The Manhattan asignment

[Mister_X]

Cromwell was walking around the room looking for anyone who might seem a bit more interested about the people around, than usual...There were small groups of people drinking and talking everywhere, some were being entertained by girls...The bodyguard went back to his post and resumed his duty of waiting for the Minster to finish his business... Suddenly, Cromwell noticed a young lady, dressed in a maids uniform, walking and looking around almost as if she lost something important...

His attention immediately went to her... She looked a bit nervous, every now and then carefully tapping her wrist... She was going around all the tables, and was, every now and then diverting her eyes to the stairs leading to the second floor, where the Minister went 10 minutes ago.... It didn't take long for Cromwell to figure out what was going on...

He approached the bodyguard and said: ... A"Make sure to take the Minister back to the embassy, as soon as he is done here!"... As he turned around to look for the woman again, he noticed her slipping out towards the exit... He followed...As soon as they were out of the villa's yard, he ran towards her saying: "Miss, one moment please!"...

The woman turned around surprised by Cromwell..."Yes, what do you need?"... "A moment of your time please.", said Cromwell.... "Sorry to chase after you, my name is Nathan Blake, I noticed you left in a hurry, just wanted to make sure everything was alright"...."Oh, thank you, that is so sweet of you."... "Is it usual for the maids to be leaving the parties before the guests here?", he asked smiling... "Well not really, but I got called about an emergency back in my apartment."..."Ah I see, terribly sorry to hear that, here let me get you a taxi!"..."No need, really, it's just a few blocks from here", she said seemingly nervous..."In that case allow me to escort you, the streets can be mean this time of the night, especially for a beautifull young lady..."...The woman smiled: "Aren't you suposed to be at the party?"..."Huh, it's just a bunch of old horny men getting drunk and molesting young girls...I didn't even want to come in the first place..."..."So what brought you here then?", she asked...."My father is a business associate with one of the IC board members, so we were invited during our stay on Manhattan.."..."Alright, looks like we both didn't like the party, my apartment is this way.."... They started walking....

They were walking down the street, chating, until Cromwell noticed there wasn't anyone around... He stopped and said: "Come on now, be honest with me, you're not really a maid, are you?"..."What do you mean?", she asked..."I noticed you were behaving rather strangely in there, besides, you weren't even carrying any sort of a plate...And you were tapping your wrist way too often"...She looked at him a bit shocked: "Ok who the hell are you?"...She took a few steps back and took out a bottle of pepper spray: "Get away from me, I will use this, I swear..."...Cromwell smiled: "Relax, I know rather well what goes on in places like this, in fact I myself find it disgusting..."...Hearing this, she lowered the spray..."Ok, you got me, I am actually a reporter for the Manhattan Times...I was sent in there to investigate some rumors about what goes on in there...Perhaps I could get some first hand statements from you?"..."So that watch on your wrist you were tapping, I supose that's the camera, right?"....She pulled up her hand: "It's a state of the art piece of equipment, it has a camera, a microphone, even a mini scanner in it..."... Cromwell smiled and nodded...He quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him: "What the hell are you doing?!"..."I am an MI5 agent, I am here to make sure nothing from this party goes out in the press...One of our Ministers is in there, if this got out, it would cause an international scandal we can't afford...I'm affraid I am going to have to take that from you"...."But why are you telling me all this?", she asked... Cromwell reached into his pocket and took out a small syringe..."Oh my God, you are going to kill me aren't you?"..."Don't worry I won't do nothing of a sort, but I will erase your memory of this evening, the party, and me..." He injected her with the syringe and she passed out in a few moments...

He put her down gentlyy to the side of the road, made sure nobody was looking around and walked away.... As he aproached the embassy entrance, he could notice the Ministers's car parked in the parking lot... He went straight to his room, opened his comm console, and sent out a quick encrypted mission back to the BIS HQ:

"Mission completed succesfully, the Minister is back at the Embassy"...

He took a shower and went to bed, unsuccessfuly trying to go to sleep, thinking about what lies next on the Manhattan asignment....

---