Thanks you such much for the reviews :D Keep 'em coming! This chapter is just some in-between stuff but I hope you enjoy anyways...
"I am not asking much," Teller assured them, "Believe me children there are things far worse then espionage. I'll never understand why your generation always makes such a fuss over simple tasks. "
The jolly man stood behind his desk. His protruding belly hanging over the table, giggled when he chuckled like some sort of perverse Father Christmas. Natalie was disgusted. How had she failed to notice throughout her childhood just how revolting her elders were? Yet there the crew sat, pinned to their seats by the looming threat of exposure.
"You are asking us to betray a member of our family," James said through his teeth. Mr. Teller had summoned the crew to his New York office under the pretense of giving them the details of their 'assignment', as the fat man liked to refer to it, but thus far had spent ten minutes chastising them for their ingratitude for his 'immense kindness' towards them.
The evil Santa Claus shook with laughter, "Come now children, Mr. Hale is not really your family, now is he? No blood ties. No shared family tree. But you still call him Uncle. Curious that."
Natalie had had enough, "Mr. Teller, you told Mac that you intend to force this crew to topple Hale Industries. Correct? Or do you just intend on subjecting us to your gloating?"
He turned an amused eye toward the young woman, "Just like your father, Miss West, straight down to business. I've always admired your family's determination. Well, then I will 'get on with it', as they say. I am not, in fact, asking you to topple a multi-billion dollar company. That is far too much responsibility for a group of children. No, no, my dear, I am only asking you to provide me with the tools to do so. All I require from you," he motioned to the group, "is a little bit of information. Something that will allow me to cut Hale Industries off at the knees," he tapped his belly with his stout fingers as he smiled gleefully down on them. It was clear their discomfort brought him immense joy and entertainment.
"But we don't know anything about the company," Siena protested, "Not anything that could be of value to you."
"Of course you don't," he exclaimed, "Mr. Hale is no fool. He would not go divulging the secrets of his company willy nillly. No, you'll need to infiltrate the company for that."
"As you say, sir," James cut in, "Our Uncle is no fool. He will know when he is being conned for information."
"Yes, yes, I know. That is why I have hired you, Mr. Bishop. They say you are almost as skilled as your mother," Teller chattered. "Imagine how proud she will be when your little 'crew' manages to con Mr. Hale out of his company."
"Aunt Kat has very powerful connections," Siena fired back, "She will come after your company if you hurt our family."
"I don't doubt it, my dear. No, that I dare not doubt. But there is the small matter that I know all there is to know about your 'family'. Which is why, unless you would like to be responsible for the imprisonment of all your loved ones, you will have to abide by my rules. And rule number one, Miss Antokov, is that no member of your family outside of this room will know about this. Excluding you little hacker friend of course. I've had to cut her out of this conversation to insure she does not try anything foolish, like recording me." Mr. Teller hobbles around the desk until he stood over Siena's seated figure. Siena flinched as he pointed one pudgy finger at her crescent moon necklace.
"Ah, the symbol of Islam. A gift from your father, no doubt. He is Egyptian, correct? But you wouldn't remember him, would you?" Teller met her startled expression with a child-like grin.
"As I've said Miss Antokov, I know all about your family's interesting history. Including the fact that your mother stole you away from your father's love when you were just an infant. Just as well, my dear. You never could have had a healthy upbringing with a father like that. Although, why do I prattle on like this when you have no idea what I am speaking of."
"That's enough," James tried to cut in but Teller ignored him.
"You don't even know his name, do you, my dear? Funny, isn't it, how we cherish the memory of those we never really knew?" he smiled down on Siena as if she were a misguided child and clicked in disapproval. "But clearly your mother could not erase him entirely. That skin. A shame. You really are very pretty, my dear. But it is a shame you have such an unfortunate parentage."
"Shut up!" Mac barked, "Just shut up you racist bastard! You wanted us here. We came. Now get on with it."
Teller waved him off as he made his way back around the desk, "Mr. Bishop, please try to contain your Irish attack dog. We all want this meeting to remain civilized," he let his enormous frame fall back into the large chair behind the desk and rubbed his hand together. "Now as I was saying, you will need to infiltrate Hale Industries. With your fortunate connections this shouldn't take you long, but to provide some motivation, lets say I give your crew a month to retrieve sufficient intelligence to fatally wound the company. Yes, that sounds more then fair."
"A month is not enough time for what you are asking," James interjected.
Mr. Teller waged a finger at him, "No, my boy, what you mean is that a month is not enough time to wiggle your way out of this. However a month is more then sufficient for gathering information."
Natalie moved to protest, but Teller cut her off, "I should warn you, children, that you will be constantly watched. If you attempt to warn your family or devise some plan to evade the consequences of breaking our deal I will know. Rest assured, I always know when I am being cheated. Understood?"
Natalie's eyes narrowed, and she did her best impression of a cool business woman, "Perfectly, Mr. Teller."
The plump man clapped his hands together, making the tense crew jump, "Excellent! Just wonderful that we all understand one another! I will expect results from you a month from today. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to contact me, through the appropriate discreet channels of course. I would love to stay and chat but I promised my nieces I would treat them to brunch. They're such delightful girls, even after losing their mother. I couldn't stand to disappoint them so I really must go. My guards will see you out the back."
Mr. William Teller waddled quickly out of the office, leaving the stunned and distraught teenagers to be ushered out the back by his fierce looking staff. When the alley door slammed behind them and the crew was finally alone an enraged Siena turned to James, "Please tell me you have a way out of this that involves leaving that man stranded in the Sahara Desert."
But James didn't answer. He only slid his arms into his coat and starred out at the cloud of smog. Instead Natalie took charge. She linked her arm through Siena's, "Come one. Lets get out of here before one of us gets another homicidal urge. We've got work to do."
Natalie was tired of the depression, the lies, and the desperation. She wanted nothing more then to be a teenage girl again, even if only for a few moments. Once the bedroom door of the Brooklyn Brownstone shut behind then Natalie spun on Siena with a raised brow, "Okay. You. Mac. Googlie eyes. Start talking, Antokov."
Her best friend was more then willing to oblige her regular teenage girl fantasy, "Uh, yeah," Siena blushed as she stumbled over the words, "so I was on the roof of the hotel in London and he sort of came up to find me and-"
"Yes! I knew it!" Cake cheered from Siena's discarded phone, "You owe me 20 euro, Heiress."
"Damn it. I bet you two were going to get together in a high speed car chase. She bet the roof. Always letting me down, S." Natalie playfully poked Siena's ribs.
Siena rolled her eyes, "Betting? Isn't that a little bit beneath us?"
"Says the girl who recently scored 30,000 in Monte Carlo," Cake chirped. The crew had filled her in on their meeting with Teller on the way home.
"Counting cards isn't betting," Siena shrugged, "And I don't know, Mac and I just sort of happened."
"Years in the making, and months of insufferable flirtation and tension is not what I call 'just happened'," Cake answered.
"Are you going to tell James?" Natalie asked.
"He might have already figured it out," Cake input.
"He hasn't. He would have said something to me about it." Natalie responded.
"I don't want to bother him with it. Jay already has a lot on his mind and I doubt he would be as thrilled with it as you two are," Siena brushed the idea away. "I think it's best if we just keep things as normal as possible."
"He'll be happy for you guys. I'm positive of it." Natalie assured her.
She nodded thoughtfully, "I know, its just more for him to worry about. James has never handled relationship changes well. They freak him out."
"Yeah, I've picked up on that. He's not exactly fond of Eric," Natalie flopped back onto her bed.
Siena clicked her teeth, "Don't try and pretend likes it's the same thing. Besides we've got enough to focus on right now with Teller."
"Don't you mean the demon from hell," Cake quipped, "Did he really bring up your father?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Siena distracted herself by running a comb through her natted hair.
"James was developing a plan the last time I talked to him," Natalie began to rifle through her bags, looking for shampoo.
Siena's phone chirped. "Speak of the devil", Cake muttered as she hacked her way deeper into Siena's phone, "James just texted you to meet downstairs in forty for a planning session."
"Perfect," Natalie disappeared for a moment into the bathroom, "That's just enough time to scrub away all traces of that disgusting man."
"We'll have an in depth debrief about you and Mac tonight, but for now Jay wants me to pull up specs. on Hale Industries business model. Over and out, my darlings." With a click Cake was gone.
When Natalie reappeared from the bathroom to grab a fresh change of clothes she noticed Siena frozen in place, cradling the hairbrush like an injured bird. She didn't seem to know what to do with herself but the darkness under her eyes demanded sleep.
Natalie gently removed the hairbrush from Siena's grip, "Why don't you take a nap? You haven't really slept since they grabbed Mac."
"Uh, yeah, I'll do that," Siena nodded absent mindedly.
Natalie reluctantly left the dazed girl to sort herself out but was drawn back into the room when Siena called, "Hey, Nat?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think Teller will find out about him? Dmitri, I mean."
Natalie gave a smile that was half encouraging and half utterly heart broken, "No. I think Dmitri is too smart to get caught. And he wouldn't risk our necks or his own by being careless."
Siena sounded like a child when she asked, "He'll come back, won't he? When this is over."
"I think that depends on if you want him to," she replied.
Siena pulled at the threads of the old duvet she had collapsed on and considered what Natalie had said.
Nat had no way to make her friend whole again. She knew she could never be a replacement for her twin and now that Mac had claimed his place as the other half of Siena's heart Natalie was left to wonder if she was still had any claim to the title of best friend. Watching the shell of a girl drift off to sleep Natalie had to question whether she was losing Siena Antokov before she had ever got the chance to really know her.
"Get some sleep," Natalie urged, "I'll wake you when its time."
Natalie was drying her hair with a towel as she rounded the corner into the Brownstone's kitchen. The place was eerily quiet as Kat's crew were working on a heist in Nepal and the children had been safely stowed away with their Uncle Simon in Istanbul. The house was all but empty expect for the crew and yet the air had never felt heavier.
"I know that face. You've got a plan," Natalie had found James bent over the kitchen table examining documents with the familiar crease in his forehead.
"You're not going to like it," James warned her.
"I don't like anything about this, but it has to be done."
"That's what I keep telling myself," James shook his head, "I just feel like we've given up too easily. If we don't even try to defy Teller then how can we claim we were forced to do it?"
Mac chose that moment to ride into the kitchen, "I would abandon any plans of revolt you're working up, mate. Teller's made good on his threat. There's a pair of suits sitting in a Range Rover across the street. I wasn't sure before when I saw them on the way back from Teller Inc. but I'm sure now. They followed us here."
"Aunt Kat is going to be ticked when we tell her the Brownstone's been compromised," Siena descended the stairs, eyes still heavy from sleep.
"We need to remember that this is not the first threat to the family. And it won't be the last. Its just part of the profession," James stated. Natalie wasn't sure if he was reassuring them or himself.
"Coffee anyone?" Nat asked, "We should get down to it. We've only got a month from today."
No one was in the mood for coffee. The last thing they needed was yet another reason to lose sleep. Teller was threatening them. Dmitri had abandoned them. They were isolated from their family and were about to destroy it entire. The crew had never considered it possible to be standing in their own home, the center of their family, and still feel so utterly alone.
James took his place as the table, "As cruel and horrendous as this all seems, its come at a good time for us. Siena, a few days ago you mentioned that Uncle Hale offered you an intern position in the company, right? As his second hand?"
She nodded but she didn't like where this was going, "Yeah. I turned him down though. Said I wanted to stay with my crew."
"But the offer stands?"
"As far as I know," Siena replied. "You want me to take the job, don't you?"
James was somber, "Yes. I need you to."
Mac intervened, "Hold on. Is there really no way that we can do this without Uncle Hale knowing we were involved? We could call in a favour and have Black and his boys be the front men for this."
"No outside help, remember?" Natalie spoke up.
"Besides," James continued, "Black is too smart to cross someone as good as Uncle Hale. He may be slime but he's not stupid. And Cake assures me that Hale Industries is too watertight for an insider to get into its systems. Which means we need an inside man. Or, rather, an inside-woman," James looked to Siena.
"Jay, I've never done a long con before," Siena protested in a low voice.
"I know. I also know that you can handle it."
"This isn't the time to be mucking around with new positions, Jay. If Uncle Hale suspects the entire thing is shot," Mac input.
"Exactly. That's why Siena is the one for the con. He offered her the job, not you, not me or Nat. If any of us showed up asking for employment it would look out of place. He also knows Siena isn't a con artist, so he'd be less likely to think that she could ever, well-"
"Con him? Betray him?" Siena offered bitterly, "What if I can't do that, Jay?"
"S, I'm sorry, okay. I don't want to but I am asking you to do this. I need you to do this, for the family," James was insistent.
Siena looked as though she might cry.
"Hold on, now,-" Mac intervened.
"No," Siena swallowed back the tears, "Jay's right. It's got to be me. I'll do it."
Mac turned to her and in hushed tones tried to get through to her, "S, you don't have to do this. We'll find another way."
She stopped him, "There's no time, Mac. It's alright. If James thinks I can pull this off then I'll do it."
"I know you will," Jay nodded with confidence.
Natalie reached for Siena's hand, "We'll be right there with you, S, in your ear. You won't be alone."
They hadn't been aware that Cake was listening but she chimed in to comfort Siena, "I've seen you work, darling. You're more then capable. And what other con artist can go in a job knowing they have the amazing yours-truly on their side?"
Siena studied her folded hands as she held fast to Natalie's. Her voice came out soft, "This is going to break his heart, isn't it?"
No could bear to answer.
"Alright," Siena looked up with a new resolve in her eyes, "Okay, lets do this."
James slid a cell phone toward her, "Make the call."
There was absolute silence as Siena's shaking hands punched in the number and the ringtone echoed throughout the kitchen.
When the ringing halted and a voice came over the phone Natalie was surprised by Siena's solid and unwavering tone, "Uncle Hale? It's Siena. About that job offer-"
And so it begins. Leave me a review (good or bad) and let me know what you're thinking. As always, thanks for reading. -George&Eckels