As Team Paris's meeting at the café broke up and the team went their separate ways, Josh headed back towards the hotel. The team had thrown their bags and equipment cases into the parlor of their suite and left again hurriedly. He might as well go back and get a proper headquarters set up.
Really, they should have come on into Paris last night instead of staying with Bertie. They could have gotten things set up last night and begun their investigation in earnest first thing this morning. Bertrand was a wonderful old man, and Josh would ordinarily have loved spending hours listening to him talk and tell stories, but last night's stopover had cost them precious time. Now with the girls off on a shopping trip and the rest of the team off sightseeing they would likely lose another day. It was already four days since General Cracken had first called, and nearly two weeks since NRI last heard from Agent Blade. The trail was likely to be awfully cold by now.
And he wouldn't have to suffer through all the jokes about M. Agneau he was likely to get now.
The café was close to the hotel, so it didn't take him long to get back. As he approached the door, he saw a maid's cart outside and the door standing open. Strange, he was sure one of them put the Ne Derangez Pas sign on the door when they left. Thinking of the equipment and weapons in the room, he quickened his pace.
A hotel maid carrying a vacuum was leaving the room as he tried to enter. As she passed he saw another maid crouching near a chair stand suddenly, a look of surprise passing very briefly over her face. Then she too was pushing past him to get out of the room. She closed the door behind her, leaving Josh alone in the parlor.
"Isn't it kinda late in the day for maids?" he asked the empty room. He peeled off his jacket and threw it over a nearby chair. From force of habit he double checked the compact blaster he kept secreted beneath the jacket in a shoulder holster. For the thousandth time he wished he was far enough along in his Jedi studies to build a lightsaber. It was probably just as well, though. The blaster was likely more practical for undercover work.
Josh shook himself out of his musings and turned to start setting up the equipment. He noticed that a latch on one of the cases was open, and realized that's what the maid was crouched next to just moments before. Quickly he rushed across the room and popped the other latch and opened the case. A remote computer terminal, the NRI equivalent of a laptop computer, rested inside. It didn't seem to have been disturbed.
Casting a quick glance around the room to make sure nothing else had been bothered, Josh considered this odd turn of events. It wasn't likely that the maids were actually looking for their advanced equipment. He hadn't sensed anything other than surprise and mild guilt from them. Nothing to indicate they'd been actively spying on the Terra Group agents. More likely they were just planning to rifle through the group's bags to look for unsecured valuables. They saw the group leaving a short while earlier and assumed they'd have plenty of time to get the job done before anyone returned. Petty thievery, not a breach of operational security. Still. . . .
Josh pulled his comlink out and flipped it open with a snap. "Zee, this is Josh," he said into the device. "I have a research mission for you."
Several hours later, as the sun was setting, the rest of Team Paris walked back into the hotel suite to find it completely empty. The furniture was still there, of course, but all their belongings and the team's equipment was gone. A folded note stood on the table in the middle of the room. Becki picked it up and read its contents.
"Guys, meet me at 13 Rue Duvergé Apt 701 ASAP. VERY important. - Josh." The very was even underlined.
"What now?" Becki wondered aloud as she handed the note off to Mike.
Ten minutes later the team stood in the elevator lobby on the 7th floor of 13 Rue Duvergé. Only a set of double doors led out of the small lobby, and Becki's polite knock had gone unanswered. Now they alternated between looking at each other and looking at the doors.
"How typical," Vickie said with a deep sigh.
"I don't know. The note did sound urgent," Becki pointed out.
Mike snorted. "He's good at that sort of thing, you know. Probably just found a party to go to."
"You have noticed he's not much of a partier, right?" Crispy asked, a rather skeptical look on his face.
Vickie rolled her eyes. "The boy needs the stick removed from his-"
"Hey, what do you say we cut the crap and find out what this is really all about, right?" Brad interrupted.
"Yeah," Crispy said. "Let's get this done and maybe go find a real party. Who's going first?"
"Not me!" said Brad. "You're the highest ranking person here - you go."
"Actually Vickie and I are the same-"
"HEY!" Vickie protested. "I think Mike should go first for killing my tape recorder."
"Bloody hell! You left me behind with Bertie and M. Agneau for that!"
"But you didn't *stay* left behind, did you?"
Mike was about to protest again when Crispy held up his hand to forestall him. "Alright!" he said with a mighty sigh. "I'll go first."
Crispy drew his blaster from under his jacket and checked to make sure it was set on stun. He held it up at a high ready position as he approached the door. Mike and Vickie followed closely behind him, Unclipping their lightsabers. When the group was gathered around the door, Crispy reached out and gently tested it.
Unlocked.
He took one last deep breath and threw the door open. He charged through the opening, leveling the blaster as he went. Behind him he heard Mike and Vickie follow him. He quickly swept the room with his eyes and his blaster, stopping with the gun aimed directly at the only human-shape in the crowded room beyond the door.
"Oh my goodness!" Zee exclaimed when she saw the weapon pointed at her. The copper droid wore a chef's apron and had a pot holder covering one metal hand. She was bent over slightly at the waist, as if caught in the middle of straightening up. The pot-holdered hand held a steaming metal pan.
"Hey guys!" Josh called as he entered from another room. "I didn't hear you come in. Zee, put those enchiladas down on the counter."
That was when he noticed the thoroughly dumbfounded looks on the faces of his team mates. "So, what do y'all think of our new HQ?" he asked.
Most of them would have to admit that the place was impressive. They stood in the main room of a huge loft apartment. One side of the room was given over to a kitchen area with a large center island where Z-3PO was setting a hot dish of Mexican food. A table big enough for the entire team and a few more besides nearly filled the adjacent dining area. Most of the rest of the oversized room was a living room filled with sleek, modern furnishings and all the modern conveniences. A large screen TV with a home theater system took up one corner. Against the wall next to it stood a chalkboard-sized diplay that was part of the team's equipment brought from Mendellia. Chairs and couches were scattered around the room. A walkway about four feet above the main floor ran along most of the back and half of one of the side walls, with steps leading down to the living room. Bookcases lined the space between the walkway and the main floor. Doors opened off of the walkway, apparently leading to bedrooms and bathrooms.
Across the room from the door, windows stretched from the hardwood floors to the exposed-beam ceiling high above, offering a panoramic view of Paris at night. A million lights - Paris's reputation as the City of Lights was well deserved - sparkled from one side to the other. Planes with their navigation lights flashing drifted lazily above the city. Eight floors below cars passed along the wide boulevard, carrying millions of people around the city. Barely half a mile away the Eiffel Tower loomed above the city, shining like a beacon for the entire city.
"Nice view," Brad remarked. "I don't wanna know how much you're paying for the place."
"No, you probably don't. Let's just say it's a good thing we have an entire galaxy backing us," replied Josh. The rest of the team was wandering around exploring the flat, so he continued with an explanation. "The hotel wasn't really secure enough for what we're doing here. We need some place we can have complete privacy and can come at all hours without being noticed. I had Zee do some real estate research for me, and the nice young couple who own this place - their name's Tichadou - are renting it out while they're in Greece for the winter. They won't be back for another eight weeks. That should give us plenty of time to get our job done, if we actually get to work pretty soon.
"I had your bags and all the equipment moved over from the hotel. Everything's all set up and ready to go. I even brought the droids over from Bertie's," he added as Spaz zipped across the room to squeak at Vickie.
"Great," Josh Nolan muttered with a sideways glance at Zee.
"Now that everyone's more or less had a day off, though, it's time to get serious. No more shopping and no more sightseeing. First thing tomorrow morning we're going to go check out Cheriss' last known address here in Paris. We've got a shield generator and a missing agent to find."