NOTES: As promised... Another one.
Now, prepare your hearts, because things are about to get Bond-ian.
Chapter 11
"This is the worst moment possible for something like this to happen." Urien declared flatly.
"Thank you for stating the obvious, Urien." Harry snapped a bit impatient.
Well, it was and someone might as well put it out there. They had eight recruits in training, they could not spare this many agents, let alone Merlin!
"We have no other choice." Merlin said with finality. "This is a very serious matter."
"Can anyone explain to me how a poker game is a serious matter?" Eggsy asked impatient.
Dagonet opened his mouth –and his answer would probably be very impolite –when Roxy cut him. "Do you remember 'Casino Royale'?" She asked Eggsy.
Everybody turned to her confused.
"Craig's first movie as Bond? It was bloody genius!" Eggsy said excited.
"Well, that's the problem." She almost snapped.
Eggsy nodded, suddenly very serious. Harry shook his head, because honestly, he could not believe that was what this meeting had become.
"This is the Sapphire Star, one of the biggest casinos in Macau." Merlin decided to get this thing going or they would be there until tomorrow.
They finally put their glasses and turned to look at the picture of a very luxurious casino/hotel.
"In 72 hours a poker game with stakes worth millions is going to happen there." He forged on. "It's very high profile, invited only with a five million buy-in."
"In Casino Royale it was ten." Eggsy pointed out.
The look Merlin threw him shut him up very quickly.
"There will be ten people at that table. One of them is a CIA agent, the other a KGB agent and the other six people already in are drug dealers, terrorists, arms dealers and –my personal favorite –a professional assassin." The pictures of the eight people appeared on screen.
"Any of those men and women win the money, it will finance their activities." Harry explained. "The CIA is there for the terrorist and we have no idea why the KGB is."
"So, how is this going to work?" Susan asked.
"We managed to get Merlin and Urien invited as players, using aliases they already had." Harry explained. "Merlin is a terrorist and Urien a drug dealer and actually knows one of the others: Marcus Hunter, also a drug dealer." Harry indicated the American man in the screen.
"We will participate in the game, but mostly what we want is to get them all at the same time and the money." Merlin continued. "It's fifty million dollars that we can give to the girl scouts for all I care, as long as nobody in that table has it. Guinevere, Lancelot, Galahad and Gareth will come as well, as support."
"Something like that it's not a one-day deal." Urien pointed out.
"No, they expect at least two nights playing." Merlin confirmed. "But we have twenty four hours to close this. They start losing they will drop and leave the place. We will close it in one night, bag them and the two agents; and they are the problem." Merlin said with certainty. "If we know they are agents there is no way these people don't. The question is why they still let them come in. We grab them, find out what they know then possibly give them back to their governments."
"We will have agents from our division in China helping bag them as they leave." Harry finished.
"If we have agents in Macau why do we have to do this in such a delicate moment?" Susan asked.
"Because Merlin and Urien are the ones that have the identities needed for this." Harry was the one to explain. "And both are very good poker players."
"Besides good mathematicians." Urien added.
"That's not proved as a fact." Dagonet snapped.
Harry cleared his throat, throwing a look at both men. "Caradoc and Bors will stay behind and distract the recruits." He turned the couple. "They can't realize what is going on or that Merlin is not here, so keep them very busy. It might be a good time to torture them a bit."
"Oh, that will be a pleasure." Caradoc said with a smirk.
"Can we lock them in the dark rooms?" Bors asked interested.
"Have fun." Harry made a dismissive gesture with his hand.
The couple shared a smile.
"That sounds mighty fancy." Eggsy declared pleased. "Count me in."
XxX
"This is not what I had in mind." Eggsy whined –not for the first time –in the comms.
Susan rolled her eyes and put her earrings on. "Stop complaining, Galahad." She admonished gently. "Urien, I need your help with the dress."
"Now that sounds amazingly interesting." Gareth commented on his end of the comm. "How is that I'm not the one helping you with that?"
"Can we please focus?" Merlin snapped at them.
Susan rolled her eyes. Merlin was being a pain in the arse with this new mission.
Urien came of the bathroom, fixing his cufflinks. Susan gave him her back. "Can you fix the folds in the back for me?" She asked.
Urien made a noncommittal noise as he stepped closer to her and delicately fixed the folds in the back of the dress. "Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yes." She let her hair fall over her shoulder. It was longer than it had ever been since she left Narnia, almost reaching the middle of her back, so she had it now on a French braid, because the most interesting thing about this dress was its back and she wanted to show it off.
She turned to Urien to find him analyzing her carefully. "You look pretty." He said at last.
Susan knew that, coming from him, it was not meant as a compliment, it was a statement. She could take it as a compliment, though, because it meant that Urien thought she could do her part as she was supposed to do.
He was a prick like that.
"I heard Georgina Martins is a gorgeous woman that loves attention." Susan said applying perfume on her neck. "She might call more attention than me."
She was not fishing for compliments, it was a genuine concern. She was going to be Urien's arm candy and distraction in the room. She was supposed to flirt with everybody so she could put a small device in the other players, she did not want to spend the night trying to wrestle attention from the other woman, a world famous arms dealer.
Urien dismissed her worry with easy. "Martins is an old woman that likes to pretend that she is still young and sexy by being loud and obnoxious." He said without an ounce of pity. "You, on the other hand, are actually a young and sexy woman. There's no competition." He said flatly.
"Never took you for a charmer, Urien." Susan teased slightly.
"I am pretty sure you know how attractive you are, Guinevere," was his answer.
"But just in case you need a reminder…" Gareth's voice came from the comms, "You are very hot, Guinevere."
"Thank you, Gareth." She laughed.
"Everybody in their positions?" Harry, who was coordinating from the HQ, asked.
"How are the kids faring without us?" Urien wondered.
"Oh, Caradoc and Bors are taking good care of them." Was the answer.
XxX
Alicia looked to the ceiling of the cell she was locked in. Bors –a very scary man –had come in with Merlin –she was not sure how long ago that had been –and told them something different would happen in the next 24 to 48 hours.
They were all taken to individual, small concrete cells and locked in there. Each of them received a word and were told they should not say that word, no matter what happened. Whoever did would be sent home.
It was very cold in there and she had nothing to warm herself with. Sometimes it would become completely dark and she had received no food and very little water since she was there. There was also periods filled with a lot of noise, followed by complete silence. Her head was pounding and she had started wondering if eventually they would get physical with them.
Alicia had the feeling that this was some kind of distraction, which made her think that something might be going down with the agents. She wondered what.
Then the door of the cell opened and a man she never saw before entered. Oh yes… They were about to get physical.
XxX
"Our all all-stars team is already in position." Eggsy let Susan know by the comms. "Urien is waiting for you and Merlin will arrive shortly after."
Susan took a deep breath. She was going to play a role as soon as she crossed the door. This was exact the same thing she had done to the kids in the classroom, she was going to make the whole audience want her.
She went down the stairs and into the room. The VIP lounge, where the game would be played, was in a basement level in the hotel, but it was very opulent. It had its own bar and only selected people could come in.
She steeped in and looked around, looking for Urien.
She heard Eggsy whistling low through the comm and Gareth barely repressed "hot damn". She ignored them all, even though she could feel many eyes on her. Urien –that was going by Richard Thompson – was talking to Marcus Hunter and Irfan Kapoor, both drug dealers.
They were sitting at a table, so she just came behind Urien and slid her arms around his shoulders and down his chest. "Hello, darling." She murmured on his ear.
Urien turned his head in her direction, his nose brushing against hers gently. "There you are." He said with a smirk. "I thought you might lose the beginning of the game."
"And not wish you luck, baby?" She said theatrically. "Never." She nipped his lower lip.
Hunter cleared his throat. "Won't you introduce your friend, Thompson?" He asked, eyes fixed on Susan.
"Of course." Urien turned back to both men. "This is Megan. These are Mr. Hunter and Mr. Kapoor."
"It's a pleasure, gentlemen." She offered her hand to both and Hunter shook it, but Kapoor kissed it. "Ricky never introduces me to his friends." She pouted.
"Maybe he just worries one of us will steal you from him." Kapoor said charmingly.
Urien frowned and Susan just giggled, not denying the possibility. Then she excused herself to go to the bar.
They were putting a special bit of tech on the other participants. Roxy –that was working as waitress there –had managed to tag Georgina Martins and Samuel Parker, the CIA agent. Eggsy –that was working as bartender and complaining a whole lot about it –tagged Katia Krykova, the KGB agent, while Susan had just tagged Kapoor and Hunter.
She was by the bar flirting with Kristofer Ellefesen –a mercenary and a thrill-seeker –when Merlin came in. She knew very little of his alias, just that he was supposedly an Egyptian Sheikh that "supported" terrorism against the big occidental potencies.
What she was not ready for was seeing Merlin in full Sheikh regalia.
"He's back in the yummy column." Roxy declared under her breath.
Not that he had ever left it on Susan's opinion. She was never one of those silly girls with crushes on pirates, soldiers or even Sheikhs, but… This was seriously unfair. Where did that beard even come from?
Merlin traded greetings with Malik Gors –responsible for human trafficking in East Europe – and Patricia Sylver –the professional assassin – before his eyes found Susan at the bar and he came straight at her.
"Oh man, are you in trouble or what?" Eggsy teased.
She wanted to tell them all to shut up, because she needed to focus and they were not helping at all! Merlin finally reached them and shook hands with Ellefesen.
"Sheikh." The man said, a bit of mockery on the title. "A pleasure to finally meet you. May I introduce you to Megan? She came with Thompson, so don't even try to whisk her away to your harem."
Merlin turned his attention completely to Susan. "I wouldn't ever whisk a woman that doesn't wish to come on her free will." Well, gone was the sexy Scot accent, replaced by a sexy Egyptian accent.
"I don't know." She teased, finally recovering her character and offering her hand. "I wouldn't mind playing odalisque a bit."
She heard Gareth snickering and Harry chocking on whatever he was drinking. Merlin arched a brow at her, something very interesting stirring in his eyes. He captured her hand and brought it to his lips. "That can be arranged." He promised dropping a kiss on her knuckles.
By the sounds coming from the comms everybody was very surprised by the tone.
"How terrible of you!" She slapped him on the shoulder. "I do have a man that I have to go back to. If you two excuse me…" She winked at Ellefesen and walked away. Her knees may have been a bit weak.
She was not confirming anything.
XxX
When they were preparing for this mission Merlin had been very vocal in his complaints against the red dress Susan was supposed to wear. It was not appropriate for missions: too tight, to constrictive, she would not be able to fight in it or even hide a gun under it.
He should have protested harder.
That dress… Well, Susan was always beautiful, but she pulled classy and sexy like nobody else he had ever seen. The number was backless and blood red, not even the long sleeves and very discreet neckline erased the sensuality of it. Of course, it might have something to do with the slit that became obvious with every step she took.
He had heard every single comment the other agents had made on her appearance. And while Merlin considered Susan way more than a pretty face –she was a woman of numerous qualities and he admired her a great deal –he could not deny how beautiful she was.
While she seemed to find something interesting in him –and for the life of him, Merlin could not really grasp what it was – he never expected her to find him exactly attractive. Apparently he had been dead wrong there, or she had a serious kink on Sheikhs.
The look in her eyes when he came closer…
"You do know that you have a camera on you and I can see exactly what you are watching, right, Merlin?" Harry said suddenly.
He heard Eggsy snickering on the comms, but refused to answer to that. He had quite forgotten that, thank you very much.
Susan went to Urien, who was sitting and draped herself on his lap, arms going automatically around his neck. Merlin found the situation kind of funny, because he knew that Susan and Urien barely talked to each other in the HQ, since they didn't get along all that well.
But there she was, whispering in his ear, while one of his hands drew lazy circles on the exposed skin of her back, while the other was possessively draped over her knee.
Susan was a great actress. It showed on the way she giggled when talking to Kapoor or Gors –both men she would despise on principle – or how she would touch Urien like she just couldn't wait to get him alone.
Most of the players were exactly as they anticipated: Georgina kept begging for attention and making rude remarks about Susan. Parker was keeping his eyes on Ivan Rossini –a terrorist –to the point of being a bit too obvious. The wild card was still Krykova, the KGB agent that did not fit in this place at all. She had no reason to be there.
Unless it was personal. Merlin passed a note to Roxy on a napkin to let Harry know and check.
A representative of some Swiss Bank came to explain how the money would be kept as to make sure whoever won it would receive it. They all made deposits in a specific account before coming here, now they had to choose passwords in case they won. The bank man brought a briefcase with him, where there was a keypad where they were supposed to put a password in the event they won the money. When it was Merlin's turn to choose one he brought the briefcase more to the edge of the table, so he could stick a device under it.
The little device was supposed to start hacking the account. Harry just had to press enter and the thing would run itself. They would have the money before the game even really began.
That still left them with a table with eight unpredictable people. This would be a long night.
NOTES: Hope you enjoyed it!
Susan's dress and Merlin's pictures are also on the board.
I just want to say that I don't have a sheikh-kink or something like that. I guess I have a Mark Strong-kink and it's showing. The only reason I chose to say that Merlin was dressed like that was because of the picture I saw and how amazingly hot he looked. I hope that this doesn't sound offending, because it was never the intention.
Let me know what you think.
I wish all of you a magic Christmas. Blessings on you and your family and beloved ones.
See you all next year!
xoxo