Balance (49 page)

Ms. Smith
opens
the door
.

“Is there a chance I can steal Rena from you for a couple seconds?”
He
asks politely, hoping
they are not too far into their preparations.

“Of course
h
on.  We were just talking any
way
.  I’ll start the heavy lifting
when you’re done.” 
Turning
back into
the living space
, “Rena dear, your knight requests your presence.”

Rena steps out, her hai
r in curlers.

The sight of her
domesticated appearance
makes him laugh.  The moment of levity
grounds him, making him
re
consider
his course
.

“I know.” Rolling her eyes, “T
oo
bad
you don’t have a camera
cell
.  Anyway, what’s up?”

Michael hesitates, “I don’t know, it’s probably nothing.”

Rena looks
at his face.
R
eading his eyes
,
she walks calmly into his
residence
, then into his bedroom, closing
the door behind them.
“Michael, I know you
.  This is something. 
What is it?”

Michael replays the incident to her
,
worried
she’ll
think he’s
overreacting
.

“Michael, are you sure
?  I need a reference, how big is the
cluster you’
re
talking about?”

Michael
holds his index finger up, “From the tip of the finger to the
second
knuckle.”

“From how far?”
S
he asks, already realizing the context of the
feat
.

“I don’t know,
forty
maybe
fifty
feet.  I was walking, pacing around thinking.”

“You were walking around
when you did this
?” Rena’s shock apparent
.

“Yes.”

“Michael, that’s not possible.  You don’
t remember looking at the target?”

“Rena, I don’t really remember throwing.”

“
D
o not tell anyone, especially Takada or
Waters
about this.”

“
Y
ou’re the only person I’m going to tell anything to.”

“Take a shower
and get dressed, act as if you’
re worried about taking Meg out of the
Bunker
, untrained
,
s
econd thoughts or something.”  Rena kisses him hastily
,
then
returns
to her room before
Ms. Smith
gets curious
.

Michael
stands under the
shower
head
,
the hot water beating his skin, the encompassing drone and sensation clearing the incident
from his mind, now just another curiosity to go along with all the others. 

Standing before the full-length mirror, drying his body, he takes in his physique. 
Rena’s reaction was more than he had expected.  He admits to himself, it was shocking when he saw what he did and realized
he didn’t remember doing it, but she acted as if she already had an idea.  Regardless, it’s something that cannot be discussed tonight.

He turns his attention to the garment bag.  Opening
it,
he finds a
fine black suit, light grey oxford,
black tie with turquois accents
and reptile-skin belt and shoes
. 
Michael t
ak
es
his time
getting
dressed;
expecting
Ms. Smith
’s heavy lift
ing
might take a while.

Michael waits in the common room, tr
ying to occupy himself.  He’s come to
look forward to these times when
Rena
dresses up
, feeling like a little boy
expecting
a present
.
 
He
understands
, per Rena’s request
,
Ms. Smith
’s team
was to make sure Meg was the center of attention.  For the first time since Rena suggested the dinner out, Michael
considers
the
‘
ce
nter of attention
’
mandate
.  He
’s
pretty
confident
,
there’
s only so far
Ms. Smith
can dress
Rena down.
Realization
dawn
s,
he and
Waters
w
ill
be escorting two extremely beautiful women into an unknown establishment, where Rena intends to test Meg’s
raw immersion
skills.  This
adventure
has disaster written all over it
.

Ms. Smith
steps into the com
mon room, holding the door open as
Rena
follows
.

H
er beauty
,
painful to experience,
Michael’s
breath
slip
s
away
an
d his heart jumps in his chest. 
W
earing a
full-length
,
turquoise
halter-top
evening gown
, Rena is a vision of elegance.
A single
jewel encrusted
strap
,
lifting from a gather over her right breast,
drapes over her shoulder
, securing the dress in place
.
The sheer lustrous material
hugs her every curve
, while t
he lower
skirt
cut from her left
upper
-thigh
in a sweeping curve to her
right
ankle
exposes
her perfect leg
,
for all to
appreciate
.  She
completes the look with
six
-inch black,
open toe heels;
making
her already long legs, illegal. 
Rena’s
hair
,
full and curled,
lays
coil
ed
on her sh
oulders
and
rolls
down her back.  The smoky grey shading and
matching
dress color
,
make
her eyes
appear to glow.

“I thought you
r
intent was to make Meg the center of attention?” Michael asks, almost not looking forward to the answer.

Ms. Smith
replies
with a gratified smile,
“Oh
,
don’t worry honey, we did.”

Michael walks over to stand next to
this vision, the woman he’d die for
, taking her hand
s
and kissing her on the cheek, “Rena, you look amazing, shocking
ly
beautiful
.”
He
turns to
Ms. Smith
,
“
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but can I ask
?  W
here are
we
going tonight
?
”
expecting
that he
’s
not going to like the answer.

“Oh
,
it
’s
this
trendy
upscale
restaurant
.  It has
a bar
,
and I believe a dance
club
as well
.  It’s very popular with many of the young
E
lites.”
Ms. Smith
explains, “
Exactly
what Rena asked for.”

T
urning
,
Michael
gazes
at
Rena,
her half smile
smirk
confirming his thoughts
, “Dance
club
… huh … just what you asked for?”
 
She
winks,
without a word
telling him
, whatever he’s thinking is probably correct.
 
“Yep …
disaster
.
”
He jokes.

“I told you he’d love it dear
.
”
Ms. Smith
teases.

Waters
stops at Michael and Rena
’s
before heading to pick up Meg.

They
a
rriv
e
just as Abigail an
d Fior put the final
touches on the same
Egyptian-style
crimson wrap dress she wore the day earlier.
Her hair
glossy and straight
, the
front
pulled back and
captured
in a
diamond-encrusted
catch
.
  She wears the same calf-wrap sandal-style heels and a white-gold serpent with ruby eyes coiled around her left upper arm
.

Michael admits to Rena
they succeeded in making Meg the center of attention.  He also mentions
he finds it likely, he and
Waters
will
be in
the infirmary, come tomorrow.

Rena understands the subtle hint
,
‘
please be careful tonight
’
.

Alt
hough this is the second time he’s seen
Meg
in th
is
dress,
Waters
still cannot take his
eyes
off her
.

The attention pa
id to
Meg
makes Michael uneasy.  Rena was right
;
he was developing a brotherly
attachment
.  He
glances at Rena,
look
ing
uneasy as well, but he suspects for far more reasons than just
sisterly over-protection
.

Everyone dressed and ready
,
the party
proceed
s
to the underground carport
.

Michael
lets Rena and Meg get
comfortable
inside the limousine, pulling
Waters
aside.
“I don’t know if this might have crossed your mind, but
...
.
” He
starts
.

“We
’re
headed
to a testosterone jungle with two women
dressed to kill …
who
can …
intent on creating havoc.  Yeah, it
’s
crossed my mind
.
”
Waters finishes.

“Disaster.” Michael quips
.

“Disaster.”
Waters
agrees
.

The limousine pull
s onto the darkened side street
and
drives several blocks, finally pulling up in front of the only building
in the area
with lights. 
Ms. Smith
picked
a location,
al
though likely to be
crowded
inside,
for the most part
isolated.  If tensions rise, Michael and
Waters
can take the fight
outside
with less chance
of exposing themselves
.