For smirkinbackground

[stillfriends]

Natasha smiled at the hostess as she was led to a table on the patio of the New York restaurant. This particular location, frequented by the most influential and money heavy in New York, was far from the reconstruction happening in Midtown. In fact as people spoke over their mimosas and eggs benedict, it hardly seemed as if this side of town had been affected by the attack at all.

A few glances were shot her way as she was seated, an expected result of the designer dress she was wearing, but her actual reason for slipping on her most expensive heels and dialing up Natalie Rushman to an eleven hadn't appeared yet. She ordered her own mimosa and waited.

Natalie Rushman at an eleven was actually Natasha Reed, art buyer and connoisseur to the rich and famous. It was an identity that she hadn't drawn on for at least two years and one that had been created nearly five years ago to retrieve information about valuable art knock offs that were being auctioned off to influential people. Of course, they'd been less interested in the art than the state secrets inside of each piece. Or were until Natasha had made their interest wane with a host of bad information and switches.

Her stint as Natasha Reed had led her to cultivating quite a collection of contacts inside the art world of New York. She had met up and coming artists, hobnobbed with New York's elite and exclusive at art gallery openings and most importantly, met the movers and shakers behind the business side of the industry.

The man she was lying in wait for now just happened to be one of the most influential, a role that he'd carved out of opportunity with his wit and charm. Gaius Maecenas was nothing more than a con man in some ways, despite being born into the right financial class. He dealt with all sides of the business, legitimate and underhanded, and somehow had always managed to keep himself out of trouble. Natasha might have helped with that a time or two, in her own way. It wasn't often that she got attached to a contact, but her and Maecenas had their own game and stakes, along with their own code of honor.

The truth was, she was looking forward to seeing him again and it had nothing to do with the favor she needed to ask of him.

Comments

[smirkinbackground]

It had been a while since he'd heard from Natasha, he'd been beginning to suspect she was out of the art business for good - but then, he was also fairly certain that art wasn't exactly her only line of business, so it was likely that she'd turn up again eventually.

Sure enough, the contact had come, and he was more than a little intrigued - he would have expected to hear her name around a little before she got in touch with him again, some indication that she was back in the game, but her call had come out of the blue. Of course he'd been casual, feigned a hectic schedule, arranged a meeting not quite as soon as he really would have liked, but he was definitely interested to hear what she had to say.

Had it been anyone else, he would also have been fashionably late, but it's impolite to keep a lady waiting, and beyond that he actually counted her a (sort of) friend - one of a very small group of people - so he did her the courtesy of arriving on time.

"Natasha, how good to see you again," he drawled as he strolled up to the table.