nrpg : this is just something short, while the rest of the agents are busy saving emily. waiting for you guys to catch up on the time.
rpg :
day 1 0700 hours
By the time Vanessa and Jim reached the airport, it was almost 7am. The two of them made their way to the nearest counter and asked for two business class tickets for the earliest flight out to Los Angeles.
The lady at the counter, by the name of Cynthia (with a "Hi! My name is Cynthia" tag on her breast pocket) was all smiles.
"The earliest flight will be leaving in about one hour's time. But all the business class seats are sold out. We do have some first class seats left, though." She informed them, smiling.
"First class?" Jim echoed.
"The Bureau will kill us," Vanessa told him in soft tones before she turned to the lady.
"How about economy class? Don't you have any economy class seats left?"
"Well, we do have some economy seats left, but not a single one of them is together."
"That will be perfect." Vanessa told the lady in uniform. "We'll take two of them. Would you mind if you arrange them to be as far away from each other as possible?"
"What?" Cynthia asked, shocked.
"Far away. You understand? Its - " she paused and looked at Jim.
"Its personal," she added, rather pleased that she had confused the poor lady.
"As far as possible."
"Yes."
Cynthia then proceed to key in the information.
"Do you have any luggage?" She asked.
"No luggage," the two agents chorused in unison.
"No luggage." Cynthia repeated, and then promptly passed them their tickets.
"Have a nice trip." She called after them as they left the counter.
The two of them moved to a corner by themselves.
"What is it about having the seats as far as possible?" Jim asked.
"We are supposed to keep a low profile remember? Don't you think that the two of us stand out when we walked together?" She asked her partner, who was one feet taller than her, and still clad in his (what she called) 'FBI uniform'.
"All right," Jim said finally. "We'll meet again when we landed. I'll try to rent a car. You'll be careful?"
"I always am," she informed him.
He did not believe her.
With some time to spare, Vanessa walked around the airport. Unlike Jim, she had changed into casual clothing, with a white sweater, a pair of jeans and boots. Her hair, which was always tied up into a bun while she was on duty, was let down. Her wallet, passport and air ticket was tucked into her back pocket.
As she made her way among the people, Vanessa tried to see if there is anyone following her. She was almost sure that there would be no one, since their escapade to the lodge was not discovered, but it never harmed to be on guard. She was very certain that Jim, who had left in the opposite direction from her, was doing the very same thing at this moment.
She soon reached a newstand, and bought a computer magazine, before she sat down and tried to read.
She couldn't.
Her eyes kept wondering to the announcement board hung up high. On the first line, was a flight to San Francisco. To home.
In a way, she was glad that they did not need to fly there on their way to Torrance. She knew that despite the fact that she did not want to go home, once she landed on San Francisco, there would be a tug in her heart which made her want to go back to Chinatown, to soak into the familiar atmosphere which Washington and its cozy neighbourhood Hong Kong supermarket cannot really give.
But then what? Go home and listen to her family ranted about her 'abnormal' lifestyle again?
Indeed, she was very glad that they are flying to Los Angeles instead.
Time to go, she told herself as she saw her flight appear on the board above.
Regards,
Lee Sau Woon aka SA2 Vanessa Lee