YO! This story has garnered some great interest. I urge you to buy the original. This actually stays really close to the original, except where the book is based Jade's job and position in the industry is only slightly changed and the time is updated. but if you are a Xena fan like me, you might actually like Tropical Storm and ALLL of the sequels. This big story gets better and better and its all love. Enjoy. S.K.

Five

"Right this way, Ms. West," the concierge gave her a sketchy half-bow and indicated she follow him. They entered a nondescript elevator, and he pressed the button for the top floor, where the hotel maintained business suites for traveling executives. "Have you come far?" he inquired politely.

Jade shrugged, tearing her attention from the steadily creeping floor numbers. "San Francisco. It's a little cooler here."

The man chuckled and held the door open as they reached the correct floor. "That it is." Jade suffered his inane comments for a few more minutes as he put her small bag down. Then she gave him a tip, and he left. As the door closed behind him, she glanced around and exhaled. Not bad, really. The suite contained a bedroom with a king-sized bed and a sitting room with a decent-sized TV, a cluster of chairs for guests, and a fully equipped desk with pens, pencils, and lots of paper.

She wandered over to the desk and set her laptop case down, then flipped curiously through the room service menu. The Hyatt usually featured fairly decent food, and this one had a Mexican restaurant downstairs, along with the usual Starbucks and bar.

"So far, so good," Jade commented to the empty room as she paged through the rest of the hotel directory. "Ah," she tapped the plastic with one finger. "There's a gym," she said as she looked at the time. She had gotten to DC just after 7:30. "Gym, pool, Movie Dinner," she said to herself and pulled open her bag, taking out a pair of shorts, sneakers, and a cutoff sweatshirt, then flipped on the TV, checking out the movie selections. "Oh! 'The Scissoring'… Excellent."

A few minutes later, she'd changed and was back by the desk, lifting the phone and dialing room service. She waited for an answer, then scanned the menu. "Combination appetizer, steak fajitas, tres leches, and a frozen Margarita, please."

"Yes, ma'am," the voice answered after a period of scribbling noises.

"Can I have that at 9:30, please?" Jade requested, glancing at her watch. An hour should be enough to get through a decent workout and a quick swim. It would also allow her to shrug off her traveling fatigue and probably put her in a better frame of mind than when she'd left Frisco.

Anything would be an improvement over that. The rest of the morning and all of the afternoon, until her flight left, had been taken up with staff meetings, both with her own department and with the board. It had not been a pleasant experience. By the time she'd fought her way through traffic to get onto her plane, she'd been about at the edge of her temper.

But flying private had its perks, and her flight had been quiet and uneventful. Jade had relaxed in her seat, accepting a single glass of red wine, and sipping slowly as she watched the sun slide below the horizon. The first stars were just coming out as she had landed at the small private landing strip just outside of Washington DC. Jade knew she needed to stop taking these solo trips on this plane. She had to watch her carbon footprint, but this was an emergency.

She found the gym with little trouble, pushing the door open and getting the expected silence from within. Hotels provided the workout space as an amenity, but she knew from experience that most business travelers preferred to relax in other ways, most having to do with consuming alcohol and watching sports in the bar.

Jade preferred the solitude of the machines, and she attached herself to the small but fairly well-equipped circuit with mild enthusiasm, setting the weights and performing the reps according to a long-established routine. It was a good workout, and she even surprised herself with a twenty-pound advance on her arm curls, which left her shoulders burning. After an hour, she returned the last machine to its resting position and stood, wiping her face off with a small towel she'd tucked into her waistband.

Satisfied, she wandered over to the scale and stepped on it, pushing the weights over with a curious finger. "Mm," she mused, considering a surprising five-pound drop. "Maybe I'll have two coffee milkshakes." She grinned as she stepped off the scale, remembering the office Christmas party last year when a drunken contest had revolved around guessing her weight.

No one came close to the actual 140 pounds. Most guessed twenty or so less, though she wasn't sure if it was the fact that most of it was muscle, and therefore denser than they thought, or if they were just trying not to piss her off by guessing too high.

Jade wrapped the towel around her shoulders as she headed back to her room after her swim. The hotel corridors were quiet, and she assumed the late hour meant most guests were already settled in for the night. Her one-piece bathing suit wasn't exactly flashy, so she didn't expect any attention until she stepped into the elevator.

Facing her were four men who resembled lumberjacks, their appreciative stares making Jade inwardly sigh. They were typical Midwestern types, clad in plaid shirts and dockers, clean-shaven but clearly intoxicated. Despite their stares, Jade maintained an air of nonchalance as she leaned against the wall.

"Hey baby… wanna come party in our room?" the redheaded man finally asked with a smirk.

"No," Jade replied curtly, slipping past them into the elevator.

Her mistake became apparent when the men followed her, positioning themselves between her and the door, which closed with a thump. Jade's heart rate quickened as she balanced herself carefully, readying herself for whatever might transpire.

The tallest man, a bearded figure about six feet tall, moved in closer. "Y'know, ye shouldn't tease people like that," he leered. "Pretty thing like you… and then you go and tell us off… that's not nice."

Jade let the anger build and waited. "I was just using the amenities of the hotel. That's not against the law," she warned him softly.

She felt the jerk as the elevator stopped, and realized the man furthest from her had stopped it between floors. With a sense of foreboding, she dropped her clothing and clenched her fists. "Don't be stupid, boys," she cautioned.

A hand reached for her neck, and the first man closed in, his alcoholic breath blasting her as he pushed her back against the wall.

She grabbed his hand and twisted, then nailed him in the nose with an elbow that caused blood to spurt all over both of them. A savage sidekick slammed the second man against the opposite wall, and then she was by the door, ducking under the arm of the third and shoving him headfirst into the railing that lined the elevator car.

The fourth man was eye to eye with her, and she snarled at him, grabbing the front of his shirt and lifting as she pushed backward, throwing him back and away from her. Her hand slammed down on the elevator control, and it hurt.

They all stared at her, confused and hurting.

She arched her neck and stared back at them. Then she grabbed the nearest one and plucked his hotel room key from his pocket, folding her fingers around it.

"I want to make sure I know who I'm going to report to the police."

"W…w…" The tall man wiped his nose, staring at the blood in bewilderment. "Didn't mean nothing by it."

"You meant to take out your horny fantasies on some poor helpless woman," Jade spat. "You picked a bad choice of victims this time."

The elevator stopped on her floor, and she crossed briefly to the other side of the car, watching the men scramble away from her. She snorted as she picked up her workout clothes, then exited into the carpeted hallway as the door slid shut behind her.

Then she slowly let out a shaky breath and lifted a trembling hand to her eyes. She waited a minute to make sure her legs weren't going to collapse, then headed toward her room, getting the door open and slipping inside with a sense of utter relief. She sat down in the nearest chair and let her head rest against the back of it, staring up at the white ceiling until her heart rate began to return to normal.

"Damn," she stood up and walked to the bathroom, grabbing the small bar of soap and turning on the water to full blast. She scrubbed the crimson stains off her arms with a feeling of disgust. The water swirled pink, then finally clear, and she tossed the soap aside, picking up a hand towel and drying herself off before turning to the bedroom. She ran her fingers through her dark hair then walked to the desk and pulled her laptop out, and started it up as she picked up the room phone and dialed with her free hand. A moment later, the front desk clerk picked up.

"This is Jade West in 1430. I was just attacked on the elevator by four drunken idiots from room…" she paused, glanced at the key in her hand. "209… I want their names."

Dead silence for a moment- then, "My god, I'll call the police." The girl's voice was clearly shaken.

"No," Jade spoke slowly and clearly. "I don't want you to do that. I want you to give me their names and the company they work for."

It took about twenty minutes and two front desk managers, but she got what she wanted. In the middle of it, dinner showed up. She motioned for the slim blonde who delivered it to put the tray down on the table near the bed, and she waved the girl over for a signature.

A brief glance at the bill, then she scribbled her name with the appropriate tip at the bottom.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

The girl's eyes wandered over her appreciatively. "Anytime," she said, smiled, and turned to leave.

Jade's brow lifted, and she let a sultry smirk cross her lips before sighing as the night manager got back on the phone. First things first. "Thank you," she noted down their names and the corporation that was paying for them to stay there. It caused another smile to appear- this one not pleasant.

"But… Ma'am… are you sure you don't want us to call the police?" the man protested. "I mean, surely they should be thrown out of here at least."

"No, no," Jade objected. "I'll take care of it. You just leave them alone."

"Ms. West… are you sure?" The manager sounded worried.

"Yeah, I'm sure," came the quietly confident reply. "I've had worse to deal with than a couple of horny guys who think anything female is fair game."

"Thank you," Jade hung up then noticed the room service waitress was still at the door.

"Sorry to eavesdrop," the girl didn't look sorry at all. "But are you talking about those creeps on the second floor?" She leaned against the door and regarded Jade. "The four guys… look like overage football players."

"Probably, why?" Jade said with a nod.

A shake of her blond head. "No one will go up there except for the older guys from the kitchen. They keep grabbing anything wearing a skirt."

Jade nodded. "Oh?" She had booted her laptop and pulled up her hotspot to connect to her office cloud. She started a terminal session and logged into the corporate database, sending a rapid query and drumming her fingers until it came back. She nodded then picked up the phone and dialed, aware of the hazel eyes watching her with interest. On the fourth ring, it was picked up.

"Burf?"

The voice sounded puzzled. "That's me, who is this?"

"Jade West." No introduction, no company name. She suspected it wouldn't be needed.

"Oh… uh…" Burf sounded startled. "My God… it's… What can I do for you, Ms. West?"

Jade read off the names of her attackers. "They yours?"

A pause. "Salesmen… yes," Burf replied warily. "Why?"

"They're drunk and attacking women here in the Hyatt in D.C.," Jade replied. "You could do me a favor and make them gone. Now." Her voice dropped to a low, demanding growl.

Shocked silence. Then, "I'll take care of it." Now Burf's words were hard and clipped.

"Thanks." The executive smiled contentedly. "Night." She hung up the phone and glanced at the girl who was watching her with wide eyes. "Too bad for them they work for a contract I employ, huh?" Jade commented as she watched the laptop download mail, then wandered over to the tray and picked up her margarita, sucking at it with a satisfied slurp. Her eyes looked up under dark lashes at the girl.

"What's your name?"

"Cherry," the blonde replied softly. "What's going to happen to those guys?" Jade shrugged. "Don't worry about it. They'll be out of your hair by morning, I can guarantee that." She peeked under the domed lid of one of the dishes and captured a jalapeno popper, biting into it and chewing with pleasure. "Maybe they'll learn a lesson."

"Maybe," the girl replied. "I'll be back to get that tray later on," she motioned.

Jade lifted ice-blue eyes to hers and smiled. "Sounds good to me." She watched the girl swallow hard, then slip out, not without a backward glance at her, chuckling as the door closed. "Oh yeah… you'll be back alright." She sighed and then got out of her still-damp bathing suit, hanging the thin black fabric over the shower bar in the bathroom to dry.

Her cotton t-shirt felt good after the dampness, and she sprawled out onto the bed, pulling the tray closer and examining its contents, then flicking the TV on and setting it for the movie. She was about to start it when the laptop chimed again and she sighed, then slid off the bed and padded over to it, grabbing the machine and taking it back with her to the bed after logging on to her hotspot again.

She settled back down on the dark blue comforter and peered at the list of emails. It was all a bunch of BS, then there was one from Robbie and another from...

She clicked on the seventh message, which had been sent fairly early that morning.

Sent by Tori Vega, time 10:30 am

Ms. West - there are some additional items that I need clarification on. Firstly regarding the support issue. If you were to take over the support of these products, you would need to add several skill sets to your existing support center that they do not presently have.

Likewise, your programmers work mostly in graphic code, and will probably hate being restricted to the text-based coding we do. It would be a waste of time and money to bring your staff up to speed. Our games and quizzes deal with current events and are dependent on a dedicated staff. Therefore, I believe it is in your best interest to retain the service of the existing groups employed by Buzz. My proposal regarding your budgetary demands will be directed accordingly.

Please indicate if you feel this reasoning is incorrect.

T. Vega

I apologize for my tone and manner this morning; you can imagine how disturbing the behavior of your procedure team was.

Jade munched another popper and took a sip of her Margarita, a smile tugging at her lips. Tori had obviously put her access to their corporate systems to good use, and she had made some very valid points. "Good girl, Vega," she paused, remembering the woman's hostile response to the use of her first name. And some of her good mood evaporated.

Why the hell should I care? The logical answer was, of course, that she shouldn't, but for some reason she found herself intrigued by Tori Vega's potential and her intelligence. She really didn't want to be the damn woman's enemy.

She sighed. The trouble was, Tori was determined not to let her not be. Their first meeting had been a disaster… Maybe… well, that last line indicated she was at least willing to listen. Jade could mend fences just a little.

She stuffed a cheese-laden nacho into her mouth and then started a reply.