A few days prior-

"Just give me a little longer, I can do it" Raylie said, staring at herself in the mirror.

"I have no doubt you can do it, eventually... but we need it now. It has to be perfect" Cobb replied in his usual, matter-of-fact business tone.

Hands gripping the desk of the vanity, Raylie stared intensely at the mirror. Half of her hair was currently an unnatural shade of blue, while the other half was her usually cool blonde. She could transform certain details, just not all physical attributes. Facial and body features, as well as vocals, were near impossible to master. There were only a few good forgers in the business who could pull that off.

Before she could even respond, Cobb continued, saying the one thing she was expecting him to say, but it still made her cringe to her core. "We need Eames..."

Cobb sighed as soon as the words left his lips and she whirled to face him. "No! Cobb...come on. Dom, please, just give me a little longer..."

Running a hand through his hair, Cobb stared at the ground, obviously in thought of how to respond. His mind was all business and there wasn't room to take any chances.

Shaking his head, he finally glanced back at the desperate looking woman. "I'm sorry, but it's gotta be this way. Look, I'm not kicking you out, you can still do all the inanimate forging..."

"For fucks sake" Raylie exclaimed dramatically, reaching for a handgun that lay on the vanity.

"Fine. But I'm going to be the one to go get him." She responded, raising the gun. Cobb gave her a distrustful look. Not because she held a gun in her hand, but rather because he didn't think her 'fetching' Eames was even a slightly good idea. Before he could address his concern, she raised the gun to her own temple and fired.

Her eyes opened and she was in a hotel room. Sitting up, she immediately began detaching her arm from the PASIV device, a glare on her face. She stood swiftly, grabbing her bag and walking towards the door as Cobb also awoke from his sleep.

"Ray, I have no choice, my hands are tied on this one." He tried to explain as her back was to him and she made her way to the door. "Nope, got it, completely understood." She fired back trying to be nonchalant, but the bitterness evident in her tone as she walked out before he could say anything else.

Storming down the hall her mind raced. Her rational side knew Cobb's position. She couldn't complete her job. Forging was a hard task. It took years to perfect. And when it came to documents or other inanimate objects, she had it down to a science. People, however...forging people, she couldn't quite get the hang of. Not like Eames.

Before things went to shit between them, Eames had always promised that he would teach her the ins and outs of how to forge people...yet he never seemed to get around to doing so. Looking back, the reason was obvious. Why would he train someone that could be potential future competition for him?

Biting her tongue in frustration she knew she was acting like a child. And if this was the end of the conversation, then maybe she would have been ok, she could have accepted it. But the mere fact she knew all the taunts and offhand comments and stupid smug smirks that were about to come her way, her damn ego wouldn't be able to take it.

Having volunteered to seek out Eames herself was a last ditch effort that maybe she could she could make some cash another way. She had quite a few men on her tail, people she owed money or favors that she never intended to pay, but also needed off her back. Her irrational side thought about giving a nice 'Fuck you' to Cobb as she imagined going to Eames and him agreeing to help with her other affairs and blowing Cobb off. She knew it wouldn't happen, but there was a chance. Heh, she was kidding herself. She just wanted to go so she could be the one to tell him first. If anyone else told him that he was needed instead of her, she would practically be able to hear his laugh halfway across the world.

.-..-..-..-..-..-..-..-..

Now-

Raylie began shoving her belongings back into her suitcase.

She knew she wouldn't make the flight that had been previously booked, so immediately began looking up the next available flights. Her next move was texting Cobb, "I'm going to be a little late. Eames should be able to fill you in." She typed cryptically but she assumed Cobb would be able to put it together that her absence was directly because of the British conman.

"How late? We don't have the time to be messing around." Cobb's text came through almost immediately. That man was all business and it irked her that he thought that she was just 'messing around,' not to mention him insinuating that this was her fault at all.

Not replying, she moved on to the next piece needed for her being able to leave this country.

Going through her contacts, she selected a number from an old 'colleague' and put the phone to her ear.

While she could have easily made a passport herself, in order to leave Africa and go to the U.S., she would need a real identity. A real person, in the system, who could easily get through customs. She couldn't risk having a phony made-up identity and immediately getting arrested at the US Customs only to be hauled back to prison for whatever warrants she had in the States at the moment.

The line rang exactly 4 times before stopping. It was obvious someone answered, but they didn't say anything. "Erik, it's Ray, I need a favor."

Only a grunt came in response to show he was listening, so she continued, "I need an identity, well, a passport specifically, but I need someone that's clean. No priors, no bullshit that will hold me up in customs." She explained.

"Whats your timeframe?" A curt, German sounding male voice shot back.

Raylie hesitated at the question, already wincing as she gave the response, "Immediately..."

"You ask a lot of favors." The voice responded gruffly. Raylie sighed, knowing she'd have to jump through hoops on this one, "Look, I need to get out of Mombasa... I'm currently stranded and things are looking like they're about to turn" She responded with a serious tone. Of course she was embellishing things slightly, hopefully to her advantage.

There was a long silence on the other end and she feared she was losing him so continued, "What's your price? I'll pay double."

"Transfer the money first and I'll get you a passport within a week."

Her stomach sank. That wasn't the response she was hoping for.

"Erik...I need it now. I'm about to do a job that's going to pay a lot. You remember Dominick Cobb? I'm working with him again." She explained, knowing that had to peak his interest.

"If you want a rush job, then I want half of your earnings." He stated matter-of-factly. Raylie let out an exasperated sigh. She thought about it for several moments before reluctantly giving in, "Fine."

She was hesitant with the deal. Half of her payout from the Cobb job wasn't nearly worth one measly passport. Although if she didn't take the deal, she wouldn't get to the job anyways. She knew Eames planned it so she'd get stuck, miss the job, and make her look incompetent with Cobb so he wouldn't want to work with her again. Plus at the moment, she was royally screwed trying to ever get out of Africa anytime soon. She just imagined the pure giddy expression that probably sat on Eames' face right now as he was sitting on the plane.

"If you don't pull through on your end, I know where to find you." The voice stated before the line went dead.

Pulling the phone from her ear, she gave a dramatic sigh. She wasn't exactly quite prepared to give up that much money, but that would be a problem for another day.

24 hours later, she was through airport security and on a plane.