Author's Notes: I wrote this one quickly. Really quickly. With no proofing. You've been warned.
Safe
Mike sits in the meeting area of the county jail, waiting. He does not have happy memories of this room. His side throbs in phantom pains from the memory of when Bello found out he was a Fed and attacked him. The memory of Bello's accusing words the last time he was here may hurt more though. Mike tells himself he isn't evil. He was doing his job to keep evil off the street. As Briggs said, sometimes that job called for him to play in the shades of grey. Mike misses the days when things were black and white. He's not comfortable in the grey.
He steels himself against whatever Bello may have to say to him now. He was certain their most recent meeting would be the last, but yesterday Bello had called and requested a visitation, but wouldn't say why. Mike didn't want to be here, but if there was even a chance they could get Odin, Mike was willing to meet him and hear him out.
"Michael. I'm glad you decided to meet with me." Bello is polite as always. The calm controlled tone gives just a glimpse of the madness that lies beneath.
"Yeah, well from your message, you sounded like you had something pretty urgent to say. What with your trial coming up you ready to finally talk about Odin Rossey?" Mike keeps his tone cool and professional.
"Oh, I'm sorry to have misled you. No. I'm here today to talk about women."
"Women problems? I somehow doubt you've got a lot of those in here." Mike says sarcastically. If Bello wasn't here to talk about Odin this was a waste of his time.
"No, my friend. Not my women problems, your women problems."
"That's very generous of you, but something tells me you didn't call me all the way down here to talk about my love life."
"But that's exactly what I did. See I never go into business with a man I don't know." Bello assures Mike.
"Well, no offense, but you did kind of miss a few key details." Mike holds up his FBI badge.
"Yes, but I know other things. See the nice thing about the drug business, people think it's a large complicated world but it's really not. People run in certain circles. People talk. Perhaps you are familiar with a Vance Young?"
"Yeah, he's a low level drug dealer down at Club Primotology. Hardly worth a man like you's time. Information on him is not going to buy your way out of here. What are you getting at?"
"Well, my sources tell me that a few months ago, he was at the Drop on a… what do they call it in America? A double date?"
Mike feels a cold sweat crawl up his neck.
"Rumor has it you have a very pretty girlfriend, Michael…"
"What have you done?" Mike asks, from behind gritted teeth.
"Me? Nothing. I certainly couldn't do anything from in here, but I wanted to be the one to deliver the message."
"And what is the message?" Mike fears he knows the answer before Bello says it.
Bello leans in menacingly across the table, an ugly grin distorting his handsome face. "We have her."
"Where is she?" Mike growls. He needs to keep cool. He needs to find out as much information as he can.
"I couldn't possibly know. Though perhaps if you were to arrange my release I might be able to help you find her. Though with all the red tape and such, I'm not sure how pretty she'll be by then…"
"If she's dead I swear to God…." Mike threatens.
"Dead? Oh no. Who could destroy such beauty? Though by the time my boys are done with her, she'll wish she was." Bello is not a man to be threatened. It's moments like this when Mike sees behind the facade of the man he befriended and protected, to see the monster below.
The two sit and glare at each other for a moment. Studying each other. It's a game of chess. The light versus the dark. Though, Mike is quickly learning, everything is in shades of gray.
"You're bluffing." Mike finally says, leaning back in his chair, attempting to look more relaxed than he feels.
"Am I?" Bello says cooly.
"Yes. You're toying with me. You know I couldn't arrange to get you out of here, even if I wanted to. You're bored and you're trying to play games with me. Most of your men are dead or imprisoned. The few remaining free never had loyalty to a thug like you. They know you're finished. The only person who ever had any loyalty to you was Eddy, and you put a bullet in his head."
"YOU DID THAT YOU SON OF A BITCH! IT WAS ALL YOU! I AM NOT FINISHED!"
The normally caged animal in Bello was out and he lunges across the table at Mike. The guards rushed forward to retrain Bello, but Mike hardly flinches. The guards drag Bello out of the room, away from Mike who still refuses to show any fear, sitting up straight and strong in his seat.
"You may not be in prison, Michael, but you will be punished for your sins." Bello's soft threatening voice unravels Mike more than his screaming ever could.
As soon as Bello is out of eyesight, Mike stands up and storms out of the prison towards his car. He jumps in and slams the door shut.
His mind is reeling.
He has to be bluffing... Bello doesn't have that kind of power...But he knew about Vance Young... So what? It was just a name it didn't mean anything. Bello was just trying to mess with me… Screw with my mind...
It had worked. Mike was definitely rattled.
He turns on the engine and drives across town as quickly as he can. He keeps imagining every possible bad scenario in his head. He runs through red lights, and weaves through traffic. When he arrives at his destination, he leaves his car parked on the curb and runs up the long flight of stairs and begins pounding on the door like a madman.
"Abby! Abby open up! It's Mike!"
When no one answers, Mike pulls out his gun and kicks in the door. He is not prepared for what he sees…