Alluring Masquerade

Chapter 39 - Camouflaged Purpose

          The loud, techno music that the club's DJ was playing vibrated the floor that was strangely energising. Girls and boys were dancing ad jumping to every beat, enjoying their fun night out. It was so loud that one could not even hear their thoughts without edging over to the wall or at least to the privacy of the lavatories. Neon lights blinked on and off temptingly in the dark like dark magic, entice the youngsters to get absorbed in the throng of dancing bodies. Whereas, the rest were just enjoying themselves, with a drink in hand and chatting away with their friends and meeting others for the first time.

          A man camouflaged in a dark silhouette was walking through the dancing couples on the dance floor, whilst trying to get somewhere that would be quiet enough to hear the person on the phone. At last he was successful enough to get somewhere near the exit to hear and reply properly.

          He hadn't been expecting the phone call so soon, but he was happy to hear from them nonetheless. After a short and to the point conversation, he smiled as their plan opened up in his mind. He liked what he saw. Money. He didn't care who he would hurt in the process, all he was sure of was being rich and everything he wanted in this life.

          "I would love that," Daniel O'Conner smirked wickedly, laughing in his throat. A moment later the phone disconnected and, whilst stowing away his mobile phone on the inside of his jacket, he dialed an old number on his phone and waited. After three rings someone picked up. "Yeah, it's me," he said, "It's time to unfold the first part of our plan." The he flipped the phone shut.

          "Baby, what are you doing here?" a young girl's voice asked, wearing a white mini dress with curled, blonde hair. She was giggling a lot and stumbled into his arms tipsily. "Let's dance!" She pulled him onto the dance floor and began dancing along with him.

          Daniel smirked deviously. Tomorrow is going to bring back a lot of the old memories, he amused. For Hira Kaif. He laughed condescendingly, the music drowning out the sound.

          "Hey!" the girl screamed over the music. "Daniel!" She tried again, getting really close to him.

          "Yeah, babe?" Daniel asked, invitingly pulling her closer to him. She was the same girl he was with the day he had seen Hira at a restaurant with someone.

          "Buy me a drink!" she grinned, flirting.

          "What do I get in return?" he teased and kissed her neck.

          She playfully pushed him away and giggled. "Buy me one, and then I'll think about it," she teased back, winking. "C'mon! I'm dying of thirst!"

          Daniel and his date pushed through the throng of dancers and took a seat in front of the bar. They ordered to their liking and accepted their drinks from the tired bored looking bartender. It was slightly quieter now that a different track was put on, but even so very noisy.

          "Put in on my tab," Daniel instructed to man standing behind the bar, receiving a nod. I can't believe how easy this girl is, he amused silently. She is damn annoying. But he knew he should put up with her until he had what he wanted with her tonight. If she wouldn't give into him tonight he would just move onto a new girl. He wasn't a patient person evidently. Tomorrow would be a new day for him along with a new girl. He had had enough of this one. She was too clingy for his liking. She was almost as greedy as he was and always expected him to pay for all her expenses every time they had gone out. He rolled his eyes as she babbled on and on about something he wasn't really paying any attention to.

          "And he stabbed him in his face!" she cried, shocked as she sipped through her straw.

          This caught his attention strangely. "Excuse me?" he asked.

          Her rosy mouth turned into an upside down crescent moon. "You weren't listening, were you?" she demanded, frowning disappointingly. "I thought you had some caring personality in there!" She poked his left temple with the tips of her fingers.

          "Hey!" he exclaimed, caught off guard. He blinked at her as she pouted at him, flickering her eyes. "I was listening."

          Liar, she thought knowingly. She huffed at him and put her drink down on the counter that was to her right. "What did I say?" she quizzed, narrowing her dark, smoky eyes.

          He was struggling but he was an extremely good actor. "You were telling me about how he stabbed him in his face," he said confidently.

          "And?" she demanded. She crossed her bear arms in front of her that made her cleavage more prominent. She saw him look down at her chest for a quick glance before looking away. She was happy with the results, after all, she was playing a game with him, too. Or more like, on him.

          "What does it matter?!" he stressed.

          "I knew it!" she shouted at him. "You know what? Fuck you! You hear me, you selfish – you – argh!" She jumped off of her stool and grabbed her purse to go, when she was pulled to his chest.

          "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, being a little forceful.

          She wiggled out of his grasp with just as much force. "You don't even bloody care about me!" she cried.

          "I do!" he lied.

          "Then prove it, Daniel," she cried, her voice growing softer as well as her expression. "Let's go to your place, alright?" She was suddenly more flirtatious, but she was a fabulous actress also unbeknownst to his knowledge.

          "What...?" he asked curiously, confused at her abrupt changes in mood. He shrugged slightly, thinking it was a "woman-thing."

          "Huh?" she persisted, looking up from under her, thickly coated with mascara, eye lashes.

          He was unsure to take her to his place. He never would and never had taken somebody to his house. A lot of his dark secrets lay in there and his precious privacy would be disrupted. He would usually insist on going to the other girl's place. Easy.

          "Come on, don't you want us to spend some ... quality time together?" she whispered into his ear, making him shiver inwardly. "Prove how much you care."

          "Sure," he said back. "Let's go."

          But he didn't see the furtive look of victory she sent to another man, who was sitting on the other side of the bar. He nodded back at her approvingly.

          She giggled when she moved back a little. "Let's go, then, Danny-boy," she said.

          They both walked out of the hot club and into the cool, night air, immediately heading over to Daniel's car.

          The ride to Daniel's apartment wasn't long and they were soon standing in front of the house, him unlocking it to turn on the lights.

          With a smile she entered and took in her surroundings, memorizing as much as she could on the spot.

          The front room was relatively clean and consistent. The floor was layered with a weird shade of white – something was probably spilt there recently – and the walls were just cream, as well as the sofas. Some random stools were standing in the left corner of the room. The curtains were just white. There was a TV, DVD player, a stereo and even a video game. There were two doors present; one to her right and one ahead.

          "Beautiful place," she said. She felt arms encircle her waist from the back and wiggled out of his grasp. "Not so fast," she teased, wiggling her index finger at him.

          He chuckled and took her hands. "Want a drink?" he smirked.

          "I would love a drink," she agreed.

          While had had gone out of the front room to get the drinks, she started searching around and routing through his personal belongings and left everything back in its place perfectly after checking, like a spy. Actually, she was something along those lines and little did Daniel know, he was going to be very mad if was to find out about what she was keeping from him. This was a little something that she was proud about.

          "What are you doing?" he asked suddenly, carrying a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. He had removed his blazer and coat, only left with a dark shirt and pants.

          "You look gorgeous in this photo," she gushed, showing him the framed photograph that was standing on the mantel piece. A few of his friends were standing next to him grinning in the photo. "And your friends look really hot," she added.

          "They're not my friends ... more like acquaintances," he shrugged, walking over to the small table sitting in front of the sofa. He looked at her up and down hungrily and offered to go upstairs.

          "You read my mind," she smiled cheekily and took his right hand while his left held the other items. She climbed up the stairs slowly and leisurely, as if she had all the time in the world. She laughed teasingly at him as he followed her upstairs and onto the landing. She stumbled as did he in the dark and quickly found the lights, turning them on. She closed the door with her heel and watched him carefully as he poured them a drink. She walked over to his bed and sat down on the foot of it, leaning back slightly with her palms on the soft duvet.

          He was apparently too busy preparing the drinks in a mini bar he had on the far, left side of the room, that he didn't notice her eyeing a suspicious looking safe. It set her alert on fire and she knew – somehow – that that was the something she was looking for. It wasn't one of those rock-hard safes; it was one that only could be used by a key. Breakable.

          She smiled at as he turned around and walked around to her left, sitting down with her and giving her her drink. "Thanks," she whispered.

          Suddenly, his phone started to ring from downstairs.

          "Excuse me," he smirked, and got up to go before he planted a forceful kiss on her lips. "Be right back, babe," he said, and left, leaving the door open.

          "Phew," she sighed heavily, and put her glass on the floor carefully. She opened her black purse and took out a plain sachet and ripped it open with her teeth briskly, professionally, and dipped all of the contents into Daniel's drink. The white powder dissolved and disappeared like snow in water.

          She got up to check if he was coming back. When she was sure she was still alone, she closed the door quietly and walked over to the metal safe that could be broken into with a typical hammer. She shook her head and tutted pitifully, thinking about Daniel. "Not as clever as you might think you are, Danny-boy," she said matter-of-factly. In only a matter of seconds she had opened up the lock with a thin hair pin.

          She heard footsteps coming up the stairs just as she'd took out some papers that looking suspicious, and briskly folded them into her purse. She then took her original spot on the bed with her drink in hand. "All done?" she asked.

          "All done," Daniel confirmed. He sat down next to her again and was moving closer to her, when he was stopped.

          "Aren't you going to have your drink," she asked, glancing down at the bubbly liquid. She hadn't even sipped hers once and wasn't planning on to. He could have added something in her drink as well, and not for her good. "Go one, down it all at once. It's more fun that way," she persisted.

          He only smirked at her – attempting to look sexy, but to her, he just looked pathetic – and took his drink into his hands. "Cheers," he said, before downing it all at once. "Why don't you finish yours as well?" He looked at her expectantly.

          Her expression changed to resentment slightly, and she put down her drink with a triumphant glare from her eyes. "How are you feeling, Danny-boy?" she asked, ignoring his question.

          "I am fine..." he said, blinking as his eyes began to grow heavy out of the blue. His vision and consciousness blurred and became obscure. "I feel..." He stopped to laugh sleepily for a moment and lay down on his back. Soon his eyelids shut and he fell into a deep, consuming sleep.

          She checked his eyes by lifting up his eyelids and calling his name a few times to make sure. He didn't even twitch in response. "Thank you for making my job easier, Daniel," he smiled, all the ditzy and giggling personal flown out of her. She stood up with her purse and took out her phone, dialed a revised number and waited for her orders.

          After the first ring someone picked up. "You were quicker than I thought you'd be," the man said approvingly, the smile evident from the sound of his voice.

          "I'm just too good," she joked. "Anyway, boss, the job is done and I've got the documents for proof. But it is not enough I'm afraid. We need to catch him in action, red handed."

          "I assume he is out cold at the moment," he stated his guess.

          "Yes, Sir," she confirmed. "I will need another half an hour to look around his house. There must be something we can use against him!"

          "Granted," he agreed.

          "Thank you, Boss," she said. She was about to end the call when she caught something glinting from under the bed. "I will have to call you back, Sir," she apologised.

          "No problem, Detective S. Cassidy," he said happily.

          She smiled and said her goodbyes, and then put away her phone in her purse again before searching the whole house. After thirty minutes she had nothing. Nothing other than a few suspicious looking documents she had stolen. "Damn you, Daniel O'Conner," she cursed under her breath after returning to the bedroom. "Where have you hidden those drugs?" she asked the sleeping Daniel.

          She was about to turn and leave the house, when she heard something ringing loudly. She followed the noise to find that it was coming from the sleeping man's trouser pocket. The phone sounded loudly and she took it out, observed the ID and found it to be someone named "Sonia McRose." Her eyebrows frowned in suspicion. "Perhaps she may be in on the smuggling," she assumed.

          The small device was still persistent and inquisitiveness got the better of her. She didn't answer; she hadn't needed to since the other female had started speaking herself. She listened carefully without raising doubt to the other female, the other potentially criminally active, person.

          "Daniel, change of plans," the other female instructed. "Don't follow up on our plan because I Hira will be staying longer in that damn hospital! You can't show yourself to her just yet. And no, you won't get paid until I'm content that you'll take her away from Kael, so don't even bother about it. Don't act with haste otherwise everything will go wrong for the both of us. Just wait for my call."

          Click.

          Secret Detective S. Cassidy with a look of thoughtfulness on her soft face. "Interesting," she muttered to herself, nodding, "seems to me, there is a lot more going on than I had thought." She turned to the limp body of Daniel, and added, "I had a nice time, Danny, let's not do it again." And with that, she left the phone back in his pocket and left the resident.

          Not a moment too long and a dark, sleek car had pulled up to the street to pick her up from work.