Wanted: Wren Kelly

Chapter 1: She's better than they say she is

"Kelly you are going to be killed." My gruff head of security by the name of Dimitri stated, just as my leather gloved hand reached for the handle of the car door. "You're 2 million short of what you promised them."

The corner of my mouth tugged upward, at the statement that sure, was frankly insulting, but also showed evidence that the russian hunk of muscle sitting in the passenger seat did care. Rationally, he cared about the huge steady paychecks he received for being my muscle, but I humored the idea that he might just care a little bit about whether or not I lived.

My fingers slipped from the handle, and I whirled to face him, purposefully flipping my waist length chocolate brown curls -that I was quite proud of- in the process, "The client couldn't come up with the other two million on such short notice." I said smoothly.

"It's a problem, a very big one I might add, you shouldn't even be going up there." He continued, glancing out of the bulletproof window towards the top floor of the abandonned warehouse that would serve as our meeting point (cliché I know).

"Don't worry Dimka. They'll take what we give them." I replied flippantly, using the nickname assigned to him that I think he secretly had a soft spot for.

"Hustlers do not take what you give them Kelly. They just shoot you." He argued, though I payed more attention to the unnatractive frown that ruined his otherwise ruggedly handsome features, and his heavily built body. My eyes then moved to his huge biceps that were almost if not just as big as my head.

I managed to avert my eyes before I was caught red-handed eye-balling Dimitri. I smiled an easy, playful, confident smile that came naturally after all these years, "Relax, just let me do what I do." I said, slipping on my signature oversized sumglasses, before stepping out of the 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, a.k.a. Baby.

I didn't wait for Dimitri, knowing he was quick to follow, and sure enough, he walked past me easily with the long legs that belonged to a man who stood at 6,6, then held the graffiti covered door for me.

The clicking sound of my 7 inch heels echoed throughout the empty warehouse, as I strut my way up the rusted stairs to the second floor where I was welcomed by a trio of men, led by a grey-haired american in a knockoff Gucci suit.

"Good evening gentlemen." I greeted, giving them a charming smile that never betrayed how full of bullshit it was.

"Do you have the money?" He asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Of course. All two million." I breezed, as Dimitri handed the briefcase to one of the stone-faced goons, who unlocked the case and showed it's content to his boss.

"That's a problem."

"Well it's all my client could come up with on such short notice." I said pointedly.

"Leave the 2 million. Come back with the rest and we have a deal."

"That's not going to happen Mr. Smith." I said matter-of-factly, my tone betraying my annoyance that things weren't going as I wanted.

"No?"

"Most certainly not."

"What's going to happen right now is that you and your associates will take the 2 mill and leave for Dallas. The reason you're gonna want to go right now is that in exactly," I looked down at my watch for effect, "three and a half hours, your names are going to pop up on the no-fly list. Lucky for you, your flight leaves in two hours, so if it were me, I'd rather spend two million in Dallas then in Paris." I finnished with a smug smirk, and out of the corner of my eye I could see even Dimitri couldn't help but smirk a little.

I didn't need to see their jaws drop to know I'd impressed them, nor did I need words to know they submitted and they loathed me.

"So since we have a deal, i'm going to take what we paid for." I smiled sweetly, to really add salt to the wound.

An undistinguishable grunt came from Mr. Smith who looked at one of the goons, who brought forth a 36x48 painting covered in a sheet.

I made a big show of taking off the sheet and making sure the stolen painting was the one we paid for and was in pristine condition.

"Pleasure doing buissness with you." I added cheerfully, "I thank you, my client thanks you, and I hope for your sake we never meet again." I smiled, before turning to walk away, Dimitri in tow.

I managed to hear one of the goons say to the other, "She's better than they say she is."