their misunderstanding, the majority of the rest of the car ride was oddly silent.
Upon arriving at the hotel, the first thing that she noticed was the large red lettering at the top of the building. The place looked nice enough to her, and she hadn’t noticed any weird duck things, although she was sure that the people in this town must have an obsession with some awkward fashion style that she wasn’t familiar with. On the way to the hotel, she had clearly seen at least three men in large white and sparkled suits, with extremely long sideburns, and slicked back black hair walking around on the street.
“Your car is parked in there,” Zane said motioning to the large parking garage next to the hotel.
Sam’s mind immediately began to race with wild thoughts of what she may be driving. The hotel seems to be nice enough from the outside, and look at the car they gave this old geezer. Surely I’ll have something that’s at least comparable, she thought. They rode up to the second floor of the large concrete parking garage, then to the third floor, and finally to the fourth floor where Zane pulled into a parking space. He then reached into his front jacket pocket, pulled out a set of keys, and handed them to Sam.
“So where is it?” she asked while trying to hide the excitement in her voice.
“It’s right next to you.”
Sam immediately looked to her left.
“That’s it?” she asked in a disappointed voice.
Zane couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her disappointed expression. What did she expect, he wondered. There, right in front of Sam’s face, sat the ugliest dark green minivan that she had ever seen. While driving this vehicle, she would appear to be a soccer mom, and a poor one at that.
“Hey ! Stop laughing, Mr. Illustrious Businessman.”
“Well, I guess we can’t all live the good life, but I suppose I could give a poor fellow agent a ride to the front door of her hotel,” Zane said while chuckling.
“Yeah, yeah, just start dr iving,” Sam said while showing a hint of a smile.
As they reached the front of the hotel and Sam got out to retrieve her bags , Zane pulled out a medium sized black bag from the car.
“Here are some supplies for someone of exceptional skill. Oh, and I almost forgot. You’ll need the key to your room,” Zane said while handing the key over to her.
She was grateful for the bag, but now she had three bags, and only two hands. She draped the long strap from her largest bag over her shoulder and took the other two in her hands. Zane, of course, immediately offered to help her carry her bags inside . She politely declined. She didn’t like feeling like a weak girl who needed someone’s help. In fact, she never asked for help at all. It was hard enough for her to come off as capable or as a threat to anyone when she probably only weighed one-hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. The underestimation that she often received, because of her size and her gender, would turn out to be her greatest strength. After all, no one would ever think that this small, frail looking girl could be a well-trained killer.
“No , thanks. I’ve got it,” Sam said.
“Okay, but if you need anything else , my number is on a card in the bag I just gave you. Don’t hesitate to give me a call.”
“I won’t , and thanks for the ride, Zane.”
“Anytime.”
Sam then began to make her way inside.
Ho pefully my room won’t be as disappointing as the car, Sam thought to herself as she got on the elevator.
* * * * *
Back in Washington, Burt’s plan had gone off without a hitch, and Jason couldn’t be happier. He quickly began typing out their plan in order to send it via email to Sam. Sure, he could have simply explained it to her over the phone, but he knew that many operatives found it helpful to be able to visually look at and study a plan instead of simply hearing how everything was supposed to happen. After he finished typing out everything, he hit the send button. With