I'd never felt more self-conscious as I made my way down to the lobby. Nate followed at a discreet distance to make it appear like we didn't know each other existed. I looked around the area and didn't see Zuba waiting, so I walked outside.
Still not seeing him, I settled onto a bench to wait. I watched as Nate surveyed the area on his way towards his car. He planned on following us to make sure there weren't any deviations in the plan to take me to the ball. Since he could listen in, I had to trust he'd get to me before Zuba decided to kill me if things went to hell in a handbasket.
As I waited, I kept playing possible scenarios out in my head. Could I get to my knives fast enough? Would my wit help me buy enough time for Nate to move in? Did my dress make my butt look big? Okay, that had to be the funniest thought to ever cross my mind.
Laughing to myself, I finally saw Zuba getting out of a limousine. Evidently we were arriving in style, which was something I'd never done. He was dressed in a black pinstriped suit with a bright blue bow tie. He looked very classy with his hair slicked back and penny loafers that had been polished so much they shone like the sun. They probably weren't really penny loafers, but they were fancy.
My heart didn't bother beating any faster when I took in his appearance. When I'd seen Nate all studly in his suit, my heart had actually skipped a few beats, before gearing up like it wanted to crawl out of my chest and snuggle up next to the man causing it to go insane.
Zuba looked up, saw me and smiled. "You look ravishing tonight, my dear," he said, walking over and leaning in to give me a peck on the cheek. He was turning on the charm, and I felt like telling him not to waste it. "And it seems I'm right on time. Shall we?"
He held out his arm to escort me back to the limo. I didn't want to touch him, but his lips had already been in the vicinity of my face, so it wasn't like we hadn't already crossed a bridge.
Getting in, I took in the luxury of my first limo ride. There was a chance I wouldn't live through the night, but I was going to enjoy the ride. I could hear jazz music playing softly through the sound system and the divider was up, giving us a little privacy from the driver. Once we got settled in, he retrieved a bottle of champagne and asked if I'd like a glass.
"Sorry, but I don't drink. Feel free to enjoy some yourself though." Getting drunk would only lead to me saying things that could put my life in jeopardy.
"Don't mind if I do," he said filling his glass. "So, tell me about yourself. We have a decent amount of driving ahead of us. What better way to spend it than getting to know one another."
"I don't have a very interesting tale," I started. "I grew up an only child in Butte, Montana. I won't bore you with all the crazy things I did as a kid. I always had a talent with computers, though, so I applied to a few colleges and got accepted to NYU's computer science program.
"It was the furthest away from my parents, and like any high school senior, distance from them had its appeal. I shouldn't say that, it's mainly my mom I had to get away from," I paused to inhale.
"She and I just don't see eye-to-eye on many issues. Anyway, I've been there for a few years now and I'm hoping to get a job as a programmer when I graduate. That's basically me in a nutshell."
The sad truth was it wasn't that far off. I had the brush with the law to get me to where I was, but other than that, my life was the exact opposite of exciting. I ended up babbling through my speech because of my nervousness. I hoped he just took it for first date jitters and not me being a horrible undercover agent.
"You mentioned your parents, are they both still living? I'd love to hear more about them." He took a sip of his drink.
If we were going to stick to talking about my life, I was going to need something to get me through it. I thought about rescinding my decision to not drink, but it'd take me out of character and I needed to stay focused on that.
"Yes, they both still live back in Montana. Mom has always been a stay-at-home mom and Daddy works for the postal service. I think Mom's attitude is a woman should remain at home and raise the family. That's where our way of thinking about life differs. We had a lot of arguments when she found out I wanted to go to college. She's stuck a few decades in the past and I don't think she'll ever accept that I want to be able to stand on my own two feet."
Somehow the tenseness in my body was directly connected to my lips not being able to stop flapping. The bad part of my rambling was that I found it difficult to turn the attention to Zuba. I just sat there and waited for him to continue the conversation.
"Even though you may not get along, it's great you have both of them around. So how do you like the campus?"
I didn't understand why he couldn't be one of those guys who enjoyed hearing their own voice. If the ride was going to last more than five minutes, I needed some kind of interference to keep me from looking like an idiot. Said interference didn't seem to be popping up on its own.
"I'm one of those bookworms who only knows where my classes and the library are. I probably spend most of my time in the library actually. Right now, it's just important to keep my studies up, so I can have my choice of employment when I graduate."
Imagine that, Nate was right about him asking that question. In reality, that was how my college life would've been if I went, so telling the lie was easier than I thought. There had been a short time in my life when I dreamed about going to college, and then I realized I could learn everything I needed to know without it.
"You know, I own an electronics business in Chicago and we're always looking for some good programmers. You didn't specify that was your area of expertise, but maybe you should send your r?sum? with me and I can give it to our HR department. When you graduate, give me a call and we can see if we have any openings," he suggested. "Or, if you're not opposed to switching schools, I could pull some strings and ease your transfer."
"Those are some interesting suggestions. I'll have to think about it, Chicago is closer to Montana than New York."
"True, but it's a big city, too, and it's easy to hide from people you don't want to see."
Yeah, even if I was just a wide-eyed college kid, I wouldn't fall for his promises of help. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell he was hoping his fake efforts were going to get him something in the here and now.
"So, tell me more about your life. You said you're from Chicago, do you have family there?" The conversation had lulled enough I thought I'd try to refocus it.
"I do, my sister. ?She actually lives with me. We lost our parents both to cancer way too soon. My dad to prostate and my mom to melanoma. They were both only in their forties. It's still sometimes hard to believe they're both gone.
"I sponsor an annual charity auction now for cancer research in their honor. I wish I could do more to help families, so they don't have to go through what I did. Watching both parents fade away is not something I want anyone else to go through," he explained.
Hearing about his parents made me wish Nate had given me a full dossier on the guy I was meant to get close to. Then again, being honestly surprised was probably a good thing in my case.
"That must have been so hard," I said with sincerity. So far we'd been sitting apart on the seat, but I found myself drawn to move in a little closer.
"It was. Dad went first and then my mom five years later. I was twenty-one when my dad died and ended up taking over the family business. At twenty-six, I was in charge of my fifteen-year-old sister. I'm so lucky she's always been very mature for her age. I can trust her not to do anything crazy while I'm working late hours.
"Even though it can be difficult with my schedule, I always try to be there for school events and when she just needs her big brother. She'll be graduating next year and if she keeps on track, she'll be valedictorian."
The ages he said seemed off to me. I remembered Nate saying he was younger than he claimed, or something like that. I didn't know if someone had collected bad intel or if math just wasn't their strong suit.
The way his story shaped up also sounded
completely off from what I'd heard. I didn't think he had any reasons to lie about his personal life, but I got the sense something was off.
"You sound very proud of her and it seems like you've done well when life has given you lemons," I said, trying to continue the conversation.
I didn't know how far we had to go. The tinted windows made it difficult for me to judge exactly where we were. It seemed like we'd been in the limo for a while, so I hoped I wouldn't find myself spending a ton more time alone with Zuba.
"I am extremely proud of her, but I can't take any of the credit. My parents started her off on the right path and she continues to follow it. I, on the other hand, was always a bit of a rebel child. I never fit in the 'perfect son' role," he said, using finger quotation marks, "so I fought against it.
"Nothing too serious, you know, just drinking and hanging out with friends past curfew, not getting straight A's in school, that kind of stuff. When I had to take over the company, I grew up quickly overnight. I've made a few decisions that are coming back to haunt me, but I'm trying to rectify them and keep on the straight and narrow."
Thinking it might be my chance I asked, "What are these bad decisions you mentioned? Bad investments, hiring a shyster as an accountant?" There were so many bad choices a businessman could make, it was easy to make it sound like I wasn't prying too much.
He sighed and wiped his hands down his face as he leaned back into the seat. His eyes stared over at me and I wondered if I'd gone too far, even though my thoughts seemed legitimate in the conversation. It had only been a few minutes since he'd been talking about getting me a job, so knowing about his company made sense.
"Oh nothing really major. I needed some money to fund a new project and borrowed from someone I shouldn't have. The project was a success and I've paid back the principal, but the interest being charged is a little steep and I'm currently here in town dealing with it."
?"The way you worded that, it almost made it sound like you were involved with the mob or something. I've only seen movies about those types of people, but I know they aren't someone you want to do business with."
"I can truthfully tell you I'm not involved with the mob, and like I said, after tonight my interest should be paid in full, so I can get back to my sister and running my company." He refilled his champagne glass and I noticed his hands tremble just a little. "My sister is the most important thing in my life and I would do anything for her."
If I didn't know he was a bad guy, I could see myself being friends with Jimmy, which was strange, since I really didn't have friends. He seemed like a genuinely good guy, I couldn't tell if it was for show or not.
If it was real, there was a part of me that would feel bad about helping the FBI take him down. I really hoped he had some good lawyers, maybe they could make some kind of deal. Chances were good his life story was all a lie. He probably didn't have a handler telling him to stick as close to the truth as possible.
"What?" he asked a little confused, but not as confused as I was.
There was a reason why I didn't want to be involved with an undercover mission and I had a very good feeling I'd been mumbling to myself instead of keeping my thoughts private. Since I was alone most of the time, my conversations with myself had never been a problem.
I didn't know how to read the hopeful look in Jimmy's eyes. It at least lead me to believe he wasn't going to instantly try to kill me.
"You're with the law? Oh thank God, you can help me."
That definitely didn't sound like he was going to instruct the driver to find a nice dark alley to dump my body. That being said, I wouldn't have made a good boy scout, because I was totally not prepared to hear those words come out of his mouth.