Episode 14: In the Wink of an Eye
Part 3
Nick trudged down the hall toward his office. He normally held his head high when he walked, but that day it hung low. His eyes were fixed on the dark marble floor, darting back and forth in search of his missing phone.
“It has to be somewhere,” he hissed to himself. “Where the hell could it be?”
He had returned to his dormitory right after the meeting that morning to retrieve it, assuming he had left it behind in his rush to get out the door on time. But he couldn’t find the phone anywhere in his sleeping quarters.
Next, he had run around the building to ask his fellow agents — even Grasshopper, whom he normally tried to avoid — if they had seen it. But none of them seemed to know anything about his phone’s whereabouts.
With increasing desperation, he had finally decided to retrace his steps again. Maybe it had fallen out of his pocket on the way to Diamond’s office that morning. He supposed his black phone case could blend in with the slate-colored tiles.
But the gleaming floor was immaculate as always, and before he knew it, Nick found himself standing in front of his own office, still empty-handed. With a sigh, he reached for the door handle, hoping someone else had found it and turned it in to his secretary.
He could hear muffled Latin music coming from behind the closed door that grew louder as he opened it. “Hey, Lancy, has anyone returned my pho–?” The word died on his lips when he saw what his secretary was doing.
Mr. Lancybassy stood behind his desk, doing some sort of dance routine to the upbeat song that was blasting out of his computer speakers. “One hundred kisses, girl, straight to your heart…” Nick watched with amusement as he blew kisses with both hands before running them down the sides of his body. Diamond had looked sexy doing the same move that morning, but Lancy just looked silly. “One hundred ways to show you I need you…” He hadn’t noticed Nick yet; he was too busy watching his own reflection in the makeup mirror he had perched on a pile of books on his desk. It was only once Nick burst out laughing that Lancy looked up. When he realized he had an audience, his eyes grew as large and round as the ceramic coaster under his cappuccino.
“Oh, sorry, boss!” Lancy turned off the music, his cheeks tinged with pink. “I didn’t see you there!”
Nick grinned. “Nice moves there, Lancy.”
“Really?! You think so?!” Lancy beamed. “Thanks! I’ve been practicing all morning — between making phone calls and filing your paperwork, of course!” he added hastily.
Nick rolled his eyes — like he cared about paperwork. He would never scold his secretary for not working hard enough, especially now. With most of the agents grounded, there wasn’t much to do. “Dude, did I miss something? I walked in on Diamond dancing like that earlier. What is this, Dance Behind Your Desk Day?”
Lancy’s eyes widened again as he let out a dramatic gasp. “Don’t tell me you’re not on Wink yet!”
Suddenly, his dancing made more sense. It was that damn Wink app again. “I want to be!” Nick insisted. He hated being left out of the latest tech trend. “Diamond told me about it. I’m gonna download the app as soon as I find my phone. Have you seen it?”
“Your phone’s missing? Oh no! I haven’t seen it, but I’ll help you look,” Lancy offered.
Nick sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Thanks, but I’ve already looked. I can’t find it anywhere.”
Lancy’s brow furrowed with lines of worry. “I hope it wasn’t stolen…”
Now it was Nick’s turn to frown. “How could it be stolen? I haven’t left headquarters since we got back from DC.” He felt a stab of regret as he remembered hugging a grief-stricken Brian goodbye after Opal’s funeral. No one had seen nor heard from the former CIA officer since. Nick was worried about his friend, but he forced himself to focus on one problem at a time. He couldn’t try contacting Brian again until he found his phone. “That means someone here would have had to steal it. What would someone from HimTak want with my phone?”
“Do you have any nudes on it?” Lancy waggled his eyebrows.
“What?” Nick chuckled awkwardly, not sure whether he was joking or asking for real. “No! I don’t need to send nude photos to my Carter Girls,” he added with an impish smirk. “They can take off my clothes any time they want.” Unless it’s time for a meeting, he thought, remembering his interaction with Diamond that morning.
“Only girls?” Lancy asked, batting his eyelashes.
Nick was suddenly suspicious. Lancy was behaving strangely — even more strangely than usual, he realized. “Did you take my phone, Lancybassy?” he asked directly, narrowing his eyes at his secretary.
Lancy’s eyes widened. “What?! No, of course not! I would never steal from you, Nick!”
Nick stroked his chin as he studied the secretary. Despite his propensity for gossip, Lancy had never given Nick a reason not to trust him. “No, I know you wouldn’t,” he said finally, feeling guilty. It wasn’t the first time he had falsely accused his secretary of taking something that was precious to him.
But Lancy had brought up a good point: not everyone at HimTak could be trusted. K still hadn’t caught the intruder who broke into his bedroom and implanted him with that bomb. Likewise, Pearl was still looking for the thief who took the alien device from her lab. Maybe Nick’s phone had been stolen by the same person.
This realization left him feeling violated and strangely vulnerable. He wouldn’t be able to rest until it was back in his possession.
“You can always share my phone until you find yours,” Lancy offered cheerfully, handing Nick his own device.
Nick turned it over, wrinkling his nose at the sparkly pink phone case. “Uh, thanks, but that’s okay,” he replied, handing it back. “I’ve still got my watch.”
“The one that doesn’t tell time?” said Lancy with a wry grin.
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yeah… so I’m gonna need you to help me stay on schedule. If you’re not too busy dancing, that is.”
Lancy’s smile grew. “I always have time for you, Nick,” he said softly. “As for your schedule, let’s see…” He looked down at the day planner lying open on his desk. “Oh! It says here you’re supposed to help me with my Wink dance!”
“Really.” Nick smirked. Of course, he knew Lancy was kidding, but he also remembered what K had told his staff at the meeting that morning about taking advantage of this time to strengthen their relationships with each other. This would be a way to bond with Lancy. It might even be fun. “Okay… so what do I have to do?”
Lancy’s eyes lit up. “Let me show you!” he said, removing his yellow plaid jacket and tossing it over the back of his chair. “It’s the latest trend on Wink: the ‘100’ dance challenge!”
“Is that the song you were listening to when I walked in?”
“Yeah! It’s by some new artist — I think he’s trying to be the next Ricky Martin.” Lancy giggled as he rolled up the sleeves of his dark purple dress shirt. “Speaking of Ricky Martin, maybe we can choreograph a routine to ‘Shake Your Bon-Bon’ next. I’d sure love to see you shake yours.” He gave Nick’s butt a playful swat. “Like that song you were singing this morning: ‘The way you shake, shake, shake, shake that ass, it makes me wanna come, come, come get it fast…’”
“Quit it!” Nick smacked Lancy back, feeling his face burn. He already regretted agreeing to this.
“Okay, okay. So the first eight-count goes like this. One hundred kisses, girl… You blow kisses on one and two, first with your right hand, then with your left. Then you rub both hands down your body for the next two counts — three, four,” said Lancy, demonstrating. “Straight to your heart… You pop your right hip out to the side and point straight ahead with the same hand on five, six. Then pop your left hip as you fold both hands over your heart and sort of pulse them out and in on seven, eight. Ready to try it with me? Five, six, seven, eight…”
After half an hour of practice, Nick was able to perform the routine in sync with Lancy. “Kiss, kiss, rub your body, point, point, pulse, pulse!” Lancy called out the steps as the music played in the background.
“One hundred kisses, girl, straight to your heart.
One hundred ways to show you I need you.
One hundred reasons why we’ll never be apart.
One hundred ways to say that I love you.
I’m giving you one hundred…”
“Cha-cha!” Lancy’s voice rang out. “Get sassy now!”
I’ve gotta see if Di knows this one, thought Nick as they wiggled their hips to the fast Latin rhythm. It would look a lot better with a woman dancing next to him instead of another man, no matter how effeminate Lancy was.
When the chorus ended, Lancy cut off the music. “That was perfect!” he praised Nick. “You’re a natural! I think you’re ready for your next reality show appearance, Mr. Carter: Dancing With the Agents!”
Nick laughed. “I dunno about that, Lancy.”
“Well, one thing I do know: it’s time to take a video of this and post it on Wink for the whole world to see!”
“Uh… wait,” Nick started to protest, not sure he wanted to let the whole world see them dancing that way together. But before Lancy could pick up his phone, Nick’s watch beeped. He raised his wrist and pressed one of the buttons on the side.
“008.” K’s face appeared in the watch’s tiny display window. “We need you in Pearl’s lab, pronto.”
“00Carter,” Nick corrected him automatically. “And okay, I’m coming.”
“On the double, 008!”
As the watch face went blank again, Nick looked up at Lancy, pretending to be apologetic. “Sorry… can’t keep K waiting. Gotta go!”
“Aww, too bad. But that’s okay! We can record the video later!” Lancy replied brightly.
“Yeah… sure. See ya!” Saved by the boss, Nick thought with relief as he rushed out of the office.
***
As usual, Nick slid into Pearl’s lab, catching her chair to force himself to stop. “Reporting for duty, K.”
“Your dance was cute.” Pearl grinned.
“You think so?” Nick grinned back teasingly as he leaned toward her. “Be even cuter with you as a partner.”
“In your dreams, Blondie.”
K cleared his throat. “We’ve received a strange report and need you to investigate.”
“What is it this time? Aliens? Weird robots? Giant monsters? Poltergeists?” Nick wiggled his fingers as he laughed.
“It seems one Diamond Divine has removed her tracker and left headquarters.”
That was weird. Nick frowned, furrowing his brow. She’d said she was getting bored, but that Wink app should’ve been keeping her busy if online shopping wasn’t. And heck, he was always here, too, and so was Lancy.
“I need you to go retrieve her. She’s at the Wynn…”
Nick’s frown became a devilish grin. It looked like Di had already started planning their dinner date, with an interesting twist. Wonder what she told K to get us out? he thought as he glanced down at his anchor necklace.
“…being held by their security team for questioning,” K finished.
What? Nick gasped audibly, then quickly turned away from Pearl and K as he crossed his arms. That wasn’t like Diamond at all. What could she have possibly done that a security team would nab her? “What hap–”
A beep from Nick’s watch interrupted him. One word flashed across the screen: Desiree. Nick accepted the page, and her face popped up in the small window. “Can you help me? I tried to call you already.”
“Still don’t have my phone. What’s going on?” Nick frowned at the dejected look on her face.
“Will you keep a secret?”
Nick flashed his wrist toward the screens, hoping that Diamond could see K and Pearl. “Pretty sure it’s too late for that. I’m coming to get you.”
“Oh… I’ll tell you when you get here.” The feed on his watch went black.
“Wanna fill me in before I go?” Nick gritted his teeth. Of all the things he felt, anger was easiest.
“They refused to give me many details. Would you rather have a summary from me or her?”
Instead of answering K, Nick stormed out of the lab. What was wrong with Diamond today?
Sure, he hadn’t minded her early morning flirting. And, just once, he would love to hook up with her in one of their offices. And he was glad she had completely ignored Lame-o-nerdwad during their morning meeting. And obviously he had been intrigued when she wrote back “let’s sneak out” on her notepad after he asked her if she had dinner requests. But she only acted like a bad girl when it came to flirting; she wouldn’t ever do something that would make security at a casino go after her.
These thoughts continued to race back and forth in Nick’s head as he sped away from HimTak and toward the Las Vegas Strip, a place where they’d always had fun together. Maybe she wasn’t in trouble. Maybe she was hurt. Maybe she’d seen something suspicious. Nick groaned as his stomach twisted and turned. She hadn’t sounded hurt when they spoke.
“What’d you do, Di?” he whispered as he pulled up to the valet. After slamming the car door shut, he strode over to the valet stand and held out his keys to the attendant. “I’ll be back in less than half an hour. Thanks.”
After getting pointed in the direction of security, Nick wandered the casino; conflicting thoughts of previous dates with Diamond and nightmares of her pulling her gun on tourists spun through his head. When he reached the door, he gingerly pushed it open to find Diamond sitting forlornly in a chair, staring at the Bottega Veneta shopping bag next to her feet.
“Desiree?” Nick frowned.
She didn’t answer.
“You don’t look or sound like her ‘Daddy.’” The security officer at the desk spoke with a deep voice. “He wasn’t too pleased when we finally spoke on the phone.”
Figures, Di would actually pick ‘Dad’ for K without the sexual innuendo, Nick thought as he hid his face in his hand to cover his laugh and tried to come up with a lie. “Yeah, he couldn’t leave… the house, so he asked me to come get her. I’m… her boyfriend.” He hoped they didn’t notice his pauses as he thought.
But Diamond definitely did, because she finally looked up at him with that soft smile and some sort of gleam in her eyes, but it could have just been light catching some remnant of a tear.
“Stop. Damn,” Nick mouthed to her, then walked over to the security officer’s desk. “We didn’t get to talk on the phone for long. What happened?”
“So you’re the one she kept trying to call?” The officer smirked. “Figures, I wouldn’t want to be in trouble with her dad either.”
No kidding, Nick thought, glancing over his shoulder at her.
“We suspect she was shoplifting in Bottega Veneta, but the camera footage isn’t very clear. She claims this fell into her bag.” He slid a pair of small, silver twisted hoop earrings across the desk.
“Shoplifting?!” Nick glared at Diamond, who remained silent and refused to look at him. No wonder they tried to keep her. That wasn’t like Diamond at all. He groaned and held his head in his hand again. “Can I see the footage? That’s really not like her, sir.”
The security officer fast-forwarded through the lengthy footage of Diamond browsing the store. That was the Diamond that Nick knew, not someone who used a five-finger discount. When Diamond started browsing a jewelry and sunglasses display table, the officer allowed the footage to play at normal speed. Diamond continued with her usual business, trying on various items, then picked up the earrings in question, held them to her face, then loosely put them back into place on the display’s jewelry tree and tried on a pair of gold sunglasses with dropped lenses like the bottom of a heart.
Nick frowned. Clever sleight of hand to get something without being noticed. If she planned on taking it, she’d bump into it later and retrieve it without suspicion.
The footage sped up again, showing her purchasing the sunglasses, but nothing else. Then at normal speed, it showed her walking by the jewelry display with her bag held high beside it.
“You’ll notice the earrings are gone after she walks by, but she doesn’t pocket them.” The officer pointed to the footage. “When she left the store, the alarm went off, and we found the earrings in her bag, but only the sunglasses were on the receipt.”
As he swallowed, Nick glared at Diamond again. Even though he hated lying for her, they had to get back to HimTak. “Can you rewind that?” He pointed to the jewelry tree again. “Look, she just bumped the stand with her bag. You said yourself that that’s not enough evidence to be sure she shoplifted, especially after she bought something else. You can’t arrest her for an accident.”
“We agree; that’s why we’re going to let her go home. That being said, we’ve had a string of thefts lately, and Bottega Veneta would like her banned…”
Diamond hid her face in her hands.
“It’s okay, Desiree. It’s just one store. Let’s get you home to your dad.” Nick knelt beside Diamond and picked up her shopping bag from the ground, then grabbed her shoulder as he held it out to her.
“…from the whole resort.”
Nick clenched his hand around the handles tightly as his dreams of days off at the Wynn with Diamond shattered around him. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t shop there anymore, but it sure as hell mattered if they couldn’t go there together again. He whirled back on the security officer. “The whole resort when you can’t prove she shoplifted? Isn’t that a little much?” He pointed to the earrings. “I’ll just pay for those, and we can put this whole incident behind us. How would the store feel about that?”
The security officer held up a finger as he made a quiet phone call.
“Nick–” Diamond started.
“We’ll talk in the car.” He frowned and held the shopping bag toward her again.
Her head sank back to her shoes as she grabbed it from him.
“Bottega Veneta is amenable to that solution. They apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.” The security officer picked up the earrings, then opened the door.
“I’m sure they do.” Nick said through gritted teeth.
He grabbed Diamond’s hand and dragged her after the security officer back to the store, paid for the earrings after making her apologize, shoved them into her shopping bag with the receipt, and dragged her back to the valet stand. Though they shared a few quick glances, most of which ended with Nick glaring at her, they remained silent until the valet attendant closed the passenger side door.
“Thanks, Nick. Since we managed to sneak out, should we start our date early?”
“Don’t ‘thanks, Nick’ me and change the subject! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Nick started the car, letting the Wynn fade in the rearview mirror behind them. “Shoplifting?!”
Diamond stared at her shoes again.
“I know you love this stuff, but you’ve always had enough money that you can buy it when you want! Why the fuck would you do that?! That’s not like you at all!”
“You never yell at me. I don’t like it.” She hugged her knees to her chest and stared out the window. A couple of tears fell down her cheeks. “It was an accident. Promise you won’t let K yell at me either.”
“Damn it, Di.” Nick sighed and put an arm around her. Even though he was confused and frustrated, he hadn’t meant to make her cry. “I’ll see what I can do about K, but you have to tell me the truth.”
The trickle of tears became endless, blubbering on like her words. “I thought about it when I first picked them up. That they were small, and it would be easy. I’d always wondered what shoplifting felt like, if it was fun. But I reminded myself that I’d never do it, and I decided I didn’t really need them, so I put them back. Then when I left, I don’t know… I guess I thought, if they fall, they fall, and I’ll see what happens.” She hugged her knees tighter and leaned her head on them. “I guess I’m glad they were alarmed; I learned that I really don’t want to shoplift. It was really scary. Technically, it was only sort of an accident, but I wasn’t really trying to steal them…”
“Di, that’s not great.” Nick frowned. “But you know I get out of things because of loopholes all the time. K said they didn’t give him a lot of details, so that’ll be our story to him, that it was an accident. Just… promise me you won’t do anything like that again.”
“I won’t; I promise.” She wiped her hand under her eyes, smearing the streaks of mascara.
“You probably don’t need K to punish you; you look like a raccoon.” Nick laughed.
“Stop teasing me.” A very faint smile formed on her lips. At least she’d stopped crying.
“Be honest with me one more time. Why’d you take your tracker off and leave?”
Tears streamed down Diamond’s cheeks again, and she flung her hands over her face. “I’m just really tired of being stuck at HimTak! It’s fine if I don’t have any missions, but I didn’t steal from Pearl! I would never steal from her! And I wasn’t even there when it happened! Why am I being punished for something someone else did?! And K almost died while I was gone! I couldn’t do anything to help him! And Opal! But we’re not doing anything about her death except hiding! She doesn’t deserve that!”
“Hey, hey, I get it. I get it.” Nick ran his hand through her hair as he pulled the car to a stop on the side of the road. After putting it in park, he thrust her into a tight hug. “I know. We’ll do something about it. All of it. K’s just being cautious. Of course he wants to help, we all do. We just… don’t know how yet.”
Diamond flung her arms around Nick’s neck. “I’m the worst! Crying about it to you when you’re really upset about the whole thing! I’m just really lonely! I’m sorry, Nick! For everything today! I’ll pay you back! I’ll return them! You shouldn’t have had to lie for me today; you already have a lot going on!” Her tears dripped down his neck. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
Nick frowned. That wasn’t supposed to be a burden on anyone else, especially when he’d just sought Diamond out that night to do something fun and think about anything else. But in a moment of vulnerability, he’d admitted to her that he felt like he was failing K, and then she’d been the third, and last, person he told about what actually happened to Opal, right after Brian and K. And she’d said…
“It’s not your fault. You would have done anything you could have if there was time. Just keep smiling when you can, and if you can’t, that’s okay. I’m here if you need me. ”
…And he’d loved it. But instead of taking her up on it and confiding in her, he’d been spending a lot more time by himself as he tried to process everything and left the people he cared about alone to worry about him.
“It’s not your fault,” Nick mumbled. “It’s… hard for everyone right now. I haven’t been around as much as usual, but it’s not that I don’t want to be. I don’t always pay attention, so just tell me if you’re feeling down. And hey, I bet Lancy would hang out with you in person and not just on Wink, too.” Nick laughed.
“You’re probably right.” Diamond sniffled and pressed a light kiss to his neck, then pulled back and smiled.
“There she is, the cutest little raccoon.” Nick smiled back at her.
“Nick, stop.” Diamond laughed and wiped at her eyes again.
“I’m serious.” He grabbed her chin lightly. “Just keep smiling when you can, and if you can’t, that’s okay. I’m here if you need me.”
“Nick…”
“That really did mean a lot to me, so… keep them.” He pulled up his anchor necklace and grinned. “I already know that you always have my back, so instead of looking at those earrings and remembering that you made a mistake, remember that I always have yours too.”
Diamond flung her arms around his neck, pulling him into a heated kiss.
Waking up early, making great jokes, giving good advice, buying presents, giving compliments. Damn, I am so smooth today, must be a Tuesday thing, Nick thought to himself, mentally giving himself a pat on the back as he ran his hands down Diamond’s waist. He chuckled against her lips. “Still wanna start our date early? I promised K to bring you back, but we could pretend it took a little longer than expected.”
“You’re not wearing a bug?” Diamond pulled back from him, scrutinizing his clothing.
“Not today. It was a top-secret mission.” Nick laughed. “So secret, even K wasn’t watching.”
“Pearl can still trace your tracker. Let’s just go back, and I’ll apologize to K.”
“Maybe if we smooth things over with him early, he’ll stop paying attention to us later, and we can still sneak out for our date.” Nick grinned as he started the car again and pulled back onto the road. ”Hey, do you know that 100 dance? Lancy was talking about it.”
“Of course. Lancy and I learned it together.” Diamond smirked. “Why don’t we start our date now, pause so I can talk to K, and then we’ll find something fun to do whether we leave HimTak or not.”
“Yeah, what kind of date did you have in mind where we still end up back at HQ on time? Tell me it’s not playing Two Truths and a Lie while we drive!” Nick laughed.
“Why don’t I just show you?” Diamond winked, then unbuttoned and unzipped his cargo shorts before resting her hand in his lap. “Wanna play?”
“Uh, yeah definitely, but I can’t crash the car.” Yet another thing she had never suggested before. He shrugged and grinned. “Guess I’ll just pull over for a minute if I need to.”
At the same time, she giggled as she unbuckled and said, “Just pull over for a minute if you need to, right?”
“Jinx. Damn, I owe you another drink.” Nick leaned in to kiss her.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Diamond smiled gently and met his lips. “Keep your eyes on the road if you’re still driving.”
Nick gripped the wheel with one hand and pulled her closer with the other. As she leaned down toward his lap, one thought consumed his mind: Damn, I should buy presents for Di more often.
***