Present Day
After reading where Daryl wants to meet, Rick calls Morgan before he pulls out of the drive way to see if he'll pick up Carl for him while going to meet with Daryl over at Andrea's but Morgan doesn't answer. Instead of leaving a voicemail message he decides to send a text message; then pulls out of his driveway to meet Daryl.
20 minutes later, Rick makes a right turn on to Canter Street, the sleazy part Kings County. As he's making the turn he sees a black government sedan turn on to Canter St. as well with only 4 cars in between.
He's not too concerned with being tailed right now because in the past Rick has stop by Andrea's ever so often. He used to be quite the frequent member when Michonne left for Togo; but now he only comes by every four to six months and the government goons were already aware of this.
Rick gets to the Andrea's and parallel parks in front, he doesn't see Daryl's Ford Bronco around so decides to wait inside.
He walks up to the front door of the bar; then looks up at the camera hidden behind the fluorescent pink "Vudu" sign hanging on the wall of the second floor on the outside of the building. Looking around again for Daryl's Bronco Rick is reminded that Daryl would never park in the vicinity of where he was actually going; a standard procedure that an ex-Marine would never forget.
He finally here's someone at the door; when it opens its Andrea standing in Jeans and a tank top with no bra and a wrench in her hand.
With a large grin on her face Andrea's says, "This must be our lucky day, first Daryl and now you."
She pulls Rick inside by his jacket and closes the door behind him.
Forcibly pushing Rick up against the wall; she and plants him with a fervent kiss that's not returned on his part.
He pushes her away and asks, "Where's Daryl?"
"Well he's a little busy. Come on let's go down stairs and get you a drink; I'll tell one of the girls to let him know you're here." She tells him.
Vudu is Andrea's place of business its a privately owned bar and "massage" parlor. The basement and first floor were bars while second and third floors were actually massage rooms. Both businesses were very lucrative for Andrea.
Once down stairs Rick's reminded of the smoke filled bar and cat-house waiting lounge that he used to visit often; sometimes he would go there just to be in the company of another female. But after a while he realized that no female could possibly replace Michonne
He sits down at the bar while Andrea tells the bartender to take a break then; begins to pour Rick a shot of Jameson.
He stops Andrea and say, "No thanks, I'll just have some water."
Rick looks around the bar and only sees a couple of patrons waiting to be seen, "I guess it's a slow night for you ladies?"
With a nod of her head she smiles and fills his glass with some ice water; leaning down on the bar after handing him his water Andrea answers, "Well, with whatever this shit", she points to the t.v. in the corner, "that's been going around everywhere; the men in this town have become a bit…skittish. You know when it's time to play hero to the wife and kids; they'll leave us whores alone until things go back to normal."
Rick sips his water and looks at Andrea annoyed by the sarcasm then looks up over a the t.v. broadcasting the local news and says, "Yea…well whatever. What's with the wrench?"
"Oh", She picks the wrench up off the bar top, "I gotta damn leak in one of the showers I'm working on…", she grabs his hand on the bar, "…but I can always use some help in a shower. You were always good with your hands." She implies.
"Rick smiles pathetically at Andrea; shakes his head no while pulling his hand from hers, "I don't think so".
Andrea stands back up starts smiling as Daryl walks down the basement steps, "So, I trust that Candice got some of those kinks out of your back?"
Daryl plops himself down on the bar stool next to Rick exhausted but with a smile, "Yes she did."
She pours Daryl a shot of Jameson then hands him the shot and the bottle, "Well, I have to go plumb", she says while showing the two men the wrench in her hand, "You two of you catch up". She places her hand on Ricks again and says, "You know where to find me if you get tired of business."
Then she leaves from behind the bar and walks back upstairs.
"So what's up?" Daryl asks.
"I got an operation that I need some help on…an extraction", Rick looks around again at the one or two patrons in the room; then leans in close to Daryl, "Shane came by earlier asking if I've seen Michonne."
"Yea, so what you haven't right?" Daryl asks.
"No, I haven't but he showed me pictures of her at Atlanta international 3 days ago. He said that she doesn't want anyone to know that she's back."
"Well who the hell is she hiding from?" Daryl asks with concern.
"I don't know but she was definitely trying to hide. She had on a baseball cap and sunglasses. The pictures Shane showed me were only of side profiles with the exception of one where she looks like she's heading down the hallway toward the bus terminal." Rick explains.
"Why the hell is she hiding from Shane when he's the one that sent her?" Daryl asks before pouring another shot.
"I don't know, that's what's bothering me. Some shit went down in Togo with those clinics she went to investigate", Rick finishes his water and pours a shot of Jameson in his glass, "He said that she had some information linking the W.H.O. and W.T.O with the sudden outbreaks".
Rick pours himself and Daryl another shot then reluctantly tells Daryl, "Shane says that her and Mike had something going and they had a son. One day when she came back from an investigation in the next town…she found Mike and her son dead."
"Why ain't the hell did they go get her, that's what the fuck the entire god damn division is for?" Daryl says pissed off that Shane left her there.
"I know, I know that's the same thing I asked and he came up with some bullshit…" Rick starts to get angry and frustrated at the thought of the beautiful woman in the "Saint Emilion" painting being left behind by her own employer and government.
Daryl pats Rick shoulder, "Listen Rick, I'm in you know that right, I worked with her before too; she's good people", Daryl pours another shot and throws it back down his throat, "She's saved my life damn near as many times I saved her out in the field."
"Well it's been three days she could be anywhere by now. Do we know anyone in DoT…", Rick turns to looks at t.v. as they show breaking news,
"In local news, the sight of a pawn shop in the south end of Muscogee County was a frightening sight for police 72 hours ago; when they discovered the body of Philip Rhee, owner of Powell Pawn Shop on Powell Avenue, on the floor of his business. Police Investigators describe the crime scene as horrifying and demonic.
Police received a call from the owner's son Glenn Rhee on the night in question; the son found the bodies of two men and his father dead on the floor in the back of the pawn shop. Glenn Rhee described the site of his father as being something from horror movie.
Investigators say that Phillip Rhee was miss a third of his face; that was apparently eaten off by one of the unidentified dead bodies in the back of the shop.
The only leads in the case so far is the security video that was simultaneously being transmitted to a cloud storage space. Glenn Rhee has released those videos to investigators.
An unidentified woman is seen on the video; apparently she came there to purchase a sword between 7:30p and 9:00p. The video shows an African-American woman being attacked by one of the homeless men and then owner Phillip Rhee she's then mysteriously rescued by an unidentified man who runs in from the back door.
The second the security video comes on Rick recognizes that it's the same outfit that Michonne had on in the pictures that Shane showed him earlier that night.
He jump out the bar seat and runs over to the t.v. to turn it up.
Daryl moves closer to the t.v. to hear what's being said.
"…We want to warn our viewing audience that video we are about to show is intended for mature audiences." The anchor man announces.
The grainy black and white video shows Michonne slowly walking in to the pawn shop looking around. She spends a few minutes at the gun display then over to the wall with the swords.
While grabbing the katana off the wall; she turns towards the store door because she hears the buzzing again. Then she looks down the aisle towards the back of the store.
"Hello? Is anyone back there", she yells, "I'm interested in this katana on the wall?" The caption on the t.v. reads.
"Uh, excuse me… but I'm really interested in buying this katana…." she yells out again, "I'll go back and wait in the store for you to finish…whatever"
When she turns around; Michonne is only 2' away from a crazed homeless man that has wondered in through the open door in the back of the store.
Rick watches the t.v. in horror at how Michonne falls to the floor from the clumsy lunge of the walker. Falling to the floor first allowed her to roll over in seconds to avoid the walker from falling directly on her.
She leaves her knapsack on the floor and stands up with the katana she planned on purchasing in her hands. With her sword, she strikes the first walker right down the middle of its skull but she has some trouble pulling the sword back out. The other walkers from the office get closer and closer while she falls to the ground trying to remove the sword from skull of the walker she just put down. She gets nervous due to the fact that she is not sure how to use the sword properly and also because she knows that the space in the back of the store is very narrow for sword play by a novice.
Suddenly, the video shows a man in a dark blue suit, running through the back door; he shoots the owner (now a walker) and the other walker that came out of the office.
The man in the dark suit leans his head out of the back door then walks over to help Michonne up off the floor.
She quickly jerks her arm away and tries to grab for the sword but the man in the suit aims his gun at her and says, "I don't want to hurt you, please cooperate."
"Is he out there?" she coldly asked the man, but he doesn't answer.
"Is he out there?!" She screams, "Is…"
The man quickly aims his gun for the security camera in the back room and shoots it.
The t.v. in the bar turns to snow momentarily before the anchorman appears on the screen again.
"Police artists have recreated a sketch of the woman and man in the video", a penciled sketch appears on the screen of a Michonne in large sun glasses and a baseball cap that practically hides most of her face and a generic description of the man in the dark suit.
"…the woman in the video appears to be an African-American weighing between 125 -135 lbs and her approximate height is between 5'6" - 5'8". If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of this woman wanted for questioning please contact the Muskogee County Police Department immediately."
Rick he closes his eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm after seeing Michonne fighting for her life now that she's back in the states. The more he knew she was back in the area the more his thirst to find her grew.
He immediately turns around to see if Daryl was watching, "I-I gotta go find her…", he says to Daryl, "…can you help me I could really use a tracker."
Daryl saw the anguish in his friend's eyes and felt just as strong about trying to find Michonne. There's always been one small degree between Michonne and Daryl that kept the two at bay. Daryl and Michonne were similar to brother and sister.
It was just those one or two pheromones that made the attraction between Michonne and Rick click and it was those same pheromones that kept Daryl and Michonne from being attracted to one another.
"Of course man you know I'm with you", Daryl tells him, "But the question is who the hell was the man holding her at gunpoint? Is he one of us? Is it one of Shanes people?"
Rick starts walking towards the steps, "No it can't be one of Shane's people, if it were he wouldn't have comes asking me where she is."
"Alright well who to we have in Colum...", Daryl stops talking when he hears one of Rick phones vibrate.
"…Shit!" Rick says as he fumbles in his pockets looking for both phones.
He finds the right phone and touches the screen to answer.
"Morgan, yea what's up? Did you grab Carl for me?" Rick asks.
"I'm turning the corner to your street now, look man some shit is going down. The county executive is saying that governor is about to call in the national guard to activate marshal law. It's like fucking mass hysteria going on up north and something happened at the coroner's office tonight."
Rick stops walking and asks, "Where are you right now?"
"I'm turning in to your driveway." Morgan answers.
"Look I already told Carl you were coming, just make sure that he's got everything he wants to take on vacation for the next couple of weeks. I'll grab him from your house in a two hours."
Rick ends the call and stands with Daryl in doorway of Vudu, "Listen Rick, I'm a head back to my place and gather some equipment. I'll wait for you there, how long do you think you're gonna be?" Daryl asks.
"Me and Carl should be there before sunrise." Rick tells him.
"Alright. Listen Rick…" Daryl looks him in the eye, "…we will find her. We've gone on missions where the person hasn't been seen for three weeks and we always located them. Three days is a piece of cake, just try to keep emotion out it; just treat it like any other mission. You can't think straight if you make it personal."
Rick looks at Daryl and shakes his head, "Yea…I'll try an remember that."