick?! Interesting form of deodorant…may suggest some feminine qualities in his decision making. Trace of gasoline in his smell but maybe was from the drive here. Stride is confident, but not overly so. Posture is also c…OH DAMN!

Hiwatari had stepped into the light. Spiky hair, slate grey in the front and navy in the back, framed a perfect face. A navy silk shirt, obviously expensive, hung over a toned torso that was muscular but not bulky. Graceful hands were thrust into slacks that were obviously designer. Fierce crimson eyes stared at Rei, daring him to move, to breathe, to come closer…

Fortunately, after years of training (and a broken jaw once when he had gawked) Rei was able to keep his mouth shut.

He swallowed. Hiwatari seemed to sense this, and smirked. Again.

"Alright chaps. Let's get a move on here and sit down." The tubby man had sat down in the black swiveling chair and was motioning to both Kai and Rei.

Rei made a move toward the chair on the right, but found that Kai had beaten him to it. He made a show of pulling out Rei's chair for him, and didn't sit down until Rei did.

Cheeky bastard. Rei fumed inwardly. He shifted discreetly so that he was as far away from Hiwatari as possible.

"So as you both know, this operation is a collaboration between the U.S. and Russia." The pudgy man had leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table.

"And…oh! Excuse me! I didn't introduce myself here! How incredibly rude of me." The plump man in the green suit turned to Rei. "My name is Anatoli Kypirno. I am in charge of the going ons 'round here." He smiled, and extended his hand. Reaching over to shake his hand, Rei noticed that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Mr. Kypirno reverted to his original position of both elbows on the desk. "And as I was sayin' we're workin' together here on this one." He eyed both the agents. "So teamwork is gonna be essential here." He wagged a pudgy finger. At this, Rei saw Hiwatari roll his eyes.

"Anyways," Mr. Kypirno grunted as he reached down to retrieve his briefcase "we're goin' up again pretty big fry here…and excuse me for a sec, lads." He pulled out a sleek silver laptop and began muttering as he set it up.

As he waited, Rei's eyes drifted over to Hiwatari, following the pale skin of his throat lower and lower. Unconciously licking his lips, he found himself wishing that the Russian had left more of his shirt open…No! Argh…why am I thinking these things? I'm engaged, for Pete's sake! As penance he forced himself to chant Brooklyn's name over and over while filling his head with images of his fiancée. Brooklyn. Brooklyn in the tub naked. Brooklyn. Brooklyn sprawled out on the bed. Brooklyn. Brooklyn taking off his shirt. Brooklyn. Brooklyn finding me and Kai in the closet having hot, sweaty…GODDAMMIT!

All during this time, Kai hadn't budged an inch. He looked like a statue that some rabid fangirl had pilfered from a museum.

"Ahem," Mr. Kypirno cleared his throat rather loudly, breaking Rei from his mental bashing of unwanted images. Rei peeled his eyes from Kai's skin and forced himself to concentrate on the mission briefing.

The laptop was now on, and was set into presentation mode. On the screen was a portrait of a man, about his early thirties. He had sparkling blue eyes and blonde hair, and was dressed expensively, with several big rings on his fingers.

"So as you chaps can see, not only is this a big fry, but this is a rich big fry." Usually Rei would have found humor in the word choice, but the man's tone had taken on a deadly edge. "This here is Matvei Gregorovich. Normally, we'd spend more time on his background and such, but let's cut to the chase: he was born rich, he is rich, and he will die rich."

The screen changed to show the next slide, another photo of the young man, this one by a pool, surrounded by busty blondes and handsome young men. "He enjoys what the rich like to do, but most notably golf, fast cars, and, quoting him, 'people who are as attractive as me'. You'd think that someone with this kind of ego would get shot down and fall the hardest, but that is far from the truth.

People think he's easy to get, too arrogant, so they send guys in to nail 'im. But what do they get?" The next shot was of a dead body, left in the forest. It had been mauled badly in several places, blood pooling all over the ground, and the skin on the victim's back had been cut off. "Yessir. Skinned off while the poor man was alive. The big ego acts almost like a ruse. This man is as evil as hell frozen over and thawed again. He shows no mercy and takes no victims.

And as far as we know, he has no weaknesses other than beautiful people, though we have tried to find some. He was born rich, the son of the successful ganglord-turned-CEO Dorofei Gregorovich and an unnamed street prostitute. So he does have street blood in 'im, and all those street smarts." At this, Mr. Kypirno turned to the two agents.

"You know that file we pilfered? Well, lemme tell ya…that wasn't even his house! That's why it was so easy! All five of his homes are bogus, and he doesn't live in any of 'em! So now we don't even know his address…

But lemme tell ya what we do know. This Saturday, that's in five days exactly, at 3:00 p.m. Mr. Gregorovich will be boarding the jet Mirar(1), courtesy of our lovely bank here." A photo of a luxury jet was shown, the word "mirar" painted in swirling letters along its side.

"Of course he couldn't refuse our offer. Lovely girls and guys, pampering, gets 'im from point A to B, great security, comfort. And the fact that he's been our customer for a few years now. And we've been more than accommodating in many, er, questionable instances." Mr. Kypirno's face broke out into a smile, and he winked. Rei wondered if there had been any persuasion tactics going on between the agency and Gregorovich.

Suddenly though, as if a cloud not only passed over the sun, but also punched it in the face, the rotund man's smile disappeared. "But why do we target 'im? Cuz we're bored? Hell, no. This man, I tell ya, this man is evil. I said he was rich right? But this is what he uses his money to do…" He pressed the button to go to the next slide.

Rei gasped. He could sense Kai suddenly tense…

The label at the bottom of the screen read "28 hours". The man was literally melting away. The exposed cheekbone stood out stark and white against the goopy, dripping mix of blood and flesh. The man's eyes bugged out of their sockets, bloodshot. There was a tube running into his nose supplying oxygen, but the man's mouth was open in a carnal grimace, seemingly gasping for air. A black fluid oozed out of the corner of his mouth.

"It's a cousin of the Ebola virus." Mr. Kypirno's grave voice broke through the shock. "He had it developed somewhere in the Himalayas and tested, too. That poor guy with 'is back sinned in the forest? This is what he died for. To get us this photo and show us the truth…"

He shook his bald head and continued. "We have reason to believe that he plans to unleash this deadly virus among us. But remember those street smarts? Oh yessir, killing people isn't enough, but he's gonna make 'em pay to stay alive." The screen changed to show a small vial that held a clear fluid.

"10 million can save your life. Of course, not everyone can cough up 10 million for themselves, much less their family. But in the end, Mr. Gregorovich is gonna be one rich, rich, big fry."

"But…" at this Mr. Kypirno leaned forward, a glint suddenly in his eye, "this rich, rich, big fry is gonna board our plane this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. And he is gonna meet this special, special flight attendant…"

Rei suddenly felt a sinking in his stomach.

"…who's gonna give him special treatment. And what did I say about dying rich? Yessir, Mr. Gregorovich is gonna die a rich man that never was." His plump finger triumphantly hit the key. "Of course after that all we hafta do is swoop his secret headquarters, which the special flight attendant will be sure to find out for us, and that should be more or less easy since he is afraid to delegate responsibilities to anyone else."

There was a short silence as Mr. Kypirno switched off the presentation. He navigated the computer for a while, then clicked on the file.

A 3D model of a jetplane showed up, rotating slowly on an axis. Every few seconds or so, the outside would disappear to show a model of the inside, down to every seat and champagne glass being served. There was even a mini Gregorovich, lounging contentedly in a chair. Rei intently observed the diagram. The fat man had been right, it was true luxury.

"So this is our baby here. U.S. and Russia split the cost, so I don't wanna hear no arguing…" He winked as both Rei and Kai glanced at him. "It, plus the whole airport, is gonna be stocked with agents from both countries. But you two, specially hand-picked...You two" he turned his eyes to first Kai, then Rei, "will be in the center of the action." He moved the cursor to a link titled "characters", and clicked twice swiftly.

A digitally enhanced picture of Kai popped up. He was dressed in a standard captain's outfit, in blue and white. "Mr. Hiwatari, you will be our co-captain. Now, I know you like playing Big-Mister-Numbah-One but the captain won't be able to get away if there is trouble. And there will be trouble. So this is your job." Mr. Kypirno bent away for a moment to retrieve something, and came back with two manila folders. He handed the top one to Kai.

Eying his folder, Rei wasn't so sure he wanted to know what his part was.

"And Mr. Kon…" Kypirno moved the cursor to the "next" button at the bottom of the screen, and pressed. Rei felt his stomach fall into a bottomless pit.

Hell. No.

"Mr. Kon, you will be our special, special flight attendant."

How'd you like that, eh?

Yes? No? Ideas? Anything? Review, I say! Review! :D

(1) Mirar: means to look in Spanish. I was gonna call it "Paradise" in Russian, but you can't spell Russian with the English Alphabet

Peace. And pineapple.