Asset Management

by Annette Mori

  Her corporate attorney persona during the past year and a half had afforded her the opportunity to get to know the DC area well. She glanced at her laptop and noted that the blinking dot settled on a popular café owned and operated by well-known lesbians. She’d been in the café before—they knew her as Heather. It was time to make another chance appearance.

  I gotcha now, Toni, she thought eagerly.

  †

  Char casually strolled into the quaint café where she already knew that Sophie, Toni, and Kim were having a quiet dinner. It had been three days since her planned chance meeting in the café. Char chanced a quick glance at the corner table in the back where the trio was having drinks. She winked at the waitress and asked if she could have the quiet table in the back by the three attractive women.

  “Sure thing, Heather. I think two of them are a couple, but the stunning brunette is definitely single. I always see her checking out every attractive woman. Unfortunately, I must not be her type because she hasn’t turned her charms on me. The other two don’t seem to notice other women. ”

  “Good thing, because I don’t think Sara would really appreciate sharing your adorable self.”

  “Oh, you got that right. She is a bit possessive.” Candy frowned.

  Char didn’t miss much and Candy’s reaction sent alarm bells off in her head. She liked the petite blond waitress and got the distinct impression that everything wasn’t right with Candy and Sara. She’d only met Sara once and her initial impression hadn’t been favorable. Sara seemed overly domineering and her mildly hostile expression toward Char radiated extreme jealously. Unfortunately, Char didn’t have the time to explore this—her priorities were with the trio. She refocused her attention on her target.

  “Thanks, Candy. She just looks so familiar to me. I thought so the last time I bumped into her at that little café three blocks away. She winked at me and I asked her if I met her before because she looked so familiar.”

  “Well, I don’t really know her all that well, but I do know her name is Toni.”

  “Lead the way and maybe if I cross her path again, she will notice me. Another wink would certainly be welcomed by me.”

  “She would have to be blind not to notice you.”

  “You are such a doll. Please be sure to let me know if Sara ever decides to dump you.” At least Char could bolster the young woman’s confidence. She hoped that if Candy were in a destructive relationship, she would have enough faith in herself to leave. Char would worry about Candy later.

  “Ha, such a flirt. You and Toni are a match made in heaven.”

  Char was happy to hear Candy’s lighthearted banter return. She followed Candy to the back of the café and smiled broadly as Toni glanced up.

  “Well, hello again. I think you’re stalking me. You must come join us because I’ve never had the pleasure of having dinner with a stalker before. Since it’s a full moon, I think tonight’s the night to start a new tradition.”

  “Ah, busted. I’ve been stalking you for the past eighteen months and you’ve only just noticed me now.” Char chuckled and held out her hand as an introduction. “Heather Stiles. Full-time stalker extraordinaire and part-time corporate attorney. Or is that full-time attorney and part-time stalker. I can never seem to keep those two jobs separate. I would love to join you now that you finally noticed me—if it’s okay with your friends.”

  Char looked at Sophie and Kim.

  Sophie’s eyes narrowed and appeared to be scrutinizing her. The look quickly disappeared.

  “Absolutely. Come join us.” Sophie smiled.

  “Yes, please do. Toni is a sucker for a beautiful woman, even if you are a stalker,” Kim added.

  †

  Even though they’d engineered it so Heather would run into Toni again, Sophie was uncomfortable with the attractive redhead crashing their party. She rubbed the eight-inch scar trailing up her left wrist. She recalled that fateful evening when she’d lost her partner and everything changed for her.

  Knowing that the recent reallocation of funds took a big bite out of the human slave trade coffers didn’t give her the kind of comfort she desperately needed to right the wrong of losing Natalie.

  Sophie couldn’t shake the feeling that the woman, Heather, —if that was really her name—was somehow connected to the loss of her former partner and she was damned if she would trust her.

  Sophie was careful to present her poker face. Heather seemed to be watching her closely and all the evidence to date suggested the woman was a professional. For whatever reason. Sophie wondered who sent her to do God knows what. So far, the three of them had been widely successful on their own. Even if the woman was on the right side of the equation, it didn’t mean they needed her horning in on their success.

  Sophie didn’t like the way Toni was practically hanging on every word the newcomer said. It was almost like the woman was a new addiction that Toni couldn’t kick. Sophie didn’t believe in fate, but even if she did, certainly this stranger was not Toni’s future.

  Damn you, Toni, for letting your wants and desires get in the way of good sound judgment. You’re going to get us killed one day.

  Now it looked like Kim was starting to soften her view of the situation. Kim was a sucker for a good love story and Sophie just bet she had all kinds of crazy ideas running through her head about Toni and Heather. Kim did believe in fate. Sophie feared that Kim might think there was something there beyond all logic and reasoning. Kim surely was not stupid enough to ignore the fact that the woman was not who she appeared to be. The facial recognition confirmation did nothing to calm Sophie’s discomfort. Sophie never threw caution to the wind. Something major was about to happen, and it just might not be what they all needed.

  The foursome carefully navigated the conversation at dinner. Sophie grudgingly admitted the redhead was witty and charming and her outward appearance did not give any suggestion that she was anything but a charming corporate attorney. It was clear to Sophie that the woman’s charisma overwhelmed Toni. The electricity between the two was almost palpable. Sophie was not about to let this stranger take them down and she wasn’t about to let Toni’s libido do it either.

  †

  Toni studied the stranger closely as she told another amusing story about her first couple of months in DC. When she noticed the redhead glance out the window facing the sidewalk at the front of the café and frown, she wondered what caused this reaction. Toni’s eyes traveled in the direction she was looking and now it was her turn to react. She gave an almost imperceptible nod to Kim and Sophie and they both ventured a momentary glance in the same direction that Heather was looking.

  Heather turned and smiled at the three women as they shifted in their seats.

  “I’m sorry I must have had too much iced tea. Will you excuse me for a moment while I visit the ladies’ room? I’ll be back in a flash,” she announced.

  Toni lamented that there was not a repeat performance of witty banter followed by a steamy bathroom hookup. Kim, and especially Sophie, were scrutinizing her every move. Regardless of the woman’s identity, Toni liked the fact that she could discard her sophisticated attorney persona and get down and dirty. She loved the dichotomy of her personality.

  Toni sighed and admitted it was probably for the best because she needed to talk with Kim and Sophie without the woman’s presence. “Don’t look now, but I think our friend Byron is about to crash our little party and he’s got a particularly nasty companion in tow.”

  “Yeah, I noticed and so did your little object of desire. Don’t you find that just a little coincidental that she leaves for her bathroom break right after spying Byron and Viktor?” Sophie smirked.

  “Sophie, I think we ought to wait before making up stories and going down a rabbit hole. I agree something is off with Heather, but I’m not sure exactly what that is. We still don’t know whose side she’s on,” Kim reasoned.

  “Well said, Kim. Ms. Neanderthal always jumps to conclusions before getting all the
facts. I volunteer to get up close and personal with Heather. I’ll get the scoop. I promise,” Toni offered.

  “Fine, you get up close and personal, but you’d better not get caught up so much in her wit and charm that you jeopardize everything we’ve worked so hard for. I am not about to put us in the line of fire just because you have an itch that needs scratching and scratching and scratching.” Sophie glared at Toni.

  “Ooh, maybe I can scratch her itch and she can scratch mine and we can combine forces or something.”

  “Please be careful and for once think with your head and not your.…”

  “Coochie?”

  “Yep, that’s the body part I’m worried about.”

  “Stop your fretting. I got this. You’re such a worrywart.”

  †

  Char pushed open the bathroom door and scanned the room. Noting that she was alone, she quickly retrieved her phone and punched the top number on her contact list. The list did not contain real names. The unexpected presence of Byron and Victor outside of the café agitated her and messed with her plan.

  “Unexpected guests… Yes, I know… No, he didn’t see me sitting with them, but we know he has both Toni’s and Sophie’s pictures… Okay… Yes, that should work… I need a distraction so I can execute a plausible exit. I can’t take the chance that he’ll link me with them… I guess I’ll find another way to connect with Toni… All right, I’ll exit in sixty seconds.”

  Char closed her phone and placed it carefully back in her bag. She hit the timer on her watch and waited the sixty seconds. She smiled as she heard the sound of a loud boom just as she stood inside the bathroom door.

  “Ronda must be the sweeper today,” she mumbled to herself. Gotta love a woman who enjoys a nicely placed explosive. I hope his Porsche is in tiny little pieces.

  Char glanced down at her watch. “Five, four, three, two, one…I’m outta here.”

  †

  Char pushed open the door and carefully put on her mask of surprise and fear. She forced herself to slow her pace and approached the table where Kim, Sophie, and Toni were all grinning. Their reaction pleased Char, but she stopped herself from joining them in celebration. When they glanced up to see her approach, all three of them stopped smiling.

  “You missed all the excitement. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the loud boom. Some guy’s Porsche just blew up into smithereens. You don’t see that one every day,” Toni remarked.

  “I did hear it and I have to admit to being a bit frightened, so I wasn’t sure if I should come out or not.” Char forced her voice to tremble a little.

  Sophie narrowed her gaze and Char feared maybe she was taking her act a little too far.

  “Don’t worry, beautiful, I’ll protect you.” Toni grinned.

  Char toned down her reaction. “Oh, it’s okay. It was just a little surprising to hear the loud noise. I need to get back to my apartment before Fred pees on the carpet in protest.”

  Toni raised her eyebrow.

  “Fred is my golden retriever. It was nice running into you. Thanks for rescuing me from another night of eating alone.”

  “Why don’t you consider yourself permanently rescued? Any time you need a dinner date, just call me.” Toni pulled a card from her back pocket and placed it in Char’s hand.

  Char pulled a business card and pen from her purse and quickly scribbled a number on the back of the card. “Here, my cell is on the back. Call me. We should get together and compare notes on the unusual event today. I just love to make up outrageous stories about things I see and this one is ripe for my imagination.”

  †

  Toni didn’t miss that Heather went in the opposite direction of the commotion outside the café.

  “Tell me you gave her one of your special business cards,” Sophie probed.

  “Oh, yeah, definitely. Now to track where Heather Stiles, attorney at law, spends the majority of her off-duty time. I’ve got the phone tracking app linked to our home base computers. She won’t be able to take a shit without me knowing where she’s gone.” Toni leaned back in the booth and smiled.

  “Does she actually have to have it on her person?” Kim asked.

  “Nope, it’s my very sophisticated design. Once she took the card in her hand a small tracking device absorbed into her skin.”

  “How come it doesn’t absorb into your body?” Sophie asked.

  “It’s kind of complicated, but basically it’s a combination of biology and technology. It’s programmed to ignore my DNA,” Toni explained.

  “How do you come up with these things?” Kim asked.

  “If you can dream it, it can be done.”

  “Geez, you really are brilliant. Are you sure your IQ is only one hundred and fifty?” Sophie lifted her eyebrow.

  “Careful, Soph, that sounded suspiciously like a compliment.” Toni chuckled.

  Chapter 7

  Char’s high heels clicked on the hard sidewalk as she made a quick exit from the café. She turned the corner rapidly and joined an attractive blonde who was walking quickly ahead of her.

  “Nice job, Ronda. Is Maggie pissed?”

  “Nah, these things happen, Besides, I was more worried about their exposure. However, that does put you behind the eight ball, huh?”

  “Yes and no. She doesn’t trust me yet. She gave me one of her special business cards. So I need to drop by the office and place it on my desk where it will stay. I’m actually surprised that she would try that old trick. If she really thinks I’m some kind of spy, surely she would know I’m too smart to fall for that.” Char shrugged.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Char. She’s supposed to be brilliant—maybe it’s not your run-of-the-mill tracking device.”

  “Hmmm, what have you heard?”

  “Only that she’s off-the-charts smart and has invented some really amazing things.”

  “Good to know. I guess I’d better be particularly cautious about where I go for the next few days until I get her to trust me.”

  “How will you do that?” Ronda asked.

  “I plan on asking her to dinner and turning on the charm. I have to admit this mission is more fun than the last. Maybe we’ll even get to be genuine friends before this is all over. Besides you, Dani, and Maggie, I don’t really have anyone I can depend on.”

  “I’m not sure subterfuge is the best way to start a friendship. I just don’t understand why Maggie didn’t just approach them like she did with the rest of us.”

  “I’m sure she has her reasons. I would suspect Sophie is not real fond of any organization that remotely resembles the FBI or CIA and Toni—well Toni is Toni. She’s always been a rogue player in everything. I don’t think she does well playing with others.”

  “Neither do you, but Maggie got you to join.” Ronda frowned.

  “I had my reasons.”

  “Don’t we all,” Ronda mumbled.

  Char looked up at Ronda and wondered about the strange comment from her friend. “Maggie saved our lives.”

  Char tried to erase the memories of her dysfunctional youth and the dirty trailer in the backwoods of Alabama.

  †

  Her mother looked dead for a minute until Char heard the light snoring and noticed the cheap whiskey bottle turned on its side as the precious liquid seeped onto the filthy green carpet of the trailer. The whiskey wasn’t precious to Char, but to her mother it was liquid gold.

  A noise from the bedroom startled her and she looked up to see her mother’s latest meal ticket. A grossly overweight man emerged from the tiny bedroom as he scratched his enormous belly. He wasn’t wearing much. A pair of dingy gray boxers and a wifebeater T-shirt hung haphazardly on his misshapen body.

  “What the fuck are you looking at? Where’s your sweet little sister?” The man leered at Char.

  Char wasn’t afraid of him. She could outrun the fat pig. If he ever tried to touch her again, she would kick him in the groin. She wasn’t about to let him near her little sister.

  Standing
up to her full height of five foot ten inches tall, she hissed at the man. “You better fucking stay clear of Dani or I swear I’ll bash your head in while you sleep.”

  The man lumbered forward. “You little bitch. I ought to teach you a lesson. Your mama has no idea how to raise you hooligans—you got no respect for your elders. I pay the bills. I make the rules.”

  Char easily dodged his grip and slammed the trailer door as she ran across the field of weeds to grab her sister and hide out for the night. Maybe her mama would wake up soon and put a barrier between them. When her mama wasn’t drinking, she was okay. Sometimes she would even stand up for them.

  †

  Char shook her head in an effort to clear those distant memories from her brain. She’d done the right thing, even if Dani had been hurt. If she hadn’t, they’d probably be dead or worse by now. Dead wasn’t as bad as what she imagined. It would be worse. Yeah, she had her reasons.

  “Will you tell Maggie I’ll contact her later with an update and that I might need a little more time?”

  “Sure thing, Char. Oh, and let me know if you need anything else blown up. You know I love a good explosion now and again. Keeps my skills up. Nothing like some C-4 to get the blood flowing again. Seems that’s about all I’m good for.”