9 Puzzled Looks

Every time I witness a strong person; I want to Know-What darkness did you conquer in your story

Mountains do not rise without earthquakes"

KATHERINE MACKENETT

He looked at her with puzzlement, his eyes never leaving his for brief moment, she slowly averted her gaze as she placed the napkin on the counter and the kind bartender picked it up and threw it in a nearby trashcan, she gave her a grateful smile and looked back at the man whose gaze she held, because she knew he would take her to the person she spent the last eight years of her life tracking down.

He smiled at her, and she smiled back, this time she knew that before her was a mission, a target, the man who's currently on her radar. "Giovanni, pleasure to meet you", he extended his hand for a handshake which she not so happily returned. "Veronica, pleasure's all mine", knowing her real name could get her found out quicker if he were to escape tonight and let WildFire know that The Falcons were tracking him down.

She grasped the recorder that she had in her left hand really tight, scared that she may drop it, possibly make herself get caught, he brought her right hand up to his lips as she watched his every move, and gently kissed it, she inwardly gasped at this broad move and pretended to blush, clearing her throat as he steadily let go off her hand.

He smiled up at her, and she knew she had to slip this voice recorder somewhere and fast, this plan was turning into an epic fail and she reconsidered playing the bimbo charade, the type of one night stand kind of girls he leads up into his room, she had the recorder in her hand still, aimlessly looking around now as she planned what to do, in that moment another gentlemen came up to Giovanni, short, bald, stumpy, who would have thought gang leaders would look that hideous, stories made us believe they were basically God sent.

"I'll meet you in half an hour", the bald man nodded his head at Giovanni and proceeded to walk away. Giovanni's attention was back on her as she gave him a curt smile.

"I'm sorry darling, how about we take this up to my room, where it's a little quieter", she swallowed the bile that was rising up her throat and graciously put her hand into his extended ones, the smile she gave him, probably didn't look all that enthusiastic but he seemed to be more than grateful that an actual female didn't refuse his request of leading a conversation up to his bedroom. she merely nodded and he began walking towards a staircase, with Emma in pursuit behind him.

Ascending the stairs from down the club area, made her stomach knot ten times more than when she had to go into the arena to knock out some sleazebag from existence, and come to think about it, that's what she wanted to do at this point, and can someone remind her why she was still holding this recorder in her hand?

If the situation had been any different she'd probably have planted this recorder in his briefcase and called it a night. They soon arrived at a very exclusive looking suite that looked more like a mini house, at the far end of the wall laid a lush two seater white loveseat.

Everything was so pure and white, it was hard to say some gang leaders right hand man actually kind of lived here, he motioned for her to take a seat, which she did, it gave her the time to really look at this apartment, red cushions lay sprawled between the loveseats, glass interior windows looking down towards the piles of people at the bottom floor, it's probably a one way glass, allowing someone to see outside but denying them the chance to see inside, up here, in the moment of her stupidity, she thought of a plan better than the one she had thought of earlier, she glanced at the man, who was now standing right before her as she somewhat had a chance to decide what she had to say to him, she planted the recorder ever so slowly under the red cushion that was placed beside her and waited for him to catch her in the process, but it seemed his eyes weren't fixed on what she was doing but more towards the fact that he was glancing behind her, she slowly turned around and an enormous mirror hung on the white wall behind her.

The man, who had previously conversed with Giovanni was in her view as she slowly looked forward again, the mafia leader infront of her turned his back towards her and was now looking at the bald guy he brushed off earlier. "Emilio, I asked for a little more time have I not?", he sneered, he clearly looked frustrated but the guy whose name is Emilio just smiled, he brushed off Giovanni like it wasn't the first time he defied Giovanni.

"Ah that you did but I do apologize, we need to discuss the problem, before you know who arrives tomorrow, and he won't appreciate you rolling in the sheets with some wench instead of addressing his matters and considering it feeble next to.....that", Emilio clearly disliked her, and he made no effort in trying to hide his distaste, referring to her as a that instead of the woman that she is, she'd rather enjoy ripping his tongue from his mouth for that sexist remark she thought, she would show him that she was no wench when he'd be gargling his own blood, but she refrained herself as she was here to gather information and given the possible chance, stab him on her way out, he sounded like someone out of a pirate movie with his vocabulary, no pun intended by the way, "Give us a moment darling, I need to discuss a few matters with my colleague over here", Emma gave him a genuine smile, hoping they don't end up finding that recorder she had placed under that plush red cushion, and walked out the lavish room into his study that he directed her towards, she closed the door behind her but made sure to press her ear against the door to listen to what the meeting was about.

Their voices were muffled but luckily she planted that recorder there, she could bet Jake would be screaming what a dumb smart move, to think they would have made each room sound proof given they have their secret meetings up here, and to think her team would have atleast given her some sort of ear piece that would allow me to communicate with them, then again what can one expect from dimwits that secretly don't really make plans, and yes she knew she was one of those idiots because she walked in here not knowing where her plan was actually going or how it was going to play out.

Emma decided to take advantage of this situation and scout the area, maybe he kept documents or something regarding Wildfire's transactions and who he met throughout the week, like a diary or a journal. She shuffled through the bookshelf, absolutely nothing, next the draws, nothing there but a bunch of payments made for the club, but what caught her eye was a folder sticking out the armchair, now who would hide something so stupidly at that, over there, grabbing the folder, she opened it and began taking pictures of it, lucky she decided to wear a pant instead of a dress, and the boys thought she was a buffoon. Emma quickly finished off and decided to pry more, maybe she could hear something if they were loud enough.

Hearing footsteps she backed away from the door as fast as she could and grabbed the nearest book of the bookshelf and sat down on the brown arm chair, and to her dismay it was none other than Giovanni wearing that annoyingly stupid smile of his. "I guess your meeting is over?", she pried. He merely nodded and extended his hand once again for the tenth time this evening, he led her back towards the couch she was sitting on and suddenly a knock sounded at the door.