Rosa held Tintin's hand as they hurried to the middle of the city. They dodged taxis and busy civilians as they rushed across the street to a tall steel building. It reached the clouds and seemed to almost scrape the belly of some of them. Tintin looked up in awe before Rosa yanked him out of the way of a speeding bicyclist.
"Watch where you're goin', kid. Thought you have the brains of this operation." Rosa turned to Tintin and combed his hair with her fingers before fixing the collar of his shirt.
"What are you doing?"
"This is a nice place and if they see you like this it'll make us stand out more than we already do. Here, roll down your sleeves." Rosa undid the buttons of Tintin's sleeve and straightened out the fabric with her hands before making herself look more presentable. She pushed her hair to one side of her face to cover up her birthmark and dusted off her trousers. "Look confident. If you don't question where you're going, they won't either."
"I think I can handle that. Lead the way."
Rosa turned back once more before pushing open a heavy door to the lobby of the skyscraper. Men in ironed suits and straightened ties dotted the lobby; drinking their coffee with their daily newspaper or flirting with the female secretaries. The room was lined with linoleum tile that echoed after every step.
"Where are we? Is this a law firm?" Tintin let go of Rosa's hand finally as they were no longer threatened by speeding cars.
"This is one of headquarters for the FBI. I mean technically it's not. As far as the public's concerned, this place is a publishing company."
"I thought you wanted nothing to do with the FBI."
"They're a bunch of idiots. But there's one idiot here I trust. He should be able to help with the investigation. The sooner we solve this thing, the sooner we leave." Rosa walked toward the front desk to a brunette woman writing feverishly in her ledger. She pushed up her glasses with her pointer finger and flinched slightly at the surprise of new faces at her counter.
"Hello, can I help you with anything?" She asked politely while putting her pen down.
Tintin stepped back slightly as he didn't even know the answer. He wasn't even told where they were going or why they were going there in the first place. After Rosa discovered the cigar she walked towards the center of town very quickly, not even stopping to tell Tintin their plan. Of course, that made him itch.
Rosa cleared her throat. "Yes, ma'am. I'm showing this man around the facility and he needs to know where he can find Jonathan. Last I checked he was in the basement with the records."
"Of course. One moment please." The woman pulled up a wheel of what looked like cards and began shuffling through them one by one, carefully looking at the names on the top row. "Here he is. Jonathan Musacchio. We moved him to the second floor."
"Thank you so much." Rosa smiled politely and began heading to the far right corner of the room.
"I didn't know you could be polite like that," Tintin added sarcastically.
"Most people don't deserve to being polite to. Let's see, where is that stairwell. Should be....... Right here." Rosa pushed open a door as a wave of musty air hit the two of them. They climbed the stairs for a few steps before Rosa walked toward the door as Tintin continued climbing. "What are you doing?"
Tintin pointed upwards. "I'm going to the second floor."
Rosa laughed silently. "The first floor and the ground floor are the same thing here."
YOU ARE READING
Across The Pond: A Rosa and Tintin Adventure (Sequel)
Fanfiction[Completed] *if you find any plot holes or anything that doesn't make sense, please point it out. You're doing me a favor.* It's been over a year since making Brussels her home, and Rosa couldn't be happier. She and Tintin had been an unst...
