Levitate, page 7
Cassiane picked up one of the packets and examined it. She couldn’t tell it had even been opened.
“We don’t know how he opens the packs. If he cuts them open, if he tears the package... you’ll have to do your best to mimic the way it looks.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s good enough. Most people don’t notice things like how their cigarette packet is torn, but Rudin is on high alert. Anything could be enough to set him off, so don’t be sloppy.”
Con said, “Did you drug every cigarette in all three packs? That must have taken all night.”
Timo shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to keep my hands busy.” She looked pointedly at Cassiane, then at the couch.
Cassiane couldn’t help but snicker. Con blushed, but actually smiled a little.
“Keep that packet. The rest will be backup in case that one gets lost or damaged. Three strikes and we’re out. I don’t have any more methaqualone and can’t it shipped in.”
“I’ll be careful.” Cassiane stood and slipped the cigarettes into her back pocket. She looked at Con. “You said you would give me a ride.”
“I did.” She wrapped up the rest of her sandwich. “I’ll wait outside the hotel in case they don’t ask you to start immediately.” To Timo, she said, “Then I’ll come back here and we can brainstorm ways to get Rudin out of the building.”
Timo said, “I’ll be waiting. Good luck.”
Cassiane led the way out of the office, with Con lagging behind.
The car was parked in the alley. Cassiane waited until they were on the road before she spoke.
“We probably shouldn’t be seen together. We don’t want anyone to associate the two of us when you already have a connection to ‘Dr. Lippert.’ It would be too easy for anyone to connect the dots.”
“Right.” Con flexed her fingers on the steering wheel.
Cassiane watched the road, but in her periphery she could see the tension in Con’s body. Her arms were rigid, her posture uncomfortably straight.
“Is there anything you want to ask me?”
Con looked at her, then looked ahead. “Yes, actually. I’ve been a field agent. I’ve assumed roles and false identities, like everyone else. But you were deep cover. You were Marta for three years. Saying goodbye to her must have been traumatic. I assume it must have been like losing an actual part of yourself. How did you cope with that?”
“Being shot in the chest helped.”
“Right.”
Cassiane took pity on the girl. “Marta was real to me. When I was her, Cassiane Jurick was a dream I made up. I was a good and loyal secretary. The mission was always there, but my first mission was getting to work on time, paying my bills, being a good citizen. That’s the key to a good cover. Never letting the mask slip, even for a moment, even when the doors and windows are closed and locked. Timo’s office was the only place I lowered my guard and let Marta go.”
“I suppose I understand.”
“I wasn’t being flippant. Being shot really did help. I nearly died. I was in agony, delirious, separated from the rest of the world. It was easy to let her go and slip back into my true skin.”
“I’m sure having Timothea there helped.”
Cassiane nodded.
“The two of you...”
“Will it be an issue?” Cassiane interrupted.
Con swallowed hard. Finally, she shook her head. “No. You don’t have to be concerned about word getting back to Control. I’ve read that intimate relationships in situations like this one are impossible to avoid and may actually help guide it to success. Trust and, ah, bonding. Typically they... There isn’t often... um...”
Cassiane rolled her eyes and looked out the window again.
“I never knew anyone actually did things like that. Women.”
“Poor thing,” Cassiane said. “Timo and I aren’t used to having someone who could barge in on us. We were neglectful. We’ll try to be more considerate in the future.”
“Thank you.” Con pulled into the alley across from the hotel again. “Good luck getting the job, Miss Jurick.”
Cassiane nodded and got out of the car. She resisted the urge to look back as she crossed the street and just assumed Con was watching her. The fact she and Timo could get caught had always been at the back of her mind, but it was tainted by the very real consequences that would come with such a discovery. Now it was the same risk but without the possibility of imprisonment, reassignment, or death. She wouldn’t admit it to Con or even Timo, but having the office door open while they were fucking had almost been enough to push her over the edge to orgasm. Thinking back on it now made her skin tingle as she went into the hotel’s lobby.
She would keep her promise to Con. Even if she was feeling mischievous, Timo would preach discretion. But she couldn’t help but think being caught again wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. She pushed the thought out of her mind and approached the front desk. A dour-looking man with grey skin rolled his eyes upward to look at her without actually moving his head.
“Hello,” she said in German, lips shaking as she put on a hopeful but nervous smile. Timo and Con were now the furthest things from her mind. She could see her grey kitchen, the crackers in the cupboard, the jar on her nightstand with its dwindling contents of paper money and coins. Her fingers trembled as she remembered taking cab fare from it that morning. “M-my name is Sophie. Uh, Rasch, Sophie Rasch.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I-I was hopeful, hoping, I was hoping you m-might be hiring. I would be willing to take any job.”
The man sighed and leaned back in her chair. “This might be your lucky day.”
Cassiane let her smile widen, relief flooding her eyes.
#
Con sat in the car and stared at the hotel. She wished she had a cigarette, though she had a personal rule against smoking on missions. She felt this would be an opportune moment to break that rule.
When she first discovered sex as a teenager, she assumed the other participant could be either gender. It just made sense to her, and she couldn’t imagine just being restricted to one option. Her brother overheard her talking about potential boyfriends and girlfriends and sat her down that evening to explain the way things were. He told her that people only got married to people of a different gender.
“But why?”
“That’s just the way things are.”
“It’s a stupid way for things to be,” she said. “I don’t want to ignore girls. Girls are beautiful.”
He had just smiled, called her young, told her things would make more sense when she was older. She saw magazines where women were posing together and kissing, but she decided that was just something they did to sell the magazines. And boys were fine. She got plenty of interest from them, so she might not even have had time for girlfriends. The thought was always there, and sometimes she fantasized about it when she touched herself, but to walk into a room and see it in front of her...
And there was something about Timo and Cassiane. The way they moved, spoke, carried themselves. Cassiane was strong and quiet, but still feminine. Timo had softer features but definitely came off as the more masculine of their team. Was she the man? Was that how it worked? She was the one on top, after all...
Con realized her cheeks were burning but, more importantly, that she had stopped watching the hotel. She pushed thoughts of kissing, of naked flesh, of the smell that had lingered in the office during their lunch, and focused on the building. It was a good sign that Cassiane was still gone. If she’d been turned away she would have come back to the car. That made her hopeful that things were going well.
She kept her mind busy by brainstorming about the next step. They needed Rudin out of the hotel in order for Cassiane to make the swap. They couldn’t wait until he went for more cigarettes, for obvious reasons, and it seemed unlikely he would risk another trip for anything less than an emergency. The fire alarm was the easiest option but they didn’t know if the hotel even had a working system. If they did, pulling it would bring the fire brigade and far too much unwanted attention.
Ideally, it would be something that didn’t break his routine. But that was impossible given the circumstances. His routine was to stay out of sight and wait for some unknown signal. So it had to be something he thought of as his own idea. He had to think he made the decision to leave the room without any external influence. She brushed her thumb over her bottom lip as she thought.
Her mind’s eye saw Cassiane’s hand resting on the curve of Timo’s hip.
“Damn it, stop,” she muttered. She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose until the image faded.
She looked at the hotel again. The curtains on a ground-floor window had been thrown open and she could see someone in a housekeeping smock moving around inside. She focused on the hazy shape until it got close enough to the glass for her to make out Cassiane’s features.
“Well done, Circe,” she whispered, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel in victory.
Con left the alley and drove back to Dr. Lippert’s building. It was risky for her to be seen there so much, but this was an important day for the mission. Timo needed the information about Cassiane’s success. They could brainstorm together about how to get Rudin out of his room. She parked a block away and walked the rest, still plotting in her mind.
Timo was behind the desk and looked up as Con came in. “After this morning, you’re still not knocking?”
“Shit... sorry...”
Timo smirked. “I’m only teasing.” She tilted her head to look at the empty waiting room behind Con. “I assume, since you’re alone, that your mission was successful?”
“I saw Ca-- Circe in the hotel wearing a maid’s uniform. She’s in place.” She closed the door and went to sit on the couch. She paused, remembering what had happened on those cushions, and saw in Timo’s wingback chair instead. “So now all we have to do is think of a way to remove Rudin from his room long enough for her to plant the cigarettes.”
“Sounds deceptively simple, but it would have to be a pretty compelling reason. Fire alarm?”
Con shook her head. “I thought of that. It’s not ideal, but we could go that route if we can’t think of anything better. We could get lucky and an opportunity might present itself naturally. Human nature. Most people can’t stand being enclosed in a box for long periods of time without getting some fresh air.”
Timo said, “Circe just went through the same thing while she was recovering. She was clawing at the walls to get out.”
“Is there any way we could recreate that in his hotel room?”
“Not with a window. Do you know if the rooms have central air? We could turn up the heat, make it stifling.”
Con shook her head. “I don’t know. But even if we could affect his room directly, he would be able to make the adjustment himself when he began to feel uncomfortable. We wouldn’t need him to be gone very long. Cassiane could run in and replace the cigarette pack in, what, two or three minutes at the most. Is she good enough for that?”
“Oh, yes,” Timo said. “I doubt she would need any longer than that.”
“Okay. So we don’t need him to make another trek across the city. Maybe we just need him to go to the front desk for something. Noisy people in the next room? He goes to make a complaint?”
Timo thought about that. “He’d be more likely to ignore it. Wouldn’t want to draw attention to himself. Or if he did make a complaint, he could call the front desk, or just knock on the door and personally ask them to keep it down.”
“Damn it.”
Con stared at a spot on the carpet and let her mind go blank. There had to be something they were missing. A simple solution just waiting to leap out and smack them, so obvious, so... She narrowed her eyes and let her focus drift back to Timo.
“We could just... ask him to leave the room.”
Timo raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t that seem a little conspicuous?”
“Rudin is going to be wary of anything that happens in the next hours and days. He’ll be jumpy and anxious. No matter what we do, there’s the chance he’ll see it as a trick. So we walk right up to his room, knock on his door, and ask him to please come with us. We’ll come up with a story about who we are and why we need him. It doesn’t have to be particularly clever, it just has to get him out of the room. The fact we’re women may actually help sell the fact we’re not dangerous. He won’t see us as a threat, we’re just a pair of weak ladies who need his help with some nonsense.”
Timo considered it. “I don’t like the idea of playing weak. But it is lovely when your enemy underestimates your power.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Okay. We’ll work on the straightforward option.” She rested her elbows on the desk and leaned forward. “Now that we have the skeleton of that plan, is there anything you’d like to discuss about what happened here this morning?”
Con almost heard an echo of the moans. She managed to shake her head. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Timo examined Con’s face. She apparently liked what she found, because she nodded and let the tension disappear from her posture.
“Okay. Good.” She placed her hands flat on the desk. “Now let’s figure out what two helpless young Berliners might need from the strapping gentleman in Room 232.”
Chapter Eight
The maid Con threatened had quit immediately. The hotel manager, Ernst, was eager to fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. Cassiane assumed his reasoning involved the other housekeepers, who would have had to work overtime to pick up the slack. After she filled out the barest minimum of paperwork, he escorted her to what she assumed was the same little room Con had found. She was given a uniform that was too tight on top but the skirt was fine. He told her she could wear her own shoes and told her to “find someone to follow, get to work.”
She spent the afternoon following Heloise, one of the other maids, who taught her the basics of the job. Vacuuming rooms, replacing the old linens with new, taking out the trash. She figured out the routine by the second room and ignored Heloise’s attempts at conversation. Room 232, Rudin’s, had a gray BITTE NICHT STÖREN sign hanging from the knob so they bypassed it and went to the room next door.
The room would be a mirror image of Rudin’s, so Cassiane took careful note of the layout. The position of the bathroom, the bureau, the safe tucked away on the top shelf of the closet. She thought about how they might use the room. Timo could book it, move in, and then they’d be able to eavesdrop on Rudin. It was a dangerous plan, but it might work under the right circumstances.
Heloise urged her on to the next room. “Don’t dawdle. There is a lot of work and many rooms, but only so many hours in the day.”
Even though she hadn’t started until after lunch, she was exhausted by the time she was finally told she could clock out. Heloise gave her a clean uniform to take home. “Ernst likes to make the tops too tight. This one will fit you better,” she promised. “You did good work today. Do it again tomorrow.”
Cassiane had to admit she was touched by the praise and the kindness. She thanked the older woman, who left the room with a dismissive shrug and no further comment. Cassiane respected that. Professional but not rude. It was a good combination.
She walked to the office on Regenstrasse. It was after hours so the legitimate businesses in the building had closed long ago. The overhead lights in the lobby were dimmed, and her footsteps seemed to echo twice as much as they did during the day. She felt as if she was entering a mausoleum.
Timo was at her desk when Cassiane came into the office. She glanced up, then let her eyes drift over the unflattering grey uniform. She didn’t smile, but her amusement was obvious in the way her eyebrows rose and her head tilted to one side.
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“Absolutely not.” Timo leaned back in her chair. “I was just realizing I hadn’t fully thought through the possibilities of the housekeeping uniform.”
Cassiane looked down at herself. “Possibilities?”
“For the, ah, bedroom...” She looked away, suddenly bashful.
Cassiane realized what she meant. “Well. I am very good at putting on new identities, if there are games you wish to play.”
Timo smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Con went back to her room so she could get some rest. We came up with a plan to get Rudin out of his room tomorrow.”
Cassiane settled into the wingback chair. “I’m all ears.”
“I am a poor backpacker from London.” Her voice had become meek with the shift to English. She folded her hands in front of her, shoulders hunched, and kept looking from left to right as if she expected an attack to come at any moment. “My car has broken down outside the hotel. I am terrified to be in East Berlin, I barely speak any German, and I am looking for someone who can help me. Please, sir, please, I need help. No one else speaks English. Please, can you help?”
“What makes you think he’ll take pity? Or that he’ll even open the door to you?”
Timo shrugged. “Con seems sure that he will. She says he’ll be suspicious, but he won’t be able to leave a woman stranded if it’s within his ability to help. I have to take her word for it since she’s spent so much time investigating him.”
“Con?” Cassiane said.
“Hm?”
“You called her Con.”
Timo said, “Oh. We spent most of the day together. She told me to call her that. I think it fits her better.”
Cassiane smirked. “You do like to give people nicknames.”
“Don’t tease,” Timo said, chuckling. “We can make it work around your schedule.”
“No, move when you’re ready. Make sure I know it’s happening and I’ll find an excuse to get away for a few minutes. Just keep him out of the room for two minutes.”
“Will that be enough time?”
Cassiane glared at her.
“Okay. Okay. Just covering our bases. Two minutes.”
Cassiane stretched her arms over her head. “I am exhausted. Shall I bunk up downstairs, or...” It was her turn to tilt her head at Timo. “Shall I walk you home, Dr. Lippert?”
