Finally coming out of my thoughts, I stand up to grab my phone and check the time. I still have 15 minutes until Brandon was scheduled to arrive. I'm restless and sad, as I always am when I think about the boys and especially that night. Knowing how important tonight is, I have to refocus back on the mission I needed to conduct. I can't afford to become distracted. This might be my only chance to finally find out who is running this show and shut it down.
I walk over to the folder sitting on the desk I have in the corner of the living room, deciding to reread through the guest list and the short bios of everyone expected to be attending tonight. There are two in particular I consider likely to be involved with Ouroboros. They are both successful businessmen who own legitimate companies. During a check though, Corey had discovered several unidentified deposits in their individual bank accounts that didn't seem to come from their regular business operations.
James Metcalfe came from a long line of a family succession to own and operate Metcalfe Industries. They were involved in several ventures, but mining was their biggest and where they had gotten their start. Originally Metcalfe Industries had several mines that were looking for gold and other precious metals, but now they primarily dealt in mining for natural gas. He had mines all throughout the Midwest U.S. While the company was very successful and James was exceptionally wealthy, there had been rumors that he couldn't keep a wife because of his more deviant sexual persuasions.
Tom Bennett had a less successful start in life. He came from modest means and had grown his own company from the ground up. Bennett Enterprises started out in real estate, buying and flipping houses, then apartment buildings, and then corporate buildings that they lease out to other companies. Tom had expanded it by acquiring several competing businesses and now was the largest real estate corporation in the southeast. His net worth was quite a bit less than Metcalfe's but still a healthy amount. While there weren't any prevalent rumors about his personal preferences, the deposits in his account that Corey had found seemed to match what we had discovered in Metcalfe's, so he was on my list.
The others on the list seemed innocent, but I would keep my eyes open for any suspicious behavior. Tonight I am attending the event as Brandon's date, playing a girl he had recently met while on a business trip to Florida. My role is to play as slightly ditzy and, after pretending to get drunk, flirt with my two targets and somehow let it slip that I was nervous about my date because I'm still a virgin. I'm also to subtly let them know that I had no close family that missed me back home, hopefully setting myself up as a target.
I dressed for my part, wearing a long seemingly modest white strapless dress but the long slit that appeared when I walked would offer teasing glances of my legs. My hair is swept up off my neck and the only jewelry I'm wearing is the pair of pink earrings that doubled as wireless microphones to record conversations I had and transmit them to the small recorder in my pink clutch purse. I had to give up my shyness long ago with the type of missions I'm required to take, but I know tonight is going to be exhausting and another bad dream likely awaited me when I could hit my pillow afterwards.
Finally, there's a knock on the door. I glance down at the phone in my hand and notice it's 8:07. Brandon had been scheduled to arrive at 8, and it is unusual for him to not be punctual. Figuring there must be some unexpected traffic tonight, I'm sliding my phone in my clutch while I open the door. "You're late," I say as I start sliding my eyes up the tuxedoed form in front of me when I hear a sharp gasp.
I look up into eyes that had haunted me for the last six years...