5. The London Life

*Five Years Later*

            "They really need to decide on what to call me," I ranted in my empty room. "How hard is it? They need to come up with a better name than that." I rustled the newspaper I held in my hands.

I was getting noticed a lot lately. It was about damn time, considering I'd been in London more than long enough to make my mark in the city. I hadn't expected fame to come with this trip. I reveled in it; it was nice to be recognized. Still, I wished the papers gave me a better name than "The American". The only reason they gave me the name was because I'd had so many run-ins with Scotland Yard and ended up throwing witty comments at them. It was obvious how they got my title; they knew I wasn't from England.

I was one of the few residents in this massive mansion. I'm not exaggerating when I say this. That was where Jim wanted to base his headquarters, in an abandoned mansion that people deemed haunted. Thank God there were no brave souls to actually try and prove the theory wrong—we'd have to take care of them.

All the rooms were about the same size: huge. I had a bed that could easily fit three people, and I had a lovely pair of windows that opened towards a small balcony. The balcony what was made me declare my room.

My closet was a nice size. My outfits barely ranged in color. Since under Jim's wing, I'd acquired a lot of dresses, most of them black. I could admit that I missed all the other colors in the world, but I didn't want to stand out in that way. I would let my actions do that for me.

 I crossed my legs as my eyes skimmed the tiny letting of the paper. Who even read the paper anymore? Everything nowadays was on the internet. It was way faster to get news that way than to read it in print. I pursed my lips, wishing I could transform my title in my head into what I wanted it to be even though I had no idea what to call myself.

A little flustered, I threw the paper on the bed, looking towards the dreary November weather on the other side of the windows. I hadn't been out for a while. Well, that's not true; I'd been out to air out. Nobody really knew who I was; my face wasn't broadcasted by any means of media, so I could walk amongst people and not worry about having the police thrown my way.

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, debating on whether or not to ask Jim if he got anything special for me to do. He wasn't really in charge of me; he gave me free rein when it came to what havoc I unleashed in London. For the most part I pulled off heists. I never broke into the Tower of London or anything, yet. There was always the chance to actually do that and come out with something.

But lately, heists seemed to bore me. That's all I'd ever done, break-ins. I needed something different. Maybe I could shake things up a bit. But with what? What aside from burglaries could I do?

A rap on the door caught my attention. I rolled my head back, moaning in my throat. I wasn't sure if I wanted company right now.

"I'm busy," I lied. The door squeaked open to reveal one of my partners in crime. He's roughly my age, but he could pass of as a twenty-year-old or a teenager still. "Okay, here's one. Where's the other?"

"Caught." He scowled. "Scotland Yard got her."

"Damn." I shook my hair. "You committed another robbery?"

He ruffled his mussed, dark hair. "No, Heidi attempted to murder a big shot."

"How'd she manage that?"

"Well, she'd been doing her research and had someone watch him for a few months. She knew he was full of money and wasted a good majority at strip joints. She snuck in and tried to rob him, but he caught her, then she acted. She ran when she thought she killed him. Either someone found him or he phoned Scotland Yard, because they were there pretty quickly. I was on standby with the escape car, but as soon as I saw they got her, I fled."

"She's one greedy foreigner."

"She's Colombian, Raine. If she heard you, she would have cursed you out in Spanish. See? What did I tell you? You should have come with us; it was bad luck for you to miss out."

"Andrew, you two did a lot of things together before I came along." I snorted. "Whether or not I followed had nothing to do with Heidi's capture."

His brown eyes narrowed. "You could have helped her."

"How did she sneak in? Did she pretend to be a stripper?"

"Oh yeah." He had a big grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Men. If I ended up looking like that and Jim saw me, I would have never left. If I did and he saw me after I came back, I'd probably wear that for the rest of my life." I shivered.

"We need to get her back."

"She can figure her way out."

"No, she can't. We can't just leave her there to rot!"

"Alright, alright." I got up off the bed. "Do you have a plan in mind?"

Andrew nodded, rubbing his hands together. "I say we do a trade with Scotland Yard."

I raised an eyebrow. "A trade?"

"An officer for Heidi."

"I know what you mean, I just didn't think you'd come up with it. Do we have a hostage we can use?"

"Not yet, but I've got one in mind."

"Who? Is it Detective Inspector Lestrade?"

"No, Sergeant Sally Donovan." He beamed. "I know Lestrade would be the better hostage, but it'd be harder to kidnap him than it would be to get Donovan."

I snickered. "How do you expect us to snatch her? We can't just go in there and put the place on lockdown."

"That was going to be my first idea. There were holes in it."

"Uh huh. So what's your improved plan?" I repeated.

"We lure her out. Where Lestrade goes, she follows. I don't know how we'll get them out just yet, that's still a work in progress."

"Just like the majority of it is?" I teased.

"If we need some help, you better ask Jim if he can lend us a few people."

"You don't know any others outside of me and Heidi?"

"No."

I pursed my lips. "I think we can manage this ourselves, Andrew. But if we have to, I'll get us some extra help. Let's make this foolproof."

*      *      *

"Jim, I'm going to need to borrow a car," I said later that night. He wasn't in the mansion, so I was able to get through to him on the phone.

"What for?"

"Business. A rescue mission."

"Raine, if they're caught, let them stay there. They did it to themselves. Since when do you go on a rescue mission anyway?"

"Andrew won't shut up about getting Heidi out."

"Heidi was caught? That's a twist. Hmm, I take back what I said. Go get her."

"We can't if we don't have a car."

"I'll get it arranged."

"When are you coming back?" I whimpered.

"Soon, angel, I promise. In fact"—his voice sounded like it was echoing—"sooner than you think."

I shut the phone off as a pair of arms made their way around me. I closed my eyes, exhaling softly.

"Welcome back," I murmured. "It's nice to know that I'm the first one who gets to see you." I whimpered as he kissed the side of my neck. "Not now. Later, maybe."

"You've never pushed it back before. Why the delay?"

"There are more important things to do than you right now. I still want to make a final run-through of the plan in my head about getting Heidi back from Scotland Yard."

"I wanted to talk to you about that—what you've been doing lately, I mean."

"You've seen the papers?" My tone turned sour.

"Yes. 'The American', seriously? That's the best title they can give you?" he scoffed. "So unoriginal, so plain. I wish they'd call you one of the many names that I've given you."

"I doubt they can do much with 'sexy', Jim."

"I wasn't thinking of that one. Besides, that's my title. No, I was thinking maybe 'vixen' or something. That is more memorable than 'The American'."

"I'm not disagreeing with you. Anyway, I know you don't want to discuss my title in the papers. What is it?"

"I think I may have a special assignment for you."

"This isn't going to involve a worldwide trip, will it? The last time I left England, I was nearly kidnapped because of you. You should have given me more protection."

"You handled yourself just fine, Raine. Can't say the same for them though. It'll keep you in London, I promise. But...I'm not sure if you're ready for it."

"Why?"

"It won't involve you being a negotiator or peacekeeper. You're not going to be overseeing a job being done. It could possibly require you to get your hands dirty, much dirtier than you're used to."

"You mean murder."

"Is there anything dirtier?"

"I'm sure I could handle it."

"Once you get Heidi back, I'll test you."

"How?" I turned my head to him.

"It's a surprise." He smirked. "I can't tell you everything, Raine."

"You never do."

"Now that your agenda is clear..."

I practically melted in Jim's arms; he really wanted to cloud my head. I had to keep it together, because I knew I couldn't grow attached to him. True, he had an effect on me, but it was purely out of attraction. I didn't have any legitimate feelings for him, and it was vice versa with him. We were what you'd call friends with benefits. It was hard to say who benefited more out of the feelings-free relationship.

It wasn't a science to figure out how we came to be no-strings-attached. We hadn't fooled around much in the beginning when we came to England. As my progress skyrocketed, that's when things picked up for us. We'd been like this for years and managed to not have feelings towards each other. It was the best kind of relationship you could have in a business like this.

"I still need that car," I chimed.

"I'll get it for you. How soon do you need it?"

"Soon."

"What are you using it for exactly?"

"Getting to where we need to go." I sighed. "Seriously, what do you think we'll do with it? Strap a bomb to it and blow up buildings?"

**Alternative song: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde (Hunger Games: Catching Fire)**