A door swung open behind her. “Door three, then.” She’d have to skip any additional eavesdropping as the hallway became less private.

“I’m going to order up my dance now,” Cael said.

“Ask for Kate. She’s sweet.”

Lily’s groan came through with perfect clarity. Charley smiled at her exasperation. One of these days.

The flat paneled door, labeled with gold vinyl, didn’t fit the rest of the club’s interior of color and bright art. “Here we go.” She pushed the unlatched door open. Anticipation warred with duty. She knew she had to play the part, so as the door creaked, she slithered up the frame, one hand extended beyond the top.

“Hello.” Her moan escaped as the guy stared back at her from the corner of the room.

“That isn’t one of the guys Candie described,” James said.

The room, decorated from top to bottom in red, reminded Charley of the inside of a mouth. A wide bed draped in satin of the same red took center stage, flanked by two couches on either side, with little to no leg room. Someone has bad design skills.

“Am I in the right room?” She added a deliberate purr to her voice.

The man before her nodded; his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down once, hard. He waved her toward the bed. “They… uh… they’ll be here in a moment.” He clenched his hands together and licked his lips.

Charley ambled to the bed, sat in its center. She crossed one leg over the other, leaned back on her hands and turned to give James and Lily a complete picture.

“The red might have been a better choice,” Lily said.

Voices grew louder outside the room.

“That them?” She leaned forward to adjust what little she could and raised her hands to fluff her curls.

He shrugged.

“Remember the goal, Charley,” James said.

“I’m in the back, bay four,” Cael said. His voice came through her earpiece and the wall.

“The walls are thin in here, aren’t they?” Charley said for Cael’s benefit.

Two beads of sweat adorned the silent man’s forehead.

“Nervous?” she asked. “Here to watch or participate?”

He shook his head.

The clip of heels, her trill ‘hello’ and a giggle told Charley that Kate joined Cael.

“What is taking so long?” Wyatt asked.

“No idea,” James said.

“What’s your name, big boy?” Charley asked through puckered lips. She crossed and uncrossed her legs a la Sharon Stone.

He shook his head again.

“I don’t like the feel of this,” James said.

Through the walls, Kate and Cael laughed. What had he said to her?

The man checked his watch, pulled on his tie, and crossed his ankles as he leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets.

“Married?” Charley caught sight of his wedding band. “That’s okay by me. Should we start without them?”

He ignored her.

“Wyatt, you need to-” James began.

Charley tuned him out as the quiet steps of rubber against tile made their way in quick succession and stopped at her door.

She adjusted to a more casual position, recrossed her legs and dangled her foot.

“What took you so lon-” She stopped, tensed.

“Hello, Candie.” One walked through the door, followed by a second.

They stood, shoulder to shoulder. Unmistakable. Their suits shone with the silk that infused the weave, shirts half buttoned, ties askew and smiles derisive.

“Oh my god.” Lily’s words echoed Charley’s thoughts.

“What?” Wyatt’s whisper hissed.

“Get them to the hotel, Charley,” James said. “Wyatt, get over here.”

“Not until I know she’s safe!”

“Do it now, Wyatt. She won’t have any problem convincing them,” James said. “Cael, wrap it up with that girl.”

“Hi again.” Charley plastered a shy smile on her face.

With one finger, she motioned them forward. The one on the right did as she expected. His cologne permeated the room, the very same fragrance he’d worn so long ago.

He approached unabated. She stood and met him halfway.

“Don’t do it, Charley,” James said.

With one hand, she grabbed his lapel and pulled him forward, let him put his hands behind her back and lean over her. His mouth crushed hers before she could speak.

“Damn. She did it,” James said.

“Did what?” Wyatt asked. “What the fuck did she do?”

“Get over here, Wyatt!” James said.

Charley let their contact savor, let him feel, let him touch, so he’d know. When he broke their lip-lock, she pointed to the silent man still in the corner.

“An associate,” he said. “Scram.”

The man scurried like a rat from a cage.

“I have a better place if you buy me for the night.” She kept her eyes fixed on his.

His eyebrow raised. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded.

“Buy her for the night, Kevin.” The second man disappeared through the door.

“Small world.” Charley straightened.

“What are you doing, Charley?” Wyatt hissed through the earpiece.

13

“What the fuck is going on!” Wyatt checked for cars as he ran across the street to the hotel.

“You’ll see,” James said.

“I want to know now.” He slowed his pace as he entered the lobby, not bothering to rein in his outward signs of fury.

“Uh, no,” James said.

“Tell me, or you’re fired.”

James laughed.

The elevators wouldn’t come fast enough. He continued to listen for more from Charley and the two men she’d so easily convinced to buy her.

“Go to the left room,” James said. “Lily and I have moved everything over with the real Candie.”

When the doors opened, he rushed inside, pressed his floor button half a dozen times as if that would help.

James snickered. “Coulda taken the stairs.”

“Fuck off,” Wyatt said.

Charley held a one-way conversation which told Wyatt nothing about who she’d met-only that she’d meet them at the gentleman’s entrance in five minutes. Wyatt could only assume they had separated.

“What’s going on, Charley?”

He got no response.

When the doors opened again, he stepped onto the floor. Cael stopped him with one hand outstretched.

“How’d you get over here so fast?”

“Took the stairs,” Cael said.

James chuckled. “Told ya.”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but you gotta calm down. Charley knows what she’s doing, and if she went in for the kill that early, she knows a lot more than we do.”

“Weren’t you there? Right there? Couldn’t you hear anything?” Wyatt’s voice turned into a plea. He poked Cael in the chest.

“Not with that girl giggling in my ear and the music pumping like it was.” Cael removed Wyatt’s finger. “Trust her, man.”

Trust a woman he barely knew on an op that could mean his career? He knew his Director had lost his mind the moment he’d told him to hire Charley and her team, but he didn’t realize the extent of the senility until that moment.

Cael turned and led the way to their room.

While Wyatt paced, Cael, Lily and James busied themselves with prep work. The plan had moved far faster than expected.

Wyatt stood at the window and waited-lost in thought. How had she convinced him so quickly? Did she know him? Did he know her? Who did he know, Candie or Charley-and how could that be? The questions raced through his head, one after the other.

The girls said their goodbyes as Candie announced she had yet another private off-site. She called out her thanks and ‘see yas’ to them. A door opened and closed before her, ‘Hey boys’ registered. She must have met them outside the club. The click of her heels came before the three forms began their walk across the street.

She moves like a graceful tank. Two men flanked her, their long jackets floating behind them, eyes covered by shades despite the darkness of the hour. Charley’s face tilted up at the second floor. Does she see me?

Wyatt leaned back on the ledge, crossed his arms and tapped his toes with a nervous energy that flowed through his body.

“Relax, Wyatt,” Lily said. “Keep your eye on the monitors.”

Though the men remained silent, Charley kept them apprised. Lobby. Elevator. Hallway.

“Ready boys?” she asked with suggestive undertones as the key engaged the lock and the door swung open in front of her.

Wyatt trained his gaze on the monitor.

James moved outside to reprogram the lock so there’d be no unexpected entry or exit.

Wyatt continued to watch via video monitor as Charley brought them farther inside, offered them a drink, and let her jacket drop to the floor. The silver and blue outline of her attire covered very little.

Both men accepted a Scotch from the minibar, their faces in shadow.

Charley’s hip swayed right, her hands in her hair. She slipped to the left, reaching for the ties to her ensemble. One of the two excused himself to the bathroom.

“Show time, take two,” James said.

“Let me help you with your tie.” Charley crooned to the man seated on the bed. She moved close enough for his face to fill the screen.

“Holy shit.” Cael came up behind Wyatt.

Wyatt’s lips firmed into a tight grimace as he looked upon a face he knew all too well, yet not at all. How do they know him?


***

A crash, an ‘oomph’, and silence emanated from the bathroom.

Lily’s concoction works with magical timing.

The man on the bed looked up at Charley and mouthed all-too-familiar words. “Keep-my-cover.”

“I will,” she mouthed and closed her eyes. She added, “Keep mine,” but he’d already fallen backward to the bed.

When Wyatt stormed the room, Charley turned toward him from where she’d knelt. Her body shook as if she’d been chilled by the wind, yet the room hovered at a warm seventy-two degrees.