Sinner

Chapter 25

Later on, Ryan and I visit makeup and it takes a lot longer than I expected. Carmen, who is in charge of disguises for missions like this, decided Ryan and I needed a spray tan. It only made Ryan slightly darker, but it gave my pale skin a tan it could never dream of. Carmen showed me how to use make up, since I had never gotten any experience at the Society Involving Not-So-Good Stuff, along with some YouTube videos I could watch for more inspiration to go with my dress. Ryan's makeup was a challenge. At first Carmen wanted to give Ryan a whole ethnicity change, but it was too much work to handle. Dom would know what he looked like, due to my unfortunate hacking skills. Carmen decided to make Ryan look Hispanic, so she told Ryan to brush his hair, and simply not style it otherwise. It actually worked. Ryan had looked pretty tan and, well, Hispanic.

By the time we had left it was close to 8 pm, so we went back to our apartments to pack. Once done with that we got dinner together in the H.Q. cafeteria, and now we are waiting outside of Traci's office.

Traci opens up the door, and jumps when he sees Ryan and I. "I didn't expect you guys to be here" he says.

"We didn't set a place to meet, so..." Ryan explains.

"I see you have your luggage, ready to go?" Traci asks.

"That's why we're here" Ryan says with a smirk.

"Cut the smart mouth, Higa, and let's go" Traci commands.

We follow him to the parking lot and up to yet another black S.U.V. The trunk opens with just the press of a button on Traci's keys, and Ryan grabs my luggage and puts it in for me. "Thanks" I say with a smile. He nods and then puts his own in. He slams the trunk shut and then opens the back door of the vehicle for me. I slide in and Ryan closes it. Ryan slides into shotgun next to Traci and then we start to head to the airport.

We arrive in 20 minutes, and 2 seconds (I had started counting to calm my anxiety about the mission). And when we pull into the airport, I notice we aren't being taken to departures, where most people get dropped off. Traci drives past this and to a toll booth. He shows the man his identification and the man lets us through.

I remember Traci talking about flying in a private jet, and I start to get excited.

We approach a huge and very long garage, with private jets in it.

"How do you guys afford this?" I ask.

"We get funds from the government" Traci says.

"To fly in luxury?" I ask with disbelief.

"To fly privately for missions like this. There can't be any way Sandoval knows you bought plane tickets to Miami, so this is why we sometimes use private jets" Traci explains.

"Smart" I say as Traci comes to a stop next to a jet.

Ryan gets out and opens up my door for me as I stare in excitement at the jet we are flying in. It has 5 windows on each side, excluding the windshield for the pilot to look out of. The nose is more pointy than a passenger jet, and of course it's a lot smaller. As I get out of the car the jet door opens and lands onto the ground, transformed into a staircase to get on and off the plane. A middle aged man walks down wearing a black suit. He has a matching black cap with a pair of wings embroidered onto the front. A matching pin shaped like wings rest above his left breast pocket. Four yellow stripes circle around each cuff of his jacket.

He walks up to me first, as Ryan is now getting our luggage out of the car. "I'm Captain Jackson, and I'll be flying you guys to Miami today" he says with his hand out for me to shake. I grip his hand and shake it. He has a firm grip and he's confident. His decorated suit tells me he's done this many times, and I feel safe with him controlling the fancy metal tube we'll be flying in. He also has a warm smile which I return.

"Nice to meet you" I greet.

"Nice to see you again Mr. Higa" he says nodding at Ryan as he walks up to us.

"You too Captain" Ryan says politely.

"Let me take your bags for you" Captain Jackson says.

"Thank you" I say as he grabs my suitcase in his left hand and Ryan's in his right.

He walks back to the plane and Traci walks up to us.

"Guess this is goodbye" he says almost admiring us.

"We'll see you in a couple days" Ryan reminds him.

Traci sighs. "Remember guys, I want Sandoval alive" he says.

I see Ryan roll his eyes but Traci ignores it. "Ryan you can get on the jet, I want to talk to Ashley privately for a minute" he says.

Ryan leaves and Traci turns to me. "Ashely, I know that this has been so quick, but I trust Ryan in knowing that he's taught you enough to do well" Traci says.

"I feel like I've taught him more" I say and Traci actually chuckles.

"I like you Ashley. Glad to have you working for us. Good luck on this mission and I'll see you in a couple of days" Traci says.

"Thanks Traci for having my back. You've been good to be since I've arrived here and I'm thankful for that" I say.

What Traci does next surprises me. He hugs me. I hesitantly put my arms around him and give him a small squeeze.

He lets go and says "Goodbye, Ashley."

"Bye" I say and get on the jet.