Target Practice- Part Five by: Enemyoffun With her grandfather gone,Olivia has now inherited Queen Industries. But that's the least of her problems what with dealing with the press, the Board of Directors and trying to find the person who hired the assassin in the first place.

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Author's Note: Sorry for the massive delay but I've been kinda busy as of late---too many things to do and only one me :) Things should take a different turn after this one, less business stuff for a while. I'd like to thank the people who beta read this for me, djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Five:

One piece at a time, the words of the text haunted me for the next few days. I couldn’t get them out of my head. Then there was the smiley face that accompanied them. What kind of sick bastard would threaten someone and then sign that threat with a smiley face? As soon as I got it and was done getting over the shock, Luke made sure we got out of there real fast. He rushed Mia and me into the car and drove as fast as legally possible back to the Tower. Then he contacted the proper authorities. The only thing the police did was file a report. So I put my own person on it: Mia. Mia spent the rest of that night and into the next trying to trace the call. But apparently, who ever sent it was just as good or better as she was at covering their tracks. She finally gave up after she came to the final dead end. Apparently, my mystery texter was a crack electronics expert as well, making their call untraceable.

I tried putting the text behind me to think of other things. Unfortunately, those other things involved the Board and their further attempts to push me out. Jade and Joanna finally got their act together and tried to file an injunction against the Board but were having a hard time getting an audience with a judge. It didn’t help things that Ross was waylaying their every attempt. I don’t know what I did to the bastard but he was hell bent to make me suffer. Everything we threw at him he seemed to be ready for, it was almost as if he was reading our minds. Worse, someone was tipping him off. I hated pointing fingers but it was the only other answer. The only problem with that theory was that I was starting to trust these people. Jade, Joanna and to a lesser extent, Scarlet. Even though it was becoming increasingly apparent that Scarlet was distancing herself from me.

If I had to point fingers anywhere, it might be in her direction. After all, she wasn’t here to serve me but the company as a whole. It was pretty clear that she didn’t like the old man’s idea of putting me in charge either. She didn’t verbally announce her disdain for me but it was clear by the fact that she quickly pushed me off on someone else. I hated to think of her as a traitor but it was the only answer I could come up with. I mean, if Jade or Joanna were going to betray me then why go to all this trouble to help me in the first place.

We were getting nowhere fast with that help either. So far, my attempts to contact Mr. Wayne were failing miserably. He was the only member of the Board not to choose a side and it was becoming increasingly apparent that he wanted no part in any of it. Joanna and Jade were still convinced he was our best hope but how can he help if no one can get a hold of him. No, we were alone; I was alone. I would go down fighting but I would go down in the end.

“You’re moping again,” said Jade as I continued to stare out the big window in my office.

The city looked beautiful this time of day. The tops of the all the buildings gleamed in the afternoon sun. I looked toward the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean beyond it. I couldn’t help but sigh. I’d been cooped up in this office for the last three days, going over paperwork, trying to exploit the loopholes. Jade was my rock during it all. Joanna was cool too but she worked for the enemy as well. It was hard to see her anything but a friend in all this but I had to remind myself that she was actually here because the firm put her here. She genuinely wanted to help me but her father was also one of the bastards trying to strong-arm me. I couldn’t figure him out either. He was supposed to be on my side I thought. He was my grandfather’s lawyer after all and yet he turned against me before the rest. It didn’t help matters that he owned shares in the company as well. Not enough to put him on the Board but close enough. It was a definite conflict of interest and was one of the things that Jade was working on. Because Pierce had a stake in the company, she and Joanna were trying to get me another lawyer. Someone not associated with her father’s firm, someone that maybe I could trust too.

All I could do in the meantime was stare out the window at my gorgeous view and roll a pencil along the desk. I was bored as hell. The only good thing about the last few days was yesterday when Gloria announced I didn’t need to use the crutches anymore. Which I should have been ecstatic about, but they actually turned out to be a good thing in the end. Though the press dubbed me the “Clumsy Heiress” because of the fake story we made up, I got a lot of sympathy for them too. They started to overlook the fact that I was some bimbo and started to feel a bit sorry for me. Not all of them were as considerate but there were enough that people were now seeing me as an actual human being and not something to be despised.

“Are you going to roll that thing all day?” asked Jade, referring to the pencil.

I shrugged. “Is there anything else for me to do?”

She looked at the Qpad currently in her hand. She tapped the screen with one of her green nails. “Well, you missed yesterday’s appointment with your tutor, we could reschedule that.”

I stuck out my tongue at her suggestion. It’s not that I didn’t want to meet with the tutor but I had a lot on my mind lately. Miss Jones---the forty something spinster who tutored me---was an all right person if a bit of a bore. I met with her three times a week or at least that was the plan. I’d only ever met with her twice so far and both times my mind wandered. I’d been doing that a lot lately. Back as Jonas, I was never this scatter brained but with everything I’d been through, it was bound to happen. I just didn’t have the time to sit here and listen about the fall of the Roman Empire or run through complex mathematical computations.

“Then maybe something a little less academic” she said as she tapped away at the pad.

I could do with some non-academic unwinding actually.

“Might I suggest that physical therapy Dr. Carlson mentioned?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. It was supposed to be part of my recovery. Apparently getting almost blown up and blasted across an alley requires me to seek out some kind of strenuous and pointless exercise. Gloria had a number of really good people lined up. She gave the list to Mia who in turn tried to give it to me. I glanced briefly at before sticking it in my desk drawer. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to her people it’s just that I didn’t need them. I felt fine, better than fine actually. In fact, besides the slight bit of pain in my left ankle, things were perfect. But after Gloria’s last visit---when she took away the crutches---she almost insisted upon it.

I listened as Jade explained the benefits of the therapy, just like Gloria had. I blanked most of it out. After about ten minutes of it---that’s all I could take---I decided to go for a walk around the Tower. The top two floors were the living area, the rest of the Tower was mainly offices. Though there were a few floors devoted to other things. On the twentieth floor, for instance we had an indoor pool. On the 22nd floor, there was a Gym. The private medical facility was on the 15th, my grandfather’s library and trophy rooms were on the 10th. Then there was the museum. It was on the 17th floor, used mainly to house antiquities that the Old Man picked up in his many travels.

It was the museum I decided to visit on this particular trek. I hadn’t been in it since the Old Man’s death but I used to find myself in there a lot since coming to live here. There was something about weaving slowly through the maze of glass cases that was oddly comforting. The Old Man had one of the largest private collections on the West Coast, hell it might have been the largest for all I knew. Most of the artifacts were from Greece, he had a thing for the Greeks. Most of the stuff was from the 12th Century BC, supposedly the era in which the Trojan War took place. The Old Man was obsessed with it, all his artifacts supposedly coming from Turkey where the real Troy was. There was a lot there but my favorite piece in the collection was a 12th Century bow. It wasn’t very fancy but it caught my eye above everything else.

I walked through the room and stood in front of the bow’s case, reading the description on the little gold plaque: Trojan War Bow. It was one of the few artifacts that he owned that was in fairly good condition. Looking at the petrified piece of wood under the glass you could see a clear curved bow-like shape. It wasn’t a full bow however. When I first laid eyes on it about a month ago, there was something about it that had me transfixed. A small part of me wanted to break the glass and touch it. But I knew if I did, it would probably crumple in my hands. So all I could do was stand at a distance and stare. But staring at it always seemed to make me feel better. Even now as I looked, I couldn’t help but wonder what the wielder’s life might have been like. Did he have problems like mine, did he have scheming bastards trying to backstab him.

I drew a lot of parallels between myself and the imaginary bow wielder I created in my head. Somehow, I envisioned him as a great warrior, striking down his enemies with a single shot. A small part of me saw it as Paris’ bow, the famed prince and archer. Most known for stealing Helen and starting the war. But very few people remembered that it was actually Paris who shot the arrow that brought down the mighty Achilles. Though I loved Robin Hood, a small part of me always liked the story that a single arrow brought down one of the mightiest warriors the world has ever known. Of course, it was an arrow that brought down Paris too.

I stayed in the museum about an hour, staring at the bow and other things. When I finished, I made sure to lock the door on the way out. Security got another upgrade in the last few days. Before it was all keypads but now it was fingerprint scanners. It was another attempt by the Board to make things a little more efficient around here. I’m just surprised they let my prints into the system at all. I hated the fact that they were trying to take over every aspect of my life though. It wasn’t just the scanners and telling me how to spend my own money either. It was the secret video cameras, the new guards, the complete and total lack of privacy. Just the other day Mia did an internal sweep of the Tower’s mainframe and found several monitoring software bots. She disabled them first and then rewrote their programs to pretend to spy on me but in truth, they were actually spying on whoever put them there. The culprit was my friend Ross, who I’m sure was just looking for more little bits to push me further away from control.

When I exited the museum, a new guard was waiting. He was dressed all in black but it wasn’t as sophisticated as the old guard’s. This new uniform consisted of black pants and turtleneck, wireless earpieces and no sense of humor. All the new guys were ex-military and supposedly highly qualified---Mia took the liberty of hacking their files for me. There were twenty of them now, all the same apparently. Of my grandfather’s security personnel, only Marko remained now. But I think that was more out of fear than anything else. Cain Marko was huge, at least seven foot and built like a house. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the guy who fired him. So to keep order, the Board let him stay around. I managed to keep Spencer and Locke as well, working them into the deal as my personal bodyguards. I didn’t like the goons but after all, they’d been through for the company, I wasn’t going to let them hang out to dry.

Luke was still around too, but he’d been downgraded to my driver. I’d read his file too and it was sad to see someone with his potential to be screwed like that. At 25, Luke tried and failed SEAL training. He wasn’t a washout per se but he once told me his heart wasn’t in it. He did one tour of duty in Iraq before an injury sent him home. He got honorably discharged and came to work for the old man about a month afterwards. He’d been here less than a week before he was assigned to me. Luke was a good guy besides that little flaw of ratting me out to the old man----I’d forgiven him for that.

The new guy was touching his ear when I stepped out of the room. As soon as I turned from locking the door, he stood at attention. I threw up a mock salute, which got no response whatsoever. I rolled my eyes as I walked past him. He fell into step behind me. Yeah they were supposed to follow me around everywhere I went. I felt like a damn prisoner in my own fricken house. It was humiliating. I tried not to let his presence bother me as I walked down the hall and slipped into the elevator. I hit the button fast, hoping the door would close before he got in. It almost did too but the bastard was quick, slipping inside at the very last moment.

“Did they clone you freaks from the same guy?”

Like usual, he kept his mouth shut. The guys guarding Buckingham Palace had more emotion than these goons.

The whole ride up to my penthouse was made in silence. I occupied my time trying to think of better ways to dodge these guys in the future. When the elevator stopped and I got out on my floor, he didn’t follow. Instead, there was another one waiting for me. Just like I mentioned, it was like they were cloned from the same guy. All of them looked the same: tall, Caucasian, no emotions. It’s like the Board went to Boring Henchmen R’ Us or something. This guy was a little darker in skin tone than the elevator guy but they had the same buzz cut, same expressionless demeanor. I tried not to let it get me down though as I entered my place. I made sure he stayed outside though as I quickly slammed the door in his face.

Jade was sitting on my couch, working on her Qpad. She looked up briefly as I entered. “I called you twice you know,” she said, as she set her Pad on the coffee table.

“I shut my phone off” I said, flopping down on the other end of the couch.

She smiled. Then reached forward, grabbing the remote. She unmuted the TV and turned the volume way up. I knew this routine well. After finding out my room was bugged, we decided to keep the bugs there. Let the bastards spy on me. Then we came up with a plan. One of us would turn the TV up real loud and the other would discreetly write down messages. The Board had a full range of audio and visual bugs on me. The loud TV drowned out the noise while we sat so our backs were always to the cameras. There were six of those, strategically placed and well hidden. Mia found them all in an hour. Instead of disabling them, we decided to let them spy.

Jade wrote down her message quickly: Got a Break. Have a number to call. There was a number scrawled on the bottom.

My eyes widened and she nodded. I stood up; taking the note with me as I slowly went into the bathroom. There were two rooms where they didn’t have cameras, one of them the bathroom. The other was my bedroom. So there were no horny pervs someone getting kicks out of a teenage girl doing whatever. I was always curious about what they’d do if they caught sight of what I actually had in my pants. I was half-tempted to undress in the living room, give my spies a shock of their life. Thinking about that made me smile as I dialed the number, Jade gave me. Her message was a code: Got a Break meant they’d finally gotten through to Wayne. My small circle of allies was convinced the Board was trying to keep him from me.

My call was answered on the second ring. “Wayne” said a male voice on the other end.

I sighed heavily. Maybe now all this crap could come to an end. “Mr. Wayne, this is Olivia Queen, Jameson Queen’s granddaughter.”

There was a chuckle. “The nonexistent one.”

Crap. Of course, he’d know that, he was family after all.

I took a deep breath. “I can explain that.”

“No need, we all have our secrets. I know I do but let’s just pretend neither one of us knows who you really are.”

I smiled. I liked him already. “Works for me.”

“Now that that’s out of the way, this is the part where you tell me how you managed to get a hold of a private line that only two people in the whole world know, one of them me.”

I bit my lip. “I have people.” I said, trying to sound cooler than I actually felt.

In truth, I was terrified. I wonder what he’d say to the idea of my computer hacker friend poking around where she didn’t belong.

He shocked me with his next words. “Your friend Miss Dearden is very skilled, she has my respect. But I’m sure that’s not why you called me.”

Moment of truth. I took another deep breath and told him everything, well everything about the Board anyway. He listened intently, never saying a word. It all came out in a bit of rush but I wasn’t sure how much he wanted to know. I might have put in stuff that he didn’t need to know either like how scared I was that these people were now in control of everything. When I was finished, I finally took a much needed breath.

He laughed. “I see where that might be a problem.”

I bit my lip. “My grandfather held you in very high regard and I was hoping seeing as we’re family that you might extend the same courtesy you did to him for me as well.”

There was a moment of silence. “I’ll see what I can do about the Board but in the mean time I’m going to give you a number of a lawyer, a man that I trust completely. He’s helped me in the past with situations like your own. He’s very good at what he does so you have nothing to fear.”

I let out another sigh, this one of relief. He gave me the number; it was for a lawyer in LA. I wasn’t expecting that. “You sure about this?”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, he’s one of the good guys.”

I let out another sigh.

“And Olivia you can relax now, things are going to get better.”

Things are going to get better, Bruce’s words were on my mind the whole time I sat at the table and waited. Those words were a fantasy but a good one worth holding on to. After I got off the phone with him, I felt a hundred times better. She was right immediately. When I told Jade about the conversation, she seemed to look less stressed out. I mean losing this company didn’t just screw me over, it screwed others as well. Jade was a new employee but I was pretty certain the bastards didn’t want to keep her around. We were both certain that if I went, she’d follow soon after. No one wanted a reminder of my incompetence lingering about. I made a promise to her that I would never let things come to that and now with Mr. Wayne finally in our corner, things were hopefully going to change.
That’s why I was sitting in the mall food court, trying hard to blend in with all the other normal teenagers.

I looked at the slip of paper in my hand; all that was on it was a name: Johnathan Walters. After the phone conversation yesterday, Jade and Mia did their own separate research. Walters was good, specializing in several different fields. Top on his list was Contract Law, something Jade was very happy to see. That meant that John would be able to help me get out of this little predicament rather easily. That’s what we hoped anyway. Mia’s search brought up some personal things. He was a bit of a glory hound skirt chaser. Not exactly someone I wanted to be associated with, but given the circumstances, I didn’t really have much of a choice. Both of them found that he came highly recommended, lots of accolades. So whether or not I liked him as a person mattered very little, I needed him and that was the important thing. The other important thing at the moment was trying to be inconspicuous.

It was a Saturday afternoon so the place was filled with three times the amount of people. Most of the Food Court was filled with families but there were a lot of teens too. I even recognized some of the faces. It felt strange calling them classmates though because I was no longer in school with them. At one table was a group of jocks who used to hit on me in the halls, at another was a pair of girls that used to be friends with my crush Sandra Hawke. Looking at the two of them, I couldn’t help but think about Sandra. Back as Jonas, I fooled myself into thinking I was attracted to her. But in truth, I don’t think there really was any attraction. I mean I didn’t get attracted to girls that way, not like Roy or other guys anyway. What I thought of attraction might have actually been great admiration.

Sandra was an amazing person. So perfectly coiffed, so polite and pretty. She always said the right things and treated people---no matter their status in the school---as equals. We went on one date together, to the school dance. It was at the end of the year, right before Summer Break. Probably one of the only good memories I had of that time. Shortly after that, my family and I went on vacation and everything fell apart after that. When I got back to the states after being stranded on that island for months, the Old Man had Jonas Oliver declared dead. Apparently, Sandra didn’t take the news of my disappearance very well. Her family moved north and supposedly into an ashram. The Hawke’s were dyed in the wool hippies and proud of it---Sandra’s actually name was Moonday, believe it or not.

The girls---Sandra’s former friends---took notice of me staring. One of them, a pretty blonde smiled and waved. I cursed under my breath; all I needed was to draw attention to myself. I dodged the paparazzi early by playing the shell game, sending out three different cars at once. It apparently worked but if these two recognized me then all of this was for naught. I looked past them, trying not to notice them for a moment. Instead, I caught eyes with Luke who was sitting two tables over, dressed in civvies. He was my only protection today. I gave Spencer and Locke the day off; they were too recognizable to the press anyway. Luke looked from me to the girls, wondering if he should intervene but I shook my head.

That didn’t seem to stop them though. They slowly got up from their table, carrying their bright red plastic trays. They came toward me, smiling. When they got closer, the second one---a brunette---had a strange look on her face. I bit my lip, wondering if she recognized me. Her name was Cathy, Sandra’s best friend. I’d met her more than once; in fact, I had a couple of classes with her last year. The blonde was Debbie; we had Math together two years in a row. She wasn’t giving me the confused look but I didn’t really associate much with her. She wasn’t a bimbo but she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed either.

“I love that top,” said Debbie as she slipped into one of the empty chairs.

The top in question was a pastel blue spaghetti strap tank. It, along with my hip hugging jeans and boots probably cost more than the combined wardrobe of them and several other people in the Court. They were the most casual clothes I could find in the closet. It was one of the outfits that I got myself, ordered online. I tried to look rich while at the same time maintaining my own style. It was Mia’s idea; she wanted me to conform but not so much so that I lost myself in the process. So Olivia Queen was chic but not trashy. I liked the look we created, it made me feel comfortable and high class at the same time. And it scared the hell out of me too. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have been thinking about fashion in the least but now thanks to circumstance I knew more about these kinds of things than I ever wanted to admit.

Jonas was slowly dying inside of me day by day.

“Umm thanks,” I said in response to her compliment.

Cathy gave me the once over, still confused. “Do you go to Star City High?”

I shook my head. Star City was the local name for Jack Kirby, the high school I used to attend. None of us know why it’s called Star City but there were theories. We had more winning sports teams than any city in the state so I think we were dubbed “Star City” by our rivals. The other common rumor was about a meteorite crashing here hundreds of years ago or something. Regardless of the reason, everyone inside the city dubbed San Fran the “Star City”. I thought it was kinda cool if a bit confusing at times.

“I’m home schooled” I said.

Cathy bit her lip. “Then why do you look so familiar?”

I was about to open my mouth, uttering some lie made up on the fly when the whole world came crashing down around me. It was one word, one name that shattered everything: “Olivia” and the voice that uttered it was one that sent a shiver down my spine: Roy. Of course, as soon as he half shouted my name from across the food court, Debbie’s eyes popped open. Cathy’s mouth dropped too. It was clear the two of them recognized me now. I guess in retrospect I shouldn’t have worn my hair in the now famous Queen Twist----long and braided down my back.

All I could think of as he took the last empty seat at the table was why did it have to be Roy. He smiled at me and then frowned at the other two girls. Debbie for her part sneered. I could have kicked myself for not remembering that she and Roy had a small fling. It only lasted a few days but apparently, he was too hung up on some other girl to be really serious about things. Even Cathy shot him a dirty look, both of them forgetting for a moment that he just said something major and life altering.

Cathy recovered first. “You’re her,” she said, smiling big then smacked her forehead. “That’s why I recognized you.”

She pulled her QPhone out of her pocket and showed me a pic: it was one of me leaving the Tower on my crutches the other day. The rest of the screen was filled with the news article the pic accompanied. It was one of the more positive ones about me. So the fact that these two girls weren’t throwing their food trays at me meant that they didn’t believe everything the media said.

I sighed. “Guilty as charged”

The two girls squealed, I hushed them. I think they caught on real quick that I didn’t want to draw attention to myself so they shut up quickly. That didn’t stop them from wanting pics with me and autographs though. I happily obliged. Then it was a barrage of fashion tips and things like that. I tried my hardest not to groan through the whole ordeal. I did keep catching Roy staring at me though. At first, I thought he was being a normal guy, doing his thing. But it was the way he was looking at me. It sent shivers up my back again. I would admit that I was happy to see him, I’d been thinking a lot about our last impromptu meeting. But I was glad these two were here with me because there’s no way I could face sitting here all alone with him.

That alone time came sooner than I thought though.

Cathy looked at her phone and sighed. “Our ride is going to be here which sucks because it’s not every day we get to meet a bazillionaire.”

I smiled as they stood, dreading the fact that they were going to leave me. When they were gone, Roy laughed.

“So are you stalking me or is it the other way around?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, which got another funny look. “Ok, so you have to stop looking at me like that.”

He frowned. “You look and act so much like your cousin it’s scary.”

I bit my lip. There’s that guilt again. I hated not telling him but how would I even broach the subject. Oh by the way Roy, I’m not just a girl but I’m also your best friend Jonas pretending to be someone else now. I’m not sure if he’d die of shock or punch me in the face.

I decided to do something risky. “What was he like?”

Roy frowned. “You never met him?”

I shook my head so he started to tell me all about myself. It was kinda strange hearing about myself from a third party. Roy was very kind, too kind in fact. He painted me like some fricken superhero and I was hardly worth it. I suppose he was trying to play me up for the benefit of a pretty girl and my “cousin” but I was just amazed at how good of a job he was doing. If I had any qualms about telling him, they were justified now. There was no way I could tell him who I was now after hearing him talk about me the way he did. He told me about all the cool stuff we did together: playing Robin Hood in the woods, archery, going to the Gym together.

“The Gym?”

He nodded. “Old Wild Cat’s place.”

I totally blanked on that. I’d only been there once and remember it fondly because Wild Cat Ted Grant thought I was a girl. He frowned upon girls being in his manly sanctuary. After he grumbled a bit about me, Roy was able to convince him I was a guy and he let me stay. The incident happened not too long before I went on vacation actually. I had plans to get a full membership like Roy as soon as I got home. Now thinking about that place I couldn’t help but see a solution to my physical therapy problem. Gloria wanted me to work my strained and bruised muscles and what better place to do it than at a Gym.

“You think he’d take me on as a client?” I asked, referring to Grant.

Roy shrugged. “He isn’t a fan of girls.”

I gave him puppy dog eyes---something I saw Mia do to her Dad more than once. It always worked on Mr. Dearden and apparently, it worked on Mr. Roy Harper too. He sighed heavily and finally agreed we could meet there tomorrow afternoon if I wanted. We tossed around times a bit and decided that the best time would be about one. I could see the huge smile on Roy’s face, probably him thinking he had a potential date. I couldn’t help but smile as well. It might be different between the two of us but at least I’d be able to hang with my friend again.

We talked like old times even though he didn’t realize it was old times. He wanted to know a lot about me but I dodged a lot of those questions by asking about him. He seemed to like the attention. It was strange watching him open up like this though. The Roy Harper I knew was pretty standoffish with girls and his innermost workings. But this Roy was completely different. He was funny and sweet and knew how to say all the right things. I was seeing a completely different side to my friend and truth be told I kinda liked it. I’m not saying I was falling in love with Roy but I wouldn’t mind spending more time with this version of him.

Our joyous conversation was short lived however. I saw him before I knew who he was but it was pretty obvious. About six feet tall, maybe a hundred and eighty pounds, brown hair speckled with gray. It was the expensive suit that gave him away though. The man approaching the table was no doubt Johnathan Walters, super attorney. He even had a bit of a swagger to his step, which made me wonder if meeting this guy was such a smart thing after all.

“Damn” I said under my breath.

“Something wrong.”

I nodded. “My lawyer’s here, looks like we’re going to have to cut this conversation a bit short.”

Roy frowned. “So tomorrow then?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Roy’s smile was huge as he got up, taking his tray with him. I watched as he meandered through the tables toward the trash can. I only turned away from him when I smelled the overpriced cologne. Johnathan was at the table, a smirk written across his face. It was a rather handsome one but the smugness was a definite turn off. I knew he was the best but did Mr. Wayne have to send such a prick to me.

“Miss King?” he asked, using the alias we agreed upon.

I nodded so he slipped into the sit directly across from me. “You’re late Mr. Walters” I said, slightly annoyed.

“I’m a busy man, sweet thing.”

I inwardly groaned. This was going to be a very long meeting indeed.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF