Three Years Later

(Present Day -2009)

New York City, Bloomingdales Department Store

Although Claire was losing her patience she did her best to remain calm on the phone.

"It's okay Jenny, you're new, and you'll get the hang of it soon" Clare said soothingly. She looked at her watch. After a couple seconds went by, Claire rolled her eyes "Yes, I'll be back on Monday."

"It's already been a month and she hasn't learned a thing"

As a result of her constant moving caused by Leon's job sending him from city to city, Claire was forced to hire an intern at Terra Save to oversee some of the duties at the main office. Despite her protests, her boss had hired an inexperienced young, perky, blond hair blue eyed daughter of an oil magnate from Texas.

Claire grimaced slightly. "You forgot to schedule the meetings with UNICEF? You ARE familiar with Microsoft Outlook, Right?"

Frustrated, Claire frowned and put her hand over her forehead. "Okay….you need to contact the I.T. department to give you access…What? You just locked yourself out?"

Claire had raised her voice on the last statement causing a few shoppers to stop and look at her. She ignored their curious stares and pulled the cell phone away from her ear. She paused and took a breath before getting back on the phone.

Claire spoke gently, but firmly. "Okay…this is what you are going to do. Give the work to Bethany. She is located on the floor above you. She will know what to do. We will go over this on Monday…K?"

Claire closed her cell phone shut. She was getting ready to leave the department store when she noticed a dress on a mannequin. It was a floor length evening gown in emerald green. Claire could tell from the fabric that it was either satin or silk. It was backless with a flowing bias cut bodice and delicate lace along the v-neckline.

Claire stared at it admiringly before her cell phone began ringing again.

"Please don't let it be her again…."

Claire nervously looked at the caller Id screen on the phone. She exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw Leon's name.

Claire flipped open her phone. "Hi Honey….Yeah, I'll be at the hotel in a about a few minutes, I've been at Bloomingdales shopping…."

Clare looked at the dress. "Oh…I'm just shopping…I'm….looking for shoes…."

Claire made a face, "Okay so I'm a bad liar…I'm not telling you what I got you. You're just going to have to wait until tomorrow."

Claire glanced at the bag she was holding. It was a Cartier watch she had bought for Leon celebrating their 2 year anniversary not to mention that it had been almost three years since they had been living with one another.

Claire made a face, "Yeah, remember Jenny? The new intern? Wait…how many times did she call the hotel room? Ugh…I think I'm really going to have to fire her…"

Claire looked at the dress, felt the material and glanced at the price tag. In her mind she was debating whether or not to try it on. "Okay I won't talk about it anymore. It just irks me."

After a couple minutes, Claire started beaming, "Really a surprise? Tomorrow night? Are we going anywhere? Because I just saw this dress on a mannequin. It's gorgeous- it's green and not to mention it's Vera Wang…."

Claire paused and raised an eyebrow "…So don't worry about what to wear? Um…okay….alright, I'll see you in a little bit. Love you too."

Claire flipped her phone off, looked at the dress again and then walked away to the elevator.

Unbeknownst to her that someone was watching her the whole time.

One hour later at Bloomingdales….

Leon stood in front of the mannequin wearing the dress that Claire had described to him earlier. He was about to search for sales lady when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Leon turned around and found a young Asian woman with short black hair looking at him. She gave him a warm, quick smile.

"Hello, can I help you?"

Leon assumed she work there. He gestured to the dress. "I'm interested in buying this dress."

The woman nodded. "Are you shopping for your wife?"

Leon gave her a sheepish grin. "She's my girlfriend actually."

"You have excellent taste. We don't have too many of these left." The woman eyed him carefully, "In fact, I noticed a young woman admiring the dress earlier."

Leon smiled. "Let me guess, beautiful, auburn hair, ocean blue eyes, legs for days?"

The woman chuckled, "She's very lucky."

Leon was in a hurry, but there was one more store he needed to go. "I could give you her measurements." Leon pulled out a pen from jacket pocket. "Do you think you could have the dress ready for pick-up by 5:30 pm tomorrow?"

"Actually, for your convenience, we can gift wrap it and drop it off at your residence. Free of charge."

Leon debated the thought to himself for a moment. "I guess that would work. You can deliver it to the concierge at the Plaza Hotel. "

The woman motioned him to follow her to the sales counter when Leon handed her a platinum credit card.

"And what name should we ask for at the concierge?"

"Kennedy. Leon, Kennedy."

After the transaction was finished, the young woman watched as Agent Leon Kennedy walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, the woman dropped the cheerful façade. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed the # 1 on the speed dial.

"Patch me through to the assistant director" she said in a cold, commanding tone.

The woman waited. She held the piece of paper with the name and address of Leon Kennedy's hotel where he was currently staying at. Her organization had been searching for him for three years.

Finally a voice came through on the other end of the receiver.

A sinister smile began curling at the edge of her lips.

"I've located the target…and you'll never guess who else I found."