Crushed (12 page)

By the time she'd reached home, Sophie was bursting with the news she'd yet to share. She rushed through the door with a wide a smile on her face, clutching the backpack in her arms protectively. She had no doubt in her in mind that Robert had arrived home before her, with all the time she'd had to wait for the cab to arrive. Sophie wouldn't have put it passed him to have something else up his sleeve, so she'd already come up with a worse-case scenario plan.

The house was eerily silent as she entered through the large oak door. The atmosphere inside was tense, tipping Sophie off to the fact that everything was not as it should be.

"Welcome home." Gwyn said as she passed through the hallway.

Sophie's suspicions died down as she examined the was no different from normal.

"Is Robert here?" Sophie asked, squeezing the soaked backpack in her arms.

"Yeah, he's upstairs changing." Gwyn was unsurprised by Sophie's drenched clothes. Robert must've informed her of their mission.

"Did he say anything about tonight?" She pressed, trying not to sound too interested, but failing miserably.

"Nope." Gwyn shrugged, before brushing passed Sophie into the kitchen. "Oh." She paused for a moment, and motioned upstairs. "He said he wanted to see you when you got back."

Sophie nodded, realizing this was going to be part two of the fight they'd started this evening. As she was still feeling the aftereffects of her victory over him, she decided it wouldn't hurt to see what he was up to. She felt confident he wouldn't be able to take away the backpack. At least, not with her death grip around it.

Walking up the stairs two at a time, Sophie made a short stop in her bedroom to discard the wet backpack. Inside was a gray, metal case. Sophie noticed that the case was unlocked, though she wasn't surprised. A thief like Luke probably understood that locks wouldn't hinder people like Cleo or Robert who could disable security systems with ease. She opened the case, peeking inside to check on the painting. She smiled as another wave of happiness swept her anxiety away.

After spending another few moments deciding on her next course of action, Sophie decided it was time to face her mentor. She climbed the second flight of stairs to the top level of the house, where Robert's room was located.

Sophie had never been allowed to go to the top floor, nor had she ever really wanted to explore it. The curiosity of what she would find had always been overcome by her knowledge of Robert's rage at her trespassing, so she'd felt okay with not pressing her luck. With each step she took Sophie felt her confidence shatter into smaller and smaller pieces.

The closer she came to his domain, the more she realized she wasn't in control.

"Come in." Robert ordered when Sophie reached the top step of the staircase. At first confused, Sophie noticed the camera positioned on the wall straight ahead of her.

"Seriously?" She muttered to herself, feeling irritated that Robert felt like he needed a security camera in his own house.

The door in front of Sophie loomed dangerously in front of her, but feeling pushed on by her need to prove herself, Sophie reached forward and turned the doorknob.

The only light in the room came from the hallway, as well as the various computer monitors positioned around the bedroom. Sophie's heart raced as she examined the shadowy space.

Slipping inside, Sophie hesitantly searched for a light-switch. The sound of a door creaking open nearly caused her to jump in fear and she held in her scream. So much for bravery, she thought, annoyed at herself. There was absolutely nothing to be scared of.

"Sorry." Robert commented from across the room. "I didn't think you'd arrive this soon." A stream of light filtered in from Robert's bathroom, illuminating him in the darkness.

Sophie caught her breath, glancing away hurriedly before he could notice her gawking at him.

Wearing only a towel, Robert exited his bathroom without the slightest hesitation. "Something wrong?" He asked, clapping his hands twice for the lights in his bedroom to click on. His wet golden hair was dripping down his back, and Sophie's traitorous eyes kept focusing on the outline of his muscles.

"Can you please put on some clothes?" She hissed, instantly feeling awkward standing by herself in his large room.

Robert glanced at his bare torso, frowning at her suggestion. "I enjoy not wearing clothes. I'm really attractive, don't you think?"

"That's not the point." Sophie shut his bedroom door behind her, feeling like she needed to distract herself with something. "It makes me uncomfortable."

"Because I'm so attractive?" Robert asked, laughing as he took a seat at the large desk that held three computer monitors.

"No, I think it has to do more with the fact that less than two hours ago you threatened to kill me. Seeing you like this almost made me forget."

"My body is that distracting?" He continued absentmindedly, typing something on his computer.

"Will you be serious?" Sophie crossed her arms, holding the gray case to her chest.

"Oh, I'm always serious." He mused, staring at the monitor. "Especially when it comes to my work." He pushed away from the computers, swiveling the chair around so that he was facing her. With one click of his mouse a video screen popped up on all three monitors.

Even though she was across the room, Sophie could clearly see the different videos that had begun to play. Silence filled the room as realization sunk in. The footage she was looking at was a video feed of a security camera. In each of the three settings Sophie could see herself walking down a street, entering a cab, and rolling away into the night. She could also distinctly see herself shoving a gun into her sweatshirt, as well as tossing the backpack into the cab.

The center monitor zoomed in on her face, reflecting the fear mixed with anxiety that she'd been feeling immediately after stealing the painting. Yes, she'd gotten away, but her terrified expression hadn't completely faded until midway through her cab-ride home. The image of her face frozen on the monitor was the very definition of guilt.

"In this business there are two ways to kill yourself." Robert commented. "One way is getting yourself killed literally by one of these..." He motioned to the gun that was in the video footage. "Another is figuratively, by getting caught and ending your career."

Robert mimicked a gun with his hand, and pretended to pull the trigger.

"You, my apprentice, just got yourself killed."

Sophie felt like he'd just shot her with his words. All of her confidence and pride dissolved with the knowledge that she'd been caught. Footage like this would be enough to pin her down for stealing the painting, no matter how you looked at it.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she found that she couldn't find the words to explain how she was feeling just then.

"Now that the balance of power is back where it belongs, would you like to call Cleo, or shall I?" Robert grinned up at her mischievously.

"You bastard." Sophie whispered, her hands shaking.

"That's not what you should be saying to your potential savior." Robert reminded her, crossing his arms. "Since I have the power to make this evidence disappear."

"You want me to trade the painting for my freedom." The words tasted bitter on her tongue.

"Obviously." His smirk became even more mocking.

Sophie didn't need to think about her options. The writing was on the wall, and there was no avoiding her fate. She dropped the case on the ground, and kicked it over towards him.

"Careful!" He nearly shouted, scowling as he reached down to pick up the case.

"You have what you want. Now I expect my freedom." She motioned to the computer, and Robert grinned again.

"Your wish is my command." He turned towards his computer and began typing furiously into some kind of program Sophie had never seen before. In less than two minutes he was finished, leaving all three computer screens blank.

Sophie turned towards the door to leave, feeling momentarily defeated.

"Well, apprentice, you did well for your first mission." Robert ran a hand through his wet hair as he turned around to look after her. "I didn't expect you to be so...tenacious." When she didn't reply, he continued. "You should've known better than to mess with me. I thought it was obvious that I'm in a completely different league than you."

His comment brushed against Sophie's raw disappointment in herself. Not only had he insulted her by pointing out her mistakes, but he was rubbing it in as much as he could. Sophie's scowl turned into a bitter smirk as she turned back to face him.

She'd been planning to save her trump card for later, but he was just begging for someone to bring his pride down a notch.

"So, everything's gone?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Why, don't you trust me?" Robert asked with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Since we're partners, I think you owe me this much reassurance."

Robert nodded, giving in her to demand. "This was all the evidence against you. There probably could've been more, but I destroyed the rest."

"Thanks." Sophie leaned against his bedroom door, motioning to the case he was holding. "Well, why don't you open it? I might as well see what I went through so much trouble to steal."

Robert had been watching her carefully for the last few minutes. He'd noticed a change in her behavior, and from the distinct shift in her tone he'd picked up on her hidden amusement. His grin faded as he slowly opened the metal case.

Sophie's eyes focused on his face rather than the case. She knew what he would find, and his reaction interested her far more than the empty space he was staring into.

"Sorry, partner. It slipped my mind that I already had the painting sent to Cleo. Don't worry though, I left her a very long message explaining everything." Sophie lifted her chin proudly as her green eyes flashed with rage. "Now, what was that about the balance of power? Oh, right. It's now back where it belongs."

In less than a few seconds Robert was on his feet and across the room before Sophie could blink her eyes. His speed was unnatural, but his reaction was expected.

"That's not the way you should speak to your mentor." He hissed, bracing his arms on his door, while locking her in place. Cold drops of water dripped down from his hair, falling gently against her cheek.

"So now you're my mentor?" Sophie replied heatedly. "For some crazy reason, I thought threatening to kill me made you my enemy."

Robert's cold expression radiated frustration as he leaned even closer. "I advise you to stop being a smartass. That's my job." He lifted her chin with his hand and she smacked him away. "I don't think you realize what your job is. Cleo didn't ask me to babysit you. She told me to teach you, expecting us to work together. Well, part of your job is being what I need you to be. That situation called for you to be the bait. Obviously that was too difficult."

"Don't screw with me." Sophie spat, her face coming only inches from his. "I know a bluff when I see one. You meant everything you said."

"So what if I did?" Robert's lips curled into a smile. "Luke wouldn't have killed you, not after finding out that you're a girl."

"Really? 'Cause that gun of his didn't seem like it cared either way."

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that I knew him better than you." He leaned away, his anger fading.

"Then why wouldn't he kill me? Being a girl shouldn't change anything!"

"Maybe he felt like you were innocent, or maybe he saw how much I didn't care what happened to you. If I had to put my money on one, I would say it's because he's a hot-blooded eighteen year old male, who can't help but be attracted to you because you're girl." Robert laughed, drawing away from her completely.

Sophie felt her anger continue to overwhelm her. "Seriously? You're just going to give me a bullshit answer like that?"

"You stole my painting." Robert reminded her. "I don't owe you anything."

Sophie sighed, feeling like she'd lost without really losing at all. "I really hate you." She muttered under her breath. "Seriously, would it kill you to act like a good guy for one minute? I'm so tired of you screwing with me!"