Page 22 of The Society (Spy Girl 3)
"And, by love you enough, do you mean, enough to give up my job?"
"Enough to help me save my country and the monarchy."
I take a deep breath and then smile at him. "It seems our goals are in alignment."
He picks me up and twirls me around. "You make me a very happy man," he says, sealing it with a kiss.
The Royal Ascot event is a lot of fun. We mingle in different tents, watch the royal processional, and choose our favorite horses.
Lorenzo completes his social obligations and suggests we go to our private box to dine.
When we get there, someone is waiting for us.
Intrepid.
"William Gallagher," Lorenzo says in greeting while shaking his hand.
He seems pleased by his presence, but he shouldn't be. I can tell by the look on Gallagher's face that this isn't a social call.
"Did you find the money man?" I ask once the pleasantries have been completed.
"Yes, and although I hate to take you away from all the pomp and circumstance, we have a small window of opportunity to get close to him."
"And what exactly is going to happen?" Lorenzo asks.
"It's probably best if you don't know the details," Gallagher replies, which causes Lorenzo to grimace.
He sternly looks at me. "When should I expect to see you back in London?"
I glance at Gallagher in question.
"I hope it will be over in less than twenty-four hours," Gallagher says.
Lorenzo takes a step toward me and pulls me into his arms. "You will come back to me?"
I nod because I'm afraid, if I say anything, I will start crying. Blackwood Academy was right about emotional entanglement.
A waiting helicopter quickly ferries us back to London. Intrepid doesn't speak to me at all during the ride, probably because he can't speak freely in front of the pilots. After we land, he leads me to a sleek silver Aston Martin and presses a key fob, unlocking the doors.
"Tell me what we have to do," I say.
He swallows deeply. "We've just learned that the money man has a fetish. One we will be exploiting."
"What kind of fetish?"
"He buys young girls from human traffickers," he says, shaking his head. "I've been studying the man. He lives in a virtual fortress and has numerous guards."
"You want him to buy me, so I can get to him from the inside?"
"That's the plan, yes."
"But you don't like it?" I ask.
William seems thoroughly upset by this. "Do you know much about human trafficking?"
"I know it needs to be stopped."
He nods in agreement as he starts the car, backs out of the car park, and moves into the flow of traffic. "We arrested a man yesterday who knows the money man. He was so afraid of the money man's ruthlessness that he hung himself before we could glean much information from him."
"Okay, I get it. The money man is not a nice guy. What else do you know?"
"He has specific tastes in girls. While many men who buy sex slaves want them very young or virgins, he's the opposite. He likes rough, street-hardened bad girls. That's all we got out of the man we arrested. Our tech people, however, were able to break into his smartphone and discovered there will be an auction today. Since the arrested man won't be showing up, we're hoping it won't tip him off that something is awry. Obviously, we want him to buy you. That will get you into his house. The rest will be up to you."
"Okay. Why are you so worried?"
"Because human trafficking victims are usually drugged and restrained. They often experience various stages of degradation and physical and psychological torture. You may not be able to stop it."
"My training included those types of situations. I can kill, even when restrained."
"Except we need information from this man. We need to find out who paid The Priest. We know the money man is just a broker. And we're going into this blind." He drives down an alley, hits a button on a key fob, and pulls into a garage.
"Where are we?"
"Safe house. You're about to get an extreme makeover."
When I step into the house, the first person I see is my brother. "Ari! I didn't know you would be here."
He gives me a hug and then says, "I came to talk some sense into you. I've seen the reports. This is too dangerous. We have to find another way."
"I'll be fine," I tell him as he leads me into a living room where the Kates are set up.
Both greet me, and then Kate says, "We have contracted part of your makeover with someone outside of the intelligence world. She will be arriving in fifteen minutes. To prep, we need you to go take a shower, using this special soap." She hands me a bar. "It is important that the soap bar itself touches every inch of your body, so shower with care and then pat to dry your skin; don't rub."
"And why do I have to do this?"
"Because an artist will be sticking tattoos all over your body. Remember the adhesive strips you used in your disguise while tracking The Priest?"
"The ones that made it look like I had a lot of eye makeup on?"
"Yes, only these are large tattoos. The artist applies them often on movie sets. These are even better quality, virtually undetectable by the human eye." She hands me a surgical mask. "Take off all your makeup, put your wet hair back into a bun, and put this on before you come out. We don't want the artist to recognize you."
Fifteen minutes later, I'm standing naked in the middle of a room with the artist, having adhesive tattoos placed all over my body. When the artist is finished some two hours later, I'm allowed to look at myself in the mirror.
I have a pouncing tiger wrapping up the side of my left leg and onto my hip. From my right shoulder and down onto my breast, there is a mix of skulls, roses, and ravens--all very dark and ominous. Under my left boob and down into my stomach is an angry fire-breathing dragon. More ravens and roses are on my feet and wrists. Letters across my knuckles spell out the words you would think when flipping a person off. I hold my hand close to my face, trying to see if I can tell the tattoo is fake.
"You'd need a magnifying glass to tell they aren't real," the artist tells me.
"It's amazing," Kate tells her. "Thank you very much for coming." She hands the woman an envelope and escorts her out the front door.
Dr. Kate then gives me a skimpy pair of white cotton boy shorts and a tank top to put on. "That's perfect," she says. "Enough tattoos to be seen but enough still hidden to cause curiosity. Now, for your hair."
We go into the kitchen where a chair is set in the middle of the room, and a table is piled with hair dye and towels.
"You're going to dye my hair?"
"It will wash out with two shampoos. I think we should go dark brown, as opposed to black. I'm afraid the black might stain your blonde hair."
"We should add a few strips of bright color on the bottom, like maybe a red to match the tattoos."
"I have red. Was considering making you a full redhead, but the MI-6 agent poo-pooed that idea."
"He's done research on what this man likes."
"I'd like to do a little research of my own on the MI-6 agent. Is his name really William?"
"Probably not. His code name is Intrepid."
"Oh, that's hot," she says as she puts gloves on and gets to work on my hair.
Once my hair is finished, Dr. Kate smudges black eyeliner around my eyes and dresses me in shredded jean shorts, a flannel shirt over the tank, and chunky black combat boots. When I look in the mirror at myself again, I look fierce.
"Let's go show them our work," she says proudly.
When I walk into the living room where Gallagher and Ari are waiting, their eyes get huge.
"That's quite the transformation," Gallagher states.
"Yeah, but I don't get it," Ari says. "She doesn't look like some scared little sex slave. She looks like she'd kick your ass."
"That is exactly what he likes," Gallagher says.
I notice that he has changed, too. Gone is his sleek Sav
ile Row suit, and in its place are black cargo pants and a stained white tank top. His disguise includes a mustache and thick sideburns, and combined with the untamed look of his hair, smoky tinted glasses, and a gold tooth, it makes him nearly unrecognizable.
"I have something from Terrance," Ari says. He wraps a studded black leather band around my wrist and snaps it into place.
