adamant explorer

It was like slipping back into an old familiar skin when Rachel appeared to be bumping into Hunt on her way to the ladies. Only a trained and very attentive eye would've been able to see her hands wander through his pocket and take his wallet. Expertly she hid it behind her own purse until she had entered one of the bathroom stalls and locked the door behind her.

Sitting down on the toilet seat she started to go through it hoping to find out where Hunt was staying during the summit. Luckily Hunt was the kind of man who would stash every single thing he had into his wallet including the chip card to his room in the same hotel as the conference. Jackpot, she thought as she turned the card to see if it also indicated the room number. Her mouth formed a frown when she discovered to be merely a plain card with the only written words on it being the hotel's name. She would have to play a bit more then but it was far beyond the unsolvable.

A moment later she had pocketed the key card and left the bathroom stall to linger in front of the mirror to check and reapply her make-up. Rachel took this opportunity to go through the various options that she had now to get into Hunt's room. She could go to the reception and ask for the room number but then there was a risk that the receptionist realised that this wasn't her key. Unless she played it right.

When she left the bathroom she made sure that Rogers was still distracted otherwise. He appeared to be in an animated conversation with a group of three men. One of them Rachel clocked immediately as security since his eyes were not fixed on his company but everybody else. She slid out of the hall without any fuss – no one would remember the young blonde woman leaving – and headed straight to the elevator and hit the button.

When the lift arrived a stream of other conference guests got out and only one other person was left inside.  She gave the man a polite smile and pressed the button that would take her down to the reception. Her silent companion on the short ride didn't get out with her – most likely he was a chauffeur for some important person. His clothes at least pointed towards it. Rachel pushed the man out of her mind when she approached the reception which was currently occupied by just one man who was at least ten years her senior.

“Excuse me.” She approached the man with a smile who returned it almost without choice. Rachel had learned how captivating a smile alone could be over the last years and how to perfect it. “My friend gave me his key but forgot to tell me which room it was for.” To underline her words she waved the stolen card in front of the receptionist and leaned on the counter. “I can have a look. What is your friends name, miss?” “Josh Hunt.” “Sorry but I can't find him in the database. I got a Joshua Hunt though?” The blonde was anticipating this reaction and shook her head in reply with a slightly nervous laugh. “How silly of me. I always call him Josh.” She shrugged. 

The agent could've fist-bumped the first person that she met after leaving the receptionist behind with the room number now in her head. Nothing beat the rush of adrenaline after a plan of yours worked out, Rachel found and she didn't keep the victorious grin off her face as she rode the elevator up to the sixth floor. While waiting to arrive there she checked her phone to see that she had only one new message from her handler inquiring on the status. She quickly texted back that she was just going to check out the hotel room.

Once she entered the floor where Hunt's room was located Rachel became more attentive of her surroundings. It was important that no one would see her even near the room much less remember her entering it. Division taught its agent to be invisible and she was going to be nothing but a faint whisper.

Luck was in her favour tonight because the blonde didn't see a single soul on the way down the corridor. His room was one of the last and right next to the fire escape. Just like expected the light blinked green on the lock when she slid the card through it. She used the door handle to close the door behind her just after she had slid in. Then she put the card into the designated spot to turn on the electricity.

When she had sufficient lightning she took a few photos of how the room looked with her phone. She noticed that the suitcase was lying around half-opened and that clothes had been tossed randomly onto the chair. Rachel's eyes gleamed when she spotted the most important thing: a laptop lying on the table. This was going to be her starting point. She had to work quick because Hunt could notice at any moment that his wallet was missing. He would assume that he had left it in his room and go to the reception to get the spare key. This would break her neck.

The thrill of danger made her heart beat faster when she started to hack into Hunt's system. She pulled a USB from her purse and started to download the entire content of the hard drive onto it. Analysts would later weed through it at Division to see if anything important had been missed by her. She did a general search for hidden registries and secured files but the only thing she found relating to the case were the official report. Nothing that suggested that Division had been involved.

The download was still in progress so Rachel started to go through the suitcase, memorising and taking photos of how she found it so that she would be able to return it to the exact condition she had found it in later. Her fingers wrapped around paper and she pulled out a crumbled hard copy of a file. It had been packed between Hunt's spare shirts and spare socks. She laid it down onto the duvet of the bed and started to go through it.

The euphoria she had felt quickly faded when she realised what exactly was written down in the file. A lump was forming in the woman's throat when she diligently photographed each single page. Then she called Ops.