Who: Adelle and a client When: The day after Artemis' most recent engagement. What: Someone needs an active rather badly. Where: Adelle's office Locked to: No one Status: One shot; complete
Adelle poured sparkling water into a glass made of clear cut Dublin crystal, and brought it over to her client. Mario Garcia was an older client of theirs, in that he had used them in the past, but it had been a while since they'd seen him. She held the private belief that the reason was due to finances. Of course they kept tabs on their clients, in order to be sure that no hints of the Dollhouse's existence were being dropped anywhere. Thus, Adelle knew that he had a bit of a gambling problem. Oh not in Vegas-nothing so crass as slot machines or roulette. No, Mario Garcia's gambling problems stemmed from his love of fast cars.
Mario was nervous, and his hands shook when he took the glass from her. Had he not been a client, Adelle may have considered offering him a place in the Dollhouse . . . except that he would never fit in properly. Despite the fact that he would essentially disappear from the rest of the world-it was really surprisingly easy to wipe away the fact that a man or woman had lived-the man was, to put it plainly, old. He was in his 50s, not at all attractive, and could stand to lose at least a hundred pounds. Plus, he sweat quite a bit when nervous. As he was doing now, sitting on her office's couch, and causing her to make a mental note to have it steamed after he left.
A warm, client-smile touched her lips as she waited for him to take a deep gulp, followed by a slow even breath, and finally meet her gaze. "Oh, Mario. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into here? The Ricardo family." She tsked softly, shaking her head as she sat at the other end of the couch, still smiling. "You should really be more careful in choosing your friends."
Mario scoffed, relaxing thanks to her calming presence, and looked down at the glass in his hand-a part of him calculating just how much it was worth. "Ms. Dewitt...Adelle..." He paused, glancing to her from the corner of his eye to see if it was okay to call her by her first name. When she didn't protest, he continued. "...I honestly didn't mean to get into this trouble. But my drivers." He shook his head, looking back over to her. "They're being sabotaged. Not the cars-the drivers. They either don't show up for races-I think they're being paid off-or they show up somewhere else...like the hospital. I need a driver for Saturday night's race, or it'll be me who ends up in the hospital. If I'm lucky. The Ricardos might just skip the ER and send me straight to the basement!" His hand-to his dismay-trembled again before he made a concentrated effort to stop it.
"So what you need, Mario, is a driver who can take care of themself off the track as easily as on?"
"And someone who can win the race. I have to win this race..." He trailed off, and Adelle nodded. "Any preference as to gender?" Mario shook his head. "Then I think I have just the Active in mind." She smiled again. "You do remember, I'm sure, that there is the requirement of an additional fee, since there is some measure of risk to my Active. Physical risk, that is." "Yes! I remembered. I made sure I saved enough money in case...in case I had to come see you."
Adelle nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Once the funds are wired to our account, we'll begin prepping the Active." She stood, forcing Mario to stand as well out of politeness. Adelle smiled warmly again as she held out her hand. He was forced to set down the glass in order to shake hers. "We'll have the Active at the track at eleven pm Saturday evening. Of course the usual rules apply-no questions as to the Active's history or past other than what applies to the engagement itself. If the Active is made to think of the Dollhouse in any way, something could go wrong. And we don't want that, now do we Mario?"
Mario shook her hand several times, then shook his head in agreement with her. "Of course not! I'll keep silent, and I'll tell the team that it's just a nobody driver I scooped up somewhere. Thank you, Adelle! You've saved my life!" "Yes, well, we won't hold that over you." A soft chuckle was given to show she was joking, and she escorted him out.
Once he was gone, she moved towards her desk to take out some antibacterial lotion, smoothing the Japanese Cherry Blossom scented cream over her hands. She then paged her secretary, asking her to send up Mr. Dominic, Topher, and David, Artemis' handler.