Disclaimer and Notes
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"Well! Whaddya know?" Raye smirked. James gave her a strange look. The two were sitting in Raye's apartment, and James was typing into Raye's computer. They had just pulled up the files on the Lebanese Ambassador, Saffir's next target. "Fallon Henderson formerly Fallon Essad. Daughter of Basil and Lila Essad, sister of Nivin Essad, wife of Richard Warner Henderson, mother of Leena Rose Henderson and Adara Elizabeth Henderson. Nice..."
"Nice? What's nice?" James was confused. "I don't get it."
Raye smiled to herself. "This works out better than I thought. It actually makes our lives a bit easier. You see, this particular target is none other than FALLON HENDERSON."
James nodded slowly. "Yes....care to explain how that makes life easier?" Was she always this ambiguous or was she doing this on purpose to piss him off?
"She was formerly Fallon Essad, sister of Nivin Essad."
"Yes, and?" For the love of God...out with it already!
"Nivin Essad and I went to the same finishing school together. We were classmates, and friends. Plus, I once saved Nivin's ass when she had been picked on by this snobby bitch Meg and her clique...anyway, Fallon knows me a bit. It was long ago but I daresay that I can 'renew the acquaintance'."
"I see. So you're saying that you can more easily wade through the system of secretaries and underlings and whatnot to come in contact with the lady herself."
"Precisely." Raye started to flip through her phone directory quickly with long, dexterous fingers. Then, she opened up her cell phone and dialed.
"Hey, is this Nivin? Remember me, Raye, from Springford Academy? Yep, it's me! How are you? I'm perfectly fine, it's all going great! Yeah, it's been too long...hey, look, we should hook up sometime! What? Fallon's invited you to a big party Saturday night and you can bring friends? Count me in! What? Bring a date? Will do. Yes, it will be wonderful to see you again, and to see Fallon and her family. I'll be there. Here, I'll give you my email address and you can email me the details, is that okay? Cool, it's Firesprite@lune.com. I'll see you then. Keep in touch! Bye!"
Raye turned back to James with a smile. "So, you free Saturday night?"
~ ~ ~
Saturday morning, James once again went over to Raye's apartment. He rapped briskly on the door. No answer. He knocked again, louder. "Raye? You home?"
A scream of frustration sounded from within. Then some banging. Then, the door opened so fast that he almost fell inside. Raye stood in front of him, wearing a slinky kimono of black satin with a crimson sash and a plunging neckline, a sight that would have made most men drool, get severe nosebleeds and hard-ons, and make fools of themselves. All save the fact that her eyes were spitting poison and she had a mean-looking, sharp katana pointed at his throat. Her silky raven hair was down, slightly mussed, and James silently reflected once more that she was absolutely magnificent. Now, if only she would put the sword away. Carefully, he moved the blade away from his jugular.
"Okay, Mr. Byrne, I don't know about you, but normal people don't get up at the ungodly hour of 9:30 AM on a frigging Saturday morning. If you've nothing important to say, get the fuck out, I'm going back to sleep." She hissed at him, violet eyes narrowed maliciously.
James glanced at the sword, then turned his blue eyes back at the glowering, gorgeous female in front of him. "Fine, go back to sleep. I'll just sit here til you're nice and refreshed." He gave her an infuriating smile. "WHAT?!"
"Hey, I'm not going to drive 45 minutes back to my place then drive another 45 minutes back here again." He said defensively. "I'll just sit here. Go back to sleep if you want. And Raye, call me James. I detest being called Mr. Byrne." He imitated her words.
Raye gave him a look of smoldering anger. "I'm up now. You've succeeded in waking me up, you pest." Raye strode to her bedroom and slammed the door. A few minutes later, James heard the sound of a shower being turned on. He strode into the kitchen. A coffee-maker stood on the counter. 'Might as well as make her some coffee. Maybe after she has a bit of caffeine in her system she won't bite my head of.' He soon found some fine Arabian coffee in one smooth ebony cupboard and by the time Raye emerged from her room once more, looking slightly more refreshed and wearing a black crop top with a red rose in the front, and matching black pants, he had two steaming mugs of the hot, aromatic drink on the table. She unceremoniously grabbed one and dumped in cream and sugar, stirred, and gulped it down. "Thanks."
"No problem." He took his own mug and took a small sip. She looked at him curiously, then cracked a smile. "Are you one of those brooding philosophy types who always drinks their coffee black?"
He looked at her for a moment, then said softly, "No, I'm diabetic."
"Oh." She looked at him, slightly apologetic. A look that she practically never gave. "Sorry."
He smiled, "It's okay." He took another sip of the coffee. "This isn't that bad."
~ ~ ~
They spent the day planning what to do for the party that night. Raye's friend Nivin had secured them both invitations, and from what it looked like, it was going to be an entirely posh black-tie affair. Many rich and influential people would be there. Detection systems would need to be set up around the premises. Raye made a brief phone call to her team, and gave a few instructions. Now, if Saffir had any intentions of setting up any bombs around the place, the bombs would be detected and an alarm would go off in the watch Raye would be wearing, which would also inform her of the location of the bomb and how much time there remained before the bomb would detonate. Then, James would keep any assassins about distracted while she would go and defuse the bomb. The detection system, designed by Amy and approved by James, would be monitored by Amy as well as two of the top programmers in her team to make sure that no one tried to hack into the system and tamper with it. James and Raye would also be in contact the entire time, with the help of the special earpieces that they would be wearing.
Soon, it was time to go. Raye and James, both dressed to the nines, went downstairs to the waiting limo. In an hour, both of them had arrived at Fallon Henderson's elegant villa. After giving the door guard their invitations, they walked in, arm in arm.
"Raye! Is that you?" Raye and James turned around to see a dark-haired, olive-skinned girl with a huge grin on her face.
"Nivin!" Raye gave the other girl a huge hug, and a smile. "You look well, I think marriage agrees with you."
"Yes, yes indeed. Meet my husband, Alex Ross. Dear, this is Raye Warrington." Raye shook hands with the tall, bearded, smiling man who had one arm around Nivin's waist. "It is nice to meet you, Mr. Ross."
"The pleasure's all mine, Miss Warrington, Nivin here tells me that you were quite the brilliant physics student when you two were at Springford."
"Nivin is too kind." Raye made all of the necessary pleasantries flawlessly, even though she hated them.
"Nonsense. And who is this gentleman with you this evening?" Nivin asked. Lowering her voice, she whispered in Raye's ear, "He's cute. Keep him!"
"Oh yes, Nivin, Mr. Ross, this is James Byrne, a friend and colleague. He's a computer scientist." Raye said smoothly.
"Excellent, it is nice to meet you, Mr. Byrne." Nivin and her husband shook hands with James, and more pleasantries were exchanged by all parties. After Nivin and her husband had left, Raye and James made their way about the place, Raye having greeted Fallon as well, and gotten permission to stay for a bit after the party was over to talk to her. All was going very well until a most unpleasant voice was heard.
"Well, well, if it isn't the lovely Raye." Raye spun around to look into leering green eyes on a face crowned with gelled brown hair. Her eyes narrowed.
"Well, well, if it isn't the pissy William." She mimicked his words, her voice full of thinly veiled disgust.
"Now, Raye, don't be difficult."
"Can you not tell that you're not wanted here, or do I need to say this louder? Go away and chase after some vapid little airhead who's too impressed by your millions to notice your total lack of any brains, and stop wasting my time."
William's polished manner disappeared in an instant, and his green eyes narrowed spitefully. "Watch it, Raye. Your daddy may have been Mr. Big-and-Powerful, but without him, you're nothing!"
Raye gave a contemptuous snort. "Is that so? Unlike you, *I* didn't need daddy's millions and influence to get into my college of choice. And, I might add, just because I wouldn't have sex with you when we were 16 doesn't make me an inferior individual. In fact, I think that it's a positive indication of basic human intelligence. Now, you've wasted 2 whole minutes of my life, so fuck off!"
William's hand clamped down like an iron vise on Raye's wrist. "Bitch." He growled. All of the sudden, he felt a searing pain on HIS wrist. James had twisted his arm forcibly so that he had to release Raye, and had his thumb pressed tightly to the pressure point. His blue eyes were blazing. "NEVER touch her again, you filthy bastard, or else you won't live to regret it."
William sneered at the other man, and swung back an arm to punch him, when all of the sudden he doubled over, pain exploding through him. Raye had kneed him in the groin. He fell heavily to the ground, and Raye put a high-heeled foot on his chest. He squeaked in pain when the heel applied pressure to his solar plexus.
"If you ever want to use that reproductive system again, I suggest you leave both myself and my date alone." And with that, Raye and James swept away.
"Who was that bastard?" James couldn't believe how angry he was, and the wave of protectiveness that had overcome him when he had grabbed Raye's arm. Raye sighed, fingering her wrist. "William Gordon. Rich little snot who lived on my street when we were young. I went to prom with him, but when I wouldn't sleep with him he started being a total jerk, and I dumped him. A lot of girls thought I was crazy: he was considered a major hottie at the time. Probably still is, although as far as I'm concerned, he's just a whiny, stuck-up brat. Damn, I'm going to have a bruise."
James took her slim wrist gently in his calloused hands, and examined it. Sure enough, there was a ring of redness where the man had grabbed her, which would be a bruise by the next morning. Gently, he stroked the delicate, white skin on the inside of her wrist, with the hand that a moment ago had been close to breaking a man's arm. "Does it hurt much?" He asked her gently. He made a vow that the bastard William, and anyone else who had the audacity to hurt her, would die a painful death by his hand.
Raye's breath caught in her throat when she felt his fingers caressing her wrist gently. How could a simple touch make her so breathless, all of the sudden? She resolutely put that out of her mind, and answered him with a tolerable degree of composure, "It's all right. Thank you." 'When you touch it, I feel no pain.'
Before anything else could be said, her watch started to beep. Raye and James exchanged a look, and ran off towards the balcony.
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