Shit, is this guy living a life or what? His mansion was so huge and he had a 10 miles beach coast for his backyard. I saw a shiny mirrored reflection of water projected across the balcony and I immediately knew that he had a swimming pool in it too. This neighborhood was private and exclusive, so the headquarter reluctantly had to spend a lot of money for me to stay here, near to him. God knows how much Brian Sr is paying us for the safety of his rich son.

I sighed, looking at my place to stay. My temporary house was nowhere near his luxury but it was also big. Kind of too big for me to live alone. I scanned around, once satisfied that I saw no sign of him, I went in, dragging my suitcase along.

I have to wait until Brian Jr goes out from his house to really do my work. And for that, I need Andy’s help. As soon as I shut the front door behind me, I heard growling sound of a car passed by my house and I took a peek.

A black BMW went into his driveway and parked. The engine died and came out of it, a tall guy with slicked hair, a cell phone in his palm and a white dog – a Maltese breed I think – came out from the door after him. He owned a dog? He’s a dog person?

I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying on the phone. I need to tap that phone as soon as possible. After he went into his house, I started to set up my own little lab. My gadgets has always been here with me though they were purely basic but it was better than nothing. I turned on my laptop and placed a small satellite hearing system next to it. I pointed the aerial to the direction of his house and listened hard.

The gadget caught a few of other unnecessary sounds but his voice sounded a little clearer than the others.

“Yeah. I’ll be off in two weeks. Wanna meet? ….Come on, have a drink with me, tonight….heheheh…no baby I can’t. Gotta hang with the guys tomorrow.”

Wow, his voice! Why does it sound so soothing and went straight to my heart? I cringed at the softness and seductive sound in his tone.

“What are you wearing?”

Good God! I didn’t sign up for this.

“Take off that socks for me will ya?”

This is like watching porn but minus the visual.

“Now take that shirt off, slowly..”

That’s it! I’m not listening to any of this anymore. It feels so wrong listening to a stranger making a sexual phone call towards another stranger. My phone buzzed, making me cursed aloud suddenly.


“Hello?”
“Addie? How was the meeting?”
It was Andy. Finally he called.
“Fine I guess. Why didn’t you tell me that he’s a target?”
“Yeah…If I told you that you wouldn’t accept the task, am I right?”
I groaned and it echoed throughout the house.
“You settled in already?”
“Just got here. The house is too big for me. Find me another please?”
“NO. Do you know how many ass I have to kiss just to get you that perfect and clear spot?”
I rolled my eyes. As if he was serious!
“Just enjoy it, Addie. You’ve got nothing to lose. And don’t forget that concert tomorrow night.”
“Concert? Oh yeah the concert’s tomorrow night!”
“Yeah. Be prepared. Bring your gun.”
“Uh, do I have to?”
“Yes you fucking have to, Addie. You’re a real agent now. Shit don’t make me come up there and teach you a lesson!”

My eyes sparkled. Oh that would be a dream come true for me. Working together with him, chasing bad guys, watching him aiming a shot..

“Addie, you’re still there?”

Shit, did I just daydream about him, while talking on the phone with him?

“Yeah I’m here.”

“Listen, I know you’re new at this. But this is your chance to shine. Chief has been watching your performance for a long time. He said that-”

Andy let his sentence hung and went silent all of a sudden.

“Andy? Chief said what?”
“…you got me?”
“What?”

There was a buzzing sound emerged from my phone speaker. What the hell is happening?

“Rub that for me honey.”
“Huh? What?”
“Squeeze it hard. Squeeze it like I would, baby.”
I froze. Wait, this doesn’t sound like Andy.
“He-hello?”
“Hello? Hello?”
It sounded like…Brian Jr’s voice! Oh shit, I didn’t turn off that satellite thing earlier!
“Hello? Baby?”

Quickly I ended the crossed call between me, Andy, Brian Jr and some other girl that he called as ‘baby’ and went over to unplug the satellite off. I really need to learn how to do this professionally. My first time on a field task and I screwed up on the first day. Insert epic mega face palm here.

I took a peek at Brian’s house for a bit. There was still no sign of activity outside. Sighing in relief, quickly I shut down my laptop and walked upstairs to my bedroom. Wow! My bedroom window had a view of Brian’s beach and the sky looked perfectly clear. If only I can change into my swimsuit and surf along the waves without having to worry that he might see me. My bedroom itself wasn’t bad either. The bed is really huge for me to sleep alone. The dresser matched the oak wood of the bed and there was an anchor hung on the wall indicating that the owner of this house must have loved ships so much.

I jumped on the bed, wondering how should I start this. Was it really necessary to go to a length where I have to stalk his every move? What for? Should I disguise myself as a maid in his house? No, it’d be too awkward when he found out that I live just a near to him. Then what?
Should I be friends with him?

That could lead to something else. I used to know a senior agent who fell for his subject and had to be released after the task is done and he can never apply back even as a junior level agent. But being a friend, shouldn’t hurt right? I mean, not a close friend. Maybe a distant friend slash neighbor kind of thing.

Suddenly I remembered about the concert tomorrow night. I scrambled out of bed and rummaged through my backpack. Okay, I found my unused SIG Pro still intact, fully loaded and collecting dust inside its shaft. Putting it aside, I found a few photos of Brian Jr along with his band members and I chose to ignore them. When I finally touched the bottom of my bag I scraped out a box ticket of tomorrow’s show – wait.

“Who the hell is The Skull Arise?”

I thought I was supposed to be going to his band’s concert? What was the name of his band? Avenged Sevenfold? This wasn’t the ticket to their show.

Or maybe I should listen to them first before anything.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Brian stared at his phone, strangely disturbed by the rude end call from Trish, a girl he just met at a bar in Florida not long ago. He was about to unzip his pants and let out the throbbing part of his body but it was like a cold water struck – he just simply died when Trish ended the call. Fucking prick, he cursed under his breath.

Not long after he realized that his beer was finally empty, he stretched out on his couch and yawned. Being home alone after a long and tiring tour sure is suck. But he was glad to be back. He needed a rest. Groggily he got to his feet and whistled for Pinkly. The dog came running from his kitchen towards him, barking.

“You wanna go for a walk sweetie?”

Pinkly barked, yes.

“Or..do you wanna be my date tonight? We’ll hang with Zack. I know you love him, don’t you baby girl?”

She barked, fuck yes!

Brian let out a soft cackle and ruffled her fur into a mess. Her collar was already on so he just had to attach the leash on it. Grabbing his house and car keys, he decided to take a little detour to his private 'little' beach in the backyard. Thank God for platinum awards on City of Evil, he got to spend this much money on a mansion.

Pinkly went running towards the warm sand bathed by the dim setting sunlight and barked again randomly. Brian chased and felt right at home the moment his feet buried underneath the sand. He patted his thigh and whistled for her.

“Come on girl! Come on!”

Pinkly ignored him and ran towards another big mansion that existed just next door to him. He knew the owner, it was Mr Tyler, a sea man who lived in luxury by selling and buying ships for his living. But Mr Tyler wasn't here. He moved to Alaska long years ago. But Brian saw that the upstairs room were lit, and right when he was about to go closer, the light immediately went off.

“What the fuck? Who's there?”

He sneaked into the backyard and found that the small gate connecting the beach to its interior was locked. Pinkly barked again, loudly this time and without warning. He quickly picked her up and covered her mouth with his palm.

“Shh! Baby don't be too loud!” he whispered. As if the dog can understand him.

Pinkly blinked. He chuckled to himself. Living alone for far too long, only Pinkly would be his companion and a true listener.

“Let's go meet Zacky, shall we?”

Brian chose to just ignore what he saw earlier and walked off towards his front porch. He took another look at the house for one last time before getting into his BMW and drove away from there. Yep, it's dark. Probably only his imagination.

_____________________________________________________________________________

What the hell? I just blew it away for the second time? Oh shit thank God he didn't really see me standing on the balcony earlier. Thank God my foresight hasn't yet damaged like most of my family members so I can see him chasing his cute dog from afar despite the day was getting darker.

I dialed Andy's number again and went straight to his voicemail. Figured. He must have been pulling off that charming pick up lines at some bar in LA. My evening couldn't get any better now that I heard Brian's BMW swept away into the beach streets and faded under the moonlight. Time to shine.

The mirror in my bedroom reflected a really discreet image of me, wearing a black turtleneck tshirt and black skinny jeans, my long black hair tied up to a ponytail and hidden beneath my black baseball cap. All black, I'm ready to take a shot. Grabbing my backpack, I'm going to bug his house off.

Wish me luck.

Notes