"I bet my fiancee Sharon is the type of woman who doesn't bother wearing very covering dresses."
"You're such a pervert," Olivia snorted and lifted her hands on her face. But she couldn't help the blush creeping to her cheeks.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A familiar tingling feeling was bubbling in Olivia's veins as she and Elliot walked towards the secret club. The late autumn evening was cool, the wind was swirling around them, and she shivered from both the cold and the excitement. She clutched her thin coat tighter around her and regretted not putting on a warmer dress.
"Are you cold?" Elliot asked as if reading her thoughts, and she snorted.
"In this dress, I would be cold even in the middle of summer. Sweaters should be part of the general dress code from October onwards," she shivered again as another gust of wind intruded uninvited into her jacket. "Is there still a long way to go?"
Elliot shook his head. "No, I think the first entrance is around the next corner."
Their contact person had told that since the club was evading taxes, it had strict security measures. The first entrance led to the cafe, whereby ordering with a certain secret code, you could be guided to the back room, where the guards would check identities and ask additional questions. Especially the first time, an interrogation was expected, and therefore they had had to learn their backstories carefully.
Elliot was right, because soon the cafe they were looking for came into view. And not a moment too soon, for as if to add to the freezing weather, the clouds had opened and began to drop a drizzle that would have drenched them quickly if they had had to walk any longer.
Olivia was already about to step to the door of the cafe, wanting to get inside quickly, but suddenly she felt Elliot's hand on her arm, and she turned to look at her partner.
"What?" She frowned as Elliot suddenly looked unsure. His body was tense, and he was eyeing nervously at the cafe, which to an outsider's eyes looked like a perfectly harmless place to stop to rest his feet.
"I just…" He stammered but didn't let go of her arm. "Are you sure you remember the story now? And you have your ID?"
"Yes, I do, and yes, I have," Olivia patted her bag. "Can we go inside now? Because I really am freezing, and you don't want to know what this kind of rain does to my hair," she tried to lighten the mood, but it only seemed to cause the opposite reaction in Elliot, whose eyes suddenly looked darker than usual, and it made her swallow.
"You have to stay close to me, okay? These guys are really dangerous, and I have to agree with Fin, I don't really like this plan. You don't have your gun and…"
Olivia sighed. "I'll be fine, El. I know I have to be careful. And you will be there, right?"
Elliot was quiet for a moment, but then gave a barely perceptible nod. "Right."
"So if you don't mind, I'd really like to go inside before I freeze to death," she turned, but before she grabbed the door handle, she glanced over her shoulder at her partner, who had finally released his grip on her arm. "Ready?"
"Ready."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The warmth of the cafe greeted them sweetly as they stepped in. They looked around and noticed a couple of customers sitting at the tables, but otherwise it was quiet in the cafe. They didn't see the waiter, and they walked slowly to the cashier, aware of the danger they had met the moment they had stepped through the door.
Then the waiter appeared from around the corner and looked at them evaluating.
"Good evening. How can I help you?"
Elliot cleared his throat. "We could have two pumpkin lattes, please."
The waiter's eyes flashed, but only for such a short moment that someone who didn't know the secret code wouldn't have noticed it.
"Sure. With or without cinnamon?"
"Two cinnamon sticks, please."
"Got it," the waiter keyed the order into the cash register. "That makes $12."
Elliot handed him the money, the waiter gave him the receipt, and after a quick glance at it, Elliot nodded.
"Thank you. Listen, we've had a long night. Where is the toilet?"
"I'll show you," the waiter gestured to them, and they followed him around the same corner where he had appeared before. Olivia felt her pulse quicken and was grateful to feel Elliot right behind her. Suddenly she felt very aware of her engagement ring glittering on her finger, and she had to force her wandering thoughts back and focus them on the moment.
Not now.
"Okay, here it is. The mirror can be found opposite the toilet," the waiter stopped in front of the door, and Elliot and Olivia nodded their thanks. Then Elliot pushed the door open, and they stepped into the dim bathroom, lit by the only flickering and buzzing ceiling light. Compared to the modern and atmospheric cafe, it was like a whole different world.
"Now, you could call that cafe a fancy facade," Elliot muttered. They walked up to the full length mirror the waiter had mentioned, and Elliot knocked on it four times. Nothing happened for a moment, but then the inconspicuous little hatch at the top of the mirror opened, and Elliot lifted the receipt the waiter had given him.
"15-18-102-Pumpkin-Latte," he said quietly, and then with a click, the mirror opened to reveal a door behind it, which Elliot pushed open. On the other side of the door was a room even darker than the toilet, but there was a security guard standing in the room. His appearance could have been considered stereotypical by those who had watched action movies because he was like a walking bundle of muscle, taller than Elliot by a head, a gun at his waist, and he eyed them suspiciously with his arms crossed.
"Um… Good evening, sir," Olivia said uncertainly, but the guard didn't answer. Instead, he held out his hand.
"Your IDs and bag."
Olivia dug out the IDs from her bag and gave them to the guard with her bag. He looked at them for a moment, examined her bag, then spoke into his earbud.
"This is door 1, Sharon Johnson and Harry Roberts."
This was followed by a pause during which Olivia felt like her heart was beating so wildly it seemed it was going to jump out of her chest. She could feel Elliot's tense body next to her, and she could almost hear that his heart had the same intention. But then the guard spoke again:
"How do you know about this place?"
"Our friend, Jack Moore, told us about it."
"And how do you know him?"
"We are business acquaintances," Elliot answered. "We work for the same technology company."
"And this woman? How do you know her?" The guard turned his piercing gaze on Olivia, who could feel him eyeing her from head to toe.
"She's my fiancée. Works at a pharmaceutical company."
"And what are you doing here?" The guard asked, and if his gaze had felt piercing before, it had been nothing compared to this.
"Well, you know," Elliot shrugged as if carelessly, but Olivia knew him well enough to notice that he was anything but relaxed. "We want to relax and have fun. And we've heard that "fun" takes on a new meaning here."
The guard didn't say anything, just looked at them appraising for a moment longer, but then he handed them their IDs back and scanned them with a metal detector. Then he pointed at the door behind him.
"I hope you get what you're looking for," he replied, and after thanking him, they walked past him and without looking back opened the door. The door led to some sort of intermediate room, giving them time to take a deep breath.
"You good?" Olivia asked quietly as Elliot wiped his forehead.
"For now," he answered. But then he stepped closer, and without a word gently grabbed her necklace and turned the clasp back to the back of her neck. Olivia felt her heart skip a beat when she felt his breath on her neck, and she had to swallow hard. But when he started to speak again, she realized that this had just been a trick to manage to say something he didn't want any surveillance devices to hear.
And for some reason, that made a vague feeling of disappointment flash inside her. It was a new feeling, and it almost made her flinch.
And she didn't like it at all.
"I don't think that tax evasion alone requires such strong security measures. There must be something more than it," he whispered. "I bet they don't serve just painkillers here."
Olivia nodded as Elliot pulled away, clutching her bag tighter against her. The tension of the situation made her senses heightened, and the ring on her finger, the guard behind them, Elliot beside her, and the unknown danger in front of them suddenly made the air feel thick, and the cool outdoors began to feel inviting.
However, there was no going back, and as if by mutual, unspoken agreement, they glanced at each other and stepped towards the door, behind which quiet music was playing.
And then, before they opened the door, she felt Elliot's hand on her back, and the warmth of it felt like it was flowing through her body like a calming, grounding breath.
"I've got your back."