LONDON
They had finally arrived in London. He had been curious as to how she intended on boarding a plane with him handcuffed, but just before they had arrived at the airport she had uncuffed him and let him enter a short while before her. She had allowed him to gather a few necessities from his hotel room in Greece so he carried a small black suitcase at his side. He had spotted her boarding the plane but made no attempts to exchange politeness. He had hardly recognised her as she had changed her appearance for the occasion, sporting a jet-black wig, which gave her a low fringe. To add to the look she had slipped on a pair of night blue sunglasses, which completely complemented her outfit.
Throughout the flight she had been monitoring him. Anyone else on board would have assumed she was simply going to the toilet, but he knew better, and when she had passed he had glanced up from his uninteresting magazine to flash her a crooked grin. She had left him with a parking lot number where he was to meet her when they arrived at Heathrow Airport, and he had done as asked. It seemed to shock her that he was so willing to cooperate, but still she had felt the need to secure him to the car before they had driven away.
Now, though, they were fast approaching their destination. She had returned to her Julia self and he had provided her with surprisingly accurate directions, which lead to the Ritz Hotel. They were about half an hour away from it now and had just pulled up to wait for traffic lights to blink to green. There had been very little conversation en route, but now she felt the need to confirm the plan.
"So you know what you're doing?" She asked.
He gave a single nod. "I check into the hotel…alone, and then confirm my room number to you. You'll meet me there, just in time for a glass of champagne." He studied her carefully, analysing whether he had managed to agitate her or not, but either she had perfected her acting skills over the past year or she had converted to a cold hearted thief.
"You got most of it." She said as she veered the car round into a lane, which he instructed her to take. They were about half a block away from the hotel when she pulled the car into a seemingly small space. She killed the engine and then uncuffed his wrist from the door handle. "Listen. If you so much as try to deviate from this plan, or if you in any way try to alert them I'm here I promise I will kill you…slowly."
He couldn't help a tiny smile flicker across his lips. "As much as I'm incredibly intimidated by your admirable threats, I'm not solely doing this because I appear to have no choice; I want The Covenant gone, and if that requires me to assist you in your operations then so be it." He turned to look at her. "I am not your enemy here Sydney, at least not where The Covenant are concerned."
That's when her guard finally crumbled, and she turned on him, piercing him with her stricken eyes. "We have never been allies! We are not allies now, and we never will be! You are my enemy, and the only reason you are alive now is because I haven't killed you yet!"
Satisfied with her reaction, he opened the door and stepped out onto the street. He swung the door shut and then leaned through the rolled down window to retrieve the earpiece she had ready to hand him. In all subtleness he popped it into his ear and adjusted it so it was in working mode, and with that he was gone. She didn't watch him go; instead she forced the engine to life and sped off down the road only to cut left to circle the hotel where she rolled into the hotels parking facility. Quickly, she ditched the car and hurried off to the elevator at the rear of the lot.
Sark, on the other hand had calmly strolled in through the large lobby entrance and made a b-line for the reception.
"Can I help you sir?" Asked the seemingly friendly woman behind the desk.
"Yes. I'm doing some business in the area and wondered if you had any vacancies for the weekend." He replied in an effortless polite manner.
"Will you be staying alone?" She asked as she keyed the details into her computer.
He gave a brief pause at the question and then gave a little chuckle. "I was rather hoping to be joined by my partner, but she seems to be some what tied up with her own work." Just then he heard Sydney over his earpiece, and smiled inwardly. He presumed she would be on the roof by now, ready for his word.
The lie was lost on the woman as she dismissively typed further details in. "Do you have any preference to which floor you're room is located on?"
"Well I don't know about you but I love a room with a view."
The woman nodded and then gave one final tap on the keyboard. "Room 512 on the sixth floor. If I can just take your details we can have you checked in."
"Mr. Sark", was all he said.
The receptionist looked up immediately with a knowing look. "I see." She fluttered about the papers on her desk and handed him an envelope. "I assume you're here for the charity event tomorrow night."
Although he was shocked at the recognition, he replied in a casual tone, taking the envelope. "That's right."
"All the details are inside. Would you like me to tell Mr. Jawlenski you've arrived?"
Then it was clear to him. "No. That wont be necessary thank you. I'll tell him myself." He took the key card from the desk and left for the elevator giving her a curt nod. He saw her move onto the next guest and figured she wasn't suspicious of his presence.
Once in the elevator he confirmed the room number to Sydney, who was already harnessed to the top of the building. She had memorised the blue prints of the hotel and dropped down over the east side of the building.
Sark stalked the many hallways for room number 512, planting bugs as he went did. He found the room with ease and let himself in, letting his case fall to the floor. He scanned the room, and concluded that is wasn't the best he'd seen, but then again it by far wasn't the worst. Then as if she had been waiting for him, he locked on Sydney behind the large French doors, which lead out onto the balcony.
He came up close to the glass and took a moment to admire her, before unclasping the lock and sliding it out of the way, removing any obstacle between them. He felt the harsh air as she brushed passed him into the room and slid her harness under the bed to keep it hidden. She made no attempt to talk to him so he took it upon himself to fill her in.
"It would appear an opportunity has arose. One which I think will aid us in our objectives." He saw her eyes flicker up at him, and darted about the room suspicious in every way, yet he understood; he wouldn't expect any less of her. He was about to continue when she held up a hand before clipping a small beady device underneath the mini bar counter. It was a bug scrambler; a wise move considering they were on Covenant territory. Then she turned her attention back to him.
"Meaning?" She quizzed, coming to stand straight folding her arms, ready for his reply.
"The charity event tomorrow night. I assume you heard over the earpiece?"
"I heard." She said dismissing his presence as she moved her small bag of necessities from the balcony to the large sofa in the centre of the room. "It's tomorrow night. We'll be done and out of here by then." She revealed a small laptop from her case and set about firing it up.
"As aware as I am that I'm under your authority here, but we may be able to use this to our advantage."
"Look." She said snapping up from the laptop screen. "There are a million reasons why we are doing this job tonight and not tomorrow, but I'll just tell you a few. Firstly it's just a matter of time before The Covenant discovers I'm here, secondly if the event is run by The Covenant it's almost guaranteed they'll ensure top security on that file and not to mention the fact that I don't want to be cooped up in this hotel room with you anymore than I have to." She paused, regaining her posture, and then narrowed her eyes. "So we will be doing this tonight. Understood?"
He didn't answer straight away, but folded his arms and leant back slightly digesting her words, giving the tiniest flicker of a smile. "I'll return the favour and inform you of a few simple facts. Tomorrow night is a charity event; only The Covenant is the charity. They arrange it every few months for people to unknowingly hand their money over in order to fund The Covenants smaller operations. I, myself never felt the need to attend as I am their largest benefactor, although I can't recall ever receiving any invitations."
She sighed deeply as she connected a small arial to the top of the laptop. "So you didn't get invited to the party. I would take it personally, I mean you're not exactly the first person I'd put on the list."
"That's hardly the reason for my suggestion. My point is that from eight am to midnight tomorrow night the hotel's entire CCTV system is put on a rather convincing loop to keep anyone from discovering their secret; a prime opportunity for us to get what we came for without anyone knowing it was us." He could see her brain ticking over as she analysed all the possibilities in her head.
"Surely they wouldn't override all the feeds or else anyone could gatecrash." She quizzed.
"They appoint guards to every entrance. Although it's highly unlikely that anyone would be able to get in as they pay the hotel to perform an all night lock-in. Anyone who attends must stay at the hotel for the night."
"There's always a catch." She sighed to herself. He observed her slight reluctance to what she was about to say and pursed his lips ready for her reply, not really bothered what it would be. "Okay." She said giving a stern nod. "We'll wait. Tonight we can monitor the hotel entrance; see who's planning on attending and tap into the hotels mainframe to see how tight security is around the room where the file is. We need to know what we're up against."
He straightened at her words and rolled his jaw before speaking. "I believe I can help with that." She eyed him steadily before dropping down in front of the laptop, giving him a look of approval. He walked over to stand behind her and watched as she tapped away at the keys.