An hour or so passes by, and we've come nowhere close to executing our targets. To make ourselves look less conspicuous, 47 decides to take me with him onto the dance floor. I just follow his lead, my eyes scanning the room thoroughly as we dance around.

He takes my right hand into his left hand and wraps his right arm around me, resting it on the small of my back. I can feel him dip me in the same way Michael did, but I don't feel as exposed or. . ."violated" by 47.

While I'm upside down, my eyes continue to scan the room. They suddenly fall upon the man and woman that are walking toward us. Even though the world around me is upside down like I am, I can tell that the man with her is Michael Johnson.

"That, agents, is Ruby Johnson. She and her parents-along with her two younger brothers-grew up in a small mountain community somewhere near Drisking, Missouri, but decided that the life she had wasn't meant for her. When she was eighteen, she moved from the United States to Liverpool, where she eventually met Michael. Of course, they married and had a son, but moved here shortly after his death. Her husband isn't the only one who's dangerous."

47 slowly brings me back into a standing position as the music comes to a stop. We clap to show the musicians some courtesy, and the couple has approached us.

Michael gives me a smile that makes me clench my teeth, "Hello again, sweetheart." He says, his eyes scanning up and down my figure. He frowns slightly when 47 puts himself between us, shielding my exposed cleavage from his viewpoint.

Ruby glares at me, but I have nothing to be afraid of. She's much shorter than I am without her heels, and barely even looks me in the eyes when she's in them. But, nonetheless, she speaks up, "Hello, my name is Ruby." She says, forcing a smile onto her lips. I can tell she's faking it. "Michael, my husband here, and I would formally like to invite you to a. . .private party in our quarters." To me, her expression becomes sinister. "It will only be the four of us. What do you say?"

"This could work in your favor." Diana whispers in our ears.

I look at 47, and he seems like he's in deep thought. Eventually, he nods his head at the two of them.

"We'll accompany you." He says, his voice hard and stern. "But don't try anything." He looks dead at Michael when he says this and I can feel him pull me closer to him in a protective manner. Michael puts his hands up and gives us a slight smile, as if trying to say that he's not going to try anything. I get the feeling that somehow he's lying.

"Excellent!" Ruby exclaims, clapping her hands together with glee. "Come, this way." She turns on her heels and walks alongside Michael as the two of them lead us down a long stretch of hallway-further away from the party than I expected. Probably so no one else can hear those poor girls scream for help.

When I look over my shoulder, I notice that there's nobody following us; no bodyguards or anything. I smile a little; this execution is going to be a cinch.

47 tightens his grip around my arm and it seems like he doesn't want to let me go. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he actually cares about me. If I'm being honest with myself, it actually kind of warms my heart to see him acting like this. Then again, we are playing a bride and groom. . . .

We stop at a way secluded area far in the back of the hotel. I inhale and exhale as many deep breaths as I can, trying to keep myself calm. I squeeze 47's rather muscular bicep to give myself some form of comfort. He doesn't seem to mind it, though.

Michael opens the door and Ruby walks in first. I follow behind her, 47 follows behind me, and Michael follows behind 47. My heart thumps against my chest as the door clicks behind us. I don't think he's gonna lock it, but I have my doubts.

"Come, sit, sit, sit, sit!" Ruby gestures 47 and I over to a nice looking little red-leather loveseat. "I'll have Michael get us drinks, but come and sit down." She smiles when I head over to the loveseat in front of 47. I settle myself in first and he settles in next to me. Ruby settles herself down in the loveseat across from us. The masks still adorn all of our faces.

"What'll you be having, sweetheart?" Michael asks me as he walks over to the bar on the other side of the room.

I scoff, rolling my eyes. "My name is Vanessa." I blurt out my alias name to him, and the words drip like venom from my lips. Thankfully, no one but 47 noticed the hostility in my voice.

He laughs, "Sorry then, Va-nes-sa." Maybe it was a bad idea to do that, but him calling me sweetheart all the time was starting to get annoying.

I just sigh, "Sparkling cider with a little red wine." I tell him, trying to ignore his sniggering.

"Not a big drinker, are you?" He asks me.

"Not really." I respond flatly, barely giving him the time of day. He seems amused by it and it makes me want to slap him. Or punch him in his damn throat.

"And what'll baldy have?" He asks 47. I suppose he's heard that insult before, because he seems completely unaffected by it.

"Vodka on the rocks." He says, his eyes fixated on Ruby. "And it's Tobias."

My eyes fixate on Ruby as well. Her dress shows off more of her cleavage than mine does, and with the way her bra is sticking out from inside her dress makes me think that it's just a push-up bra. A dark orange fox mask matches the bright, glittery orange color of her dress-which, by the way, is a little too tight for someone like her in my opinion.

"I'll have my usual, hon." She tells him and crosses her legs after she lights a cigarette and puts it in her mouth. The smell of the smoke makes me gag.

"Could you put that out, please?" I ask her suddenly after it becomes difficult for me to suppress my cough. When she looks at me with a confused expression, I answer her question, "I'm allergic to the smoke." It wasn't exactly a lie. I've had this allergy since I was a child.

"Of course, of course." She says and takes one more drag before she puts it out in the ashtray on the coffee table in front of her. "I had no idea, dearie. My apologies." She smiles at me and I return one just to be polite.

After a few minutes, Michael approaches 47 and I with our drinks first. He hands me the sparkling cider mixed with the red wine and 47 the Vodka with ice in it. For some reason, I feel like he's tampered with my drink somehow, and it makes me hesitant to take a sip. I don't even meet his gaze when he eyes me up and down before he walks back to the bar to make his and Ruby's drinks. To be nice, I pretend to take a sip from the glass before setting it down on one of the coasters that sit atop the coffee table. 47 actually takes a drink and then sets his glass next to mine.

Michael comes back with his and Ruby's drink after a moment, handing her hers before settling himself into the couch next to her. The way he's looking at me makes me feel like I'm being stalked by an apex predator; one on the prowl and ready to hunt at any given moment.

When Ruby's eyes fixate on 47's form, I can tell she's taken an interest in him. It might be because of the broad shoulders, or maybe he's just that charming of a man. Could be either.

"What do you say the four of us play a little game?" She asks us and there's a bit of an excitement resonating in her voice. How someone can be this excited about anything is beyond me.

"What kind of game?" 47 asks her, and I can tell he's just playing along with it. What better way to kill our targets than to play along with them, right?

"Well, Tobias," she begins, her lips curling themselves upward into what seems to be a conniving smirk, "it's a simple little game called 'Trade Off'."

I don't like where this is going. "And how do we play it?" I ask her as my mind decides to play every single worst possible scenario that it can think of-on repeat.

"It's easy, actually." Michael chimes in as he takes a sip from his own glass. "I trade off Ruby for you, and Tobias trades off you for Ruby!" The very thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. I have to keep from showing how queasy I got. "It's a great way to get to know each other." His smirk only widens as he keeps looking at me. The way 47 glares back makes me feel like, if this guy even breathes wrong, he's going to snap his neck.

"And how, exactly, does someone get to know each other better by trading off their wives?" 47 asks, his hand gripping mine tightly. I squeeze it for comfort, letting him know that I'm alright.

"Well, you see, I get to know you better, and she gets to know Michael better." Ruby has a pretty large smile etched across her cheeks from ear to ear. "It's just a fun little game we like to play with couples."

My brows knit themselves together and I force myself to keep from glaring at the woman sitting across from us. You mean right before you drug the girls, let Michael rape them, and then ship them off to be sold like they're nothing more than property? You're fucking sick. I let a breath escape through my nose to keep myself from going haywire at the thought of Michael forcing himself onto those poor, defenseless females.

"How do I know that I can trust Michael not to hurt my wife?" The question 47 asks catches me off guard. He sounds sincere and his arm pulls me closer as his glare hardens in Michael's direction.

Michael just smirks in response, "I'm not the type to hurt a woman." He says.

"Bullshit." I mumble under my breath, feeling a sense of relief when I realize 47 was the only one who heard me.

"Come on, sweetie." Ruby's voice drifts out of her mouth the way rotted wood drifts down a river. "I promise you it'll be fun." She's leaned herself over the coffee table at this point and is practically begging us with her eyes to play their little 'game'.

"Alright, I'll play, but I swear if he tries anything, I'm going to sick my husband after him." I give 47's arm another squeeze.

"Excellent!!" Ruby claps her hands together again to show her excitement once more.

Michael's smirk widens and I feel like he's somehow become much more sadistic, "We can go somewhere private. Unless, you want to have an orgy here out in the open, sweetheart~" I cringe at the very thought of it.

47 tenses up, "Don't disrespect her like that in front of me." He says, ignoring all that Ruby is trying to do to get him to notice her.

"Then I'll take her somewhere she can be 'disrespected' in. . .private." He gets up from his previous spot next to Ruby and offers me his hand when he stands above me.

I'm hesitant at first, fumbling with my fingers as I debate on whether or not this was such a good idea. After a few seconds of contemplation, I finally give in and grab his hand. He pulls me up off of the couch and closer to him. I can feel 47's eyes on us both as he leads me off to a private room in the back of this office or whatever you want to call it.

This was now the best chance I'll ever get at killing him.