So, I've been slacking a bit here…please forgive me but at the moment I'm working double duty for some fast cash. And no it's not dealing drugs or anything illegal. Here's the next chapter, and of course I need to thank my bff Amanda Hawthorn for the beta work. She's the bomb yo!
Chapter 3
Fiona was excited to start her day as she drove towards her new home. Michael had gone to check on the prognosis of his car and Fiona decided to get started painting.
She had arranged paint by room and since they were having new carpet installed she opted to forgo the plastic over the floor. The only room Fiona had decided not to paint was the kitchen as it suited her just fine as is.
By the time Michael arrived she had finished with two of the bedrooms. "Well, I was beginning to think you were out drinking mojitos."
Michael only smiled. "Well, I do need a drink after seeing my car." Fiona stopped painting and waited for him to continue. "It's a total loss. The frame was damaged, and the body is beyond repairable. He said the only thing salvageable was the motor."
His stare was blank as he seemed to look off into space. Fiona approached him. "I know how much you loved that car. I'm not sure if it was because it was your father's or something else."
He shook his head. "Working on that car was the only time I had with my dad when he wasn't slapping me around." Michael's eyes locked onto Fiona's. "I guess it held some sentimental value, it was the only thing we had in common. But like my mom said to me a while back, we need to put the past behind us."
Fiona leaned into him. "So do we need to go car shopping too?"
Michael was about to respond when his phone rang. Fiona stood straight and watched him as he checked the caller ID. "Umm…it's Max."
"Of course it is." She turned on her heel and left to continue her painting.
She made it clear to him that there were some things she didn't approve of, but that she understood. Fiona knew he was trying and she appreciated the fact that since his six month bout in Washington or wherever he went, he'd been doing ops in Miami so he could stay close. She knew eventually he would officially get his clearances back and the job would envelope him once again, and she would be alone. At least she had made a life here; she had Sam, Jesse, and Madeline which was more than she had when she left Ireland.
Michael entered the room she was currently painting and cleared his throat pulling her from her thoughts. She could only look at him. "I need to go."
"I know." She turned to continue painting.
"Fi…" He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "I shouldn't be too long." He kissed her cheek and left.
Fiona swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. He made it sound like he was running to the store for milk and would come right back but she knew better. She fought back the tears that threatened to fall and just decided to turn on her radio and keep working.
Michael went to the hotel room Max had instructed to meet at. As always he kept a close eye on his surroundings as he walked down the hall towards the room. He knocked twice and Max opened the door.
"Hey, just in time." Max invited him in and walked over to a table that was covered in files and photos. "How's your Russian?"
Michael approached the table and knew that he wasn't going to return to Fiona anytime soon.
That night Fiona returned to Madeline's without Michael. "Where's Michael?"
Fiona sighed and cursed his mother for being so damn observant. "Max called him. So I honestly don't have a clue as to where he is or when he'll be back." She half smiled as Madeline blew a puff of smoke. "I'm letting the paint fumes settle, and I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow." She turned to head back to Michael's bedroom.
"Fiona." Madeline's words stopped her in her tracks. "You're family; you can stay here as long as you need."
Her words seemed to help Fiona calm down inside as she worried about Michael. "Thanks. See you in the morning."
The next day Fiona began moving things into the kitchen, and since Jesse had the day off and Sam's lady friend was out of town, she figured she could bribe them with alcohol. They hauled in the heavy boxes and Fiona sorted through them and put the items where they belonged. Sam started building the shelves and false wall in the pantry. He praised Fiona for the idea and began the construction on it. Jesse started in the garage building work benches. By the end of the day they were all sitting on the back patio enjoying cold beers.
Both Sam and Jesse knew that Michael was called away and didn't bring it up in Fiona's presence. They just talked and Jesse remembered about a client that had asked him for some help with a stalker. Fiona knew it wasn't going to be a gig where she could use her skills to their full extent, but she hated men that just couldn't take no for an answer.
The next day they met with Melissa, the client. A man she had met online and had gone out with three times wasn't taking 'it's not gonna work out' as an answer. Fiona and Sam followed him to where he worked and sat outside to observe.
"So, our guy works as a car dealer, typical don't take no as an answer kinda guy." Sam commented.
Fiona watched as the man in question came out to a few lookers. "He just looks creepy. I can't believe she even offered to meet him in person."
Sam chuckled. "Well, maybe it was his high school picture he had posted."
After a few hours of watching, a Cadillac Escalade pulled into the lot and the stalker ran from inside, shared a few words with the driver and handed an envelope to the person in the vehicle. Curious as to what he may be involved in, Sam and Fiona decided to follow the Escalade.
Their pursuit took them to Little Havana and Sam decided to put a stop to following the truck. "Okay Fi, this is serious stuff. If Joe Blow back there is in bed with the Cuban cartel, then we may have a big fish to fry here." He expressed his concern as she turned the corner.
"Yeah, but what would he be doing?"
"My guess, running drugs. Car salesmen always have a new demo to drive, so the cops would have a hard time seeing a pattern of the same car picking up mysterious packages." Sam offered his opinion.
Fiona thought for a moment. "I think I've just figured out a way to solve Melissa's little man problem."
That evening Jesse and Sam helped Fiona finish moving furniture and larger objects into her and Michael's new home. They stored the explosives and guns behind the false wall in the pantry, and set up the tools needed in the garage. They all discussed what their plan would be for tomorrow to let the Cubans take care of the stalker for them.
Once she was alone, Fiona took a shower and then lay in her bed on top of the plush comforter. It was difficult not sleeping with Michael next to her since they started their long dating trial a year ago. She sighed and opened her current novel and eventually fell asleep.
It was amazing how fast the government could fly someone half way around the world when it involved something that they wanted. Michael stood outside of Omsk airport and waited for transportation to take him to his meeting place. He was supposed to receive information from a worker in one of the industrial factories about what they have really been working on instead of what the Russian government was disclosing to the rest of the world. While he was waiting his thoughts drifted back to Fiona. He couldn't seem to get her out of his mind and while he knew it was a distraction to the job, he couldn't stop.
Once he got a ride and met with the contact, the only thing he got that was valuable was that the government was using the factory to make weapons grade plutonium. Nothing like he was expecting, so he took the information and headed back towards the states.
After several long flights to various destinations, Michael arrived back in DC to give Max the information he had learned. Once he turned over the info, Max pulled him aside. "Hey, I've got to ask you a question. Has your girlfriend been doing any illegal activities?"
The question took Michael by surprise. He remembered the guns in the back of her car, but believed her when she said it was a onetime gig. "No, but you know what she does as a side gig, so why all of a sudden the concern?"
Max shrugged. "There's a Cuban and Columbian cartel set up in south Miami near Little Havana, the feds have been sitting on them for quite a while trying to figure out who's running the show. And today this came through the wire." He handed the picture to his friend. "Look, I'm sure it's not her doing the drug running, but this picture doesn't exactly look innocent either."
Michael sighed and handed that picture back. "I'm sure there's a good reason."
"This is exactly why you're headed home right now. Get this straightened out."
Even with a nonstop flight, Michael was stewing on what Fiona was doing at the moment the picture was taken. Every part of him knew that she had to be working on a case and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He took a cab home which he had drop him off several houses from his new home with Fiona.
His eyes scanned the darkened street and sure enough there was an unmarked silver sedan sitting on the house. Michael groaned and decided to sneak in through the back. The foliage cover was welcome as he entered the back yard. Slowly Michael moved across the yard and entered the garage first. He sighed as he saw the black Camaro Fiona was driving in the picture. The clicking of a hammer being pulled back made him freeze in his tracks. He figured she had installed some sort of silent alarm system in the yard. "Fi." He whispered and the gun clicked again as it was disengaged. Michael turned around in the darkened garage to face her. "Do you want to tell me what this is?"
"It's a car Michael." She turned on her heels and walked back into the house.
"Yeah, I can see that. How about explaining why a photo of you in that car winds up on Max's desk and he proceeds to tell me that you're a suspect in drug running?" His voice elevated and his frustration came though.
Fiona turned the lights on in the kitchen and blew a strand of hair away from her face. "Look, Jesse had a friend at work that was having some man issues. We just made it look like he had set up having the car jacked while pocketing the drugs. No biggie."
"No biggie, Fiona there's a car sitting on the house. Do you have any idea the kind of havoc you're creating for me?" His words came out easily and it wasn't until he saw the look of shock on her face that he realized he'd said the wrong thing.
Her eyes grew and she didn't try to hide her anger. "You mean I'm interfering with your little government conspiracy work! Well I'm sorry Michael, but we are still trying to get by around here while you're playing Washington chess. If you gave just one shred of shit about what we have together then maybe you would see it from a different perspective and not be so quick to pull the trigger on lecturing me about what I can and can't do."
She stormed around him and headed back to the garage. Michael was left standing in the kitchen in shock as the Camaro roared to life and Fiona left in a cloud of burning rubber.
Well here comes my angst…hehehe. It's what I live for a good fight. Don't worry it might work out between them.
TDCSI
