At Your Service (Book Two)

Chapter 6: Flight to Brazil

"Vicência?" Swift heard a woman speak inside the house that is not Vicência. "Have you packed for your trip tomorrow?" She said. He crawled closer to the window to listen.

"I have," Vicência said. "There's a few more I need to pack, but it's like ninety-something percent done." Her and what Swift could presume to be her mother's voice were muffled by the wall.

"Good. Remember: You have to wake up early tomorrow morning. No sleeping late, no nothing. Sleep before eight." Her mother said as the two of them met in the kitchen.

"Mom," She glared at her mother. "Our flight is at 6 PM." She replied. The school trip's coordinator has already decided that it would be best for them to depart to Rio when the sun sets, as it is a twelve-hour flight, so they would arrive on Friday morning, ready to enjoy their vacation.

"Still," Her mother stood her ground. "You still need a few other things to prepare."

"Fair enough," Vicência's voice started to fade away as she walked out of the kitchen. Followed by that is an excited yelp from her, "Rio, here I come!" She then heads up the stairs.

Swift, hearing the conversation to be over, stopped peeking from the window's corner and quietly backed away into the lawn. If what he heard was correct, he heard Vicência mention Rio. Rio de Janeiro? He pondered. He read about Rio before. It's a city in Brazil. If his mission brings him to Brazil, then so be it. He shares his budget with Allison, so he has no problem ordering a flight ticket there. He's not sure if Allison would agree, though.

His eyes landed back on the unconscious burglar on the lawn, except after he found out, the man wasn't a burglar. As implied by the patch on his jacket, he was an associate or subordinate working for Vanderbilt. He found it odd and possibly dangerous that a Vanderbilt personnel came to Vicência's house uninvited. Carrying a gun, even.

The current silence was broken by the buzz in his pocket, coming from his phone. He looked at the contact number. Tom was the one calling him, and he picked up in no time.

"Tom?" He maintained his low voice to not raise any attention from the house.

"Hey," Tom greeted.

"What's up?" Swift said. "How's your arm?"

"Bruised, but not broken. Still hurts, though," Tom said, a sigh of relief left Swift after that. "How've you been?"

"Nothing much. Why do you ask?"

"No other reason other than to check on you."

"No, I'm supposed to be the one who's checking up on you, since you're injured at all." Swift joked.

"I know, I know," Tom chuckled. "I just wanted to see if you're all right. After the whole... charade we caused back in Cali." He continued with a change in his voice, knowing it would leave Swift reminded.

"Yeah..." Swift said in a whisper, his tone falling as he felt the air change. "Thanks for letting me know that you're looking out for me."

"Anytime. So, are you doing anything? Like, is there a new mission to accomplish? A new job from Allison, maybe?"

Swift fell silent. His mouth turned stiff. He wasn't sure what to say. For a moment, he had no doubts to tell his partner that he was onto something, but at the same time, he was compelled to keep the truth away from him. He kept his mouth shut as he had the conundrum going back and forth in his head.

His tongue escaped between his lips before it pulled back again. He became aware of what would happen if he told Tom the truth. His partner would attempt to help him in his mission, even when that was not something he wanted. It could cause Tom to pursue danger, which is something that Swift won't allow after what transpired in Los Angeles.