Agent Rogue: Espionage

Chapter 7

We gathered in Rodriguez's office only hours after Derek's revelation: me, him, Scotty, Collins, Davis, and the Director himself. Derek had only been on the night-shift with Rodriguez and Collins, and the three of them were already yawning even after I handed out the takeaway coffee cups.

          I threw the cardboard holder in the recycling bin. "What do we know?"
The Director set down his coffee atop the mahogany desk. "From the list of names Collins gave us, Barnes managed to identify the event Sienna will be attending at the end of the month."
"Seven identified Guild members are attending a masked ball in Monaco on the twenty-eighth of June," Derek added. "The guestlist is public, so I read through it and, low and behold, guess who was on it?"
I swallowed. "Sienna."
A nod. "Sienna."

          "So we have her?" Davis pushed off from his position by the window. "We run in, grab her and go?"
Scotty scoffed. "If we want to die, then yeah."
"You see, that was my first thought," Derek said. When he saw my critical face, he laughed. "Which is why I thought to leave the plan to the rest of us."
"Mainly the smart ones," Scotty boasted, giving me a nudge.
"Where is this event?" I asked.
Rodriguez checked a notepad on his desk as Collins headed for a file cabinet. "The Fleur D'or," he read. "It's owned by a Guild member by the name of Emile Laurent. He's one of the richer members, and actually holds some legitimacy, meaning his events have never been shut down by authorities."
"He also has many contacts within the police." Collins lifted a rolled-up paper from the cabinet and pushed it shut. "If we cause any problems at his ball, they will come running."
We gathered around the desk as Collins unrolled the paper: floorplans of the Fleur D'or. I leaned over, straightening out the edge. "Which means we have to be discreet."

          The main entrance of the building led into a foyer, with stairs to both the left and right. You had to walk through the centre to get into the main ballroom. From there, the left door led to a private bar, while the right was kept out of bounds for guests, reserved for security and storage, with one room labelled as 'the vault.'

          "We could secure an invite," Derek suggested.
I shook my head. "The guestlist's public. If Sienna catches us on it, we could lose another year of progress. We have to get in some other way."
Scotty snorted. "How about we get Amber in wonder-woman style?"
"Rob a dress and chuck a guest in a car?" Derek humoured.
"Yeah! Then stick a sword down her back and—"
"This is serious," Collins snapped. "Miss Li has secondhandedly caused the deaths of hundreds. Maintain some concentration."

          Silence. Davis expelled a lengthy sigh to fill it as the rest of us shifted. Derek and I shared an uncomfortable glance while Scotty turned red.

          I cleared my throat, eager to move on. "We need a realistic approach. Any suggestions?"
Scotty furrowed his brows. "How many cameras?" he asked Collins.
He exhaled. "A lot. I have been unable to identify them all."
"I'll have a look later. See if I can cut them off to get us inside."
"By which door?" Davis asked.
"Not a door," I said. My fingers tapped the far-right of the floorplan: the storage room. "No-one will be in there. We climb in through the window."
"That gives us access to the security room down the corridor," Scotty added. "If you lot can clear it, I can seize control of the building's eyes and watch out for any trouble."

          "Right." I let out a breath. "We have our entrance if you can shut the cameras down while we climb in through the window. But how do we get hold of Sienna? It's almost a guarantee she'll have security."
Scotty crossed his arms. "Not to mention Veronica."

          We pondered in silence. Sienna was gambling for Marcus's funds: we needed them to slow down his work, and the player herself to track him down. We couldn't play for it – Sienna recognised Derek, Scotty and I from Cyprus, and Collins from her interrogation.