Chapter 1
Real World

But in my real world
Things don't always turn out so good
Like you wish they would

Big and Rich, "Real World"

The doorbell rang. Allison walked over and opened the door, revealing a smiling Vaughn in the doorway. "Hey, Francie," he said, and then looked past her to see Sydney walking towards him with a suitcase. "You ready?"

"Yep," Sydney said. She kissed Allison on the cheek and said to her, "See you later."

"Enjoy your trip," Allison said smiling. She was smiling as Sydney walked with Vaughn his car and waved as she watched the vehicle back out of the driveway. Closing the door, her smile quickly turned into a scowl.

Allison headed for the bathroom. She hated knowing what she had to do next. Earlier, Sark had asked her, "You don't... fancy him, do you? Tippin?" In order to remain true to her character as a bada$$ assassin, she had been forced to respond, "Don't be stupid."

What she hated was that she had lied, and both she and Sark knew it. She did fancy him, and doing what she was about to do was going to hurt.

Allison walked into the bathroom. Will groaned and turned his head her direction. He looked truly scared, like a little puppy, as she raised her gun and placed a bullet between his eyes.

Vaughn listened as Sydney recapped Will's weird phone call.

"He found Provacillium in the bathroom?"

"Yes."

"He said that he thought the double was Francie?"

"Yes."

"Is there any possibility that he's right?"

Sydney sighed, "Yes."

"So you knowingly left her at your apartment to do who-knows-what?"

"She's being watched by the protective detail."

Allison walked past the van parked outside the house to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. She was wearing jogging clothes to avert suspicion. The agents inside quickly pretended to be busy. Allison looked around. Seeing no one, she continued walking down the sidewalk, using her body to block the motion of her screwing the silencer into the barrel of the gun. When it would go no more, Allison whirled, and shot twice.

The front glass of the van shattered and she saw the driver's bloodstained head fall forward on the horn. Some of the blood trickled down over the patch of the four leaf clover that matched with the logo on the van of "Lucky Pete's Plumbing."

Running back to the van, she pushed him out of the seat, pulled Will out to the van, got him in the back, started the engine, and drove to the deserted warehouse where she had met Sark earlier. Calling Sloane, she explained the situation. They needed to take care of the three bodies in the van, and replace the CIA agents with their own employees.

Vaughn pulled into a stop in front of the Biltmore Hotel. Looking over at Sydney as she pulled off her sunglasses, he smiled, knowing what he had planned for the weekend. He knew that things probably wouldn't go exactly as planned, after all, he was a spy, and if there was one thing he knew it was that nothing is simple.

...TBC...