Try to get it now?

You're not quite out of the room yet, there's still a little bit of time until the driver arrives to pick the Van Lewens up. It'll be about half an hour so the three older people decide to mingle a bit in the lobby. You tell them you'll catch up, that you want to double check your things to make sure that you didn't forget anything. Accepting this they walk out and you immediately dive under the bed. You fish out the skin of Bob Foxworth, then his clothes. You place your hand in the pocket of his pants and pull out the fake Bloom which you deposit into Alexis' purse. You then gather up the skin and clothes and head down the hall to room 302 where, after getting past the lock, you dress the skin in its clothes and then zap it.

It reinflates and Bob soon reappears though unconscious. He regains it in a matter of moments and looks around confused. After a bit of talking, you've convinced him that he collapsed and he says that it happens, he thanks you. Satisfied you duck out of the room thinking you're in the clear when a voice from your right calls out to you.

"Miss Van Lewen, what were you doing coming out of room 302?"

You turn to see Anya Martinez, one of the many staff at the resort. She's a pretty young woman not terribly older than yourself, both you and Alexis, about 19 or so. Alexis and her had chatted a little bit during previous stays by the Van Lewens. She comes from the complete opposite background but Alexis found her to be kind of cool so she made it a point to talk to her. Unfortunately talking to her is something you don't want to do right now but you need an excuse.

"Oh, um, hi Anya it's just..." you think back. The memories you had of Bob have already mostly faded. But you do remember that he has diabetes so... "I was coming out of my room and I saw him walk out of his room and he just... collapsed. So I ran over to help him, he gave me his card to get in, and I stayed with him for a few minutes."

"Oh no, that's horrible!" Anya exclaims in shock. "That's Mr. Foxworth's room. He told us ahead of time that he's diabetic so perhaps..."

"He told me that it happens. Some times he gets lightheaded and can't stand." you reply, "But he told me he was alright and that's when you saw me coming out of his room."

"Madre, but you're such a kind girl Alexis." Anya replies giving you a smile. If you weren't on assignment, if you were on a bit of a break, you definitely wouldn't mind becoming her. "Thank you so much for helping Mr. Foxworth. I'll go in and just double check to make sure everything is alright with him though."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all Anya. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I stood around." you say with a kind smile.

Once she goes into the room you let out a small breath. That was close but some quick thinking, and Alexis' natural kindness, got you out of that one. You pull your phone out of your purse, about 15 minutes in total have passed, so you head out to rejoin the Van Lewens in the lobby. The driver soon comes, right on time as he usually is. His name is Donald, an older man who has served as the Van Lewens' main chauffeur for the past 25 years. A comforting sight to all of them, most of all Marcus who appreciates his punctuality.

Once the resort is the distance you then turn to Marcus. "Daddy, could we stop by the bank?" you ask him.

He gives you a quizzical look. "Stop by the bank? What for?"

"I want to look at my gift." you reply, "All of the excitement and seeing Miss Vincent with that... that fake made me appreciate the real one even more."

"Alexis, darling, you can look at that gem any time you want." Clarissa says, "Later. Right now I just want to get home and not sit around while you admire that thing for a few minutes."

"But mom!" you protest, whine really, "You can just drop me off. Abby will be there and I haven't seen her in a while. I can just get her to bring me home."

"Abigail...?" Clarissa asks in exasperation, "I swear, you and her..."

"I saw Anya today too, right before I left, so that got me thinking of her." you say.

Clarissa cocks an eyebrow. "Her? Alexis, dear, I've told you that you need friends your own age and of your own social strata."

"Come on, honey. She does like talking to her." Marcus says.

You look over at him expectantly in a puppy dog fashion. "Please daddy?" you ask.

He looks at you and smiles. Like the memories told you, a total princess. "Sure thing honey. Just tell Abigail it's the usual arrangement."

"Oh thank you, daddy! You're the best!" you exclaim giving him a hug.

You hear Clarissa huff, "I swear, Marcus, you spoil her."

"Must be great being daddy's girl, huh?" Daniel asks in a sarcastic manner. You just look at him and stick your tongue out.

* * * * *

Being a weekend the bank is relatively slow with only light staff and a small amount of patrons. "Alexis, how are you?" the greeter, a nice looking young man, says to you with a beaming smile.

"Oh hi Ethan. I'm good." you smile back, "Is Abby here today?"

"Abs? Yeah she should be here. Usual spot." he replies.

"Thanks Ethan." you say as you walk by. You walk through to the back of the bank greeted by tellers and even a few of the regulars. Alexis' presence in the bank is itself a fairly regular thing and she has a tendency to brighten up the room. You wave and greet back and eventually make your way to a desk where a young woman clacks away at her keyboard. She's a bit of a contracdiction, a mousey face framed by hair and with a pert nose and glasses to finish off the thing. It would make her look cute. But her body... her chest is practically straining her blouse and as Ethan called her, her usual nickname is Abs due to, well, her rock hard abs. Alexis is the only one who calls her Abby.

"Hey Abby!" you exclaim cheerfully as you walk up next to her desk. She looks at you in surprise for a moment and then smiles. You feel yourself blush a bit. Mentally you smack yourself. That's out of character, a total rookie mistake.

Although if it's out of character Abby doesn't seem to notice. "Oh, hi Alexis! I didn't know you were coming buy today. You here to check out that gift?"

You nod. "Yeah, and to hang out with you a bit. Daddy said it was the usual arrangement so if you want to grab something to eat afterwards..." you say and blush even more. That's when you realize that it's actually not out of character. This girl has a rather large crush on Abby. That means... oh man.

She stands up and leads you into the bank vault area where all the safe deposit boxes are. After closing and locking the door she opens one, there's a keypad inside, and enters a combination of numbers. The floor in the center begins to part and revealing a staircase leading to a sub-basement where the gem is stored. "C'mon, gimme your hand. You know it's a bit dark and it's my salary if you hurt yourself." You take it and your face turns crimson.

Eventually though there's a large vault door with one last keypad. You enter the number, Abby doesn't know this one and isn't allowed inside, and step in while the door closes automatically. You quickly scope out the inside of the vault. No cameras or anything. Of course not, who could get down here? And there, on a pedestal in the center of the vault, is the Scarlet Bloom. The real deal. You admire it and then remove the fake from your purse. You hold it up next to it: it's a great fake but the real one has just a bit more of a gleam. Carefully you remove a cloth from your purse which you use to pick the Bloom up, you then, fake still in the other hand, place the fake onto the holder where the real deal had been. You then carefully wrap up the Bloom and place it in your purse.

You idle for a couple of moments and then enter the exit code.

"You get your fill today, Alexis?" Abby asks and you nod. "Good. Oh and about that lunch? How about we get some kangaroo steak."

That pauses you dead in your tracks. "Kangaroo steak", that's the code for your handler. "Only if we can get some kiwi milkshakes." you give the approved reply.

Abby's face breaks into a smile. "Well done rookie."

You give her a look. "How'd you figure it out? Does this mean I fail?"

Abby laughs a bit. "Rookie, I've been doing this for 20 years. I can spot an agent no matter how well they think they can disguise themselves. That's why I'm assigned to as a field handler for the graduation missions. Anyone else, including the real Abby? You'd have fooled 'em completely. This was less about getting the jewel than about how you handled a delicate situation, how you reacted to unknowns and things going south, how you improvised and appraised. It wasn't about the end result but the lead up, that's why we had you get the jewel when we could've gotten it any time, and I have to say you did well. Damn well. Using kid was an especially inspired touch."

"Oh, well thanks." you reply.

"Don't mention it. Actually, it's a real good thing you're the girl right now 'cause we've got another assignment for you. A Type 1 assignment." she says and you nearly spittake. "The school she goes to? Saint Siena's? We had a Type 3 in there, long term deep cover agent to keep an eye on the place. It's a school for super-rich kids like the girl here so it's a great listening post. Only we think the agent went rogue. We need someone to go in, find the agent, and eliminate 'em and since you're already a student..."

Abby, or the person in her skin, notices your expression.

"Of course you don't have to. We give agents the option of taking a day off inbetween assignments. We can get someone else in no problem. It's up to you."

(Author: rugal b.)