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Chapter 16

Authors Notes 1: Thank you for all the reviews I have had, it's been really good to read them. I am so sorry it has taken me ages to update, my health and mental health has been very bad, but I am starting to get better now.

Hopefully, it won't take so long to write the next chapter.

Authors Notes 2: The [Brackets] will be used to indicate dialogue that is not spoken from Millie, due to her using sign language.

Back at 9321 Blossom Palms Lane 45,000 feet south east underneath the plane, in the quiet and peaceful early hours of the morning is sticky and warm in the balmy, calm, and muggy heat seems to burn. As a shaft of cool morning sunshine is slowly streaming through a gap in the curtains, piercing the grey darkness.

Even through the air-conditioning, the humidity is still hanging in the air making it seem warmer than what it is in the Miami climes. Soon Miami's sky is going to be the darkest shade of grey with the heavens looking like they were about to pour, a reflection as you will of the inconstancy and unpredictability of its residents.

This of course is going to be a very nerve-wracking day ahead, where right now three little ones are finally residing in the magnificent fairy-tale land of nod and are with a bit of luck soaking up the enchanting atmosphere and energising their little bodies ready for the rest of the day.

Nevertheless, to be honest he knows they definitely need their mommy and daddy more than ever now, and to be honest to himself he could do with Jackson and Lisa home here too, even at his age.

At this moment, Joseph Reisert now realizes with much relief that he has a little time to sit back on the comfortable leather, 'L' shaped couch and being able to sink heavily into the deep leather with a blanket. He is positively starving and tired to death, and is so glad he is finally able to have that midnight snack of Hot Pockets he has been looking forward to all night. More specifically, having some expensive coffee made with Lisa and Jackson's very expensive coffeemaker, as he will the rich aroma penetrate the house and his taste buds.

He is optimistically hoping it will help him to regain his mental balance and energize himself while watching the comedy marathon, while calming his nerves as he is worrying about his daughter, son in law, and grandchildren. Also, a nap also sounds like a good thing right now, as the heat in the room is steadily rising he can feel his head spin from the exhaustion. In all honesty he is wondering how he is going to cope with the long day ahead of him.

He contemplates the image as he is listening to the comedians and the applause of the canned cheering audience, from the small slick black TV on the counter next to him. As well as keeping his eye on watching the screen of the iPad Pro 12.9 inch display on a small metal stand next to the TV. Of which is showing a feed of Olivia's bedroom by nanny cam installed by her parents to help see what she does when she is awake, as well as in her sensory room. That will later in the morning be used to play Olivia's morning music playlist cherishing the frail moments of peace, happily and unaware of whatever lays ahead of her for the rest of the day.

He watches his youngest granddaughter intently, at her quiet and peacefully sleeping form, still sound asleep curled up in an adorable little ball in her soft and comfortable bed, clutching her white bunny, chewing and sucking on her bunny ears. Which reminds him, that he should try and get some of her chewy necklaces and P & Q chews, along with her kitty design Noise Reduction Ear Defenders, and just in case her anti-seizure medication ready for when she wakes up. At the same time, he watches her with an enormous smile gracing his lips which could brighten up the whole east coast, the kind you get when you think of the people you love. Meanwhile he uses his Index Finger to stroke the little face in the screen, the pad of his finger covering the little girls face.

All the while he is balancing the kitchen phone on his shoulder while listening to his wife of 36 years on the other end chatting away about the enduring day she has had, as he reluctantly moves away to his left to the massive silver double door refrigerator. The doors are adorned with pictures from the girls, appointment letters, schedules for therapies, photographs of family members.

An especially special one by the handle is the one of Jackson in his army uniform smiling brightly a full-on smile, all teeth and boyish dimples at a tiny siamese kitten laying on his chest. Joe smiles at the picture of his son-in-law, being the man he is, caring, intelligent, and so kind. It reminds him of the expression Jackson had when he held their tiny writhing newborn babies for the first time. After Lisa had given birth to their children and the nurses laid the small swathed bundles on Lisa's chest for skin to skin contact. Afterwards when an exhausted Lisa was asleep, Jackson would have the babies in his arms whose attention was fully on him, before the nurses took them away to do tests or in Olivia's case to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Stepping back from the stainless steel refrigerator, Joe opens the large doors quietly towards him, letting out the harsh weak and pale utilitarian glaring light from inside well-stocked refrigerator. Propping open the door with his body, he then stretches uses his hands so he can pull the draws, so he can pick through Lisa and Jackson's food items. Pulling himself forward, he buries head deep inside the draw, and starts rifling through the cold contents looking at the labels of the iced covered packages in the freezer compartment trying to find his beloved Hot Pockets he brought for tonight.

Diane Reisert his loving but over-bearing, beautiful, strong-willed, bohemian matriarch, tall, trimly muscular, with natural greying hair wife. She is semi-retired and works as a magazine editor for a small successful healthy living/lifestyle magazine. Playing the glue that holds the family together, to his traditional titular head of the household; it is really Diane who really dominates the family. Despite his low-key personality, Joe's calming, protective, ever-perturbing obsessive protective, yet offbeat influence on each of his three children and three grandchildren is obvious.

All in all, Joe Reisert is a man of simple tastes and desires.

Don't get him wrong, he loves his wife, she's a wonderful woman, and brilliant mother their two sons and Lisa. He genuinely loves her more than she knows, but right now, If steam could shoot out of people's ears, Joe Reisert would be a boiling kettle.

Joe is brought out of his thoughts when he hears his wife Diane asks her husband if he is eating the plant based and soya substituted food, as well as the healthy versions of his favorite snacks she had brought him the night before she left for the funeral. Going on about his cholesterol levels, and the fact that he should be trying to stay healthy for his grandchildren so he can see them grow up into wonder women and get married. Which is something she likes to yammer on about every day, along with CBD oils for everyone, and how he needs to be doing some yoga with her. Though he won't be mentioning to her that he has done some yoga with the girls, and how it caused his back pain to flair up again, but knowing Diane, she would probably tell him he was doing all wrong.

After the healthy living lecture has run its course, she is now enquiring about her granddaughters, and if he has heard from Lisa and Jackson, or their two sons Joshua a well-respected surgeon and Jacob this evening.

However, before he can say anything as an answer to her questions, she starts talking another stream about the strange man that she has noticed has been following her all day. Asking whether Jackson and Lisa have mentioned anything to him about this weird situation.

In quick response, Joe then goes into details about the people in BMW's being outside the house as well, using the code words containing food word Jackson has taught them how to use in case of such an emergency arising. Explaining everything Jackson's esteemed, well mannered, and thoughtful boss Hendon had explained to him about the situation earlier. While adding that there are people watching the guy in the car in Texas, as well as the ones watching Jackson and Lisa's house too. Jackson probably knew, but because of the grief and the fact of the funeral he probably thought it best not to upset people any more than they are.

Meanwhile a physically and mentally exhausted Joe Reisert takes a moment during his wife's rambling to make an Emergency Measures, and a reminder of all the tidying he did, making a mental checklist of all the things he has done. He knows it is awful of him to do, however tonight he is feeling as if he is sleepwalking toward the edge of the Big Sur Cliffs, in California. He loves his wife, but sometimes he wishes he could just to be able to answer her questions without her continuing on her own conversation.

Only a few minor crises occurred early on in the evening. The rest of the evening is some-what calm

Subsequently, putting Millie to sleep with 3 stories, a glass of milk, signing and singing three songs with her head laid on his chest, enjoying the vibrations his humming was causing, and talking about the strangers in their cars outside the house. They all know that sleeping problems are quite common in deaf children and not knowing why Millie is experiencing them can be frustrating, though tonight it is plainly obvious why she is having them. Once she was settled, he looked in on his other two grandchildren who were sound asleep, thankfully they were out like a light.

He then spent an hour locking windows with the glass break detectors and doors, after that setting the top-of-the-line security system alarms, sensors, including the motion detectors for the whole house. He made sure he had the security code for when he has to ring the local police station and The Company security team who set the whole thing up to help shut it off. The nerds at The Company set up security and comms systems that would put Langley, Fort Meadelet, with the Pentagon, to shame Hendon told him when Lisa and Jackson first moved into the house. As Jackson is a vital asset to The Company, and if he is danger then his family needs as much protection too.

During which he rang Hendon on the secure phone, hoping to get some information, and being talked through preparations and instruction on how to keep him and his granddaughters safe. Hendon being patient, and providing him with as much information as they were able to, like the trained sniper from his company, armed with a single shot so it didn't scared the hell out of him. At the same time giving him tips on how to make it harder for the bad guys to get what they want.

Along with making sure the child locks were secure all around the house, especially the ones for Olivia to keep her safe, and the stair gates. He also checked to see if the gates in front of certain rooms were locked and secured, as well as the locks on the doors which are set up high enough for adults to reach.

The door locks are used primarily because Olivia likes to stim from opening and closing doors in rhythmic motions lifting the door handle up and down, while flapping her other hand in utter joy and excitement. Consequently, this also causes her to do her favourite yelling stim at the same time, which can get very loud and repetitive after a while.

There is also the fact she has no idea about privacy and so she is prone to barging into rooms especially if not supervised and the fact she will put anything in her mouth, this is called pica a condition where you eat objects that are not edible. There is also the fact she might break something, and because of her higher pain threshold and the fact she doesn't understand pain, or unable to communicate what is wrong, they are unlikely to know straight away if she is hurt.

Succeeding that he was tidying the small mess of clothes and shoes in his daughter's and son in laws bedroom closet and ensuite bathroom that the twins had made while playing make believe, making sure to lock the doors behind him. They must have taken down at least half a dozen of Jackson and Lisa's clothes, tried each of their aftershaves and perfumes, while Emmy had used some of mommies jewelry. Luckily there were no stains, or broken pieces of jewelry, clothes, or shoes.

Following that, the most daunting task of all he tidied the rest of the mountain of toys overflowing down the stairs. Filling the toy boxes in the playroom with Lego City play-sets, Lego pieces, Lego play-sets, blocks, wooden trains, cars that he loves to wind up and then watch race across the floors scattered around. Even the vast amount of dolls of all colors, sizes and shapes, doll clothing and furniture scattered around different parts of the house.

All of these were used for inventions, props for new imaginative games, and of course more traditional play, some being brought down from upstairs to play with while watching TV in the living room. All the while, caused mayhem and mess during the course of the week, by himself and the girls. Then there are the colourful beads and threads he used teaching the twins how to make bracelets, coupled with the materials they used for cards, a menu for breakfast, and pictures for mommy and daddy as presents.

He even found stuff that has been under the couch cushions for the last few days, like banana peels, bits of food, toys, coins, and toilet tissues. What the toilet paper was for is a whole new question he does not want to know about, but at least he has done some deep cleaning that needed to be done.

Next on his very long list of jobs was the mission of taking Olivia's PECS's (Picture Exchange Communication System) image cards binder from the counter and looking at each durable card one by one as he flips through the Velcro attached picture cards, and taking some of the cards. Followed by bending down onto the floor, and placing each of the picture cards in order of events for the day onto the fridge ready to show Olivia when she come down.

Thenceforth, he placed Olivia's Dynavox's speech generating devices that resembles a touch screen tablet computers that is a communication device, and her iPad for her My Signing Time software. As well Millie's 10.2 inch iPad which has her My Signing Time too, as well as other software for her to communicate onto the counter beside the kitchen door ready for them when they wake.

Afterwards he went into the utility/mud room to throw in a load of laundry that was left from the large pile from the last few days from the little monsters. He then as the washing machine spun the cycle, Joe used the time to fold Lisa's white blouses and Jackson's work shirts, a small bundle of Jackson's designer boxers before placing them into a cream wooden laundry basket. Then he started hanging a few freshly dry cleaned suits he collected this afternoon of Jackson's and Lisa's businesswear onto the clothes rail beside the dryer.

Thankfully he had already done most of the girls washing for the last 2 days, as well as Olivia's soiled pyjamas from earlier in the evening on a double wash, and also put them in the drier earlier this evening just in case of anymore accidents.

In the meantime, Jackson's gorgeous well-seasoned, elegant, caring, loving, taupe coloured face, cream furred, and very intelligent Blue Point Siamese cat Mira. Who is very vocal and chatty, with large eyes that are as blue as Jackson's. She was curled up in her cushy bed between the washer and clothes drier, probably glad of the peace and quiet as the kittens are sleeping with the girl for a while.

All the while he was keeping a sharp eye on the people outside, making sure he and the girls can escape to the safe room as quick as possible if any of them made a move for the house. It's also a bomb shelter constructed to withstand an explosion. While trying to seem cool and collected, waiting for the beep from the app on his phone, telling him that someone is outside of the door via video feed.

Now finding himself at the bottom freezer draw with no sign of the Hot Pockets anywhere, concurrently as he moves the draw back into position. The sensation of cold numbness in his hands starts to creep up on him with icy soreness, prompting his brain and nerves to send signals to shake his hands to relieve the pain and prickling sensation.

On the contrary, the most important thought that comes to mind is. Where the hell did he put those hot pockets?

Taking a look towards where the pantry cupboard as though he has X-ray vision and can see through the fridge door, he thinks maybe he could have the Apple Jacks or Fruit Loops?

All of a sudden, he hears a loud ear deafening yowling coming from the back of him, near the utility room rings through his ears as loud as if it had been a foghorn, and interrupting him from his thoughts as well as the aching pain in his hands. He pretty much sympathies with the creature, as he presumes that it is Mira who sounds like an off key wolf when startled, upset, or just wants to yowl for sake of it. It's funny how Mira is the kind of cat that thinks she is dog, even though she is a cat, which he thinks is exactly why Jackson chose her.

Though the yowling changes in pitch in quick succession, causing Joe to be at once on his guard, he has failed to register the new addition to the kitchen. The light footsteps are quietly concealed by the loud yowling of Mira, sounding more like an air raid siren warning than a cat.

Which has also causes him to miss the small dinging sound of the quiet microwave to alert him that whatever he is heating up is now ready.

He steps to the other-side of the refrigerator with the closed door, stepping away to put some distance between him and the electrical appliance. Wondering if Mira has seen someone near the door of the utility room, maybe a shadowy figure glancing into the house from the door running off the room into the side the of the garden.

Quietly stepping back, trying not to make a sound, reaching with his left hand for the handle just about able to feel the steel on his skin, he tries to close the door as quietly as he can. But unfortunately there's a small thud on the tiled floor beside the refrigerator, though he cannot hear it through the piercing yowling, he narrows his eyes at the long shadow created in the light from the hallway

Suddenly, he notices in the corner of his eyes, Mira whizzing past him excitedly, at the full speed of a race horse in a flash looking like a brown, cream, and beige bundle of mighty furry fury.

The sight makes him turn, to the direction of the little person who has caused all the noise catches him both off guard, God Millie is getting much better at being stealthy, he thinks as he giggles inside at the thought.

She's like a force of nature.

A hyper-vigilant yet exhausted looking Millie looking like a G.I. Joe stands by the door, her large round green tired magical eyes looking at her grandpa straight in the eye, her little brows knotted, her bright green shine brightly like a 3 million watt candle torch. Thick chocolate hair framing her delicate little face, while some loose strands of her hair have fallen ungracefully across her cheeks. Around her neck are her binoculars laying on her chest. Whilst around her little waist, she is wearing her utility belt filled with gadgets, batman flashlight, lightsaber, and other weapons to use against the bad people, looking like a real superhero spy.

Mira is purring softly, as she rubs her body and nuzzles her head against the little girls legs, as if she is hungry and wants more food, her tail in the air, and she has a smile, as if she is happy to see her. The older cat loves the girls, each in their own way. However, Mira's favourite people in the world except Jackson and Lisa, are the girls, even little Olivia. She has a real love for them all, but as she is getting older, she does want more of her own space.

Whereas on Millie's delicate little wrist of her right hand she has a pretty purple glittery silicone wrist band that looks a lot like the new Lego Dots which has been converted to be attached by a USB drive with a USB port as a lock of some kind. It makes him wonder if she is thinking there are anymore surprises she needs to find; he doesn't doubt she has already put this down in her spy book.

Nevertheless, by the looks of it Millie was unable to lock it in place properly so the two holes are very noticeable, possibly because the USB port is new and so takes some strength to lock correctly, especially if you are only using one hand. In the light part of the lock is glistening, it looks as though it is custom made by one of Jackson's tech nerds or someone with some pretty fantastic skill, as he has never seen one like this before.

In her other hand, she is holding tightly making her knuckles white the wooden hockey stick of her mothers, which she has obviously found before he could, managing to get it before he locked the bedroom door. While on her back is her Batman backpack most probably is filled up with her thick, useful, battered and sticker decorated spy book, Fisher Price digital camera, and whatever essentials she thinks she needs.

Consequently, Joe tries his hardest to hide the pain and tiredness in his dark astute eyes while letting them do run a quick scan of the hallway behind her examining from every angle monitoring of the shadows all around them. He is also listening for the sounds of someone trying to break in, or the sounds of his other granddaughters.

On the other hand, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, but something definitely is. One is Millie is more mature than a child her age is, and sometimes it is hard to see, because of her personality which is mostly like her daddies and her love for imaginative play. Secondly, Millie and Emily are cogs that compliment and work together in unison, as well as being different sorts of support to their family.

Looking into those deep green-grey eyes of his little granddaughter, just like her mothers, his stomach twists into knots, knowing that he only wants to make her happy. He wants her to feel secure and safe, not be sneaking around trying to be a spy to protect him and her sisters.

The precipitous thought in his mind is whether she has her hearing aids in, he reminds himself to check the batteries for them as well, make sure there are some spare batteries, see if the rechargeable batteries are charged, and to remember to have her spare pair of hearing aids just in case. Not sure if he should turn on the special microphone to use with her aids on, or leave it and keep it for when he knows she has her hearing aids on in the morning, it might cause feedback while he is on the phone, which is more unhelpful than good.

"Millie, what's wrong sweetie?" He signs with both hands and speaks calmly and directly to Millie jutting his lip out at her, while he is speaking on the phone balanced on his right shoulder still listening to Diane on the other end of the line.

Millie looks at her grandfather on the phone, wondering if he is talking to her daddy and mommy, or grandma. It is taking all her energy and concentration into watching her grandpa's lips and body language as he speak to whoever is on the phone. She comes to the conclusion it is her grandma, as her grandpa looks very tired, and he has the look in his eyes as though he wants to get off the phone quick because she is talking a lot.

"Diane honey, I need to go, Bunny's awake and in search of chocolate chip cookies and milk". He speaks quietly into the handset to his wife, in a calm tone of voice, without alarming her with his own panic, irritation, and sadness he feels right now. Still keeping his eyes on his granddaughter, as he improvises with a food code, just in case someone is listening to the call. As well as keeping his expression as normal as he can keep it, managing to smile, and hoping it is persuading enough to his young granddaughter.

"What's going on Joe?" There's a short pause as she takes a deep breathe to try and relax, before her voice comes back down the receiver her voice going into panic again; when another horrible implication hits her. "…Joseph Harrison Reisert what's wrong with Bunny, and why is she searching for the chocolate chip cookies and milk?"

"Diane, I promise I will ring you back. But right now, I need to talk to Millie about the chocolate chip cookies and glass of milk is searching for." He replies reassuringly to his wife, still talking in the food code his taught by Jackson; making sure his expression is not giving away the urgency that is in his voice.

Magically on cue, Joe can hear Lisa's words, as the sound of her voice is resounding through his head, when she told him 30 times or more, 'no milk and cookies after bedtime'.

"Okay, just make sure you ring me back as soon as you can; don't let Bunny eat too many cookies, or have too much milk." Diane answers with worry and concern in her voice, in motherly, grandmotherly, and wifely tone all mixed into a sound like she has a lump in her throat. "I love you, you old fool!" She adds, trying to keep her voice from cracking by appearing jovial, and bringing some normalcy to their conversation, even if it is to call him her joke pet name, and to end the end the call.

"I love you too, my Wonder Woman." Joe replies using his favourite pet name for her, and copying Diane's cheery demeanour by being happy himself. Hoping whoever is listening to the conversation doesn't hear the frustration and fear in his voice because of what Millie had found.

The line goes dead and he gratefully presses the red button on the phone, as he swiftly without any delay in the movement puts the phone on the counter beside him, hearing a clank as it touches the marble worktop.

It is obvious, Millie has had another fun and wonderful adventure doing her nightly security check foot-rounds, which also means she's also probably been in mommy and daddy's bedroom again to look around for clues, or at least has been looking out of their windows for bad people.

The little dark haired girl moves forward to the kitchen counter, placing the wooden hockey stick against the counter side, making sure the hook part is secured so it won't fall down onto the tiles. Afterwards she goes on her little tiptoes ready to see if there is anything intriguing to find on the counter, she stretches her arms as far as she can, her tiny fingers on her left hand holding on tightly to the marble counter top for balance.

Unable to find anything exciting on the counter with her hands, she puts her tiny bare feet flat back onto the cool flooring, becoming much more confident in her abilities, as she is physically stronger, can run faster, balance on one leg and throw further.

["Look grandpa!"] She asks in sign language, while her face expresses concern, excitement, fatigued, innocence, intelligence and intrigue all at the same time, the movements as she signs is like an interpretive dance or the Hula dance without the music. Afterwards presenting her wrists, to allow her grandpa a better view by stretching out the silicone band that has little coloured, shapes, and patterned flat Lego pieces stuck on them. As far as she can to show off her new find next to her light blue silicone medical bracelet, that basically tells people she is deaf, in case of an emergency mostly for communication, and their contact details.

For deaf children like Millie they have to pay much more attention than children with typical hearing levels. So tiredness and fatigue are very common issues for deaf children. This means she uses more of her cognitive resources in lip-reading or following signed conversations, and has less energy or brain power to keep her attention on other things.

Therefore, Millie finds herself more tired at the end of the day than their twin sister, though you would never know because she can seem like a Duracell Bunny. However, this fatigue sometimes has a significant impact on her learning and development. Consequently, Millie is running on excitement, instincts, and adrenaline, keen to show off her achievements, mostly wound up by the bad men being outside her house and excited about her mommy and daddy coming home. And it is going to take quite a while for the little girl to wind down to sleep.

"They are very pretty Bunny, where did you find that honey?" He asks his granddaughter, using her pet name and sign name with her friends, which is her special sign that is used to uniquely identify her, just like her name. Trying to hide the concern in his face, and in his voice as he realises that he has just asked himself a rhetorical question.

Remembering how a package arrived this afternoon in a brown Amazon box with their famous signature branded tape, addressed to The Occupants. However, the thing is, Joe doesn't remember ordering anything off of the shopping site for himself or the kids the last few days. Additionally, neither did Jackson, Lisa, or his wife say they were waiting for an Amazon delivery before they left for Dallas. But then because of the emotional circumstances, they could have forgotten about it. Or it was one of Jackson's team mates or contacts who had found some last minute information and thought it was safer to send it to the house.

Therefore, after taking in the parcel from the courier who didn't seem to scan it like he was supposed to do to show it was delivered, which actually makes the Jackson's contact and work colleague sent it theory more likely. He placed it in the living room, on the shelves over by the TV entertainment centre. It contains all the girls Disney and animation DVD's. However now, he is wondering if this has anything to do with the situation they are experiencing, and whether he needs to ring Jackson's boss and let them know about the package contents.

He recalls immediately that he had brought Millie and Emily one of the Lego Dots each when they went out this afternoon, while they were running errands and going out to get pizza and ice cream.

They were both on their best behaviour so he let them chose one colour each, and even let them choose an extra bag of bits in one of the other colours to make pretty patterns with. But that's what happens when you are a grandpa, you cannot help but treat your grandchildren, and buy them treats it's all part of the course, because he and Diane get to do all the nice things with them now.

Instantly, Joe is brought out of his thoughts by the tippy tappy sound of small bare feet on tiles, as Millie rambunctiously comes bounding towards him, a giant smile on her face like her mother, and her twenty-six tiny, tiny freckles around her nose just like her daddy. Skidding to a stop in front of him, she watches his face so very closely for some kind of expression or movement of his lips to read.

Therefore, Joe with his fatherly instincts kicking in, starts kneeling slowly down to the cold tiled floor, making sure the action doesn't cause his back and knees any pain, and that he is on the same eye line as his little middle granddaughter. While trying to get her to focus her attention on him, at the same time he is also keeping his inspection of all the rooms of the house and stairway which leads to the kitchen that are in his line of vision.

["Look grandpa, Emmy, and Livie have one too"] The little dark haired girl signs with an enormous smile, her expression is all excitable and intrigued at the same time, but signing as clear enough as she can as she is fighting against the tiredness creeping in to be understood by her grandpa in big loud gestures.

Then her little fingers start crawling into the right side of her pyjama bottoms pocket to remove a tangle of a pink glittery and yellow glittery bands just like the one on her wrist, that she pocketed for her sisters a few minutes ago. Her little fingers are gently holding them, as she stretches them out as far as they will go to show her grandpa her new find. She lets him take the yellow glittery one, that she must think is for Olivia which is not part of the collection of 5 colours to choose from.

Bringing it closer to his face to take a closer look at the sophisticated bracelet USB drive that is definitely a Lego Dots design with a mixture of the different flat lego pieces placed on it. The silicon wristband has been converted expertly as to be unable to tell the difference, it looks more like a specialised version that Lego might bring out as a special edition.

It suddenly dawns on him, how many more of these are in the box, do they have tracking devices in them, and what exactly is on them for someone to disguise them that way?

In the meantime, 30 minutes away south east of Blossom Palms Lane at Miami beach, the Lux Atlantic is in utter chaos. Possibly because the skies are heavily swamped with intruding clouds that threatened a downpour as the weather is delaying flights, and at the same time messing with the hotel's servers and Wifi, or it could be because there is a full moon tonight.

Whatever it is, the lobby is filled with a practical riot of disgruntled guests and tourist groups, families, a gaggle of loud and drunk hen partiers, and college-aged gangs with unsettled, impatient faces, host of bad-tempered, bemused-looking, scowling guests. The hotel has also become swamped with people who have flown from all over the country for some big wedding someone was having.

All of them lugging suitcases with rumpled clothes is shifting like the waves in the sea that is not unlike the ones outside on the beach right now, as they are being carted by the frustrated and exhausted bellhops like hectic bees.

There is an extremely argumentative couple have decided that the lobby is the best place for their latest screaming match, adding to their argument about the problems with their room.

In the company of the convention of political personnel and delegates, ready for a conference in Conference room B, on how to help root out terrorism in all its forms. Throwing piles and piles of money going towards keeping America safe, emergency talks can go on a mighty long time, especially when you want it to sound like you had all the ideas yourself and not from lobby group.

There are also a Regional medical seminar, an architect's convention, and a law firm using the Lux Atlantic for their annual Leadership Retreat and team building with overworked executive assistants. An accountants' convention who are lounging around in the bar, leaving practically no room for anybody else and talking so loudly that the few guests that want to get in there are complaining about them.

Alongside a small family, where the young mother is holding a screaming infant against her, while the frazzled-looking father pulls them through the mass of people to join one of the lines. They are both looking as disheveled and a bit disoriented as everyone else.

At the same time, other hotel staff are running around like headless chickens trying to cope with the demands and complaints of what feels like a mob of a thousand people screaming at the same time, about the same problems that they are already trying to rectify.

At the front desk, the frazzled strawberry blonde Cynthia with her stress management training, preparation for anything, and countless years of experience working under Lisa's lead, is working hard to control the situation that is presenting to them.

Even as another angry group approaches the desk from beyond the spurts and outright runs of customers that are also arguing among themselves as to who will be going up next to the reception desks.

Earlier this evening, Cynthia had already spoken to all the hotel staff, including coordinating the junior staff to tell them to tell potential guests, the staff are trying to organise guests into different groups. As more unsuspecting people stand with the already agitated guests wanting to be checked in, staff are informing them fully of the situation. Settling their nerves, trying to get their people squared away by listening to customer complaints with their added last minute requests. Then offering refunds for those who ask, and most likely plenty of comps three nights' complimentary stay, then they are daring them to complain to corporate about their generous offers.

All the while the reception desk telephones are ringing loudly, as well as all staff mobiles with people who are trying to ring the restaurant and room service by pushing the buttons marked with coloured stickers on their hotel phones. Because of some kind of damage, part of the phone system is instead connecting to the front desk.

In the midst of working with the frustrated Catering Manager, who is getting annoyed with reception staff for not giving orders straight away, and letting the lists grow to an exorbitant rate. It's probably because they don't want the room service orders to be sent back to the kitchen three times in a row and complaints about slow room service.

Not worrying to know why, or caring that the reception is being overrun with problems , including ones from prima-donna hotel guests who think they are to be treated like royalty.

All at once, calls are coming down from angry guests in their hotel rooms complaining about the air conditioning panel not working, either not being able to turn it on, unable to change the temperature, or not being able to turn it off.

Simultaneously, how their key cards are not working on their locks cards keep demagnetising, and therefore are either being locked out of their rooms, or locked inside the room. Staff promising to try to unlock the door for them with their master key and getting one of the overworked maintenance men on their way up to take a look at the very sophisticated, secure system on the doors. And seeing if they can figure out why it keeps demagnetising the key cards and locks, and the cards demagnetising without it being the fault of the guest. The problem being, every time they take out their own master keys and swipe them through the door lock, the locking light flashes green, It magically unlocks almost instantly after pressing the handle downwards and entering. But 10 seconds later they demagnetise again, continuing the never ending cycle.

Along with their HDTV's not working, not turning on or not turning off, as well as not being able to use the remote control, and as such the volume is at deafening levels as it works off a different circuit.

Gratefully, there are no guests with genuine special needs in the hotel tonight. More inclusion in the hotel for disabled people, people with hidden disabilities, and people with autism has been something Lisa has been working on incorporating adaptions into the hotel for a few years now. She incorporated lanyards, that help people be recognised by staff members, and can be used at any Lux Hotels all over the country. This could simply mean giving them more time to prepare or process information, using clear verbal language or allowing them to remain with their families at all times.

From emotional support, through to one to one care, they provide qualified and experienced carers on hand to take care of them on their holiday. They even allow Assistive Animals in the hotel, and to stay in the guest rooms too.

The higher ups in Corporate, are really enjoying her astounding ability to make the adaptions happen as smooth as possible, by utilising some of the quiet rooms, and room on the ground floor. As well as making rooms more accessible for people with wheelchairs, and other walking equipment, with spacious lifts accessing all floors. They even have babysitting services for special needs children, and all staff are being trained at all the times on customer service skills relating to disabled people, and families with a disabled relative.

In spite of this, what is much worse is somehow this afternoon during one of the head of maintenance Dan Young rounds, he discovered that the plumbing of some of the en-suits in the more executive suits have a busted water valve which had not been fixed correctly, and the toilets are overflowing with waste substances from the waste pipe, as well as the water pipes.

Therefore of course, shit will hit the fan, or at least one person in Keefe's team ruining their reputation with secret service and other leaders wanting to stay there. Resulting in a water-pipe explosion that would mean an evacuation of five rooms on the floor underneath, and three on the floor under that.

Apparently, Dan Young reported that they were fixing a water valve in the master baths, and they didn't fix the right ones, so the pipes are backed up bad as well as leaking. Four-zero-eight-zero is the only suite that has no issues with their plumbing, and so Cynthia has had to be creative and oh, thank God it is fine. It also has the beautiful bayside view; but his security will be more than happy as long as they can sweep it, and when she tells them she authorised it.

Minutes later, she had dutifully asked Dan Young, if he could take a crew up to Keefe's new room, and take the plumbing and electrics for a spin. Afterwards she rung the House Keeping team, to make sure the champagne glasses sparkled, the mirrors glittered, and the soft pillows beckoned on the king sized bed with the little posh dark chocolates they only provide for VIP guests.

Thank god there isn't a 'technical mishap' with the employees' elevator and guests elevators as well tonight. Because even just thinking about it has her stomach churning to sicking levels.

What is even worse to deal with is when the computers and tablets are either freezing, or locking up, sometimes they are unable to use their passwords. The computer systems have already been slow tonight, while the progress bars are creeping at the speed of the last few hours left of a 12 hour shift.

Without warning, guest reservations are being lost in the system, room mix-ups, or three different families having ended up booking the same room on the website without them knowing and each argue their case for a half hour over who has the right to get the room. Accordingly, Cynthia and the other overworked desk clerks are having to manually overriding the once again operational computer with the contents of the paper forms.

They are also dealing with the computers having an ongoing viruses for the last few days, where the programs change colour, letters are falling to the bottom of the screen, or weird characters are replacing letters in words. All this with Seleena who is forgetting her password and getting it wrong every other time it's frustrating.

The best thing of the night to happen is when the computers are coming up with error messages [Hotel program name] has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience and asking for them to call the support team with a strange code number made up of letters, characters, and numbers.

Otherwise they are getting the dreaded blue screen of death, which is an error screen displayed on a Windows computer system following a fatal system error and system crash. It just means the operating system has reached a condition where it can no longer operate safely. Typical Windows technology malware, Trojans, and spyware, with all that is going on tonight, but can you blame it.

All the while, The Lux Information Technology Department are upgrading their new system and OS, and transferring authorisation codes, while overloading the old version with new beta features that look like they have been bodged together last minute.

At the same time, Corporate in their ever infinite wisdom, thought they would also install more features to make the computerised system more user friendly to make it easier to get managerial authorisation codes without the code being accessed by anyone hacking the system or tampering. The codes are changed daily for each manager and assistant manager in the hotel, staff have a different code which allowed them particular levels of access depending on their level.

Making the systems and servers so much easier for someone to hack in to the security system so they can watch everything going on in the hotel through the security camera.

One slip-up from the update could cause lost of all the tracking information on customers. All of their license plates, credit card information, everything ... all gone in a fraction of a second. Along with 3,598 of The Lux's staff information, from social security numbers, employee numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and all their banking information used to pay them.

Over at the other side of the long sweeping desk poor Seleena is hiding behind her looking helplessly at the computer screen of her computer terminal, with eyes like deer-in-the-headlights. She is panting slightly, and her chest feels strained looking 10 seconds away from having a major panic attack. She soon recognises these symptoms as the precursor to a panic attack, as she attempts to take large breathes in 4 counts doing box breathing ensuring she has plenty of oxygen. Gradually the rising sense of hot panic which is welling up inside of her has subsided. She continues to breathe deeply, eyes tightly closed, ignoring the brash clamour of the telephone on her desk, which is demanding her attention.

All the while willing every muscle in her body into action by straightening herself, meeting the eyes of the customer nearest the desk, as another disgruntled guest takes their turn to complain. A tall, gangly and balding man, in a business suit and wire rim classes, with thin lips slouched, his face contorting into rage as guests from behind him begin to make their way towards the front of the desk like himself.

For the time being Seleena is thinking of how she has so much to learn, as just being bright and personable only gets you so far as a desk-jockey clerk at the Lux, she realises it also requires a copious amount finesse. The well-known territory of people pleasing and learned helpfulness with the nonstop fake smiles and the compulsion to endure the insignificant complaints of over-clamorous guests who think they know her job better than she does.

She hates some of the guests here, they think that just because she works at the hotel they can just treat her like dirt.

Which in turn, is adding another pile on even more insults into a landfill already full to the brim from both customers and her own brain calling her names. She can practically hear Gordon Ramsey screaming expletives at her, as a death metal band is playing in time with his words.

She is hoping he isn't going to cause a large scene in front of her, like a toddler throwing an almighty tantrum, which Lisa has told her in conversations about her youngest the person is more in control of a tantrum whereas a meltdown the person is not in control. This man, who is part of The Platinum Club, obviously thinks as a higher class customer, he is going to be speaking for everybody; as he stares indignantly at Seleena with a rather cold expression on his face. As she listening to his tirade and is on the receiving end of an epic berating, five-seconds from cracking under the scrutiny. She can feel the garbage truck dumping more and more rubbish on her causing her to be mentally buried.

This is a bad night for herself and Cynthia having a downright troublesome day, and it seems to be getting worse by the second. She is still learning how to work the new computer system that has been installed this week, plus all the updates they are adding to it.

What she really wants right now, is to skitter over towards the coffee pot to refill her mug, go to the back room, sit down in one of the comfy chairs with a steaming cup of coffee, and relax for just five minutes. She would kill for some latte with those little marshmallows, chocolate and cream. If she could just get some coffee in her system, flipping through Cosmopolitan magazine, and a cinnamon scone, she will be fine.

On top of that, for the last few hours, Seleena has had the job of arranging some of Keefe's usual items for his room as Cynthia walked her through all the steps, the Montecito Cubans and the Cristal on ice which is not so easy to find this time of night and so he should be thankful for it. Nonetheless, she wonders if Lisa will be so proud of her, as much as Cynthia is with how she has tried to handle the whole mess that is going on right now. Of course, the Keefe's will be arriving on her improvisatory training day, wondering how she is going to cope with the long slow hours to the end of her shift ahead of her.

They are still waiting for the electricians to come in and fix some problems with the lobby and all the corridors automatic lighting system, which seems to be having mini power cuts every 20 seconds or more. Whilst they are also waiting for the phone company to arrive, as the hours drag on they wonder if they ever going to come.

Cynthia however is totally in control, she knows sometimes she can be a little silly when the stress can become far too much, especially when it comes to the Taylors. However, the Taylors are a special breed of annoying, they came down to the reception to complain, as is the situation that she and Seleena find themselves in.

Reminding herself of the mantra from Corporate: There are no guests who are assholes. Only guests with special needs.

Makes her wonder though, when will the armed men be showing up to control the guests in a hostage situation for whatever is in the hotel's main underground safe; or when a biological weapon of anthrax or a poison will set off. Or an annoying teenager who is sick of their family vacation decides that pulling the fire alarm would be fun.

Because that is all they would need tonight.

The two receptionists should be way too busy to realise there are agents in the mix of guests and staff, that the real staff are ready to pull their hair out enough to ring Kate Thompson the other hotel manager job share that works with Lisa.

In spite of this, Cynthia who is shouldering against her left ear the handset of her desk phone, is starting to feel aware that something is very off tonight. While things aren't quite totally falling apart, they're just enough out of whack for her to alert Security to be on the lookout for something or someone.

Even though her British husband Christopher Butler, tall, dirty blonde, strong, lovingly eccentric and strange along with his accent, with deep sap green eyes, a patchy brown, blonde, and white beard, and the most loving and soft man she has ever met. They met the same day Lisa met Jackson who was in the check in line, and helped Lisa deal with a rather irate customer by dressing him down like a professional laying down a smackdown. Chris in all his sweetness and eccentric manner tried to flirt, but with his shyness and accent it just sounded strange, and as a rule, she generally didn't accept invitations from guests.

A year later, his persistence had in the end won him a dinner, one dinner had turned into two, two into the three, and so on and so forth. They had fallen in love almost immediately, and after a little under a year together Chris had asked her to marry him taking her to Paris, and given a long very British eccentric worded drawn out speech about how he loved her and she was the only one for him with lots of gushy adjectives. Of course she had said yes instantly, crying and screaming like a teenager who has just met her idol crush, and ruining all the hours of hard work she had spent with doing her makeup. A couple of months later they were married.

He loves watching YouTube videos of Kittens in cups, puppies in cups, sharing his love of 90's music which they both love, and being a complete nerd with Jackson, complete with the glasses and terrible jokes. Being the lead singer in his rock band with Jackson and friends, he even sung with the rest of the band at Lisa and Jackson's wedding, as Lisa walked down the aisle to Luna by The Smashing Pumpkins. Jackson sung a song for her and Chris's first dance as a married couple Yellow by Coldplay, their favourite song.

The thought of her husband thinking he is a sexy rock star as he stands in front of the microphone shaking his hips in his tight jeans, makes Cynthia smiles inside, as she tries to stifle a giggle like she does when he asks her to watch him.

He also has a beautiful, loyal, black, white, and brown short haired Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Queenie, because she thinks she is a queen in her demeanour and her personality. She goes everywhere with him even to work, and has a wonderful temperament with everyone, though he keeps asking her if her can add another fur baby to family or more which she has agreed to one more at least. They have been married for 7 wonderful years, he gave her 3 beautiful children, Noah the oldest at 6 years old, Daisy their middle child at 3 years old, and their youngest child Adam 1 and half years old. And he has proven to be a wonderful and loving father, as well as the story reader at bedtime with calm and soothing voice.

He's an accountant for the same company, Lisa's husband works for, as far she knows he is the one to keep managers and their teams in budget. He was trained in the field and standard-issue self-defense classes Defence 101, stop, drop, and roll, when he was working for MI5 as an accountant, as well as the CIA, and the Company. Each of the self defence instructors telling him to turn anxiety and fear into anger. Anger is more empowering than fear. This difficulty would undoubtedly lead him, in the field or an emergency situation, to a most fatal hesitation. At the company, all staff are trained for emergencies measures, and how to protect themselves with advanced self defence classes.

Though her husband has tried doing advanced training, he was able to get past the physical, but not the hand to hand combat part, he also finds it difficult to channel violence toward other human beings.

All of a sudden, she is brought out of her happy thoughts when she sees The Head Security Guard for Hotel Security Frank Ford, a balding man, with a lean body, his suits are always impeccable from Jacksonville. His burnt umber eyes meets Cynthia's big brown dole eyes, while she is smiling over at the man grabbing his attention. With a message that she is trying to convey silently 'could you have a little nose about' as her husband would say in his impeccable British accent.

She has already instructed the security staff on handling lockouts, and to watch things from the surveillance room, though some of the cameras are not operations either, or are completely not working. From there, they can monitor the security cameras that are working and see what exactly is going on in certain areas of the hotel and they are able to have some type of backup in case something goes wrong in this situation. While waiting for the CCTV repair people to make their way to the hotel for the second time tonight.

Luckily Frank, their long-serving head of security, is exiting the elevator and is striding defiantly and unobtrusively across the lobby towards her scanning the lobby professionally, but without targeting. Fortunately, for her Frank is a man who takes his job very, very seriously with his kindness and humour, he is ever vigilant, and a little obsessive about anything he deems to be a potential security breach. But, that is what happens when you have worked in the Secret Service, and other government agencies that he has worked with.

Especially when it comes to customers who are known to steal shampoo bottles, soaps, shower gels, towels, bathrobes, wooden hangers, and the occasional coffeemaker. At a manager's meeting 3 years ago, Frank suggested that Lisa should make it mandatory to install cameras in guest rooms.

This came after following a series of incidents where customers threw parties, damaged their rooms, and then conveniently skipped town. Maintenance had to fix holes in the walls, repainting, replacing broken TVs, electrical's, chairs, as well as stained and torn bedding which all in total over the incidents costs the hotel too much, when it keeps happening. The cameras would be a way where it allows a desk clerk to take a quick glance at the room during checkout to ensure there is no damage to the room or contents.

Unfortunately, because of Privacy laws, hotels are not permitted to have cameras in guests' rooms. Because they are inspected regularly, so the second that one is discovered in a room or in any area where the guests have a reasonable expectation of privacy, it would be all over the news and hotel would be dropped from the brand like a hot potato, along with liquidation damages based upon the time the guest had left on your agreement.

Coming out of her thoughts slowly, a little voice in Cynthia's head says. 'What a damn shame'.

Her eyes travel back to Frank whose thickly seamed forehead is furrowing in concern, creasing looking at his boss for night directly, telling Cynthia who has the frightened bewilderment on her face. While with his eyes and his suspiciously quiet intelligence is written all over his features with a stoic façade. 'I'll get the boys to have a little wander about, to find anymore strangeness'. She thinks the words her husband would say in her head, hoping that it will bring some comfort and semblance of protection.

He begins to walk to the locked security door which is in-between two of the four hotel restaurants, and has a corridor leading down into the hotel's security room, or what Frank calls it, The Eye In The High Sky.

For the moment, Cynthia's eyes shift back to the customer in front of her, she takes a quick deep breathe disguising it as a sigh, wanting so badly to close her eyes as tightly possible. Anytime there is a problem, he is the one who calls Lisa or Cynthia on their two ways and lets them know about it so that they can deal with it. Likewise, if there is a bad problem, he is always more than willing to meet them halfway and help them deal with it, with the help of proficient team members.

Focusing on the woman in front of her ready to apologise sincerely; while she is trying to ignore the brash clamour of the telephone on her desk, which demands her attention. Grabbing a new keycard to magnetise, an angry member who is yelling at her about how her accommodations aren't as up to par as they've been in the past.

At the same time, Cynthia can hear the rude commentary all the way from the far side of the main desk, a very vocal group of guests shouting down to Seleena, none of them caring about her feelings at the moment. Troublemakers!

Luckily, another staff member has intervened, smiling over to the woman to get her attention which she has. Letting Seleena take a break by using one of many of their International code for I will take it from here 'There's a call out back for you, it's Mr Whoo'.

She can hear the dark haired man gruffly say, in his loudest and most obnoxious voice, he is known to be a picky guest and thinks that the sun shines out of his ass. "Finally, someone around here with a little intelligence, and actually knows what they are doing!"

It makes Cynthia think of their attitude as she imagines herself grimly glaring at the practically salivating group in front of fellow staff member. She has had enough of them as it is the last couple of days, and today she is simply becoming too tired of his rubbish.

'This is the fifth time this has happened to us in the past (insert time spent hotel).'

Her reverie is interrupted by the ringing persists sometimes going unanswered, it seems like every single customer needs some insane problem solved, it's as if the customers have some sixth sense and prey when they're busy and short-handed.

Cynthia sees the white light on top of the phone is illuminating, indicating this is an outside call. She sighs heavily. It is probably another person, or tour group wanting to book a room and become another troublesome guest. Still. It is her job to deal with it.

At The Lux, Corporate who thinks all staff on the front desk don't have enough to do, they have their unrealistic policy for everyone to answer the phone within three rings, day or night. She swears they think that the desk clerks are just telesales agents, who have a script to read, and have to get through a certain amount of calls to hit their goal for the day.

She grabs the phone in some irritation swiftly without any delay in her movement, as if it is second nature and pulls the phone from the base, apologising to the guest in front of her. Honestly, it is all beginning to give her one massively painful headache that is like her brain is a magnet and is pulling everything inside her, and It's not just the weather either.

"Good morning, Lux Atlantic, this is Cynthia speaking. How can I help you?" She speaks into the handset using her 'people pleaser' tone, awaiting the voice at the end of the line.

There is silence, except for the sound of cracking and buzzing on other side.

When there is no response she tries speaking again. 'Hello?'

On the contrary, there is still no reply, just crackling, buzzing, and now a very low robotic voice that sounds like the person is from Mars contacting earth intermingled.

'Hello?' she repeats but this time accentuating the double L's and O, barely able to suppress her annoyance. Cynthia momentarily checking the receiver, tapping it, just in case it is a dodgy connection on her end, because that would just add more problems. She employs every iota of her diplomatic people-pleasing skills as she is about to disconnect and call, when she hears a familiar voice speak back to her.

"Cynthia, it's Lisa." Lisa speaks loudly and clearly sounding but her voice is cracking, as she continues like she is in the middle of crying from the other end of the line. Her voice interjecting Cynthia before she hangs up the phone, and she will need to ring the hotel again.

"Hey Leese? You sound terrible! Are you okay?" Asks Cynthia sincerely in concern for friend Lisa, who sounds upset, the funeral must have been emotional and brought up a lot of memories, worrying the connection will crap out and die mid-sentence.

She wonders this as she is logging onto the hotel computer system pulling up the crisis form to Corporate and the maintenance team for the guest in front of her and the person on the other phone against her right ear. They always have a handful set of templated forms ready for occasions such as these, in an easy to access drive.

"There's just..." She replies sounding like she is crying more freely now. "There's a lot of turbulence on the plane, and we're exhausted."

"You're both still on the plane? I heard flights are delayed. Listen, you'll be so proud of Seleena. We're all set for Keefe. The Cristal on ice, she discovered tonight that the cigars, are not too easy to find time to do anything else!"

Lisa quickly interrupts her friend from starting to babble. "That's brilliant, I bet that was fun to see".

"Yer, she pretty much asked everyone where to get them, but then she got creative, which was awesome to see." Cynthia giggles as speaks, with good humour as she remembers when she had that task many years ago.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" She pauses for a moment to clear her throat, before speaking again.

"We're having an unexpected situation here, maintenance was fixing a water valve in the master baths as there are plumbing problem with all the executive suites, except for 4080." Cynthia interrupts Lisa with urgency in her voice, but also trying to remain calm at the same time. As she takes the form from the printer next to her terminal, before she signs it at the bottom and slides it over to the customer in front of her.

For the meantime, Cynthia can hear that Lisa has pressed her head against the seat head rest by the crunching sounds of her hair against the fabric hoping she is getting herself comfortable so she can hear the what a disastrous night it has been so far. Cynthia's wonder to the woman in front of her, who is biting her lip as she resists the urge to scream at Cynthia for making her fill out forms. It would be so easy for her to do that, as she pushes the form back to her. Ignoring the woman's expression she puts on the old customer service face, and grabbing the form she places it next to her.

"So, if anyone uses the plumbing…Then shit'll hit the fan!" Lisa rattles off with a serious sounding voice, though underneath there is some humour to the words she is saying, which makes Cynthia giggle a little.

"Yer, so we had to move Keefe into room 4080, thanks to Dan Young who is a hero at this point." She continues to speak keeping the smile, and keeping her voice as smooth as possible, as she logs the details into the computer, her fingers continues to furiously type away at the keys of her keyboard. Ready for maintenance to take the job, and assigning a job number to it, whether it will be soon, or later in the day is down to if maintenance can find the problem and can replicate it smoothly. "I'll just explain to them I authorised it, I am the manager of the reception. It's not like I can magically make his normal suite fixed in under an hour."

"Cynthia, I'm gonna need you to do me a favour?" Lisa asks her friend and esteemed colleague, as her voice thick is with emotion, and the sound of unbridled relief.

"Sure, anything Leese, what's wrong?" Cynthia replies with unbridled concern in her voice, frowning at the question. Then naturally turning on that ol' customer-service smile front and centre ALWAYS comes first to the customer in front of her. "Thank you so much for your patience." She tells them in her nicest voice all smooth and professional, though to herself it sounds sickly sweet mixed with the genuine relief that at least one customer is down.

Though the couple with the issue of the century are just waiting, each on one of the designer armchairs in the sitting area opposite the reception desk arguing with one another and staring daggers into the desk staff including herself. What Cynthia is really saying in an annoyed and frustrated voice in her head is "PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I AM ONE-EIGHTH OF A PROZAC AWAY FROM RIPPING OUT YOUR THROAT, YOU IMPATIENT [BLEEP]ING COW!"

"Yeah," Lisa answers with some urgency in her voice but underneath there is the sound of fear, and anxiety mixed in. As she ignores the second part of Cynthia's reply, as it was obviously for a customer, wondering what exactly is going on at the hotel. "When the Keefe's and his team arrive at their designated time of 5:30, I need you to talk to his head of security, can you tell his security to do a sweep of the room with just Keefe to make it look like he is up there with his family?" Lisa says quietly into the handset, just loud enough over the buzzing, and what sounds like Jackson whispering for Cynthia to hear her.

Cynthia replies in a confused voice, as she also copies Lisa in whispering too. "But they always check the rooms before letting Keefe and his family go in?" Her eyes looking around at the people in the hotel lobby, wondering which one of them is there for more nefarious reasons, she stops her gaze at the other end of the desk and studies Seleena out of the corner of his eye.

"I know," she gasps out with a slight tremor in her voice, as though she is trying to keep it together emotionally. "I need your help, because something's going to happen to Keefe and his family if it doesn't,"

"Lisa, what's going on?" She asks in concern, a little bit of tentativeness is her candour, hidden behind quiet determination and unspoken assertiveness. Glancing from the corner of her eye over to her left at the sight of one of the hotel staff running around crazily in the background.

"All right; the nearest I can tell you is that you're being involved in all this is just convenience to their plans, it was supposed to be me dealing with all the mess you are having right now." Lisa says down the receiver breathlessly, to Cynthia it sounds as if the words coming out of her mouth are causing her chest to hurt.

"Is this the reason why everything is going to shit and the hotel is in utter chaos, and Keefe's room had to be changed?" She continues with an enquiry, trying to keep her voice steady as she can, even though there is still shakiness and worry there, in the undertones almost sounding small, as she thinks about what she needs to do next.

As she hears Lisa take a pained breathe before she continues to speak again, with a sudden burst of renewed energy. "Cynthia, I don't have much time to explain this fully. But, just know once Keefe is seen in the hotel room, there's going to be an explosion, there's a boat is outside on the bay with a rocket launcher." Lisa explains her voice sounding urgent and forceful down the speaker, yet there is an undercurrent of determination as well as desperation and motherly worry is seeping through.

"Leese is someone making you do this? Does this involve you and Jackson?" She asks in blatant confusion, and sincere concern for her best friend, uncomfortable now, Cynthia has a frown gracing her eyebrows written all over her features, she tries to determine what her friend is feeling, what she means by saying all of this.

"Yes, unfortunately in a way, but now I'm stopping something bad from happening to a good person and his family, otherwise me and Jackson are going to be dead too." Lisa replies, plunging ahead without missing a beat, her voice sounding resigned, and her throat tight, but also nerve-wracked by the turbulence.

Cynthia's mouth gapes open in reaction to the horror at the words that has just come out of her best friends mouth, feeling a bit light headed. It is painful to hear and see the familiar notes from the Lux Atlantic's day-to-day floating through around her…the other receptionists gossiping and dealing with the angry herd of customers, children yelping as they stand with their angry parents, and luggage clattering as the wheels roll against the tiles.

"Cynthia…" Lisa says before she sucks in a shaky breath deeply, afterwards breathing out again, letting out a frustrated sigh escaped, she sounds as if she is fighting to not burst into tears trying her best to be patient. "it's not just about Keefe and his family, It's also about me, Jackson, my daughters, and my dad." Lisa continues in a voice that is steady, assertive, and commanding in tone to express the urgency of what is going to happen sounding genuine but her patience is wearing thin.

"...There's hardly time, Leese," She moans trying desperately to ignore her sickness, the emotions welling inside her are overwhelming. "I'd better go." She continues in panicked voice, the tone full of worry and frightened-sounding the cadence slow as if she is trying to remind herself she needs to make sure they are ready for Keefe and what is going to happen later this morning.

The line goes dead on the side after one final crackle and a prolonged buzzing; immediately she realises that she needs gratefully hang up the phone. Though Cynthia feels the familiar feeling of panic rise in the pit of her stomach, she quietly puts down the handset onto the base, in one swift movement as if it is an automatic action.

As she looks up; she suddenly becomes aware she still has hundreds of people waiting for their complaints to be dealt with, and realises that this is all connect to what Lisa told her on the phone just now. She needs to try and make sure everybody is safe, especially Keefe.

All of a sudden, she has a sneaking suspicion someone is watching her from somewhere, a cold shiver runs down her spine causing her to shudder. She looks back over to where the couple with the issue of the century are seated at the hotel lounge still throwing intense death stares her way while still arguing with each other, she can hear their rude commentary all the way back at the main desk.

The lounge area is filled with even more expensive, black leather couches and chairs imported from somewhere unbeknown to her, though it could have been one of the reception desk who thoughtfully thought guests might need somewhere to sit while they are waiting to complain.

Noticing in the far corner, next to one of the plants there is a lone figure with dark hair growing considerably grey on the sides, in a business suit wearing a tie and even a waistcoat; a sharp, pristine look, if slightly nondescript and wire rim classes. He is sitting in one of the leather chairs reading today's political section of the New York Times that is held low enough for it to touch his dress pants. Strangely though, he has a static expression on his face with an empty, diplomatic smile on his lips. For this reason, with great care and attention that she knows is something Lisa would do she catalogues the tiny details of his camouflage making sure to remember his face for later.