#Sable Vanguard prompt

[wynilthyrii]

Modern/UNSETIC AU for Wyn Ilthyrii

[A little snippet of Wyn Ilthyrii with her--and Lyyn Auroran--as characters in my UNSETIC Files universe, which is a modern day universe with a few twists.  Enjoy!]

She cultivated boredom as if it were an art form, seated at the bar in her little black dress, a little girl lost from Wall Street or Park Avenue slumming it on the outskirts of Spanish Harlem.  She glanced discreetly toward the door and barely managed to keep one side of her mouth from curling up toward a satisfied smile.  Instead, she lifted the glass of whiskey she’d been nursing for the last forty-five minutes and murmured, “Target acquired.  Moving in.”

 Her handler’s voice crackled in her ear, soft and urgent.  “Negative, negative.  Do not engage.”

 Gloriana blinked, stopping herself from jerking her glass away at the last second.  She took a sip, letting the whiskey pool on her tongue, the burn pleasant.  She swallowed, then murmured, “What do you mean?  We’ve been waiting for this for days.  I have a shot.”

 “Lead says pull back. Extract, now.”

 She breathed a curse under her breath and drained her glass.  A smile at the bartender and a twenty in his glass later, she was out on the street, striding quickly along the wet pavement to the club across the street, music already flowing and the crowds growing.  Flashing her VIP badge, she skipped the line and forged deeper, bypassing the long metal bar when she saw her new quarry wasn’t behind it, just her favorite dark-haired, too-pretty Aussie with the very, very white teeth.

 He grinned when he spotted her, making eye contact only briefly before he turned to fetch one of the regulars her drink.

 Gloriana wasn’t sure why he stuck around, but she was junior enough that asking that particular question hadn’t seemed like a good idea just yet.

 She bounded up the stairs behind the bar and cross the catwalk toward the “Staff Only” door in the corner.  She swiped that same VIP badge in the slot and shouldered her way inside, her expression like a nor’easter coming in off the Atlantic.

 “Lyyn, what the freaking hell is going on?”

 Her handler snapped her laptop closed, standing up and removing her headset.  “Y’know, I owe Gabe a drink now.  He said you’d be in here inside of four minutes.  I said you’d at least get some change from your drink first.”

 “I’m going to expense it anyway.  Now what the hell’s going on?  Who pulled the plug?”

 “Colonel McConaway.”

 “That bastard doesn’t—”

 “On Commander O’Connell’s orders,” Lyyn continued.  She came around the desk to put her hands on her friend’s arms.  “Settle down.  There’s got to be a reason for this.  That woman doesn’t do anything without a reason.”

 “That bastard’s connected to the people who killed my family, Lyyn.  This is personal.”

 “I know that,” Lyyn said softly.  “And so does she.  We’ll nail them, Glory.  It’s what we do.”

 “Right,” she whispered, looking away.  She could still feel a burn at the back of her throat, but it wasn’t whiskey, not at all. “Where is she?”

 “Stepped out.  Not sure when she’ll be back.  Gabe might know where she went.”  The red-head arched a brow.  “Why?”

 Gloriana took the slender throwing knives out of her hair, letting platinum blonde locks slip free of their elaborate bun.  “Never mind,” she said softly.  “It’s not important right now.  Like you said, she had good reason.  Hopefully she’ll see fit to tell me what it was.”

 “We’ll get them, Glory.”

 “You said that and I acknowledged it.”  Gloriana squeezed her eyes shut.  “I need to change my clothes.  This dress is killing me and I would kill for a cheeseburger right now.”

 “My treat, then.” Lyyn squeezed her shoulder.  “Go change.  I’ll get my coat.”

 Gloriana nodded, though she lingered for a moment before turning to head off to get out of that damned dress and the wire she was wearing.  Whatever reason Brigid O’Connell had for calling her off, it had better be a damned good one—otherwise, there was going to be hell to pay.

 One way or another, she’d have justice for her family.

 Even if she had to get it from the wrong side of the law.