Spy in the Tower
Nick and George entered a room full of palpable curiosity mixed with a tint of mild feminine annoyance. Mascaraed eyes studied them from the table, Heather glancing over her shoulder, the pair of muzzles an unreadable mask. Nick stole a quick, subtle look to George, who shrugged his shoulders and sauntered to the humidor, replacing both the lighter and the cutter. Nick, following George's lead, passed behind him and returned to his chair on the opposite side of the table. The females watched closely, silent for a moment, broken when Heather cleared her throat, drawing a quick peek from both Nick and Judy, casually flicking her tablet while a lazy smile crept up her muzzle.
"How were the cigars, boys?" Heather's clear, cheerful voice was loud in the quiet room, though she ended with the slightest hint of a purr.
Judy, who had looked down, a thoughtful expression washing over her muzzle, jumped at the sudden volume change. Her wide eyes shot to Heather, almost accusatory. Before she had a chance to voice her ire, her phone gave a light ding, her text LED flashing. Investigating, she spied an unknown number with a single character for an ID. A stylized H. Her puzzlement redoubling, she tapped it cautiously, quickly reading the few lines. 'We'll talk later, dear. Without the males. :)' Judy's curiosity burned with renewed vigor. Talk about her loneliness? Who was she lonely for? Why would such a lovely and intelligent female not have everything she wanted? How did she make the text a different style on a contact listing? Why…
"They were excellent! Thank you for asking, my dear." George's lightened and husky male voice bespoke the smile threatening to overtake his entire jaw line. Heather smiled back, encouragingly. "Was there anything else to discuss with our guests this evening, Heather?" George inquired, quietly, after regaining his seat next to her.
An inquiring frown replaced the smile, Heather clicking on her tablet, concentrating on that while mulling the query. "I don't believe so, George. They are slated to join Alpha squad in the arms training room at seven thirty tomorrow. Justin is assigned the task of escorting them from the Alpha break area, or their room if they choose to dine alone." After a few seconds and assorted clicks of her delicately clawed paws, she looked over the table, same warm expression on her blunted muzzle she'd worn most the evening. "Chef Holder's Sous chef, Chef Kindra Gloffent, is working the breakfast line in the morning. Her pastries are absolutely delectable. So I hope you both join the squad tomorrow, if for no other reason than to decide for yourselves if I'm right."
Nick watched intently, smelling a bit of a set-up. He could read many mammals, given enough time. And he'd had enough with these two, or other like them to smell a dismissal. His eyes narrowed, just a hint, testing the air lightly with a subtle sniff. And, like clockwork, George cleared his throat, looking like he was about to make an obligatory toast to someone he didn't much care for, and, rising to his paws, turned to the officers and began a slight oration.
"Well, Heather and I have a great many things to discuss, most of them tedious and dreadfully boring, and others to be held in the highest confidence. And since you two have a bit of an early morning, I bet you are both ready to turn in. We've had an eventful day." After rambling on in an apologetic tone, George turned up the charisma, flashing his dazzling teeth as his tail curled beneath his left arm, eliciting a subconscious stroke from the other paw.
Before Judy could muster a denial of her tiredness, she yawned with the indraw of breath, destroying her attempted denial before it even came to pass. Nick just watched, calculating his host, keeping his expression neutral.
"I have already taken the liberty of calling for my car, and expect Justin here…" George was interrupted by a single, loud knock on the glass door, causing him to laugh once in mock surprise. "I was going to say 'Any moment', but I suppose that's a little redundant now." Justin let himself in, dressed as he had all day. George continued, his tone slipping back toward apologetic. "Nicholas, Judith. Please, don't be irritated. I'm normally a wonderful host, talking til the wee hours of the morning over many glasses of wine. But, tonight, I have some important business to attend, and my Boss isn't one to be kept waiting." After getting two silent nods, one of slightly drunken, violet eyed understanding tinged with sympathy, the other of sober, questioning emerald. "Thank you both, and we'll do this again. And if I don't see you for breakfast, I'll see you at weapons training." George's finishing grin had a slight childlike delight in the undertones of his normal seriousness.
Judy, who had watched the entire show giving the proper responses of understanding and empathy for George having to send them away, mostly because the small rabbit had drunk a bit too much wine, yawned again and found herself in complete agreement. She nodded her head drunkenly, with a slight giggle. "Oh, of course George! We were ready to turn in anyways, so you saved us the need to be over rude and ask for a ride." Her ears held high, she giggled again, eliciting a distractedly drunken look of embarrassment when the giggle was followed by a hiccup. Her checks filling with a hint of red, she hid behind the ears that fell over her face. "Sweet cheese and *HIC* crackers." she mumbled to herself.
Nick looked at Judy, a new sense of concern touching his features, though Judy didn't smell particularly drunk. He wondered exactly how much wine she's had while he smoked, and shot an accusatory glance at Heather, who was looking over her tablet, not even noticing the display. His muzzle split, his intake of air making him ready for a caustic remark, when a gray paw grabbed his, with more strength than normal, bringing his undivided attention to a lovely pair of purple eyes. Very dilated and large eyes, pleading for silence. She held his eyes and every thought for a heartbeat, broken when she slightly slurred, "Come on Slick, help your partner back to her room with some *HIC* dignity." In a much more confidential tone, she added "Please." If it was above a whisper, it wasn't by much.
His natural inquisitiveness mixed with his desire to keep his favorite ball of fluff happy and comfortable, he nodded once. "Ok Carrots, lets go." He said quietly before finishing his wine in a quick pull, quickly wiping his muzzle clean. Turning to their host and hostess, Nick turned up the charm, flashing his most winning and disarming smile. "Very well, George. You win. Thank you for the meal, it was delicious. Send our compliments to the chef. Heather, it was a pleasure to meet you. We hope to do this again, sometime soon." Nodding courteously, he held their eyes for a moment before turning to his partner.
Judy, now standing on her chair, "Yes, thank you for the meal and conversation." Before she could add more, she hiccuped, and giggled into her paws, cutting off any continued conversation. She waved, in a way that could only be described as cutely, before she dismounted her chair. She was swaying a little, her curves more visible with the unnatural twist of her body. And the tightness of her dress played havoc on Nick's tumbling emotions. His fox brain was churning in place, hopelessly distracted by the slim bunny body filling the cobalt dress in front of him. She had nearly reached the door that Justin was politely holding open before she looked over her shoulder shyly, asking, "Coming Nick?"
Nick made haste to the door, exchanging a silent look with Justin, who nodded with a gesture to the portal Judy had just walked through. Once outside the room, his arm was grabbed by a small gray paw, holding on for balance, and a little reassurance. Surprise melted to a content smirk as he escorted his excellently dressed partner toward the front of the club while the band played its rendition of the Billy Paul tune 'Me and Mrs. Jones' with a young lion vocalist belting out the emotional high note, spurring Nick to pull Judy just a bit closer. She glanced at him, but said nothing as he looked straight forward, not daring to sneak a peek at her. Had he, her content smile would have warmed his heart. Justin followed at a polite distance all the way to the car with his own half-smile.
"George, I can almost say that you were borderline rude. I've never seen you like this. You almost chased them out with a stick. For shame, what's gotten into you?" Heather finished her admonition by finishing the wine in her glass.
"Couldn't be helped, Heather. Kilo confirmed the third attempt on Gazelle this week while I was finishing my cigar with Nicholas. Lucky we rotate her as often as we do, but I've never seen anyone with this much determination and grit. Or information. Leader had definitive proof. I've sent the pictures to you, but the physical is on its way as we speak by unmarked courier." After a pause, George continued. "Do you know what this means?"
"Yes, George. That we have a leak. We discussed this possibility with Card and Justin two weeks ago. We acknowledged it might get ugly. Although I'm not happy, we are prepared for it." Heather's reassuring smile didn't even register to George, his mind miles away from her for the moment. "George?" No response. "George!"
George, being drawn from his reverie, says nothing, but looks at Heather, inquiringly, his eyes and ears turned to her.
"What's wrong, George? You almost never zone out on me like that." 'Only when he thinks about her and that night, so long ago…' she thought. Genuine concern touched her voice, her tablet on the table as her paw pad made light contact with his muzzle, giving him something grounded to focus on. This forced a smile from the shorter gray wolf, but it barely touched his eyes. She'd seen his eyes grow hard many times, but the hint of mirth was never withdrawn from them like it was now.
George was deathly quiet and measured as he responded. "You've never seen anything like this, Heather. These kind of things can go any number of ways, but almost always end badly. This could be a turf war, the likes of which this city has never seen. Ugly won't even come close to describing it." Memory descended on George, fading away everything else for a moment. They sat motionless, her paw the only contact between them, while George's visage flushed with indignant anger, his eyes quickly losing the heat to grow cold and emotionless. Even the hint of a smile chased from his muzzle, his ears flat to his skull, his tail twitching in irritation. His muscles bunched, his paws cracking from the flexing strain, his upper lip twitching involuntarily to expose his canines in a silent snarl. The look of a mammal ready to defend himself. Defend his home, his loves. A mammal ready to do great violence. A mammal ready to kill. He breathed in, slowly. With purpose. He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. When his eyes opened, his first sight was a very anxious Heather. Her hazel eyes softened as she watched the civility return to George's features, slowly. His ears perked, his grin returned. His tail even sought the comforting stroke of his left paw. But his eyes took a moment longer, and the mirth was well suppressed.
"We have a lot of work to do, Heather." George stated, simply. His elegance returning, with a measured dose of tenacity in his spine. "Did Mr. Card make a good choice with these two new possible assets? Do you think they have the temerity to see the truth and its possible conclusions? See it done?"
Heather held his muzzle for a moment longer before she reached forward, retrieving his nearly full wine glass with her empty paw, holding his eyes while she took a healthy pull. She handed the glass directly to his right paw, his left full of bushy tail, her entire demeanor catching him off guard. "I think He made a wonderful call on those two." Heather purred, her tail twitching playfully behind her, the grin she held was, at least risque, if not outright wicked.