Scandalous (11 page)

“I’m just sayin
',” Raiza shrugged, “You may want to keep it for posterity.”

Raiza typed in her security code and her computer came to life. Her eyes lit up upon seeing it. She had a very special relationship with her computer. She talked to it, yelled at it, even addressed it by its name - which was George. She had a thing for George Clooney.

“Sooooo, Cristal,” Raiza said in an exaggeratedly casual tone, “Have you done something new with yourself? You look different. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s like your hair, or maybe you’ve lost weight, or…” She made a show of snapping her fingers, “Nope, I've got it! You have that morning-after-I-just-got-my-brains-banged-out-of-me glow. Did somebody get some nookie last night? Inquiring minds want to know.”

Raiza finished off her performance with an eyebrow waggle and a smirk.

Cristal looked her straight in the eye and said nothing. Pshhh...Raiza could smirk all day, Cristal wasn't about to kiss and tell.

Especially not after last night. Last night was different. And as much as that scared the living daylights out of her, and as much as she would have loved to get Raiza’s take on the whole situation, she knew that the mature and grown-up thing to do was work it out on her own...or, you know...absolute worst case scenario, talk to Dominic about it.

“Fine, don’t spill,” Raiza pretended to pout, “But I will tell you one thing, mamacita. I saw what I saw, and that man has it
bad
for you. If you don’t want something serious, you need to let him know now.”

“What are you talking about?” Cristal scoffed. She could not believe that Raiza was saying this, and for a couple of different reasons. First of all, Raiza was her friend and she should have her back!

And, second, they both knew how Dominic was with women. Sure, he was all
about
them at first...but then he got bored and moved on. Why would Cristal be any different?

“I’m talking about the way he looked at you when you pulled away from him as I was walking in. It looked like someone was ripping out his soul! It was only for a second, sure, but I saw it. That boy is in
love
with you.”

“Are you smoking crack?” Cristal was getting just plain pissed off now. No one should throw the L word around, least of all about her, and
very
least of all about Dominic! “He just looked like that because I had to put the brakes on sexy time. He was probably just worked up.”

Raiza shook her head, her facial expression telegraphing her amusement at Cristal's denseness, “Baby girl, the fact that you have blinders on when it comes to D makes me think that YOU, my lovely, have some pretty strong feelings for him, as well. I mean, usually you are like the QUEEN of reading people. Somebody is floating down the river o’ denial.”

“When’s the last time you had an office mate?” Cristal asked, changing the subject as she pulled out the drawers of the empty desk at which she was seated. Raiza was neat, organized...some would even venture to say that she was OCD. She hated people in her space.

“A year ago,” Raiza snorted, “Remember Kim? She lasted about two months. She definitely did not have what it takes to do this work. She started getting paranoid, thinking people were following her, watching her. Crazy bitch. I wasn’t sad to see her and her soda rings on the desk go. I mean, come on, people? How hard is it to use a coaster? Seriously?!”

Cristal was pretty sure she had successfully guided the conversation off of the Dominic path when she heard her phone buzz, alerting her that she had received a text. Thank God!

As she pulled the phone out of her purse, Raiza turned back to her computer, saying dryly, “And, incidentally, I’m dropping the whole Dominic issue because I’ve said my piece. Don’t think that weak-ass attempt to change the subject actually worked.”

She smiled, clearly satisfied with herself, and Cristal shook her head at the reflection of that little self-satisfied grin that she could see in the computer monitor. She rolled her eyes and checked her new text.

“Meet me at the SLS at 9 tonight. Wear your red dress. Rm. 318 Scott”

She turned the phone around and showed Raiza the text.

“Man, I gotta see this dress. It has got not one but TWO men all kinds of hot and bothered,” Raiza laughed as she grabbed her keys to the stock room, “But, though I have not had the pleasure of seeing this spectacular garment, I do believe I have just the right spy bling to go along with it.”

Sitting in the white surveillance van was nothing new to Dominic. He had been here more times than he could count. It was like a second home to him. But never before had he felt so anxious, so unnerved, while sitting in the back of the truck as the low electronic light coming from the monitors that surrounded him lit his face.

Mateo, who was his back-up tonight, sat next to him with a headphone pressed to one ear, listening to the mic in the small diamond earring that hung from Cristal’s left ear.
His eyes were glued to the 12 inch monitor that was receiving a picture from the transmitter disguised as a diamond pendant she wore around her delicate neck.

Mateo was the only guy on Dominic's crew with the skills to work in all three divisions. He was versatile and he was tech savvy. He had come to Red Hot as a highly decorated First
Sergeant in the Army who had been honorably discharged for nerve damage caused by chemical exposure during a tour overseas.

If there was anyone in the world Dominic would want backing him up when it was Cristal's safety on the line, it was Mateo. Still. He couldn't help but be wound tight as he watched the monitor.

Cristal was handing her car keys to the valet and slipping the ticket he handed her into her small clutch. Nothing seemingly suspicious was going on around her. They had been there since six and, from their vantage point, had seen the Congressman head into the SLS at 8:15 surrounded by his security detail, which consisted of two taciturn men in suits and sunglasses.

Dominic didn’t like the sick feeling he had in his gut. He knew that it was silly to worry this much about Cristal. She was more capable than pretty much anyone he knew. Not to mention, this was hardly her first time to the dance. She was a pro. She had successfully completed more undercover operations than any other bait girl at Red Hot, and had certainly not lost her touch since being moved into management.

But, still. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the fact that she would be alone in a room with those men, even if he
could
monitor it from below.

The plan was solid, Dominic knew. Once they got the evidence they needed, solid enough to hand over to Mrs. Kellan, then Dominic would interrupt the ‘party.’ He would say that he had put a tracker on Cristal's phone and followed her there.

He and Cristal would leave without tipping off the Congressmen or his people that it was a set-up.

“Man, you OK?” Mateo asked, momentarily glancing away from the screens.

“Yeah, why?” Dominic said, his attempts to hide the irritation he felt falling far short of the mark.

Mateo looked pointedly down at his foot that was rat-a-tat-tapping furiously on the floor. Dominic hadn’t realized that he had been tapping his foot. He had learned to mask this nervous habit in high school. Damn, He was obviously having some sort of stress-induced relapse.

Come on, he chided himself. He needed to get his head in the game. He couldn’t let the fact that this was personal cloud his judgment. He was on the job. Tonight had nothing to do with him and Cristal. It was a case, an assignment. Nothing more.

“Damn it all to hell, D,” Mateo said in mock disgust, “You’ve got it bad. Looks like I just lost 100 bucks. Thanks a lot!” He turned his attention back to the screen, but couldn't hide a small smirk from coming through on his lips.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dominic demanded.

Mateo sighed, “
Ty bet Ethan and I a C note that you were gonna lose your shit over Cristal when you guys shacked up. I have to admit, I thought it was a sucker's bet on his part. I honestly believed pigs would be sprouting wings and flying before you, the great Dominic Charles, would get sprung out over some female.”

Mateo shook his head and fine-tuned the audio receiver. He bemoaned regretfully,
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

“You guys have way too much time on your hands if you’re worried about me and Cristal.
And as far as that goes? It's no one’s god damn business,” Dominic honestly didn't care that much if the guys were betting over his personal life. He'd spent the majority of his professional life sitting in cars and vans just like this and knew how the talk went. He just wanted to preemptively cut off any possibility that Mateo would feel comfortable talking about the bet when Cristal might be around.

Yeah. He knew if Scrappy Doo found out about this, she would
not
be a happy camper.

Mateo just looked at him and shook his head once again, “Yep, I am definitely a hundred dollars poorer.”

--- ~ ---

Cristal walked into the lobby of the upscale hotel in Beverly Hills, making a conscious attempt to mask her natural confidence and appear nervous and unsure, as the medical-biller-housewife she was playing certainly would be under these circumstances. Rule number one of undercover – it didn't matter if you were in the room with the mark or not, the minute you left home, you were in character. There was
always
the chance you were being watched.

She was so glad she had decided to wear a black knee-length trench coat, even though the weather was warm. If she had been walking through this upscale establishment while pouring out of her va va voom red dress, she knew people would assume that she was a prostitute.

Not that she cared what other people thought of her. People in general assumed incorrectly about most things, most of the time anyways. It was like Red always said “Don’t assume anything, because when you do you make an ass out of U & ME.”

She smiled, reflecting on his funny, quirky ways and - for the first time - thought about the fact that he wasn’t going to be around anymore.

She had been so caught up in her cause to buy the agency, she hadn’t followed that train of thought through to realize that Red's retirement meant that she wouldn’t be seeing him on a weekly, if not daily, basis anymore.

She shook her head and pushed those thoughts down. She couldn't afford to think about anything right now that might draw focus from her mission. She needed to be at the top of her game.

As she took the short elevator ride up to the third floor she felt the calm come over her that always enveloped her the moment before a big sting operation began. Most people got nervous. Clammy hands, rapid heartbeat, ragged breathing. Not Cristal. She was the poster girl for calm, cool, and collected. It was as if adrenaline had the opposite effect on her than it had on other people. Instead of scattering her and sending her into 'fight or flight' mode, it served to focus her brain, and her nerves, to laser sharp attention.

Just before knocking on the door, she worked up her 'nervous' act. She saw the irony. In a situation where the majority of people would be falling apart with nervousness, she was utterly calm – and faking nervousness.

After exchanging several texts with Scott this morning, all of which expressed her uncertainty about coming there that evening, she was sure that he would be expecting to see a bundle of nerves show up at his door. She got the feeling that it was what he got off on, anyway...that this was exactly how he liked his women – nervous, unsure, weak. Yep. Congressman Scott Kellan was turning out to be one Grade A asshole.

SO, since that was the play, then a 'bundle of nerves' she would give him. As she knocked on the door to room #318, it was opened by the bodyguard she had seen leave with him that night at the bar.

She pretended to look confused as she glanced back down at the slip of paper in her hand that she had printed the room number on and stammered, “Um, I'm sorry...I guess I...I’m supposed to be meeting someone…”

“Congressman Kellan is in the back,” the bodyguard said tersely.

Oh, so now it’s ‘Congressman Kellan’ - someone is trying to show who’s in charge by establishing power…this should be fun. Cristal had to hide her smile as she timidly nodded her head and entered the luxurious suite. She pulled her coat tighter as if to indicate nervousness.

When the door shut loudly behind her she turned and said nervously, “Um...maybe I should go...” She made sure to inject just the right amount of shakiness into her voice.

The man that had opened the door now stood in front of it, arms crossed, face expressionless.

Damn, she thought, this would be a seriously intimidating situation for some unsuspecting housewife. Thank God, she wasn’t that!

She stood there awkwardly and then slowly turned, making a big production of looking around the suite and nervously taking in her surroundings. The truth was that she just wanted to make sure that Dominic and Mateo got a clear view of the lay of the land through the tiny camera that was transmitting a picture from her diamond pendant necklace.

Just as she was about to ask to use the ladies room (Hey, if she was just going to be waiting, she might as well get a better look at the place!) the Congressman joined them.