I'm not 100 happy with this chapter since its so much exposition, but I'm really trying to finish the story without getting caught up in making it perfect. I really don't want to get off track and leave it unfinished. So, I'm powering through.
Another day, another interrogation room. As Remington Steele leaned back in the hard metal chair he tried to sort out the events of the evening. Everything was going perfectly, which should have been the first sign of trouble. Interpol Agent Harry Chambers had been as charming and bright as Laura had said, and he listened intently through dinner as she talked about Sabrina's various accomplishments, all the way back to perfect attendance in elementary school.
Still, there was something about the guy that gave Steele pause. He laughed a little too quickly and smiled a bit too broadly. The well honed sense of self preservation that he had developed living on the streets was trying to warn him, but he'd ignored it. Now he was paying the price for it, he realized as he pulled his wrists against the handcuffs.
He and Laura had gotten the painting, but that's when everything got confusing. They handed it off to Chambers who took off just as two dozen armed men ran into the room and targeted him and Laura. And then Roselli walked in.
Anthony Roselli. There were many people in Remington Steele's past who had done him far more harm than the faux-archeologist/secret agent but there really wasn't anyone he hated with as much intensity. He hadn't been the only guy to try and take Laura away from him over the years, but the fact that he had the ill timing to come in just as their life together was really starting was what made him so odious.
He had even come to see Laura right before their real wedding. Laura had told Remington about it after the ceremony, imparting the news as if it was nothing more than the weather report.
"He asked me to runaway with him," he remembered Laura explaining as the couple shared the first dance at the reception. "He said that I deserved someone better than you, and that he would make me happier than you ever could."
"And?" Remington had asked.
"I'm here, aren't I? Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know?" After that Anthony Roselli faded away like a bad nightmare, until today. Remington Steele's first instinct was to have a replay of the rollicking fisticuffs they had shared in Ireland, but before he could throw the first punch another familiar face came into the room.
Sabrina.
She was clad in a pair of black slacks and white button down shirt, her brown hair back in a messy ponytail, looking much more like the school girl he remembered than the socialite she had become. "You were smart," she said as she walked into the room, "But not smart enough." She froze when saw her parents. For a moment her eyes flashed fear, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "Damn," she screamed, smacking her hand against the wall, "Where did he go?"
"We've got a squad searching the grounds," one of the agents told her "But there's nothing yet."
Laura was the first to find her voice. "What the hell is going on?"
"You're both under arrest," Sabrina said coldly. "And keep them separated. I don't want them coming up with some story." She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room, followed by Roselli.
This brought Remington Steele back to this interrogation room and his feelings of utter bafflement. Over the years he had solved numerous mysteries, both on his own and with Laura's help, but he couldn't come up with an explanation for the events of this evening. The only possibility was that his daughter was a CIA agent, but that was impossible.
"As impossible as a thief becoming a world famous crime fighter?"he asked himself. The door opened and Sabrina came in wearing a perfect poker face that didn't betray anything. As she took her seat across the table father and daughter locked identical eyes and held the stare, neither one wanting to be the one to look away first.
Finally, Remington cracked, letting out a low laugh that echoed in the room. "You know, when you told me you were signing with a new agency I assumed you meant modeling, not central intelligence."
"Well, that's the thing about assumptions," she replied, "They often lead us astray. For example, I'd always assumed that my father was Remington Steele. So, imagine my shock when I discovered that truth."
"I assure you, I am your father. Even though there are moments when I wish I weren't." He immediately regretted saying it, but his self-preservation instincts were taking over. At this moment he wasn't dealing with his daughter, but with another threat to the life he had created. He was going back to the old lessons Daniel had taught him about how to get out of a scrape. Throw them off their game. Rile up their emotions. Get them to act without thinking.
But Sabrina wasn't falling for them, since they were the same tricks she had learned. And so, with complete calm, she dumped out an envelope containing the passports that had been confiscated by Scotland Yard years before her birth. One by one she held them up, reading the names.
"Michael O'Leary. Richard Blaine. Douglas Quintaine. Paul Fabrini. Jacques Murell. Do you know the background that comes up when you search on these names?" She straightened in her seat and delivered a withering look. "So, when exactly were you planning on telling Mom that she was married to an international jewel thief?"
/
In an identical interrogation room next door a very different scene played out between Laura Steele and Tony Roselli, who were drinking coffee and chatting like old friends.
"How long has she been working as an agent?" Laura asked.
"Almost two years. Although I've only been working with her the last six months."
"You didn't recruit her?"
He held his hands up, "I swear I wasn't involved in that. You have to believe me, I wouldn't have brought your daughter into the agency without at least running the idea past you guys."
"We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."
He shook his head, surprised that she was so paranoid. "That was over 20 years ago. I've had two sons and three wives since then. And you and Steele are obviously happy. I think everything worked out. Besides, I still owe you guys for saving my ass back in Ireland. So, when I found out that Sabrina was working for the agency I decided to keep her out of trouble."
"A thankless job," Laura said from experience. "But I still don't understand why the CIA would want Sabrina working for them. I love her, but she isn't exactly known for her ability to make good decisions."
"That's not Sabrina. That's the act she uses to throw everyone off. Truth is, she is one of the best agents I've ever seen. She's got incredible instincts and she isn't afraid to follow them. And she's completely brilliant." He realized he was sounding more like a defensive father than a co-worker.
"Then why doesn't she just work for the CIA. Why run around town pretending to be Paris Hilton without the brains?"
"The hardest part of being a secret agent is the secret part. Someone who is traveling to exotic locations every week is going to be pegged as a spy in short order. But, if that person is an actor, or singer, or model suddenly they have the perfect cover to go anywhere."
Laura smiled as she realized that Sabrina really was living up to her potential. Any annoyance about being kept in the dark was overridden by the incredible pride she felt. Besides, she had some experience living a lie in the name of career.
"So," Tony said, distracting her form her thoughts, "I guess we should talk about tonight. Did you really fall for a fake ID? I would have thought you guys would know better than that."
"For your information, I checked Agent Chambers' out. His name and picture both matched what was in the database."
Tony frowned, disturbed by this turn of events. This was suddenly becoming much bigger than simply an art theft. "Laura, I'm going to round up some guys from the tech lab. We need to check your office for any information we can find on this guy."
"Are you asking me or telling me?" she bristled. It was late, and she just wanted to sit down with her family and sort everything out. "I'll take you in the morning, but right now I just want to see Remington and Sabrina. Where are they?"
"Next door," he admitted, "But you don't want to go in there. Not now anyway."
Laura felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention. "What aren't you telling me?"
"She knows." Tony didn't need to specify what it was, because it was the shadow that was always hanging just behind everything they did.
"I'll take you to the office," Laura agreed, "But first, I want to see my family."
