A Heist
Emma didn't want to be here. Surrounded by beautiful people at a pool in a malibu mansion. She simply didn't. At a debriefing the day before, Emma had mentioned her Visit with Sabine, after Regina had told Emma that the DEA agent was a liar, and was not to be trusted.
So Naturally, Emma assumed everything Sabine had said was a lie until Regina freaked when The asset mentioned Daniel. Sabine had told her the truth, about that, and Regina covered it up she was sure. Now she didn't know who to believe, and she was on a mission where the only person she trusted was Mal and she was playing driver outside the gates.
There she was at a pool party, a slinky white dress over a red bikini that was riding up her ass. "This is fucking Ridiculous," Emma mumbled as she adjusted herself in the suit.
"Well, I think you look very sexy," Sabine said walking up beside her. She didn't touch. Being gay is taboo where Alahi comes from, so she didn't put a hand on the asset. But she really did devour Emma with her eyes. "Listen, I'm sure Regina's warned you about me. That I improvise, take risks."
Emma nodded and shifted a bit uncomfortably. " Yeah, she might've mentioned something about that."
" Mmm." Sabine nodded then shook her head. Then looked directly into Emma's eyes. "Did she also mention my record? How I took down the Quintana Gang in Colombia?" Emma shook her head. "So trust me. Got it?" Emma nodded her head. "Great," Sabine said turning around and looking at the pool. The Afghani man looking at all the half-naked non-muslim girls around him. "Now, see that man over there? Peyman Alahi, his house, his party, his diamond... for now"
Emma looked over at him and squinted, thinking this scenario was all kinds of illegal where the man came from. "What? Are you talking about Senior Wookie over there?"
Sabine smirked and patted her shoulder. "Just, uh, grab a drink. And, uh, look casual." The black woman walked away to mingle with other guests.
"Okay, casual," Emma said and continued looking around at the security of the house. "There's a southern egress with two armed guards and by the garage exit, three more…"
Regina walked up to her and smiled. "Hey, we okay? How are you?"
Emma blinked and looked at her handler. "Uh, yeah, I'm cool. I'm cool." She went back to work and continued talking about work. "Um, so I count six SVB-54 explosion-protected security cameras with infrared surveillance."
"Did you have a flash?" Regina asked continuing to walk beside the blonde.
"Did…" Emma asked confused for a moment and looked back to the surveillance cameras. "No, they sell them at the spy shop in the Plaza where we work."
"Hey," Sabine said joining them on their walk of the perimeter. "Anything good?"
"There is a lot of surveillance," Regina answered. "But w knew that going in."
Emma sipped casually at her drink spotting more cameras. "Thermal imaging cameras- north and west walls."
"Someone really doesn't want us getting in there." Regina quipped.
"Let's go for a little stroll," Sabine said pulling ahead of the group.
Emma turned to her handler and said. "So I guess if this were you and Daniel, you'd be breaking into the bedroom, huh, Regina?"
"Emma, now it's not the time," Regina said as Sabine got a door to the house unlocked.
"Okay." The blonde looked at the other agent and feigned enthusiasm. "Oh, that's awesome."
"There you are," Sabine said as the three of them happened into the secure room where the diamond was displayed. The three of them stood around it and Emma concentrated on the diamond to see if she could flash.
"You know, I really think we should go now," Regina said feeling uneasy about this fact-finding mission.
"Just 30 more seconds," Emma said concentrating.
"So you like my diamond?" Came from the door. They turned and caught sight of Alahi, still dressed in his bikini swimsuit his carpet of the chest and back hair in full display. The two seasoned spies instantly turned on the charm while the Analyst stood frozen and disgusted by the view unable to get her mind back on her task.
"Oh... yeah. Uh, it's really pretty." Sabine said.
"You're not supposed to be here," Alahi said
"Oh, I'm, I'm really sorry, but the door was unlocked," Regina said daintily. "And, uh, and who are you?"
The host opened his arms displaying himself. "Pretty girls call me Peyman."
All three of them smiled, and said "Hi, Peyman,"
"I'm Sabine… this is Regina my bestie, and this is our other bestie, Emma"
"Yo," Emma said.
"Three pretty girls, good news for me." He said, and Sabine and Regina moved closer to him. He wrapped his arms around them, Emma was frozen in her position on the other side of the gigantic diamond.
"So, uh Peyman," Sabine started raising her hand in front of herself toward the diamond. "what would I have to do to get this thing on my finger?"
The proud man grinned. "It is said that he who owns the Nadan-I-Noor rules the world."
" Wow," Regina said as if impressed. "So... what if, like, someone tried to steal it?"
Peyman shook his head. "It's impossible to steal."
"Oh?" Regina asked.
"Because if touched, the vault will seal itself off; the gas will fill the room; and after that, my security team would eliminate the threat." he made a handgun and pointed to his head.
"Ooh." The agents said in unison. Emma went back to looking at the diamond intently.
" But me, I am more of a lover than a fighter." Peyman continued giving Regina's ass a little pinch. She yelped and giggled leaning closer to the disgusting man.
"Ooh! Wow," She said then looked up at Sabine. "you know, I saw some really cool paintings outside. Can I have a look?"
"Sure," Peyman said guiding Regina out of the diamond room.
As they did so Emma finally flashed. Sabine watched as the Blonde assessed the diamond. "Um... the guy wearing the fur sweater failed to mention one fairly significant security detail."
"Like what?" Sabine asked.
"20,000 volts of electricity protecting the stone."
"Hmm, problematic." The DEA agent agreed. "How are you going to fix that?"
Confused Emma looked up at her. "Hmm? I'm sorry. You're asking me?"
"Well, yeah," She said as if it were a natural occurrence. Because to Her Emma was an equal partner in this team and not some asset to protect. "Regina told me you're supposed to have this really big brain, so for our follow-up mission, what do you recommend?"
Emma took a deep breath. "I mean, now that we know that there's a trap," She hesitated thinking of what she would do. "I might use compressed air to knock it off the pedestal."
"Like, like what?"
"I, I don't…" She started and looked around the room "you know, s-something like…" She spotted a fire extinguisher in the corner of the room. "Oh, th-that, that, that would work." Sabine nodded and went straight for it. "Sabine… Sabine!" Emma shouted and watched as Sabine brought the extinguisher closer and pulled the pin. "Sabine, what are you doing?"
"Improvising," Sabine said and blew the diamond off the pedestal.
Emma dived and caught the gem as the alarm began to Blare overhead. "I got it!"
Sawbine pushed down a pedestal to keep the wall from closing up and tossed a velvet bag to Emma who deftly caught it and slid out of the room.
"Hey!" Emma could hear Alahi just outside.
Emma let out a heavy sigh, "What I would give not to be wearing a dress right now." She said kicking off her heels and sliding under the wall as well. "I got it! I got it!" Emma said taking off like a shot and using her long strides to get the hell out of dodge.
Behind her, she could hear Regina shout. "What are you thinking?"
"So I made a split-second decision," Sabine said kicking at a bad guy. Emma ran across the pool dodging as much as she could. "I was doing us a favor!"
"Stop doing me favors!" Regina shouted back.
"Excuse me, pardon me!" Emma said trying to blend with the guests as she fled. "Your shoulders are looking a little red!" She said to a beautiful redhead.
"Oh, no, no! Oh! Thank you!" She said as Emma picked up speed again.
Regina was close behind her. Her comm to her lips she stated. "Sabine improvised. She snatched the diamond. Meet us on the beach."
The beach. So She changed course toward the cliffs and the stone steps that led down to the beach."
As they ran together on the beach Regina shouted. "Hey, Sabine, what now?"
"You two run for it. Give me the stone. I'll take the heat. You can double back and get me out." She said pulling up ahead of the group.
"What? No," Regina said. "she's lying."
"Emma, trust me," Sabine shouted back.
" You- remember what I said," Regina said and the three of them stopped running.
"Oh, yeah," Emma said remembering the whole reason she was conflicted this morning. "Which lie are you referring to? Hard to keep track these days."
"What?" Regina asked as Emma gave the diamond to Sabine.
"Thanks, Emma." sabine said and hit a button bringing up a submerged jet ski.
"You planned this?" Regina shouted.
Sabine ran toward her Jetski as she peeled off her slinky dress and down to her bathing suit. "Catch you later."
"Oh, my God." Regina groaned. But the security was still in pursuit so the two women ran again.
A Black Hummer pulled up in front of them. The sand settled and they saw it was Blaize. Emma almost fainted in relief. "Get in!" She said
They ran to the passenger side. "Get in the front," Regina stated running to the back door.
Emma jumped shotgun as Mal Shot out the front window then took off down the beach.
Once they were on the road, Regina poked her head to the front. "I have to be able to trust you on a mission, Emma, no matter how you're feeling about me personally."
She was half naked and Emma's eyes were riveted on her naked shoulders. She turned to face the front, she did not need these thoughts right now. She was angry damn it. "H-How am I supposed to know that Sabome has a remote-controlled Jet Ski? It's not usually an option in real life."
"Our orders were to bring the diamond in, Emma." Regina scolded.
"What is she going to do with it? Is she going to sell it?"
"No, she's a gamer," Mal Said pulling out an old-fashioned-looking flip phone. "She'll give it to her bosses, move up the DEA's covert ranks." She took a peak in the rearview and wrinkled her nose. "What are you... what are you doing?"
"Can't believe I have to work my stupid Cheesecake Factory shift." The Brunette said pulling on her black pencil skirt. "If I call in sick again, I'll get canned." Then her cell phone rang. Mal smirked and activated something on her phone when Regina answered it. "What?"
"Don't be mad." Emma could hear Sabine on the other end.
"Well, you left us to die," Regina responded.
"I knew you'd get out of it."
"You're burning a bridge, Sabine, And the CIA is going to have your ass for this," Regina stated.
"Well, I got to run. Thanks again." Then the call went dead.
"Bingo…" Mal mumbled. "You go to work; I'll get the diamond."
"What?" Regina asked.
"NSA magic," Mall said indicating the weird burner phone-looking thing in her hand. "I put a trace on her phone. Wherever she's going, I'm going." Emma had gotten distracted by a particular expanse of the leg behind her as Regina worked the skirt on. "Eyes up front, soldier." Imma's eyes snapped front and didn't stop until they rode into town.
"Emma," Regina said coming into the apple store as Emma read through the iPad for her tasks. "I haven't heard from Blaize in an hour, so I'm going to Sabine's hotel, and I need you to stay home tonight. Got it?"
Emma looked at the brunette. "You don't want my help?"
Regina shook her head. The disappointment was still clear in her features. "Not tonight."
Emma stood up straight As if preparing herself for impact. "So I'm off the team."
"No, Emma, just benched, but we're going to have to talk about what happened," Regina said and walked out of the store.
"Ooh…" Aladdin said having heard bits of the conversation. "someone got a headache tonight?"
"Yeah, yeah, that would be me."
Ruby came into Emma's room later that afternoon. She was floating on cloud nine. But she was surprised that Emma was playing video games by herself. "X-Box?" Ruby asked. "Where's Sarah?"
Emma looked back at her friend and shrugged. "Oh, we had a fight. You don't want to hear about it."
"Wow... fight, huh, babes?" Ruby said. "That's, like, your first fight. That's kind of a big deal." She lay back on Emma's bed and sip on her strawberry soda, it was her weakness. She mumbled to herself. "I wonder what our first fight would have been like."
Emma was in her own world, she didn't hear her friend's sentence. She just continued talking. "I mean, I know it's stupid, but it's Sarah's fault, I think. I mean, I never would have done it if she'd just told me the truth, to begin with." She paused as she listened to her friend sip on her soda. "You're not even listening to me, are you?
"Oh, sorry, girl. I stopped listening when it wasn't about Sabome, like how she kissed me and then dumped me." Ruby stated.
"Sabi- you kissed Sabine?" Emma said pausing the game and turning to her friend.
"Yeah, Dude, at her hotel," Ruby said. "On the lips. But I guess she has some past relationship or something. I don't know, man, whatever. Her loss."
Emma's thoughts turned inward… when would Sabine have had time to kiss sRuby… as a matter of fact why would she? She heard Ruby through her can of Strawberry soda across the room and miss the trashcan. And without looking, Emma asked, "You want another one?"
"Hells, yeah, I feel a bender coming on," Ruby said a belch coming out of the leggy brunette.
"All right, one Strawberry soda coming up," Emma said standing and heading toward the Kitchen.
"Thanks, bro." Ruby paused then remembered something. Since they were both in the videogame-playing mood she said. "Oh, I, uh, got the new "Stealth Underlords" game. I was going to surprise Sabine, but that's another thing she'll be missing out on, so... if you want to grab it, it's in my bag."
"Sure, Rubes."
"Oh, Emma?" The blonde paused at the door. "Can I get some more pizza? 'Cause I just... I'm feeling a little…"
"Got it," Emma said with a nod and continued to the door.
"Hey, Emma?"
Exasperated Emma turns back toward her room and peeks in. "Yes, Ruby?"
"You know what? If our relationships don't work out… it's okay, 'cause we got each other, don't we?" Ruby said a bit tearful.
"That's really, really sad," Emma stated.
"I know."
Emma wandered to the kitchen and began to heat up some leftover pizza from the night before. He went into Ruby's bag like she asked for the game, and found a little velvet bag. She opened it and found the Diamond.
Her mouth fell agape when she flashed on the gem. "He who owns the Nadan-I-Noor rules the world." She whispered. Then she reached into her back pocket and called Regina.
"Hello?" Regina answered.
"Oh, oh. Okay. Regina, hey, oh, hey, thank God." Emma said nervously into the phone. "Listen, I-I know that you're really mad at me right now, okay, but-"
"Umm…" She started
"wait, you know this is Emma, right?" The blond asked now unsure of everything.
"Of course."
"Okay, good, good, good. Okay, listen, listen, the diamond."
"Yeah," Regina stated wanting the blonde to get to the point.
" The diamond that we stole from the wooly mammoth- it is not a drug diamond, okay? I repeat: it is not a drug diamond. It belongs to an Afghani terrorist group."
"Right," The brunette stated obviously wanting to interject.
"Look, I could get into a lot more details, but the point: it is way more dangerous than we thought."
"Emma," Regina finally got a word in. she sighed. "Find Sabine and tell her to bring me the diamond. Please." The brunette stood in Sabine's Hotel room and was being held at gunpoint by Alahi and his goons. But she didn't want Emma to know that.
But she knew…
When the blonde hung up with Regina, She could hear the distress in the older woman's voice. She looked at the diamond one more time and shouted at Ruby. "Hey, Rubes, long story, but I'm going to have to go ahead and step…" She turned and there was someone dressed in all black in the middle of the day covered from head to toe. She thought it weird because it was still daylight outside. Why wear all black to rob someone in daylight? "Uh... hey. Listen, go ahead and take whatever you want. Okay?" Emma said side stepping but holding tight to the diamond. "I keep a little cash in my sock drawer. And by little, I mean spare change"
The intruder signaled toward the diamond and held their hand out. "Pizza? You... ? Yeah, absolutely. Help yourself. It's right behind me on the counter." Emma said. When the intruder insisted she looked at the velvet baggie in her hand. "This? I can't... I can't actually give you this because it's not mine to give, really." then she took off running.
The intruder made a flip and caught up to the blonde. Emma grabbed a plate off the counter and threw it like a frisbee toward the intruder's face, just as she had seen Regina do before. "Ow! Oh…"
Emma stopped running and furrowed her brows. "Sabine?"
The intruder sighed and reached for her mask. "Fine, it's me." She said. "The mask is so Ruby wouldn't ID me. Now, give me the diamond."
"Wait. No, no, no, no, no. I need your help. Regina's in trouble." Emma said not giving the diamond.
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Regina's fine. She's very resourceful." She said and reached her hand out again. "Now, the rock?"
"Wait," Emma says confused. "So you're just going to cross your fingers and hope for the best instead of helping your friend?"
"Oh, come on, Emma" The black woman stated exasperatedly. "You know, this thing of ours? We're all in it for ourselves. It's what we do."
Emma shook her head. "It's not what Regina does. And-And... And if she would have thought that in Pakistan, then you wouldn't be alive right now to have this conversation." Emma paused and looked at the agent. "You want it? Here you go. But with or without you, I'm going to go help Regina."
Sabine looks at the bag in her hand for a moment and handed it back to Emma. "Just hold on to it. In case I change my mind."
The two head for the door, but before she could leave she heard. "Dude, what's the ETA on my pizza?"
"Uh, uh, Rubes, I got to go pick up some more, and your strawberry soda's on the kitchen floor." Then she grabbed her jacket and headed out to Sabine's car.
"I don't get it, Emma," Sabine stated taking inventory of her weapons. "I thought you and Regina were on the outs."
" I made a mistake," Emma stated with a shrug. "I'm still getting used to how you guys need to lie about who you are."
" I'm feeling like a knife fight," Sabine said thoughtfully picking an array of sharp ki\nives to tuck onto her person. "You analysts don't know what it's like for us field agents, but it's our job. We shed identities like people shed clothes."
"In your case, that's quite often," Emma stated.
"Try 'em on, like 'em, or leave 'em. After a while, it doesn't even matter." She shrugged.
"So you don't let anyone know who you really are?"
"Can't. Might have to leave them in five minutes, or shoot them in the head." She stated nonchalantly "Trust me, a spy doesn't want you to know anything about them, that's real. No matter who you are."
Sabine walked away from the blonde. Emma was deep in thought about why she was even angry at Regina, to begin with. "You coming?" the other woman asked.
"Yeah.." Emma stated and followed her into the hotel.
"You carry the diamond; I'll act as an intermediary," Sabine stated. "And listen, if we're still alive afterward, how about we go back to my room?"
Emma frowned and looked at the other woman. "Kind of stuck back on the still alive part."
The two women arrive at the lobby of the Hotel. There was Alahi surrounded by thugs and Reggina sat primly next to him. "Do you have what I want?" Alahi asked.
Emma immediately shot her hand with the diamond out, " Maybe." Sabine said, and Emma immediately pulled back again. "Maybe I pawned it for front-row tickets to Beyonce"
The gun pointed at Regina's head coked. But ever so calmly the brunette stated. " Why do you always have to provoke people?"
"Show me the diamond," Alahi asked again.
"I have it," Emma said shooting her hand out. "I have it. I have it." She pulled the diamond out of the bag. "It's right here. I have it in the... Just... There its. Here's your... That's you... I have it right here."
"Now give it to me." Emma started forward but Sabine's hand stopped her.
"No."
Emma turned to the woman. "I know that I'm new to this, but I'm pretty sure that this is the part where I do what the man says." Sabine slapped Emma's hand. "Ow!"
The diamond flew out of the Blonde's hand and into the DEA agent's hand. She turned to Emma and said, "He didn't say please." Then she turned back to the Afghan terrorist. "Now, if you want it so badly, try taking it away from me."
Alahi laughed. "Look around you. Everyone in the room is with me." The three women did. "What are you going to do, fight us all? All by yourself?"
Regina smirked. "She's not by herself."
The two of them spoke in Russian. Emma thought that was hella sexy and grew distracted by it. Then all of a sudden Sabine Pushed Emma back and out of harm's way. "Oh!"
The brawl ensued in the lobby. The two spies against a legion of terrorists. Sabine threw the diamond to Regina who caught it and then threw it back to Emma who was hiding under a table. "Oh. Oh." She put it in the sack and quickly ran away from the fighting getting a good head start.
Emma ran into the business center and blocked the door. "Ugh! Got to hide it. Got to hide it. Got to hide it." She got an idea and quickly printed off a mailing label. She placed the diamond in an envelope and sealed it just as the thug that was following her found her. " Wait! Wait! Wait!" Emma said holding the envelope over the slot for outgoing mail. "You know where this goes?" She asked
"No." He said.
"Neither do I, so step back, or I let it go." She said holding the diamond over the slot.
"Now what?" The thug asked.
"You know, I'm not really sure," Emma said and looked at the envelope ten back at the thug. "I hadn't thought it through that far."
The Thug was about to advance when he got surprised from behind by a half-dressed Mal handcuffed to a piece of the headboard. "Oh! Aah!" Blaized used the wooden piece to her advantage.
Emma was so happy to see Blaize that she let go of the diamond "Oh, shit!"
" What? What?" Mall asked exasperated.
"I think I just mailed the diamond to a random location," Emma answered.
"What do you mean random?" Mal asked.
"A location in my data bank?" Emma said. "It had General Mills name… do you think it will get to her?'
The next day during their debriefing, Mills and Gram couldn't sing the trio's praises any higher. " Capturing the Nadan-I-Noor Diamond has dissolved Peyman Alahi's credibility. His network has fallen apart." General Mills said with a smile.
"We were also able to thwart the purchase of $26 million of surface-to-air missiles the Afghani terrorist group was planning on buying," Graham added. "No diamond, no cash, no sale. Job well done, people."
The trio smiled but no one smiled wider than Emma when her package arrived at the General's desk. They shook the box, "You didn't?" Graham said. Job well done indeed.
After the debrief, They waited for Sabine's debrief then they met up with her as she walked out. "Well, this was fun," Sabine said to the group
"Yeah. Goodbye, Sabine." Blaize said. "Working with you has been... Well, let's never do this again, hmm?"
"Oh," Sabine cooed, "thanks, Mally. Maybe next time you can shake it up a bit and pull the standard whites out of the rotation." She stated having seduced Maleficent into her underwear again during this mission and leaving her handcuffed to her bed.
Mal laughed and left to work.
Regina smiled and hugged her friend goodbye. "Well, you know, as much as I hate your methods, there's never a dull moment, right?"
"Well, if you want a dull moment," Sabine said and looked over at Emma. "just check out your cover life."
Regina looks over to Emma and her heart beats just a little faster. Not yet over the betrayal that Emma had put her through on this mission but knowing that they would be alright in the end. "Well, you know, we have our adventures."
" Right," Sabine said with a roll of her eyes.
Regina walked toward her car and paused to talk to Emma."Oh, uh, dinner tonight so we can talk?"
" Pizza?"
" Sounds good." Regina walked away, and as Emma watched her go Sabine came up behind her.
" Sure you don't want to come back to my hotel room?"
"Um, as... as flattered and intimidated as I am by your proposition," Emma said and looked around. "why me?"
Sabine shrugged, "Well, you're sort of hot in a nerdy way. But, um, the real reason is, I love taking what Regina wants."
"What?" Emma laughed, "What? Me? No. Regina... No, Regina doesn't want me."
"Yeah," Sabine asserts. "She probably doesn't even know it herself yet... but, um, I do."
Emma was nervous to have an ethos talk with Regina, but it needed to be done. She bounced on her toes at the green door of her hotel room and sighed. Then she knocked on the door.
Regina opened her door, and her eyes lit up at seeing the blonde. This was the very best part of her job. Getting to see those green orbs try to penetrate into her own psyche. Emma doesn't understand that she is as genuine with her as she can be because of her job. She would never lie to the woman, unless absolutely necessary. And she needed the Blonde to trust that. "Hey." She said.
Emma smiled. "Hey," She handed Regina a bag on top of the pizza box, then opened the box to reveal its contents. "Vegetarian with no olives." She closed the box again. "It's the only thing I know about you that's true. You don't like olives."
Regina smiles slightly and steps aside. "Thank you. Come in."
"Thank you," Emma said and walked toward Regina's bed. "Look, I'm-I'm sorry about the beach. You're absolutely right. I-I shouldn't let my feelings affect the mission." She paused mid step and turned to face Regina. "And, um... if you and Daniel- if you had a... thing, well, that makes sense. He always got the great girls."
They both sat on the bed, Emma taking Regina's hand and pleading with the older woman. "I just wish I knew something real about you. Can't you just tell me just one true thing?" Emma asked and searched Regina's face. It was schooled to stay blank as the blonde continued. "Just-Just one? Like-Like, where did you grow up? Or-Or if that's too much- and I get it, I get it- if that's too much, what's your... what's your name? What's your real name? Middle name. What's your middle name? Can't you just tell me your middle name?" Emma paused and just waited. Regina's face didn't change but inside she was dying to answer all of those questions for her. Regina was falling hard. She couldn't make the Daniel mistake again. Emma sighed "I'm going to... I'll go get the napkins." Emma said and walked dejectedly toward the bag they left by the door.
"It's Maria," Regina whispered to herself ensuring Emma couldn't hear. "My middle name is Maria."