Post by tess on Jun 4, 2013 9:14:57 GMT -8
Tonight it was Zelda's growling that woke her up. This was a new one. Tess was used to the sudden weight of an overfed cat on her chest, or the not-so-gentle kneading of Zelda's claws as a late night reminder that the cat hadn't been fed yet this hour. That damned cat. The two bedroom town house in the heart of Queens that she and Sera shared could be more accurately be described as belonging to their cat. Tess covered her ears with a pillow, in the hope that perhaps Zelda would get bored or too fatigued from her endless hunger to continue. The growling continued. Tess rolled over in bed in an effort to pull Sera in for a snuggle. Snuggling would solve everything. Instead Tess found an empty space in the bed where Sera once was, her blankets tossed over to Tess's side of the bed. This was nothing new. Sera was often called away at odd hours by the Sponsors for work. Tess grimaced at exactly what that "work" might entail.
Defeated, Tess got up and out of bed to give the victor of this contest of wills her spoils.
knock knock knock
Tess muttered something about constant interruptions to her sleep schedule when she opened the door. On the other side stood a man in his mid 30s, impeccably dressed in a designer navy blue suit and wearing sunglasses despite it being the middle of the night.
"Miss Auerbach. Agent Davidson. I trust you know who I represent. May I come in?" The impeccably dressed man strode into the house before Tess had the chance to get out a single "Fuck off"
Davidson made his way to the living room couch with all the confidence and familiarity of a close friend on a holiday visit. He nearly trampled Zelda on his way to his seat. The cat took a defensive posture underneath the facing loveseat. For her own part, Tess also assumed a defensive posture, leaning nonchalantly up against a chest of drawers in the living room. She kept her kit in the bedroom closet, but her father's old service pistol was in the top drawer.
"What are you doing here?" Tess was more annoyed with the stranger's familiarity than concerned with his sudden appearance.
"You don't respond to your emails Miss Auerbach. My employers felt it would be beneficial to send someone in person for this dialogue."
Tess shifted uncomfortably, propping her elbow on the dresser and dangling her hand over the drawer where her father's gun was.
"I'll get right down to it. We are not happy with your recent actions. Your team fired on our agents in the SenTaxx facility. You refused our request to hand over Agent Pacelli. You failed the mission in Kingsmouth, calling for a retreat and not even bringing back a single scrap of physical data with you. Worse still, the "Sponsor friendly team" was anything but. That you included Wicker was hardly a surprise given your dealings with her in the past, but what were you thinking bringing along an agent from the Council of Venice?"
Tess smirked with false confidence. "The Council came to me with an offer. They were aware that you were looking for something on the other side of the rift, and they wanted to see it for themselves. And they asked nicely, they even said the magic word. You might get more of a response from me if you tried that once in a while."
Davidson let out a small chuckle at that. "Cute Auerbach. You're almost 30 and you still play the teenage rebel. Don't you think it's time to grow up? Accept that you aren't just working for The System, you are The System? You are useful to us. That you delivered us Christian Screwtape and assisted in the rescue of Agent Charinne demonstrates that. But your usefulness has it's limits. Don't forget that."
Tess shifted uncomfortably, leaning forward with her elbow on the dresser, her hand that was dangling in front of the drawer twitched with anticipation. She was shaken, but did her best to conceal it. "This is the part where you tell me to straighten up? Make vague threats in the hopes that I'll piss myself and do what you say? I already got this pitch when you threw a burlap bag over my head and recruited me at gun point."
The impeccably dressed man leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs, visibly annoyed with Tess's response. "How's this? You cop a lot of attitude for someone who lives with one of our top assassins. The job Gabel is on tonight was a distraction. We sent her to kill an innocent man just so I could get a chance to talk to you alone. If Gabel found out, I doubt she would care. She's a murderer. She'll kill who we tell her to kill, no questions asked. If we asked her to kill you, you'd be dead tomorrow. But I'm not here with a threat. I'm here to tell you: We're watching you. Your entire staff is compromised. You aren't safe anywhere. Don't screw up again."
Tess knew that Sera would never lift a finger to harm her, but was still shaken by the mention of her staff being compromised. Still she decided to show a little bravado. "My entire staff is compromised? You mean like how Dani Silverman is a Sponsor plant? She's hardly secretive about it. Or that Vladimir Quinn came to Ægir specifically to observe and take any items of interest back to you? Or that Jean Martinique was appointed head of security to smooth over the transition from Solveg to Seanne in the hopes of delivering Ægir in to your hands? Jean was at least clever about covering his tracks. Don't talk to me like I'm some child. I'm Ægir's chief investigator, I know things. I learned about the existence of the Illuminati when I just a journalism student. Whatever you have planned, whoever in my staff is 'compromised' I'll find out."
Davidson stood up and straightened his tie before letting out a sigh "Honestly. You're worse than Cameron. You know things. I know things as well Auerbach. I know how Gabel's parents died. Would you like to know that? It's a great story. Maybe I'll tell you sometime. I know that you are planning to shoot me. I know that in that drawer is a gun belonging to your father, your father who you haven't talked to in almost 2 years. He has prostate cancer, he's got about 3 months to live. Did you know that? He doesn't. It's undiagnosed."
Tess felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. She didn't doubt for a second that what the impeccably dressed man was saying was true. Dread and rage filled her.
"I know that you won't fail us again. I'll see myself out"
Davidson strode confidently towards the door. Tess stood motionless, seething with anger. Who did he think he was? How dare he come into her home, the home she and Sera had built together and make these kinds of threats? As Davidson passed, she could no longer contain her rage. Without even a thought about consequences she reached in to the drawer and took out her father's service pistol, took aim at Davidson's back and pulled the trigger.
click click click
Davidson looked back over his shoulder. "I also know that you haven't cleaned that gun in over 3 years. You're lucky it didn't backfire and take your hand off. Try and get some sleep Tess. You've got an 8am meeting tomorrow morning" And with that he walked off in to the night.
As the door closed Tess collapsed to the floor and wept, any pretext of strength no longer necessary. As she sat on the floor crying, Zelda came out from under the love seat and nuzzled her head up against Tess's knee. She absentmindedly tussled Zelda's head before looking up at the clock. 1 am in Queens. 10 pm in Seattle.
She gathered all her strength and headed to the phone. Doubt and fear of another kind filled her as she dialed the familiar area code.
ring ring ring
"Dad, It's me. Tessie. Yeah it's late. Yeah it's been a while. Listen. I need to talk to you about something..."
Defeated, Tess got up and out of bed to give the victor of this contest of wills her spoils.
knock knock knock
Tess muttered something about constant interruptions to her sleep schedule when she opened the door. On the other side stood a man in his mid 30s, impeccably dressed in a designer navy blue suit and wearing sunglasses despite it being the middle of the night.
"Miss Auerbach. Agent Davidson. I trust you know who I represent. May I come in?" The impeccably dressed man strode into the house before Tess had the chance to get out a single "Fuck off"
Davidson made his way to the living room couch with all the confidence and familiarity of a close friend on a holiday visit. He nearly trampled Zelda on his way to his seat. The cat took a defensive posture underneath the facing loveseat. For her own part, Tess also assumed a defensive posture, leaning nonchalantly up against a chest of drawers in the living room. She kept her kit in the bedroom closet, but her father's old service pistol was in the top drawer.
"What are you doing here?" Tess was more annoyed with the stranger's familiarity than concerned with his sudden appearance.
"You don't respond to your emails Miss Auerbach. My employers felt it would be beneficial to send someone in person for this dialogue."
Tess shifted uncomfortably, propping her elbow on the dresser and dangling her hand over the drawer where her father's gun was.
"I'll get right down to it. We are not happy with your recent actions. Your team fired on our agents in the SenTaxx facility. You refused our request to hand over Agent Pacelli. You failed the mission in Kingsmouth, calling for a retreat and not even bringing back a single scrap of physical data with you. Worse still, the "Sponsor friendly team" was anything but. That you included Wicker was hardly a surprise given your dealings with her in the past, but what were you thinking bringing along an agent from the Council of Venice?"
Tess smirked with false confidence. "The Council came to me with an offer. They were aware that you were looking for something on the other side of the rift, and they wanted to see it for themselves. And they asked nicely, they even said the magic word. You might get more of a response from me if you tried that once in a while."
Davidson let out a small chuckle at that. "Cute Auerbach. You're almost 30 and you still play the teenage rebel. Don't you think it's time to grow up? Accept that you aren't just working for The System, you are The System? You are useful to us. That you delivered us Christian Screwtape and assisted in the rescue of Agent Charinne demonstrates that. But your usefulness has it's limits. Don't forget that."
Tess shifted uncomfortably, leaning forward with her elbow on the dresser, her hand that was dangling in front of the drawer twitched with anticipation. She was shaken, but did her best to conceal it. "This is the part where you tell me to straighten up? Make vague threats in the hopes that I'll piss myself and do what you say? I already got this pitch when you threw a burlap bag over my head and recruited me at gun point."
The impeccably dressed man leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs, visibly annoyed with Tess's response. "How's this? You cop a lot of attitude for someone who lives with one of our top assassins. The job Gabel is on tonight was a distraction. We sent her to kill an innocent man just so I could get a chance to talk to you alone. If Gabel found out, I doubt she would care. She's a murderer. She'll kill who we tell her to kill, no questions asked. If we asked her to kill you, you'd be dead tomorrow. But I'm not here with a threat. I'm here to tell you: We're watching you. Your entire staff is compromised. You aren't safe anywhere. Don't screw up again."
Tess knew that Sera would never lift a finger to harm her, but was still shaken by the mention of her staff being compromised. Still she decided to show a little bravado. "My entire staff is compromised? You mean like how Dani Silverman is a Sponsor plant? She's hardly secretive about it. Or that Vladimir Quinn came to Ægir specifically to observe and take any items of interest back to you? Or that Jean Martinique was appointed head of security to smooth over the transition from Solveg to Seanne in the hopes of delivering Ægir in to your hands? Jean was at least clever about covering his tracks. Don't talk to me like I'm some child. I'm Ægir's chief investigator, I know things. I learned about the existence of the Illuminati when I just a journalism student. Whatever you have planned, whoever in my staff is 'compromised' I'll find out."
Davidson stood up and straightened his tie before letting out a sigh "Honestly. You're worse than Cameron. You know things. I know things as well Auerbach. I know how Gabel's parents died. Would you like to know that? It's a great story. Maybe I'll tell you sometime. I know that you are planning to shoot me. I know that in that drawer is a gun belonging to your father, your father who you haven't talked to in almost 2 years. He has prostate cancer, he's got about 3 months to live. Did you know that? He doesn't. It's undiagnosed."
Tess felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach. She didn't doubt for a second that what the impeccably dressed man was saying was true. Dread and rage filled her.
"I know that you won't fail us again. I'll see myself out"
Davidson strode confidently towards the door. Tess stood motionless, seething with anger. Who did he think he was? How dare he come into her home, the home she and Sera had built together and make these kinds of threats? As Davidson passed, she could no longer contain her rage. Without even a thought about consequences she reached in to the drawer and took out her father's service pistol, took aim at Davidson's back and pulled the trigger.
click click click
Davidson looked back over his shoulder. "I also know that you haven't cleaned that gun in over 3 years. You're lucky it didn't backfire and take your hand off. Try and get some sleep Tess. You've got an 8am meeting tomorrow morning" And with that he walked off in to the night.
As the door closed Tess collapsed to the floor and wept, any pretext of strength no longer necessary. As she sat on the floor crying, Zelda came out from under the love seat and nuzzled her head up against Tess's knee. She absentmindedly tussled Zelda's head before looking up at the clock. 1 am in Queens. 10 pm in Seattle.
She gathered all her strength and headed to the phone. Doubt and fear of another kind filled her as she dialed the familiar area code.
ring ring ring
"Dad, It's me. Tessie. Yeah it's late. Yeah it's been a while. Listen. I need to talk to you about something..."