Previous Chapter: Lula beamed at me, "Girl, I think we should become actresses. If we pull off this caper, it will prove what great actresses we are. Maybe while we're out here, I can find us an agent."

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long ass assignment.

CHAPTER 11

I stepped out of the bathroom as a breeze of cold air chilled my clammy wet skin. Startled, I jumped back a few steps to find Deuce sitting at the kitchen in the corner with a laptop and my stomach began to do that fluttery thing.

"How'd you get in here?" I said in a loud whisper pulling my towel tighter to my body.

"I came to get you prepped and dressed for your interview today. You take really long showers. You should start training to reduce the time to five minutes to optimize your time," he added raising his eyebrow and dropping the blank face at my state of undress.

So he was somewhat of a real human man after all.

"I can dress myself," I huffed.

He slid his blank face back into place. "The team has put together your distraction outfit and equipment." He pulled out a duffle bag and furnished a beautiful satin royal blue, one sleeve off shoulder mini dress with a jeweled embellishment buckle on the sleeved shoulder and laid it on the table. Next he pulled out a Victoria Secret bag and placed it next to the dress and a pair of matching pumps.

He spoke calmly and professionally, "Ella picked out the outfit for you. I promise I didn't look in the bag."

I nodded my head and ran my fingers down the length of the dress, "Ella's always has impeccable taste."

He then pulled out a black square necklace box and opened it to show me its contents. Inside was a gorgeous Black Onyx Teardrop Pendant surrounded by diamonds on a silver chain with matching earrings.

"This," he took the necklace out of the box, set the box on the bed and fastened it around my neck, "will allow us to be able to see what you're seeing," he said tapping on the gemstone. "The on and off is the little silver notch at the bottom of the jewel. Push the notch to the backside of the jewel to turn off and to the bottom to turn on."

I nodded my head.

"Video footage will stream live to my laptop," he filled the laptop screen around for me to see, "and to Rangeman."

A little video screen popped up with Ranger's face in it, "Babe." He frowned, "Where's your clothes?"

"Morning to you too, sunshine," I replied smugly. "I didn't have time to get dressed because my new partner decided to pop in unannounced while I was in the shower."

I could see the muscles in his jaw working to maintain his infamous stoic persona. "Babe, the earrings are for us to hear what's going on around you. Make sure to have the items on you at all times. The earrings are activated once clicked into place and deactivated when removed. We will be your extra set of eyes and ears. If you at any time feel uncomfortable or that you may be in danger, I want you to leave immediately."

I nodded my head to let him know I understood.

"I mean it, Babe. Mosca is not a man to mess with. He's a very dangerous man and is rumored to be involved with a number of illegal dealings. As any distraction, keep your panic button on you."

Deuce removed the all too familiar little button and placed it into a black clutch.

"Deuce will fill you in on the rest of the details. If you need anything, you know how to reach me."

"Yup, got it," I bobbed my head up and down.

"Babe?"

"Yes, Ranger?"

"Be careful and don't go crazy."

I grinned crazily at him, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Babe, a little scary," he replied as the screen disappeared.

Deuce continued into his business mode, "I want you to look at a couple of photos and get familiar with them and then we'll go over your cover story again."

"Ok but I think I should put on some clothes first."

He gave me a quick head nod without looking at me and continued to go through the papers in the envelope. I take back the "being human" comment. This man was a fucking robot.

I grabbed the outfit off the table to take back to the room and pulled on a t-shirt and gym shorts. "Show me whatcha got," I said taking a seat at the table.

He began spreading the photos out on the table to show me pictures of all of the key players surrounding Mosca. "Buddy Valentino is Mosca's right hand man," he handed me a photo of a greasy haired, bulk Italian man who looked similar to some sort of gigolo. "You'll probably want to keep a watchful eye on him. I imagine he handles all of Mosca's dirty work. Your interview is at Mosca's casino, Belize, at the bar located in the back, Luna Nuova, at 1300. You'll be inquiring for a position as a server."

I scrunched my nose at him.

"Do you have a question?" he asked before continuing.

"What time is 1300?"

He gave me a hard look, "1pm. How long have you been working at Rangeman and you don't know military time?"

"Officially, one month. Unofficially, a little over half a year."

We continued through the rest of the morning reading through the files that Hal provided to us, practicing my cover story, and testing out the equipment to make sure it was all in working order.

Lula and Misty popped in for a few minutes to debrief and took off for the casinos. I looked over at Deuce trying to keep my eyes from falling out of its sockets from all of the reading and noticed he was flipping the playing card in his hands.

"Do you play?"

He looked up from the computer screen, "I used to have a gambling problem."

"Oh, so maybe it's not such a good idea to have made you come to Vegas," I said sheepishly.

"Two years clean."

"So is that how you got your nickname?"

He nodded, "Among the fact that I was a fighter jet pilot which is sometimes referred as a Deuce."

"So what's your real name?"

"Derek Hartland," he replied shutting the laptop. "You should start getting ready for your interview."

"Where will you be?"

"You don't need to know. Just know that I'll be close."

"Ok," I replied in full confidence. As stoic as, Deuce was, at least he spoke to me when I asked him questions. This partnership may not be as bad as I made it out to be. I trusted Ranger and his men with my life and Deuce isn't any different even if he is a total stick in the mud. Now if only I could figure out what's going on with this weird uneasy fluttering in my stomach is.

He shoved everything into the black duffle bag and swung it up on his shoulder, stepping up to me, "Remember your cover story and don't stray away from it."

I nodded my head as my stomach fluttered harder at the close proximity of his body with mine. Why was I getting these weird feelings around Deuce? I mean it's not like I was attracted to him. I mean I am attracted to him; he's something really nice to look at.

But he's my partner and a Merry Man. I don't get this way around the other guys. But I can't seem to shake this feeling. It's like a feeling that makes me slightly uncomfortable. Seriously, my hormones are out of whack.

I raised my head to look up at him but no one was there. "Hello?"

Silence.

How the hell did he just disappear into thin air? Please don't tell me we have another Dark Knight on our hands.

Any thoughts on what Duece may end up being like? Could he just be a replica of Ranger?