They entered the car again, Princeton in the right this time and her in the left. They were heading to Seattle, Washington immediately. The almost two and a half hours she would have had for lunch busted for discussions and threats. Most of them, meaningless. Others, frightening.
Rita glanced at her boss of a few hours ago from the side of her vision. He was furiously typing away on his keyboard with a concentration she had only ever seen on her brother in-law’s face when he was trying to meet a deadline. He did not look worse for ware. He must be really used to that torture they just left back in Sehone. Princeton looked at her and Rita shifted her eyes back to the tablet in her hands, typing away at nonsense in the name of looking normal.
They were taking the company jet. Rita hoped there would be lunch. She really wanted–No–needed lunch. And a bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, they were at the city airport, the General Aviation Ramp and off to Seattle.
The jet was luxurious and very Italian. There was a bar and an inflight chef. Rita screamed with joy on the inside at the thought of food. The bathroom, of course had its own cut of her joy but the food had more. Rita had the risotto and it was so absolutely divine, she moaned. It was low starch rice and would not do much on her body and kept taking spoon after spoon. She took a sip of the white wine–non alcoholic. Maybe it was just her but damn, did it taste better than when she had it on land. Or maybe it was just the jet.
Mr. Princeton had a Florentine, and although he used a fork and knife, looking the epitome of civility. She could tell he wanted nothing more than to rip into it and just shove the whole thing down his throat. Rita got a glimpse of fangs everytime he put the fork in. He would have probably liked it better raw.
Rita tossed out thoughts of bloody meat from her head and concentrated on the meal Infront of her before she threw it all up. This was one of the best lunches she had had in a long time. It would have been even better if that bomb had not been dropped on her that morning and he was not here. But you could not really do anything about it when the universe decides to fuck with you and throw your plans down the proverbial toilet.
She felt his eyes on her, more than she was comfortable with. Why was he making her so self conscious? Was he really that intent on making this day really awkward? Could he not focus on something else, like another stake or something? Maybe she was just being paranoid. He probably was not even looking in her direction. Yes, it was just her nerves.
The jet touched down an hour later in the city of Starbucks and coffee enthusiasts and they were on the move again. A contract signing there. A deal here. A compliment here, a threat there and a concealed jab in-between. By the end, Rita was ready to drop. All she wanted was the soft bed back at the house and something warm to soothe her and keep her toasty after the series of chilling encounters she had had. No matter how warm the weather was. Right now, Rita wanted both more than to get out of her shoes but she was not going to do that. Not in the jet and definitely not in his presence. She wanted to ensure that he got the message.
Apart from the office and a few times between meetings and venom shooting, she had hardly said a word to him. Their interaction would be nothing more than business. Strictly professional.
Flying back to Alvas, Samuel could not have been more happier or more keen on slitting throats. Every creature in a business suit and tie with their hands in measly amount of crypto telling him he was just a rookie in the world of business. Trying to manipulate him, befriend him on some level, control him. The last straw was threatening his pack.
That was a big mistake there on Leon DeKali’s part. An even bigger one since he did it openly. That too, with a look of far higher superiority on his face. Samuel could not decide whether the stupid motherfucker was brave or stupid. A down racist or anti-supernatutal. The cunt was probably both. In a week’s time, the DeKali Group would be nothing but a bad memory.
His eyes found Rita again for the fifth time already. It had progressed from simple glances to outright staring. She had not spoken to him at all until it was absolutely necessary. Everything had been strictly professional, from her work to her silence. It felt like she was giving him the cold shoulder but that was not right. In all honesty, it was better this way, he could keep his mind on more important things now. When she moaned after tasting the risotto, he had nearly lost it. His pants became constricting and he had to hide his reaction with his laptop. Samuel had taken out his frustration on the Florentine he ordered, though not in the way he wanted. It was delicious though.
Rita’s perfume had wanted sometime while they were in Seattle, he got a whiff of her scent before she went to the bathroom to reapply it. Her scent was a mixture of cinnamon and the land just after rain. He could not get enough of it and could himself whining over losing the scent yet again.
Samuel dragged his eyes away from Rita and focused on the message he was typing.
MAX: So how do you want the bitch to go?
The usual. Make it look accidental. : SAMUEL
MAX: Will do. Send me her location.
Samuel did accordingly.
MAX: I’ll call you when the job is done.
And you’ll get your money then. : SAMUEL
MAX: Ok by me.
After that phrase Max went offline. Samuel went back to talking to Xander. Samuel was planning to cut down the number of security personnel flowing him around. Nothing said subtle and unnoticed like three dozen men in black following you. And those were just the ones he could see and sense.
As he suspected, it was his mother’s doing. This was going to be hard to undo.
It was five minutes past seven in the evening when they touched back down in Alvas. As per his orders, both his and Rita’s vehicles were ready and waiting at the airport.
“Rita, I’ll need you to come ready by six am tomorrow. You won’t be needing your car, I’ll send a driver to pick you up.” Samuel said, while going down the ramp. The warm air was not what he really needed right then and neither was the suit jacket.
“Anything I need to know about tomorrow in particular Sir?” Her tone suggested she was treading carefully both figuratively and literally.
Samuel reached the ground and shrugged off his jacket. “As you know, we will be going to New York City tomorrow.”
“Yes, for the tech exhibition. But we don’t have to be there until ten.” Her feet touched the ground and her pounding heart calmed down a bit.
“True but I want to be there two hours early and well prepared for any nasty surprises the fellow attendees might pull.” He explained while they both headed to their cars.
He watched her saunter to her car and take the keys from the waiting attendants. “Very well then, Sir. See you at Six. Good night, Sir.” She called, getting into her car, starting the ignition and was off.
“See you at Six, Rita.”
Today had gone considerably well. No physical attacks, car chases, guns or blood. A good day. Samuel was looking forward to tomorrow although he had a feeling that it would not go as great as today did. He hoped she would not use that lavender perfume again.