Part Three

"Well we are on a mission and stakes as we say are high." Rita was barely paying attention to the boys. She was listening on her comm. unit to Sherry and Oliver.

"Who is the gentleman you ladies have been entertaining?" Michael asked.

"That is classified dear." Rita knew that it was no holds barred.

Roarke handed Rita a glass of champagne. She took a sip. While she was drinking Roarke threw Michael a look. Michael left quietly in pursuit of Sherry. "Excellent. Thank you."

Rita could see through their little ploy but she let them. In her ear she could here Sherry. "Mission accomplished." A tiny smile played on her lips.

Roarke leaned in, "Care to dance?"

"Certainly." Rita said as they walked out on to the dance floor.

"So darling what have you accomplished today?" He said as he pulled her close.

"Nothing much, a little sight seeing." Rita replied blithely.

"Really, I missed you today."

At that she genuinely smiled. "Me too."

"Rita, Michael is coming towards me and I have the entry cards." Sherry said into the comm. unit.

"Roarke, darling I have to powder my nose. I will be back in a second." Rita moved quickly not giving him a chance to argue. "Sherry meet me at the egress point now. Michael gets a hold of you he will pick pocket those cards off your bod. Changing channels she said, "The rest of you fall in to the egress point. Now." She could almost hear lips breaking apart.

Rita met with Sherry halfway. "We are going to have a hard time getting out of here." Sherry said as she saw the line to get a cab.

"No we are not." As she saw the other girls flying out of the club. She walked towards the limousine parking. "Hello, Darien." She said with a smile. Darien was Roarke’s chauffeur, the one he took with him everywhere.

"Good evening, Miss Martinez." He said with a salute of his cap.

"Darien, I do not feel well. Roarke said you could take me to my hotel and come back and get him."

"Excellent, miss please get in." Rita climbed in followed by the other girls in a madcap rush.

The limo pulled away and they could see some of the boys had made it out. Yet Roarke was still not there to stop them. They made it back to the hotel in no time.

"Roarke is going to kill you." DeLeah said with a laugh.

"He’ll laugh at my audacity." Rita said confidently. "Michael on the other hand…"

"I think we should all get some sleep tomorrow is going to take some work." Brenna said.

"Brenna you are such a mother." DeLeah said with a laugh.

"But she has a point." Nabiki said as she got up. "Poor Roy he is not going to be too happy with me either."

"The boys know we are in it to win it." Aries said loudly. "Anyhow I can make it up to Marco later. Night ladies."

"I have to wash this smell of smoke out of my hair before I go to bed." Curlly said as she held a curl in her hands.

"That may take awhile." Nahla said with a giggle. "I need to get some sleep."

Everyone went to bed for tomorrow was going to be a long day.

*************

Summerset was serving Roarke’s various guests breakfast. He knew Roarke had a reason for everything he did. But this eclectic group of gentlemen was providing him with a riddle. If he had to guess it had to do with the current woman in his life, Rita. Yet she was not here. Odd, he thought.

"I cannot believe the girls left like that last night." Sinjn said as he ate from a stack of hotcakes.

"I am not. We would have done the same if we would have gotten what we needed." O’Brien said as he speared a sausage.

"Soon to be married man, please get the stars out of your eyes. Curlly can be just as devious as the rest of them." Jack said as he sat down to eat. Summerset put a plate in front of him.

"Well we had better not lose this bet." Roy said from the corner of the table as he sipped his coffee.

"No that is not happening. I have some very specific ideas for the winnings." Jace said as the other men agreed.

Roarke came in covered in sweat fresh from his morning jog. "Good morning, gentlemen."

Michael glanced up. He had already exercised that morning. "Have you spoken to your driver?"

Roarke’s face went bland. "Yes, of course."

"So there will be no more mishaps?" Michael continued prodding.

"No, Michael. Can’t fault the girl for being so inventive." Roarke said with a smile. "I presume you trained her too well or do you not know her well enough to predict her movements."

"It would not have happened if she was not seeing you." Michael said quietly. The other men in the room could feel the drastic temperature drop in the room.

"I accept that but I would rather have her in my life stealing my limousine then not in it."

"So you are prepared to lose?" Michael inquired with a double-edged meaning attached to his statement.

"Are you?" Roarke replied in kind.

"Ok guys that could be construed as part of Rita’s plan to distract the two of you. We need to focus on the mission." O’Brien said in the hopes of preventing any further discussion between the two men.

Roarke smiled an evil grin, "Ready for rehearsal, Michael?"

**************

The ladies were taking their time that morning. They decided to explore the hotel and its beachfront property. Walking on a bridge over a manmade river that went through the hotel. When Curlly spotted some flamingoes. "Look at those!"

Aries asked, "Are those real?"

"No they’re animatronic." Nahla said throwing a zinger. You just had to watch out for the quiet ones.

They continued walking and there was a frog in the middle of the path. Curlly being the animal lover said, "Poor froggie we gotta help it," she said as she chased after the frog.

Rita was giggling at Curlly’s chase of the frog. Avillion was holding her sides trying not to cry courtesy of the laughter pealing out of her. When she finally caught it the frog peed on her in fright. Curlly squealed, and released the frog into the bushes.

DeLeah was laughing, "The frog paid you back so sweetly."

Sherry was pulling out some antibacterial gel for Curlly out of her bag. "This will help."

"Thanks Sher." Curlly said as she held her hands out.

"So lets go to the beach and catch some sun before tonight." Nabiki suggested.

"I’ll be sitting under a large umbrella." Nahla said.

"Let’s go." Aries said.

The girls spent the morning relaxing. Then they went in to prepare for that evening. The girls prepped their evening bags with knockout injections just in case one of them could not charm their target outside. Thankfully the penthouse had four bathrooms or else they would never have gotten ready on time.

Brenna and Nabiki had arranged for a yacht to take them across the bay to a landing in back of the club. Auggie the captain of their ship made them feel at home. As they journeyed across the bay he pointed out famous homes and figures in the rock face of the cliffs. He would wait for them until it was time to go.

The girls gained entrance to the club quickly. A stage dominated the club at the far back. It had a dance floor in front. Tables went back in layers. It harkened back to the fifties almost a copacabana feel to it. They were escorted to a table close to the stage off to the side.

"Nice place." Aries said as she stared around.

They sat down and their drink orders were taken. "Anyone see the boys?" Rita inquired as she looked around the room.

"Nope no hide nor hair of them." Nabiki said as she twisted around to see if she could catch a glimpse of them.

Suddenly the lights went low and the announcer said the show would now commence.

"Let’s find our target." Sherry said quietly as the crowd began to hush because of the show about to start.

********

Backstage the boys were putting on the final touches on their ensembles. They were arguing over who was going first on stage. Finally a contingency of the group decided the team leader should go first. Michael being one dedicated Section operative took control and stepped out on stage.

To the announcer’s introduction, "Here is Sarah McLachlan singing, Possession."

Rita looked to the stage in interest when she and the other girls realized at the same time that this was a female impersonator show. Not only that but there was Michael in drag singing. Rita’s drink slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. Sherry who had been taking a sip spit it out in shock.

"Oh dear me." Rita said hoarsely.

Aries and DeLeah were laughing hysterically. "Well Michael looks good as a redhead." DeLeah said between laughs.

"He actually shaved his five o’clock shadow." Sherry said in bemusement.

"Who has a camera?" Curlly inquired.

"You don’t see this everyday," said Avillion camera in hand snapping pictures like mad.

"He has nice legs." Nabiki said as she tried to maintain some composure.

"Well now we know how they got in." Rita said still in shock. "Oh my."

Rita tried to pull her eyes off the stage but found she could not. She noticed she was not the only experiencing that difficulty. Focus she thought to herself. Looking around she finally spotted the target. "Sherry." Sherry was concentrating all her attention on Michael. "Sherry! SHERRY!" Finally she turned. "The target is 5 tables behind you two to the left."

Sherry nodded and checked his location as well as how many guards he had with him. Rita told the other girls to pay attention the target. But it was too late the announcer was introducing the next act, "Please welcome Cher, singing If I Could Turn Back Time."

All the girls attention was riveted to the stage to see who would come out next. DeLeah now became quiet for once and did not a move a muscle. There was Antonio belting out the song in a sequined gown.

The girls could not believe what this evening was turning out to be. It was too soon to move in on the target. He was busy talking up a storm with the person next to him. They had to wait. So they sat through Jack singing as Dolly Parton and O’Brien singing as Barbara Steisand.

Then Rita saw Michael, no longer in drag, moving through the crowd towards the target. "Michael is moving in on the target.

Avillion then saw someone in a tuxedo coming from the other side. "So is Roarke."

"We have to move." Sherry said quickly. Rita got up making a beeline for the man. So was DeLeah on the other side.

DeLeah reached him first. "Care to dance?"

The gentleman looked up in surprise but he gladly accepted. DeLeah led him out to the dance floor. While Roy was performing as Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On."

Rita and Sherry walked to the edge of the dance floor to provide back up. Rita spoke into her comm. unit, "Avi and Aries move to mark two. Brenna and Nahla secure the egress route."

Yet some of the girls paused as the next group was announced, "Heart with Don’t Leave me Like This." There was Jace and Xavier singing it seemed to the girls that were trying to leave.

Sherry got tapped on her shoulder, "Shall we dance?" Michael inquired politely.

Sherry nodded and he led her out to the dance floor. She thought at least she had him within her sights. But she felt this was part of a plan. He held her close.

Rita was yelling into her comm. unit. "Brenna and Nahla move now." Finally the girls made their way out. Looking around she saw DeLeah had the man firmly snared in her charms. "DeLeah led him to mark 2."

"Mark 2? Where would that be darling?" Roarke said as he brushed his hand down her arm.

Rita turned around startled. "This was your plan I assume." She said in irritation.

Roarke smiled enigmatically at her. "Dance?"

"Why didn’t you perform?" Rita asked curiously.

Sherry could hear what was going on with Rita but she assumed so could Michael. Neither one of them could give the command to take the target now.

Then they heard Aries, "We will take the target. Brenna and Nahla are you in place?"

"Affirmative."

"Curlly." No response she was too busy watching Sinjn doing the closing act of Madonna, singing Like a Virgin. Curlly was holding her sides trying not to laugh.

"We have the target." Said Avi after Aries had injected him. They were in a hallway that led to a back exit. Dragging the body between them they received assistance from Brenna and Nahla.

A waiter passed carrying a large tray of drinks, Rita tripped him causing him to fall into Roarke. At that Rita walked away from Roarke at a quick pace. "Get him out of here and back to Torre Blanca, now."

Oliver bumped into her, "Rita how nice to see you here."

"Oliver I need your help. There are some men harassing my friends and I."

"That cannot be allowed. Please point them out." Rita quickly pointed to the boys at different points in the club. "I will take care of it." Oliver said as he walked away.

**********

Brenna, Avi, Nahla and Aries were busy shoving the target onto the boat. Auggie laughed, "Your friend has had too much to drink."

"Yes too much tequila for him." Brenna agreed.

"Can you take us to Torre Blanca please." Nahla asked sweetly.

"What about the other ladies?"

"Oh they will follow us. Don’t worry."

"Fine let us go." The boat sped off in to the night just as O’Brien and Antonio made it to the edge of the dock. Aries and DeLeah blew them kisses.

*********

Rita watched as Oliver’s men had words with the boys. "Egress route two ASAP everyone."

The girls met at the opposing dock and hopped into a motor boat waiting there. Curlly took the wheel and swung them out to sea.

"We did it." Sherry said delighted.

Rita smiled as they made their way across the water. When they arrived at Torre Blanca, they saw that the other half of the team had already arrived.

Mr. Jones stood outside, "Congratulations ladies."

"Thank you." Rita said. The group moved towards the main hall where everyone was gathered.

"It seems that some of you are easily distracted by ploys done by the opposite sex. I have to admit the men were particularly ingenious in gaining entry to the site." Mr. Jones spoke to the group. "But the ladies brought home the target. You will all work on the flaws that the mission experienced. But you can take some downtime to enjoy what the city has to offer." He said as he walked away.

Once DeLeah saw he was out of earshot she said, "We won! When is the pay up?"

"Whenever you wish, querida." Antonio said as he walked up to her.

"So Marco what else did you shave?" Aries asked with a smile. Marco shook his head in chagrin opting to kiss her rather than answer.

Michael and Roarke walked up to Rita, "So Rita who are you collecting the bet from?" Roarke asked.

Rita laughed if these two thought she was choosing now they did not know herr that well. "Both of you of course as you are both my significant other. I never specified just one." Roarke smiled at he business loophole.

Sherry walked up and took Michael by the arm. "Well you can have Michael tomorrow. I have some plans in mind."

"That is fine Sher." Rita said.

Roarke put an arm around her and escorted her to the waiting limousine. "I have an evening of delight planned."

"Wonderful, then we can discuss what I want you to do to fulfill the bet, starting with you dressing in drag." Rita said with a giggle.

The End

This story ©copyright Tasamin, March 21, 2001