As a spy, you tend to follow a few basic guidelines. One of the most obvious rules is make sure that you don't have an attachment between yourself and the client. Or that one of your team mate gets attached.
"Hey Mikey!" I groaned. Whenever Sam called me Mikey, it meant 'I need a favor' or 'you can buy me a beer, right?'. And since he wasn't hounding me for beer, it meant a favor and favors equal clients.
"Mikey, you got a minute? This is Kim, she needs some help with a bunch of real nasty guys. And between you and me, she's willing to fork over a lot of cash for a little rescuing." Sam pointed to a leggy redhead leaning against the bar of Carlito's, nursing a peach mojito. Behind my shades, I rolled my eyes and nodded. Sam beckoned the girl over and she sat down in Fi's usual spot. I looked her over. She was young, not a day over twenty, and cute in a little-girl way.
Sam nodded to her. "Ok Kim, tell Michael what you told me." Kim fiddled with her hair and looked somewhere over my shoulder. She was pretty uncomfortable, so I took off my shades and tried to smile encouragingly. I doubt it helped much.
"My dad's a drunk and he lost his job and we had no money for his fix, so he sent me and my sister Clara out on the streets to get whatever we could, and said he'd kill us if we came back with nothing. And...one day Clara met some guy downtown that said he could help her get some money, really quietly. She said yes and he-he-he just took her and now I don't know where she is!" And she started sobbing, big loud boo-hoos.
Sam, despite all his 'expertise' with ladies, was pretty stunned when Kim started bawling, so we both just sat there like a couple of idiots until Fi swooped down out of nowhere and wrapped her arm around Kim and gave her a napkin to dry her eyes.
"Kim, right? Ok, why don't you come stay with me until we can get this mess all sorted out okay? Sam can drive you to Michael's house and help you get settled in, while Michael and I will start looking for the men that took your sister. It's going to be alright, I promise."
Kim nodded and coughed a little while I glared at Fi. She knows better than to just make promises to people, especially when this kid is obviously terrified and dying to get any kind of good news, with nothing to back them up with.
As Sam led Kim into the Charger, Fi and I walked to the Saab and once I was sure Kim was out of earshot, I opened my mouth to start to grill her, but she beat me to it.
"Michael, that girl is eighteen and terrified! Her father sent them out on the street to hustle for his booze, and, well, I'm not surprised that Clara got picked up by a pimp. All we have to do is find out who and where she's working and we go. It can't take more than a couple of days. So I told her it's gonna be alright, big deal. It wouldn't kill you to be a little more tactful with some of your clients." She looked at me like a schoolmarm and I was utterly stumped.
She has to be a witch. No one can just silence me like that without having made some kind of deal with the devil.
"Besides," said The Witch, "you remember my last cover, when I was Kim?" I winced. I had to slap Fi right in the face to maintain a cover. In hindsight, it probably saved both our lives, but she never fully got over it, even when I apologized again and again. Evidentially, witches can hold a grudge.
"Fi, you know I did that because Natalie was a crazy psychopath that was going to put a bullet in your head the second you took those cuffs off, and judging from the way you two were getting all cozy, you'd be dead if we hadn't gotten there." Fi hmphed and tossed her hair, hitting me in the face. Charming.
She turned to me. "So, what's the plan? I'm all for some well placed C4 and some gasoline, but if Clara's at the pimp's place than that's a bit dangerous. Although if we get her out quickly, I can still make something work." I rolled my eyes.
"No Fi, we want to keep this small. I know Sam said Kim has the money to pay but I'm on a budget." Fi sighed and stretched, pulling her dress up around her thighs. I managed to politely look away, but I still saw the smirk on her face.
"Michael, for an international spy and all the hype that goes with it, you can be have all the flavor of vanilla ice cream. Where's the excitement, the thrill? Live a little, Michael." She started tracing a pattern on my leg and I had to close my eyes and count to ten before I could look at her again.
"Fi..." and of course my phone rang. I glanced from her to my phone and saw the frustration in her eyes and the set of her mouth. I mouthed Sorry and flipped open my phone. "Yeah Sam?"
"Mike, we have a problem. Whoever kidnapped Carla just was waiting for us as we went by her place to get her stuff and took a few shots at us." I waited for Sam to continue but he was silent.
"And...?" I could hear the squeal of tires in the background and Sam swearing. "Sam, what the hell is going on?!"
There was a whimper and a muffled scream. Sam breathed heavily into the phone. "It's Kim, Mikey. She got shot in the crossfire. I don't know if she's gonna make it all the way to the loft."