Arkangel || A Winter / Karina / WinRina Adventure

Mission VI: Blue Monday

"Your next mission is going to require the biggest sacrifice you've ever had to make," Parker said.

"I'm not doing anything that puts Karina -"

"You're going to have to wear a dress and high heels."

Winter sat up. "What the hell? Come on, how can the mission possibly require this?"

"You're going to Macau."

"Where's that?"

"It's a region within China. Come on, Arkangel, I thought we tested you on geography before you graduated."

"You did," Winter smiled. "But our instructor uses his daughter's birthday as the PIN on his iPad, so I stole it and emailed it to everyone."

"I am both angry, and extremely impressed. But you should brush up on your geography. Now, your mission is to assassinate a man named Jung. He's the biggest money launderer in the world, based out of his casino in Macau. He isn't picky about his clients. Terrorists, dictators, fringe political groups, you name it. We don't know a lot about him, except that he practically lives at his casino. He has to go."

Parker continued. "You'll be meeting up with an operator from MI6. She's the one you said you could kill. When you get to the casino, she'll be outside holding a bottle of champagne."

"Does she have a code name?"

"I'm sure she does," Parker smiled. "But let's say you go to MI6 headquarters looking for her code name or her real name. A beautiful building, by the way. You go to the basement, and there's a locked door. You pick the lock and take another stairway down. There's another locked door. You open it and take another staircase downstairs, to a room with another locked door. Repeat that 10 times, and at the deep, damp, dark bottom you'll find the most sophisticated safe ever made encased in a massive block of concrete. Inside is her name. She's the most closely-guarded secret in Britain. You could get their nuclear launch codes easier. The people who put her name in the safe don't even know. The head of the agency doesn't know. But they also don't know you."

"When do I leave?"

"One week from now. No joke, if you've never worn them, you'll need practice."

"How do you know so much about high heels?"

Parker laughed. "Sorry, but that's a national secret. They are the scariest form of torture ever invented. Pick up a dress, too. Hold on, I mean let Karina pick one. She has better taste than either of us. Ask her to get some shoes to go with it."

. . . . .

Winter and Karina walked out of an exclusive designer clothing store carrying two bags, one with shoes, the other with a dress. Winter couldn't believe they'd just spent $4,000. Karina seemed to be having so much fun with Winter's discomfort at buying clothes. The former homeless child grew up wearing what she could find in the garbage, or the stained and faded clothes they handed out in detention. She'd only bought new clothes a handful of times.

Taking Winter to the store posed an enormous risk to Karina. There was one thing she couldn't resist, and wouldn't let anything or anyone get between her and what she wanted.

Pokémon.

Fortunately, the upscale store didn't carry any. If she saw them at the supermarket, Winter would nag Karina, asking her over and over if she could buy some cards. Karina would respond "Baby, you don't need my permission. Remember, you have $500,000 in the bank that's waiting for you to use it."

As they walked home with their bags, Karina gently leaned against her. "You'll be so - are you ready for the word? - you'll be so pretty, so beautiful in those clothes."