[ WP ] A skull , a suitcase and a long red bottle of wine .

The haze of cigar smoke made listless wisps beneath the yellow-orange lights of the lounge. I leaned back, trying to relax myself into the tufted leather bench of the booth. Being a little nervous tells you that you're not getting complacent, I tried telling myself. 
 
 Over the dull roar of the reverie from the main room I could make two people talking at the door. One of them, my buyer. 
 
 A moment later, the door opened. The silhouette of a woman appeared in the void, shadowed by the lights of the bar behind her. Her head turned to the doorman for a moment, as though she expected him to enter with her. I traced her profile. Short crop of unruly hair, a perfectly sloped nose. Thin lips, and elegant neckline. 
 
 She turned back towards me and began walking with crisp, deliberate steps across the room. As the door closed behind her, she vanished along with her outline, appearing again as she arrived within the dull luminance of the light above me. 
 
 I did not stand for her. The coldness would set the tone of the meeting; it caught most guests off-guard and gave me the power from the start to control the direction of the transaction. And it also served not to belittle my presence my revealing a physique that none would describe as particularly intimidating. 
 
 She stopped at the table and I finally saw her in the light. Lithe and rigid. Not in the way a person was when they were uncomfortable, instead she carried herself as one in complete control of her emotions. A gray dress clung tightly to her body from just above the knees, across her flat stomach, over the low mounds of her breast and up to her left shoulder, where it draped down to her left wrist. Despite her youthful appearance, her hair was the same pewter gray. Even her blue eyes were dulled by a subduing dray. Only a pair of pink, rosey lips broke the neutrality. At the end of the unclothed arm the hand clutched tightly to a metallic suitcase. 
 
 I gestured for her sit across from me. She placed the suitcase before me and set herself down gracefully in the booth. 
 
 `` Care for some wine?'' I asked her. 
 
 `` Thank you,'' she said, sliding the glass on her side closer to me. 
 
 I picked of the bottle of red wine and leaned slightly to fill he glass before pouring some for myself. 
 
 With a slight grin, I lifted my glass. She mirrored hers and we each took a mouthful of the heady wine. 
 
 I watched as she returned her glass to the table. She returned my gaze as she pursed her lips slightly, her tongue just slipping out, savoring the last vestige of flavor on her lips. 
 
 `` So,'' I began before she stole any more of my attention. `` I trust that there were no problems in securing the payment?'' 
 
 `` Of course not,'' she said drily, though not impolitely. 
 
 I pushed the suitcase aside. `` I never see a reason for counting money from such a frequent associate. Even if their courier is new. It is, I believe, not my place to discipline those who do not work for me.'' 
 
 `` And I can imagine that you're discipline is not as severe as Mr. Grant's. Why add insult to injury?'' 
 
 So she was not new then. Only new to me. 
 
 `` No, that would be quite unreasonable, would n't it?'' I took another sip of wine. She did not. `` Very well,'' I said with a slight sigh. I reached into the leather bag next to me, and pulled out a round object covered in white linen. Gently, I set it down on the table, hesitating for a moment to make sure that it had been righted and would not roll. With both hands, I pulled back the clothe, revealing the skull. A saw a glint of interest in her eyes as she looked into the empty sockets. 
 
 `` Amazing,'' she said. 
 
 `` Normally, this is where I would provide a scientific synopsis of the fossil. But in your, unique circumstance, that would run contrary to the nature of our arrangement. What I can tell you, is that it is unique. At least for the time being. My experts tell me that it is exactly the sort of infallible evolutionary proof in which Mr. Grant and his compatriots have taken such infinite interest.'' 
 
 `` In the right hands then, it could be ground-breaking?'' she inquired. 
 
 `` It would shake the core beliefs of our species as we know it.'' 
 
 `` And the rest of the remains?'' she looked at me, revealing a slight anxiety. 
 
 `` Destroyed, per our standard agreement.'' 
 
 `` And its origin?'' 
 
 `` Now *that* is not part of our standard agreement,'' I folded the clothe back over the skull. After placing the leather bag onto the table, I nested the skull inside. Content, I picked up my wine glass and finished its contents. She did the same. 
 
 The woman precisely stood up and stepped out of the booth. She picked up the bag and was prepared to make her way to her exit when I cleared my throat in a volume that was just barley audible. 
 
 `` Do give my regards to your superiors?'' I asked. 
 
 `` Of course,'' she said. A moment later she disappeared into the darkness between the booth and the door. A few seconds later and she was making her way through the door. 
 
 A man stepped out of the shadows and stood at my side. 
 
 `` I need you to send a message to Grant.''
