I don't own Frozen.
She definitely did not like that woman... right?
Which is why seeing the Queen at a corporate event not a month later had Anna bouncing between giddiness and revulsion.
She had almost expected, not hoped, exactly, that she would see the Queen at one of Cartier's private functions. Anna was on a job, her own job for a client currently sitting pretty in a South American beach house in a country with no extradition policy. There would be an electronic transfer into one of her alias's Cayman Islands account if everything went smoothly. So what if Anna had been taking more high profile jobs concerning jewel acquisition as opposed to painted canvas? So what if she'd done a completely random bit of research that just so happened to focus on exotic diamonds domestic and foreign, and whether their location was anywhere within her area of operations? So what if (after four weeks of preoccupation with a woman who had done nothing but grate on her last nerves) she felt a swooping sensation in the bottom of her stomach at seeing that platinum ponytail?
It was probably just indigestion from the sushi bites the caterers were serving. It certainly wasn't anticipation, or excitement. There was a negativity fluttering about in there that bordered on apprehension, but then again—
Anna covered up a belch.
Definitely the sushi.
And besides, Anna was nothing if not a consummate professional. Personal matters did not get in the way of the job at hand. And she was here for a client.
But with the Queen here, well…
It might not be as easy as she hoped.
Anna readjusted her headset and pretended to fiddle with her mic pack.
"Janene?"
"Yes, Mr. Donahue?"
"Everything set for the Carazolla showcase?"
"Yessir. Should I tell them to bring it out?" Anna had made her way on staff at Deburque's, a subsidiary of Cartier located on the upper east side. With a little bit of hard work, one stellar fake resumé, and her persuasive talents, she'd been named assistant manager of tonight's showcase after little more than two weeks with the store.
"No, not yet. Best let the buyers stew before we bring out the big guns. We've already hit the ten million mark on the silent auction alone."
"Bested our projections by fifteen percent," Anna said to her 'supervisor'. "Congratulations, sir."
"Another fifteen minutes, and then you can get the movers."
"Yes sir."
And this was the moment she caught sight of the Queen, weaving in and out of stuffy old ladies and gentlemen dressed in their finest, surrounded by one of the grandest jeweled collections this side of the Atlantic. They were all here for the Carazolla, a 95 carat yellow stunner with pink undertones framed in a necklace that weighed close to nine pounds. The Queen kept her eyes on the emeralds, the rubies, the pearls and the Alexandrites, head ducked and eyes averted as she silently served drinks to the patrons.
Anna wanted to rattle her early so as not to undermine her own plan.
"Mr. Donahue?"
"Yes, Janene?"
"I'm going on break for ten minutes. I'll be sure and have the display set at presentation time."
"See that you do."
Time for improvisation.
Anna walked over to the open bar on the far side of the room, setting her clipboard down with a loud thwack. She leaned an elbow against the mahogany slab as she propped herself on a swivel stool, nudging the Queen's arm while the blonde refilled her serving tray.
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
"I'm sorry, I don't— you," the Queen said.
"Me," Anna smiled. "Enjoying the party?"
"What are you doing here?" she asked, stuffing several napkins into her short black apron. She'd skipped the braid this time, platinum strands held up in a high ponytail and minimal makeup. White button-up tucked into black pants equated to traditional catering wear.
"Working, of course. I expect the same as you," Anna said. "Though I never would have pegged you as a server for your day job."
"You know this isn't my day job."
"So you can infiltrate without hanging from the ceiling rafters?"
"Just don't get in my way."
"Little ole me? Whatever do you mean, your majesty?"
"Stop that, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"You're here for the Carazolla."
The Queen started wiping down an already pristine bar with a cloth.
"You know there are seismic sensors on that thing," Anna said.
The Queen gave her a look that could kill a puppy.
"I should know, I recommended them," Anna turned her nose up at the comment.
"Why would you make it so hard on yourself?" the blonde asked.
"It's not hard to make the puppets dance when you're the one pulling the strings, sweetheart. I've been in with Deburque's long enough to hack the system."
"Electronics?"
"The human system, Queenie. Manipulating people is so much easier than manipulating machines. And that one over there?" Anna pointed to a sweating Mr. Donahue, checking his watch every fifteen seconds. "Hacked."
"So you think you've got this one all wrapped up then?"
"I'd like to say so, yes," Anna said, swiping a long-stemmed glass of some unknown drink from the Queen's tray. She toasted the blonde woman with a tilt of her lips, just to antagonize her.
"May the best woman win," Anna said.
The blonde pirouetted and shuffled through the crowd. She didn't stop to allow the older man calling for a scotch to take the tumbler on her tray.
Looks like my timetable just moved up.
Anna chased after her, making sure to avoid the worrying eyes of Mr. Donahue. She found the blonde in the empty holding room, unsurprised to see that the electronic pad lock at the entrance had been disabled. She likewise noticed that the seismic sensors had been completely destroyed.
"What do you think you're doing?" Anna asked the Queen, who was staring at the glass Carazolla display case, wonder in her big blue eyes.
"What does it look like? I'm taking the diamond."
"Not so fast," Anna said, and mashed a button on a remote in her pocket.
Green laser beams sprouted from the walls like oddly digitized vines, freezing the Queen in the middle of her stride.
"Make one move and the motion sensors go off, security swarms," Anna smiled wryly.
The Queen took stock of her surroundings, maneuvering the edge of her ponytail into the path of the laser beam. She almost started when the beam sizzled the ends of her hair.
"Oh, and did I mention? They're lasers. As in, make a move and you'll look like last week's left over sashimi. Another one of my special recommendations."
The Queen's shoulders lifted in a slow wave, the woman rolling her neck around its axis in some practiced motion that had Anna's gut dropping in disbelief.
Surely she wasn't going to…
The woman lifted her arms and nimbly jackknifed her body forward, performing the most controlled front walk over Anna had seen outside of a gymnastics studio. The Queen proceeded to navigate the indiscriminate web of laser beams, lithe frame tunneling into and over gaps with poise and simmering strength. Anna could only imagine how taut her abdominals were, how much core strength the woman would need to alter her center of gravity so effortlessly. The blonde lifted a leg, nearly 180 degrees in the air from her opposite extremity and twisted over a beam.
Anna couldn't help but gasp, and the woman turned to throw her an obnoxious look as she inched toward the Carazolla.
She was just… so… bendy.
Anna's grip tightened subconsciously, half-moon marks from her manicured nails digging into the flesh of her palm. Her stomach flopped, and she did not care to analyze why her breaths turned achingly shallow as she watched the Queen shimmy between a particularly nasty-looking maze of near parallel beams. The woman bent over, nose to knee in those tight black pants, and somersaulted forward, rising to her tiptoes in a relevé so gracefully employed Anna swore the woman was part sprite. A final hurdle and the Queen was at the glass display case, pulling a small diamond from a pouch tucked underneath her shirt.
Diamonds cut glass.
She placed a suction cup on the front of the case and used the pointed tip of the diamond to draw a circle on the glass. Popping the glass barrier from its hold, the Queen plucked the Carazolla necklace from its stand and turned to face a stunned Anna.
Anna had been astounded before, but she'd never been so… squirmy after it was all said and done. She'd not moved a muscle, but Anna felt her pulse thundering, her expression shifting from antagonism to unmitigated awe. She was trained to feign emotion, to cover her real feelings. But this? This was unprecedented.
The woman twirled the necklace on her finger, pulling Anna from her thoughts.
She was still on a job. Anna still needed that necklace, and she needed to stall.
So she started with a sarcastic slow clap.
"What?" the blonde asked.
"Impressive. What else do you have up your sleeve?"
"Four triple A batteries, copper wire, about five grand in small facet clear cuts—"
"That was rhetorical," Anna whipped the remote control from her pocket once again, lasers dissolving at a touch. "And as impressive and insane as you are, you're still not taking that diamond."
"I am NOT insane."
"You just paraded through a field of laser beams that could have sliced your torso in two."
"It's about maintaining control."
Anna affected a British accent, falling back on one of her old favorites. "I've cut off your arm! No you haven't! Just a flesh wound!"
"And you think I'm insane?"
"Seriously? You don't know the black knight? Monty Python?"
The Queen stared at her with the diamond dangling in one hand, head returning to that cocked angle that Anna was tempted to call her 'default mode'. Anna sighed and slapped her hands to her sides.
"I can't let you walk away with that diamond."
"Well, you're not getting it from me."
"Want to bet?"
"Is this yet another taunt, or a true wager? I'm not one to gamble, as you know, but the odds are stacked heavily in my favor at the moment. I do have the diamond in hand."
Anna wondered if the woman's alabaster cheek could turn paler. She was certainly going to try to make her blanch.
"Yeah, but I've got the remote. Security!"
Milliseconds later, three large men sprinted into the room.
"Quick, she's got the Carazolla!"
The Queen made to run but there was only one exit, and found the diamond being wrestled from her grasp as the large men subdued her with plastic zip ties at her wrists.
"Here you are, Miss Janene," one of the guards said. He handed the diamond necklace over to Anna. "Mr. Donahue is ready for the presentation. We can deal with her."
"Don't go to Donahue just yet. It'll only make him more nervous. Can you notify the authorities?"
"Yes mam."
"Wonderful job gentlemen!" Anna studied the necklace, gasping at a flaw that wasn't there. "But I think she's removed the clasp. You should search her."
The woman's eyes went wide as an owl's and Anna waggled her eyebrows mercilessly. Anna nudged the men to the center of the room, the Queen tied up securely between them.
She then pressed another button on her remote, cutting the security feed while simultaneously reactivating the lasers.
"Janene!"
"Sorry boys, you'll probably be stiff in the morning," Anna said, slipping the diamond into her pocket. "And as for you…"
The Queen had already severed the plastic tie restricting her hands on a searing laser beam, and looked to be calculating the best way in which to contort her sinfully dexterous body to assure escape.
"You remember how I said jobs could be pleasurable? Case in point. But…" Anna walked up to the perimeter of the beams, throwing the most challenging, smug stare she could conjure at the Ice Queen. "I'd be lying if I said this wasn't fun. We should do it again sometime," Anna taunted, skedaddling into the alley outside.
Anna left before she saw the Queen's genuine grin grow, spine arching sharply as she started her maneuvers. The imprisoned guards could only stare as the blonde woman circumvented a dangerous roomful of lasers. The beams remained active and backup didn't come to relieve them for another two hours.
A/N: teeheeheehee... oh, this was quite fun writing. Would love a review if you had fun reading. More to come!