Disclaimer: Don't own Collateral.
A/N: Yay! Tonight I get to go see the movie again! It will be weird, though...the first time I've seen it since I started writing this fanfic. I wonder if the ending will feel different...hmm...anyhoo, I've been listening to this new CD lately by an artist called Jem -- no, not Jem and the Holograms, a new artist, she's kinda blusey, kind of like Dido only a bit more upbeat. There are a few songs on there that totally go along with this fic. I'll post some lyrics in a later chapter.
All right, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. Let's get to it!
Claudia
Vincent disappeared so quickly from beside her that she didn't actually see it happen; she only saw the faint blur of his silver-gray hair go past her. Her first instinct was to cover her nudity - she hadn't gotten dressed again, still flushed from her earlier exertions. It was a mistake, she knew that now, but then again, one never expected an ambush.
The man who entered the room was low-level street trash, carrying a very large shotgun. Whether he actually dressed like that because he liked it or if it was a disguise was something for Vincent to know, but he had disappeared into the shadow and Victoria was starting to wonder what in the hell he was doing.
The man walked into the room, got three wide paces, and then was abruptly shot from behind. Vincent had just stood up, shorts back on, protecting his own dignity. He'd found his gun, not that there was ever any question of that, and was aiming it toward the dead body. For a moment, Victoria was sure he had shot him, but as the man fell, there was another figure behind him.
A woman.
She slowly stepped into the large rectangle of light, tall enough so that her head and shoulders remained in shadows. She was all in black from the neck down, the only color on her being her very long, straight, golden blond hair. Victoria couldn't see her face.
The woman, however, could see her, and quite well. "Seems I've interrupted something," she said, her voice low and smooth, the same kinds of tones Vincent used during moments of tension.
"Claudia?" There was actual surprise in his voice, although his stance belayed none of it.
"Hey Vince." Equally surprised, hiding it better. They were aiming their guns at each other, a perfect stand-off. "Didn't know you'd gone private."
"For a while now," he said, although is tone clearly showed he would rather have said nothing. "How about you?"
"Even longer," she replied, equally tense. "You know, I did just save you from a very unprofessional hit man, you can put down your gun."
"You first."
She did so, without having to be asked again. She even put it away, then put her hands up. "Come on, Vince. You're not going to shoot me, are you?"
"Maybe not right this second."
"Aw. Still bitter? You knew it was over, I can't believe you're still holding that against me."
Slowly, he lowered his gun. He stepped closer to the light, his shadow falling across Victoria somewhat, shielding her. "These things are never personal, Claudia."
"Right," Claudia replied. She glanced down at Victoria, who was growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute. "So, you going to continue to let your new girlfriend sit there, naked as a jaybird? Or are you going to give her some dignity?"
Victoria didn't see it, but the muscles in Vincent's cheek twitched, a very clear sign of his annoyance. "Victoria," he said, "get up, cover yourself."
Cover yourself. Like she was a whore. She scowled, standing up, no longer caring who the hell saw her. She stepped out of the light, into the shadows, pulled her sleep-shirt out from where it had been tossed and then somehow shoved under the bed and put it on. She looked around for her underwear, only found her jeans.
"I'm surprised at you, Vincent," she said. "You know people like us aren't supposed to get involved with our clients."
"What are you doing here, Claudia?" Vincent was saying, not moving from where he stood, not giving her a single inch of the room.
Claudia pushed the door shut behind her, although nothing kept it shut. It was only a matter of time before security showed up, and then, the police. It was amazing that they hadn't arrived already, but this was real life, not the movies.
"I work for Marcus Shakespeare," she said, her voice lowered. Pushing the door shut had put the whole room back into darkness, so she reached for the nearest switch, turning on the lamps in the middle of the room. Victoria saw her underwear underneath the other bed. She didn't bother, just put the jeans on, commando.
"Do you?" Conversationally, as if they were at a party and they were two strangers getting to know each other.
"Yes, he heard about what happened at your office, Dr. Potter." Victoria turned around and saw the woman looking at her, addressing her directly. Well, at least that was some sign of respect. Still, Vincent didn't move, continued to stand between them like the Berlin Wall.
"And?" Vincent pressed. "How did you find us? How did you know that guy was coming up here? Your entrance is too perfectly timed, Claudia. It makes me suspicious."
"Mr. Shakespeare sent me to find her," Claudia answered.
"And how did you find us?"
"With difficulty. I saw that guy creeping around here when I showed up, I have no idea who he was. I wound up following him up here; I guess luck was on my side. Or yours, depends on how you look at it. But now I know why it was so hard to find you. Are you involved in this, Vincent?"
"Only because I happened to be in her office when a few thugs came around and wanted her to tell them where to find her former patient."
"Ah, so it was you who killed them," Claudia said, understanding. "That makes sense. But I don't get why you're still here."
"Are you trying to ask me if someone's paid me to be here?" Vincent asked. "Because you know damn well I'm not going to answer that."
Claudia shrugged. "At any rate," she continued, "Dr. Potter, Mr. Shakespeare was concerned for your safety. He's rather fond of you."
"How is he?" Victoria asked, sitting down to put on her shoes. She was suddenly sounding like a doctor again, all professionalism.
"He's alive, and going to stay that way," Claudia replied. "He would like you to come pay him another visit, though. So he can see with his own eyes that you're safe."
Victoria stared up at Claudia, taking in her features. She had the appearance of someone who had deliberately altered her face on more than one occasion. Her eyebrows were non-existent, painted on with an eyebrow pen, and her large blue eyes seemed distant and icy. She was a beautiful woman, the kind of haughty loveliness found on the covers of Cosmo and other fashion magazines. But she wore no make-up, her pale features blending together at the moment, non-striking except for her eyes, which took in everything.
Just like Vincent. So there was a certain look that assassins had.
"Sorry, Claudia," Vincent was saying. "That's not going to happen."
"So she is under your protection?" Claudia asked, unfazed.
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
A nasty little half-smile curled the corner of Claudia's lip. "Okay. Fine. My boss trusts me, I'll just tell him he'll have to take my word for it. But if I were you, Dr. Potter, I would stay close to Vincent, if you can trust him. He's never failed to reach an objective yet."
She turned, left the room, leaving them alone with a blasted door and a dead body. Vincent picked up the shotgun, turned to Victoria, tossed it onto her bed.
"Take that, and pack up. We're leaving."
Before she knew it, they were creeping down the back stairs and out into a parking lot. Vincent seemed to have eyes in every direction. He dragged her through the lot and into the street, which was deserted this late. They continued to walk, quickly but not at too fast of a pace, until they reached another hotel. It was the Renaissance.
"They won't let us check in this late," Victoria said to him in a low voice.
"We're not checking in," Vincent said. He pointed. A taxi sat at the stand, alone. There was a doorman there, and Vincent tipped him a few dollars before pulling Victoria into the back seat with him.
"Pasadena," Vincent said.
"You got it," the driver said, an older white man. Vincent turned to Victoria with a small smile. She looked away, out the window. They drove to Pasadena in silence.
Not complete silence. As they reached the 110 Harbor Freeway, Vincent struck up a conversation with the driver, asking him if he'd been to Pasadena often, if he knew of any good hotels. The driver was not a big chatter, but he had plenty of useful information, and Vincent seemed to like him well enough. He gave him a very healthy tip.
They arrived at the Marriott just outside of the old town area. The entrance was long and grand, gilded with black enamel. The inside lobby, quiet for five in the morning, was luxury to Victoria's tired eyes. Vincent checked them in, as Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Princeton. He even had a credit card with that name on it.
In the elevator, she finally turned and looked at him. Stared at him. A million questions bubbled in her mind, none of them could quite make their way out.
"What?" he asked, "don't just look at me, ask what you want to ask."
"Claudia," she managed.
He chuckled. "Don't tell me you're jealous."
"Why would I be jealous?"
"You're a woman, aren't you? All women are jealous."
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Vincent waited for her to step out, which she did, but he took the lead quickly, the only one of them who knew where their hotel room was.
Once inside, Victoria found another question. "You two knew each other. From where?"
"A long, long time ago," Vincent said, taking off his suit coat and hanging it up. This room had only one large, king-sized bed. She flushed when she saw it, sat down in the small love-seat on the other end of the room. "It's a very long story."
She snorted, the stony façade starting to crack. "Typical male. You know everything about me, and I don't know shit about you."
"You know about me," he replied.
"Sure, I know all about one night of your life." She glared at him, sat back.
"Fair enough." He came around, sat down on the bed in front of her, leaned forward, arms resting on his knees, hands pressed lightly together. "I told you a long time ago about how my mother died before I knew her, how my father died of liver disease when I was twelve."
She blinked a few times. She did remember. She'd found a particular old and ugly scar on his back when she was stitching him up after a run in with a man that had a very sharp knife. He'd told her then about his father...about the abuse. She felt ashamed for a moment...she knew about him, she just didn't have the courtesy to remember.
"Yeah, I remember now," she whispered.
"Well, I spent a lot of time in foster homes. None of them ever really worked out, I wasn't exactly the kind of kid that people wanted to keep. I spent a lot of time in half-way houses, and Claudia was one of my housemates."
Victoria arched an eyebrow. "You were just kids."
"We were both seventeen. We were both angry, came from similar backgrounds. Back then, we were nearly inseparable, kind of like a gang, but with only two people. We watched each other's backs - you saw what she looks like, she needed it in places like that. She went to jail on her eighteenth birthday after killing a guy who got too fresh with her in the communal bathroom. When she got out, I caught up with her. By then, I had already been recruited for my new career."
His new career..."You mean, they took you right from an orphanage?"
"Sort of a sentimental way of looking at it, but yeah, pretty much that's how it happened. I had a certain temperament that they looked for. When Claudia got out, it turned out they liked her, too. We were together for a few years, then we parted ways." He shrugged. "That's sort of the way it goes."
"Why did you break up?"
"She left me," Vincent said. "Best reason there is."
"No, but why?" she pressed.
He shrugged. He didn't say a single word for several minutes, went about looking around their new room, checking it out. The sun was starting to come up. "I'm famished," he finally said. "How about you?"
"Breakfast sounds good," she murmured, defeated.
"I think they were opening up the restaurant downstairs when we came in, for the early crowd. Let's go check it out."
At breakfast, Victoria munched on some scrambled eggs. Her appetite wasn't as big as his. He wolfed down an order of steak and eggs, the eggs sunny-side up, plus three pieces of toast and two rounds of sausage.
"Why didn't you let me go with Claudia?" Victoria asked absently, as Vincent got ready to pay the check.
"Did you want to go with her?"
"Whether I did or didn't doesn't matter. You weren't going to let me."
"No, I wasn't." He looked up at her, putting the bills on the table. The man was a very generous tipper, and the waitress had been very good, keeping his coffee mug refilled and warm at every turn. The man drank coffee like water this morning. She wondered if it was a sign of tension.
"Why not? She said she worked for--"
He shushed her. "She said she worked for him. That doesn't mean she does. And even if she does, that doesn't make her intentions honorable."
"So you don't trust her, or...him."
"I don't trust anyone." He smiled. "Bad for business. Besides, there were too many things about that situation I didn't like. It's too coincidental, her being there exactly when some punk tries to take a shot as us."
"You don't like coincidences."
"I don't believe in them, not really."
"And yet you believe we're all insignificant specks of dust."
He shrugged. "I'm funny that way. Come on, the sun's up, let's go for a walk."
A/N: Sorry if it's a bit short today. Don't worry, next chapter coming tomorrow! In the meantime, I got my act together and here are some replies:
Sweet Treats: You are a kick, girl. A big one. I love fluffy pillows! PILLOW FIGHT!
(whaps at Sweet Treats with my own goose-down blue pillow) Oh, man, the feathers are
coming out! Sorry, gotta stop. Can't lose my feathers. If you think this chapter was
sweet, wait until chapter 9. But that's just being a tease, isn't it? and thanks for
the word of mouth! This isn't the only fanfic I've written for , so if you're
a From Dusk Till Dawn fan, there's a pretty good fanfic on that page. But anyway...
I like that word...exquisite. Don't worry, new chapter is here and another one is coming
tomorrow! And that makes two people that have cried over Allen...geeze, even I didn't get
that upset! Maybe I'm just heartless...well, I guess I Have to be, I just kill off characters
at a moment's notice. Watch out!
Warm Mittens: Feeling any better? I hope so. And I am incredibly flattered by
your comment about the ending of the movie not bothering you anymore because of
my fanfic. That is incredibly high praise indeed. I just got done writing Ch. 8, and
man, did things get INTENSE! Can't wait for you to see it. And you are so welcome
for the special note. And cliff hangars are FUN! Aren't they? You feel free to write
as long a review as you want...you can even email me, my email is on my page.
P.S., don't worry about the intimacy thing. I really want to keep this as "clean"
as possible. No graphic descriptions, it'll be fine.
Sorry, PAR! I know you'd love a triple XXX, but I gotta take care of the kiddies, you
know. Heh. You know, I was really flattered about what you said. I know exactly where
you're coming from, when life gets rough, and it's nice to have something to look forward
to when your day is over. But I must warn you--we are at least half-way through this story,
unless I am suddenly inspired with a sequel. I am a teacher and school starts for me right after
Labor Day, which is going to reduce my writing time substantially, so I want to have most of
this finished by then. But you can always re-read! I love re-reading stories that I enjoy.
SweetArwen: I do know exactly what you're staying, and thank you. I am going to wind
up putting my own touches on the character, but as long as they're good touches, that's
fine. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it!
I'm up to chapter 10, for which I really need to see the movie again, get the action
stuff down a little better...just dropped a hint for what was to come...heh heh. rubs hands
together wickedly
Bryony Cel: You are too kind...but read Chapter 7 before you judge if I've screwed
things up because it's kind of a turn everything on its head chapter, where the plot sort of flies out
everywhere. I'll be awaiting your comments! Ummm...but if you're reading this...you have read
chapter seven...ummm...nevermind. It's kinda late for me. Heh.
firegoddess164: Yep, I knew I'd fit it in there somewhere. But just wait, I'm sure I'll
mess everything up yet for our two "lovebirds." Although Vincent was incredibly sweet,
wasn't he? He has certain...hidden...charms. Heh heh.
Only...hm...nine hours to go before I see Collateral. Dear God, I am obsessed...