Spaghetti Invasion

The Sneak

A hired taxi delivered Shadow to the front door of a rather large house belonging to a low-level diplomatic attaché who was convinced he'd hired a professional escort for the evening. It was Shadow's task to steal his credentials while they were at the party the attaché was planning on attending.

Shadow rang the bell and spoke into the intercom. "McKnight's Escort Service?" She obeyed his order to 'wait there', then managed to look annoyed and impatient when he finally came out.

She'd seen his picture of course, but somehow the real-time image of the man was unnerving. He was a large man straying toward obese, wearing way too many hair-care products and not enough buttons on his shirt.

"What's your name?" Sabatini asked in a voice as oily as his hair. He eyed his 'date' as he would a prime side of beef.

Shadow resisted the impulse to punch him and accepted the proffered arm with an enticing smile. "What do you want to call me?" she countered, wondering what name he'd been given and terrified of guessing wrong.

A limousine rolled to a stop in front of them. Sarah got in first and slid over to make room for the mark. As soon as he was in, he favored her with a lecherous grin. "Very nice, but are you Kitty O'Toole or not?"

Kitty O'Toole? Shadow managed not to scoff out loud. "Me-ow, big boy," she replied instead with a sultry voice. "Kitty O'Toole at your service."

"You're a bit short for a call girl," he commented with an appreciative perusal of her bare legs.

Now how was Kitty supposed to respond to that? "It must be the Irish," she retorted wryly, "but my legs are long enough for my feet to touch the floor." At five foot, seven inches, Shadow was neither short nor tall.

"Yes, they do," he agreed fervently and moved closer.

Shadow's nausea grew. She gave a playful push at his chest. "You don't want me to have to spend an hour fixing myself up again, do you?" He shrugged and contented himself with putting his hand on her knee. Shadow was glad she'd skipped dinner.

"There'll be plenty of time after the party," he told her.

"Maybe we could leave early?" suggested Shadow in her best purr. The mark tapped on the window between driver and passenger. His limo sped up.

At the party, the mark handed his invitation to the guards at the door and ushered 'Kitty' inside. Shadow made a quick, mental note of the building's security and layout.

There was a well-lit, narrow band of lawn between the building and its wrought iron fence. A traffic circle separated the main entrance from the gate. The gate was manned by a booth with two men inside. Inside, security seemed fairly lax.

Shadow had Sabatini's wallet inside of thirty minutes and replaced it minus the ID card after a quick trip 'to the ladies' room'. He had promised to leave early, but after three martinis and countless dances, he seemed to have forgotten his promise. Shadow didn't forget about her rapidly approaching time limit but waited until the windows showed it was nearly dark outside before she started looking for an opening to leave without him.

The opening wasn't long in presenting itself. He helped himself to the open bar between dancing and conversations with other party-goers. By the time Shadow was ready to act, the mark was well on his way to being rather inebriated.

"You slept with my sister?" Kitty's accusation was loud, shrill and totally spurious. "After all I done for you, how could you do that? Oh, that is so it. I am out of here!"

Shadow spun on one heel and strode for the door, leaving her mark openmouthed near the bar. She hurried for the gates but it wasn't long before he found his credentials missing.