Internal Affairs

Nik leaned against the driver side door of the team's Land Rover, making a poor attempt at hiding the smile with knowing glances towards Nadya at the unflattering racial slurs the hefty mob boss was hurling at the Haitians in Russian, as Alexander hoisted himself into the dark American made SUV. Mykola and Sheridan, from the positions seated in the back seat of the Rover, could still see the Russian's pudgy cheeks flapping at the two dark-skinned men in the font seat as the vehicle pulled away. With Alexander now out of the picture all there was left to do was call their Italian recruiters.

---

Overtown, Miami FL

Sheridan got back in the driver's seat, soaking in the silence.

"Well, ain't she just a show off," he said, turning to back out of their parking spot, "A'ight all, where to next?"

Mykola's Safehouse - Miami, FL

"A law firm? Really?" Sheridan sighed, looking at the picture of the Brickell Bay building, "I really can't guarantee someone won't get shot in there."

Viscayne Luxury Condos
"Ah, we found your boundaries. Rent-a-cops, no go. Mafia, off the hook. But lawyers . . ." Mykola made the shooting motion with his fingers.

"But yea, I think the Law Office network is more likely to have the kind of information we are looking for; those in charge, what other organizations they have ties with, those sorts of things. Nik was able to pull up some relevant specs of the building that contains the law offices on the 16th floor. I recommend a two phase approach."

"In Phase 1, we act like potential legitimate clients. Drop in, try to arrange a meeting to discuss potentially keeping their firm on retainer, maybe name drop that we are business associates of Alessandra. This can give Nik a chance to get the lay of the land, maybe lift a key card off of someone."

"For Phase 2 when we sneak back in, After Hours, to actually hack into the network using maybe a key card, gained from phase 1, or we have to jimmy the lock on the door. We'll want to keep an eye out for security systems when we scout the place out."

"I realize if Sebastian was here, he would find our plan boring." Mykola glanced at Bill and added with a wink, "He'd want to start on the roof of the building; probably by parachuting from a passing airplane; repack the chutes, rappel down to the 16th floor, sneak in through the windows, hack into the network and use the parachutes to clear the last 16 floors back to earth and then make our getaway via high speed car chase through the streets."

Nik commented about the possibility of someone reporting a missing card.

"That's a good point. We should aim for an afternoon meeting for Phase 1. After lunch so the missing card will likely go unnoticed until the following morning. Any other thoughts?"

---

Mykola's Safehouse - Miami, FL

Sheridan stuck out his tongue a little at the finger shooting, then listened to Mickey's reasoning.

He coughed a laugh, nodding about Sebastian, only to pause and squint his eyes, brain working, before blinking the thought away. As the 'arms dealer' finished, Sheridan raised a hand.

"Okay, one, we had orders to not murder anyone, and that guy's a potential future asset, so it made it easier to not just pop 'im. Can't really say the same about lawyers.

"Two, joking aside, I wasn't entirely kidding about the reasons I gave him. Ever since I got back stateside I've been... trying extra hard not to kill anyone if I can help it," he turned his head towards Nik, and winked, "For a variety of reasons.

"Three, I can't remember if any of you know this, other than *ahem* 'Number Five', but someone potentially posing as a lawyer snuck in and killed the mob boss that was captured on the train heist. Most likely it was just someone pretending to be legal council, but," a grimace and a shake of the head, "Worst case scenario, we might be sneaking into an assassin guild using a law office as a front. Unlikely, sure, but let's not take anything for granted, yeah?

"Finally," he paused, brain once more working away, as he contemplated what he was going to suggest, "I might have a subject we can use as an excuse to get in."

He slumped back in his seat with a sigh, eyes briefly un-focusing.

"I've never mentioned this, but I had a girlfriend once..."

He quickly pointed at Myk and Nik.

"Hey! I see the jokes rattling around in your head, y'all just keep 'em to yourself, alright."

A smile grew on his face when 'Nadya', playfulness in her voice, asked if she was cute.

"She was a dream," he sighed, "as fantastic a fox as you can find on this Earth. Red hair, shining green eyes, amazing body."

The smile turned into a smirk.

"It's not for nothing that 'Kyonyuu Kitsune' is the one Japanese phrase I understand by heart, and I highly suggest keeping safe search on when looking that up," he chuckled, taking a sip from the soda can he had, before leaning forward with a breath.

"She's also a very vulpine mercenary fireteam leader," he said, more serious, "with the type of cunning that can catch you off guard if you aren't careful."

A slight nod of the head towards Nadya, "Might not be able to quote everything Sun Tzu said, but I'll be damned if she wouldn't keep that old fogey on his toes if she had half the mind.

"First met over in Afghanistan, before my 'defining moment'. The PMC she was working for was escorting the family of some VIP or other, I forget who, and happened to be chased through our AO. We picked the fleas off her crew, gave our good lucks, parted ways. Ran across her again later during down time.

"She introduced herself as 'Fiona Reynard', but I'm not 100% convinced that wasn't an alias of some sort, though mostly that's from how hard she worked not to talk about her life before her job. Was pretty moot, anyways, since most people just called her 'Blazer'. Like 'little red blazer', y'know?

"Got to talking, got to drinking, she got to seducing me, I got to let her," another smile, more subdued, "I apparently I was really good at that, because she kept coming back for repeat performances."

He raised the can, "Then, after my 'long night', found a real vixen of a Valkyrie standing over me as I lay healing, at which point..."

A smile, and a gulp of soda.

"Got a good taste of Valhalla, I tell you what."

He shook his head as he put the can down.

"Unfortunately, that was one of the casualties of my other 'defining moment'. Wish it was just a case of never seeing each other again, but... we parted on less than stellar footing. And I haven't heard from her again"

A shrug with a grimacing smile.

"Until recently. A bit before we started this grand adventure, and old army buddy," 'Sheridan' lifted an eyebrow at Mickey as he said 'army buddy', "Gave me a heads up that she might be coming to Miami. Which isn't a big deal, just keep my head down, avoid all busty redheads. 'Cept the heads up was that she might be looking for me personally, and she might have been using shenaniganry to do so. Nothing concrete to prove that, but he still suggested I keep my head on a swivel just in case.

"Now I know, 'why didn't I bring this up before?' Like I said, it was a tip from a friend with thin evidence, and..." a wave of the hand at the safehouse, "Conditions would make her finding me even trickier than normal. Odds were, we'd probably just have a 'oh crap, it's my ex' situation to sneak away from. But..."

He leaned forward again, resting his chin on his clenched hands.

"If we all insist on keeping going with this, probably best to bring forth any potential complications. Not to mention," a smile, "ya think 'my ex-girlfriend might be up to something suspicious' is good enough reason to seek legal council?"

Viscayne Luxury Condos

Nik could only laugh, smirking in the roguish way only he seemed to be able to pull off at Sheridan made known his view on lawyers. He did interject at the mention of the law offices as a front for a company of assassins, mentioning that the law offices in question was one of the more prestigious in Miami that represented all the big deals, rich, and famous. They certainly had the means to make someone disappear, but would make sure there was no direct connection to them.

The jokes and friendly banter paused as the rest of the team listened as Bill informed them of a potential security risk in the form of an ex-girlfriend that the war veteran painted a vivid picture of. When he finished, he couldn't help but notice Nadya and Nik smirking, the Russian born FBI agent sweeping Sheridan through narrowed, appraising eyes that left him feeling like she was making a selection from the desert tray - the long haired thief's smirk seeming a bit to imaginative for the soldier's liking.

"I appreciate the honesty," Nadya admitted before waving her hand dismissively, "But the odds of running into her on the street are unlikely ... and she's looking for an FBI agent. Not Bill Sheridan, bodyguard to a blind arms dealer."

Nik nodded in agreement, "We are undercover."

With a firm shake of his long haired head, the thief's eyes met Mykola, seeming back to the business at hand. "The retainer fee must be like $100,000 or more," he admitted with a nervous look towards Sheridan, "I doubt a crazy ex-girlfriend is going to pique their interest and from what that fat Russian boss said it sounds like Alessandra probably doesn't have any pull. If we were in New York it'd probably be a different story." He paused, smiling mischievously, "We put on the a display similar to that night in the club however ... Nadya and Mykola black marketeers ... they'd see someone that could afford their fees and would most certainly need to make use of them."

---

"You realize that, by romantic comedy rules, saying that means she standing right outside the door, right?" Sheridan joked, thumbing and giving a glance towards the door, before listening to Nik.

"Even if we use words like 'shenaniganry'? Oh well I see, it's one of those types of places."

He paused as a thought struck him.

"Wait a minute. Doesn't that just mean they deal with rich crazy ex-girlfriends, and crazy ex-girlfriends trying to be rich?"

Nik held up both hands apologetically, signifying that he certainly had meant no offense, "The crazy ex certainly gives us a reason for being there ... I was only saying that Nadya and Mykola will have to get us through the door."

Nadya looked pleased, swaying her hips playfully, "I did look good in that coat."

Sheridan smile shrugged, and gave a little wave to show he didn't take any offense.

"Fair point that if it was just me they probably wouldn't let me through the front door, even with the fancy southern gentleman get-up I got."

A small chuckle.

"And really, I probably would have brought her up, no matter what we were trying to do. 'Gotta infil a coffee shop? Neat. Y'know who likes to go to those things?"

He double thumbs upped with a goofy grin.

"Girlfriends!" point, "Hey, did I mention that I had one?"

The soldier ran a hand through his hair, "Though in this case we could use the situation to our advantage on that front.
Like I said, she worked for a PMC, though she was a bit of a journeywoman in that regard. When I returned from Ranger School training she'd switched employers to... what was it, Red Raven LLC? Which went out of business since I was 'removed' from the sandbox. I honestly could not tell you who she was working for now, of which..."

Sheridan shifted upright, and did his best Mickey impression, "'This new employee of ours has brought to our attention a possible issue via a past love interest. We aren't entirely sure how severe a problem this is, because he has been out of contact with her for a number of years now. We were wondering if you could do a little... scouting, to see if there's anything we need to worry about on the legal front?'"

He looked at Mickey, goofy smile back on his face, "Yeah? Yeah?"

Viscayne Luxury Condos

"I appreciate your telling us about you ex being in the area. It could complicate things so it is better if everyone is on the same page. We should have a code word, like 'henpecked', so we can alert each other if it comes up. Oh, and what would you have us do if she becomes an issue?"

---

"As far as dealing with the lawyers go, I think Nik has the right idea. Our intel indicates this law firm is strongly tied to, if not outright owned by, the mafia. I think if we let it be known that we are international entrepreneurs with at least a passing association with the mafia, they can jump to their own conclusions. We don't need a specific incident to put a firm on retainer. Let's pull up the name of 2 other law offices, let them know we are shopping for a good lawyer and let them give us the sale pitch."

---

Nadya raised an amused brow as Nik snorted in delight at Mykola's suggestion of a safeword, the pair of Russian born agents sharing a knowing look - no doubt contributed to the odd sense of humor all Eastern Europeans seemed to share.

"Delio & Furax and Franklin & Bash," Nik quickly interjected at Mykola's question on additional law firms, shrugging as all attention turned to him, his look seeming to say 'thief, remember'.

---

---

Viscayne Luxury Condos

"Ah, he speaks. Well, let me answer those backwards, because the second answer is much shorter:

Lawyers. You are the schmooze expert, I'll let you take lead on what we talk about. Just giving you another tool on your belt, and a potential secondary target once we are there."

The soldier leaned forward, taking a second to remember some details.

"Blazer, though," he pushed out a breath, "Wow it has been a while, so I can't be certain of her state of mind, or the training she's gotten since...

"Okay, first of all, unless I am there, or you are sure it's just you three and her, I would not recommend getting in a fight, especially if it's a gunfight," a shake of the head, "she is not what you would call an overwhelming combatant, but that's not what makes her so dangerous."

Another pause, then a chuckle breath, "Yeah, so, she's a lot like, *ahem*, Ellie in that both are of the 'SWAT, CQB, and MOUT firefight school of tactics," a turn to Nik and Myk, "That's the whole '4 to 8 tactical guys sweeping and clearing rooms' type of stuff, though in her case it was usually four, the size of a fireteam."

He placed a hand on his chest, "For comparison, I trained and fought in 8-man squad, rifle, thumper, gunner, team leader, though we liked to joke that I was just the 'shoutier rifleman'. Open fields, streets, working with vehicular support and targets, that sort of thing. Got deeper into smaller CQB in Ranger School, excelled as Heavy Gunner and Assault Element, though I'm told I could make a good Recon if I could stop clanking about so much.

"Ellie, meanwhile, is 'official tac-squad training', like academy-level officer type stuff," a thumb toward Nadya, "A bit like Five in the vein of barking orders and coordinating people, though Five's more focused on the head-game element, while Ellie's like an infantry Lieutenant."

Another shake of the head, "Blazer though? She's the scrappy kinda cunning you'd get from grinding through on-the-job training. Her form was a little raw at first, like she got the barest minimum of basic, then became a mercenary. But her positional awareness and reaction time were amazing. As she got more seasoned, she became able to read the fight and," finger snap, "know right where she needed to be, and where her gun needed to be pointing. When I came back from Fort Benning, we even got together and had some private training sessions..."

He looked at the returning smirks, "Yeeeees, and physical workouts, too. But she picked up on those tactics so quickly, I wouldn't be surprised if she's practically as good as any one of those officers they had at the base.

"At the very least, I expect her to have a combat expert of some sort backing her up. While she usually isn't the first through the door, she almost always is the second," a smirk as he patted his shoulder, "I should know. And if that's the case, I would definitely recommend all four of us being there, because then it would be a fair fight. That said, she's never been one for fair fights, so..."

The soldier sighed, and shrugged.

"On the bright side, if she doesn't just come in shooting, then she's probably just going to talk. I'm not all the," he wiggle pointed at his head and whistled, "As you guys are, but even I can tell a few things. For one, she has a very... rugged sort of grace too her, if that make sense. Smooth movements, self confidence, even with a bit of a rough exterior. And witty banter, she loves witty banter. Particularly," lifted an arm straight up, and pointed at Nik's mouth, "when trying to wipe overly imaginative smirks off of guys' faces. Trust me, dude, she's left a trail of deflated bros in her wake with a few pointed words, bring your A-game if you don't want to walk away embarrassed. Thinking about it, she probably liked me because I was a breath of fresh air in comparison. So yeah, sincerity and the ability to keep up mentally, she liked that back then."

Sheridan then looked at Nadya, "Oooh hooo hooo, you though. Aaaaah, you two are gonna make my face turn so red," he indicated said face, "this whole thing's just gonna be a tomato once you two are done. God, she used to tease me occasionally with the idea. She was never serious though, just loved my reaction, the homegrown American country boy seeing the whole wide world, y'know? Don't you think that's gonna work now, though, I have since hardened from years of fieldwork. At most your just gonna get an eyeroll and a headshake.

"Oh, and the codephrase is 'Aurora', Mickey, just so ya know."

He picked his soda back up.

"Wow, it's been a while since I talked about someone this much. Feeling a little thirsty."

Viscayne Luxury Condos

Mykola shook his head at Bill. "Aurora? Really? We need to work on your innuendo. How the hell am I supposed to slip 'Aurora' into casual conversation? 'Hey, did you get down to see the aurora borealis last season'?"

Checking the time, he continued. "Well, we should get going."

"I dunno," Sheridan said, drawl getting real heavy, "Y'all are tha good spekin' wit tha werds.

"Sides, it's supposed to be another way of saying foxfire. Guess you could say, 'hey, been having issues with my browser, you use Foxfire?' or suppin'.

"Now where'd I put that hat?"

The Law Offices of George Ward & Associates - 1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, FL

Not unsurprising - and perhaps intentional on their part so as to provide more time to observe - as they had no appointment they were made to wait. Nadya, looking elegant in the same long velvet coat she had worn to the Saxony, for her part sat looking straight ahead playing the part of a blind woman as Fenris calmly lay at her feet. Mykola was beside her with Nik and Sheridan standing to either side, looking every bit of the hired protection they were perhaps meant to be. The decor was very modern and very Miami, that complemented the expansive view of the Bay through the massive floor to ceiling windows. The young, blonde haired office administrator offered the occasional smile and polite apology that someone would be with them soon in between the phone calls and emails that seemed to be a constant.

Nik was very much 'on duty', though no one but them would know as the international thief held a cool, confident smirk - with the occasional wink at the cute blonde - they could however see his eyes roving, calculating behind the long hair and roguish grin. They had valeted their Land Rover - Nik who had been driving had seen the security cameras for the parking deck prior to pulling in - confident that the garage entry would be like any other in any city throughout the world. Meaning poorly lit though with security cameras and punch code locks on the door, the elevator most likely requiring an access card to activate after hours for the residences and any office staff or building staff that might be working late.

Entering the building the lobby at that time of day was busy with shoppers going to and from the stores as well as those people who worked in the building. A welcome/help desk was prominent and the banks of monitors confirmed it doubled as a security station. They didn't need Nik to see the cameras in the corridors and elevators and as they took the relatively fast ride to the sixteenth floor the roguish thief whispered that there were probably cameras in the stairwells also - one would assume more for public safety than building security.

Whether from the cut of their clothes or perhaps the imposing figure of Sheridan standing sentry beside his charges, they had only to wait for about twenty minutes before the young woman smiled and in a somewhat over enthusiastic and cheery tone, "Ms. McBeal will see you now." A striking young(ish) woman opened the heavy glass door, offering a polite smile as she extended her hand. Even the firm's lawyers were Miami, as the elegant blonde woman was wearing a tapered suit coat with a low cut blouse, her dress slit on one side to show her pale long leg.

The Law Offices of George Ward & Associates

"Handshake, 1130," Sheridan show whispered to Nadya as he held his cowboy hat in his hand.

His professionalism held back any comment about good looking female lawyers.

After his 'charge' introduced himself, he leaned in and took Ms. McBeal's hand.

"Sheridan, the other dog," he said with a little half smile as he gently shook, before returning to standing in the background.

The Law Offices of George Ward & Associates - 1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, FL

Mykola shook the woman's hand introduced himself. Once the pleasantries were completed and they were seated in her office get, he got down to business.

"Thank you for taking the time to see us on such short notice. I don't want to waste your time so I'll get right to the point of our visit." Mykola paused for a moment before continuing. "A recent, uh, opportunity has raised the possibility for us to open an import business here in the states. When it comes to business law in the United States, I have to admit my knowledge is, uh, how you say, shaky. We did some asking around and found several places that might be able to help. Delio & Furax, Franklin & Bash and George Ward & Associates, the last of which was highly regarded by our, uh, associates."

---

The Law Offices of George Ward & Associates - 1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, FL

Her stunning blue eyes took in the seemingly Eastern European man, the blind woman that clearly was an associate and not any sort of significant other or escort, and the pair of men standing behind them that could not be anything but protection. "I see," she replied with a knowing smile, "I think you'll find our firm considerably more practiced at ... business law was it?"

He eyes narrowed thoughtfully, a small smile as she tapped her lips, scanning the them with an appraising eye, "Of course our fees are considerable."

---