A late Monday afternoon, sun just about to set and the tides are rising.

There was tension in the air as Vela sat on a grey, wooden bench on the docks of Philadelphia. She had arrived an hour ago, now waiting for her old friend Jonny. It was a long time since they had worked on a job together, partly because of the fact that they were both in different cities now, but Vela was jubilant that finally they will be able to meet up again. She raised her chin, looked out into the sea and closed her eyes for a moment to appreciate the cool breeze rushing past her pale face. Vela hears footsteps approaching her and she swiftly turns her head, realizing that its who she had been waiting for this whole time.

"Jonny! My old friend, good to see you. Did you get the details about the assignment?" She cocked her head, smiling.

Vela rose from the bench and was now standing in front of him, her spirits lifted. "Sorry if I'm out of it today. Woke up with a bad back, lets get something to eat first, I can hear your stomach growling." Vela beamed, taking him gently by the elbow and walking with him to a restaurant diner that was not far from the docks. They only had to walk a short distance until they got there, taking steps to the front entrance with a growling stomach from Vela. "Don't worry about paying. You paid for the taxi last time so let me do this." Vela let go of his elbow after giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. 

For a moment she was just staring at him, wondering if something had gone awkward between them. Vela thought to herself maybe the love bug had bit, but she shook her head anyway and held the door open behind her as she walked inside the diner. When she came in, a delightful waitress comes running to her with a cheerful smile, a mini notepad and a pen in her hand. "Good afternoon! What a lovely couple you guys are! What can I get for you today?" Vela tried to stifle the laughter coming from her mouth, as she saw that the waiter was overly enthusiastic about them being a couple. Little did she know, they were just two old friends about to grab something to eat so they can be energised for their illegitimate activities. She decided to not respond to it, as Vela was finding it hard to come up with the words. "I'll just get the steak and gravy special. I need that protein, ya know?" Vela jested, looking at the lady before crossing her arms as she looked around the diner. The waitress nods quickly, jotting down her order on the little book of paper in her hand. She raised her head and now turned to Jonny, "And for your lovely partner, what will you be having today? The steak and gravy is on special today but we're also serving cooked eggs and biscuits together. A weird combo but it works!" The lady explained joyfully, moving closer to Jonny to hear what he had to say. 

"Coffee first. Eggs and biscuits sound good also. If you would beautiful." I gave her my best smile. She wrote it down with red cheeks and hurried away. I chuckled to myself. "Your just bad Jonny." Vela said with a laugh. I waited a moment for the waitress to leave, then quietly I said, "Here's what I know. A man is getting off the ship 'White Whistle'. He has a briefcase with him that is suppose to contain a small fortune." The waitress dropped off my coffee. I paused to think and drink a little coffee.

"If we go down to the docks and wait for the ship, we're in a good position to see him leave. I figure we'll follow and at the right time, politely ask for the briefcase." the smile on my face said anything but polite. "Then we get somewhere safe and see what we earned." I said with a flourish. Vela nodded in agreement. Our meals came and we chatted about other things while we ate. I paid the bill, even though Vela profoundly protested and we headed towards the docks.

The docks in Philly are controlled by an unnamed source, I just happen to work for that source. When we got there I went into Harbor Patrol's office and asked to see the arrival ledger. The gal behind the counter looked up, recognized me, and said "Sure Jonny." and handed me the book. I looked up White Whistle and saw it was due to arrive and land at wharf 36 in thirty five minutes. I handed the book back to ... Mary, I think it's Mary, "Thank you Mary." I said. "Anytime Jonny, but when are you going to take me out to dinner?" she asked with a wicked smile. "Whenever you want sweetheart." was my reply as I turned and walked out the office.

"Okay, it's wharf 36. Lets find a place a little out of the way, but with a view." I mentioned to Vela. We walked down the docks to wharf 36 and looked around. Vela touched my arm and said "Over here looks the best Jonny." I smiled and followed her to the spot.

Vela walked over to a nice shady spot with Jonny, sitting down on the bench that was placed under the big palm tree. She looked at Jonny in a suspicious manner and tilted her head slightly, smirking. "Wow, you're so smooth with the ladies." Vela joked, hitting him on his back playfully. Few minutes passed of Vela and Jonny just waiting for the ship to come and the briefcase be dropped off. Vela leaned back, shutting Jonny out of her thoughts for a second, wondering what were the contents of the briefcase they had to deliver. When Vela was called in for the job, the person seemed to be speaking to her in desperation and urgency, the insides of the briefcase being very important to the man as he stated. Who was Vela to deny the job anyway, she already finished a lot of the errands she had to do for the day. There was just something about this job that seemed a bit off, but she shrugged it off and continued to admire the scenery before her. "Spill some beans about your life. It seems like the ladies take a huge liking to you. What did you do? Bribe them with money in the past?" She turned her face to Jonny, giggling, which stopped dramatically as her eyes travelled to a man riding on a bike past Jonny's ear. The man riding the bike got his foot stuck through the loop on the pedal and fell hard, groaning from the collide with the concrete path. "Oh my goodness Jonny we have to go help that man out." Even though she wasn't really sure what to do besides put pressure on his scratched up knees, Vela rushed her way to the man with widened eyes. 

"Sir! Please be calm.. We will get you the help you need. Hold on for a minute." She ran her hands through her bangs to get them out of her face before turning her head quickly to Jonny. "Um, Jonny, please.. Get Mary or someone from that office we just came from. Tell them we need medical assistance. If they don't have any, come back with a bandage or a path or SOMETHING." Vela entreated, placing her pale hands tightly on the mans knees trying to keep his leg stable. His knee is grazed with blood running down his leg, making Vela panic even more. "Sir, you will be okay." Vela then remembered that Jonny and her were supposed to be waiting for the briefcase which was probably going to come any minute now. They needed to be at the docks as soon as possible, making Vela shuffle around the man quickly, looking back at Jonny now standing beside her with a towel. Vela assumed that there was probably no medical trainee on site. Annoyingly, she took the towel from Jonny and secured it around the man's knee, which made him groan in pain more. "Oh my goodness Sir, I apologize, but just uh..." Vela apologized, holding the towel while it soaked all the blood up like a sponge. She took it off his knee, making him wince. "Hold on S-" Vela was tapped on the shoulder suddenly by a man wearing a white uniform. She sees a logo for the local hospital on his shirt, the man carrying a medical tool box with another man in the same uniform beside him. "We'll take care of this." One of them assured, bending down in front of the man to assess the situation. 

A sound of a ship could be heard by the docks, making Vela lift her chin quickly, putting her mouth in an 'o' sound. "Man, we're all over the place today. Okay, lets go get that suitcase shall we?" She stood up from the ground, saying goodbye to the man and the medical assistants. Vela walked with Jonny to the docks, squinting to see more clearly. From where they were walking, Vela could see that there was a man standing at the end of the docks, holding a briefcase. "The boss didn't specify what kind of suitcase he wanted us to get, but since that man over there is holding a black one, lets just assume its the black briefcase he wanted." She coaxed, only a few steps away from the man. The man looked stern, standing in his expensive suit, shades over his eyes. Vela wasn't intimidated, but she checked for her pistol in her coat pocket for assurance. "Okay. You can speak to him first. Don't tell him who we are. The boss didn't tell me to expose our identities or anything like that. I'm sure that man doesn't want to know anyway, probably just the messenger." Vela confided, looking at Jonny to see if he was listening. 

As Jonny and Vela approached the man, he fixed his posture and looked at Vela, to Jonny and back to Vela. "So you've been expecting me." The man holds up the briefcase he was holding, raising his eyebrows. "Furthermore, you've been expecting this briefcase, yes?" 

She wanted some beans, I paused and gave it some thought. "I'm a lot older then you think." I told her, "I've learned early on to read people. She was a simple read. Just looking for attention." Vela looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but did not comment. Behind me a man fell off of a bike he was riding. Vela jumped up to help, I just sat there. The man who fell off the bike was the pick up man. Nobody wears a nice suit like that, riding a bike.

After all was said and done, we walked towards the man with the briefcase. "Furthermore, you've been expecting this briefcase, yes?"  he finished. I looked at the man with cold eyes, "You will hand it over." I stated. The gentleman stared at me for a second, then with wide eyes handed me the case. "I don't give a shit who I give it too, as long as I'm done with it." he said and after handing me the case, hurried away. "Well shit. That was easy." I said to Vela, "Let's go somewhere private."

We walked back to the main roads and found a quiet side street to go down to examine our goods. I placed the briefcase on a garbage can and began to pick the lock. I no more then started when I heard, "Hey! Watch you doing down there?" I turned to see a copper walking towards us. Vela, bless her, chimed in, "My boyfriend lost the keys to his briefcase. We were trying to open it." she giggled, "Said he had a gift in there for me." The cop smiled at Vela, I took that time to hide my lock pick set. "Oh, did he?" the flatfoot asked, "May I have a look at that case?" I smiled and handed him the case. He tried the lock, then looked it over. I went and stood beside him and whispered, "Sir. I mean no offense, but I need to open it. The engagement ring cost my three weeks salary." The cop looked at me, snorted and said, "Trust me. They will cost you more then just a ring." He laughed and handed me the case back. As he walked away, Vela and I dashed down the next side street.

Vela batted her eyelashes, extending her hand and holding out her ring finger. "Oh Jonny! To what do I owe this pleasure?" She smirked, twirling around before she wrapped her arms around the briefcase. Just before, they had been confronted by a cop but luckily Vela spoke first, a lie to get them out of the other side street quickly. Vela now stood in the middle of the next side street over, hiding behind a large trashcan between brick walls. "Now wasn't that just adorable?" She joked, giving Jonny the side eye. "Okay so now, back to work. Lets open this suitcase, shall we?" She asked, looking down at the briefcase in her hands that she just snatched from him. "Jonny... I don't know why but I don't have a good feeling about this." Vela flatly announced, eyeing the locks on the briefcase, secure in all the right places. "Like, the boss didn't specify what kind of briefcase or even told us what was inside..." There was something awfully suspicious to this situation, but Vela would soon find out what it is one way or another. She set the briefcase down, propped it on its correct side and made way for Jonny to work his magic on the lock. Vela knew that he got a start on it in the other street, but that was quickly cut short because of the nosy police man. With a sound of a click shortly after she gave it to him, Vela bent down and inched closer to Jonny and the briefcase. "Wait what..." Vela's jaw dropped, her eyes almost bulging out of its sockets. "You have got to be kidding me!" She sputtered, ferociously throwing the briefcase as far from her as possible, letting it scratch against the concrete ground. 

This was an extremely odd situation. A briefcase containing a bunch of sex flyers was hovering in the air, being swayed by the wind. Vela was beyond angry, she was ready to kill a bitch. "I don't understand. I knew it wouldn't be something good! Ever since we got it from that eerie guy, I had a feeling we took the wrong briefcase..." It suddenly came to her that there were many men on that ship, wearing similar suits and shades, possibly meaning that the man she took the briefcase from was probably a spy, an impostor or an enemy. "Fuck. I didn't notice this before but there were actually other people on that ship who looked exactly like the man we were talking to! Sadly, I think.. we've been LIED TO BY THE BOSS." A light bulb switched on in her mind, making her come to her senses. Vela ran both of her hands through her air, eyes widening and trying to catch her breath. "Either that, or I have been completely oblivious to the fact that the guy could've been an enemy of ours, thus trying to catch us off guard." She wondered, looking down at her feet as if she'd find the answers in the ground. There was many possibilities to how it could have all gone down, but there was one thing she knew for sure - they had taken the wrong briefcase. What kind of boss wanted a briefcase full of posters for prostitutes? Vela was shook to the core. 

"Wait." Vela paused, pointing her finger in the direction of the briefcase she just hopelessly threw on the ground. "Lets check if there's a clue inside that might lead us to an explanation." She suggested, walking towards the black leather case and lifting it by the handle with one hand on the bottom to support it. Vela turned to Jonny, unsure and scared of what else it may hold. She slowly clicked open the locks again, lifting the top part. In the midst of the papers, there was a little note folded neatly in the corner, which made Vela feel a sense of masked danger. "What..." Puzzled Vela as she looked at Jonny again and slightly shrugged her right shoulder. "I'm kind of scared to read it. You do the honours." She beckoned, handing the note over to Jonny as her fingers were shaking. Vela crossed her arms before biting on a single fingernail, just staring at the strip of paper in his hand, wondering what it might have said. "Jonny, why are you looking like that right now? Stop scaring me... Tell me what you read." Vela urged, her anxiety starting to build up and a drop of sweat forming on the side of her head. She still bit on her fingernail, trying to peel a sharp bit off with her teeth to distract her from overthinking.

Vela was bummed that this day was not going as planned AT ALL. So much for all that waiting time at the docks.

Vela gave me the note. As I opened it I was trying to figure out what the happened. DID we get the wrong case? We're we screwed? These thoughts were going through my head when I read the note. I had to look twice to make sure I read it correctly, "Do not lose any of these flyers each has a coded message on them, they are worth a fortune." I read to her. I looked at Vela, she just stared blankly at me. I threw my head back and laughed, I saw some of the flyers swept into the water. The sight of that made me double over with laughter.

I was able to bring myself under control, sort of, and started to pick up the flyers. "Lets pick up as many as we can. This case might come in handy later." I mentioned to Vela. I got the ones I could see and Vela was grabbing what she could. We put them back into the case and closed it. "SO." I said, "We got the wrong briefcase, but a case worth a fortune with no idea who's it is?" I walked back and forth thinking. "We can go back to the pier and try again, or take this to the boss and hope we don't get shot. We could also ditch the case and tell the boss we missed it or there were too many cops around."

As I was thinking of ideas, the gent we took the case from stepped around the corner holding a gun, "I'll be taking that briefcase back, if you please." he said in a scared voice. The gun was shaking in his had. I whispered to Vela, "He's scared. Probably never fired a gun. If we rush him we could catch him off guard."

I look at Vela and asked with a grin, "Well, whats the plan?"

Vela is confused. 

Vela tries to comprehend the situation. 

"Ah, the plan is no longer! Whole mission was overthrown by a bunch of lunatics and impostors!" 

The End