"I'm going away for a week and a half."
He sits up in bed and looks stares at me.
"What? Why?" He's giving me a look that threatens pouting around the flat before I leave and even while I'm gone.
"There's a business meeting in Japan," I say. Idly, I wonder how effective my attempt at authority will be, considering we're both naked and still in bed. "You'll survive."
"Says who?" He retorts, glaring down at me.
"Says me. I've spoiled you too much." And don't I know it. He always somehow manages to pry exactly what he wants out of me, given time. And maybe, just a little, I am getting a little soft.
No. I will not get soft. I just have a soft spot for him. Dammit.
And so through the whole day he's silent, pretending to ignore me as I pack. Finally, as I'm about to walk out the door, I hear the question I knew was going to come.
"Why can't I come too?" he asks. "I never do anything, anyway."
"You have a mission tonight," I say. I take the piece of paper with a man's name and address and hand it to him. "Enter the building at nine. This is your chance to prove your worth, don't mess up."
And I leave the suite with a click of the door.
At nine o'clock by the his laptop's clock, Mr. Minamono hacks into the security systems at the building Schuldig is supposed to be entering. Now he's going to see just what a magician my redhead is.
I glance up at the clock. A little after six-thirty. I've got time. I look back at the TV, smiling as I watch Peter Sellers accidentally set off alarms.
Apparently there is a very superstitious Chief of Security, who made sure there were no guards around the building that knew codes and passwords. He doesn't want people to be controlled. Smart man.
Seems I'll have to do it ninja-style. Or James Bond style. Yeah………James Bond is cool.
"He dragged himself across the floor," a bewildered man on the TV said.
The Notorious Phantom. Charles Phantom, the Notorious Linton. I smile to myself again.
Notes: Ugh….the first part of this chapter felt like a wreck. However, my friends said that Brad sounded about right. Anyway, tell me what you think.
Oh yeah...and I put a direct reference to the original Pink Panther