Newport Hunt
By Rita
The bed was a comfortable cocoon where the occupant was a barely discernable lump covered by blankets and surrounded by pillows. The room was in complete darkness courtesy of the same windows that Operations had installed on the observation deck. Walter had been kind enough to order them for her. Rita was exhausted. She had come back from the Australia mission with the suspicion that she was going to catch a cold as a result of her unplanned swim, unfortunately it came true. She could feel the lingering effects of the cold and she continued to sleep peacefully although it was high noon outside. So sound asleep was she that phone ringing did not even make a dent in her consciousness.
********
"Our target is A.J. Morgan. There is no picture available of Morgan known to be an eccentric recluse that only comes out when it strikes his fancy. Except for now." He said as he activated the holographic screen. "He is in possession of some Pentagon security plans that were stolen in transit. He plans on selling them to the highest bidder." Everyone sat paying close attention to Operations. Although DragonLady kept looking in back of her wondering where was Rita. "Morgan is having the sale take place at an annual scavenger hunt party that he throws in Newport, Rhode Island." The girls looked excited at the prospect of going to the states for a scavenger hunt. Operation studied his charges and secretly knew they would enjoy it.
"Curlly you will be running tactical. North, Trace, Sherry, DragonLady, you will be guests attending the party. Michael and Rita will be posing as bidders…" He stopped as he looked around. "Where is Rita?" He wondered she had been known to be on time well most of the time. He amended she enjoyed coming in at the last moment.
"Last time I saw her she was locked up in her room with a cold." Sherry said quickly covering for her friend.
"Yup, Rita has it bad she didn’t want to deal with anyone." DragonLady quickly piped in. Michael who had been away on a mission and had just returned was surprised by the news.
"And in a dreadful mood. She even rejected cheesecake." Curly said as she shook her head. Cheesecake to her was the cure to all ills.
Operations stared at all them he had lost control of the meeting. "Enough! There must be a technical malfunction with the phone. Birkoff check it out."
"Michael fill her in later. As I was saying Michael and Rita will be going in together. Rita as a bidder and Michael her bodyguard."
Sherry did not look pleased at the assignments. She said hopefully, "If Rita isn’t feeling better I will take her place." Michael looked at her and smiled.
Operations looked at her with amusement filling his eyes. "I know for a fact she has been cleared by medical, Sherry. Rita is needed in this position because before she joined us she spent he summer working at the mansion where the party will be held. She knows the place inside and out. There will be no substitutions this mission." Sending a warning glance to Trace and Sherry. "Find her."
*********
The lump that was Rita had not moved. Oblivious to the rest of the world her mind barely registered the door opening. Michael stepped into the room and closed the door. He lit a single lavender candle that Rita had on the table by the door.
Walking quietly to the bed he could only see her ponytail peeking from out of the bed covers. He sat down next to her and pulled the cover away from her face. Michael looked at her wondering if the medlab had prescribed a sedative.
Taking a finger he trailed it down her nose. Her nose scrunched up in response but she still did not wake up. He moved his finger down her nose again. Rita’s hand moved to swat the annoyance away. When her hand was grabbed away and a soft kiss was placed on her palm.
Her eyes fluttered open. "Michael?" She said huskily.
"Were you expecting someone else?" He said as he traced patterns in her palm.
"No." She said as a yawn escaped her. "When did you get back?"
"This morning." He said as he brushed the stray strands away from her face. "How are you?"
"I am much better, just catching up on my sleep."
"Good." He said as he kissed her softly and pulled away regretfully. Rita made a noise of protest. "Its time to get ready we are going on a mission."
"Hmmm." Distracted by the kiss the it clicked. "Mission?" A frown marred her face she hoped that she would not be catching another cold. "Where is it taking place?"
"Rhode Island." He said simply.
A look of concern about the past broke across her face. "Don’t worry." He said as he pulled her close. "It will be fine."
She tugged away slightly to look into those verdant eyes for reassurance. "Trips to the past are never without consequence." She leaned in and kissed him before he could question her further.
"Hey! You guys break it up! Operations is making an unholy ruckus about the mission." Dragonlady chided from the door. "He sent me up here to make sure you got a move on it. Guess what Rita."
"What?"
"We’re going on a Scavenger Hunt. Which I plan on winning." She said as she walked in and bounced on the bed.
"That can’t be a mission unless Operations is handing out free vacations." Rita said in disbelief.
"No." She giggled. "We have to retrieve some plans. No problem. The best part is it’s a costume party. Jazz age."
"And Operations is sending us?" Rita smiled. "This is great." Rita loved costume parties. Halloween was her favorite holiday.
"We get to go costume shopping today!"
"Ooh fun. I gotta get up." She looked at Michael before getting up, mischief lighting a gleam in her eyes. "Michael are you ready to go shopping?" She waited for the response. Knowing he would rather be piggy baking missions then shop.
Michael hid the flash of terror at the thought. "I am sorry but I am needed here to complete the profile. I trust you to come up with something suitable for me." With that and one last kiss and he left. Rita merely stared after him.
"Rita… earth to Rita!"
"Hmmm…"
"Rita! She said as she shook her. "Get dressed."
Rita got up distracted as she walked to the bathroom. She turned and said, "Hey call up Sherry. She’s always up for dressing Michael. Or is that undressing Michael?" She said with a wink as she ran into the bathroom for a quickie shower.
********
The girls spent the afternoon trying on costumes. They came back ready for the mission. Walter had already prepped their gear. They were hustled on to the mission van and were in Rhode Island in what seemed to be a blink of the eye. There were a variety of vehicles waiting for their use at the airport. They would time to so their arrivals would not coincide. Rita and Michael climbed into the black Mercedes. For they had to be there early since they were bidders.
The drive from he airport was short. Any drive in Rhode Island was short, it was possible to get anywhere there in an hour or less. Michael drove quickly and they passed entrances o mansions along the way. Well they were refereed to back in the day as cottages for he rich. Their destination was the Breakers. The Vanderbilt summer home. The driveway was long up to the mansion to emphasize the immensity of this Italian Renaissance palazzo. Although she had seen it thousands of times and knew its detail quite well, he splendor of the place always struck her. Since it had been a few years when she last saw the mansion it touched her more deeply. Thinking back she recalled that summer she last spent there. It was while she was in university it seemed a fun way to pass the summer and learn a great deal.
"Rita. We are here are you ready?" Michael asked.
She looked at him in surprise. She had not even realized that they were there. He has already pulled the car over. "Yes. I am."
They stepped out of the car together and walked arm in arm to the house. The door to the house was open with two guards standing in front. Michael took their invitation out of his jacket pocket and handed it to the guards. The guards looked at the invitation and checked their names against the list he held on a clipboard. They were allowed entrance. Rita heard their footsteps echo on the parquet floors. The great hall of Breakers with its stunning red carpeted staircase that led to the upstairs chambers, it was immense as large as a ballroom with intricate bas-relief wok on he high ceiling.
A little man who looked as if her had room much on his plate came up to them. "Welcome to Breakers Miss Del Valle. I am Tom Chambers, A.J. assistant." He said as she shook her hand. Then he looked at Michael hesitantly. "And you sir are?"
"Michael." He said quietly.
"My bodyguard. I never leave home without him." Rita said as she thought now if that were only true.
"Of course. A.J. will see you now. Please follow me." He led them through the hall upstairs.
The house had 70 rooms it was not going to be easy finding out where Morgan had hidden the plans. Rita thought to herself especially if they were not all going to be used for the hunt.
Chambers led them to the blue study. Once they entered there was A.J. Morgan. One slight difference to the profile A.J. was a woman. "Thank you Chambers," said the woman softly. Rita and Michael schooled their faces as to not betray their surprise.
But in Rita’s ear she could hear curly screeching through her comm unit, "Wait till I get those people is research. No wonder they couldn’t get a picture. It’s called girl power. How sexist." Rita tried not to laugh.
The woman turned to face them. She had deep green eyes and long red hair that she had encased in a chignon. "How nice to meet you." She looked over both of them assessing them. But she took extra c are in studying Michael.
"Hello Ms. Morgan. Thank you for your kind invitation." Rita said.
"I am glad that you can make it. Let's get down to business so that then we can have some fun." She said as she motioned for them to sit down. Rita sat down and Michael stood in back of her. A.J. took notice of this. "It is simple the auction will take place after the hunt. Highest bidder that can transport the funds immediately after the auction to the Swiss bank account of my choice wins."
"I understand." Rita said.
"Do you have your entrance fee?"
"Of course."
Michael opened a briefcase containing twenty five thousand dollars in cash on the desk.
"Excellent. Now that business is done I can ask. Where did you find such an exquisite looking bodyguard?"
From the van Curlly's eyes widened. "Oh the woman is making the play for Michael."
Rita smiled at her. "It isn’t that hard if you know where to look."
"Oh then if it is that simple perhaps you would be willing to part with him for a price." Morgan said as she smiled back.
"We are devoted to each other. He is not a commodity for sale. Now if there is nothing else I would like to rest before the party tonight." Rita rose immediately and Michael followed her. She did not want to give Operations the chance to give her an order to sell Michael.
"I look forward to se how you do in the game tonight."
Rita turned and said, "It should be very enlightening." They left the room where Chambers was waiting to lead them to their room. As they crossed above the great hall they could look down and see that North and Sherry had arrived. The girls were admiring the interior. Sherry noted that Rita had a look of concern on her face and wondered what could be bothering her but she would have to question her tonight at the party.
*******.
The party was in full swing. A jazz band played tunes from a bygone era. Everyone was dressed in the most elegant of twenties wear. Flapper dresses and long strands of necklaces adorned the necks of the woman. Rita and Michael came downstairs. The girls had chosen a white suit for Michael. They thought it would be funny to dress him in something other than black. His hair had been slicked back as the fashion for that period dictated. He looked almost as if he could have belonged in that era.
Rita hair was held back by a jeweled headband. She was thinking, as she walked down the stairs they could have been gangsters a regular Bonnie and Clyde for both of them were carrying guns. A waiter passed with a tray of champagne. Rita snagged a glass.
A.J. Morgan dressed in seafoam green took center stage and with a cordless mike announced that the hunt would commence as soon as her assistants passed out the map of the house and the rooms they could search and the list of object s to be obtained. "The deadline is midnight whoever has the most objects wins the prize. All the objects have been hidden in the house or on the property. You will know if you found the correct one for it would have my initials on it. Good luck and let the games begin."
Michael got a list from one of the men. He and Rita read it together. Not that they would be playing they would be looking for the computer disks as well as the hard copy of the plans.
Rita saw Trace, DragonLady, North and Sherry across the room. They too were reading the list. DragonLady started talking excitedly. She had formed a plan from Rita could tell.
"This is what we do we divide the list and find the objects while looking for the disk." DragonLady said to her companions.
"Operations may not like that our attention is not on the disks." North reminded her.
"Yeah but we can do two things at once." Trace said as she laughed. "We always do."
"All right you find an object let the rest know on the comm units. The disks have the pentagon tag on them so it should not be that hard to find. If not Rita and Michael have to go to plan b and that would not be good."
"We all know how much you would miss Michael Sherry." North said.
"I would to be the only one." Sherry replied.
"Would you guys get moving. The detectors only working if you are within 3 feet of the disks! And golly time is a wasting!" Curlly yelled from the van.
The teams dispersed throughout the mansion in search of the disk. It was a huge undertaking. Throughout the evening reports from the girls about which objects they found filtered through the comm system but no one had found the location of the disk yet and the midnight hour was approaching rapidly. There was only one room left and it was the Gold Room. Michael told the girls where to station themselves via the comm unit.
Curlly scanned the room from the van. "There is a heat sensing alarm surrounding the doorframe. I can’t shut it off from here. You need to find the manual control Michael. Let me see." Curlly began hitting keys on the computer. "Found it. It's in the study."
"We don’t have time for that Curlly. The hunt is almost over."
Rita, who had been standing watch, was looking down the hallway remembering the stories of scandals that had occurred in the house. Then Rita remembered Cornelius Vanderbilt’s mistress always stayed in the lavender room. The lavender room next to it has a secret entry through the wardrobe to the Gold room. "Forget it I know a way in."
She led the way to lavender room and Stepped into the wardrobe. She just hoped the locking system would not be rusted over. Thankfully it was only slightly stuck. She pushed at it and came through the other side. Michael followed her. They both scanned the room and found the disk.
"Got it Curlly!" Rita whispered excitedly. They left the room quickly and headed downstairs. Rita saw Dragonlady and gave her the horseshoe she had found.
"Oh goody! I only need the tombstone tracing. Where am I going to get that?"
"Outside in on the back terrace the Vanderbilt’s buried their favorite pet Binky. If you hurry you can win."
"Thanks Rita."
DragonLady ran outside followed by North Trace and Sherry who all decided that winning wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Michael and Rita walked downstairs and outside where Davenport was waiting in the shadows of the mansion to take the disk off their hands. They returned to the house. When they walked back they heard the announcement that DragonLady had won the contest. The prize was a trip to Greece. After that Rita and Michael went to make their apologies to their hostess. With the excuse that their organization had lost interest in the plans for something else had come up.
"Michael are you sure you would not wish to change employers?" She asked as they walked away.
"Quite certain but I will keep your offer in mind for the future." Michael said as he took Rita by the arm and left.
"Oh you do that Michael and you may not make it home in one piece." She whispered as they walked away.
The End
This story ©copyright Rita, 2000