Fireworks 3 and 4

Fireworks: Forever Chapter Thirty-One

    Mid-heart-to-heart, Chubbs announced that someone's car was waiting at the gate. "It's SZA."

    "Let her in," Drake instructed, exchanging glances with Nicki.

    Moments later, a teary-eyed SZA was led into the living room.

    At the sight of her, Drake stood from the couch. "What the fuck happened?" he demanded.

    Still crying, she walked into his arms.

    Confused, he stood holding her. While waiting for the sobbing to subside, he stroked her hair and looked to Chubbs for answers.

    Chubbs shrugged and shook his head. 

    SZA stepped back from Drake's embrace and wiped at her face before fumbling around her purse. She handed something to Chubbs.

    He stepped forward and accepted the small device. It was her cell phone. After giving Drake a pointed look, he turned and disappeared from the living room.

    Nicki gathered her robe and wrapped it tighter around herself. "Are you going to tell us what happened?"

    SZA turned and acknowledged her for the first time. "I'm sorry...I hope I'm doing the right thing."

    "What is it?" Drake asked her.

    "I was in the club, minding my business and shaking ass with my girls," SZA explained. "When these two guys sent me to a label head who assigned me with spying on you to see why you're dragging your feet."

    Nicki turned and stared at Drake.

    Drake nodded slowly, taking the information in. "Okay."

    "Okay?" SZA echoed. "If I don't give them anything, they'll know I'm dragging my feet, too!"

    "So, we'll make sure you give them something," he said gently, hugging her again. "It's going to be fine. You did the right thing."

    Chubs reappeared at the living room entrance.

    "The execs want Solana to spy on us," Drake told him over the top of SZA's head. "They cornered her in a club."

    "Because we're dragging our feet on coming up with an actual plan," Chubbs returned. "That should be priority number one. We have Cee, we have Nicki, we have SZA, and we have Mia. If each of us reaches out to someone else in the business, we can expand our army that way."

    Nicki nodded. "Having Drake approach everyone trying to enlist them would raise eyebrows, but if each of us is reaching out to someone else, that's a lot more discreet - and harder for the big guys to track. We'd just...have to be careful about outing ourselves, just in case we're talking to someone that is owned by these guys."

    Still daintily wiping at her eyes, SZA said, "Doja confirmed that she's on our side and there are a few other artists that I can reach out to."

    "Billie would be on our side," Nicki added.

    "With how outspoken she was at the meeting, she's probably also high on their list of artists to monitor," Drake replied. "As much as I want to bring her in, now isn't the time. She'll probably be one of the last we should add."

    "You don't think we should at least let her know we have something in the works?" Nicki asked incredulously. "If we don't, she's a wild card and could go against them on her own."

    "I wish we had someone we could send in to spy on them," Drake mused, running a hand across his forehead. His head felt like it might explode. 

    Chubbs's eyes narrowed. "I mean...we have equipment."

    Drake met his gaze. "They'd probably sniff it out same day."

    "Couldn't hurt to try," Chubbs maintained.

    "Actually it could hurt us," Drake corrected. "Because if they know it's us who planted the cameras and shit...you know what happens."

    Chubbs crossed his arms over his chest. "How else are we supposed to find out who all is involved in this? How are we supposed to fight back our enemy when we don't even know the full roster of names?"

    "We won't ever have the full roster," Drake said.

    "Any roster right now would be a win for us," Chubbs insisted. "This could also be a headstart to finding dirt on them."

    "We're talking sending someone into these men's offices undetected," Drake said. "These offices will have state of the art surveillance because these men are experiencing no shortage of cash. Their faces would be on their surveillance cameras. Since they're monitoring phone calls, we can also deduce that they'll have access to facial recognition software."

    Thoughtfully, Nicki ran an index finger around the rim of her wine glass. "We could go in smarter than that, then. Instead of sending in someone random to plant the surveillance, have someone who is supposed to be there do the planting." Her eyes slid to the side, focused on SZA.

    Drake and Chubbs also turned to look at SZA. "She was just hired to spy on you," Chubbs said. "They'll want to meet with her for an update."

    "They're approaching her in clubs. How do we know they'll call her to their office?" Still, Drake stared at SZA. It was the best idea they had so far. "If they call me in, I can also do some planting. It's something."

    "It's something," Chubbs agreed.

    Under their scrutiny, SZA plucked at the bottom of her skirt. "I don't know if I'm the right person for that."

    "You might be the only person for that," Drake countered.

    "This man spoke to me publicly at a table in the VIP section and I nearly passed the fuck out," SZA protested. "Can you imagine me in his office trying to plant a microphone or camera or something? He'd find out. He'd catch me in the act. I'm telling you, I'm not the person for this."

    Drake settled both hands on top of her shoulders. "We can coach you. Shit, you can have Chubbs in your ear talking you throughout the whole thing, if you want. But you are the only way this works, Solana."

    She rolled her eyes heavenward. "Fuck."

~~~~~~

    "What was that move for? You know you can't trust SZA to feed you accurate information about Drake. She has a history with him."

    "This move forces Drake's hand," came the labored reply accompanied by heavy breathing. "He won't feel like he can take his sweet time anymore. He'll feel like he has to act. That's the position I want him in, because it's the position where he's most likely to fuck up. As soon as he does fuck up? He'll be in for a whole world of hurt."