Louise darkened her blood red lipstick and fluffed her big, bouncy, auburn curls. She pulled on her long black dress and stepped into her shiny black pumps. Louise put on pearl earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. Clicking her tongue, she made sure that her earpiece was working. Louise heard the small tri-tone that indicated that it had been turned on and muttered, "I'm ready."
Agent Wentz's voice came back softly through the earpiece. "Good, now follow my instructions."
"Okay," Louise said, taking her purse and fur coat from their place by the door of her flat. She pulled the coat on and waited with her hand resting on the knob of the door.
"There's a car waiting for you outside, don't forget your gun," Agent Wentz instructed.
Louise checked her thigh holster for her small gun and, finding it there, headed out to where the sleek, black Mercedes driven by a tall, thin man with a hooked nose and dark hair. Agent Wentz was already in the back seat. He leaned over and opened the door for Louise.
"Ready to sabotage a party?" he asked, smirking. His dark eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"The question is, are you?" Louise countered.
"I've done this before, you forget, my dear," Agent Wentz replied.
Louise always forgot how old her friend was, he was nearly twenty years her senior and had been on many missions in the field, unlike herself, who had worked in Intelligence until a surprise transfer led her to a field agent. She'd been going through training for the past year and was deemed ready for a real field assignment with Peter Wentz, a 45 year old agent that had been working as a field agent for nearly ten years. Louise greatly looked up to him, as he was older than here, but he never patronized her and respected here for who she was.
Louise stared out of the tinted windows of the Mercedes. She reached for the necklace she'd had since before she could remember, and found the pearl necklace. She dropped her hand back down to her lap.
"Are you okay?" Agent Wentz asked, his hawk-like eyes catching her movement.
Louise looked over at her friend. "Just nervous, I guess."
"First mission jitters," Agent Wentz said, nodding. "I remember that feeling. Did you know that during my first assignment, I vomited into a potted plant at the venue I was assigned to because I was so nervous?"
"No!" Louise gasped, giggling as she tried to picture her senior agent pale and shaking with nerves.
"Yes! My colleagues haven't let me live it down to this day! You're doing great for your first assignment so far. And you're going to to do great once we get there," Wentz said.
Louise smiled and turned her gaze back to the city speeding by and soon changing into the countryside of the Colonies. She had a bad feeling about the mission that she couldn't place. They were sabotaging a party that was being held in honor of a new weapon created by the rebels at the house of their leader, Tobias Jericho. After the Third World War, France decided to become a full-blown monarchy again, and as you would expect, there were people who wanted to make it a different kind of monarchy, not the way it was now. These rebels were dangerous, so Louise and Peter's assignment was to make sure that the weapon was unusable.
When their car pulled up to the large house, tires crunching on the gravel, the chauffeur opened the door for Louise, then Agent Wentz. They walked arm-in-arm up to the door, and announced the name of a wealthy businessman, Jean and his wife, Eloïse. The Monarchy had captured them and interrogated them to learn the location of the house at which the party was being held.
"Welcome to the party, Sir and Madam Florette," the doorman said.
♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠
Tobias Jericho stood on the balcony of his home, watching as guests streamed into his open doors. "Jean and Eloïse Florette!" The doorman called out, his booming voice echoing through the house, alerting everyone of their presence.
YOU ARE READING
As de Pique (Ace of Spades)
Science Fiction"Ace of Spades" - Referring to or holding the trump card of all, not caring for anything lesser.
