Tess

[cottoncandypink]

The door does not open up to the condo, unfortunately. Because Wilford has not been to the condo since the last time he brought someone through the door. It opens up from his office, into an area nebulously defined as a dining room.

At least, there is a table there, which someone has taken a passing effort to keep clear. The stack of mail, hastily picked up toys, and a couple of coats on the table suggest nobody does any eating at the table.

The house is what passes as small in the neighbourhood. Windows look out on the sloping hills and sprawling city in the distance. Inside, brushed steel kitchen, slate grey walls, and leather furniture are betrayed by tiny hand smudges on the windows, peanut butter stains in the carpet, crayon scribbles in places that nobody seems to have the energy to deal with.

The house is also unusually quiet. How interesting.

Comments

[cottoncandypink]

"Sure? Not at all."

But not trying just seems stupid. He doesn't want to have to avoid the bar for the next nine months.

He keeps his wallet out as he leads the way to an elevator. Even the parking garage seems more expensive than Wilford's house.

[have_no_mercy]

"Well, if they can't do anything I'm sure my scientists at home can figure something out."

It's what she pays them for, after all.

She follows Wilford to the elevator.

"I can pay."

[cottoncandypink]

"Damn right, you're paying."

Not for the elevator though. That just needs to be fed an ID card before it accepts his input for the 20th floor. The glass back looks out over the city as they climb the side of the building. Wilford isn't looking out the window, though. He's standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Tess. Studying her.

[have_no_mercy]

She leans against one of the walls and sighs. It's another windbox, but hopefully that will be sorted out soon enough. Then she notices Wilford staring at her.

"What?"

[cottoncandypink]

"You don't look like anyone."

This is a problem. A small problem, but still a problem.

[have_no_mercy]

She raises an eyebrow.

"Thank you?"

[cottoncandypink]

"It's not a compliment."

It can be dealt with though.

"How tall are you?"

[have_no_mercy]

"Aren't you a wonderful companion."

She shrugs.

"Five ten."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford chews on that for a second and nods.

"Not ideal, it'll have to work."

It's not like they'll have much of a choice.

[have_no_mercy]

Sighing again, she crosses her arms.

"What are you talking about?"

[cottoncandypink]

"Do you have a passport and social security number I don't know about?"

He bets she doesn't.

"I don't know who you are, but that doesn't mean your name won't raise red flags somewhere."

[have_no_mercy]

"You're still talking nonsense."

Does she have fake identities? She was a spy, of course she does. Does she have any of them with her? No.

[cottoncandypink]

Even if they were with her, they'd likely be fore places that don't exist.

"You're here to see a doctor. Your credit cards won't work here. Your ID won't work here. And no private provider's going to take you without insurance and a guarantee of payment."

The elevator dings and lets them out on a wide, open foyer. He leads the way down a hall branching off, toward his condo.

[have_no_mercy]

"If you had told me this in advance I could have brought cash."

But she follows him down the hall, assuming he has a plan.

That might be too much hope.

[cottoncandypink]

"Who's on your twenty?" Wilford asks.

His world is... unique. He knows this well.

[have_no_mercy]

"Ah."

His world is a pain in the ass, in her opinion.

"So why go trough all this trouble?"

[cottoncandypink]

From Wilford's perspective, everyone else's world is a pain in the ass.

"Because I like going to the bar without hurricane gear."

His condo is on the very end. He unlocks the door and lets Tess in. It's immaculately clean, and something's just a little off about it. It's not lived in, and looks more like a set than anything.

Almost as if they use this place as a filming location.

(That's exactly what they use this place for.)

[have_no_mercy]

"It's not that bad, is it?"

Any paper in the condo will soon go flying.

[cottoncandypink]

Luckily, there isn't much.

"It's not great." If she expected reassuring lies, she came to the wrong man.

Wilford waves vaguely for her to make herself comfortable and disappears back to one of the bedrooms.

[have_no_mercy]

If there's a couch, she'll sit on it, arms still crossed.

"Damn hormones."

[cottoncandypink]

There's a couch, dining table, everything else that would be expected to be in a place where people live. Just nothing that suggests anyone actually does live there.

"Yeah, well. Whose fault is that?"

Wilford returns with an iPad and a yellow envelope. The iPad probably needs to be charged, but it has the cord with it.

He hands both to Tess.

"You are Marilee Barnum," he says. "From East Carraway. Your husband is a retired Army colonel, and he's gone for six months a year during the winter, leading the One Percent on African safaris."

In the envelope, Tess will find everything she'll need to become Marilee Barnum. Drivers license, passport, insurance info, social security. The whole shebang.

Wilford plucks a pair of glasses with fake lenses from his shirt pocket and hands them over. Tess will never look like Nichola, but at least she can hide her face with some cat-eye glasses.

[have_no_mercy]

That's... a lot to take in all at once, but she takes the envelope and the laptop.

"Do I really need a husband? And could you give me a more southern name?"

She sorts through the documents, looking them over.

"African safaris?"

[cottoncandypink]

"Gives me a reason to never be here," Wilford says. "Why do you need to be southern? I don't have any shells for that."

All their aliases are from the Northeast, because that's where Wilford and all of his crew are from.

[have_no_mercy]

She just looks over at him and sighs, loudly.

"Never mind."

She takes the glasses and tries them on.

"Better?"

[cottoncandypink]

"It should work. As long as they can run the credit card and insurance, they're not going to look too closely."

He motions at the iPad. "Find what you need to find. I assume you're having them come up today?"