That smart girl

Archer kept standing near the valet and kept screaming profanities in frustration. The valet kept looking at him with a convoluted face. He was trying to process the scene before him. Why was a handsome man in a mask, whom he knew as the guard of the Don, was shouting in frustration?

Archer noticed the facial expression of the valet, ran his fingers in his hair, pulled them hard and shouted, "what?"

"Nothing, Sir," the valet immediately lowered his eyes.

Then an idea popped into Archer's mind. "He was here when I called for the cab. Maybe he saw her too?" He then asked the valet, "did you see me put a girl in a cab?"

"Yes, sir," nodded the valet.

Archer took another chance, "did you notice the number of the cab by any chance?"

"I am sorry sir, I didn't," replied the valet.

Archer facepalmed. He gritted his teeth with exasperation. How could he be such an idiot? How did he not feel when that girl was taking out the cameras? But the main question was why she was interested in those cameras and how did she know about them? It meant that either she planted those or knew who planted them. She was either saving herself or someone close to her. But why was she interested in surveilling Zion?

Then suddenly a bulb lit over his head. She told him her address. She whispered it in his ears. Now it was necessary for him to go meet with the Assistant Director, Chris. Someone else was keeping an eye on Zion and he wanted to know everything about them.

He walked back to the room and stood at the door. Tony was smirking at him. But he saw his distraught face and was concerned.

"What took you so long? Did something happen?" asked Tony.

"Shut up!" blurted out Archer. He had no idea why he was angry, but he dumped his anger on Tony.

"Oh, someone is cranky," Tony backed off.

"Someone is stupid," snapped Archer, again.

Tony then tried to calm him down. "Oh, come on cheer up. You too will get a girl soon." He patted Archer on his back and smiled at him.

Archer just shook his head in disappointment. Tony thought Archer was irritable because he lost a golden opportunity to have sex with a girl, but the truth was Archer was cantankerous as a girl got the best of him.

He lost every single one of the traceable cameras. He had no idea who planted it. He had no idea how she came to know about the whereabouts of the camera. It was frustrating. He was a highly decorated agent, and some drunk girl destroyed him in a minute. "Wait! Was she even drunk or acting like a drunk?" he thought.

Then his eyes flashed back to the moment she appeared before them. She came from the room next door. He decided to check it. He started moving towards the room next door when Tony interjected, "now where are you going?"

"Just to check the room next door," replied Archer.

"What? Why?" Tony was confused. "What came over Archie suddenly? Why was he interested in the room next door?" he thought.

"Just a hunch. The window of the room was open," answered Archer.

"So?" Tony was still confused.

"As I said just a hunch. You, stay put, I will be back," said Archer and moved towards the room next door.

He first tried to push the door open but it was locked. He then looked at Tony and signalled him to approach him.

"What?"

"Give me the lock picks," demanded Archer.

"What?!" Tony was shocked. He lowered his voice and whispered, "you are breaking and entering."

"Are you a cop?" asked Archer. Tony just shook his head in no. "Then don't talk like a cop, just give them to me."

"Why don't you carry one?" protested Tony.

"I like my pockets to be free," replied Archer with gusto.

Tony shook his head in disbelief and handed a leather pouch to Archer. Archer unfolded the pouch and took out a tension wrench and an offset diamond pick. Within seconds he picked all the pins of the lock and turned the tension wrench. The lock clicked open. He softly pushed the door open.

"Go back, I will be there in a minute," he whispered to Tony.

"Okay," Tony replied and went back to guard the door.

Archer stealthily opened the door and stepped into the room. The first thing he stepped on was a silk tie. The room had a faint smell of alcohol. He looked around, a man was snoring on the bed lying awkwardly on the bed with his feet almost touching the floor. A few of his buttons were undone and his chest hair was showing.

The room was chilly as the window was open. The curtain was swinging with the rhythm of the air. He carefully looked around but there was no trace of a woman ever being in the room. "So, she made a fool of him too. It doesn't look like he had sex tonight, poor man," he chuckled. He moved toward the window and peered outside. All other windows of the hotel were closed.

Then why was this window open? He jumped over the windowsill and tried walking on the ledge. It was a difficult task for him. His feet were large, and he had a muscular body. "Would she take such a risk?" he pondered. "Not even a fool will do this. Then how did she know about the cameras?" he looked around all the other buildings. It was possible to spy on someone through binoculars from those buildings, but he made sure that the curtains of Zion's room were drawn.

Even though the window next door was closed, he could hear the screams and moans of both Candy and Zion. Candy kept screaming his name loudly and Zion kept laughing.

"Eww…" exclaimed Archer and went back to the room. "I need to send a forensic team in this room to get the fingerprints." He moved towards the man and fished his wallet out of his pocket. He found his driver's license and noted his name and address and memorized them.

He then closed the window as he didn't want Mr Adam Gamble to freeze to death. Finally, he had a witness who could identify that woman. He had to find her at any cost. She could jeopardise his cover. He was about to exit the room when he found a few bottles of alcohol swimming in a bowl of water. The bowl that was kept for decoration was filled with water and whiskey bottles were floating in it. He found that weird.

He then closed his eyes and started laughing at his stupidity. "That smart girl!" he shouted. Adam groaned as he heard his voice but went back to sleep. Archer looked at him and hit the back of his own head for his mistake. He should not have made a noise.

But now it was clear that sending the forensic team to the room would be waste of time. That girl wiped all the fingerprints one could find. The small bottles would have been difficult to wipe down, so she dunked them in water to get rid of her fingerprints. But maybe, maybe his forensic team could find a partial one. He had to take that risk.

Now he had to take extra care of Adam as he was the only one who could help him find that woman. He came out of the room leaving Adam alone and stood beside Tony.

"What did you find?" asked Tony.

"A drunk man, snoring loudly," replied Archer.

"What about your hunch?" questioned Tony.

"False alarm!"

"Great!" exhaled Tony. "When will the boss be done?" he asked impatiently.

"Why? You getting tired?" queried Archer.

"No, my daughter is sending me messages. She wants me to tuck her in," replied Tony.

"Oh…" before Archer could reply to him, the door unlocked. Zion and Candy were still kissing each other but now they were dressed.

"Sorry I have a shoot tomorrow, otherwise we would have spent a few more hours together," said Candy while continuing kissing Zion all over his face.

"No worry, dear, I know you need a good night's sleep to look fresh. If you keep spending time with me, you will look like sex and we don't want that," he adoringly tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears and caressed her cheeks.

"Ha-ha, see you tomorrow," she blew a kiss at him.

He caught the flying kiss and placed it in his pocket. "Bye, Candy."

Candy walked herself to the lobby and went to the club where her friends were waiting for her.

"Let's go home," ordered Zion after Candy disappeared in the lift.

Archer and Tony just nodded and took him safely to his house and all retired for the night. Archer made sure that the night guards were present all around the Hall mansion and after taking care of all the security arrangements he left the mansion in his Pontiac.

While driving he kept an eye on his rearview mirror to check if someone was following him. He made unnecessary left and right to shake a tail if one was there and went to Federal Plaza. He parked the car and entered the lift. He pressed the button for the 23rd floor and the lift started climbing. He had so much to talk to Chris.