dangerously yours (masquerade)

Chapter one

Austria-Hungary, 1913

I took a deep breath as I arrived at the address of the secret location, a long dark alley. My whole life I spent in preparation for this, Yearning for my first mission. On reflection it's a rather embarrassing truth. I look around at young women who are my age getting married and having children. Part of me is jealous of them but I also like being on my own. I suppose it is my comfort as it's the way it has always been. My Mother died when I was very young and that led me to being with my Father who worked with what I can only say as shady organisations. I grew up in that company, full of horrible men who only saw me as a little girl who would eventually grow up, have kids, cook and clean. I truly hated my Father. He always remarked how he wanted a son and how I was utterly worthless. He would beat me and shout truly traumatic things at me. To this day I am physically and mentally scared. The long winding scar down my arm had to constantly have makeup applied on it to cover it from the eyes of passers by. It is also a harsh reminder of what had happened to me as a young girl.

I now work for my Fathers organisation. When he died two years ago a vacancy appeared and I suppose the men thought it would be in their benefit to hire a young, unsuspecting woman to their organisation. And now it was finally time. My loyalty had been tested enough and I was trusted.

I could hear my nervous breath as I clutched my pocket watch checking the time. 11 O'clock on the dot. I am never late. I placed it back in my pocket as my eyes scanned the area. Nobody. It was pitch black on a Monday night, of course nobody was around. I sighed. The cool air began to fill my lungs and I shivered. It was a cold night. I searched in my other pocket for the pack of Lucky Strikes I kept in case of an emergency. I only smoke when I am nervous and I believe this to be a fair occasion. I popped one in my mouth and pulled out my matches from the same pocket just as I did so I heard a shuffling coming from around me. I slowly moved my eyes to the direction in which I believed the source of the sound was coming from. A silhouette was approaching to my left, armed with a knife. I smiled slightly as he was yet to discover what I was capable of. He charged suddenly and I swifty grabbed his arm and repositioned myself out of harm's way. I could hear him breifily gasp at my unexpected defence and it quickly turned into a yell of agony as I broke his arm. While he was distracted by his no longer functioning arm I unarmed him and punched him, then kicked his leg causing him to come crashing down to the ground. He was out like a light.

I dragged his body further down the alley when I heard the bold voice of Mr Kolenkov.

"Well done." He murmered in his strong Hungarian accent. "You succeeded again, Countess Rashola. You never cease to amaze me."

"Thank you, your excellency." I replied.

"We must go then. You appear to be ready." He spoke.

He gestured to the parked car at the end of the alley, which I had yet to notice. I went to pick up the body of the man I now felt rather guilty about assaulting to return him to the base.

"Leave him!" Kolenkov replied in a stern voice. "He will be collected in the morning. For now we have work to do."

I nodded and gently placed the man down and followed Mr Kolenkov to the car. As I entered the vehicle I and sat down I anticipated the bag that would swiftly be placed over my head. It was still apparently too dangerous for me to know the exact location of the base although I did have my theories.

After the journey I was escorted into the base where I was sat down and the bag was ripped of my head. As my eyes adjusted to the lighting I found myself in a dark room, sitting at the end of a big wooden desk. There was a large file sitting in front of me. At the top wrote, "Rudolph Estefan." Next to it was a picture of a man who looked a similar age to me. He had glistening eyes and black slicked hair. I found myself studying the picture for much longer than necessary. I continued down the file. I found I needed to gather as much information from this man as possible. He worked for a gang in Germany and had information on how they were attempting to influence the German regime on our gang and our country. I needed as much information as possible from him about their next steps. Luckily for us, news had spread that he was to be staying in a grand hotel in Budapest for four weeks. That would be where I am staying for the next few weeks I thought. The best way to make him share information was to make him fall in love with me and trust me. In fact it was the only way. In big bold writing at the bottom of the front sheet it stated, "If anyone finds out where you are from and who you are working for, they must be killed."

Just then Mr Kolenkov walked in and sat opposite the desk from me, staring intently.

"And so my Countess Rashola we have our reasons for choosing you for this mission. You are very young, you are clever and you are very beautiful. Because of your youth you should be exceptionally valuable to us." He spoke.

"I am at your command excellency." I replied in a confident tone, beginning to feel much more adherent to the situation.

"From now on you'll forget my title. In all our communications you will address me as Mr Kolenkov. Now let us get down to facts. I hope he will not be too difficult for you, he is an assured man. When you have obtained our information you will conceal the message in this silver pencil."

He slid over a glistening silver pencil to me and I grasped it.

"Send it to me immediately," he continued. "Trust no one! They rely on your discussion."

"I understand," I replied.

"Very well." He gestured to the file in front of me. "Now in these papers you will find all the necessary information about Count Estafan. It has already been arranged just how you will meet him. Tonight you will take the train to Budapest."