UNDERCOVER The Secret of Luck (25 page)

“I hope there is a point to all this.” stated John, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the sofa. He went straight to the freezer and pulled out a bottle of juice. He returned to the living room with two glasses in his hand. They were both transparent.

“I am hoping that at least now, you will have some faith in me.” said the Lipstick Woman.

“Faith about what?” asked John, placing the two glasses on the table. He sat on the chair opposite to the sofa she had reclined back on.

“Faith that I am not carrying any concealed weapons, detective.” she said, her lips turning into a naughty smile.

“I can see that. You do realize that there are six different ways of hiding a weapon when one is naked. Especially for a woman, more so than a naked man.” said the detective, trying to figure out what she was doing there.

She seemed to become a little disappointed with John. This was probably because she was hoping for John to fall head over heels for her, and maybe finish what she started with him a few hours ago in the men’s restroom at the club. However, John’s reaction indicated that there was nothing to be finished since nothing ever started between the two of them. John was impressed with her ability to disguise any disappointment she might have been feeling. He realized that she was a thorough professional who had been well-trained at the lying and deception game. He wanted to tell her that he was impressed, but decided against it.

“Looks like I may have to cut to the chase detective. The ambience in your apartment is getting cold since your arrival.” she said, picking up the juice bottle and uncorking it.

“I have that effect sometimes. What is this all about? What do I call you? So far, we have been getting by calling you the Lipstick Woman.” said John, watching her pour the fruit juice into the glasses.

“Lipstick Woman. It has a nice ring to it. I like it and I would insist that you continue calling me that for the time being.” she responded, pushing one of the glasses that was filled with juice toward him, and taking the other for herself.

“Okay Lipstick Woman, what is going on? Why did you give me that ear piece? Why are you here? Start talking or I will throw you out. Before you protest that I would not be rude to a woman, please remember that I am working. Chivalry is out of the window for now.” said John, with the last few words spoken with coldness.

“If you really heard what was discussed on the other end of the ear piece I gave you, you would know that they were talking about some shipments. I am interested in those shipments. I also heard the same discussion because I was in that room when the meeting took place. You were getting audio from my earring which contains a tiny transmitting device” she said.

“Go on.” said John, allowing her to continue.

“As you overheard through the ear piece, twenty-four containers belonging to the Dragon Empire will leave the city in a few hours on container trucks. Five out of those twenty four containers have the cargo that I am looking for. These five cargo containers have to be verified by an independent inspector. I know the location of the inspector and he will be provided with the details of the five containers. I need you to come with me, help me over-power the inspector, impersonate him and lead me to the cargo.” said the Lipstick Woman.

“Perhaps once I do that, I can take you out for dinner, buy you a diamond ring, and book a vacation for our honeymoon?” said John.

“Very funny detective.” said the naked woman who was sitting in front of him.

“You are the one who started it with all these jokes about me helping you. Why in the world would I help you? She did not respond, but smiled, got up, and walked to her bag which was lying on the sofa along with her clothes. John thought that she might be bored of sitting naked in front of him and was going to get dressed. She did not do that. She simply grabbed her bag and returned to her seat. Then, she pulled out her phone, played with it for few minutes, and threw it at him. John caught it midair and looked at the display. It was a picture of Luck, the person he was searching for. The Lipstick Woman was standing next to Luck, and they were both smiling happily.

“What is your connection with Mr. Luck, Lipstick Woman?” asked John.

“That is none of your business detective. You help me discover my containers and I will lead you to Todd. As I understand, you are also looking for him. As it happens, we both want something and it seems logical that we help each other to achieve a win-win outcome.” said the Lipstick Woman.

“How can I know for sure that you actually know Todd? From what I have seen and heard about you so far, you are a smart, resourceful woman. This picture could be a fake and for all I know, you may have killed Todd.” said John.

“That photo is authentic detective. I understand you have a tech guy working for you. Am I correct in saying that?” she asked.

“Maybe.” replied John.

“Send the photo to him through your phone. I am sure he can authenticate it for you and perhaps then you will believe me.” she said, pulling out a cigarette from her purse and putting it to her lips. John got up and pulled out a lighter and lit her cigarette. John snapped his lighter back into his pocket and went near the window, with her phone in his hand. He tapped his own phone to her phone and the image was transferred. He sent the image to Drake and then called him.

“Drake, you still up?” said John, after Drake had answered his call.

“John, I am always awake for you.” said Drake, in a muffled tone. He was clearly sleeping.

“Drake, I have sent you a photo. I need you to check its authenticity. Make it quick.” said John, and Drake agreed to it. John figured that it would take Drake a minute or two to get back to him. He returned to the living room to find that the Lipstick Woman was still sitting on the sofa, and still not dressed. John looked outside the window into the night. The sky was not as clear as John would have liked it to be.

John kept thinking about the kind of work the Lipstick Woman was doing. He was also curious to know a bit more about the contents of the five containers that she was after. John was inclined to believe that she was a good person. At least, as good as the people he was running into over the last few days. His phone rang and Drake was on the line.

“John. I could only do a basic analysis and will probably need more time. The photo is authentic enough. Who is the hot woman in the picture?” asked Drake.

“Well, she is the one who is offering herself to me, in turn for a favor. She is sitting here without her clothes on by the way.” said John.

“Given that you switch off everything when you are working, do you want me to come over there and take care of business?” asked Drake.

“Thanks for the offer Drake but we just don’t have time for any games right now. Thank you and I will speak to you later.” said John, hanging up.

John knew that Drake was kidding about coming over. Getting Drake to go out of his place was in itself a huge feat. Now that the photo was cleared to be authentic, John started to piece together everything that the Lipstick Woman had done so far. John decided to take a risk and trust her and see where it went. In the worst case scenario, he would have to be rescued again by Sheila. Best case scenario, he would get considerably closer to finding the missing Luck guy. Having made up his mind, John returned to the living room and returned to his seat opposite to the Lipstick Woman.

“Alright. Your photo checks out. What do we do now?” asked John.

“Glad you are on board detective. We need to go and meet this inspector guy in two hours. The place is about an hour’s drive from here. That leaves us an hour to do whatever we want. Any ideas in your head detective as to how we can spend this spare hour at our disposal?” asked the Lipstick Woman.

“Well, unless you want to help do my laundry, I suggest you wear your clothes and we drive to that place. I would like to be early, rather than late when working.” said John. Then he added, “Of course, if you want to continue to walk to around without your clothes, I won’t object.”

“You are some kind of guy detective, to avoid me like this. Guess some guys really aren’t into play when they are working.” she said, getting up. She got up and picked her clothes and turned to face John. She started wearing her clothes, one piece at a time. John would not admit it but it was quite a turn on for him. She took her own sweet time to get dressed, and ten minutes later they were both in John’s car, driving to the destination she was talking about. John was doing the driving and she was sitting next to him.

“Thanks for coming along, detective. I am starting to think that perhaps showing up in your apartment and sitting on your sofa without clothes on was a mistake.” she said.

“That’s okay. You seem like a nice woman. It would really help me if you could tell me who you are and what your interest in all this is.” said John, trying to elicit some information from her.

“I am afraid detective, that is something I cannot tell you. Our deal is a simple one. You help me with the shipment containers and I help you with your guy. Anything other than that is beyond our deal. I am afraid I cannot let you in on that stuff.” she said.

“What is the plan now? What do we do once we reach this place you are talking about?” asked John, continuing to keep an eye on the road. It was almost midnight and the streets were quiet. They had driven out of the city and were on one of the highways that led to the next city.

“The inspector is staying at this motel. In exactly an hour from now, he will be visited by one of the men who works for Mr. Dragon. This man will hand over the codes relating to the five containers that I am interested in.” she said.

“This inspector will receive information that will tell him which of the twenty-four containers have this shipment that you are after. Am I right?” asked John.

“That is correct. Our job is simple. Wait for the messenger to give him the container codes. Then, we will over-power and put him to sleep for a few hours, and you will start impersonating him while he is asleep. If you remember the conversation that you heard through the receiver I gave you, nobody in the Dragon Empire has seen the inspector in person. Mr. Dragon no longer wants to deal with any individuals. There was this incident a week ago and since then, we have switched to a mysterious system of codes. It makes impersonating easier, but the information is so convoluted that no one has much of a clue.” she said.

“Except you.” said John.

“I am in the inner circle and it is hard to get into the inner circle, so that does not count. Once you have impersonated the inspector, we will use the information provided and travel to the docks. I have five tracking gadgets with me. You job is to identify each of the containers, act like an inspector and place these tracking devices on the containers. Once the trackers are up and running, and I have confirmed that they are active, your job is done. That is when I will tell you about the missing man, Mr. Luck, and that will be the end of the story. Unless of course, you want to call me over to play patient and doctor.” said the Lipstick Woman.

“That seems clear enough. I have one question though.” said John, pointing out the obvious flaw in the plan.

“I was sure that there would be one question, at least.” she replied.

“The docks are heavily guarded. Given the clandestine nature of your boss, Mr. Dragon’s operations, I am guessing that I am supposed to break into the docks. There is every chance that if I get caught, I would be on my own.” said John.

“You won’t be completely alone, John. I will be with you, if you don’t mind me tagging along like a side kick in some action movie. I assure you, I won’t be baggage to you. After watching you getting rescued by your own assistant, and considering that you were lying on a hospital bed less than twenty four hours earlier, I believe it is a good idea for me go with you.” she said.

John nodded and continued to drive, as per the directions she was giving. Just as she had said, an hour later they had reached their destination. It was a motel that was located on one side of the highway. There were a total of twelve rooms, all laid out like camping tents in a national park. Except for the one room at the very end, no other room lights were switched on. John parked his car in an empty parking spot and stepped outside. The Lipstick Woman did the same, and she walked towards the reception. John followed her, but did not enter the reception area with her.

He waited as she went in, did some talking, and came outside with a door key hanging by her fingers. They both then walked toward the nearest room and stepped in. Once inside, she quickly bolted the doors and kept the room dark. John sat on one of the two chairs and she sat on the bed. The occasional passing of a truck or a car on the highway shed some light in the room every now and then.

As John sat down, the Lipstick Woman flipped her phone open and turned on the flash on it. It was a small source of light, and she used it to sweep the entire room. She checked the ceiling, the floor, under the bed, the cabinets and every nook and corner of the room. She spent a good ten minutes on that, but seemed to be checking the same spots again and again. All of this only made John more curious about her role in the mystery that he was investigating. How did a young woman like her end up in a business like this? What did she want with the containers and what was so special about those five containers? John was hoping to get some answers when they reached the docks. He had given up on getting any information from her.

“John, we should move to the terrace of this building. I know the fire escape ladder that leads to the top of the terrace. Here, take these night vision enabled binoculars. We will need them once we reach the top.” said the Lipstick Woman, handing him the binoculars.

She also pulled out another identical set of binoculars and hung it around her neck like a purse. John did the same and nodded, indicating that he was in agreement with her. She then lifted the window pane up and slipped out quietly. John followed her in an equally quiet manner. Once they were out of the room, John noticed that she was sprinting toward a ladder that was a few meters away. John also broke into a sprint, but he stopped almost as quickly as he had started. His wounds, which were still healing, were hurting him slightly.