Not Something I'd Normally Brag About
The Wilshire Grand towered above them, defying comprehension of its full height from the perspective of anyone on the sidewalk at its feet.
"So, what's the game, Detective?" Lucifer asked, having met up with Chloe, greeting her with a kiss, only moments ago.
She responded under her breath, "Russian money laundering." She'd learned long ago he wasn't particularly fond of being handed things. More of a hands-free kind of guy. So, she now memorized what she needed him to know and briefed him verbally. She had a sneaking suspicion he played it that way just because he liked hearing the sound of her voice. She was right. Chloe subtly held up her phone in front of them swiping through cropped surveillance photos as she named the most important people in the room. "The people we're most concerned with are: Grigory Zakharov. He's the crux of this particular cell. Ruthless but not unreasonable. Avoids bloodshed when he can. Pyotr Malakhov is his second in command. We believe he's responsible for some of the most gruesome unsolved cases circulating the Precinct. Simeon Isayev. If it involves the money, he knows about it. Every cent these guys move falls under his scrutiny at some point. Dmitry Kulik. Top level enforcer. Keeps the ranks in line and collects body parts as the needs arise. Last but not least, this guy – drug running is a lesser facet of their operation and he oversees it. His name is Yury Vagin... I know. There's an 'a' missing."
Lucifer discovered the instant after the observation was out of her mouth that taking a drink just then a had been a mistake. His explosive laugh aerosolized the hard liquor in his mouth and he only just managed to turn away from her. Unable to take his flask out from in front of his face fast enough, some of it had blown back into his eyes. Laughing in tears almost immediately, he exclaimed, "Sweet merciful...! O! That is such an unfortunate name for a Russian to have! And he's an absolute paragon of Soviet masculinity to boot. Oh my...!" he said, through laughter he hadn't been able to stop, now nearly bent over double. Wiping underneath his eyes and blinking to dilute what had landed in them, he capped his flask and put it away. He was now inclined to think twice before drinking the stiff stuff around Decker.
"By all means, take a minute for yourself. Lemme know when you get yourself sorted," Chloe quipped, letting mild amusement show and keeping her own laughter admirably subdued. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her looking down on her partner. She'd had much the same reaction to the idea except with a glass of red wine and an unfortunate laptop screen two nights ago.
Taking a levelling breath in and holding up a thumbs up before standing up straight again, Lucifer continued, "And we're here to... what?"
"The goal is to use your 'ambition' toward a Lux expansion to secure a loan, some handshakes and hopefully some fingerprints and possibly DNA samples. Your knack for sleight of hand should come in handy. These guys are ghosts. No criminal records – at least not on this continent – no legal ID and nothing to identify them with other than grainy surveillance images. We can't risk recording devices so two-way communication only. As far as we can tell, the original surveillance systems installed when the building was built are still in place in the offices we're headed to. Once we tap into the feed with this little beauty..." Chloe said, surrepetiously revealing a small toolkit in her pocket. "we proceed to the meeting. No arrests, no confrontations. Smooth, calm and cool. Try not to outclass Grigory. He won't take it well. We establish your credibility and a deal. Seal it and walk out like it's another day at the office. It would probably be best to withhold your ability to speak Russian and just keep an ear out for anything they say that might indicate we've been exposed as law enforcement. Also, keep an ear out for anything that might tell us something about their activities. The less time that needs to be spent on analysis the quicker they can move on viable targets."
"So, this is what you were losing sleep over the last two weeks," Lucifer bemoaned. He'd been hoping something surprising was coming his way after so much... research.
"What did you think it was?" Chloe asked.
"Pornography."
Laughing but unperturbed Chloe responded, "Sorry to disappoint. Shall we?"
"Just to set the record straight, you need me to act as body armour, bodyguard, magician, recording device, translator, escape route, arm candy and an oblivious moron," Lucifer quipped.
The self-satisfied grin on her face looked all too familiar to Lucifer. "Consider the record straightened. Oh, and escort."
"Come again?" Lucifer asked, eyes wide in shock.
"Simeon Isayev. He's gay. Might be willing to chat if you worked your magic a bit..."
Lucifer gave her a pointed look. Chloe's poker face broke. "Relax. I'm kidding about that last one." Lucifer sighed out his relief and rolled his eyes as his gaze turned and scaled the massive building. "Sort of." She'd even added his accent to it. He turned back to her wide eyed once again and too surprised to even manage a reproach. Chloe started laughing as she waved her hand to allay his scorn. "I am kidding. I promise."
"Oh good. I thought you were expecting me to let him use me for my body for a second, there," Lucifer said, half-seriously rebuking her.
"Of course not. I'm the only one who's allowed to do that," she replied with mock indignance.
Lucifer sighed and half smiled at her as the two began scaling the concrete and brass-inlaid steps leading up to the Wilshire's entrances. "Yes, yes you are."
#
The two headed for the elevator landing where a crush of people destined for higher floors waited their turn to board.
"I'm nearly ready to add 'elevator' to my contributions to the day," Lucifer whispered.
Chloe laughed but discretely gave him an elbow in the ribs, keenly aware that they were being listened to. Lucifer smiled and allowed himself an almost imperceptible laugh. He shifted closer resting a hand on the far side of her hips.
"What are you doing?"
"Acting natural." Chloe eyes widened in reply. Next to impossible to argue with that point.
The two boarded the next elevator. Chloe found herself shifting closer and closer to him as fewer passengers exited than boarded the already crowded elevator.
"Lucifer?" Chloe asked quietly, cautiously gauging the people around them. Most were wearing earbuds of some kind.
"Yes?"
"I know that's not my sidearm..." she said under her breath, shifting a bit to stand directly in front of him, thereby shielding him from prying eyes.
"I'm not wearing mine," he admitted uneasily.
"I don't suppose you could...?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder, suggestively forcing her eyes wide for a second.
"I've been trying..." Lucifer hissed, letting his head fall back against the wall, shaking it.
"You're sure?"
"Chloe, if I can't get rid of it, what does that tell you?" Lucifer looked down on her smiling affectionately, mischief plain on his face.
"I'm flattered, but well... look around, Lucifer... here, take my jacket."
"Are you telling me to...?!" he demanded, disbelieving.
"No! Hold it in front of you!" Chloe hissed under her breath, incredulous. She started trying wriggle out of her jacket.
It was mere seconds before Lucifer spoke, dead serious, eyes wide, latching his hands to her sides between her ribcage and hips in an effort to forcibly hold her still. "For the love of Mary, stop moving." Hearing the sheer panic in his voice she froze. She did her best to hold herself as perfectly still as she could from the waist down. She couldn't help the laughter that had her upper torso twitching. The two stood near motionless in a shared panic until, by a stroke of sheer luck, there was just one person in the elevator.
Turning to the lone passenger, Lucifer brought the most courteous facet of his personality to bear. "If you'd be so kind, my good man, would you mind disembarking at the next floor?"
"I'm headed up to fifty-two. I'm not walking the rest of the..."
His patience snapped. Lucifer turned and leaned down over the shorter human being of east-Asian descent, his eyes glowing like red hot steel and bringing the devilish register of his voice to bear. "Get off."
The young man let out a horrified yelp smashing the button for the next floor, he hugged the far side of the elevator as would a stingray the ocean floor. He kept his eyes fixed on Chloe, standing still as a statue in front of Lucifer with in her hands clasped in front of her, wearing a mischievous grin her lover would be dead-to-rights proud of. The doors opened and their last hurdle frantically backed out of the car, catching his heel on the gap between the floor and the elevator, going down hard. She looked down on him amused, bidding him farewell with a waving wiggle of the fingers on one hand as the doors closed.
Luckily, no one boarded in his place. Chloe remained motionless for fear of throwing him over the cliff. She was outright cackling inside and having a hard time breathing from keeping it in.
"Dammit. Yeah... it's not... it's not going down. Not without..." Lucifer didn't finish the sentence but a quick widening of the eyes and a nod of the head said enough. He closed his eyes in frustration and let the back of his head impact the wall of elevator with a little more force than could be described as comfortable.
"Unless you've got some magic in there somewhere that can stop elevators or time..." Chloe said, worried. He held up his hand showing an elevator service key on his keychain. How he came by it... she didn't care. "Right-o," she said. Chloe located the 'STOP' key socket on the control panel as she dug into her back pocket for her wallet. The movement elicited an amused but distressed sound from Lucifer. She produced from inside the wallet a single prophylactic. The tidiest possible place for his release. "We might have five minutes, if that. Do you think...?"
She truly had been designed for him to a tee. The lock for his key. "Not something I'd normally brag about, but you bet your sweet backside we can." Dropping the pop bottle in her hand, Chloe put the square packet in his other hand as she snatched the keys from him and had the elevator stopped between floors in moments. She shed the clothing on her lower half with dizzying haste. The very moment she stood up from freeing her last foot, hellfire in his fingertips melted through the thin connecting strands of her undergarments. With that stripped away she found herself picked up with startling ease and pinned with her back to the elevator wall, held in place as he joined with her, all in one inhumanly swift movement.
Leaning his cheek against the side of her head, he whispered into her ear, "I will make this up to you in spades," as he moved against her. Chloe snuggled into the crook of his neck and allowed herself a quiet but deep, guttural response to every thrust, helping him along with a contracting grip inside her.
The sound of his restrained, stifled laughter, centred in his chest, was music in her ear. A shudder moved nearly all of him and Chloe relaxed into him, one armed draped over his shoulder and hanging limply down his back, her other hand falling away from his elbow and her feet dangling loosely well above the ground. When his breathing had evened out enough to speak again, he said a in low, seductive tone, "Very, very considerate of you, but..."
"Not necessary. I know–" she replied, silenced by a kiss.
"And you...?"
"Near enough. I'll survive," Chloe said, smiling drowsily and laughing as she leaned her head back against the elevator wall. Lucifer let his grip on her relax, allowing her feet to touch the ground. She dropped to her knees so quickly and seamlessly he almost tried to catch her, thinking she couldn't stand. Eyes going wide and eyebrows up when he realized her intention, he took half a step back, leaning forward with one hand against the wall, head bowed and bracing himself...
Chloe zipped up and buttoned her slacks, slipping her shoes back on in just seconds. "Your pocket square...?"
"Oh! Yes. There you are." Lucifer said, handing it over instantly. Chloe quickly waved it over the spot on the wall where her skin had made contact, ensuring no moisture residue left any telling outlines. Centring the prophylactic and the remains of her scant undergarment on the pocket square she quickly and neatly folded it around them, tucking it in her back pocket. Looking the elevator floor over for anything stray, she retrieved her pop bottle. Lucifer put the elevator back in service, moving to stand at her side as Chloe, quite unexpectedly, took a long drink, swishing it around in her mouth like mouthwash. She threw her head back, swallowing the mouthful whole.
His sideways gaze fixed on her and focused on her bulging, working throat for a moment, he muttered, "Good grief," laughing as she let out a long exhale. She tightened the cap on the bottle and gave it a shake before allowing the carbonation out into the air for a few moments until the foam inside threatened to spew out. She clamped it shut again.
Looking his way, she said, "Sorry. You okay?"
Still subtly laughing, Lucifer's response began with a few nods and blinks. "Right as rain, Love. Right as bloody rain," he nearly whispered, turning his collar down properly. He double-checked his fly and shirt tails, comfortably resting one hand in the small of her back.
The elevator door opened and Lucifer stood to the side, gentlemanly putting an arm up to keep the elevator doors open as Chloe walked out. He followed close behind her. The tiny package in her back pocket was discretely deposited into the next trash can they walked past.
#
Zakharov's security detail patted the two down, finding nothing more than the modest body armour Chloe was wearing. Not enough to stop a bullet but enough to take blows if needed.
"You come unarmed. I am almost insulted."
"Almost. I'm here to exchange ideas and handshakes, not bullets. Bringing a firearm would only breed mistrust," Lucifer replied graciously, though somewhat off put by the fact that on among their number refused to make way for he and Chloe to stand side by side.
"That it could. Or it could indicate a telling lack of prescience," Grigory shot back.
Lucifer fixed his gaze on the Russian who refused to stand out of his line of sight to their boss. "My good man, if you'd be so kind as to step aside..." Without a word the burly Russian shot Lucifer a disdainful look and remained in place. Irked, a half-smile befitting the Devil crept onto his lips. "I hadn't planned on sodomizing anyone today, but if you insist." He stepped forward pressing his pelvis as close to the mobster's rear end as he had to Chloe just moments ago. The extra bloodflow and warmth still hadn't died down entirely. The man jumped like he'd had a power cable shoved up his backside and turned to take a vicious swing at Lucifer. Lucifer caught the man's forearm as it sailed past his head and twisted it so badly that the unfortunate soul had no choice but to move to where Lucifer moved him, ending up down on his knees, crying out in pain.
He was digging his fingernails into his arm with enough force to draw blood. "Give the word and I'll release him," Lucifer said placidly, making the ease with which he was subduing the formidable man obvious yet deferring completely to Grigory almost instantly. After a tense few seconds the hard-lived man waved and a hand toward his compatriots and smiled. The entire complement of Russians in the room backed away and holstered their weapons. The mobster grinned, letting his subdued laughter set the tone in the room.
"I would expect nothing less from a man who has taken the Devil's name as his own. Your lovely assistant has made these arrangements, however, scant details regarding your interests were provided. You have my attention and have piqued my curiousity..."
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