A/N: Original characters in this story (those not seen in the Artemis Fowl universe) belong to me, Renata Swift. Artemis Fowl, the universe, and all its characters belong to Eoin Colfer. Not to me. Sadly.
Sorry for the delay in updates - as I previously said, I was in the middle of my exams. This chapter, to me, is no great shakes, but the action has yet to begin, so hold on! R&R, please!
House Of Cards
Chapter Five – Spiralling
Gerald Walden was having a very good year. So good, in fact, that he had allowed himself the luxury of buying a brand new, red coloured, gas-guzzling Hummer. Not very smart for someone who runs an eco-friendly business empire, but that was the way the cookie crumbled. So far, the press had not yet heard of the Hummer, and to celebrate that fact, he was now pouring himself a glass of Veuve Doussot, flown in from Paris. Further gas-guzzling.
As he stared out of the floor-length windows, Walden smiled to himself. The plan was working brilliantly, and no one, not even that pesky little French girl, had realized. All is going according to plan, he said to himself in his head. I sound like a villain out of a totally bad movie. I really should get some new lines.
He set the glass down on his smooth, polished mahogany table as his phone buzzed. It was his secretary announcing a guest for him. Not long after, an extremely short, angry looking man marched in. This was no man, however, and Gerald Walden knew it.
"Bobby, man, what's going on?" Walden held his hand out for Gatsuki to shake, but Gatsuki slapped it away.
"Have you turned on CNN in the past two days, you freaking moron? Have you been paying any freaking attention to what I keep warning you about?"
"No. In case you haven't realized, I run a pretty big company from nine to five."
"There was a freaking girl. She fell down the freaking hole, Gerry. In freaking Sharjah."
"So what? They'll fish her out. Don't work yourself up, Bobby. Relax. Here," Walden took another glass and poured some more of the champagne into it. "Have some Veuve Doussot."
"You don't freaking understand, Gerry! When the rescue team came in to save her, she wasn't freaking there! She pulled a freaking Houdini on everyone!" Gatsuki paced along the breadth of the room.
"What? What?" Walden's eyes flew out of his head. "What the hell do you mean, she disappeared?"
"That's it, Gerry! She wasn't there! And you know why?"
"Why?" Walden peered curiously at the angry pixie.
"Because my freaking goblins pulled her out!" Gatsuki screamed in Walden's face, spit flying out. Walden wiped it away.
"You mean to say your stupid minions have her?" Walden growled.
"No! That's just it! They freaking beat her up, and then left her somewhere! They went and got themselves freaking drunk, and now they don't know where the freaking hell she is!" Gatsuki's face was slowly turning purple. "I told you the goblins would do something freaking stupid like this, man! They don't have the freaking brainpower to think! I told you this was a freaking bad idea!"
Walden got down on his knees to properly face Gatsuki, whose face was now the exact same shade as his Hummer. "Are you having cold feet, Bob?"
"Cold feet? Hell, my feet have freaking frostbite, man!"
"Well, it's too late now. Find the girl if you can, then bring her to me. I'll deal with her the right way." Walden went back to his desk and sat in his plush reclining chair. "Meanwhile, the plan goes on. I do not want any more delays and any more of your hysterics."
Gatsuki glumly nodded his head and turned towards the door. Just before he left, Walden called after him.
"Hey, Bobby!"
"What the freaking hell now, man?"
"You've got to stop using the word 'freaking' when you get mad. It's really irritating."
Gatsuki fumed and slammed the door behind him. Walden laughed.
Sharmista paused briefly to throw up in a pot full of gardenias, and Holly silently chuckled. The poor girl's face was turning various shades of green because of the shuttle ride to Dublin. Sharmista growled menacingly, but Holly shushed her. The duo was in the Fowl garden, with Sharmista awkwardly hiding behind bushes, obeying Holly's every word.
"I can't do this. I'm too clumsy! Surely Security will notice me!"
"The only security here already knows us. The ones we have to watch out for are Fowl Senior and the twins."
"So why on earth are we doing this black ops thing? You already know his parents are out of town!"
"The element of surprise still holds the potential for a lot of fun, Misty."
"Ah. Like pranks. How immature."
"You know," Holly glared, "you're beginning to sound a lot like him."
"Who's 'him'?" Sharmista chuckled, swatting away a fly.
"She means me," a cool voice said behind them. Sharmista jumped and turned around. Holly sighed annoyingly.
"You know, Artemis, you could've pretended like you didn't notice us," the elf intoned. Sharmista just kept staring at Artemis' face.
"You have one of Holly's eyes!" she blurted without thinking.
"Yes, I do. Although it can also be said that she has one of mine." Artemis turned around and began walking towards a table in the centre of the garden. "Follow me."
"Why should we?" Sharmista put her hands on her hips.
"Well, you did come all the way here, didn't you? I've also got some iced tea in the fridge."
"Well, if you put it like that…" Sharmista grinned at Holly and ran towards Artemis, soon coming up to him. Holly followed behind them. As they were walking towards the house, Sharmista gazed around in wonder.
"You have a really beautiful house," she said sincerely, never having seen anything quite like it. Artemis seemed taken aback, never having heard such a comment. "Thank you," he said awkwardly as he held open a glass door for girl and elf. They entered straight into the kitchen, where Artemis pulled out two cans of Lipton's Iced Tea for Sharmista and Holly. He himself picked up a steaming mug of Earl Grey lying on the counter, and sipped it with a curios expression on his face. Sharmista gulped down the brown liquid thirstily, beads of sweat framing her face. Holly, on the other hand, seemed quite cool.
"So," Artemis said, after a stretch of silence, "how's Foaly's dig on WaldenGreen going?"
"You were supposed to stay out of our servers, Artemis!" Holly yelled. The boy chuckled.
"I was just checking. Minerva's name came up a lot."
"Oh, Holly," Sharmista sighed in a fake manner, "he was only protecting the interests of his girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend."
"Touchy-feely, are we, Monsieur Fowl?" Sharmista grinned.
"Not really, Miss Varma. I just dislike false allegations."
"How did you know my name, you creep?"
"Foaly's files. He's got a timeline in them. Entered you in the day you fell through that hole. Not quite a wise decision, was it?"
"No, not really – but then I never exactly expected to be abducted by goblins, now, did I?"
"Where's Paradizo, Artemis?" Holly interrupted before the fight got out of hand.
"She's gone. She took the first flight to London when Walden called. He apparently needed her to make some alterations in the plans."
"So you pretty much know everything, including why we are here."
"That part Foaly sent me by mail."
"Good, because we have no time to waste." Holly's communicator bleeped for what seemed like the three hundredth time that day. Her eyes quickly scanned the message on the screen, and then she pulled the mug of tea out of Artemis' hands.
"Pack your bags. Both of you are flying to London. We'll be receiving further orders there. Can Butler fly us in?"
"Why not? I'll call him and tell him about our new plans." With that, Artemis Fowl turned around to walk out of the kitchen when Holly stopped him.
"Be sure to pack a tuxedo!" she grinned. Artemis' face fell flat – as did Sharmista's. She spat the Iced Tea out, and Artemis winced at the incivility of it all.
"What? I'm not dressing up as a man, you know!"
"Don't be stupid," Holly said, irritated. "Artemis, lend her one of your mother's better gowns. You're going to be at a party hosted by Gerald Walden around this time tomorrow."
"My father knows the man, if it's of any help," Artemis quipped. "We own stocks in WaldenGreen. I'm using some of their resources to make the Cessna more environmentally friendly."
"We knew that already, Artemis." Holly grinned. "Go, go!"
"I didn't," Sharmista pouted. "Aren't things moving a little too fast? We just got here!"
"Time waits for no one, Misty. Follow Master Fowl, and for Frond's sake, do pick out a nice dress, nothing too trashy."
"Thanks for the vote of fashion confidence. What about you?"
"I'm not coming to the party – it'll be your job to get things going. Walden will never suspect you two to be up to no good."
"You know, underestimating this guy might lead to the collapse of this entire plan."
"Trust me, thing will go exactly as we've planned. We have eyes and ears everywhere."
"So might he." Sharmista frowned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Holly to ponder about the whole shebang.
Please do review, and tell me what you like or didn't, so I can mould the story that way!
Renata Swift
