« We've been waiting here for two hours! What will we do if they don't come out? » Holly asked Sophia as they waited in the lobby of the Esperanza Hotel. They had chosen seats with a clear view of the elevators and had been scrutinazing the faces of hotel guests that were passing by for the best part of the afternoon.

« I prefer them holed up in their suites, because it gives time to the rest of our crew to reach the winery," Sophia reminded her. "You're not too used to waiting, are you?" she added with a smile.

Holly smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry if I seem impatient, but to tell you the truth I'm really nervous. If I have to talk to Richard, I'd rather be done with it as soon as possible."

"Looks like you just got your wish," Sophia said in a low voice as she pointed her chin discreetly toward the elevators. "That's him, isn't it?"

Holly followed her gaze and nodded. "Yes."

"He's alone, so that's good. He won't be as nervous to blow his cover. Are you ready?"

Holly nodded again but looked anything but confident.

Sophia put a hand on her forearm. "He's going into the bar. You follow him as we discussed. You can do this."

Holly got up, took a deep breath and marched right to the hotel bar before she could lose her nerves. She spotted her ex-lover and the other side of the room, sitting by himself and looking pensively out the window.

She put a smile on her face and slowly walked up to him. "A penny for your thoughts," she said in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

Richard jumped at the sound of her voice and turned around, looking completely surprised. "Holly! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. Aren't you supposed to be in New York investigating that big story of yours?"

Richard flashed her a smile and lit a cigarette before replying. Oh, he was good at this sort of game, Holly thought as she watched him attentively. If she hadn't been looking for it, she would have missed the fleeting look of panic in his eyes.

"The investigation led me back here, if you must know," Richard said as he exhaled the smoke away from her. I'm sorry that I cannot be more explicit, but you will understand, from a journalist to another, that I can't discuss it until it is published."

"Of course. Mind if I sit down, or are you too caught up in your thoughts?" she said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Nonsense! What was I thinking?" Richard got up promptly and pulled up a chair for her. "The shock of seeing you made me forget my manners." He waived to the waiter and Holly ordered a glass of white wine.

"So," Richard added after she had received her glass, "You still haven't told me why you're still in California. I thought that you had to go back to Springfield immediately after the conference."

"I know, but being here made me change my mind. I hadn't taken a vacation in so long that I couldn't resist extending my stay. I'm touring the valley with a friend that I made at the conference, actually."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "A female friend?"

Holly winked. "Obviously." She took a sip and put her glass down. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I abandonned her for an evening. Do you have any dinner plans?"

"I do, actually. A business thing. Would you be free in a couple of days?"

"I'm afraid I'm leaving the area tomorrow. It's tonight or never, as they say."

Richard appeared to think for a few seconds, and Holly could plainly see the struggle in his eyes. "Let me see if I can free myself from my previous engagement," he finally said.

Holly leaned over the table and smiled seductively. "I'm sure you will. You can find me here," she said, sliding her room number over across the table. "Talk to you later," she added before walking out of the bar.

Barely pausing in front of Sophia in the lobby, she beckoned her to get into the elevator. Pressing the button to their floor, she leaned against the wall and exhaled loudly. "Boy, I'm I glad it's over!"

"Over?" Sophia said with a wink. "We haven't even reached the good part yet!"

Holly groaned. "Don't remind me. This is nerve-racking enough as it is."

The elevator reached their floor and, after a soft "ding", the doors opened to let them out. They marched rather than walked to their room and locked the door behind them.

"So? What happened? Did he agree to see you tonight?" Sophia asked eagerly.

Holly nodded. "He said he was busy but that he would try to get out of it."

"Which means they hadn't planned on leaving for the vineyard tonight. He wouldn't have cancel that, even for your pretty eyes," Sophia replied softly, as if talking to herself.

"So what do you think he had planned? Just a last meeting with his crew?"

"Probably, but let's find out just to be sure."

Holly took off her heels and slumped in a leather chair by the window. "And how are we going to do that?" she asked.

Sophia took a small black case from under the bed and took out a thin laptop from it. She sat on the bed and smiled roguishly at Holly. "I don't believe I ever told you how I got recruited by the CIA. I used to be one of the best hackers in the entire States. Still am, in fact, but now I'm getting paid good money for it."

Holly straightened up in her chair. "Really? How fascinating!"

Sophia shrugged dismisively. "Frankly, it involves a lot of sitting down in your underwear in front a computer, munching on simili-food I'd rather forget about, but yes, the work is still exciting. Raymond is the one who found me and convinced to use my skills for the greater good." She typed rapidly on her keyboard and smiled.

"Let's see how easy it is to break into the hotel's system," she said. Holly rose from her chair and joined her on the bed. "You mean you could see which rooms they are in?"

"That, yes, and I can also get access to all the security cameras from the building. Bingo!" she said after a few minutes. She plugged a second screen to the laptop, on which appeared several views of various locations in the hotel. She then plugged a printer and handed to Holly a list of names and numbers.

"These are the people who came with Richard, at least under their fake names, and their rooms numbers."

Holly perused the list. "Interesting. They took the whole first floor."

"Easier for them to spot an intruder." She took out her cellphone and dialled the vineyard's number, then put it on speaker mode and laid it on the bed.

Roger was the one to answer. "What news?" He asked in a tense voice. The two women quickly apprised him of the latest developments.

"So the good news is that the rest of the team will have time to get to the vineyard before Richard and his gang get there," Holly concluded.

"Ok, now that we know, I don't see why you two have to stay there. Holly, I think you should find an excuse to cancel that date," Roger said.

Sophia and Holly looked at each other, but before Holly could reply, Sophia signalled her not to talk. "Roger," she said as calmly as she could, "I think this is an excellent opportunity for me to find out more about their operation. I could try to bug their rooms while Holly is with Richard."

"I don't think it's worth the risk at this point. What if they see you? It could ruin the whole plan!"

Sophia shook her head. "Oh come on! I can do this with my eyes closed and you know it. Get Raymond on the phone. He's the one I take orders from." There was a pause at the other end, before Roger replied. "Fine, I guess you're right. I want you two to keep me posted as soon as there is something new, alright?"

"I promise, Roger," Holly said. She knew the last request was more adressed her than to Sophia.


Sophia covered her nose and mouth to suppress an urge to sneeze.

"Why is there so much dirt up here? I thought this was a five-star hotel," she joked to herself while she crawled in one of the air ducts on top of the first floor. After a few more feet, she took out a small microphone which she delicately placed on the bottom of the duct. She repeated the same action every ten feet until she was sure that all the rooms of the floor were bugged, then she gingerly made her way back to the emergency exit, then to her room. She took a bag of chips from the mini-bar, put on her earphones and sat confortably on the bed while she tuned in to all the different conversations taking place in the room.

For a while, nothing interesting came up besides the expected remarks about the upcoming operation. Then Sophia heard something that made her sit upright and choke on one of her chips.

"I still don't like this change of plans, it's too risky," a male voice was saying.

"Too risky? Are you dumb or what?" A female voice retorted. "They'll never risk any funny business if we have an hostage! And this way, we get to take the guns and keep the money!"

"Where did Richard find this woman anyway?"

"That's the best part, it was pure luck! He ran into her in a convention a few weeks ago, and since he was interested in her, he had a background check made on her last week. Turns out, she used to be married to the guy selling us the guns, althought he goes by another name now. I think he was still hoping she had nothing to do with the operation, but when she turned up again today, he knew she had played him."

"So he's mad?"

"Very."

"He's going to make her say what they have planned?"

There was small laugh which made Sophia swallow hard. "Oh yeah, she'll talk."