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James stared out the passenger's side window at the dark skyscrapers that dominated the landscape. Coswell's attention seemed to be focused on the highway in front of the dark sedan the two drove in, though it was rather hard to tell where she happened to be looking at any given moment through the dark lenses of her sunglasses. James found it quite annoying..
James drifted off thinking about the events of the day before, when they were still back in Canvera. He thought about his buddy Eric.. Eric wasn't just the guard outside the capital building, he was James' friend.. James had known him since he first came to work for TIDA. Eric was a relatively new soldier, only a few months out of training. James and him had exchanged jokes at the gate many times before Eric suggested they go out for a drink, so James had gotten Jessie, and Eric had gotten Amanda, and they all went out and had a blast that night.
James shook his head as he brought himself back to the task at hand.. Coswell had exited the elevated highway and they were pulling up to their destination, the sector16 amphitheater.
James stared at the throngs of businessmen that bustled through the small park on their way to meetings and other commerce relations.
The two had arrived in Vector the day before with Prime Minister Bergeron. No assassination had been attempted yet, but James and Coswell had rode with him in the Bulletproof limousine as insurance.
Vector was the largest city in Trinity, and home of most of the big businesses headquarters. Prime minister Bergeron was to make a speech at the sector16 amphitheater later that day about the importance of the trade agreement. In the effort of promoting the widespread and easy acceptance of free trade more quickly.
James looked around himself, things were pretty forward.. the buildings surrounding the small park were all very tall, with no ledges for anyone to hide on. The park itself was vast and wide open, about four hundred yards on a side. The metropolitan park had only a couple of trees on the outskirts, and a large expanse of green grass ran all the way from the road to the small cement amphitheater in the middle.
"Well what do you think, Kojiro?" Coswell asked as they walked towards the center of the park.
"I'm pretty amazed with how nice things look here compared with in the slums."
"I meant the security situation.."
"I know, I was kidding, and you can call me James."
"All right, James, what do you think of the security here?"
"Well, it looks pretty simple, we should just place a couple of snipers in the office buildings and have a normal escort around the Prime Minister."
"Did you consider that possibility that our assassins might attempt to snipe the Prime minister themselves?"
James laughed for a moment and shook his head.
"Haven't you done your homework, Coswell? The Black Paladins don't use guns at all. They probably won't even try anything in an area this wide open."
"We don't know if we're really dealing with the Black Paladins, James."
"Ah, this may be true, but I take it you didn't read up on the architecture."
Coswell turned to face James, "what about the architecture?"
James chuckled to himself before answering. "All of the windows in the surrounding skyscrapers for miles around are shatter and bullet proof, and not only that, but they're all hooked into the building's alarm systems. Those windows weren't designed to be opened, so anyone that does better have permission or security will be all over them."
James smiled smugly at Coswell as she replied back.
"Ok then. We'll go with your recommendation.. I'll try to be more prepared next time.."
"Stranger in a strange land."
"What?"
"Nothing."
James gave her one of his smiles and they turned to walk back to their car.
It was late afternoon, and time for the Prime Minister to leave for his speech. James was already prepared, dressed in street clothes, which in this case consisted of a white collared shirt, and dress slacks, so he could attend the event as part of the crowd, not attracting the attention of the assassins should they decide to show up..
Coswell finally stepped out of her room dressed in a rather tight short skirt and small jacket.
James was shocked and stared at her for a moment before realizing what an ass he was making himself look like.
"Oh, good, lets get moving."
As they walked James glanced sideways at her figure... he really hadn't expected her to be so good looking from her frumpy unflattering black business suit she normally wore. The thing that really amazed James though was her eyes.. that had been the first time he'd seen them, and they were a very clear, very light blue.. However, even dressed normally, she still had a cold uninviting look about her.
They were joined up the hall a short way by seven TIDA agents and the Prime minister. The group of ten walked to the elevator and took it to ground level.
James and Coswell drove to the Park again in their black Ford Taurus, so as to not appear to be with the entourage, and wandered about the park while they waited for the preparations to the amphitheater to be made. A crowd had gathered around by the time the Prime Minister was prepared for his speech, and Coswell and James were together in the middle of it near the front. They each had a small radio in their ear to monitor security transmissions, and they both had their sidearms. James Carried his .38 (from his days in Team Rocket) in a holster under his slacks, and Coswell kept hers in a holster under her armpit.
James looked around as the ceremony began and the Prime Minister gave his short speech. (only about 20 minutes long) James looked around for signs of trouble the whole time, but all he saw was his own men waiting in the windows of the skyscrapers around them.
James almost allowed himself a sigh of relief as the 20 minutes had elapsed and the Prime Minister was led away back to the relative safety of the bulletproof limousine that would carry him back to the hotel. Once The prime minister had left and the crowd began to clear out, James and Coswell walked back to their Ford and began the drive back to their temporary quarters.
Along the way James felt slightly bothered.. he hadn't really thought about it before, but he didn't even know Coswell's first name.. He felt almost afraid to ask.. she seemed so cold towards him, but his curiosity was too great.
"Hey Coswell.. mind if I ask you something?"
"You just did."
James rolled his eyes and continued, "what's your name?"
"Coswell, you know that."
"No, I mean your first name.."
The young blonde woman turned her head slightly towards him and looked him over with her clear blue eyes.. James felt a sort of chill..
"It's Jennifer."
James was yet again surprised, the way she'd looked him over he didn't think she was going to volunteer the information. However, his surprise was quickly replaced by a confident smile.
"It's nice to meet you then, Jennifer," he said and added, "I hope you don't think I'm being too personal, but how old are you?"
"What's with all the questions all of a sudden?"
"Oh, I'm sorry.. I'm just trying to be friendly.. We don't have to work together like robots.. maybe we can be friends.."
"Maybe it's better that we don't make friends."
James was taken aback by how quickly and flatly she'd answered, and the two drove the rest of the way back to the Hotel in silence.
It was already dark outside, as it was only mid March, and the days were still relatively short.
The two young agents took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor where all of the rooms were.
Immediately upon exiting the elevator they both drew their weapons.. a short ways down the hall, agent Creshman was lying on the floor.. he didn't appear to be moving.. but he was much too far up the hall for them to have a good look..
They slowly approached and saw that his neck had been slashed, and his red blood had mixed conveniently with the red carpet on which he lay...
The door to the Prime Minister's room was only a few feet ahead, and James gulped as he prayed they weren't too late..
He quietly approached the door and slowly pushed it open.. gun in hand, but before James knew what had happened, a black gloved hand shot out of the shadows and knocked the gun away from him, a split second later a kick to the chest sent him flying backwards against the wall.
James dove to the floor dodging his attacker's anticipated next move, but he heard a gunshot and looked up at Coswell, who had shot the large black clad man straight through the heart.
James sighed in relief and the two walked up to gaze down at the lifeless body of the assassin.
They were caught off guard though as a smaller second figure rushed out of the room, quickly striking Jennifer and James, then taking off down the hallway.
James scrambled to his feet and quickly helped Jennifer up. Wasting no words James ran as fast as he could in the direction that the dark assassin had taken... he knew where he was headed just by the direction he was taking, he was heading for the stairs...
As James rounded a corner with Jennifer not far behind him he saw the red door marked "Fire Exit" slowly close shut, and he ran in.
He could hear the sound of footsteps above him and began running up the stairs..
As James made his way up several floors, still following the seemingly tireless assassin, he could hear Jennifer come to a puffing halt below him.. As he continued on he caught a glimpse of the dark figure a couple of flights up and reached for his hip. He realized he'd left his gun back in the room where the other assassin had disarmed him..
'Damn!' he thought to himself, as he knew he couldn't break off pursuit.
James heard the sound of a door opening and could see the roof of the stairwell just above him.. They'd finally reached the roof of the building, and James was glad.. he didn't know how much further he could run..
As James exited the stairwell he immediately dove and rolled to his side to avoid several katana swipes, the assassin had been waiting to ambush him. The dark figure continued to slash down and hit the rooftop as James twisted and rolled around, finally rolling under a large pipe and springing to his feet on the other side.
The masked figure jumped over the pipe and made several wide swings which James managed to duck under before his attacker swung at a metal pipe, cutting into it and lodging the sword securely.
James quickly took the opportunity to strike, delivering several hard body punches and a spinning kick which left the attacker knocked against the large pipe James had ducked under.
James was quickly upon him and took hold of the assassin's neck, ripping off the dark mask while he was still stunned, but it was James that would be stunned..
When he ripped off the mask, he found the face of a young oriental woman, looking to be about eighteen or nineteen, staring back at him..
James' grip on the girl loosened, and she wasted no time kicking him as hard as she could in the groin. Then sweeping his legs out from under him as he doubled over..
James could do nothing but watch from the ground as the girl walked to the edge of the hotel roof and pulled out a hooking device. She looked back at him with a confident grin before jumping over the edge..
A few minutes later Jennifer made it up to the roof. She walked over to James and saw him lying on the ground clutching at his groin and groaning.. He could swear the look on her face almost seemed as if she got some kind of cruel satisfaction out of seeing him in such pain..
"Come on James.. we've got to go see if the Prime Minister's all right." She said as she pulled him up on his shaky legs..
James looked back towards the katana that was still stuck in the metal pipe as he tentatively walked into the stair well.