~Thank you Pixiehoff for editing this~
"Why me? Why does this always happen to me?"
"Because Pippa," Jane whispered back in her headset mouthpiece, straining to hold the rope Pippa was being lowered upside down on "you are the smallest and lightest of the team."
"This sucks," Pippa retorted. "Hypatia always gets the easy stuff, she gets to go to parties, see the men, see the women and we get stuck in vents."
"Grab that book and get the hell out of there," Nige said in his headset mouthpiece, monitoring them from the van.
"I got it," Pippa whispered, "pull me up."
Once Jane pulled Pippa back up to the vent she told Nige, "Clear."
"Okay Hypatia," Nige messaged the third person of the team through her invisible earpiece that she wore inside her ear. "Drop him and get out, mission completed. All of you back to the van, move it."
"I'm sorry Antonio, excuse me," Hypatia told the thief and the guests they were talking to.
"Wait," Antonio said as he grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?" He whispered. "You are embarrassing me."
"Let me do my business and powder my nose. I shall return shortly."
"No problem Mia," he said in his Italian accent then let go of her arm, turned away and continued his conversation with his friends at the party.
Antonio Bianchi was an international thief. He preferred rare books and art pieces for his collections.
Hypatia exited the residence quickly, took off her high heels and ran to the rendezvous point. They all arrived back in the van and Pippa handed the book (Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám) to Nige who placed it in a plastic bag so as not to damage it. Then they sped away straight to the office of the person who hired them to do the job. The rare book was stolen from the British Library and Elite Enterprises was called to retrieve it.
After a weekend of rest, Monday morning arrived and Jane Inverhouse entered the large doors of Nige Edwards' mansion which doubled as the head office for Elite Enterprises and headed down the hall to the office. Dr. Inverhouse was 28 a graduate of the University of Toronto. She is a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD), but also has MMSt (Master of Museum Studies), BSc (Bachelor of Science), and an MA (Master of Arts) degrees. She entered through the double clear glass doors where Nige (her boss) was sitting behind his desk and took a seat on one of the plush armchairs. Another member of her team, Professor Pippa Taylor was already there seated on another plush armchair. Pippa was 30 and a graduate of the University of Oxford (where she taught for a short time), she had a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy, UK) with BA (Bachelor of Arts) and MA degrees.
One chair was still empty.
"Where is she?" Nige said, annoyed looking at his gold Rolex watch.
Finally Hypatia (pronounced high-PAY-sha) Walker entered the mansion and headed towards the office. She entered through the clear glass doors. All three were trained in self defense and had passed police training and boot camp. Collectively the three were known as The Elite Foxes, and they were indeed elite.
Jane stood at five foot six with long honey blonde hair midway down her back, brown eyes and a 34A bust size. She was the one to get down and dirty for a mission. She would go undercover on archaeological digs, cave explorations, diving expeditions and other things of the sort to help the mission they were on.
Pippa was the smallest of the team standing at just five feet, people often mistook her for much younger. But her height was useful, as people often underestimated her; not to mention she could get into places no one else could get. Pippa was the brains of the team. If they needed someone to figure out stuff it was her. If they need someone who could talk or outtalk somebody it was her. She had wavy black hair, brown eyes and a small 24A bust size.
Hypatia was the tallest standing at five foot eight, with long chestnut brown hair and emerald green eyes with a 32C bust size. Always dressed to ten, she loved fashion and style. Hypatia never finished college but what she lacked in academic smarts she made up for with a lifetime of street smarts, she was 27 and had the looks and she could charm anyone she wanted.
"Glad you finally decided to join us," Nige said glaring at her.
"I'm late, sorry I have life outside of here."
"Manicurist must have been running late," Pippa chimed in.
Hypatia looked angrily at Pippa and she just smiled back.
"Alright, alright settle down you two," Nige began. "We have another mission. Government nuclear planning documents have gone missing. The international criminal we know as The Earth Wolf has claimed responsibility."
"Earth Wolf?" Hypatia questioned as she leaned towards Jane. "Sounds like somebody you would know huh tunnel rat?"
Jane stared daggers at Hypatia. That was her way, Hypatia always wanted to get a shot in when she could.
They were all friends and got along when the job required it. None of them were married nor dating, and with their jobs taking them all over the world it left very little time for personal lives. Their individual sexuality was never discussed though it was clear Hypatia was bisexual as in past missions she had been in sexual situations with both men and women with no problems. Pippa was a closet lesbian and never let it show. She played her part of a normal girl in a normal life but she was anything but. She had past experiences with women but the relationships sadly never lasted for her. Jane was very private, which was her right so nobody knew much about her. She was bi-curious. She had been with men but never with a girl but was totally open to it.
"Unfortunately that is all we know," Nige continued. "We don't know the gender, age, or what they look like, nothing. It's quite possible it could be more than one person. Tomorrow we are heading to Washington D.C. for a briefing on this. One of the people we will be meeting is Secretary of Defense Christa Preston. She is the one overseeing the mission. So go home, pack, relax, plane leaves at 9:15 am tomorrow morning, don't be late, Fight number 123. We have a three hour layover in Denver. It will be a long day, Foxes."
Nige wasn't as active in the field as he was when he was younger but did participate from time to time when he could. He was 68, but fit and active and looked younger. He mainly ran the home base whether it be a fixed place or mobile, and was a bit of a computer wiz.
All the girls left and went about their day. Pippa went to the library; she always loved to read books. She chose a book and sat down at an empty desk and began to read it. She took a break and looked to her right where she saw a cute blonde girl immediately look down when Jane looked in her direction. She quickly looked to her right again and again and the girl quickly looked down. She was a beautiful girl with an athletic build, long blonde hair, wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball jersey complete with an Atlanta Braves baseball cap, with large silver hoop earrings. Pippa guessed she looked to be about college age. She was at another empty table. Pippa kept looking to catch her and sure enough the girl looked in Pippa's direction again then immediately back down to her books.
Pippa picked up her purse and book and walked over to her table and sat across from her.
