Ioana Musca Ch. 02

"They'll sort everyone and ship them out from one main site. They have already setup a cover in the building beforehand, and generally have some lackeys who know nothing useful kick back and maintain cover for a few days after, monitoring our investigation. We're hoping to get what we need before you get sorted and shipped out. If not-we'll watch the building from a distance, but not interfere without a sign-any kind of sign. If this is the right place, these are the blueprints, and you need to memorize these as once you're shipped out of here we will probably lose you." Max warned.

"Right now the buildings set up into various offices and storage space, with a few scattered management apartments within. If all else fails memorize your exits. We need intel, computer information, the names of who's running these operations, major players, any locations, something--anything that will help us shut them down-permanently. Any questions?" Max asked, looking right at Ioana.

"I get the what, the how, the who, the when. I'm working on the where."

"Well this is the building's blueprints-" He started again.

"No. You might be able to look at that jumble of blue lines and remember what's where. I won't. So do you mind if I keep that map?"

"Well how long do you think you'll need to memorize it?" Max asked.

"No I mean keep it."

"Like, what?" Max asked confused. In response she reached out and touched the map. She just sort of sucked the map into her palm, right off the table. The supporting agents gasped. "Wait, you can store things inside you?"

"Well, small things."

"Like how small?"

"Like whatever would fit in my stomach."

"But wouldn't your stomach acid eat it?" Sarah asked.

"I said that for size reference. I could technically store it anywhere without it affecting my organs. Where your body would attack cells not of its own, mine accepts it. Viruses and colds to me are just particles. Small things I can hold fine, larger things hurt and I have to concentrate on then. And if I fall asleep big stuff will fall out."

"So you could store computer disks or chips or some files?" Max asked sitting back in his chair.

"If I needed to." She released the map into her hands again. "Certain things are more tiresome than others, these are little things, like running up a flight of stairs quickly kind of tiring. Having it inside I can actually feel the difference chemically in the ink levels, being able to read it without seeing it." Their jaws nearly dropped. "I guess I wasn't that clear on my gifts after all."

" 'I can merge with anything living or non-living' kind of covers it." Max said, rubbing his hand through his hair. "I just didn't think of that. So you can wear an ear bud or mic inside you and be completely undetected."

"Yep. But to be useful I would have to bring it to the surface of my body, and I'm pretty sure if they check for signals I can't block it.

"Well that clears up tracking if not communications." Max responded.

"One question." Kyle asked. Max looked over at him somewhat surprised.

"If I want to talk to the team, do I talk to your chest?" He ducked the balled up blueprint that came sailing at him as the table roared with laughter, but she was giggling too.

-

"Ready to go shopping?" Kyle asked.

"Huh?"

"Honey, tempting as you are, you can't use jeans and a t-shirt as a costume."

"I might have some options in my closet."

"Do I get to watch you try them on." He waggled his eyebrows in suggestion.

"Nope." She said but she smiled at him.

"Do I get hints?"

"If you're good." She took the helmet he offered her as she hopped on the bike behind him, feeling a medley of emotions. Excitement, fear, anxiety, hope. She preferred to let him take the lead on the mission until she would be captured. Over the course of her stay there she had grown to like him. He was patient and gentle with her. He teased her getting her to smile, or teased her getting her angry. But he made her feel alive. And he hadn't made any move suggesting she was more than a student, a co-worker. Now she had to pretend to be his date-for-hire. She was nervous, mostly because it wasn't all a charade. She thought about it on the way to her apartment, deciding to pick out something from her closet guaranteed to attract his eye as well as the other males in the room. Show the dutiful Kyle Sutherland that the good girl could be bad too. Now she hoped she'd get an idea going through her closet.

As soon as she let them into the apartment she started towards her bedroom. He stopped her as he kicked closed the door and with a gentle hand on her shoulder, spun her around, pulling her slowly into his arms, testing her reaction. She was confused, but excited, unsure of what to expect, but she was watching his lips instead of his eyes. He leaned forward, spanning the short distance to taste her lips. It was a gentle kiss, a welcoming, a sweet exploration. She sighed into his mouth and his tongue entered hers, tasting her, tempting her to taste him. And she did. A shiver ran down her back as she angled her head. He broke off for air, still holding her.

"I've been thinking about nothing but that for days." He admitted rubbing one hand down the length of her spine.

"I've been dreaming about that for days." She whispered against his skin.

"It's not good to get emotionally involved. Or so Max would warn you."

"He asked us to do a lot more, in public too."

"Good thing we got natural chemistry then." He leaned forward to kiss her again, but she pulled back.

"You were worried I wouldn't be able to act intimate in public." She realized.

"A little." He admitted. "A little worried you wouldn't want to kiss me, and that it would show."

"And now you know?" She asked, even more confused. Did he kiss her to test her, or to taste her for himself. Because she cared about the difference, the difference was much more drastic. She bit her lip, waiting, hoping he would understand what she didn't and couldn't explain.

"Now-I just want more. But I don't want to scare you off either." He reluctantly let her go. "And I'm looking forward to giving you my undivided attention over dinner." It wasn't what she wanted to hear, but she was sure going to make it a dinner he wouldn't forget. She headed into her bedroom, closing the door and rummaging through her closet.

She had some dresses that were both elegant and sexy, but not with quite the shocking effect she was aiming for. She wanted something that would make him drool or pant, or both. She closed the closet doors and opened her lingerie drawer. It was something she treated herself to once in a while. She liked wearing beautiful things that were also comfortable, and her lingerie was as carefully chosen as her dresses for being unusual, elegant, and beautiful. Only the lingerie was also downright sinfully sexy. She pulled out a long opaque strappy black silk gown. It could pass as a dress-barely. It covered more skin than it exposed-barely, and hinted at the rest. She rolled it up and placed it in a bag with a pair of matching high heeled shoes then left her bedroom.

"Got what you need?"

"For clothes. Ah-ah-ah! She warned when he moved to inspect the bag. "No peeking." She grabbed a thin coat and tossed it on top of the bag, watching him carefully as she packed a make-up and hair product bag. She put everything in a duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder for the ride back to headquarters, where she would finish getting ready.

-

Sara was holding a mirror while Ioana finished curling her hair into loose ringlets to later tie into a loose updo when Kyle walked around the corner, dressed in a suit, his hair gelled. "Meet you there." He dipped Ioana, soliciting giggles out of her as her tummy turned into a champagne factory. He kissed her hard and deep, forcing her to accept his presence and thoroughly enjoy it before righting her again.

"Don't make me wait too long."

"Don't worry. I'll make up for it when I meet up with you." She teased. He left but she was still smirking. Sara said nothing, but she was watching Ioana with her eyebrows raised. Ioana quickly applied her makeup, then went to the bathroom to slip into her dress, which didn't allow room for undergarments, stept into her shoes, then threw on her coat hiding most of the dress before rejoining the group.

"A little more modest than I would have picked out." Sara said when Ioana opened the coat revealing the front. "But the shoes are killer, and the silk's pretty thin. You have the body to work with it." Ioana smiled slightly as none of them knew about the true shape of the dress as its secrets were hidden by the coat. They outfitted her with a tiny earpiece that she wouldn't be keeping, a necklace hiding a mic, and a tracking monitor which she sucked into herself and loaded her into the cab.

(Be patient, more to come...Stay tuned for Chapter 3...As always Comments Suggestions and Votes are appreciated.)