A/N: I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I decided against it. However, I would really really love it if everyone could take some time to review this chapter. I am proud of it and I would love to know what everyone thinks.
As it turned out, the mission was relatively simple. All Imogen had to do was gather some information about what seemed to be a legitimate business on the outside. However, like Michael and Amanda explained to her, Division had reason to believe that this business was actually working in the black market trading industry and was selling everything from low level drugs to high powered weapons. So in short, Imogen was doing the dirty work of gathering all the intelligence that they needed in order to confirm the suspicions and then leave the follow through to "real Division agents".
Reading through the files, Imogen formulated her own plan on how to get the information. The business in question was a club downtown, and the boss, the man who held the information that, if it existed, proved they were in the black market industry. Imogen read on the papers that the boss, someone named Mark, had a girlfriend. That was Imogen's in. She would make friends with this girl and see if she could make her way into the backrooms of the club, or at least be able to sneak in there without anyone noticing. She traced her finger across a path in the blueprints she was provided with, and figured that if she made her excuses to go to the ladies' room, she would be able to crawl through the vents and into the back area. As long as she didn't take longer than about fifteen to twenty minutes back there, she would be able to get back to the girl without raising any alarms. A bonus was that she would have an alibi according to the girl, if anyone should ask her about something.
The mission was simple; get in, find the information, and get out.
Now if only life at Division was that easy…
A few hours before she was due to get ready and leave for her mission, Imogen was in the training area working the heavy bag. She had blindfolded herself so that she could barely see anything, and sent the bag swinging. She tried to hear went it came close to her, and made sure that her punches, when she threw them, were done at close range. After all, most hand to hand fights were won by using underhanded tricks, and at close range.
"How's that working for you?" someone asked.
"It's working brilliantly Thom. Thanks for asking," Imogen responded as she ducked a blow from the heavy bag.
"How long have you been at that anyways?" he asked.
"Not for too long, only had the idea last night," she answered, holding out her hands to stop the bag.
Imogen took off her blindfold and turned to look at Thom.
"I decided that I needed more practice in hand to hand combat," she explained.
"Why? Do you have a mission or something? You usually have enough time to practice these things before graduation…they won't send you out until you're good enough, so why the rush?" he said.
"No particular reason really, I just need something to occupy my time. I can't very well practice computers all the time, now can I?" she replied, grabbing her water bottle and taking a swig.
"Oh ok," he said, looking off in another direction. "I better go now, just remembered that I have to do something."
As he ushered off, Imogen looked in the direction that he was going. There was Alex there…he was going to see her again.
"Figures," she muttered. "If that boy isn't careful he's going to blow his chances and her chances of making it through this place."
For the first hour of her mission, Imogen was simply mingling with the crowd at the club. She was dancing in a group, establishing herself there. She knew that if she went off immediately and then left, that would be that and she would raise some red flags…no one wanted that. If helping Division out until she could plan an escape route was her only way to survive, then so be it.
"Girlfriend's at the bar," Birkhoff said into her ear.
"Thanks," she said, even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to hear her over the music and the other noise.
Imogen threaded through t the crowd, making her way over to the bar, where the boss' girlfriend was sitting.
"Can I get a Tequila Sunrise please?" she asked the bartender as she slipped into the stool next to the woman.
After a brief moment, Imogen turned to her and said, "Hi, I'm Imogen. Do you like this place? It's my first time here, I haven't gotten used to it yet."
"I'm Angie," the woman replied. "It's pretty great here; my boyfriend owns the place. I do like to go to some other clubs though…a change of scenery, you know?"
"I understand. That's actually why I'm here; a change of scenery. Not from another club though, from work. It's been getting to me lately," Imogen said, accepting her drink from the bartender. "How did your boyfriend come to own a place like this, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I think that he inherited it from his father or something," she answered. "I'm not completely sure, to be honest."
"You're one lucky lady to have a boyfriend who owns a club!" Imogen exclaimed.
"I guess so, free drinks whenever I want," Angie said. "What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Nope, I'm on my own. Kind of sucks really, it gets lonely sometimes," Imogen said, sipping her drink.
"I know exactly what you mean. I was so lonely before Mark came along," Angie said.
"Mark? Is that your boyfriend's name?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's him," Angie answered.
"How long have you two been together?" she asked.
"About a year and a half," Angie responded.
"That's great!" Imogen exclaimed. "Oooh sorry, I have to go to the ladies room. I should only be a few minutes; we'll talk more when I get back?"
"Yea sure," Angie said.
It didn't take Imogen that long to reach the restroom. Once she did, she quickly checked to see if anyone else was in there. Finding no one, she turned on her comm unit.
"Alright, I'm about to make my way through the ventilation system. Is everything clear?" she asked.
"Yep, you're good. Just remember not to make too much noise. I suggest taking off your heels," Birkhoff replied.
"I'm doing that now," she replied. "This had better go smoothly...and quickly too, for that matter. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
"You should be fine," Birkhoff said. "I'll be monitoring their security cameras from here to make sure that you don't get caught. I'll wipe the footage if need be as well, though I know that Percy prefers it when I don't."
"Thanks Birkhoff, you're a life saver. Remind me to thank you when I get back, okay?" Imogen said, climbing into the vents.
"Will do," Birkhoff replied.
The comm unit went silent after that as they were trying to make sure that Imogen went in as silent as possible. Only a minute or two passed before Imogen reached her chosen drop point.
'I'm right above the drop point, is it clear?" she asked.
"You're good to go," Birkhoff confirmed.
Imogen dropped herself onto the ground, leaving her heels in the vents. She was in the back area, and she quickly located Mark's office. She tried turning the handle, and to her surprise the door was unlocked.
"I'm in," she whispered to Birkhoff. "Now, where should I be looking first? He's got a computer out on his desk, I could look there?"
"Check any drawers and closets; find secret compartments if you can," Birkhoff answered. "I wouldn't bother with the computer that's in plain view; he probably doesn't have anything on it. If you find another one that was hidden though, I would check it out."
"Alright, I'm on it. We'll stay silent until I'm back in the vents, or if someone's coming okay?" she whispered.
"Good luck," Birkhoff said, and the comm went dead.
Imogen checked drawer after drawer, giving each a quick onceover and checking to see if there were any hidden compartments. Finally, she got to the back closet. Walking in there didn't seem to be anything of worth, until she stumbled a bit and a door just slid open.
"Well isn't that James Bond," she muttered.
Stepping through the door and staying on high alert, Imogen kept her eyes peeled. When she looked around, she was in shock. There were weapons lining the walls, and bags that she assumed were filled with various drugs. Imogen slipped out her camera, taking photos of every angle that she could. There was a small laptop in the corner, so Imogen hacked it and inserted a USB flash drive, copying every single file that she could. Division could look over it later; she had to get out of there.
"Someone's coming in!" Birkhoff said.
"Shit," she whispered.
Imogen looked around the room, to see if there was a good hiding spot or an escape route. She could hear people talking in the outside office and walking into the closet that she had just come from. Making a split second decision, Imogen hid in the bottom compartment of some sort of dresser next to the door, which was blissfully empty. As she saw the two men walk in she held her breath; trying not to make a sound. They talked for awhile, though Imogen only caught snippets of their conversation. After a few minutes, they left the room and Imogen was able to climb out of her hiding place. Not wanting to risk coming out of the room at that point, after all they could still be in the outer office, Imogen looked around the ceiling and spotted another vent. She lifted off the screen and climbed up into it, sliding the screen over the whole once she was up so that they wouldn't suspect a thing
She crawled as fast and as silently as she could through the vents. Once she reached the place where she had left her heels, she grabbed them and pressed on her comm unit.
"I'm in the clear," she whispered. "Going to rejoin the girlfriend for a little while, and then I'm out of here, okay?"
"Good job Imogen," Birkhoff said. "You had me going there for a second."
"I had myself going," she whispered as she dropped back into the ladies room.
Straightening her dress, Imogen exited the restroom and made her way back to Angie.
"Sorry I took awhile," she said. "Someone got sick in the restroom and I stayed to help so they wouldn't make a mess."
"It's alright," Angie replied. "I ordered you another drink; you were having a Tequila Sunrise before right?"
"Yea, that's right," she said.
When Imogen returned to Division, she was ushered straight into Operations where Percy, Amanda, Michael, and Birkhoff were waiting.
"He had a massive amount of weapons lining the walls, and what looked to be bags of illegal drugs as well," she said as soon as the room was cleared. "I copied as many files off of his computer as I could, although I didn't have time to search through them."
"It's not a problem," Percy said. "They can be sorted through later."
"What matters here is that you did a good, clean job and you got the information," Michael said.
"Thanks," she replied. "Is it alright if I go now?"
"Go ahead, you've earned it," said Amanda.
Imogen turned and left Operations, heading towards her room and the showers so that she could get cleaned up. It was a little late, but she wasn't really tired yet. She thought that after she was cleaned up from this mission she could go and see Birkhoff, who was bound to have returned to his office by then.
She was smiling to herself as she showered and dressed, and was even more excited as she reached Birkhoff's office.
"You there?" she called out.
"On the couch," Birkhoff replied.
"Hey Birkhoff," she said.
"You did really well today," he said. "Despite the fact that you nearly scared the life out of me back there that is."
"Sorry!" she said, sitting next to him. "I'm glad it's over now. Do you have any video games or something that we could play?"
"I have lots, but they're all shooting games," he said, grabbing a game out of the cabinet. "Is Mortal Kombat okay?"
"Sure, it's still a game," she responded, taking a controller. "Watch me whoop your ass!"
"Oh really? I've played these games many times, I'm quite good," he said, smirking a little.
"Bring it on!" she said, turning to face the screen.
Over the next hour or so, the two of them sat on the couch; faces glued to the television screen. Imogen, though she was decent at the game, was still being beaten by Birkhoff. That is until she had an awesome idea. Imogen reached over and yanked Birkhoff's controller out of his hands, then leaned back from him; attempting to hold the controller a little bit out of his reach.
"Hey!" he protested. "That's not fair!"
"So?" she said, raising an eye brow.
"Give that back!" he said, reaching out for the controller.
Imogen stretched as far as she could, but then had to jump off of the couch in order to prevent Birkhoff from taking his controller back. He quickly followed her, and managed to get her cornered after about three minutes. He walked towards her with a smirk on his face.
"Come on now Immy, give the controller back," he said, holding out his hand. "Are you afraid that I'm going to keep beating you?"
"In your dreams buddy," she said, holding the controller as high as she possibly could.
Birkhoff kept walking towards her, reaching one hand up to grab the controller. She looked straight at him, realizing how close they were. A moment of silence passed before Birkhoff leaned in a little, waited a second as if he was asking permission, and captured her lips with his.
muahahahaha :) Please review if you want the update to come quickly ;)