The Rose & The Night

Meeting

Since Angela Burr had sent Jonathan Pine almost everywhere possible to make sure that he would be able to form emotional attachments and leave, after recruiting him from a hotel in Sweden, where Pine had been the Night Manager, to help take down an Arms Dealer, Richard Roper. Pine was all too happy to help take down the man who killed one of the only women he ever loved, his sweet Sophie. Burr had finally sent Pine to the Mallorca, Spain, where he was to get work at a restaurant called Mama Lou's and where Burr had informed him that he would be meeting someone very important. The only information Pine had gotten about this person was a name, Smith.

When Pine arrives at the small cottage on the beach, he walks in and discovers that someone is already living there. There are a few papers laying on the coffee table, along with a coffee mug. As Pine moves about the cottage, making his way into the kitchen, a young woman steps out of the bedroom, wrapped in a towel. As Pine turns to her, she smiles, speaking with an American accent, "Mr. Pine, I presume."

"Yes, Jonathan Pine. I'm guessing you're Smith," Pine nods and walks closer to the young lady.

The woman nods, "Phoebe, please. I'm guessing Burr didn't tell you that you were meeting a woman."

"Uh... No, she did not," the hotelier smiles as he glances around the room.

"Well, I suppose there are worse surprises," Smith drops her towel and reveals a cream-colored cozzy under it, "has Burr told you our cover story yet?"

"Uh... No, she hasn't," Pine shifts his glance down and away from Smith.

"Well, it seems like Burr isn't telling you a lot of things," Smith pauses for a moment, "what name did you steal to get down here?"

"I'm sorry?" Pine looks back up to Smith.

"Well, Jack Linden killed someone, didn't he? So who are you now?"

"Oh, umm... Thomas Quince."

"Nice to know my new last name," the hotelier looks to Smith rather confused but doesn't speak. Before long she continues her thought, "Burr is having us pose as a married couple, she thinks it will help us work our way into Roper's inner circle if you work on buttering up to Roper and I do the same to his wife."

"Aw," the hotelier nods, "so what's your alias then?"

"Natasha, for now. But with your record, I'm sure that Roper will change our names soon after we join his group to help keep police out of his hair."

"So, I'm married to a Russian."

"Yes," Smith nods as she puts on a loose, light dress.

"And how did we meet?"

Smith gestures to the papers on the table, speaking as Pine looks over them, "we met after I moved to London. The two of us bonding over literature and films."

"Burr really has thought of everything, hasn't she?"

"Everything down to getting out of the conversation about us not having children and an occasional coldness towards one another."

Pine nods, finishing up reading, "a miscarriage and the affair that followed."

"Exactly," Smith nods and looks over toward the window. "If we need that story, if we do our jobs right and act like the loving couple we should around Roper's group, we shouldn't."

"So the plan is for me to save Roper's son from a staged kidnapping and then the two of us to join his group."

"Roper's son means everything to him. More than his enterprise, more than his money, more than anything in the world. If you save him and make it look believable, Roper will be in your debt."

Pine nods and sits the papers down on the table again, "uh, where should I put my things then? Since we'll be staying here for a while."

"Through there," Smith points to the bedroom she had come out of, "there is only one room, so it looks like we will become very close very quickly, my dear husband," by the end of her sentence Smith is speaking with a Russian accent.

Pine walks into the bedroom with his luggage and puts his things in the empty draws that Smith had left for him. When he comes back out and looks around the cottage he notices that Smith is gone. As he looks around for her, he comes to the glass door to the back porch, that overlooks the ocean. Glancing out he sees Smith dancing around in the water. Splashing and looking genuinely happy. Making his way down the pathway from the porch to the beach Pine watches her with fascination. Once he is a few feet from the claim water he calls out to her, "you look happy."

Smith turns to Pine and smiles, "of course, the water is amazing. Care to join me?"

Pine looks down at his clothes, still in his light linen shirt and pants, "I don't really think I'm dressed for it."

Smith shrugs her shoulders and swims around a little more, "oh well. Your loss." Pine chuckles softly and watches her swim for a little while longer before she gets out and walks up the beach to him, "well, you'll need to head up to Mama Lou's tomorrow and get a job."

"What about you?" Pine askes as the two start back up the path to the cottage.

"I already have a job as a bartender there."

"Going by the name Natasha? What have you been using as a last name?"

"Petrov. My story has been I've been waiting for my dear husband to finish at his old job before moving down here."

"But we wanted to get moved as soon as we could?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we? We have a beautiful cottage on the beach." Once the two arrive back at the cottage Smith steps towards the bedroom, "I'm going to get washed up. Do you mind starting dinner?"

"Not at all. I actually love to cook."