The Misfit

“Thank you,” she replied, and she watched as the woman rummaged about through her files to find something that would end this insane conversation. I had to admit, I was pretty impressed. I had been undercover for a long time, but I wasn’t sure I would have been able to pull off a scheme like that so easily and with such little preparation. It was obvious Arianna knew what she was doing, and she was utterly confident in the way she went about it. In another life, she would have made a hell of a good undercover cop, but she had clearly chosen another route.

Eventually, and with a whole lot of complaining and troublemaking, she got the woman to change her ticket to one that was on the same flight as me, even right next to me, and then she came back over to join me and winked.

“See? I told you I’m coming with you,” she replied. She looked utterly delighted with herself, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. I found my eyes drifting down to her lips, and I remembered, all too clearly, the way the kiss had felt when she had planted her mouth on mine.

To steal my phone, of course, which I had failed to mention yet. I wasn’t sure if she even had it anymore, or if she would have disposed of it or sold it or done whatever it was she was intending to with my one source of connection to the rest of the world. Did I even want to know?

“You going to give me my phone back?” I asked, deciding to test her. She shrugged.

“Not sure I can trust you not to take pictures of me,” she replied brightly. Oh, so she had seen that? She was more on the ball than I thought.

“Fair enough,” I muttered, and I glanced over my shoulder to make sure nobody was closing in on us. We were at the far end of the airport and it would take the Vogons a decent amount of time to track us down if they were working from the ground up. And they had no reason to think I would go to Chicago, after all – no reason to think I would flee to a place they had never known me to have any connection to.

We boarded the flight, and the two of us sat next to one another; I was glad I didn’t have to let her out of my sight, I wasn’t sure I could trust what she would get up to. This was a woman, it seemed, with a serious nose for trouble, and the ability to get into it at a moment’s notice. Her eyes darted around the plane.

“Looking for another mark?” I asked her. She flicked her gaze to me.

“Why, you jealous?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Now we were on the plane, I was starting to relax a little, some of the stress and tension that had been building in me starting to dissipate. I was on the way to my freedom, I was sure of it. And yes, I hadn’t exactly gotten what I wanted out of the meeting with the Vogons, but I would take getting out with my life if that was all I could hang onto.

“You going to tell me who you are now?” I asked her, as the plane started to taxi. She looked right back at me, not missing a beat.

“Are you?”

We stared at each other for a long moment, and then we both laughed. I still didn’t have a clue who she was or what she wanted from me or exactly why she had decided to make my life a little easier, but I didn’t much care. Right now, all that mattered to me was knowing she was here, she was with me, and we were about to get out of this mess together. I had managed to make sure someone stayed safe, at least. That had to count for something.

She dozed on the flight, which surprised me – I thought she would be on high alert, making sure nothing happened, making sure I didn’t get up to anything while she was asleep, but her trust in me seemed to have grown enough to allow for that. I couldn’t have slept, even if I wanted to – I was far too worried, scared about what might happen when we touched down, what would be waiting for me.

By the time we landed in Chicago, it was late, darkness filling the sky around us. I was half-expecting to be met by Rafael as soon as I got off, ready to chew me out for managing to blow my spot on the Terrence job, but there was nothing – no-one. They were likely worried I might have been tailed by someone from New York, and they didn’t want to blow my cover by sending someone down there to meet me.

Arianna stretched, sighing as she looked around.

“I can’t remember the last time I was in Chicago,” she remarked.

“You need a tour guide?” I offered. I had no idea what I was doing, flirting with her like that, but after everything we had been through – and especially that kiss – it only seemed right to enjoy a little more of her company. She flashed me one of those dazzling smiles.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she replied. “I’m starving. You know of anywhere good to eat around here?”

“I do,” I replied as I headed to the door – it wasn’t like I had much luggage; I had run out of there with nothing but my wallet and this girl hanging on my arm. She had that little bag with her, but nothing more. I had no clue what she had in there – had she gotten rid of my gun already? - but I didn’t much intend to press. She had her life, I had mine, and I was sure they were going to diverge again as quickly as they had come together in the first place.

I grabbed us a cab as soon as we got outside, and I opened the door for her so she could climb in.

“You’re such a gentleman,” she giggled as she slid across the back seat. I couldn’t help but flirt back with her a little.

“Only if you keep acting like a lady,” I replied playfully, and she cocked an eyebrow.

“And what does that mean, exactly?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

I gave the cab driver directions to a hotel where I knew the bureau had a few standing rooms, somewhere I would be able to stay the night without attracting too much attention. It was on the outskirts of the city, and I had no intention of drawing any more attention to myself than I needed to by going central. I was sure Rafael would be waiting for me, waiting to catch up on everything I had been through and all the information I had managed to gather about Terrence and his plans, but for now, I needed to blow off some steam. I needed to pretend to be another person for a while – the kind of person, it seemed, who this woman would be more than happy to spend her time with.

The car pulled to a halt outside the hotel, and I climbed out, offering Arianna a hand to help her to her feet. Even though she was just dressed in jeans and a sweater, she moved as though she was wearing expensive designer garments and walking down the red carpet in front of dozens of flashing cameras.

“Where are we going, exactly?” she asked as I guided her to Destiny’s, the chain restaurant that had a place next to the hotel.

“Here,” I replied, nodding to the kitschy little diner that was lit up with lights and buzzing with people. We would fade into the background like it was nothing – nobody would think twice looking at us, they would just see us as another set of weary travelers looking to get something to eat before they passed out in their hotel room. I let my hand drift to the small of her back as I guided her in, needing to touch her, to feel the warmth of her beneath my fingers.

“It’s been a long time since I ate in a place like this,” she remarked, and I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“As long as the food is as good as I remember,” she replied. “I don’t think so.”