"Explain it to me one more time," demanded the calm yet irritated Alexi.
"Well, you see your venture is under staffed and I required assistance lifting the outer sensor casing off of the ground; since you have the halfwit chained up all the time, I had to ask leather fetish there to help me," snapped Oliver Shaw.
Alexi took a swallow of his cognac and placed it on the bar; he turned to face the doctor who was standing to his right with his hand resting on the pink ivory wood counter. Itami stood three feet away from the pair in her usual ridged stance with her eyes transfixed on the wall behind the bar.
Chip Morton had managed to get a message to Captain Crane using Alexi's computer lab. Itami had been stationed in the room to help Shaw watch his captive as Chip helped complete the computer program stolen from base 21. Despite this close monitoring, Morton had still managed to communicate with the outside world, throwing a curve ball into Alexi's plans. It wasn't an unforeseeable complication but it would have been nice if something about his operation took the path of least resistance. Being surrounded by constant incompetence was wearing the older man down and he longed for the days when things were simple; when you simply nabbed the person you wanted and slowly tortured them to death. All of this plotting, scheming and grandiose posturing was for the young; those that still had something to prove to the world, not accomplished criminals and spies. And was it just him or did the hired help seem to have lower IQs than before?
"The halfwit is chained up for a reason you moron. He's not exactly here of his own free will; that makes him dangerous. I shouldn't have to tell you this, Shaw. That fact aside, your snivelling, whining and general incompetence is grating on my last nerve and I'm not going to stand for it."
No sooner had Alexi finished his sentence than a blur of black leather flashed before Shaw's eyes, followed by extreme pain in his hand. In one fluid motion Itami had pulled out a small blade, disguised as a hair clip, and plunged it into the doctor's hand that was resting on the bar.
The doctor screamed in pain and clutched his wrist, unable to remove his hand from the expensive wood surface. Alexi casually reached over and extracted the blade; Shaw fell to the floor in a weeping bloody mess.
"Relax Shaw; it's just a hole in your hand; you're lucky I let you keep your hand. Pain is good for the soul and it's even better at reminding people not to fail me," Alexi informed the man on the floor. Shaw was in too much pain to show any sign of acknowledgement. He grasped the nasty hole in his left hand and rocked back and forth in a futile effort to relieve his agony.
"Now I suggest you get back to work before I let her stick her nasty little knife somewhere else."
Not wanting to experience any more of his employer's legendary wrath, Shaw managed to find his legs and vacate the room. Alexi watched the spineless coward flee the room, then with equally fast cat-like reflexes, grabbed a hold of Itami's head and slammed it on to the polished bar surface. The half-full crystal glass smashed under the force of the act and the sound flooded the room.
Anyone listening to the scene play out would never have guessed the violence took place by the calm and unflappable tone demonstrated in Alexi's voice. The only thing that signified his anger was the violent act itself. He held her like that for a few minutes applying an excruciating amount of pressure to her head.
"Do you know how much the wood for this bar cost and you're putting gouges in it? Fuck up again, and I'm going to give new meaning to bone china."
He released Itami and she quickly resumed her stance, not even bothering to wipe away the blood that was winding its way down the side of her face. "Clean this mess up," ordered Alexi as he made his way to the entrance of the large room. He paused for a moment at the door, before turning back to his assassin. "Itami, you're like family to me; it would be a shame if I had to kill you for incompetence."
Alexi left the room and the girl standing there. He had the third part of this problem to deal with.
The first thing Chip noticed upon waking was the same confused fuzzy feeling he had woken up to a few weeks ago; the second was he was no longer in his usual prison cell. The exec took a few moments to organize his thoughts. He remembered sending a message to Lee and then blackness. Alexi came to talk with him after that. Chip knew he had succeeded in contacting his friend by the irritated expression in Alexi's dark eyes, not to mention the beating he took from Itami following the lecture about misguided attempts to complicate the situation. After that things really started to get fuzzy.
Chip knew Alexi's excuse for a medical doctor came in to treat some of Itami's more enthusiastic reminders of obedience, and then being injected with yet another drug; but how long ago was that and where was he now?
He wasn't in his cell; in fact he was lying on top of a large comfortable bed. The room was bright with a large glass door at one end that was open a crack to let a gentle breeze move through the room.
Cautiously the blond threw his legs over the side of the bed and slowly sat up; several of his ribs protesting vehemently against the movement. Supporting his aching side with one arm, the exec managed to reach a vertical position.
The room had a wooden table and two chairs in one corner and a small bathroom in the other. Beside the glass door which lead to a small balcony there were two other windows that revealed a bright cloudless sky and the crystal clear waters of the ocean.
Chip painstakingly made his way across the room and slid open the balcony door; he squinted as he moved into the sunlight. The crashing of the waves against the cliff in which he over looked assaulted his ears. If escape was even possible from this place it certainly wasn't going to be this way. The sheer cliff extended down about a hundred feet to the rock littered ocean below.
"Spectacular view isn't it?" asked Alexi as he walked into the room.
Morton turned to face his captor and answered his rhetorical question with a determined glare.
"Come now Charles, all unpleasantness is behind us. You learned your lesson the hard way . . . again. I'd like you to join me for dinner Charles."
"And if I refuse?"
"You mistake my hospitality as a request."
So far security measures appeared to be more lacking then at the previous compound. Alexi was a rather over confident individual, and maybe if he played along he could take advantage of this seemingly new freedom. Deciding to pick his battles, Chip relented and followed Alexi out of the room. As he had guessed, there were no guards to escort them to where ever he was being led.
The hall was decorated with various priceless works of art; the sheer number of pieces was impressive. Seeing his captive's interest in the attire, Alexi felt the need to enlighten his guest on some of his prized possessions.
"They're all real," assured Alexi.
Morton scoffed as they stopped in front of a copy of the Mona Lisa.
"Well, they're almost all originals; there are a few pieces that have eluded this collection. These are the originals and most of what hangs in museums are, in fact, excellent forgeries."
"I'm sure the museums of the world would realize they were in possession of fakes," stated Chip.
"I'm sure they would, Charles. These paintings were stolen right from under their noses; so the original passes the admittance inspection then the work is stolen and a forgery left in its place. By the time anyone realizes the painting is a fake it's too late; no one wants to admit that the world has been viewing a copy for years, so it's never made public that the real ones have slipped through the cracks."
"And the Mona Lisa?"
"Can't win them all Charles; but rest assured I win more than my fair share."
"I knew someone once who thought they could own that painting too. He failed just like I know you will," retorted Morton.
"Where he failed, I will succeed," the pair stopped at the entrance way to the dining room and Alexi gestured for Chip to enter, "please make yourself at home. I have another matter to attend to, but Itami here will keep you company until I return." Before Morton had a chance to reply, Itami was escorting him to his seat at the table.