AN: Hello people! Thanks for all the reviews, and sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter is pretty informative, and gives a lot of hints to the main storylines. I have great plans for this fiction, and I think you guys will like it! Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter.
Thanks, and enjoy.
Chapter IV
It's a Date
Piper was at work early that day. She finished a small article she was working on to get all things out of the way for some important time that she needed to devote to the Marshall case.
At 10:45 am, Owls marched into her office.
Piper looked up from her computer and smiled.
"What the fuck are you smiling about?" He raged. Piper was just too used to it. "If you don't have that article, I swear on my hairy ass that I will-"
"I have it!" Piper waved a CD in front of his face and his eyes widened.
The irony was, that he looked just like an owl when he was angry.
"You're done?" He asked, snatching the disk from her hand.
She smiled again and nodded.
"Bloody hell Halliwell, I am in love with you." He kissed her smack on the lips and stormed out.
This was no unusual behavior. Piper didn't mind his ways, because he was in his mid fifties and happily married. And with the way he was stressing out so much, even more so then her; he didn't have a lot of years left. Heart attack would surely get to him before old age.
Piper smiled at that, and then got back to her work and the small investigation she was leading on Marshall for her story, which with no doubt she knew would make front page.
She laid out pieces of information that she was able to gather, one way or another. She knew well that the information before her was never meant to get outside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but she was able to get a hold of it.
She knew this much: AD George Marshall was one of the only man who knew about a code held secretly by the FBI, and he knew all the rest of the people who possessed the code as well. The "code" was simply an excess to a great deal of money and weapons, one which was many years ago locked by the FBI and announced as a possession of the US government, locked away until a time of need. None of this money or weapons has been taken out since.
Until about a month ago. Everything was gone overnight. It was a very carefully planned operation, one which would take months of preparations to execute. It inquired four things: an intellectual to come up with the plan, a familiarity with the ways of the FBI, an access to the code, and a lot of people. Marshall had the first three, and Piper was sure that he had no problem with finding people, weather it was from inside the FBI or not.
There something else too. Something that Piper came across that provided many answers, but raised even more questions.
She was now familiar with the term "the Alliance of Seven." From what she had learned, these were seven men who are all on the top ten wanted list of the FBI. They were men all over the world, powerful names, who have great amounts of money and power that didn't belong to them and dealt weapons on the black market. And that was exactly what was stolen, weapons. Piper wasn't sure if the FBI was considering this alliance as suspects, but she surely was.
What if Marshall had something to do with this alliance of seven?
She knew that she couldn't write this in her story until she had more proof. For one thing, no one outside of the FBI was supposed to know anything about the Alliance, so they would be on her back. And what more, she didn't want this so called "Alliance" to be after her. From what she could find on this alliance, as little as it was, she still knew it was the last thing anyone would want to deal with.
Piper leaned back in her seat and put her right hand palm over her eyes. It was more complicated then she had anticipated.
For a moment she considered what the FBI agent, Leo Wyatt, would do if he knew she had all this information at hand. She doubted there were a lot of people out of the FBI who had their hands on this. But she had some connections that came handy at times.
"Ms. Halliwell?" Bridget's voice filled her office.
Piper removed her hand and looked towards the door where her secretary was standing.
"Yes Bridget?" Piper asked, pulling her fingers through her hair to remove it from her eyes.
"Agent Wyatt is on the phone for you."
Piper nodded and picked up the phone. Bridget walked out and closed the door behind her.
"Good afternoon." Piper spoke into the phone.
"Very good indeed." Wyatt's voice came. He always sounded in a good mood. She needed some of that.
"And let me guess… you want to talk to me about the story I'm writing?"
"You know it. I was wondering if we could meet again."
"You are incredibly stubborn. Do you really have hope that I'll tell you that I'm not writing my story?"
"No." He said honestly. "But I was just wondering if you'd let me see it before you publish it. Even now… Just show me what you've got."
"Agent Wyatt, I'd be showing my cards to the enemy." Piper said.
"The FBI is not an enemy. And please, again, call me Leo"
"Alright, Leo. Look, here is an idea. I can't share with you what I already have, but you can give me more. Then you'd know what I have. I'd like to interview you, since like you said you practically work for Marshall. Or even better, I'd like to interview someone even closer to the man." She suggested.
Piper could tell by the short silence that he was considering this.
"Alright. Ok, we can organize that. You can ask me all you want, but I don't promise to answer. And I doubt I can get my boss to answer anything, he hates reporters."
"Who doesn't?"
Leo smiled at her comment. She was right, reporters were not very well appreciated, especially not around the FBI. He, though, was quite fond of this particular reporter.
"It's a deal then." He finally said.
"Good. How about tomorrow morning? I know a nice café a few blocks from here." She said.
"Of course."
"Come by around ten."
"Ten it is."
"Good." She said, sounding satisfied.
"Good." He said, mimicking her contentment.
Leo was still smiling when he put his phone down.
"Ms. Halliwell, Agent Wyatt is here." Bridget said, peaking her head into Piper's office.
She looked down at her watch. It was 9:55.
Piper nodded, and seconds later Leo Wyatt walked in. He looked as good or even better then the first time she'd met him.
They walked the few blocks to the café where he ordered tea and she had some black coffee.
The interview proved to be pretty useless, but Piper didn't expect it to be otherwise. Neither of them really got what they wanted. She didn't learn any new information, so it was no benefit to her other then being able to quote him on some things. The thing was, he too knew that she'd learned nothing new, nothing that he didn't know she already knew, otherwise he wouldn't have told her.
So after half an hour they were done with the questions and short answers.
Piper put her pen down and stopped her writing where she was recording details of his answers, and leaned back in her seat.
"Well." She said, slipping from her coffee.
"Well." He concluded.
"We're not really going anywhere with this are we?" She asked the obvious.
"No, not really." He smiled. She thought he'd be a little upset by now, but he was perfectly peachy.
"Can I ask one last question? Off the record." She added.
"You can ask. I'll see if I have an answer."
"Good enough. I was just wondering… why me?"
"What do you mean?" He asked, putting his tea down.
"Of all the reporters. This story is going to come out, you know. Every newspaper in the country will be writing about Marshall, one thing or the other. At least before his hearing. So why me? Unless the FBI has an agent following every crime reporter in the country."
This question seemed to make him think. He wasn't ready for it.
"No, you're right. They've sent especially for you." He seemed to be talking more to himself then to her now. Finally, he looked up.
"You don't know why, do you? They didn't tell you." She said.
He remained quiet.
"Of all the journalists, they see me as a threat?"
He still said nothing.
"That's alright, I know you can't speak about it." She finally concluded, drinking more of her coffee.
She looked out of the window. It had started to rain. When she looked back at Agent Wyatt she found him staring at her. She became self conscious and ran her hand through her hair.
"We should probably get going, before it gets any worse." He said, pointing to the rainy outdoors.
"Good idea."
Neither of them had an umbrella, so they ran the two blocks back to the building with their cases above their heads. By the time they had a cover, they were both panting. They stood there for about a minute, staring into the rain which was only getting stronger and stronger. There were people running each to their way just like they did a minute before.
Leo was the first one to speak.
"What are you doing tonight?"
Piper turned to look at him, checking if he really asked what she'd heard. He smiled.
"Tonight? Why? Are you really still hoping to get anything else out of me, because-"
"No," He cut her before she continued. "No, I don't hope to do that. I do, however, hope you'd agree to go out for dinner with me tonight, Piper." He said. It was the first time he was addressing her with her first name.
She couldn't help but smile.
"Are you asking me out on a date, Agent Wyatt?"
"And why is that so surprising? We've established that we're both unmarried and very much single. I'd be crazy to pass an opportunity like this."
Piper laughed. They were both wet and dump, and she knew she looked like hell. What was sure was that this wetness didn't take away from his good looks, which she had to admit he possessed.
"So what do you think? Will you go on a date with a scum FBI Agent?" He asked. His smile was wider then ever.
She hadn't gone on many dates in the past while, but she'd go with a guy occasionally. It was usually a one night thing.
"Alright." She finally said.
"Good. Then it's a date?"
"It's a date. I have to get back to work now. Call me?"
"Yeah, I'll call in a couple of hours. See you tonight." And with these last words, he walked off, waving her way once before getting into his car and driving away.
AN: Review please!
