Chapter 2


Sm Owns everything...I only own the plot.

I heard the voice of a guy in our room. He sounded familiar and I tried my best to keep up the act that I was asleep. He was talking about knocking someone off and then I heard what sounded like a fight. My eyes snapped open and found the TV on and the source of the man in our room. Rolling onto my back I stretched and sat straight up rolling my shoulders and cracking my back. Halley was way to cheerful for whatever time it was during the day.

"Oh good your finally up! I thought that if we watched a couple of these movies we could figure out our next move. Now I know that yesterday I responded badly but…."

She trailed off as I blinked a few times, only to discover that we were in a shitty motel and not in our crappy apartment. That all of the horrors that danced behind my eyelids while I slept were not some morbid dream, but in fact truth. The man's voice I had woken up to was in fact Al Pacino from the movie the God Father or Scarface. What did I know; I never really watched these types of movies before. Halley bounced lightly as she reached over to a bag on the small table that sat between the two beds. I looked at what she was reaching for and noticed the Mc Donald's brown bag. Her garbage was in the trash and from the looks of it she was just finishing off her Mc Flurry. Maybe that meant that my food was still warm? As if on cue my stomach let out a snarl and began grumbling in hunger.

"I picked you up a double quarter pounder and large fries. I even had them put extra onions on it just like you like. They didn't have root beer, so I got you one of their chilled coffees. I hope that's ok?"

She looked to me apologetically as I reached for the bag. It did sound good. So I opened the bag and pulled out my hamburger and fries along with a small container of the secret sauce they put on the big mac to dunk my fries in. I know it sounds gross, but it tasted great! Between mouths full of my burger I managed to find out that it was two in the afternoon. I knew the sooner I called the FBI the quicker we could leave this dump. I drove all night and after eating I realized that I was still wearing the clothes I had worked in all day yesterday. I could also smell myself, and that wasn't acceptable. I needed a shower and to brush my teeth. The coffee Halley had gotten me was starting to do its job and I was feeling more awake.

"Thanks for the food Ali, It really hit the spot. Could you do me a favor though?"

"Sure what do you need?"

I smiled warmly at my little sister's eager to please attitude as made my way across the room and I dug through my bag for some clean socks and underwear.

"Can you look up the number for the FBI in the phone book? I mean you might not be able to find it there, but if you could just look it would be amazing. I need a shower and it shouldn't take long."

She shrugged at me then nodded her head. After scooping up some shorts, a tank top, bra and underwear I grabbed my toiletries and headed to the bathroom. After pulling out my tooth brush and giving my mouth a good scrubbing I noticed that I would have to use the damp towels that Halley hung up. Normally I would have called the front desk to ask for more, but I didn't want to draw more attention to us. I was lucky that the chubby girl at the desk even rented us the room. At least Halley left me some hot water and with that thought I slipped into the warm comfort of the hot water.

Once dressed and feeling more normal than I was before my shower. I left the confines of the steamy bathroom and walked into the humid air of our motel room. Halley was still sitting on her bed Indian style but with a note pad in her lap and it looked like she was taking notes. Her eyes were focused on the movie but as I walked closer to her she tore off a sheet of her paper and handed it to me. There was the number to the Chicago F.B.I with the name Tia Amun with an arrow pointing to it and another office in Springfield. Calling both or either had me on edge. I mean didn't the mob pay off guys to spy on things like where witnesses were hiding? Halley didn't seem all that concerned to be honest as she scribbled down whatever she deemed important. The moment I had heard the famous line I knew what she was watching. I shook my head at her as her hand flew across the page.

"Halley you do know that anything you might get from this movie won't apply to us right?"

Her face turned sour in an instant before she turned her head sharply to face me.

"Here I am doing all of the work, trying to figure out how they think and all you can do is scoff at me. You know, it just so happens that many people learn things from movies. We just have to be more careful than them! Why can't you just accept that I'm doing something useful to keep us alive while you are acting like they will be at the door in the matter of seconds?"

She huffed at me before she grunted and grumbled something that sounded like 'the least you could do is help me' but before I could give her an answer she was writing again and picked up the remote to go back to the frame that I started talking at. It would do no good to tell her that we were only five hours away and they could be at the door any minute. So I chose to make a bit of a joke about what she was watching instead of facing reality, there was plenty of time for that soon enough.

"Halley, although I appreciate what you are doing, this movie doesn't apply to us. We can't use anything from this movie because it's Scarface. And if you have been paying attention you would know that this movie is about drug dealers and not the mob."

Halley gave a disgruntled huff as she tossed the note pad down on the bed. Turning to face me with the same scowl she was wearing last night when she thought I was late to celebrate her lead in the artsy performance instead of being scared for our lives. Tossing her hands in the air she rolled her eyes at me before scooping up the pile of DVDs and thrusting them in my direction.

"You mean to tell me that I've just wasted an hour and a half of my life watching a movie that, although interesting and violent was nothing more than entertainment? I need to watch the right movies and clearly I picked the wrong ones from the blockbuster down the street. Can you please look through the titles and tell me which movies are relevant so I don't make the same mistake twice?"

Trying to hide my smile I sifted through the titles and quickly made two piles 'mob' movies and 'non mob' movies. In the mob pile I had Goodfellas, The Godfather part one two and three, what to do in Denver when you're dead, Road to Perdition and The Departed. I took out Natural born killers, Reservoir Dogs, The Untouchables and Gangs of New York. Those plotlines had nothing to do with our situation at all and were purely for entertainment value. Not to mention Natural Born Killers are about serial killers and Gangs of New York are about street gangs in the turn of the century. The Untouchables plot took place around the same time frame and had to do with probation with Al Capone. I handed her back the approved pile of DVDs and gave her a bit of a smile.

This next part of my list that I had compiled while I was washing the funk off my body was going to have to take place and I wasn't sure how to do it. I took solace in the fact that I could put this man away forever. But a more logical part of my brain was screaming at me that he could find us and kill us before I ever accomplished that task. We are in danger and all I could do was call and pray that the good guys got to us before the bad guys did. The name Tia Amun was on top on the Chicago office organized crime division and that was who I was going to have to talk to. Time was running out, so with a great reluctance I called the crime division and asked for a Tia Amun.

The office had put me right through and although I was shaking I knew that we had to put our lives in the hands of these strangers if we wanted to survive.

TIA AMUN POV

I was sorting through file after file on Aaron Marcus aka Aro. It seemed everything we could gather on this guy fell through our finger tips like sand or water. All we pretty much had was hearsay and the rumor mill. Any witness we had ever come across disappeared before we ever went to trial. The worst part is that this job was handed to me four months ago because I'm known to get results and so far I've come up with dead end upon dead end. Truth is Aro never got his hands dirty any more. He always had one of his underboss's do all the dirty work and that was why we couldn't get him on anything. It was like trying to nail jello to a wall. An impossible task in its self! Truth is I'm tired and every day I come up with nothing makes me feel like I've aged ten years. I need sleep and I think I'm working myself sick.

I coughed shuffling though the largest file looking for anything that I might have missed in the past before picking up my now lukewarm coffee and taking a big swig. Wishing I could smoke in my office as I chew the gum my doctor gave me, but knowing it's my ass if I did. I knew I would need to head down stairs soon to get my caffeine fix from the cafe and this blackened sludge was just not cutting it….neither was this nicotine gum. I had been up for going on twenty six hours trying to find something….anything that could help me out. We were due at trial next week and once again our witness came up missing. As of right now I had nothing and what was worse was Aro knew it. I could tell by his smug smile yesterday in the court room when I was begging for more time from the judge. I felt like I was treading water in the middle of the ocean that was waiting to consume me. The only ray of hope I may have came in a phone call an hour ago.

I had gotten a call from my inside man saying that there was a witness to something huge last night and Aro has every man on his crews looking for a mouse about to squeak. The mouse in question was no rat. She didn't have anything to do with the Marcus Family in any way shape or form. She was an innocent and apparently the mouse has baggage with her. When talking to my inside man he tends to talk in riddles. Turns out a girl saw something she wasn't supposed to (wrong place wrong time kind of thing) and now she's running with her sister, girlfriend or daughter. We're not too sure which as of right now. I have all my best people looking into it, but so far we have a dead end. I'm packing up the files to go over at home knowing that I'm having a problem seeing straight and am flagging down Maggie for a ride as my phone rings. Without giving much thought as to who is calling me I rub my eyes as I bark out my name.

"Amun!"

The timid and shy voice sounds sacred as hell and I take a deep breath realizing I'm going to use kid gloves with this little girl.

"Is this Tia Amun of the F.B.I?"

I press my lips together to hold back my laughter. I want to ask her who she thought she was calling and who she thought I was when I announced my name, but that's just the lack of sleep talking. So I roll my eyes as I stack up the files and shove them into my shoulder bag.

"Sure, what can I do for ya?"

I may use kid gloves but I am not going to coddle the kid. I rub my eyes and pop the lid off of the aspirin bottle and slam down a few pills with the nasty cold coffee. Maggie's waiting leaning against my door frame with a furrowed brow.

"You are the woman the papers say are in charge of the crime division and if anyone needs help in exchange for information…"

The kid has me on red alert now! Not that I wouldn't want any help but she's wants to give me information and she seems scared. Best to take it slow. I wouldn't want to scare her off. So I wave Maggie in and quietly tell her to close the door behind her.

"Well that depends on the information that you have. Can you meet me for lunch?"

For once I realize that this could help me with my case. I know I am being hopeful and once I hear her response my hopes plummet for a few minutes.

"No. I'm not in the area anymore. Look before I help you guys and I do have solid proof that could put away Aaron Marcus and a couple of his head guys too, but I want complete protection in witness protection for me and my sister. New names, a house, bank accounts and a promise that once I'm done we will be safe forever."

She's panting slightly as she waits for me to answer her. Truth is I could do all of that and more depending on what she has. So I told her that we needed to meet especially when I found out her sister used a blockbuster card in the area they ran to. She also has her own car and Aro's guys know which car is hers if they were to see it again. Apparently they shot at her not even 24 hours ago. That's when it hits me….. The mouse found me!

I needed to be on my way and after prodding for a few minutes to find where she is. One screaming match…. telling and demanding my boss (just trust me) I was headed to the roof towing Maggie, Alistair, and Ben behind me. The rest of the office could eat shit. I didn't trust that many people and the ones I do trust are coming with me. With how many witnesses that go missing or end up dead and evidence that goes missing I would be stupid to think that this department didn't have leaks. Besides they have been on my team the longest; most since their rookie year and this was my lead now. This was my break in the case against Aro and I wasn't going to take any chances at this information leaking out anywhere!

As we waited for the helicopter to be started up and found the closest helipad to land at on Alistair's laptop. I did my best to calm my coughs and stay awake. Ben yanks out a container of cough drops offering me one and I pop one into my mouth. I know they all want answers seeing as I pulled them all away from going home early. But I can't give them anything until we know she is safe and so is her sister. Maggie was trying to tie her loose wild red curls back from her pale face as the helicopter started up. I looked into her hazel green eyes and she knew that what we were looking for to nail Aro's sorry ass to the wall just fell into our laps. Now I just needed some good coffee and to find them safe and todays previous shitty outlook would shape up to the best day ever.