Part 8: Back in England
As soon as Sasuke and Sakura arrived back in England at the Central European Bank's office in downtown London, they were greeted by the sounds of clapping hands as they entered the building.
Once Sasuke and Sakura entered the lobby, they found themselves greeted by Arthur and his wife, Diana.
"Hey boss," Sasuke said, "What's going on?"
"You brought in the man that almost killed my son," Arthur said as he put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders, "You did me and this CEB a great service. That's why I'm giving you a raise, and a promotion."
"A promotion?" Sasuke asked.
"I'm making you the Central European Bank's Head of Security." Arthur said.
"Head of security sir?" Sasuke asked.
"That's right," Arthur said, "You've shown you can be trusted as a true member of the Central European Bank, and you took down an armed assailant without any bodily harm to innocents or Duncan. You've earned this, and your new apartment."
"Apartment?" Sasuke asked.
"I've moved all your things to your new office," Arthur said, "I want you to take the day off, and see what you can do with this small bonus," Arthur handed Sasuke a small roll of cash.
"How much is this?" Sasuke asked.
"Three thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds," Arthur said, "That's about…"
"Five thousand, two hundred American dollars." Sasuke said.
"Impressive." Arthur said.
Sasuke and Sakura walked outside, and climbed into Sasuke's Stingray.
"What are you going to do with that money?" Sakura asked.
"You'll see," Sasuke said, "First I'd like to see my new apartment."
Sasuke's new apartment was a very luxurious new place on the top floor of a London sky-scraper.
Once they got off the elevator, Sasuke and Sakura saw that the place could qualify as a pent-house suite.
It was two-stories with a spiral stair-case that led to a glass door which led into a room that was painted white, and inside was a king-sized bed that was covered in red silk.
Finally, outside there was an amazing view of London and right there was also a bottle of wine.
"Well Head of Security for the Central European Bank," Sakura said as she picked up the wine bottle, "Your order?"
"No," Sasuke said as he stood only a few inches in front of Sakura, "But give me that damn bottle anyway."
After Sakura handed Sasuke the bottle, Sasuke poured two glasses, and they sat down on the couch, looking out at London.
Sasuke slightly sipped at the wine while Sakura put her head in Sasuke's lap, and propped her feet up on the couch's armrest.
"Why don't we move in together?" Sasuke asked.
"It's too soon," Sakura said as she looked up at her boyfriend, "It might further help our relationship, or it might destroy it. I thought we agreed to take this one day at a time."
"We did," Sasuke said, "You do realize of course we've already slept together."
"Yes," Sakura said, "We might want people to know we're dating, but we don't want people to know we're sleeping together."
"Touché." Sasuke said.
That night, Sasuke was in his room, and as he was doing a bug-sweep, he found that his phone was rigged, after disassembling the phone, he found that there was a small microphone attached to the receiver.
"I knew it," Sasuke said, "They don't trust me."
Sasuke quickly disassembled his own phone, and found the chip had been replaced with a tracking chip from the Central European Bank.
The next morning, he found an executive elevator waiting for him, and after entering the I.D. number Sakura gave him the night before, and once the elevator got off, he found himself standing inside a lobby that was the size of a college dorm-room, and saw Sakura sitting at what could have been a secretary's desk.
"Hey," Sakura said as she walked up to Sasuke who stepped off the elevator.
Sasuke kissed Sakura, and walked up to his door which read "Sasuke Uchiha Head of Security".
"Head of Security," Sasuke said as he walked up to his door, "Rolling big time."
"Let's go inside," Sakura said as she and Sasuke entered his office.
To be frankly honest, it wasn't really an office, it looked like someone had taken half the floor, knocked down a few walls, threw up a wall separating the office from the rest of the floor, threw up wood panels, put a desk a few feet from the back wall, and placed a couch against the wall with a large open window that had a great view of downtown London.
"It's nice!" Sasuke said.
"Nothing but the best." Arthur said as he walked in.
"Banking might be a big business, but this is a little excessive," Sasuke said, "Can we at least get a few things in here?"
"Like what?" Arthur asked.
"I'll give you a list," Sasuke said, "And by the way," Sasuke held up the microphone and the cell-phone chip he took out of his two phones, "Next time you feel like you can't trust, me please say it to my face, don't bug my apartment."
"I didn't plant these," Arthur said as he took the microphone and chip from Sasuke's hands.
"They have Central European Bank production-codes written over all of them." Sasuke said.
"Well I didn't plant these, and I sure as hell didn't authorize anyone to plant them." Arthur said.
"Think you can find out who?" Sasuke asked.
"These have government serial-numbers on them," Arthur said, "Shouldn't be too hard to track down who these belong to."
"Ok," Sasuke said, "In the meantime I think you should shift your focus towards moving Viper to a maximum-security prison. I know you don't want to hear this, but we need him, without him, we have nothing to go on."
"I'll see what we got." Arthur said.
"In the meantime," Sasuke said, "Could you give me and Sakura a few minutes?"
"Of course," Arthur said, "Congratulations on your relationship by the way."
"You told everyone in the office didn't you?" Sasuke asked.
"Yea." Sakura said.
"Let's get started on that evidence board," Sasuke said, "We've got little time before our next assignment. Am I right boss?"
"Don't know," Arthur said, "We'll see. Right now you should get to work on your board-of-conspiracy."
Sasuke turned towards his cork-board, and stamped Viper's picture as Captured.
Sasuke then turned towards Sakura, "I take it this doesn't impress you?" he asked.
"Maybe, but just a little bit," Sakura said, "While we wait for our next job, why don't you tell another one of your stories?"
Flashback #3 coming up…