*text*

Please tell me that you're free to do some digging for me.

Give me a name and how deep you want the hole.

Hahaha. Not that kind of digging. The woman's name is Catherine Mason. I need you to get me an address.

Why do you get my hopes up like that? I thought I was going to get to shoot someone. Just an address?

Just an address. Let me know when you have it. We have a trip to make.

Is this going to be the boring, diplomatic kind of trip?

I might cut a bitch. So I don't know. You tell me.

It's going to be a fun trip. Which is good because I have your address. It pays to have friends in the CIA.

You don't even know the name of the person that I'm looking for.

You told me after I asked who I was digging for. Everything okay, Princess?

Everything's fine. Meet me at the airport. The jet will be waiting. (Ugh. I sound like Chuck.)

Terrifying sentence.  Don't ever think it again, thanks.

---

He showed up at the airport like she asked and wondered if there would be a trail of cameras and microphones in her wake.  Or if she'd have scared them all off.  It was rare that she asked anything of him, let alone to go digging for the address of a woman in England.

Vanessa put on her sunglasses and got out of the car without a word. The flashes of light and endless sea of voices were ignored. "Sorry I'm late. We had to drop Nate off."

He moved between her and the crowd, baring his teeth and flashing his gun because he fucking could. Perks of being a bodyguard. "The puppy's not coming along?" He ushered her onto the plane without incident.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "No. Nate couldn't go this time. It's sort of a mission of mercy and I'm praying it goes the way I want it to." She took a deep breath as she sat down. "Have you seen the news at all lately?"

Ah. "Thought that was some sort of TMZ rumor." Not to be taken seriously. "Is it true?" No judgement. This is the Princess and her boyfriend who, as it turned out, was a good kid who had some shit times. What happened happened and it would be dealt with accordingly.

Vanessa took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. It's true but I think I have a way to spin things so that Nate looks like the hero and his mother is exposed for the bitch that she is, that is, if Catherine will cooperate."

"And that's why I'm here?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No, you're here because I don't need an international incident and I think killing someone might cause just that."

"So I'm the voice of reason," he said with a nod, taking a seat beside her. "Good to know. So you don't seem to shocked about this sudden exposure," he remarked blandly. Vanessa always knew more than she let on.

"I knew about it. Nate told me about it years ago. He was desperate for money and he was taking care of Haley. I don't agree with it but I can understand why he would want money." Vanessa said.

"I knew about his father from when I did the background check," he admitted. "But that... Desperate times and desperate measures." A person did what they had to do and it was a shame that Nate was the one that had to do it. "Couldn't we just string the mother up on a rope and make her come out on her own?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Nope. We're going to do this my way. She's going suffer the way that she made Nate suffer. Call it the Spanish Inquisition 2014." She grinned over at him.

"No one will expect it," he chuckled. "You're frightening when you set your mind to it, you know."

Vanessa sighed. "I just hate to see Nate humiliated over something he did out of desperation to protect his family."