Born Without A Heart

Chapter 10

            "Let's go over this one more time," Levy said, her notebook spread out on a small fold-down table in the back of the surveillance van.

Gajeel groaned but bit back the argument Levy knew he wanted to make.

"Your meeting is with Minerva Orland. Minerva is the daughter of the owner and founder of Saber Tooth, Jiemma Orland. His name may come first, but it's Minerva who pretty much runs the show for him."

"Right, so I get in good with her and we should be set."

"Sort of," Levy corrected. "Rogue will be in the meeting, along with Sting Eucliffe. It turns out Sting and your brother are co-heads of Saber Tooth's Private Security team."

"You mentioned that," Gajeel said lazily, fiddling with the microphone Levy had planted in the cuff of his shirt.

"That means, Gajeel, you have to get them on your side too. You are going to have to get along with Rogue at this meeting, or they are not going to hire you onto their team."

"Right, right," Gajeel grunted.

Levy rolled her eyes.

She felt a gaping hole in her chest when she looked at Gajeel. She wished he could see what she saw in him. But he had made it clear that he wasn't willing to let his guard down for her. She felt a quiet emptiness within her as she worked. The sense of satisfaction she usually had from doing her job overshadowed by the weight of his presence.

"You have your mic and here," she said holding out her hand to him, "is your earpiece. But more than likely once your inside we're going to lose radio signal due to the disrupter I can only assume they have in place. So you'll be on your own."

"I can manage," he said without looking at her, taking the tiny device and fitting it into his ear.

"But we need this on tape, so you have to wear a wire." Levy took in a breath and held together her professional resolve. "Undo your shirt."

Levy could swear she saw a flash of fire pass through Gajeel's red eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Wordlessly Gajeel unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open, revealing the hard lines of his chest. The vivid memory of his half naked body looming over her in the moonlight of her bedroom jolted into her mind. She tried to shake the thought away.

"This," she said as she approached him holding up a small rectangle that looked like a memory card to a phone, "will record everything said in the room."

She placed the device gingerly on his hard chest, smoothing a small sliver of tape over the top, her fingers brushing against his warm skin.

"Don't lose it, don't break it, and obviously don't get caught with it. I'd rather do this remotely, but unfortunately I don't think that will work."

He looked away from her, an emotionless expression on his face as she finished attaching the device.

Levy moved back to her computer. Clicking several keys she pulled up a map of their location. A neon red dot flashed at the center of the screen.

"I already placed a location device behind the top button of your shirt, this is you," she pointed to the screen. "I may lose that signal too, but it should be minor enough that I won't. We won't know until you're in there."

"Got it, we've been through it a hundred times already."

Levy pursed her lips as she grabbed a small round object the size of an eraser head from her drawer. Using a pin she pushed a microscopic button on the bottom of the metallic circle.