London's Blind Eye

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After his successful meeting and negotiations with Mr. Ristani, Ganbaatar moved on to the second step, planning the heist itself. In a few short hours and two packs of cigarettes later, he'd formed his preliminary plot, but before he could flesh it out into anything worth while, he was going to need information. Of course, he knew very well how to get that, the only thing he needed to do was contact one of the great city of London's many professional informants. Brokers, you might say.

After a few phone calls with several suggestions, none of which he felt possessed the finesse for a job like this, he received information on one promising broker. A young woman who only went by the name of 'Lady Lux'. With her contact information in hand, he stepped into a taxi, and dialed his cell phone. "Hello. This is Lady Lux, yes?" he inquired politely. "Good afternoon, my Lady. This is Mr. Khan speaking. I have heard promising things about you, and am very interested in meeting you to discuss a business proposition." he explained. "Please meet me at the London Eye in one hour. I assure you, it will be worth your time."

The taxi pulled up to the curb, and Ganbaatar pulled out his wallet to pay the driver his fare. He stepped out as the taxi started to drive away, reaching into his pocket for his cigarettes and lighter. He lit up, and checked his watch. A bit of time to go before the appointed time. With nothing better to do, the Mongol started to walk about the premise of the large Ferris wheel. Every few minutes he would pull out another cigarette, the pack diminishing rather quickly in the span of less than an hour. His mind was going a mile a minute, thinking, planning, plotting out every little detail as best he could with his limited information.

[Deleted]

How she loathed being interrupted.

Her personal cellphone went off just as she began crunching the big numbers for the wedding account. The bride wanted an estimation tomorrow, a task she should have done after a few days since this was not her only account that she was working on. The bride was pregnant though, and they wanted to marry as fast as possible so no one would notice. As if the woman would just wake up and her belly would be huge. Elise didn't argue though, she told her she would get the numbers to her and spent the whole morning phoning all the companies she used. Lunch flew by without her noticing but she finally got her calls complete and figures down. Now to just tally them up..

Who the hell would call her at work? Elise nearly hissed the greeting at the caller, but stayed calm and answered politely. When she heard her infamous street alias she sat up straight and focused her attention. Mr. Khan huh? Had she heard of him before? “Understood.” With that she closed her phone, sighing loudly. Another all nighter but if this was promising it could mean a nice chunk of change. The timing wasn't great but it was easy enough for her to leave her office half an hour later after notifying her supervisor she was talking a late lunch. Once outside she debated taking the train or a taxi, and found the taxi to be more professional. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do was walk long distances in heels, the bane of her existence.

London Eye, she had been here before, but thought it was a strange place to do business at. So many people around, but it did make her feel more secure. So did the mace in her purse, but hopefully she wouldn't need to use it. Now the biggest problem was finding this Mr. Khan among the crowd, since neither of them knew what they looked like. Elise looked at her phone, early as usual. Perhaps she should call him and tell him she arrived, but she wasn't sure where the number came from. Most of the time it was disposable phones or payphones, and she didn't want to waste valuable minutes.

Oh well, no point standing around in these shoes. Elise grabbed a seat on a near by bench, smoothing her skirt out. If this gentleman didn't show up by 10 after she would give him a call. At quartre after she would leave, she had other things to do and lateness wasn't something she tolerated. Right now she didn't have time to be wasting. This better be worth it.

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

[Deleted]

Ganbaatar' silent alarm went off as he was lighting up another cigarette. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out to switch the alarm off. An hour had passed. Lady Lux was probably here by now. He dialed Lady Lux's number again and punched the call button, waiting patiently as the phone started to ring. "Hello, Lady Lux. I trust you've arrived on time." he greeted politely. "Pardon me for making this so cat and mouse. You do understand that people in my line of work tend to be a bit paranoid when it comes to meeting strangers, even those in your own line of work." he explained politely, pausing to take a drag off his cigarette.

"Before we go any further, I should inform you that this is a very big job. One that, if failed, is going to result in some very severe legal consequences for at least one of us, and likely some very severe business consequences for yourself. I do not mean to scare or threaten you, of course, I simply wish to give you the courtesy of knowing the risk." Ganbaatar elaborated, crushing the cigarette before reaching for another one as he started towards the ticket office. "If you agree to this, head towards the ticket office. You will find an asian man there. He'll probably be smoking. Take him by the arm and ask him 'Are we ready to go?'." Without waiting for a response, Ganbaatar hung up.

"Hello, sir." he greeted to the clerk at the ticket office. "I would like to purchase two tickets for a Cupid's Capsule." he stated, filling out a check as he spoke, sliding it across the desk to the clerk before starting to fill out another.

"I'm sorry, sir." the clerk apologized, "But we need you to reserve at least a day in adva-" he paused as he looked at the second check Ganbaatar slid across the table. After a moment, he smiled. "Well, sir, you are in luck. One of our capsules is free, as it were." Ringing up two tickets, he handed them to the Mongol. "Please, enjoy your ride. Your host will be with you temporarily."

"Oh, that won't be necessary." he replied with a smile. "You see, with my work, I never seem to get any time to just spend alone with my lady friend. Thank you, though." The clerk just nodded and smiled. He wasn't about to object, not when he was getting quite the handsome tip. He just hoped that the Asian man and his lady friend cleaned up after themselves.

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If she wasn't half expecting the call Elise would have jumped from the sudden vibration coming from her purse pressed against her hip. Perfectly on time, she liked that. Already she was getting a good feeling about this perspective job. She slipped the phone out of her purse and answered it, making sure no one was close by to hear.

However before she could even get a word in to say hello he was already speaking, explaining why they were communicating like so. Nothing weird about that, she was cute used to it by now since this happened so often. Although most of the time it was their own paranoia instead of them being followed. Police were more busy apprehending criminals they could actually catch. Elise made it a habit to work for the ones that didn't get caught.

This one polite, extending courtesies to her. If he was trying to scare her off it wouldn't work. Elise wasn't frightened easily and she was confident in her connections to get her out of a bad situation. Kind of rude though, the way he hung up the phone. They could talk about it later, for now she was eager to speak to this man and get back to her real job.

The ticket both huh? Now she just had to find it. With a small curse she got back to her feet and headed off in the direction she thought it would be in. All she had to do was follow the tourists and they led her where she wanted to go. For a few moments she stood there, assessing the situation. No one really looked out of place except an Asian man smoking beside the ticket both. Definitely not a tourist so this must be the Mr. Khan. With a sigh she pulled her hair out of the bun it was in and shook out her hair. A much more novice broker might undo her buttons, maybe hike up her skirt. Use sex appeal. However this was a high end and very important job. She had to look like she could be trusted.

With a smile on her face she strolled up to the man and took his arm. Shit she was short, even in the heels. “Are we ready to go?”

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

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Ganbaatar casually glanced at person to person, idly wondering just who this Lady Lux was. This was business, of course, but there was no harm in it if his new business associate was a pretty young thing. Much to his satisfaction, he saw a young woman making a beeline right for him. Young, blonde, had a certain business sense about the way she walked, yes indeed, if this was Lady Lux, Ganbaatar was most pleased. He smiled as she took him by the arm, dropping the cigarette to the ground and crushing it beneath his shoe. "Of course." he replied, taking a moment to adjust his tie. "Lets go, before we're late, my dear."

With Lady Lux on his arm, Ganbaatar strolled up to the Eye itself, and flashed their tickets to the ticket man. "My lady friend and I are ready to board." he stated with an air of confidence, almost as if he owned the place. Just because he was a foreigner from the slums of Hong Kong certainly didn't mean he had to talk or act like one. He loved the way the London folk seemed to just submit to anyone who dressed nicer and had a bit more money to flaunt.

The ticket man nodded. "Certainly, sir. Please, enjoy." he replied humbly, opening the pod door for the pair and closing it behind them.

"I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty to rent one of the Cupid Capsules." Ganbaatar commented as the door was closed and the capsule started to shift. The host was absent, but the bucket of champagne and the champagne truffles had still been brought on board. "I feel obligated to at least treat you to something nice, considering the short notice and insistence of my request. Champagne?" he asked, already starting to pour champagne into the two glasses, offering one to her. He raised his glass in a toast to her, then took a sip of the still bubbling champagne. "I've heard very good things about you, Lady Lux. I'm looking forward to a very prosperous business association between us."

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Oh great, she had to ride the damn thing? She wasn't afraid of heights, but this thing was so god damn slow. She'd be here forever, and she did need to get back to work eventually. This better be worth it, she said to herself for the second time as she let the Mr. Khan lead her to the pod. All smiles and happy, she was on a date after all.

To top it off, this was that lovey dovey capsule too. Great. He wasn't expecting any other type of service, was he? He would be sorely mistaken. She took the offered champagne more as a courtesy though, since he was being polite. And he did compliment her, which was nice. It wasn't about how she looked either, so perhaps this could work out in her favour.

If it didn't she could always sell him out.

“You can just call me Lux, the Lady part was added by some associates of mine as a joke. It unfortunately stuck. Thank you though, for the compliment. I can't say I've heard much about you though.” Elise sipped the champagne, looking around and assessing her surroundings. She was trapped if things went wrong, something she was uncomfortable with. Oh well, she was properly prepared in case things did go sour, something he didn't need to know of course. A woman was allowed to have secrets after all.

However she was here for a reason, and it was best to get down to it. “I'm a busy woman, Mr. Khan and my time is money. First off I'd like to hear what you're offering me for this visit. And please, I've heard many times that not killing me is payment enough, and I'm not afraid of idle threats.” She smiled then, genuinely for once. “You come off as a polite man, so I'm sure we can negotiate in a friendly manner. Besides, I'm quite interested in what this job could be. You went to great lengths for secrecy.”

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

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Ganbaatar smiled pleasantly as she explained her own fake name, absently rotating his glass, making the champagne swish around ever so slightly. "I see. Well, if you prefer simply Lux, I can oblige, though I actually quite like the name Lady Lux. A very professonial, almost regal sounding title." he complimented. His smile seemed to widen ever so slightly as she commented that she never heard of him. "And now I must thank you for your compliment. The fact that you don't know who I am means that, thus far, I've been making the right choices as far as my associates go." he replied calmly, taking another sip from his glass.

The tone of the room seemed to change, albeit ever so slightly, as she started to get right down to business. Ganbaatar chuckled politely as she started going down the list of things she wasn't going to tolerate. He certainly had not thought at all to threaten to kill or harm her. It never even crossed his mind. "I enjoy secrecy, my Lady. The less people know, the happier I am. I find bliss in anonymity." he replied calmly, taking another sip from his glass. "And you don't have to worry about any sorts of threats. This is a business transaction between two mutually respectful and civilized people." he assured her.

"As far as payment goes..." He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a crisp, 50 pound note, and handed it to her. "A courtesy, for agreeing to meet under these conditions." he explained, his eyes almost seeming to shine with devious thoughts. "And there is another one hundred pounds waiting, should you accept the job, and your information proves useful. Not to imply that you are inadequate, or that you would attempt to give me false information, but due to the sensitivity of this job, I simply can't take any risks, especially with a new contact." Ganbaatar explained, never losing the seeming eternal pleasantness in his voice. "As for the job itself, well..." He chuckled. "As you've no doubt heard, the Hope Diamond is scheduled to be moved." he stated, his smile becoming devious. "You, my Lady, are going to help me steal that diamond." He paused for a moment, to let the information sink in. "I'm going to need absolutely everything you can get. The name of the moving company. The pick up location. Where the truck will be before the schedules pick up. Whether or not the police or a private security sector will be at the loading area, and if the latter, what specific company. Every single detail is key." He doubted he needed to tell her that, though. Stealing the Hope Diamond was one of the greatest heists any criminal could pull off in their career. "Will you accept my proposal?"

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Elise had to admit, this man was more of her more cooperative clients. She appreciated that there would be no threats, it made her more inclined to tell the truth. “Then you must understand I like my anonymity. I would ask that you respect that I am two different people and you only approach or contact me when I am acting as Lady Lux. My private life remains that, private.” Right now she couldn't afford someone from this world ruining everything she worked for.

Wordlessly she accepted the money. Fifty pounds wasn't bad, it would definitely make up for the work she was going to have to do later. He was a careful man, something she could appreciate. The Hope Diamond huh? Elise whistled out loud. What a feat. If she helped him pull this off she would be legendary. All the money she could make..

What of the risks though? Providing this information was not technically illegal unless he ratted her out. Even then she had a good feeling she would get out of this no problem. She had favours to call on after all.

Slowly she sipped her champagne, coming up with a final decision. “I accept your proposal. Let me start off by saying you're not the only one planning to steal it. You are, however, the first person to ask me for this information so I will honour that, and you will be the only person privy to what I know.” Especially since he paid her up front and he seemed the most capable of getting the job done. There were a lot of scummy guys planning on stealing this diamond, but they didn't have half the intelligence Mr. Khan displayed. Unless it was all an act, but she would already have plans in place to get her out of trouble.

“I'll need two days to get this information, possibly three. I have other engagements in my life so I hope you'll allow that time frame. If so, I'm happy to do business with you.” Elise held out her hand to him, formally accepting the business proposal.

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

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Ganbaatar eyed the box of champagne truffles for a long while, and as Lady Lux spoke, he bent over to pluck one out of the box. He popped it in his mouth, relishing the rich, sweet flavor. Europeans, for all their faults, made marvelous sweets. "Of course. I would expect no less." he replied. "Discretion and respect is vital for mutual profit in our line of work, after all." he assured her with a smile. "Simply give me a reasonable time period in which to contact you, and I shall not pester you beyond that." The Mongol promised. He respected that she wanted her criminal life and her public life to remain separate. He didn't exactly brag about how he earned his money. As far as his own family knew, he was simply a very savvy stock investor.

He chuckled as she whistled her opinion of his offer. He did not rush her decision, instead allowing her to mull it over. It was, after all, a very big heist, and he didn't want to rush her into it just for her to have second thoughts later. He needed perfection for this job. Stealing something as high profile was not only risky, it was practically life threatening. Men had killed for that diamond, and he'd rather not end up as one of them. Or, worse yet, one of the ones killed over it.

The Mongol's grin widened slightly as she gave her answer. "Wonderful. I'm happy to hear that." Yes, he was aware that he wasn't the only one after it. Mr. Ristani had warned him that other well to do men were eager to have the Diamond in their possession, and were just as willing to stoop as low as hiring criminals to obtain it. "Loyalty is a quality I find very admirable, Lady Lux, and one I am willing to reward quite generously." Indeed, if she fulfilled all that she promised, he would be calling on her again in the future. Brokers were a criminal's greatest ally and worst enemy. With a mere utterance, they could turn the greatest success into the worst disaster. Thus far, Lady Lux had proven, at least by her words, to be both efficient and silent. And, of course, if she wasn't, he would make sure that she never crossed him, or anyone else, again.

With her promise of only two or three days, Ganbaatar's eyebrows rose. "Only two or three? You impress me. That is, if you can truly obtain the information I need in such a short amount of time." Other brokers had made similar promises, but many of them had turned out to be self-important braggarts, and some of them had even gotten caught. Of course, he made sure that they kept their mouths shut, or pinned it all on someone else, but those sorts of ordeals were unpleasant and, frankly, pissed him off. "Very well then, it is settled. I shall contact you in three days. If you have any preferred number, I will be sure to call it." Paranoia was, after all, a man's best friend. Especially if he was doing something downright illegal. "A toast, then. To our joint success. If this turns out right, we will both be finding a good bit of money coming our way. I don't need a good informant, I need an excellent one. I hope you'll prove to be that informant." Ganbaatar's eyes almost sparkled as he raised his glass for her to tink her's against, before finishing off his glass. "Another glass, madame?"

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It was amusing to her, watching this man shower her with compliments, all to get on her good side. Elise had never been in a position of power before she started brokering. It was exhilarating, watching him try to win her over. She would do the job and correctly of course, but to him, he had no idea what she would do. With a few words she could destroy the man sitting across from her. A tiny little blond whelp destroying everything this man had built. What a power trip.

Of course she wouldn't. Elise had no business dealing with this Mr. Khan before and had no reason to bear him any ill will. He could become a formidable business partner, and that was enough for her to want to stay in his good graces. So she tapped her glass against his with a smile, letting him feel celebratory for whatever reason. Perhaps hiring her was half the battle. “That number was the correct one. Please excuse my tone on the phone, you caught me at a bad time. Another glass would be great, thank you.” It wouldn't hurt to indulge a little. Besides, she wasn't getting drunk off two glasses of champagne.

Back to business though. She might as well divulge what she already knew. “You don't have much time, Mr. Khan.” Elise said cryptically, reaching over to taste one of those truffles. God, she was starving. She'd let that sink in for a few moments as she enjoyed the little chocolate delight. Money could buy you such delicious things but she had kept the suspense going for too long. “A Mr. Kristof is planning a heist in just a little over a week. He wants to try to steal the diamond before it's moved, thinking security will be more focused on the transportation right now.” It sounded good in theory but she knew it would never pan out. “I don't believe he will be successful because he's not relying on people in my line of work. However, if he does try this, security will be doubled.”

This was it. She wanted to see how far he would go for this diamond. “Mr. Kristof can not be allowed to attempt this or no amount of brokering is going to help you. You understand what I'm saying, right?” If he did this, she would fully commit. Whether Kristof was actually going to go through with or if it was just all hot air was irrelevant right now. Elise needed him eliminated. She didn't like to play this game if all the pieces weren't known to her. “Do this and it's smooth sailing, Mr. Khan.”

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

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The Mongol picked up the bottle of champagne to fill her glass again, then filled his own as well. Her following words were met with silence as he set the champagne bottle back into the ice bucket. As she enjoyed one of the truffles, he took a sip from his glass. "Is that so, Lady Lux?" he finally replied, his voice cool and leveled. He regarded her with a calm, scrutinizing gaze. Was he not the first one to approach her with this offer? "Why don't you enlighten me, then?"

He listened quietly, absently rotating the glass in his hand, stirring the champagne inside. "Mr. Kristof? He sounds like a German." The Mongol didn't particularly care for Germans. Then again, he didn't care for most Europeans as a general rule, though he wouldn't let that get in the way of his business. Or his life, for that matter. That would be giving them too much credit. As she explained how the man was going to try and steal the world's most renowned and infamous diamond single handedly, without any assistance, he gave a breath of a laugh. "So he is a stupid German." he concluded. This Mr. Kristof was an idiot. A small fry. He remembered his own days as a two-bit street criminal. But then again, he had been young, and certainly not deserving the title of Mr.

He raised a brow as Lady Lux continued to explain the situation. He kept his face neutral, simply giving a few nods as she made it abundantly clear what had to be done. So, he would have to kill someone after all. But then again, this Mr. Kristof was likely going to get himself killed anyways, and would ruin his own opportunity to take the diamond. "Lets not beat around the bush, my dear." he stated after she finished her exposition. "You want me to kill this Mr. Kristof." He said it so calmly, so flippantly, he might as well have been deciding whether he was going to have the parmesan chicken or the pasta alfredo. He didn't like to think he was desensitized to death, but the fact was, he'd seen it, and caused it, too many times in his life to be bothered by the thought of ending this idiot German's life. "I do not suppose there is an alternative route, is there?" He then sighed. "Very well. Tell me where to find this Mr. Kristof, and he shall be put out of both of our miseries."

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Ahh so much for formalities. Might as well give up her high class lady act and get real with her new client. Instead of sitting with her back straight and head high like she was better than him, she leaned forward, putting her elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand. “Yes, I'd like you to kill him. He's been a thorn in my side for awhile now, and I'd rather not have him fucking up this job. This is a nice chunk of change we're talking about and that dolt pisses me off. Kill him, I have no preference how you do it. Just do it as soon as possible.”

Where did he hang out again? He cost her 50 pounds the other night, and that was down at the Canarywharf. He wasn't there all the time though. Elise spent a few moments going through every piece of information she knew on the man, like one would search for a file in a filing cabinet. “Isle of Dogs. That's where a piece of shit like him lurks. If he's not there he's pretending to be a big shot in Worlds' End or the CanaryWharf. Probably in one of the bars or clubs.” He was an easy guy to recognize and if you asked around, he was easy to pick out. “He's usually drunk so it should be effortless for you.”

With a grin, she leaned back, crossing her legs as she sipped on her champagne. “You're doing us both a favour. Hmm, but I guess you need a bit of a reward for doing that, right? I don't think you'd trust my word if I said I'd be loyal if you needed my services again. Mistrust and dishonesty are nothing new in this line of business. Ahh, well, you have my loyalty if you get rid of Kristof, whether you believe me or not.” Elise shrugged, finishing off the glass. Whether Mr. Khan trusted her or not wasn't much of a concern to her. She made sure to never get her hands dirty so nothing could be tied back to her, if her client tried to fuck her over. If he made a misstep he'd take the fall, and she'd walk away without any remorse.

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND

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Ganbaatar chuckled at her brazenness towards addressing Kristoff's death. Her words made it very clear that this bumbling buffoon had been very bad for business thus far. Like her, he did not care for idiots who made business difficult. "My, such strong language and conviction. Here I thought you were a lady, Lady Lux." he joked as he sipped his champagne. "The Isle of Dogs, then." Lowlifes there were a dime a dozen. He'd spent a decent bit of time there himself, a few decades ago. It was ripe picking for new recruits, if you knew how to sort out the potential ones from the rest of the trash.

"I'll need a little more to go off. This German man, what does he look like? Any outstanding features that makes him stand out?" he inquired, setting his glass down to take off his glasses and clean them on his coat tail. He didn't want to have to stop and ask every idiot where one specific idiot was hiding, after all. He had more important things to be doing. Frankly, this was grunt work. He should just get one of the little brothers to take care of it. But if this Kristoff was interfering with his personal plans, then it was a personal issue.

"No reward is required, my dear. As you said, this does us both a favor. I don't need a half-cocked fool ruining all my hard work and wasting my hard earned money. Consider it the first of many future investments between us. After all, while loyalty may be rare in this business, that makes it all the more valuable. As I said, my dear, I reward loyalty handsomely. Dishonesty, however... Dishonesty makes me very angry. I tend to do things I regret deeply when I become angry." Donning his glasses again, he smiled pleasantly to her. "Of course, you have nothing to worry about. I have no reason to think you'd do anything of the sort. You're a respectable business woman, after all, and people like us don't get where we are unless we can be trusted to keep things in good faith."

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There was that nickname again. Lady Lux. Who had even come up with it? Mary was the name she first used when she started out in this business, then some Italian many started calling her Lux after she saved his business. It meant light in latin, which to her seemed pretty nice. She kept the name, but then somehow started getting Lady thrown before it. It was the way she held her head high, didn't get her hands dirty. People said she thought she was better than them. It was because she was. “I am a lady compared to most of the filth we work with.” Elise mumbled, straightening the hemline of her skirt.

Goodness, how did one describe Kristoff besides the scum of the earth? “You'd probably only need to ask one person and they'd lead you right to him.” The man had more enemies than friends, so anyone would willing give him up. “Prominent nose that has a large wart near the base. Blond hair, pencil moustache.. oh, he always wears a turtleneck. He tries to look like a bond villain. I think that should narrow it down for you.” What a relief it would be to finally get that thorn removed from her side. He has caused her to lose face and money, she didn't want to be embarrassed a second time.

So Mr. Khan wanted to become a long time partner then? It made her a bit nervous, since she had heard nothing about him, not really a bad thing though. Brokers like her were far and in between but if you heard too much about a con man, well, it meant they weren't doing their job very well. Secrecy was important, a lot of the young pups were forgetting this.

But then came the familiar threats, disguised as niceties and Elise knew very well he had been doing this for a long time and he was quite serious. Well, two could play that game, she though, spinning the champagne around in her glass. “Well I wouldn't say it's so much faith as it is a back up plan and a way out. There is a degree of trust I am giving you Mr. Khan, so please don't give me any reason to think I've placed my trust poorly. I tend to forget I'm a lady when someone has made me angry.”

ARIZONA of BACK TO NEVERLAND