Courting Danger (closed for SweetAsSuga)

[LongshanksSierra]

The Pierce Building was eighty floors of egotism and ostentation in the heart of Manhattan, so naturally it fit right in with its next-door neighbors. The first ten floors were commercial in nature; high-end stores and business front offices. The next thirty floors were corporate office complexes for a variety of international firms. Floors forty through seventy housed a residential area for luxury apartments. Floors seventy-one through seventy-eight contained the offices of Pierce Industries, and were only accessible through an elevator transfer on floor seventy. The top two floors crowing the glass-encrusted tower were the sole property of the building's owner, infamous entrepreneur and industrialist, Mr. Jonathan Pierce. Those floors were only accessible from a single elevator from floor seventy-eight. It was rumored that there was an express elevator from the underground parking garage, but it did not show on any floor-plan.

Currently the focus of the Pierce Building's impressive security department was on the ballroom on floor sixty-five. Over two-hundred of the New York upper crust were in the process of raising funds for some odd charity via a 'Monte Carlo' night. There was low murmur from card tables offering Black Jack and Hold 'Em Poker, shouts of enthusiasm from Craps tables, and the clicking of turning wheels from Roulette. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were changing hands at the moment, and while that was interesting enough there were actually also more important matters to attend to.

T. "Cooler" Shannon visibly inspected his bow tie in a full length mirror to ensure it was properly seated on his collar. His black tuxedo was impossibly cut, fitted extremely well to his frame. Cooler enjoyed the attention he was receiving from most of the socialites in attendance. The air of mystery he was cultivating was carefully tailored to his cover persona. Most of the women here would tell themselves they could believe he was a spy, or assassin, or some such nonsense; while they actually believed he was just a corporate executive or trust-fund inheritor. Wrapping their small minds around a familiar lie was far easier than accepting an exciting truth.

Cooler was here for Mr. Jonathan Pierce. Well, more directly he was here for Pierce's safe on the penthouse floors. Pierce had amassed an amazing fortune (often it was rumored, through less than scrupulous business practices), and had then reinvested in one of his great loves. Artwork. After learning of Mr. Pierce's acquisition of a rare gem known as the Eye of Horus, Cooler made his way to New York with one thing on his mind. Of course after two months of careful, pains-taking development… Cooler was only marginally closer to laying his hands on his prize. The only thing more impressive than Pierce’s bank accounts was his obsessive paranoia.

The “Great” Cooler, one of the most renown thieves in the world, was practically at a standstill. He was currently rehashing his problems when a cold shiver crept slowly down his spine. Cooler’s eyes had been moving over the lovely form of a particularly stunning beauty, when he came to sudden realization that he knew her. Well, that he knew who she was. Or perhaps it was actually that he knew of who she had been. Sort of.

Six months ago her name had been floating around the streets of Budapest. Cooler had noticed her one night at an exclusive club, and had been quickly warned away by one of his contacts. She was trouble. No, she was ‘Trouble.’ Cooler hadn’t been given any firm info, but that only seemed to confirm the whispers. Later that night a Russian Mafiso had been killed at that club. No witnesses, no evidence, no leads, no anything.

Cooler ran through a mental list of all possible targets for assassination in the room tonight, then reduced it by all the names that wouldn’t rate the price she would merit. The list wasn’t that long, but Cooler felt his luck was just that bad and reduced it further. She was likely here for Mr. Jonathan Pierce as well. Cooler pulled at his collar and swallowed. He knew it was unlikely that if Pierce suddenly ended up dead the Eye of Horus would find its way into his hands any time soon. Cooler began another mental list, this one of all his options.

First, he could do nothing but continue with his plans and hope for the best. He dismissed that out of hand. Second, he could walk away completely and forego the heist entirely. He threw that out as well. Third, he could try to get her out of the way. This had few positive outcomes. Even if he didn’t attack her outright, she wouldn’t take kindly to him getting in her way. Next, he could kill her. Well, he could try to kill her. Chances of succeeding were slim; and Security would get antsy if any unexpected bodies turned up. But that might also work to his advantage as she likely wouldn’t take the risk of trying to kill him outright either. Process of elimination complete, Cooler sighed at his sole remaining option. Cooler couldn’t ignore her and he couldn’t get rid of her, so that left staying close enough to keep an eye on her. He had enough respect for her skills to admit that if he started tailing her, she would likely notice and take offense. Resigning himself, Cooler straightened his tie, put on a charming smile, and walked over.

 

[SweetAsSuga]

Fifty feet of space filled by three hundred witnesses and twenty security guards placed strategically throughout the room. Mere obstacles in the success of her mission. Eliza Cooper scanned the crowd with a cool eye. Several men met her gaze as she looked them over, checking for the telltale bump of a gun underneath their jacket, their smirks were enough to make her want to vomit. A woman alone was never safe. Undoubtedly at least half of them thought her a high end escort. Moving gracefully through the crowd, Eliza made her way towards the target, one Mr. Jonathon Pierce.

The hit had come across her encrypted email a day ago. A message with only two words in it. Jonathon Pierce. No hint as to who had hired her or for what reason they wanted Pierce dead. But that was the way she liked it. Eliza didn't want specifics, she didn't want to know anything other than what she was getting paid. So now here she was, two cyanide capsules hidden amongst the diamonds on her bracelet. All she needed to do was pass her hand over Pierce's drink, let the capsules fall in, and the job was done.

Her eyes caught the gaze of a man across the room. He was familiar to her, someone she had heard of and crossed paths with once or twice. Of course they had never met each other, most people in their unique lines of work tended to stay away from others like them, but she knew of him, knew his reputation. She paused. He was after something here, something that had to do with Pierce. But what? And if he got his hands on whatever he was after before she got to Pierce, she would never complete her mission.

Eliza's options were few. Of course she could close the distance between herself and Pierce and hope to complete the job before any alarms sounded. But that would require her to move quickly, too quickly to escape any undue notice. Or she could abandon the job for that night and complete it another day, but she ran the risk of losing all hopes of anonymity. She had chosen the party strictly for the fact that she could blend into the crowd. One busty blonde in a tight dress was the same as any other after all. And then there was her third option. The two of them could join up and complete both their tasks at the same time.

It was obvious this man was going through the same scenarios in his own head as his expression suddenly hardened as if he had come to a decision. She saw him move towards her and, with her own mind made up, she took the steps to close the distance between them.

"Well there you are, honey," she said, placing her hand on his arm, "I've been looking everywhere for you."