Chapter 6

The moment Michael saw Sam walking toward him on the boardwalk, he knew things were not going well. He and Sam had been through a lot of missions together, and Michael could read just from the way he walked with hands in the pockets of his khakis, his eyes shifting around him, that he was uneasy with the flow of the operation. He could have told Sam: as a matter of fact, he did. But it didn't matter, because he would have still taken this mission and beaten himself up over breaking his vows.

How would I handle this situation? There was no question that Michael would do what it took to get the job done. But afterward...would he be able to live with himself knowing he effectively cheated on his wife? Things were different now. When he and Fi weren't married, there was no guilt, although if he'd really given it any thought, there should have been. Other people were hurt in any case, sometimes bad people who deserved it. But if he'd taken the assignment, as he first thought he would...he wasn't sure he could confidently say that he could do it without feeling like Sam was now.

"Sam..." Michael didn't know what to say.

"Mike." Sam looked out to the beach, staring at the water. He couldn't look his friend in the eye.

"Hey, why don't we go get a drink?"

"Huh? Sure." Sam turned and followed Michael to a bar that they visited very infrequently. They could talk and not have anyone recognize them, unlike at Carlito's.

"Two beers," Michael ordered for Sam and himself. He took a swig and asked, "How did things go with what's her name?"

"Bella." Sam downed half his beer in two shots. "I'd rather not talk about her." Not until I've had a few more of these babies to give me a dose of courage.

"That bad, huh? Drinking isn't going to solve your problem, you know."

"It was terrible, Mike." He lowered his voice and leaned in closer. The server saw his bottle was empty and brought him another. "Thanks." He started it with a good swig, set it down heavily on the bar, and leaned over to Michael again. "Now, nothing, like...serious...happened. She kissed me, and...and touched me, but that's about it. I swear!"

Michael smiled. "You pulled an East Berlin on her, didn't you?"

"You betcha. When she woke up this morning, she had no idea what had happened, but Joseph and I made it look like it was a good time."

"So what's the problem, then? There was no...contact..."

"I kissed her...well, she kissed me..." He waved a hand and drained his beer. "It doesn't matter! The point is, I did what I did, and I'm not proud of it!"

"Sometimes we have to do bad things..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, spare me. Maybe that works to help you sleep at night, Mikey, but not me." He paused and picked at the label on his empty bottle. "You know, I warned Eve this might happen, and I swore that I would do everything I could to keep it from happening. You know what she said? You know what that beautiful angel of mine said?"

"No, Sam. What'd she say?"

"She looked at me with those gorgeous, natural ocean blue eyes, and she said, 'Whatever you do, I'll forgive.' Like it was really that simple." He paused and sniffed. "She had no idea what she was saying, Mike. No idea at all."

The server came around, but Michael gave her a signal to cut Sam off. She nodded and walked away, leaving his empty sitting in front of him.

"Sam, Yvette is a smart woman. And she's got a lot of faith in you. She knows whatever happens in the field has no reflection on your marriage."

"You think she thinks that? Or is she really just being naive? Sticking her head in the sand, not wanting to acknowledge the dirty side of our business."

"You'll have to talk to her about that yourself. But know this, Sam. She's not going to let this break you up. The only one who can do that is you. Forgive yourself, Sam, and move on."

"I wish I could talk to Tom about this. Guess I'm gonna have to wait until it's all over, and then I'll probably have a truck load of crap to scrape off myself." He sighed heavily and hung his head.

"Just one more week, Sam."

"I hope I can survive it."

"Other than dealing with your guilty conscience, is there anything else going on?"

"Nope. Just playing the waiting game. Before I got here, Vargas called. He wanted to meet me for dinner tonight, and then we're going to Bienvenue. I won't be able to pull the same trick twice. He's going to have one of those rooms waiting, and a girl, and..." He paused and looked at Mike with pain in his eyes. "I'm not sure I can do this anymore."

"Sam, just hang in there. I'll see what I can do behind the scenes." Michael said goodbye to his friend and felt his chest tighten in sympathy as he watched Sam walk back to the hotel. While he didn't always understand the depth of Sam's devotion to Yvette, he had to admire him for it. Tonight would be the deal breaker if Sam didn't perform to Vargas's expectations. If he choked...Michael closed his eyes and shook away the cold dread that washed over him.

"Pearce. We've got to talk. Now. I'm on my way to your office."

By the time he arrived, he was hard pressed to keep his voice down. "Sam is a wreck right now, and unless you figure out a way to wrap this up tonight, you're going to lose him. He's going to blow his cover, and he'll be dead!"

"He knew what he was getting into. His wife knew..."

"I told you not to give him this assignment, no matter what he said!"

"It was his choice, not yours."

Michael rested his knuckles on the desk and stood over her. "I have never in all my years of working with Sam see him fold like this. You need to pull him from this job now."

"We're in the middle of this. If anyone else takes over..."

"He's done, even if I have to go in there myself..."

"No! I have an idea, but I want to..."

"The only good idea is pulling Sam out of there!"

Pearce got out of her seat and stood eye to eye with Michael. "You don't get to decide that. I do. I'm the director of this mission, and if I want to call in another agent, I will. If I want to call in an agent's wife to act as his mistress so he can finish his assignment, I can do that, too."

Michael backed off, his face registering shock. "Mistress? You want Yvette to pose as his mistress?"

A slow smile crossed Agent Pearce's face. "Yes, Michael. After my last conversation with Sam, I knew he wasn't taking this well. I don't normally do something like this, but she had that one stint in DC, and from what I understand she played her part quite well. Playing mistress to a man she's wild about, and married to, should be a walk in the park."

"This is crazy." Michael shook his head.

"Crazy like a fox," Pearce answered with a smug expression. She got on the phone, punched in a few numbers and spoke, "Hi, it's Agent Pearce. Yvette? Remember what we talked about? It's on for tonight." She listened a few moments and nodded. "Okay, as soon as you've got everything arranged, call me. We'll have a limousine pick you up at your house and take you to the hotel where Sam is staying." She smiled. "I haven't told him. I think he's going to be in for a very big surprise." She let out a soft laugh. "You're welcome, Yvette. 'Bye."

"You're really going to do this?"

"We're kind of limited in our options right now, Michael. This is the only option, to be quite frank." She smiled at him. "Don't worry, I have a lot of confidence in Sam and Yvette, and I think they'll handle this perfectly."

Michael shook his head. "You better be right, because if this all blows up...infidelity is going to be the least of Sam's problems."