Disclaimer and Notes
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Kevin awoke the next morning feeling pleasantly refreshed. And then, he remembered that, under Mina's artful cajoling, he had had the most unproductive but enjoyable evening that he's had in years. Not sure whether to be glad that he'd had so much fun with her, or to be angry that he's not done anything even remotely work-related all evening, he put the matter to the back of his brain and resolved not to think about it. He kept this resolution beautifully until his phone rang three minutes later.
"Good morning sunshine!" Mina's cheerful voice chirped into his ear. He snorted. "Good morning, Mina."
"So, how are you? Happy, I hope? Grinning inanely at the various ideas resulting from an overly active imagination, perhaps?" She said saucily. God, the woman was unbelievable!! And he thought having to deal with Zack was bad enough!
"Speak for yourself, Angell." He said dryly. She laughed, the sound like that of a tinkling wind-chime. "Aw, so you think I'm an angel?" He sputtered, "I was calling your last name!" She chuckled, "I know, I was just teasing. So anyways, we have to get together and plan out how we're going to get rid of the bitch we're after."
"That we do." He acknowledged. "And what do you suggest in doing this time? Not discussing the plans in the setting of another carnival, I hope?"
"I thought you enjoyed the carnival! But no, you can come over to my place if you want. My address is 53100 Joy Road, Apartment 3820. Would that be all right with you?"
"All right, that's fine. I will be over there in an hour."
"Great, until then, have fun!!"
"We had enough fun yesterday, Angell." He muttered. He heard her sigh.
"Knighton, you're pathetic. But whatever, I'll see you here in an hour. Adios!" she hung up. Mina smiled. If there was anything she would make sure she did for this case, besides killing Esmeraude and her thugs, she would turn Kevin Knighton, her gorgeous and stuffy partner, into Kevin Knighton, her gorgeous and slightly-more-laid-back partner. She smiled in anticipation. This would be the fun part of an otherwise very distasteful case.
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Kevin knocked on the door of Apartment 3820, determined that today, they would figure out exactly what to do about the Esmeraude case before even thinking of doing anything extraneous. The door opened to reveal Mina, dressed in a sunny yellow t-shirt and khaki shorts, with an equally sunny smile on her face.
"Good! You're here! My friend Lita just dropped by earlier with a batch of her delicious, totally unhealthy and absolutely decadent fudge mocha brownies, so you're right on time! They're still warm, I'll get us both some apple juice and we can have a nice little snack, how about it?"
Kevin gave her a slight glower, "We're here to figure out a plan, to WORK, not to party, Angell."
"Honey, I HAVE a plan. That's why I called you over! I figured out a plan last night, and I think that if we pull it off successfully, we can bag the bitch." Mina said very slowly and patiently, like she was explaining a complex concept to a very slow-witted person.
Kevin arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"
"Yes, really! Contrary to popular belief, just because I like to have fun doesn't mean that I'm some sort of scatterbrained ditz!" She said indignantly.
Kevin had to concede that she had a point. "Okay, let's hear your plan."
"Have a brownie, Kevin." Mina pushed the tray of chewy, chocolatey brownie towards him, as well as a glass of cold apple juice. He took a bite. "This is delicious."
"Yeah, Lita's an excellent cook. Anyways, my plan involves recon on my part." Mina took a brownie and started chewing on it, somehow looking elegant despite the chocolate crumbs on her fingers and around her rosebud lips. Kevin suddenly felt an irrational urge to kiss away that crumb right at the corner of her mouth, the exact place where, when she smiled, there would be a saucy little dimple. He forced himself to continue, although his voice sounded a bit tense to his own ears.
"Elaborate, please."
"Well, we know that Esmeraude scouts for new girls. Now, this is what we shall do: *I* will be her newest girl. We can easily find out when she next goes out, and I'll just happen to be there. I'm a good actress, I can come up with a convincing enough sob story, and I'm decently attractive enough for her purposes, if I do say so myself. I can get some gadgets from Ami so that we can always keep in contact. I'll be able to ferret out a good deal of information, and then, using such information, when the time is right, you can come in and start gunning. By then, I will have the girls safely sequestered away, and hopefully I will have taken care of a lot of the thugs." She said evenly.
Kevin stared. "You mean, you will masquerade as a PROSTITUTE?!?" Something about that gave him very, VERY bad feelings. For some weird reason or another, the idea of the angelic, sweet, light-hearted golden princess who was his partner, being or even pretending to be a piece of meat on the market, gave him a sick feeling. "That's very dangerous! The men you will be dealing with, they only want to fuck you! It has an incredible amount of risk!"
Mina smirked, "You know as well as I do that this job is all about danger. And this is the best way to go. Besides, if I'm not so inclined, a guy won't even be able to KISS me, much less fuck me. Although...there is one thing I would prefer you to do."
"And that would be?" Kevin asked quickly. He felt the need to protect her...because...because she was his partner, and it would be much easier to work the case if she was alive and not dead.
"You know that despicable practice that they have, of selling a fresh girl to the highest bidder?"
"Yeah..?"
"Could you be that bidder? I've already talked to my friend Raye, Agent Mars, about this. She's willing to expend $50,000 for the bid. AND lend her penthouse for the event."
"$50,000?!?"
"Relax, Raye's disgustingly rich. But, will you do that? Because it would be awfully suspicious if I didn't go and take the roofies that some strange man offered me, and that would blow my cover, but on the other hand, I have NO intention of taking roofies and getting myself raped. After that event, I will be a 'hooker' in the open, and there won't be any roofies involved."
"Okay, that's fine. But one more question."
"Shoot." She handed him another brownie. He thanked her and asked.
"And after you're really a 'prostitute'? How are you going to fend off the men who buy your services and keep from blowing your cover?"
She smiled serenely, "I'm an agent, remember? All I will have to do is press certain points on their bodies at the right time, then, after, say, an hour or so, I'll have fabricated some 'evidence', wake them up, and tell them that they passed out. Don't worry, if I do have any trouble, we'll be in contact the whole time, and you can help me out."
Kevin took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Okay, we'll do it according to your plan then." She awarded him with another beatific smile, and he had to admire her great courage.
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