Last time...
"Your assignment: Boston. You will be expected to lead the designated team of six," Lydecker said.
"It's as though something is going to happen soon. Something that will change our lives."
Alec emerged from the house in time to see the car explode. "Rachel!" He screamed. Rachel!"
"I think we'll be seeing more of him. There's something about him."
College District, Boston, MA
It was closing time and most of the patrons had left but for him. He was still sitting in the corner, drinking the tenth or twelth Corona of the night. For Jai, it had been a long time since she'd seen anyone drink so much without even looking remotely drunk.
"Hey, it's getting close to closing time." Jai said gently as she walked toward him. He looked upset and she didn't want to be rude to him.
"Is it that time already?" he asked, disapointed.
She nodded, sitting down beside him. "Unfortunately it is."
"Would you mind if I stayed a little longer?" He really didn't want to go back yet.
"No," Jai replied, not really sure why, but her sixth sense telling her that this guy needed a friend. "Do you want to talk?"
The guy gave a short laugh. "I don't even know your name."
"And I don't know yours either," she teased.
He sighed, not knowing what to do. He felt drawn toward her, but wasn't sure if he should divulge such information. Finally shrugging, he held out his hand. "I'm Alec."
"And I'm Jaime, but my friends call me Jai," she answered, shaking his hand. "So, what's bothering you?"
Before he could answer, Layne walked over. "Hey, Jai, the bouncers tell me that they're taking off. Any other business for them to attend to before they go?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the guy that Jai was sitting with.
"No it's fine. Tell them they can go," Jai replied.
Layne nodded slowly and turned to go.
"So Alec, do you want to tell me what's wrong or do you want another beer?
"Can I get another beer?" He asked, holding up his empty bottle. He was stalling for time, because no matter how comfortable he already felt with Jai, he was still reluctant to talk about himself. He had always been like that. It was a side effect of growing up a genetically engineered super soldier.
"Sure," she replied, getting up and going back to the bar. Within a minute, Jai returned with another bottle of Corona and a slice of lime.
"Thanks," Alec said, taking them from her and fiddling with them.
"I take it that you're not the type to talk unless asked," she said, watching him closely. "So let's make it easy on both you and me, I'll ask and you answer?"
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head as he placed the bottle and the lime slice on the table in front of the couch. "I'm just not used to talking to anyone. So, yeah, you ask, and I'll answer." He tried to give her his most charming grin, but only managed a small smile.
"Why are you here tonight?" Jai asked, smiling back softly.
"Uh," he scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with a good answer. "I needed a drink and then I saw you and the other girl dancing on the bar and I decided to stick around."
"Why did you need the drink?"
"I had a dream that I wanted to forget."
"Dream or memory?" Jai asked knowingly.
Alec shuddered. "It was a memory."
"I see," Jai answered, nodding. "And said dream is not easy to talk about, is it?"
"It's not even easy to think about, much less put it into words." Alec replied, looking up as Layne approached them again.
"Is everything okay?" She asked, sitting down beside Jai. She had stood off to the side and watched this guy interact with Jai and it had quickly become obvious to her that he was upset. Layne felt the urge to go to him suddenly, to see what was wrong.
"Layne, meet Alec," Jai introduced, unsure of how to answer her question.
"Hi," she said quietly, smiling shyly at him.
"Hello," he replied, forcing a smile back at her.
"Alec was just telling me his reason for attending tonight," Jai said, looking over at Alec to make sure that he was okay with Layne being here.
He nodded in reply. It was not as if Jai could tell a lot, and for some reason, he knew that the people here would keep his secret if he ever revealed it.
"Oh," Layne said. "Did you enjoy the show? And the beer?" She asked, looking over at his beer bottle with a frown. He had a lot of beer tonight. She was surprised to find that she was worried about him now.
"The show was great," he replied, smiling slightly thinking back on the uniqueness of it. "And the beer was much needed."
Layne nodded and Jai decided to get the conversation back on track. "Would you like to open up and share with us this memory of yours or would you prefer to redirect the conversation to a simplier subject?"
"Actually, I think I have to go," he frowned, looking at his watch.
"Are you sure?" Jai asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he answered.
"Will you be comning back?" Layne asked, also worried.
"Sure," he said, getting up. "So how much do I owe you for the beer?"
"Don't worry about it." Jai waved it away as he reached for his wallet.
"Are you certain?" he asked. "What will your boss think?"
"I think the boss, said person that you are talking to right now, will have no qualms in offering to let such a cute, troubled guy like you off the hook," Jai replied with a smile.
"Okay then. Thanks," he smiled.
"You're welcome." Jai replied, standing up. "So, tomorrow, same time, same place?"
"I'll try," he said. "I'm here on business, so it's hard to say."
Jai and Layne, who had also stood, nodded. "We hope to see you again soon, then."
Alec smiled, nodding to both women. Before he lost his composure again with the Rachel topic, he quickly exited the bar.
"That was interesting." Layne said, following Jai back to the bar and hopping up to sit on top of the bar.
"Alec has an extremely complex nature, and is in an unfortunate internal bind at this very moment," Jai answered, flipping herself over the bar. There was something about Alec that made her senses tingle, but not in the type of way that resulted from attraction. It was her other sense. "After tonight's very short conversation, I can safely assume that he's the one."
"The one that put your sixth sense into sensory overload?" Layne asked, swinging her legs around to face Jai.
"Yeah," Jai nodded, ringing up the register.
"I kind of feel bad for calling him creepy now." Layne said, looking down at her hands. "It was obvious that he was upset about something."
"It was quite plain. Now see, that just teaches you not to judge a book by its cover." Jai stuck her tongue out at Layne.
Holiday Inn
The next morning, the six on the mission were gathered in Alec's room. Alec was the team leader. His second was his twin, X5-493, aka Ben. The other four were Syl, Krit, Max and Biggs. Each person were doing their assigned job. Alec was looking over the blue prints for the building they were to enter; Ben was checking the weapons, Biggs was setting up surveillance and monitoring the laptop while Syl, Krit and Max were preparing to do field surveillance.
"You know what to do right?" Alec asked, looking at Syl, Krit and Max.
"Of course, we do, Alec. We've been on missions before you know." Max replied with a scowl.
"You don't have to be so touchy, I was just double checking," he answered, slightly annoyed at being cautious.
"Chill, Maxie." Syl said quietly, getting a nod from Krit.
"Alec's just double-checking. Are you PMSing or something?" Krit asked, frowning at Max's words and her tone.
"Whatever," Max muttered. She hate being outnumbered.
"Is everyone wired up and ready to go?" Alec asked, feeling a little bit like an outsider among the "siblings".
"Yup," Krit answered, checking his earpiece again.
Syl and Max nodded while Alec got a thumbs up from Biggs. "Everything's up and working, Boss." Biggs replied, grinning broadly when Alec sighed at the nickname.
"Okay then. Let's get this over with," Alec said, kindly dismissing the three so that they would go.
"Yes, Sir," Max muttered, glaring at Alec as she turned to leave.
Boston
"Where are we going?" Biggs asked Alec, as Alec led the group through various parts of Boston.
Their day had ended with Syl, Krit and Max returning after field surveillance. They had gathered much needed intel to add to what they had. After a long afternoon of planning, the mission was ready to go. Alec set the mission for two days later, so that it would be a complete surprise for their target. Now that it was all done with, the group headed for some much needed down time to relax before completing their mission.
"To this great bar I know." Alec replied, nodding to the sign down the road.
"We're going where?" Max asked incredulously.
"To a bar, Max. Are you opposed to drinking?"
"We're on a mission, and you take us to a bar?!"
"We need some down time." Alec replied.
"I, for one, am all for this bar." Biggs added with a grin.
"You'll love it," Alec said to Biggs. "It has everything a guy ever wants."
"And what are we girls supposed to do with all this guy-eye-candy?" Syl whined, knowing full-well what Alec meant.
"I'm sure you'll be able to hook up with a guy there, since majority of the customers are guys," Alec teased.
"I don't want to hook up with a guy." Syl replied, moving closer to Krit. "But I don't want to watch strippers either."
"They are not strippers," Alec said, scowling slightly. He was remembering how nice both Jai and Layne were to him and felt somewhat ashamed to how he had described them. "I think they'd be quite offended by that."
"Uh, Boss, if they're not strippers, why are you getting my hopes up?" Biggs asked, looking over at Alec.
"You'll see," Alec answered evasively, nodding to the bouncer at the door. The group had finally arrived, and due to Alec's previous visit, the bouncer let them in without much hassle.
"Wow," Biggs breathed when he saw the three girls standing behind the bar. None of them were singing or dancing on the bar top yet. The girls were doing some complex tosses and moves with the various bottles of alcohol they were holding and serving. Biggs was enthralled.
"They're bartenders, Alec." Krit said, rolling eyes.
"Just go get a seat," Alec said, seperating from the group. "I'll be right back."
"Hey, Jai." Alec called out, approaching the bar. He smiled when she turned to face him.
"Hey! You're back," she answered, smiling. "Corona?"
Alec nodded. "Can you make it six?"
"You got it," she said, pulling six Corona's out and placing them on the bar top. With extra added flourish, she opened them and capped them off with six slices of lime.
Alec chuckled. "Thanks. I brought some, uh, friends with me and they'd like to see the show." He winked at her, being his usual charming self. "Any chance that you and Layne are going to be dancing anytime soon?"
"Oh, I think that can be arranged."
"Thanks," Alec said, waving to Layne when she waved to him.
Easily, Alec found the group sitting at the couch that he was at last night in the corner of the bar. He set down the Corona's taking one for himself before sitting down to face the girls. He couldn't wait to see the faces of all his friends when the show started.
"So," Krit said, "we're just going to sit here and watch them serve drinks all night?"
"Give it a minute," Alec said, hearing the music change.
They all watched as Jai and Layne grabbed microphones from either side of the bar and seem to float onto the counter. Once they were standing atop it, they started to dance to the pulsating music. Their movements were perfectly in unison as Jai began to sing the first verse of the song. Layne's voice quickly harmonized as the chorus started. They continued to dance as they sang, often twirling around the poles on either side of the bar or pouring drinks into the open mouths of the patrons around the bar.
"Whoa!" Biggs said, eyes wide.
"Wow," Krit echoed, earning him a smack on the head from Syl that nearly knocked him out.
"I can't believe this," Max muttered watching all the guys stare at the two scantily clad women on the bar top. Her brother Ben's reaction in particular got her eye.
"Hmmmm," Ben muttered, his eyes following the petite woman with jet black hair and copper highlights.
"So Boss, who's who?" Biggs asked, completely amazed.
"The one in the white shorts is Layne, and the one in the black pants in Jai," Alec replied, unable to tear his eyes away from Layne until she hoped off the bar.
"Why do I feel like you're leaving something out?" Ben asked, slightly disapointed when Jai hopped off the bar.
Alec laughed, taking another swig of his Corona. "This newfound twin thing that we have is getting old fast."
"Alec, are you going to explain or not?" Ben asked, scowling slightly.
Alec sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, I kinda snuck out and came here last night because I couldn't sleep. I stayed past closing and talked with Jai and Layne."
"Ah. No wonder you were so keen on coming tonight," Krit teased.
"So who's the other one?" Biggs asked curiously.
Alec shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't get a chance to meet her. Although persona-wise, she's the witch out of the group."
"Persona-wise?" Max asked sarcastically.
"From what the guy told me, I can take a pretty good guess that most people don't get to meet them. They go by a persona for whatever reason," Alec shrugged, sipping his beer again. "I didn't ask. But Layne's the angel and Jai's the devil incarnate."
"Interesting," Krit said, getting smacked by Syl again. "What?! Will you stop that?"
"Stop being an ass and I'll stop hitting you." Syl replied, hitting him over the head once more.
"I am not being an ass," Krit answered indignantly.
"You are so," Max replied before Syl could.
"Ladies, ladies. Why must you be violent to the man when he obviously sees something that he likes?" Biggs asked, earning him punches from both Max and Syl. "Ow!"
Krit sighed in defeat and leaned back on the couch. "I don't get to have any fun," he muttered.
Max ignored them as she watched Ben stare at the girl behind the bar. He had yet to look at anyone else or even to take notice of the argument with Krit. He was enthralled by the bartender, while Max was disgusted. She looked over and saw Alec in much the same predicament. She expected such behavior from him, but Ben was a different story.
In order to stop this, Max decided to do something. "Hey guys, I think maybe we should go," she said faking a yawn.
"Yeah, Max is right." Syl said, catching on immediately. "We should definitely go. It's been a long day for us."
"Oh come on," Biggs whined. "The mission isn't until the day after tomorrow."
"Well, you and the two lover boys can stay. Us three are going." Max replied, scowling.
"Who says I'm going?" Krit asked, getting an icy look from Syl. "Oh, yeah, sorry."
"Fine, we'll go," Alec sighed, getting up from his seat.
"Can't we stay for one more drink?" Biggs pleaded. "I'll buy."
"We can come back before we leave," Ben said. "You'll buy then.
"But what if they dance again?" Biggs asked, refusing to move.
Alec chuckled. "They always dance. That's part of the show."
"This is so not fair." Biggs grumbled as he stood up.
No it's not, Ben thought, following the group out of the bar. At the last moment, he turned back for one final look at the raven haired girl.
Next time...
He did know where Alec had been heading.
"We were wondering if you would like to try hyponosis."
"What's that?" He asked quietly. "Everything you need to know," Jai replied, sliding the file over to him. "It's her, but it's not what you think."
"It's the truth."