by Olga Ordina
Chapter Five
Nine loved sunbathing. He was laying on a beach towel, with eyes closed, tanning. This was his first visit on planet Taylor Swift and he began to understand why it was such a huge hit with Spring breakers from Earth. Planet Taylor Swift was hip, youthful, with music blaring, surfers surfing, everyone looked like they were 22. There even appeared to be a camera crew a few feet away filming the next surf movie. No wonder crime lords held their criminal convention here. This was a party planet, hands down. Everyone had a beer in their hand and enjoyed the gorgeous beach. You could play volleyball, go water skiing and, or, jet skiing. Apparently, planet Taylor Swift had over a thousand party islands across the planet.
Natalie was in the ocean swimming, meanwhile, Six was eating a vanilla ice cream cone sitting on a beach towel next to Nine. Six leaned over to Nine, as he tried to brush off some sand off his towel, and some of the ice cream dripped on Nine's face.
"What gives?" Nine sat up, wiped off the drip, and looked at Six.
"Sorry." Six finished the rest of the ice cream in one gulp before Nine had the chance to take it away from him. "Brain breeze... ugh." Six was trying to chew the ice cream. "Brain freeze..." he then made a sour face.
Nine turned away and reached for a red cooler behind them. He took out a cold beer from the cooler, twisted the cap open, and drank some of it.
"Ah... This is paradise!" Nine smiled looking out into the ocean where Natalie was swimming.
"Truly is!" Six agreed. "We needed this vacay."
"Too bad Christine is still on Earth, planning our take over instead of soaking in the sun." Nine closed his eyes and took another drink of his beer.
"How are we going to take down the criminals?" Six asked.
"I don't know, probably in a chronological order." Nine replied.
There was a long pause then Six asked, "Chronological? What does that mean? Alphabetical or..."
"No. Chronological. From the most experienced, oldest in the crime biz to the least, or the newest." Nine explained.
"Oh okay, no problem." Six smiled at Nine.
"Anyway. Enough sun for me." Nine stood up and folded his beach towel. "I'm heading back to our room. I will meet you guys in our suite before tonight's trade show opening."
"Cool." Six got up and ran to join Natalie in the water.
Nine picked up a beach bag next to the cooler and put his towel in. He then took out his shorts and t-shirt and dressed himself. Watching Natalie play with Six, then, what appeared to be Six touching her inappropriately, and her trying to drown him in the distance. Nine finished his beer and tossed an empty bottle into a trash bin that was a few meters away. He then headed back to their hotel suite which was only a kilometer away from the beach.
The team was staying in a hotel called Starlight. It was right above the Taylor Swift Convention Centre. Once Nine got up to the room, he dialed for room service and got more drinks for Natalie and Six. He knew the two will want a drink before the show. He then took a shower, groomed himself, and put on his Versace black tux. He opened a bottle of beer and dialed Strawberry from his watch.
"Hey there handsome." Strawberry answered his call.
"Hi, we've been missing you up here." Nine smiled.
"You are speaking on your behalf aren't you?" Strawberry asked. "Are you all set, do you need anything else from me?"
"We're good." Nine replied. "We set our booth up upon arrival. The convention centre opens at six, so we decided to go check the beach out. Natalie is probably still drowning Six, but they'll be back soon."
"Alright. Keep me updated please." Strawberry replied and ended their transmission. Nine was a little nervous as he was about to meet the most dangerous men and women of the universe and try to convince them to hand over their business. He took another sip of his beer to calm his nerves.
Natalie and Six arrived to the room shortly after. They appeared to be mildly inebriated.
"Sup Son!" Six shouted at Nine as he entered the suite. "I was thinking, maybe we can appoint me as the new president after we assassinate the current president." Six then tried to pose as a president but ended up looking like a hairstyle dresser who wasn't quite sure where she was going with that haircut.
"Get yourself together Alex! We have a trade show to attend." Nine shouted back.
"Get out of my... seeing you." Six slurred his words and walked up to Nine.
"Relax!" Natalie tried to calm them down. "Everyone at the trade show will be drinking anyway, let's all get ready."
"Six, you need to behave." Nine looked at Six who got his stuff from a briefcase on a bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for the show.
"I know he is five years younger then us, but it's like working with a child!" Nine continued to criticize his coworker.
"Just because he loves buying gloves and gum with his hard earned dollars doesn't make him a child." Natalie replied. She seemed a little intoxicated herself. She then got naked and walked into the bathroom where Six was showering.
"What the?" Nine heard Six shout from the shower.
"Oh move it along, you're so slow!" Natalie replied from the bathroom. "Here scrub this."
"Mom! I mean Nat!" Six sounded annoyed by her presence.
Nine closed the bathroom door, leaving the two showering and getting ready for the trade show together. "I'm going to the bar downstairs at the Convention Centre." Nine shouted to them. "I'll meet you at our booth."
"Get me a souvenir." Six shouted back.
"President of the united mistakes." Nine murmured and closed the suite door behind him as he exited the room.
Nine took the elevator down to the Convention Centre lobby. There, he walked up to a bar and ordered a rum and coke. As he sipped his drink he watched various criminals enter the centre with various weapons, briefcases, and electronics and pass by him to enter the trade show. Nine carefully analyzed every one of the criminals and tried to match their faces to some of the profiles Strawberry gave him.
When it got more busy, Nine finished his drink and entered the trade show. He walked passed a terrorist group called 'We keell in name, join to play game' who had their recruiting booth set up. Next to them was another terrorist group but for women only, their organization was called 'Wives of keelling'.
Nine proceeded to walk through the show, noticing different types of weapons on display. He also noticed a few new spy gadgets that some of the companies were showing. Nine looked at them closer and noticed that they didn't even compare to the high class material his organization carried and continued to his booth.
Once he got to his booth called 'Spy Agency to Recruit, Serve and Assassin, We Eliminate Crime'. He got a lot of glances from most of the criminals who seemed on to him. Nine went to sit on a folding chair behind the booth and monitored everyone who passed by. Most of the crowd appeared quite angry and upset at his booth. Finally, Natalie and Six arrived. Natalie was wearing a red summer dress and Six wore his black Boss suit. Six also appeared to be holding a case of beer.
"What did we miss?" Six asked placing the case on the table.
"Well, I think we should've changed the name of our booth." Nine pointed at their sign.
"That's alright." Natalie waved her hand. "Beer anyone?" she then opened the case and handed Six and Nine a beer and took one for herself.
"Hey can I have one?" a criminal walked by the three and paused.
"No!" Six shouted. "Get your own."
The man appeared to be insulted. He walked away muttering in his own terrorist language.
"So, time to get some of these crime warlords to sign over their business to us." Natalie said and took another gulp of her beer.
"Right. You two stay here, I'll go shake up some criminals." Nine got up from his folding chair, took his beer with his left hand, and walked to mingle with the rest of the criminals.
"Wait, I'm coming with you." Natalie shouted behind him and caught up to Nine. "You'll need an
eye candy." She added and smiled at him.
The two walked up to the first criminal group. It was a drug cartel organization group. There were a dozen bald men who wore Hawaiian shirts and smoked cigars, cracking jokes at one another. Nine walked up to them.
"Good evening gentleman." Nine smiled to greet the big dangerous men.
"Oh great, a spy." A bearded, heavy set man at the front of the booth laughed at Nine and Natalie. "What do you want?"
"I'd like to make you an offer. We are planning to assassinate Earth's president. We need you to sign your organization over to him so we can assassinate him." Nine took a sip of his beer.
There was an awkward pause. "You what?" the bearded man took a cigar out from his mouth and looked seriously at Nine.
"We'll come back." Natalie pulled Nine away from the bearded man and they continued walking to the next booth.
The next booth appeared to be a gadget booth. A tall blond woman in a pink summer dress seemed to be the hostess. She got up from her chair and waved at Nine and Natalie.
"Hi there." She greeted the couple. "Would you like a gadget? We have cameras, microphones, lasers, sensors, spyware, and a laugh track."
"A laugh track?" Natalie asked in confusion.
"Why yes. I have a webcam and a laugh track in my office. Everyone loves a fun work place." The lady replied.
"No thanks." Nine politely waved to the lady and pulled Natalie to the next both.
The next booth over was Kyle's booth. Vince, his partner, sat on the booth table and waved a brochure fanning his face.
"Hi there." Nine introduced himself.
"Oh, hello Nine, how's it going?" Vince apparently knew who he was. "Did you get anyone to fall for that stupid plan Mandy made?"
"Uh..." Natalie looked at Nine.
"Not yet." Nine replied. "I assume you and Kyle aren't interested either?" he asked.
"Oh, we are, very much so. We haven't received any incentives from you yet though. Mandy did tell you about those?" Vince asked him.
"Incentives!" Natalie sighed. "I knew we forgot something!" she whispered.
"Oh look." Vince stood up. "They are kidnapping your friend." Vince pointed to Six who was being dragged away by two, huge, bearded men in Hawaiian shirts. "You guys didn't come here undercover?"
"Oh man!" Natalie started running after Six. Nine followed her.
The bearded man turned around and spotted Nine. The man on the right side took out a revolver and started shooting at Nine and Natalie. At that moment both Natalie and Nine jumped for cover under other booths displays. Nine took out his revolver and shot back at the bearded men who ran through the exit door.
"Damn it!" Nine shouted and ran out of the trade show to the convention centre lobby. Natalie was right behind him. As they passed the drug cartel booth, all criminals appeared to be laughing at them.
"Where did they go?" Natalie asked as the two stopped at the lobby looking around.
"If I knew that I'd be running after them, now wouldn't I?" Nine asked her sarcastically.
"Let's split up." she recommended and the two ran off in different directions of the convention centre.
Nine ran outside and spotted the bearded men running to the docks. One of them carried Six around his neck. Nine ran after them. The man with Six jumped on a red speed boat. The second man untied the rope line from the dock and jumped into the boat as well. The first man started the engine and they sped away off into the distance.
Nine ran after them and spotted a young man on a jet ski near by. He jumped off the dock, catching some sweet air, and onto the jet ski, pushing the stranger off it. He then twisted the right handle bar and went after the speed boat.
The speed boat was travelling too fast for Nine and took off further into the distance as Nine couldn't catch up. Soon, Nine watched them speed off into the sunset, leaving him alone, in the middle of the ocean, with a trail of sparkling light reflecting off the sunset. Nine had no choice but to turn around and find Natalie.
After an hours long search they lost the bearded men and Six. The trade show refused to let them back inside, said they caused a scene. The two met up in their hotel suite and Nine called Strawberry.
"What up guys? How's the recruiting business?" she asked them.
"Six has been kidnapped." Nine replied. "That idiot had to get drunk on the most crucial day didn't he?"
"Don't worry. Nine is a great agent, he'll escape." Strawberry replied.
"No! I'm Nine, Six has been kidnapped." Nine corrected her.
"Oh damn." Strawberry replied sounding upset. "Perhaps they will be willing to trade him if we released some of their brothers from prison." she suggested.
"We can't trade him! We are too powerful for that." Natalie shouted. "Stalin didn't trade his own son for the release of prisoners. We will not take that risk."
"Is she comparing our organization to Stalin?" Strawberry asked.
"Okay look, we will have to find these drug dealers and rescue Six." Nine replied. "Christine can you please do some research on the Hawaiian, bearded guys, who work for a drug cartel?"
"Alright, do you remember their booth name?" Strawberry asked.
"Yes. Guadalahaha Cartel."
"Alright. Stay there, I'll be back with your information in a jiffy." Strawberry replied and ended their transmission.
"Oh Six, I hope you're okay, you big baby." Natalie sighed and hiccupped.
