Down Time

“Evening, boys,” Avery Criss said as she entered the apartment. Wrinkling her nose, she added, “Living the high life, are we?”

“What do you care, Bailey?” Nergüi asked without looking up from his fiddling with the time gauge. He added with a hint of resentment, “You’ve got your own place all to yourself.”

“Avery. I’m staying in character,” she corrected him.

Nergüi suppressed a scoff. “Character? First I’ve heard of it.”

“Have to admit, Bailey,” Pierce Elliot said, walking in with two bottled lemonades, “I’ve only noticed the name change.”

“And that’s why I’m the one operating undercover,” Avery/Bailey sighed, accepting the offered bottle.

“Any progress?” Pierce asked, easing into an armchair and kicking his feet up.

“Progress? I wish,” Bailey huffed. Taking a sip of lemonade, she added, “My balancing act hardly seems worth it. I’ve done an excellent job staying under the radar while keeping an eye on David’s new recruits, if I do say so myself—”

“You always do,” Nergüi jabbed, grinning.

“—but,” Bailey said over him, “they aren’t doing anything interesting. Just training. I think there’s some tension between Frost and David, but I don’t know if I can use it. I tried to lay some groundwork with Frost, but Sainne being at the rally seems to have scuffed all of that.”

“If he’s messing with you, then why are you still chasing his target for him?” Nergüi asked, this time with a dark scowl.

“Besides him signing our paychecks?” Baily countered. Then shrugged. “If Sainne scuffs up his own plans for Frost, I really don’t care. That’s not why I’m keeping an eye on them. I’m hoping they’ll sniff out the Princess.”

“So who are your suspects?” Pierce asked casually.

“I don’t have any strong candidates just yet,” Bailey admitted. “Not until we do some background checks. That’s what you two are for, if it doesn’t cut into your busy schedule.”

“Hey, we’re on standby waiting for orders,” Nergüi said innocently. “We have to be ready if the boss gives the order—”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Bailey replied, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I’d look into Christina Harper as my first choice. David’s group hasn’t seemed to pick up on her yet, but the signs are there. Rough physical match, clear high-class upbringing, adopted, in the politics and law wing, and with a slight anti-monarchist bent without ever straying into Charmy territory. If you can see if there’s anything up with her adoption papers from supposedly way back in the day, do a check on her previous schools, if she actually has a record from before five years ago, you know the drill.”

“Christina Harper,” Pierce repeated. “Anyone else?”

“Possibly,” Bailey considered. “The only others I would put high on the list would be a couple of girls close to Frost and Anthony. One called Quincy – something is off about her. Could be a royal upbringing, that wouldn’t be far off. But I can’t put my finger on it. If she is the princess, then she probably left the public eye after some sort of injury. Quincy’s in a wheelchair.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Pierce noted. “Royal family too proud to publicize it? Or was the accident embarrassing somehow?”

“I wouldn’t get ahead of yourself. Let’s find evidence before conclusions,” Bailey warned. “I guess that’s your job though. Only other candidate worth mentioning is the dean’s niece, Scarlett Foster.”

“Dean’s niece? Then she has a background,” Nergüi said.

“Or a good cover,” Pierce pointed out. Nergüi shrugged and pulled out a laptop, taking notes and beginning the initial searches.

“You’ll have to tell me,” Bailey said. “Seems like she’s just a girl with a crush on Frost, and vice-versa. But worth checking out. Maybe this is part of David’s suspicions.”

“If any of this pans out,” Nergüi reminded her. “The princess could be in deep cover in some private school and you’re wasting your time.”

“We won’t know if we don’t try,” Bailey replied, her words turning sour at the end.

“Then let’s take a look,” Pierce suggested. “We’ve got a lead, and Nergüi can turn up any others that might be out there.”

He inclined his head towards his teammate, who nodded his agreement.

“Until then,” Pierce added, “why don’t you take a load off. Lay low and relax for a little while. You want something to eat?”

Bailey looked around the apartment, and then sighed. “You have something besides Chinese?”

Nergüi opened his mouth.

“Or pizza,” Bailey hastily added.

Nergüi closed his mouth.

Pierce’s lip turned up slightly. “Let’s take a look,” he suggested.

He swung his legs down towards the floor and pulled himself from the chair, all in one smooth, feline motion. Striding into the kitchen, Bailey close behind, Pierce nudged the door. It slowly swung nearly shut at they walked over to the fridge.

As Bailey picked out some lettuce, slices of tomatoes, and a pack of bacon and started up the stove, Pierce crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

“You know we’re not working with Sainne forever, right?” He said off-handedly.

Bailey gave him a sideways look. “What’s your point?” she asked guardedly.

“Look,” Pierce said seriously, “Sainne couldn’t care less about the People’s Front, or Becker, or frankly, you.”

Bailey scoffed. “As if I don’t know that. Sainne’s an Anarak. We work for them, we don’t trust them, remember?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Bailey glanced back at Pierce indignantly. “When have I ever made you think I had absolute faith in Sainne? Any faith in him?”

“Never. Not faith,” Pierce admitted. “But you’re not getting out of his way.”

“I’m—”

“You’re wearing their ‘uniform,’ Bailey,” Pierce cut in.

Bailey glanced down at the gray suit the Charmies at Aechyr Academy always wore. When her eyes came back up, they were smoldering. “It’s called blending in.”

“That’s not all it is,” Pierce insisted. Before Bailey could reply, he said, “I’m not asking. I know it, you know it. I don’t care who you make friends with. But we don’t get involved in some crusade. That’s what got us here in the first place.”

Bailey gazed at him levelly, clearly holding back the retort she wanted to unleash. Instead, she said, “If you want to move under another Anarak, I’m not going to complain.”

“If we do, we’re not going to remain in Aechyr,” Pierce reminded her.

“Unless it’s Khina.”

“Khina?” Pierce asked, rolling the word around as if he had never heard it before.

“Sure,” Bailey said, shrugging. “She’s got a presence on this timeline. And she can be negotiated with. At least if she’s going to hang us out to dry, it’ll be strictly business.”

“We got this job because Sainne has some sort of fascination with Kennedy,” Pierce pointed out. “You’re right, Khina’s business. Meaning she’ll want to exploit her new assets. To their maximum potential. This isn’t it. Frankly, that’s what Nergüi and I like about it.”

“You’d get bored waiting here forever,” Bailey dismissed with an easy smile.

Pierce’s eyes glinted dangerously, but he replied calmly, “There are worse jobs. Too many of them.”

“Well, you could be your own boss with enough leverage,” Bailey hinted. “A true freelancer. No more meatgrinders. If…”

The realization struck Pierce. “You’re suggesting a very dangerous path, Bailey. Bad as some jobs.”

“But with a better class of pay. Insurance, retirement, maybe?”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“Fine,” Bailey said, turning to him, completely serious. “I find the Princess, you contact Khina. She gets the info, we get her protection, plus a long vacation here. Or at least an extended assignment. Khina will be in need of operatives in Aechyr, right? That’s even better. We’ll be in high demand.”

“And in Sainne’s sights. Screwing over a sadist is—”

“—a dangerous risk, I know. But if the Supreme Commander authorizes our transfer to Khina—”

“That’s not a guarantee. He loathes infighting.”

“Unless it serves Anarakia.”

“Does this?”

Bailey shrugged. “You got me. We’ll have to see if we can sniff out the situation. But I think there’s a good past based on everyone’s track records. Including ours.”

“I don’t like playing politics.”

“But you do like a challenge,” Bailey noted. “And you’re not bad at it. You’ve led us this far without getting us swallowed up by the Anarakian machine. If this works, it’s a great bargain. And you can sell it. I know you can.”

“Don’t give me that look,” Pierce said, looking away for the first time.

“What look?” Bailey asked, almost achieving an innocent tone.

“You know. And I know,” Pierce repeated. “When I look back, that better be gone, or you better be serious. And you better not be serious.”

“Fine,” Bailey relented, turning back to the stove as Pierce turned back. “It always gets messy, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Pierce agreed dourly.

Bailey took the pan off the stove and transferred the bacon to a plate. She started to put together her sandwich in silence.

Finally, Pierce broke it. “If I decide the deal isn’t going to work, or if I decide we have to evac, will you follow?”

Bailey put the last piece of bread on and looked up. “You’re team lead,” she said evenly. “If that’s your call, we all go.”

Pierce unfolded his arms and walked over to the table. “Then I’ll contact Khina. You owe me one Princess.”

He reached over and plucked out a piece of bacon before adding, “Take care of yourself, Bailey.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t lose your professional judgement,” she half-mocked, “and we won’t have anything to worry about.”

Pierce almost nodded, but settled into an enigmatic look before walking back into the living room.

“I’d better not be about to hear I need to leave the apartment,” Nergüi said, without looking up from the laptop.

“It’s not like that,” Pierce growled.

“No,” Nergüi agreed. “It never is. Until it’s too late.”

Pierce fought back a scowl and shook his head. “At least you’ll keep us honest,” he finally sighed. “Any luck with our suspects?”

“Maybe,” Nergüi answered. “Some things of interest. Might be nothing. But we’ve got some more looking in to do on this Scarlett Foster.”