"It's the best big band in the country, I can promise you that," Moritz Christensen went on to the group that had formed around him and two of his bodyguards. "A band like this - I don't know if that's just me, but it always has something dramatic, don't you think? Excellence is something I value, and this concerns every aspect of life, not just entertainment – if you know what I mean."

While his audience chuckled at his remark, someone huffed loudly behind him. He turned around. A woman in a well-fitted black cocktail dress was leaning casually against the bar.

"Don't you think?"

"I beg to differ," she said in Swedish, turning just the slightest bit towards him. "Sweden can do better than that. The pianist and the bass player are quite good, I'll give you these, but the horn section is weak. They shouldn't be allowed to play Sinatra."

He grinned, dismissing his audience by positioning himself next to her, one elbow resting on the bar.

A native beauty. Something that happened way too infrequently. He switched languages as well. "Moritz Christensen. I'm responsible for... all this." He made a general gesture.

She turned her head slightly, sizing him up. "Birgitta Enquist." She sounded incredibly bored. Probably because she was married to someone incredibly boring. If he wasn't mistaken he had seen her come in with a man, but he was nowhere to be seen. And he couldn't see a ring on her finger, so there was hope.

He grinned smugly. "Would you care for a drink, Miss Enquist?"

She appeared to be a bit surprised, looked at him as if she only now realised that she was having a conversation, but he was almost sure that it was just show. He liked that. And she didn't correct the 'Miss'.

"Vodka tonic."

/\/\/\/\

"How is she doing?" Benji asked. He stood watching Skye and Christensen from a safe distance near the buffet, not paying attention to any of the paintings or sculptures that were scattered over the wide hall and apparently supposed to be art.

"She's doing just fine," Ethan said contentedly. "Diamond, I'm in position."

"Alarms are out. Ready to receive," Luther said. This time he was set up in the van outside.

There was a slight chewing noise in the comm. "The egg rolls are amazing."

"Focus, Sapphire," Ethan said.

"I am focusing, it's just not exactly easy to – hang on, they're moving."

The band began with a too slow version of Where or When, but at least the horn section finally seemed to wake up.

"They're on the dance floor," Benji said, and found he had to swallow a bitter emotion he wasn't accustomed to.

A couple of hushed "Come On"s could be heard from Luther, but other than that nothing happened.

Helplessly Benji had to endure watching Skye dance with their target. She looked very graceful in her movements, and, much to his dismay, so did Christensen. The only thing that kept Benji from babbling away were the mini egg rolls he kept eating. He didn't like this at all, to say the least, and he couldn't even complain about it because he had brought her here in the first place. The fingernails of his left hand dug into his palm inside the pocket of his suit.

"I got it," Luther declared after several eternities. "Emerald, you're good to go."

"Sapphire, that's your cue," Ethan said, and couldn't suppress a grin when he unlocked the room holding the safe with professional laxity.

This time, they hadn't bothered with the ventilation system; a tuxedo allowed Ethan to move invisibly among the formally dressed security guards after he'd come in with Skye, and a bunch of tranq darts had done the trick concerning the increased security detail.

Benji wouldn't have needed their team leader to say anything, he was already in motion.

The song ended, and most people stopped dancing to applaud, but Christensen didn't seem to have any intentions of letting Skye go.

"Have we met before?" Christensen asked, piercing his dancing partner with his bright blue eyes.

"Please," Miss Enquist said. She was a swift dancer, and while she had seemed a bit out of practice at the beginning of the song, she had adjusted to his steps within seconds.

"Oh, I'm not flirting, if that's what you're implying." Another smug grin was thrown at her, and in a way he regretted the foot of height difference between them. Still, he wouldn't give up as easily as that. Never interrupting his smile, he continued, "You look familiar to me."

The woman looked up at him, and for a second a strange expression darkened her face, before she gave him the sweetest of smiles. Somehow this just increased the feeling of recognition he had.

"I doubt it," she said. "I've lived abroad for some time."

He'd thought there was a trace of accent in her Swedish, but more in a way of not being used to speaking the language regularly, not in terms of non-native-speaker. He was only too well accustomed to that himself. He gave her another sympathetic smile, the facial equivalent of a dismissive shrug. "I must have thought of another beautiful woman then. Although these have been all too rare in my life over the past months."

"I'm afraid you've let the song get to you too much."

He chuckled, but her smile looked reserved, and Christensen could feel his chances shrink when she didn't quite push him away, but determinedly kept her distance as he attempted to pull her closer.

/\/\/\/\

"I got it," Luther finally said. "Emerald, you're good to go."

Skye had to contain herself in order not to send Christensen tumbling into another couple in mid-song.

"Sapphire, that's your cue."

Mentally counting the seconds until she could let go, she forced herself to smile. She was an excellent actor, she reminded herself, her abilities were not going to desert her now. He'd buy it. In a way, Agent Holt found, one had to be impressed by the man in some respects. Apart from the neatly dressed up security staff scattered everywhere around the crowd, no one would have a single reason to suspect that just yesterday he had been assaulted in the most disturbing way. She wasn't sure how she would react if her own bodyguard suddenly existed twice while at the same time someone tried to rob you.

Without warning a cold shudder went down her spine. In the same moment the music stopped, and it took the agent a second to comprehend that it was because the song had ended. Quickly she remembered her smile, and withdrew her hand from him by brushing her hair behind her ear. "I have to go," she excused herself.

"Oh really?" She almost bought his disappointment. "Miss Enquist, one more song. You're a fantastic dancer. Please."

"I'm sorry, I really have to-"

"Then at least let me get you another drink."

The band started again, this time with Let's Face the Music and Dance, and Skye managed to maneuver them to the edge of the dance floor.

"That's a very tempting offer, but-"

"It is a tempting offer, so why not take it? I'd be delighted."

Skye started to run out of excuses and was about to just leave him standing, when suddenly - "There you are!" - a familiar face appeared out of the crowd. "Running off like this, it's like I don't know you at all."

Skye could barely suppress a grin. Benji was obviously enjoying this. Exhibit A: a French accent for no reason at all. He did these kind of things simply for the fun of it. She liked that about him.

"Now," Benji turned to Christensen, "if you'll excuse us, this lady still – comment est-ce qu'on dit – owes me a dance, non?"

Skye took the hand he offered her, stepping out of Christensen's immediate reach. With an apologetic smile she shrugged at the host. "Some other time maybe," she said to him without switching back to Swedish, and a second later Benji had gotten her out of sight and back onto the dance floor.

"A second later and I would have smashed his smile in," she grinned.

"Shame I was on time, then," he smiled back. Dancing with Skye was something that came strangely unexpected, but contrary to certain prior experiences of this sort he realised he was really enjoying it.

"Why French?" she asked over the music.

"Apparently he hates the French. I thought I'd give him a reason."

"Neat," she appreciated, and gave him another smile.

"You know I can see where your hands are, right?" Luther's voice sounded out of the blue.

Benji actually flinched away, and Skye had to catch his wrist to keep him from moving.

"His hands are right where they should be," she said matter-of-factly.

/\/\/\/\

Ethan managed to ignore the ongoing conversation over the comm link. He locked the door behind him again to ensure that he would be undisturbed for the time being, and set to work. A pleasant authorising sound confirmed that their plan had worked when he uploaded the hand print. With a smirk, Hunt placed the flat silver ring around the combination lock. While it got in motion with a whirring sound to take care of the remaining security measure, the agent had a look around.

Contrary to his expectations based on other vault rooms he'd broken into over the course of his career, it was very nicely furnished. It was small, but the thick carpet and padded armchair made it look quite homey. A couple of heavy books rested on the side table, and pictures with maritime motives contributed to the decoration.

One wall was dominated by a terrarium, illuminated with green tinted light from cleverly placed lamps. Curious, the agent took a closer look to perhaps spot its inhabitant between the multitude of plants and branches, but before he saw anything the whirring stopped, and with a nice click – one of his favourite sounds – the safe swung open half an inch.

"This is Emerald," he said, exchanging the contents with an exact duplicate from his inside pocket. Exact – with the small malpractice that it was blank. "Hard drive is secured."