“You’re good to go,” Hawk said. “Your photos just uploaded to the database. Congratulations. You are now Mr. and Mrs. Muncie.”
“I always liked the name Angela,” Alex said.
“It seems fitting with the blonde wig that you’re sporting,” Black said. “All the Angelas I’ve ever known always dyed their hair.”
She glanced over at Black. “You ready?”
He nodded as they eased to a stop next to the guard station, just short of entering the grounds. The estate was an old castle that had been renovated and restored to its full glory from the late nineteenth century. The turrets on the corners of the walls were unmanned, and security seemed rather lax, at least according to the standards that Alex was used to dealing with.
While they waited for the signal to proceed, Alex combed her hair before deciding to put it up in a bun.
The guard at the gate wore a pair of white gloves and had a semi-automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. After completing a check of the vehicle in front of them, he motioned for Alex to roll down her window.
“Invitation and identification, please,” he said as he held out his hand.
“Good evening,” Alex said as she slid the requested documents into the man's hands. He studied them carefully before shining his flashlight inside the sports car at Alex. Crouching down to get eye level with the window, the guard lit up Black's face as well.
The guard stood upright again and then handed everything back to Alex.
“Have a good evening,” he said before waving them through.
She rolled up the window and slipped inside, following the instructions of the attendant directing them toward the front door. After she came to a stop near the front steps, a pair of young men hustled around to open the car doors to Alex’s vehicle. The idea of handing off the keys to a valet without a quick way of gaining access to her car was unsettling, but she’d requested two keys at the rental agency for such a moment.
“Take good care of her,” Alex said as she winked at the young man who was preparing to slide into the driver’s seat.
Once they were inside, a man greeted them at the door and offered to take Alex’s coat, but she declined his offer. Alex and Black were ushered to walk through a metal detector, which cleared both of them. Alex smiled as she considered how easy it was to disguise their weapons from the machine.
“We’re through,” she said.
“Roger that,” Hawk said. “You just came into view on one of the feeds I was monitoring. Give me the layout of the room.”
“Two guards at each of the exits, both armed with handguns. There are obviously several cameras around the room. Other than that, just your typical nineteenth-century castle great hall.”
“Do you recognize anyone?” Hawk asked.
“Not so far,” Alex said. “This crowd appears rather harmless to me. I’m not sure what the real purpose of this gathering is, but I’m starting to believe it’s just what it says it is: an environmental fundraiser.”
Black swiped a couple of champagne glasses and handed one to Alex.
“Thank you,” she said. “Such a gentleman.”
“Alex, I’m beginning to think you’re just messing with me,” Hawk said.
“You’re too easy, honey,” she said. “This is quite fun for me.”
“Well, you do look absolutely ravishing in that dress and coat. You appear to be quite the sophisticate with deep pockets to boot.”
“Focus,” Alex said. “This isn’t about my blonde wig or how stunning I look tonight. We need to find Dr. Becker and keep an eye on him in order to figure out the right moment to approach him.”
Guests continued to pour through the doors until the room was filled with at least sixty couples. Alex estimated the median age of the crowd was somewhere around fifty-five or sixty with a few outliers on both the younger and older side. She could tell that she and Black stood out more than she’d hoped they would, but that wasn’t something she had any control over. With her makeup, she did her best to make her look like a woman in her early fifties, drawing in lines and accentuating her burgeoning crow’s feet. The attempt wasn’t perfect, but she certainly didn’t appear to be the late twenties brunette that she was.
Alex and Black mingled, careful to introduce themselves as Angela and Phillip to the others milling around the room and sharing drinks together. Finally, after half an hour, Alex saw someone she recognized.
“I’m suddenly starting to wonder what kind of group this really is,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Hawk asked over the coms.
“I just saw Jeremiah Gillman,” she said. “He was one of the men listed as a client of Andrei Orlovsky’s, our favorite Russian arms dealer. I remember his name and looking him up. He’s got quite the resume when it comes to arrests. I doubt he’s simply here to help save the planet. I know for a fact that he’s more interested in destroying it.”
“In that case, steer clear,” Hawk said. “We don’t need to stir up any more trouble that we’re already going to have before this thing is said and done.”
“I believe I told you that I was rather confident about everything going as planned here,” Alex said. “If Gillman is our sole threat, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle him.”
“Just stay alert.”
Alex watched the crowd sift back and forth across the room, like a listless tide. Attendees flitted from one conversation to the next, most touting what they’d been able to do in the past year to bolster their standing as a true warrior for the environment. Alex learned enough about the Muncies to know what they had done, which included starting a business reward program for employers to incentivize their people to utilize water fountains. After her fourth retelling of the story, Black offered to retell it next, which he did flawlessly.
“We make a great team,” Alex
