Not as ridiculous as the last mission but pretty darn close! Have fun! I know I did! ☺️

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Voices filled the lavish ballroom, swirling around the crystal chandeliers and tugging on ears. Classical music swam through the clusters of finely dressed men and women, all showcasing their wealth in jewelry, golden watches, and haughty expressions. The air of arrogant self-worth was thick enough to choke on, but that was a discomfort that could be solved with a glass of Cristal champagne.

Waiters all formed from the same mold: black slacks, white button-down shirts, and charcoal vests navigated the throng of elite partygoers. The contents of their trays were snatched away without a thought to the one who carried it. They were the metaphorical flies on the wall, seeing and hearing everything.

As one of the clones of the service industry passed Carter, she stole a glass of champagne. The drink wet her lips and in return, she left her lipstick imprinted on the glass rim. Despite the crowd, she glided through the room with ease. As she walked, eyes became glued to her, words left hanging from their lips. It was a result she had anticipated but nonetheless was annoyed with.

With each step, lengths of her leg were exposed from the slit that rose to her thigh. The strapless red dress didn't get any better from there. It hugged her curves, leaving nothing to the imagination. Her brown hair had been manufactured into loose curls that hung about her shoulders, giving off a wild look.

"Carter, your target is by the ugly painting at the northwest wall," Mason said in her ear. "If that dress doesn't distract him from your thinly veiled lethal personality then we will have to think of a different method.

Carter brought the champagne flute to her lips but didn't drink, instead, using it as a shield.

"Shut up, Mason," she said.

She could hear the faint clicking of keys in her ear.

"Fine, but we should be ready if we have to move to Plan B if you scare him off."

"Just because you're terrified of me doesn't mean everyone else is," Carter said, cutting a smooth path towards her designated spot.

Mason made a derisive snort. Before he could contradict her, Donovan spoke.

"Stay focused. Carter will be fine."

Carter kept herself from gazing around, trying to catch a glimpse of Donovan. Seeing her target, she forced all thought of Donovan from her mind. Easing past a huddle of glittering women, she stopped before a large impressionist painting. Though the man she was there for was a few feet away, she didn't look at him, instead giving all her attention to the captivating blend of light, shadows, and color.

She didn't have to wait long before she registered a presence beside her. Pretending she didn't notice, she cocked her head, feigning deep concentration.

"You are an admirer of impressionism?" a deep, curious voice said.

Carter started and placed a hand on her chest as she spun towards her companion.

"You startled me," she said, putting on a light, polished voice.

The men next to her was a head taller, in his late forties with thick raven hair, coffee colored eyes, a narrow but handsome face and wearing an ebony suit that was tailored to his lean body. He bowed his head in apology.

"I am sorry," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Edward Saville."

Smiling, Carter accepted his offered hand.

"I'm Gracie Freeman," she said.

"A pleasure, Ms. Freeman." He raised his eyebrow as if asking if he had used the right title.

"You can call me Gracie," she said in answer.

Edward nodded and tucked his hands behind his back.

"I must say, though this room is filled with those who would call themselves art enthusiasts, you are the only one I have seen admiring the art."

Carter leaned in close, giving the man a chance to breathe in the French perfume she had all but bathed in.

"I must share a secret with you, do you think you can keep it?" she asked with a coy smile. It was a smile that Donovan and she had worked on for a half an hour, honing it to perfection for the occasion.

Edward shifted closer, his eyes drifting away from her face for a brief moment. At least the dress was doing its job.

"I believe I can," he said.

Carter drew closer, her arm brushing his.

"The only reason I accepted an invitation to this party was that I had heard so much about your collection and wanted a chance to see...it."

She lingered on the final word, giving it a double meaning. Mason snorted in her ear and Donovan told him off. Ignoring the commentary in her ear, Carter gave Edward a slow, sensuous smile and turned away, walking further on to the next painting. Every movement was calculated and it paid off, for Edward stopped just behind her shoulder. Leaning in, he whispered in her ear.

"If you enjoy art, I have something that you would enjoy immensely."

Raising an intrigued eyebrow, Carter twisted towards him.

"Oh?" she said.

"It's in my office." He leaned in, his eyes seeming to soak in all of her. "It is an original, Degas."

"No?" Carter said, hand flying to her mouth in surprise.

Edward gave a curt nod.

"You would let me see it?" she asked.

In response, he held out his arm and Carter took it. He led her through the mass, barely acknowledging the greetings of his other guests. As the passed a waiter, Carter deposited her glass on his tray, not making eye contact with him. Edward led her away from the music and noise, talking all the way, finding he had a wrapped audience in Carter.

On the second floor, in front of a set of carved wooden doors, Edward let go of her and moved to a thumb scanner embedded in the wall. There was a beep and he opened one of the doors, gesturing for Carter to enter. Beaming with pleasure at him, she swayed inside.

The room smelled of leather, old books and the faint aroma of cigars. Behind the desk centered at the other end was a row of windows that displayed the cityscape and night sky. One side was devoted to bookshelves while the other held a single painting protected by a glass barrier and lit from overhead.

Gasping, Carter walked toward the painting.

"It's breathtaking," she said.

"Yes, it is," Edward said, his breath tickling Carter's ear.

She suppressed a shiver of disgust. A chill ran along her bare shoulder, as Edward pulled her hair away. Before he could act on the thoughts filling his mind, she spun around.

"Thank you for this," she said.

He smiled, but the look turned to shock when Carter punched him.

Her aim was exact and his eyes rolled back in his head. Reaching out, she caught him before he hit the ground. Cursing the dress, she lowered him awkwardly to the floor. Placing one foot on the desk she pulled the slit away, revealing a line of syringes strapped to her thigh. She took one out and injected him with the tranquilizer, memory modifier mixture. A knock sounded on the door and she went over and opened it.

On the other side was Donovan in a waiter's uniform. He slipped inside and Carter shut the door. When she turned back to him, a frown was marring his face.

"What?" she asked.

His eyes roamed over her, the frown deepening.

"Carter, there are parts of you showing that only I should be able to see."

She placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh, and you think I enjoy wearing this?"

This teased a slight grin from Donovan. Reaching out, he tugged the front edge of her dress upward, trying to diminish the amount she was showing, but his efforts were fruitless.

"I already tried that," she said. "I had the same results. We best ignore it for now and get moving." She let out a sigh. "I am ready for this mission to be done so I can get out of this dress."

A sly gleam entered Donovan's blue eyes, his smile mischievous.

"You read my mind."

"You're both grossing me out," Mason said in their ears.

Shaking her head, Carter moved towards the desk. "Yes, well you annoyed me for the four years of high school we were in together, so I guess this is payback."

As they searched the office, Mason recounted all the times that Carter had made up for those years in the previous two years they had worked together. Carter straightened.

"Okay, the incident in Ohio was your own fault, you can't blame that one on me."

"Donovan, back me up here," Mason said.

Carter looked at Donovan and he gave a low chuckle.

"You must think I'm really stupid, Mason if you think I would go against my wife."

Carter smirked and moved to the bookshelves to continue her search. After another tirade of Mason's, the pair faced each other.

"There's no safe and the computer drive isn't here," Carter said.

Mason finally managed to stay quiet as he typed away at his keyboard.

"Okay, it was worth a shot. The drive is most likely in the vault on the third floor on the East side. Bring the old man, you will need his finger among other things. I hacked into the surveillance cameras, you're clear to go."

Donovan hauled the unconscious man onto his shoulder and Carter eased the door open, peering out into the hall. The corridor was empty. She followed Donovan out, shutting the door behind them. They made a slow trek through the mansion, the party downstairs acting as the biggest form of distraction for the guards who would normally be patrolling the hallways.

"Where do you want to get dinner after this?" Carter asked as they were nearing the East side.

From around a corner, three guards appeared. At the sight of their unconscious boss, a waiter and a woman in a knock-out red dress they froze.

Carter and Donovan exchanged a look.

Edward was unceremoniously dropped to the floor as Carter attacked the man at the front, slamming her knee into his side and head butting him. Dazed, he staggered back and Carter moved to the man on the right.

"What about that Korea restaurant down the street from our apartment?" Donovan asked, giving his opponent a 1-2 punch combo and stealing his weapon.

"Yeah, we could go there," Carter said, spinning around and drop-kicking the other guard.

Donovan flipped the gun in his hand, grabbing hold of the muzzle.

"Why don't you want to go there?" he asked, taking the guard's shirt front in his hand and knocking him out with the butt of the gun.

"I never said I didn't," Carter said, elbowing the first guard in the face, breaking his nose.

Donovan tossed her the gun and she hit the guard in the head. He crumbled to the ground unconscious.

"I can tell you don't want to go to that restaurant," Donovan said, lifting Edward back onto his shoulder. "But I don't know why."

"Fine, if you must know, I don't like that fact that the waitress constantly flirts with you even though we are obviously married."

Donovan laughed and adjusted the limp body he was carrying so he could look at her.

"Carter, I just had to endure an hour of watching every single man mentally undress you."

She spun on him, hands on hips. "Fine, next time you can wear the revealing dress and I'll be the waiter."

Grinning, Donovan leaned over and kissed her nose.

"Okay, but we both know it looks better on you."

"I think I might kill myself or hurl," Mason interjected.

The couple exchanged smiles and continued on. Two armed men in black were stationed at the door to the vault.

"Two guards," Carter whispered, pulling the small mirror back. "What's our play?"

"Drunk woman?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure."

Donovan eased Edward onto the ground then scooped Carter into his arms. The slit in her dress fell open revealing the majority of her leg.

"I hate this dress," he said.

"Yes, but it will work in our favor."

"Not to be the bearer of bad news," Mason said. "But you need to keep moving, those guards will be discovered soon enough."

Carter nodded at Donovan then closed her eyes and went limp in his arms. His arms tightened around her as he walked.

"You can't be here," a rumbling voice said.

"You have to help me," Donovan said, pretending to labor under Carter's weight. "I found this woman, she fell unconscious. I don't know if she's drunk or if there's something wrong with her."

"I'm sorry but you have to take her back, you can't be here."

The voice was only a foot away from Carter's ears. Donovan dawned a pleading expression, using it to close the rest of the distance.

"Return now or-"

The end of his sentence never made it out because Donovan squeezed Carter once, she snapped her eyes open and kicked the man in the head. He crashed back against the wall. Donovan let go and Carter dropped to the ground, finishing off the guard as Donovan took out the second one.

By the time, Carter rose and adjusted her dress, the vault door was all theirs. With the use of Edward's thumb, eye, voice recording, and DNA - in the form of his saliva - the vault door was opened.

The drive was in their possession under a minute and the vault sealed back up. Before they left, Carter administered two shots of the memory modifier to the guards.

"How do you want to get out of this?" Carter asked as they carried Edward back to the office, stopping along the way to repeat the memory wipe on the three unconscious guards.

The music and murmurs of conversations were faint, a reminder that there were still layers of guests below them.

"I was thinking heiress caught slumming it with a waiter and leaving embarrassed while the waiter is fired."

Carter smirked.

"Who could blame me? You are a very attractive waiter," she said, placing Edward's thumb on the pad to his office door. It clicked opened and Donovan laid him down on the brown leather chesterfield couch.

"You could also leave through the front door," Mason said. "Seeing how you're in the clear."

"You take the fun out of everything, Mason," Donovan said.

With the drive safely in Donovan's pocket, they split ways outside of the office. As Donovan went to leave through the back entrance, Carter descended the stairs and headed for the front. A man in his fifties tried to intercept her, but she quickly slipped from his grasp and left.

A fountain at the center of the driveway was lit from beneath and water danced over the stone tiers. The night air was warm against her skin and smelled of cut grass and pine. A sleek black car stopped in front of the marble steps and Carter slid into the back.

Donovan was waiting for her. The car drove off, the mansion fading from view. After confirming they were set and the computer drive would be delivered to headquarters, they pulled out their comm units, shutting Mason out.

Donovan dug out a gold band from his pocket and returned to the ring to its rightful place on Carter's finger. He then laced his fingers with hers and kissed her knuckles.

"You want to stop and get something to eat?" he asked.

"Anything but that Korean place."

Donovan grinned. "If you go in there dressed like that, the waitress won't ever flirt with me again."

She kissed him. "Looks like we're getting Korean food for dinner then."

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Coming at you!
(But not too fast cause that could seem intimidating or scary and we wouldn't want that!)

Why did I write this? Why do I write anything? Cause I'm bored and couldn't write my other projects, obviously.

So yeah, there's no great mystery behind the creation of this. I hope you enjoyed it!

I have to ask, is Mason anyone else's new favorite character or is it just me?

I also put Mason in because once he announced that he was going to study coding in college I got this glimpse of him working as a tech guy for the FBI.

Also Carter alias of Gracie Freeman is a shout out to Miss Congeniality. Instead of Gracie Lu Freebush

Yeah, I'm kinda boring today. I'm sorry I don't have anything witty or hilarious to add. I know, it's disappointing to me too. I hope we can move past this lapse of humor and you will still choose to love me.

If you do then go ahead and vote, comment, follow or take on the world. I approve of both options!