Polar Opposites

Chapter 1

"D'you see him yet?" I murmur quietly to the small mic that's placed secretly in my right ear. "No," the husky voice of my field parter, William, mutters back. I walk slowly around the rows of high seats of the auditorium in the dark, listening to the steady rhythm of the baby grand down in the center, played by world renowned Aaron Parks. He plays some upbeat tune I've never heard of as I scan the watching crowd of tuxedos and evening gowns.

"You think he knows we're here?" William asks. I look across the circle of the top seats to search for William. I spot him him near the 8-C entrance. I'm at 8-G. "No," I tell him, peering down again at the rows of men and women. As I walk, I trail my hand against the rail on the back of the top seats.
I decide to walk down a flight of steps as if I am just coming back from a bathroom break. A few people glance my way but do not think anything of me. In the middle of the aisle, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. Someone is following me. "Will, who is behind me?" I say quietly.
"It's him."
I take a few more steps and risk a glance up at William. He's slowly coming my way. All of a sudden, men and women in the section begin to scream and run away from the section as panic ensues. Before I hear the click of the gun he's aiming at me, I spin and hold my own gun that was encased in the leg strap on my thigh.
"Hello Akren," I say coolly to the quiet man in front of me. As we stand in silence, I study his face. There's a long scar that slices past his left eye and small pick marks on his cheeks. He's the one.
Akren Raleigh is our main target. He's a mass serial killer from the Middle Eastern Region.
As I look at his cold blue eyes now, he gives a sly smile, thinking I am alone in this mission to hunt him down. Thinking I would be stupid enough to not bring another agent.
At this thought, I smile back as I see William coming down the steps. Akren looks surprised at my gesture but his smile quickly falls as William knocks the gun out of his hand so fast a bullet shoots into the concrete stairs and ricochets onto the stage where Aaron Parks had been five minutes before.
The surrounding people scream at the noise of the bullet but it doesn't phase William as he pins the man to the ground and laughs. "You're going to have to pay for that bullet hole 'Mr. I Don't Make Mistakes With My Weapons,'" Will jokes, referring to a catch phrase Akren used to mock his enemies.
Akren curses into oblivion as we hand cuff him and call in the boss. Together, William and I hoist our criminal up and practically drag him to the elevator to meet our Head Agent, Lamar Haybrooks.
When we board the elevator, other passengers stare at us and back away. Will and I ignore them and have a friendly chat while Akren still screams and yells at us.
"So what are you doing tonight once this shit's over?" William asks me.
"Well, I thought it was Cyprus night?" I half ask him. Every Friday night we go to a local Hispanic bar in Miami to celebrate another week alive in this business.
"Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry. It just slipped my mind," he stammers. "Wait, why?" I ask as the elevator doors open and we drag the half screaming, half yelling Akren towards the black Yukon waiting out front. But before Will can ask me anything more, Lamar cuts in.
"I hope you know your sweet little lovely couple here man-handled me while they talked about their fucking date life!" Akren spits at him. "Nah, man! It's just Cyprus night," Lamar replies calmly. He gives us a wink and a thumbs up for capturing Akren.

At Cyrpus, our favorite bartender, Lydia, gives me my usual Cosmopolitan cocktail without even asking. "You typical girlie, you," she jokes in her low pitched voice. Lydia is about 45 years old but looks wonderful in her usual pink tank top and blue jean, skin-tight pants. An odd fashion choice, but if you have it: flaunt it.
Lydia gives William and Lamar draft beers and never asks us once about our odd attire. William in a tuxedo and I in a navy evening gown. Lydia expects this from us and I swear a million times she knows what we do.
However, what we do is supposed to be top secret. William and I work with a covert agency called W-O16 the works along-side MI6 and the CIA to capture terrorists and criminals and solve the hardest cases internationally.
Our business is not to be known by any civilian. But for some reason, I'm not bothered by Lydia knowing anything about it. Not that I would tell her.
I watch the Cyrpus party-goers dancing on the tile floor in the other grand room with jealousy. "C'mon," I tell Will,"I have some clothes we can change into in the car."
He follows me after making sure Lamar will watch our drinks. I open the doors to the Yukon and climb to the far seat in the back so William can sit beside me. I lean over the edge and grab the large Nike duffel bag I got last year as a Christmas gift.
I hand William a button-up and some light weight khakis and grab my own emerald body-fitted dress. "I see you've been planning again," Will jokes as he takes off his black bow-tie and belt.
This is our usual routine to change clothes in the Yukon after getting our drinks. Will isn't phased by seeing my undress and I don't believe I'm phased by seeing him in only briefs either. I turn for him to unlace my dress before slipping it down to my feet and slipping the other dress over my head.
"You wore those the whole time?" William asks, laughing at my nude pumps I'm wearing. "Yes, my evening gown covered them and I wanted to dance," I say, a little too snooty. He snorts at me and grabs the brown dress shoes I packed for him.
After we get dressed, we hop out of the car and make our way back inside. Lamar is still talking to the bartenders so we take a few sips of our drinks to finish them off. Lydia promises to bring us refills and we make our way to the dance floor.
A remix of 'Tequila' is playing as Will and I step into the pool of warm dancing bodies. I was a dancer as a kid and immediately feel the rhythm take over my body as I move in-sync with William. He works in twirling me under his arm even though it doesn't fit with the song. I laugh and realize that I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. Lydia finds us and gives us our drinks. We stumble to the edge of the crowd and chug our drinks before moving back in for another song.
We dance to numerous bass-boosted songs before clocking out. "This is when our 25 year old bodies don't do as well as our 21 year old bodies," I tell William. He laughs and leads me to Lamar with his hand on the small of my back.
"You done already?" he asks us with a smile. Lamar usually stays at the bar when we come to Cyprus. He's 40, which isn't old at all, he just doesn't like to dance.
"Yeah, Scarlett gets too tired," William jokes. I swat his arm and roll my eyes. Lamar just laughs and insists on paying for our drinks before leading us to the car. He drives us to our apartments(which are in the same building) before asking to talk with me privately. William waits for me at the door of Seabrook, our apartment building.
"I need you to come into the unit at 7 am tomorrow, okay? William will come in at 8, it's a surprise for him," he tells me in a low voice. I nod and tell him goodbye before meeting Will.
"What was that about?" he asks me. "I have to go to the unit tomorrow...alone at first. You come in at 8," I tell him. He groans and walks me up to my apartment. Seabrook is only four stories high. Three of them are apartments. William is on the 3rd floor and I am on the 4th. William always walks me to my door though when we come home together.
"What were you going to ask me about tonight?" I ask him, remembering our conversation in the elevator at the concert. "Oh, I was just going to ask if you wanted to go to this restaurant on the other side of town but we can do it another night," he tells me. I agree and pull my key out of my duffel bag.
"Well," I say,"see you tomorrow." He kisses me on the cheek and tells me goodnight like usual. I open my door and walk in, tossing my duffel bag strap onto the back of my desk chair.
I strip naked and turn on my shower before quickly checking my emails. The water takes a bit to heat up since my neighbor takes hour showers. I open an email from MI6 expecting it to be a congratulatory letter like normal. Instead, it's a personal email about the mission I'm taking Sunday...but I have not agreed to one.
I dial Lamar on my cell phone and ask him about it. "Damn it...I was going to tell you tomorrow...but you and William are going out of the country Sunday," he tells me, obviously annoyed at MI6.
"Please tell me Paris!" I beg. I've been asking to go to Paris for as long as I've been on the job. He sighs and I wait, tears almost coming to my eyes from the anticipation.
"Yes, Scar...you're going to Paris!"