Disenchanted (12 page)

"Don't screw this up,
Cinderella," Dunbar's voice crackled in my ear. I put my hand behind my
back and gave them the finger.

Prince Charming tilted me
backwards. I prayed my formula and phone didn't slither from my cleavage and do
a kamikaze leap for freedom. As he righted me, I slipped my hand down my dress
and fished out a tiny bug.

I crashed into him, tucking the
bug beneath his collar and smiling apologetically. "I'm not a dancer. Too
much time in the lab."

"Even lab rats should
dance."

"I'd rather work out the
kinks in my formula than dress up in sequins."

"What are you working
on?"

"Something to do with molecules
and biochemistry. I won't bore you."

"I'm intrigued."

The song ended.

"My feet need a break and I
need a drink."

He graced the back of my hand
with a kiss before I escaped to the bar.

"I've piqued his
curiosity," I murmured to Thorne.

"By the way he's looking at
you, you've piqued more than that."

I glanced over my shoulder.
Prince Charming was staring in my direction. "Shit. I need to lose
him."

"Keep him interested then
you can plant a bug in his bedroom." He smirked.

I shuddered. "I'd rather eat
barbed wire."

"It's for the good of the
country, Cinderella."

"Chopping off your head and
putting it on a spike to frighten terrorists would be for the good of the
country, but the boss denied my request."

In my earpiece, I heard
Finton
laughing.

"I forgot you don't like
men."

"I'm just allergic to jerks.
They bring me out in rash behaviour."

I ordered vodka and drank it as I
faced the crowd. Their masks glinted beneath the harsh light of the
chandeliers. Indistinct voices clamoured for attention, buzzing against my ear
drums like persistent mosquitos. I recognised one of the security personnel as
an agent. Another female agent was dancing with an unknown male. I glanced at
the impressive black staircase. Thorne was right. I needed to get into Prince
Charming's bedroom. That's where his secrets would be revealed.

"Which room's Prince
Charming's?" I whispered.

"Upstairs, third on the
left,"
Finton
replied in my earpiece.

Prince Charming was watching me.
I downed my drink and slid off my stool.

"Target approaching,"
Dunbar whispered.

I scuttled away from the bar,
keeping one eye on Prince Charming. He was following me. I'd never get up to
his room. There was no way I was seducing my way into it. Some things couldn't
be scrubbed clean. I stepped behind a waitress then pretended to trip. The
waitress went flying, wine glasses sloshing their contents like arterial spray
over nearby guests, who shrieked as though they'd been hit with acid. One lady
in her attempt to dodge the flying stain crashed into Prince Charming, taking
him down like a toppled Totem pole.

I gathered my skirts and dashed
for the stairs. I climbed them as fast as I could without looking like I was
fleeing a crime scene. Upstairs was quiet, as if the guests had been muted. Crimson
carpet lined the landing. I slipped a bug behind an oversized plant pot. I kept
my mask up, averting my eyes from the couple battling a door without untangling
their tongues. Her dress needed an R rating or at least censor blobs. I waited
until their door shut then hurried to door three.

I removed a lock pick from my
hair and opened the door in seconds. I used the backlight from my phone to
guide me around the room. I dropped to my knees beside the bed, grabbed another
bug and slapped it under the bed, onto a wooden strut.

Voices.

I froze.

They stopped outside the door.

"Move along, nothing to see
here," I murmured.

Someone laughed. The door
creaked. Then edged open.

"Shit."

I rolled under the bed,
frantically clawing my skirt towards me. It was as endless as a magician's
handkerchief. I silently cursed as Prince Charming walked in.

"The bugs are online,"
Finton
informed me.

The Prince picked up the phone.
"I'd like a bottle of Champagne brought to my room. With an ice bucket and
meal for two."

I would be stuck here while he
wined and dined then…I didn't want to think of what he had planned for dessert.
There was no way I'd hide under the bed while they got
jiggy
on top of it.

"Ella, you've been Code
Black for twenty minutes,"
Finton
spoke.

The door knocked.

"I'm trapped under Prince
Charming's bed," I whispered. "Room service has arrived. He's
expecting someone. So unless you want the next few hours from my
mic
to be mindless chatter then pleasure filled groans of
two drunks rutting, get me the hell out of here."

He sniggered. "As long as
you're not one of the rutting drunks…"

"Not even close to being
funny."

The waiter wheeled the trolley in
and set up the meal on a small table in the next room. Prince Charming returned
to his bedroom. I inwardly groaned.

"Are you expecting
someone?" The waiter asked. Dunbar.

I watched him put roses in a vase
and rolled my eyes. Cliché.

"Downstairs you'll find a
beautiful woman in a satin emerald dress. Please ask her to join me."

Time ticked by agonisingly
slowly. There was another knock at the door.

"Nobody's seen Lady
Ella," Dunbar said. "Perhaps you should return to your guests until
she reappears."

Prince Charming swore in a very
un-princely manner. "Find her!"

I peeked out from under the bed.
Prince Charming entered the bathroom and closed the door. There was no way I'd
make a silent exit drowning in this Barbie Vomit Princess Gown. I wriggled out
of it, like fighting my way free from a pass the parcel game. After a
terrifying moment when I thought petticoat would be the last thing I'd ever
see, I was finally free.

I rolled out from under the bed,
opened the window and threw the dress out. I climbed onto the windowsill and
saw a drainpipe to my right. Lowering myself, I gripped the sill with my
fingers and edged to the pipe. I grasped it with one hand then carefully closed
the window and shinned down.

"Meet me at the west
side," I whispered.

I jumped when I was four feet
from the ground, landing on the dress. I checked my watch. Midnight. I scooped
up the dress and crept forwards. Shadows lurked in every dark crevice the
moonlight was too scared to venture into. Footsteps crunched on the gravel. I
flattened myself against the wall. A shadow slunk around the corner like a
murderous ghost creeping up on its victim. The moonlight betrayed a gun's
shadow. I sprang out, throwing my dress over the man as we hit the floor.

I scrabbled through the dress,
feeling like a dog digging for rats in the sand, until I found my victim.

"That's
not
how I plan to leave this world," he gasped. I got up.
"Ooh. Maybe it is."
Finton
grinned as he
rose. "Are you going to Rocky Horror?" He gestured to my black
basque
, satin shorts and stockings, before relinquishing
his jacket.

"Stop staring."

"Stop giving me things to
stare at."

I picked up the dress, marched to
the car and slumped in the back seat. He joined me.

"There's another ball
tomorrow night."

"Two in a row? Is he
desperate?"

"Prince Charming thought you
were divine."

"Either I have a different
dress or I'm not going.
You
can seduce
him."

"I'm banned from seducing
handsome princes. They keep falling in love with me. It's the way I wield my
wand."

I laughed. The car stopped
outside my house. I opened the door, leaving the dress and
Finton's
jacket behind.

"I'll bring a
worse
dress tomorrow." He smiled
teasingly. "Maybe you won't wear it at all."

***

I was fitting the last spark plug
to my bike when
Finton
appeared.

"What did I say about
sneaking up on me?" I grouched.

"We're friends now."

"I'll still shoot you."

"You have a ball to attend
and you're playing with your bike?"

I tightened the plug, attached
the
HT
lead then sloped inside, wondering what
fashion atrocity awaited me.

"Let me guess, you've got me
glass slippers."

"Health and safety wouldn't
sign off on them."

I showered then headed for my
bedroom. If this dress had bows and sparkles, I'd shove
Finton's
wand so far up him, a twinkling sound would escape every time he opened his
mouth. Laid on my bed was a black satin gothic dress with a corset bodice and
long skirt that I wouldn't need a Sat
Nav
to find my
way through. I pulled it on. It had a slit up the centre of the skirt.

"What if I hadn't
waxed?" I called, slipping on fingerless elbow length lace gloves.

He didn't have an answer for
that.

I left the bedroom, brushed past
Finton
and went downstairs. I picked up the phial and
phone.

"
D'you
have a clutch bag I can borrow?"

He slapped his forehead. "I
lent it to my sister." I smiled. He pulled a bag out of his pocket.
"There's a tracking device sewn under the lining and a mask for when you
do your product demonstration. You look…stunning."

"Thought you were getting a
horrible dress knowing I'd discard it so you could
perv
on me in my lingerie."

"The doctor said your level
of sexiness is bad for my heart."

I dropped my gun, phone, keys and
phial into the bag then headed to the Rolls. The skirt parted, flowing behind
me as I walked.

"You must leave by
midnight." He slid into the back with me. "It's when his star guest
arrives, codename Glass Slipper." I swore. "Your file said you shot
him during the take down."

"He tried to flee."

The car reached the mansion too
soon.
Finton
escorted me inside, announced me then
left as I entered the ballroom. Everyone stared like they hadn't seen a woman
in a dress before. Prince Charming glided over and graced my knuckles with a
kiss.

"Lady Harrington. May I have
this dance?" I regretted becoming a spook for the first time ever. I
joined to take down terrorists, not dance with them. "You vanished early
last night."

"There was an issue at the
lab."

"Nothing too serious, I
hope."

"Good news. My project was a
huge success."

"I'm intrigued."

"I'd tell you but then I'd
have to kill you."

He laughed. "Beauty, brains
and a sense of humour. I'm in love."

I tried not to grimace.
"This isn't a
fairytale
– nobody falls in love
after two dances."

"Fairy Godmother to
Cinderella, reel him in,"
Finton
said in my ear.

I smiled at Prince Charming.
"I'm looking for an investor for my project and wondered if you knew
anyone who would be interested. I'm in talks with the government, but a private
buyer might be more…mutually beneficial."

"How about we discuss this
in my study?" He pointed to the end of the hall. "Follow the corridor
then it's the second door on your right."

He kissed the back of my hand
again then slipped away, smarming all over the hall. I checked to see if he'd
left a trail of slime behind. I loitered in the hall then followed Prince
Charming. The corridor was long, narrow and blissfully quiet, dimly lit by
electric candles that fizzed and flickered, casting eerie shadows on the walls.
If I never heard classical music again, I'd die happy. I knocked on the door.
His smooth voice told me to enter. My smooth voice longed to tell him where to
go. I closed the door behind me.

He grabbed me, pushed me against
the door and kissed me hard, his tongue trying to force its way into my mouth
like a maggot burrowing out of an apple. One hand slipped inside the split of
my dress. I shoved him away, ducked behind him then slammed him against the door
with his arm twisted up behind his back. His cocky expression was replaced with
one of pain. I personally thought he looked better like that.

"I came here with a business
proposition. If you want to behave like a drunken
lech
,
buy yourself a blow up doll."

"You're hurting me."

"You can speak, you're
obviously not in that much pain." I pressed harder on his arm. "Next
time, I'll bite off your tongue."

I stepped back. He straightened
his suit, rubbing his shoulder. His face was red and as crumpled as his jacket.

"Since when do scientists
learn
self defence
?" He muttered, heading to his
desk.

"Since they designed a
weapon capable of killing thousands of people without leaving a trace." I
fished the phial out of my bag and placed it on his desk. He reached for it. I
snatched it away. "This amount is enough to kill all your guests. I'm not
letting you touch it."

"You brought a deadly weapon
to my ball?"

"I didn't have a plus
one."

"What makes you think I'd be
interested?"

"I've done my research.
Whoever owns this will be the most powerful person on earth. I imagine you have
many enemies. Five millilitres of this will kill them in minutes and leave no
trace. The coroner will rule it natural causes."

"I'll need proof."

"Fetch me some water."

The minute he left, I planted a
bug under his desk and a small camera in a pot plant.

"Fairy Godmother, how much
do I use?"

"A tiny drop. Although it's
fake, it'll still knock you out. Use your mask. I don't want you becoming
Sleeping Beauty."