Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"
A/N: Sorry for the delay but I was really, horribly blocked for a couple weeks. That seems to have cleared up. This story gets longer every time I write a chapter so as of now I'm officially done trying to predict how many more chapters there are. Hope everyone is still enjoying.
Chapter 5
Gathering Intel
They were still waiting for Puck to finish his work, well Santana was waiting, Brittany was asleep her head slumped on Santana's shoulder, when Santana phone chirped. Santana hadn't been expecting it. The front room of Puck's place had been silent as the grave for over two hours now, so when the notification came it would have startled most people. Santana wasn't most people, but in this respect, Brittany was.
She suddenly jerked awake while Santana was retrieving her phone. "Sorry," Brittany said softly.
Santana smiled and said, "It's okay. I'm sorry the phone woke you."
"It's okay," Brittany said, "I don't really want to sleep in this guy's place. I'm afraid that I'll wake up tied up in his basement or something."
"You don't have to worry about that," Santana said, "I learned a long time ago how to size up a threat, to tell how hard it would be for me to win a fight against someone and this guy wouldn't take much effort. I know you have no reason to, but you can trust me with your safety."
"Who was calling?" Brittany asked changing the subject.
"It was a text message from Abe," Santana said, "He's the only one other than you who had this phone number."
"You're not going to read it?"
"Not here," she said. Brittany looked at her confused. Santana clarified, "I don't trust this guy. I have no idea if he's set up to intercept cell signals or what, so I don't want him knowing my business. Abe will just have to wait."
He didn't have to wait much longer however as about twenty minutes later Puck came back out into the front room with Brittany's newly minted bogus IDs in hand. Santana stood to meet him and Brittany followed suit. "Let me see them."
"Money first," he said.
"You'll get the money when I'm sure you've done quality work and not a second sooner," Santana said quickly snatching the driver's license and passport out of his hand. She inspected them in great detail.
"They're top notch fakes, babe," he said earning him a nasty glare from both Santana and Brittany, "but fair warning though. They're just cosmetic. If they get run through a database, they won't hold up."
"Not an issue," Santana said still looking at them. Eventually she pulled another roll of hundreds and tossed it to him without a word. She handed the forgeries to Brittany and said, "Alright, Miranda, we've got things to do."
"Hey, hold up," Puck said, "You lovely ladies want to stick around for a couple of hours? There's gonna be an awesome party later on with some killer weed, maybe some ecstasy. Maybe get a little loose, have a little fun?"
"I think I'll have my fun when we're back on the other side of the bridge," Santana said.
"Too bad," Puck shrugged and pointed at Brittany's documentation, "Anybody asks, you didn't get that here."
"Of course we didn't," Santana replied, "I never go to New Jersey."
X
When they were about ten minutes removed from Puck's and about fifteen minutes away from the bridge back to Manhattan, Santana pulled out her cell and handed it to Brittany. "Check the message would you?"
Brittany tapped the phone a couple of times before scrunching her face in confusion. "It's just a jumble of letter and numbers and symbols," she said, "Is it some sort of code?"
"Not exactly," Santana replied, "It's encrypted. Hit reply and type #4471. Then hit send. It should bounce back with the actual message."
Brittany did as instructed and the phone chimed again. "Okay, now it says, 'Concrete jungle where dreams are made. Cruising to my stash spot.' And then there's this long number."
"Does it start with 1241?" Santana asked.
"Yeah," Brittany said.
"It's an encrypted phone number," Santana said, "I have no idea what the rest of it means, though."
"The concrete jungle part?" Brittany clarified.
"Yeah, It's probably some sort of riddle," Santana said off handedly, "or maybe a code."
"They're song lyrics," Brittany said, "'Empire State of Mind' by Jay Z and Alicia Keys."
"Don't know it," Santana said, "How does it go? What are the next lines?"
"After 'Concrete jungle where dreams are made' comes 'Let's hear it for New York'."
"Okay," Santana said, "he's telling us that he knows we're in New York. The other line should reference a landmark of some sort."
"Not a landmark," Brittany said, "An address, 560 State Street. That's the line that comes next. Is that where Abe's at?"
"Nah, it won't be that easy to get to him," Santana said, "If I'm guessing right, then there's a payphone somewhere in the vicinity of whatever's at that address that I'm supposed to call him from. What is at 560 State Street?"
"I don't know," Brittany said, "I don't even know where that is."
"The phone has internet access," Santana said.
Brittany punched a few more buttons. She stuck her tongue between her lips as she waited. "It's the Brooklyn Academy of Music. My friends Mike and Tina live in Brooklyn. Crap, if I'm gonna disappear for a while I need to call Mike so he can take over running the studio."
"That's not a good idea," Santana said.
"I know," Brittany said, "but we're trying to lay low, right?" Santana nodded. "Well, if I don't show up and don't call in for a day or two, they'll just think that I'm, well, just being me, but more than that and they'll get worried and call the police and my parents and then there will be a missing person report, but if I call them and tell them that I met someone and we're going off to like Paris or wherever, then we'll have a couple of weeks at least before they start to think something is up."
"That's a really good idea," Santana said, "but let's go talk to Abe first. Then we can swing by a Costco or something and pick up some disposable cell phones, but when you talk to them be less specific. Don't say that we're going to Paris. Say we're going on a road trip. Flying to Paris usually involves flying back and friends want to volunteer to drop you off and pick you up, which means departure and arrival times. Road trips are a little more, 'See you when you get back.'"
"That's smart," Brittany said, "Will you tell me about you now? You said you would."
"I didn't forget," Santana said. "I grew up on a farm."
"Really?"
"Well," Santana said, "it was more of a plantation, really. We raised chickens and grew tobacco, or well, the people that actually worked on the plantation did. I just lived there."
"Where at?"
"Nowhere you've ever heard of," Santana said, "It's in Taza Province in Morocco, about 20 miles outside the city of Oulad Zbair."
"You're right, I've never heard of that," Brittany said, "so you're not American, then?"
"I don't have a nationality," Santana said, "I was born in Morocco but the Moroccan government has no documentation of that. My mother is Spanish so technically I'm a citizen of the European Union but I've never applied for any legal status there. My father was born in the Dominican Republic but there's no proof of that either."
"But you're still not telling me about you," Brittany said.
"I was getting there," Santana said, "You wanted to know something real about me, well here it is. My favorite place in the whole world is that plantation because there's this lake there that's absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It's clear and it's blue and it's warm there like ten months out of the year so you could swim in it all the time. There were four kids around our age that grew up on there, me and Abe, a Filipino girl named Sunny, and the girl we called Big Mouth Berry because she was such a tattle tale, and I honestly think we spent more time as kids in that lake than we did out of it. Now, whenever I have downtime I find the biggest, blue-est body of water I can find and I swim and try to remember simpler times."
Santana glanced over to find Brittany smiling brightly… the kind of smile that she'd worn all day the previous month, and Santana immediately felt guilty for taking that away from her and from the world. Brittany should always be smiling, Santana thought.
"Thank you for telling me that," Brittany said, "It helps me to remember that you are that person that I fell for and not just this scary, killer woman."
Santana wanted to quiz her on her use of the word scary but she'd rather keep the mood light for the time being, so she just smiled at Brittany and said, "Anything to keep that beautiful smile on your face, honey." Brittany didn't reply just continued to smile at her. "A deal's a deal," Santana said, "I believe I was promised tales of Miranda and Mariposa."
"Oh, right," Brittany replied, "Once upon a time, there were two beautiful princesses…"
X
An hour later they had made their fifth circuit of the neighborhood of their destination, and now Santana was certain. There was no pay phone on the street anywhere on the same block as The Brooklyn Academy of Music. However, up the block and across Flatbush Avenue was The Atlantic Terminal, a bus station, which almost certainly had a bank of payphones inside. She also made note of the abundance of Toyotas and Hondas and Fords, most of which were at least a few years old. Not a lot of brand new Audis on the streets. "We need to ditch this car," she said as she parked along the curb a hundred yards down from the bus station.
"But I like your car," Brittany said, "Plus it had to be really expensive. We're just going to abandon it?"
"It's not my car, honey," Santana said.
"What?"
"It belongs to the guy who lives in the above my apartment," Santana said, "He's some jet-setting businessman. He's been out of town for over a week now, so I knew he wouldn't miss it, but it stands out around here and in the neighborhood around the safe house."
"You stole it?" Brittany asked.
"Yeah, Britt, I did," she said, "but we'll leave it in a tow away zone so that when he gets back and reports it stolen, the cops will already know where it's at." Brittany sat silently staring at Santana. "What?" she asked Brittany.
Brittany shook her head, "Nothing, it's stupid."
"Hey, look at me," Santana said when Brittany's gaze dropped, "Look at me," she repeated and Brittany complied. "Your feelings aren't stupid to me and they shouldn't be to you, so please tell me what you were feeling just then."
"I don't know, it's kinda weird, like I know that you kill people and I watched you beat up Sam, but he was breaking in so you were just doing that to defend me."
"It's different, isn't it?" Santana asked, "Knowing I break the law and actually seeing me do it. It's one thing for me to tell you but something else for you to witness it, just like it was weird to see me fighting with Sam." Brittany nodded but didn't say anything. "I feel like a broken record. I know this is really weird for you and under ideal circumstances I'd give you some alone time to sort things out but..."
"It's not safe for me to be left alone," Brittany said.
Santana nodded. She was glad that Brittany seemingly understood the direness of the situation, a lot of people in her place wouldn't. "Let's go make this phone call, then maybe we'll have a chance for us to slow down for a few minutes and maybe you'll have a chance to think for a bit."
Brittany nodded silently again and opened her door. Santana did likewise and they walked casually down State Street toward the bus station. Brittany, seemingly on instinct kept close to Santana which Santana was thankful for. She would have held Brittany close had she needed to but she was glad that it hadn't become necessary to manhandle her.
They waited semi-patiently to cross Flatbush Avenue and then hustled into the station. Quickly locating the nearest payphone, Santana pulled out her phone to locate the number. "I'll hold the phone where we both can hear. You probably won't understand a lot of what gets said. Abe will talk in code and expect me to do the same. I promise to explain it all later." Brittany nodded and Santana quickly dialed the contact number. There was a quick double beep indicating that the line was encrypted. Someone on the other end picked up but didn't speak. "Good morning, Sunshine," Santana said.
"So we have an audience," Abe said, "Predator or prey?"
"Neither, it's a Costner/Houston situation," Santana said, hoping he got the reference. They didn't exactly have a code for 'I was sent to kill an innocent person and am now protecting her.'
"And you need to come in?"
"Yeah," Santana said, "ASAP."
"Can you dig in for a bit?"
"A little bit," she said, "Not too long. The status quo will deteriorate exponentially."
"Alright, do like we did in Tangiers and then make for the home of the midnight rider," Abe said.
"Message received," said Santana, "Are you still Eeyore?"
"Couple from our side," he said, "Haven't caught a whiff yet, but that's just a matter of time."
"Okay," Santana said, "Keep me abreast of any changes in your status."
"May the odds be ever in your favor," Abe said.
Brittany caught the reference and smiled. Santana chuckled, smiled, and said, "You're such a nerd." They hung up and the girls went back to the Audi so that Santana could wipe it down. She put the keys in the center console and locked the door. It would be towed in the morning and her former neighbor would have it back in pristine condition as soon as he came back to town.
They caught a train back to the safe house because Brittany preferred trains to buses. They found a car that was sparsely populated and they sat away from the few people that were there. "So the plan with, Abe?"
"The plan with Abe..."
"I think I know what some of it meant," Brittany said with a proud smile on her face.
"Okay, let me see your code breaking skills," Santana said.
"Okay," Brittany said, "A Costner/Houston situation means that you're my bodyguard, right?" Santana nodded. "He asked if you needed to come in and I think that's like a meeting or something. He said to go to the home of the midnight rider. The midnight rider either means an old classic rock song and I have no idea where that means to go, or it means Paul Revere which means we're going to Boston."
"That's pretty good," Santana smiled at her.
"I don't know what Eeyore means, I mean I know who Eeyore is but I don't know what he's code for, and I obviously don't know what you guys did in Tangiers."
"Eeyore has a tail pinned on him that he's constantly losing. Abe has had people following him ever since he left the Brotherhood. He's going to try to ditch them before meeting us. In Tangiers, we came close to being exposed just as we were about to set an assassination into motion so we wound up stalling the mission for 36 hours."
"So we're supposed to wait 36 hours before going to Boston?" Brittany asked.
X
"So I'm gonna go out and have a look around the perimeter," Santana said as soon as they were back to the safe house.
"But your food," Brittany countered.
"It'll keep. I'm not that hungry right now," she said which wasn't strictly speaking untrue. She hadn't been particularly deprived of food and would be able to go for at least a couple of hours before she was truly hungry but they had picked up some authentic Italian and it smelled heavenly which was seriously making her mouth water.
"Please don't make me eat alone," Brittany said in this sad little voice which just completely killed any and all of Santana's resolve to give Brittany some space.
Santana's safe house was a 350 square foot basement efficiency apartment with a full size mattress on the floor, a small table, and a mostly empty kitchenette. It really wasn't designed to be occupied by more than one person at a time. She had no TV, no radio, almost nothing in the way of entertainment. She did have a well used sparring dummy in one corner with three throwing daggers stuck in it.
Brittany took her food and sat on the bed pulling a pillow into her lap to use as a table. She patted the space next to her, wordlessly asking Santana to join her. Santana retrieved two bottles of water out of the refrigerator along with her food and settled in next to Brittany. Once there, Santana's mind couldn't help but go back to the last time the two of them were in bed together. She knew that wasn't happening again anytime soon so she tried as best she could to push those memories to the back of her mind. She was only moderately successful at it but then again she'd never really pushed the thoughts away.
They ate in relative silence save for the occasional sigh of contentment. The food was very good, after all. Santana finished first. She didn't generally eat a lot, never wanted to be too full, so there would be leftovers for the morning. Brittany continued eating to her heart's content. Santana went about stowing some of Brittany's things since there was no telling how long they'd be living out of this tiny place. The one small closet was mostly full of Santana's tradecraft equipment, but she managed to make room for Brittany's bag, no room to hang its contents up but she did what she could. She found Brittany's computer and hacked one of her neighbors' wifi signals so that they could have internet to provide some measure of entertainment.
Brittany was dumping her to-go box in the trash when something occurred to Santana. Neither of them had taken a shower since before their date last night, over twenty four hours ago. She said, "So the hot water heater in this place sucks and we'll be lucky if even one of us gets a shower before the water runs cold, so why don't you go first and I'll suffer through the cold after."
"Or we could take a shower together," Brittany said, pausing only a moment before clarifying, "Just a shower. Two people who have already seen each other naked getting clean at the same time and not having sex."
Santana suppressed a smile and said, "If you're comfortable doing that then I certainly don't object. It will be pretty close quarters in there though."
"Closer than last night?" Brittany asked with a cheeky smile.
"Well, obviously not," Santana said smiling as well.
"Then let's go," Brittany said walking past Santana pulling off her shirt as she went. Santana was left momentarily stuck dumb by the sight of Brittany's incredibly sexy back. She followed after quickly not wanting to miss a second of the precious few minutes she'll get to see of Brittany's beautiful, flawless skin. She entered the small bathroom to find Brittany standing still looking at something before turning her head to look back over her shoulder, "Your bathroom is smaller than my closet," she said.
"But still bigger than your bed," Santana said. Brittany smirked and then started shedding clothes. Santana followed her lead and soon they were both naked in close proximity. Santana couldn't stop herself from looking once more. Brittany cleared her throat and Santana's attention snapped up to see her with eyebrow hiked. "I'm sorry," Santana said, "It's just... never mind."
"No, say it," Brittany said sternly, "Tell me what you were going to say."
"Okay, I was going to say that you're the sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life," Santana sighed, "and if last night was the only time I get to be with you then I want you to know that it was the best night of my life and I'll never forget it." Brittany was still smiling so Santana was glad she hadn't scared her with her sudden confession. "I'm sorry if that's out of nowhere. I've wanted to tell you all day but I also wanted you to have emotional space to deal with everything I've dropped on you today."
"That's really sweet of you, San," Brittany said, "Thank you. Now come on." She quickly grabbed Santana by the hand and dragged her into the shower. It was small and cold until the water warmed up, and really, really not designed be occupied by more than one person at a time. Santana spent the next twenty minutes four inches or less away from Brittany's beautiful, naked, warm, wet body. Being this close to her and not being able to touch her and hold her, it was brutal. Santana had been tortured before... by people that knew what the fuck they were doing. This was worse.
They were about ten minutes away from the end of any warmth when Brittany turned away from Santana and pulled her hair over one shoulder and looked back over her shoulder again. "Get my back?" she asked.
Santana smiled and picked up the bar of soap. "Always," she said.
"Just don't get any funny ideas," Brittany said.
It was way too late for that. Santana had had nothing but funny ideas since Brittany had suggested they take a shower together, but she could keep herself and her libido in check long enough to clean Brittany's back. Santana took her time working the soap into her back treasuring the opportunity to touch Brittany's amazing body once more.
When Santana finished Brittany's back she handed over the bar and turned around. She struggled to suppress her desire to moan when Brittany started running her hands up and down her back. "Santana," Brittany said. So lost in the sensation was she that she almost jumped when Brittany broke the silence. "Can I ask you a hypothetical question without you thinking it means more than it does?"
"I think so," Santana said, "Yeah."
"Okay," Brittany said. She took a deep breath before continuing, "If I were to decide… If I asked you to leave The Brotherhood to be with me, would you?"
"Yes," Santana said immediately.
"Just like that?" Brittany questioned, "That easily?"
Santana turned back to face her letting the water rinse her back off and then shut the shower off quickly. When Brittany gave her a curious look, Santana said, "Water was about to run cold." They exited the shower and Santana handed Brittany a towel before taking one for herself. They quickly dried off in silence and returned to the main room and began pulling out clothes for the night. "Yes, I hypothetically I would give up The Brotherhood for you," Santana said pulling on her pants, "and yes, that easily, for two reasons. One, I love you, Brittany. I've never felt anything like this before, not even close, and if that were the only reason, it would be enough, but then there's the second reason. The only reason I was able to do my job was the belief that what I was doing was making the world a better place. Now that I know the command structure has been compromised, I'll never be able to know for sure that the people I'm sent after are truly bad people or not so I'll never be able to do my job."
"Good," Brittany said. Santana turned to look at her and she looked positively adorable in blue pajama pants with yellow rubber duckies printed all over and a pink t-shirt. "I mean, not good that you can't trust people but good that you don't want to go back. I… I don't want you to kill people anymore."
Santana pulled her black long sleeved t-shirt over her head and smiled, "I can't promise you that, Brittany. Not yet, anyway." Brittany looked sad to hear that, so Santana explained, "There's a very good chance that before this is all said and done that someone will try to kill you or me or both of us, and I'm not going to let that happen. If I have to kill someone to keep them from killing you I will without hesitation." Santana tipped Brittany's dropped chin up to look her in the eyes. "If I can stop someone from hurting you without killing them, I'll do it, okay? For you, because I understand that you don't want this for me, but if it comes down to their life or yours then really there's no question for me."
Brittany nodded and then said, "Why are you dressed like this? I thought it was bed time."
"I really do need to do a sweep of the neighborhood," Santana said, "to make sure that no one is camping out watching us. I promise I won't be long, okay?"
"Okay," Brittany said.
"Okay," Santana said, "Don't open the door for anyone. I've got my keys."
Santana opened the door but was stopped from leaving by Brittany's hand on hers. "Santana, be safe out there, okay?" Santana turned back to look at her just in time for Brittany to wrap her up in a tight hug that felt like heaven to her. "And just so you know, last night was the best night of my life, too."