Garrison and Adrienne - Dignitary Bingo

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Garrison and Adrienne play a game at a UN function and fail to notice they are being watched.

A sigh of relief was carefully stifled when Adrienne spotted Garrison from across the room, though she couldn't help her eyes lighting up when she made out the tall, tuxedo'd form of the Mountie. It wasn't that she wasn't enjoying herself. She was at a function for the United Nations, and that didn't happen every day. And she had dragged him to many parties within her business circles and the Hellfire Club, so it was only fair she agree to come with him to his party, after all. Even though he was working, not a guest, and he had invited her so she could do some work for the FBI too.

So she was enjoying herself. Rubbing elbows with politicians and foreign dignitaries. It was high class every which way, the sort of company she'd always longed for. Except business people she understood, she was on even footing with. She had always cared little about politics, and even less about foreign dignitaries. Despite looking like she belonged in a gorgeous, strapless, saffron chiffon gown by David Meister, Adrienne felt quite out of her depth now.

Though of course she wouldn't let that show. And if Kane noticed she was flushed and acting particularly bubbly, as if trying to overcompensate for her feeling of being out of place, well, it was only because he was a cop and trained to notice those things, not because she was betraying the fact she would much rather be at Harry's with a beer and the sports channel.

"You better go soft on the champagne, babe." Kane said quietly as he reached her. "You're starting to look flushed."

Duncan owed him for this. When the Commissioner of the RCMP asked him to attend the UN conference on law enforcement cross border intercommunication anti-terror initiative, Fred Duncan had leapt on the chance to send him as one of the FBI representatives as well, deftly scoring himself a free weekend to attend a Chicago Cubs pre-season event. Which left Kane with two position papers to write following the conference. The party was more of a high level interaction between diplomats, politicians and the odd official or business man in a related field. He helped himself to a glass of mineral water.

Adrienne kissed him gratefully when he arrived at her side and downed the remainder of her glass. "This isn't my usual crowd," she confessed. "How do you deal with this much political power in such a small space?"

"I'm only slightly ahead of the security guards in terms of influence or power. Which means I speak to the people I'm told to speak to, and the rest of the time ignored. We're a small but grateful fraternity of non-power brokers." He said with a joke.

"You Mounties get prettier uniforms than the security guards though," she informed him with a smirk, pulling a card not much larger than a baseball trading card out of her purse and passing it to him. "This is for you, by the way. I won't even charge you the ten dollars to play." She'd bought two when approached by a bored-looking executive assistant obviously attending with their boss, who correctly guessed that Adrienne was as in need of distraction as many of the other assistants attending the party. "Dignitary bingo."

"What the heck is this?" Kane turned the card over in his hands. "Is this some game that rich people play that poor people don't get? You know, like destabilizing African nations on behalf of MBNA or something?"

"What?!" Adrienne yanked the card back to read it, thinking maybe he'd gotten a different game than she did. "No! It's not a class thing." The fact that he was so hung up on them being raised in different classes irked her somewhat, but not enough for her to make an issue out of- just enough to make her more determined to prove that there was no class divide between them, or if there was it shouldn't matter as long as they enjoyed each others' company. "It's just a game. Anyone can play. In fact, I think the president of the security commission has about four cards on the go. You just have to spot whomever's on your card and whoever gets a bingo first wins. It's like the license plate game kids play on road trips." Not that she had any personal experience with that game. "Is that the Duke of Gloucester over there?"

"He looks nothing like a Queen St. pub."

Adrienne's palm came up to meet her face, though she was actually more surprised she understood what he was talking about. "You're incorrigable, Kane. So who's on your card? Anyone fun?"

"Francisco Armand José de Paula Juan Neriamuceno Nuncia de los Remedios de la Santiago Ruiz y Diego. Huh." Kane said, peering at his card. "Ha! Frank Diego!" He pointed at the slight Spanish gentleman who was helping himself to a drink. He looked up at Kane's slightly overloud identification and wove his way gracefully through the crowd.

"Si, senior... Kane?" He said, his eyes carefully hooded as his diplomat's mind tossed up briefing cards until Kane's appeared. "And this must be Adrienne Frost. You must convey my father Eduarado's respects to your sister, Senorita Frost."

"My sister and I aren't normally on speaking terms, Senor," Adrienne simpered with a false smile, "but because you're the one asking, how can I refuse?" She had no idea who this man was or how his father knew Emma, but hopefully she could fake her way through it.

"Pity. Was there something that you wanted, Senor Kane?"

"Not really. You see, I got this card that--" Kane started but a staffer took that moment to whisper something in Diego's ear.

"My apologies, but I must be off. A pleasure, both of you." He said before heading for another room. Kane shrugged and pulled out a pen.

"Well, that's one."

Adrienne quirked an eyebrow at Kane. "Who was that? And what do you figure, his lackey found someone much more busy and important than us for him to go toady up to?"

"I don't have the slightest clue. He was on my card and one of the Spanish guardia captains was at one of my meetings today. Cool name."

"Very cool," she mumbled, watching after the man. "Huh. Wonder how he knows Emma. Do you think it's Hellfire Club? Or probably just business. Because if he was shady he'd be on your radar, wouldn't he?"

"A crook in the UN? Babe, the entire Bureau couldn't track all of them even if it was our only job." Kane said. "He's a decently high level diplomat. Maybe there's some kind of business deal? I'm sure your sister has, wossomes, interests in Spain or something."

Adrienne wasn't naive enough to believe that the UN was a pedestal for the stalwart members of political society, but Garrison's offhand quip about the time it would take the Bureau to track them had her raising a surprised eyebrow. "Yes, probably a business deal," she answered. "Too bad my powers aren't admissible in court; I could probably read one of these walls and find a half-dozen illegal business transactions if you're serious about the number of crooks."

"Oh yeah?" Kane said, slightly teasing. "Prove it." He patted the wall next to them.
"You don't believe I could catch a half-dozen illegal business transactions on this wall?" she asked, competitive streak kicking in. "If I see something that breaks my brain and makes me pass out you'd better catch me before I hit the floor," she warned. After wiping off her hand Adrienne leaned back against the wall in a casual motion, hand slapping against the smooth surface.

She pushed off the wall several moments later, making a face. "Borrrring. Lots of politics, a couple bets on sports, one coke deal between two understaffers. Nothing to fill up a docket. I only skimmed back about a week though," she shrugged. "I'm sure there would be more if I looked longer, but I think Dignitary Bingo is a funner game than fingering crooks. Or, you know, chess or something. Strip chess."


"It all depends on the crooks. There was once this Asian massage parlour we busted in Coquitlam that had--" Kane started, but paused as a female server leaned in with her drinks tray.

"Sorry to interrupt." She said brightly, as they both collected new glasses.

"As I was saying... wait, strip chess? What did you..." Kane went on when she'd left. However, once the server was through the doors, she handed her tray to another and stepped into a doorway. A second later, Jason Wyngarde stepped out, adjusting his tie. It was a simple enough task for his powers to mimic the staff, and if what he saw was true, Adrienne Frost was some kind of psychometric. Wasn't that interesting to consider, he thought, congradulating himself on attending the party when he heard her name was added to the guest list. Shaw didn't trust her, but it was he that thought she was the potential weapon to rein in Emma and her White Court eventually. Very interesting indeed.