Warning this chapter contains SWEARING similar to the programme

...

LOVE'S TERROR CELL

CHAPTER 6

Peter Quinn did not show for work the next morning and was not answering his cell phone.

Danny Galvez seemed the most anxious about this as he flitted around the corridors. Said he needed to speak with Quinn urgently. He wouldn't tell Carrie what it was about.

This momentarily made her curiosity verge on suspicion. It was very unlike Galvez not to divulge his secrets to her.

He had confided in her happily enough the previous night after they'd taken a taxi back to his sleek apartment. He was especially fond of whispering in her ear from behind. Not quite I love you, but the filthy words murmured in Arabic, Spanish and several other languages had certainly got his point across, especially in conjunction with every hard thrust.

Carrie winced as she sat down at her desk. Her and Galvez had overdone it last night.

…

By mid-morning, Carrie and Galvez could hardly keep their eyes open, let alone do any work. Neither of them had got much sleep. They had spent a lot of time talking and laughing through the night, as well as enjoying their usual physical activities. It felt to Carrie like some private barriers between them had been removed after their first public kiss at the bar.

Galvez surprised Carrie at her desk by sneaking up behind her and giving her small kiss on the top of her head. He whispered conspiratorially "Shall we go grab a coffee and some food? My treat at that crappy Diner!"

Galvez finally seemed more relaxed, resigned to fact that he wasn't going to track Peter Quinn down any time soon that morning.

"Sure!" Carrie smiled as she stood up and automatically gave Galvez a hug. She let go when she realised her colleagues must be feeling quite nauseous from their ongoing displays of affection. Once started at the bar, their kissing, only interspersed with dancing, had continued the entire evening, much to the delight of Saul and the amusement of Estes.

Carrie knew which Diner that Galvez meant. It was the same place she'd gone with Quinn, for rubbery pancakes and where she was now sure that he'd lied to her, about being back with his insatiable ER nurse. Carrie recalled that according to Jane, the truth was that Emily, the ER nurse, was actually on the run. She'd had to go overseas to escape from Quinn's possessive clutches.

Carrie and Galvez left the building, hand in hand and headed for Galvez's car.

Why did Quinn tell me he was back with Emily? Carrie wondered as she climbed into the car.

Did he intend to make me jealous? Or was he just indulging in wishful stalker-like fantasies about Emily?

Whatever his intention, Carrie knew that she had been jealous initially, but Quinn's lies had certainly back-fired on him now. She shivered, knowing it could have gone either way. A slim chance she might have mentally chosen Quinn over Galvez yesterday. Thank goodness I met Jane and she told me the truth about Quinn.

Carrie smiled as she realised that whatever the original intention of Quinn's lie, the end result was the same. It simply meant that she was now here with Galvez. Not just with him like before, only for the incredible sex. Her and Galvez were behaving like a normal couple.

No we'll never be normal she gasped as he started kissing her neck, suddenly energised by being behind privacy glass with her. We have way too much sex to be normal.

...

Finally on their journey to the Diner after their impromptu session in the car park, Galvez was singing loudly along to the radio, one hand on the steering wheel and the other tickling Carrie's thigh. Carrie smiled to herself. He was such a fun-loving guy. She could never feel sad around Galvez.

He parked the car down the street and they strolled slowly towards the Diner, hand in hand. Carrie would have felt quite romantic had it not been for her low blood sugar and hangover headache re-emerging.

They entered the Diner and grabbed a booth. They were both starving.

….

"Carrieee... Carrieee!" the words were being slurred from the dark shadow looming over their table, less than four minutes after having sat down.

Carrie squinted up from her sticky laminated menu, the morning sun through the streaky window was blinding.

The bedraggled figure lowered itself clumsily alongside Carrie and sat on the bench in their booth.

Carrie stared before her brain engaged, the dark-haired woman was familiar, but clearly worse for wear.

"J-J-Jane? What on earth...? Shit, are you okay?" concern filled Carrie at the sight of Jane. She was wearing the same baggy clothes as she'd been wearing last night at the bar, when their paths had crossed at the sinks. The head-to-toe mud splatters gave Carrie the impression that Jane may have slept in a gutter. The stale aromatic combination of smoke, alcohol and vomit was overwhelming.

"Can I join you? I need to talk to you Carrieee..." Jane was twitching and whimpering now.

"Um..." Carrie was in shock at the state of Jane. She was also hungry and had not been in the mood for any company other than Galvez.

"Can I get some fucking service over here?" Jane started shouting angrily. "Coffee, okay?"

Carrie looked at Galvez for help. He was busy gesturing to the waitress for assistance.

"I know you!" Jane suddenly jabbed a finger towards Galvez.

Galvez glanced at the scruffy, ragged haired woman. There was no recognition on his behalf, only contempt in his eyes for her stale drunken state that had rudely interrupted them, before they'd even had a chance to order their food.

Carrie decided to try and engage the now sweating and shaking Jane in conversation, hoping it would calm her down.

"Jane... This is Danny. He was at the bar with me last night. You probably saw him dancing...?" Carrie spoke slowly and gently.

"Shut up you don't know anything. Hey, you! Daniel Estuardo Galvez! Don't you remember me?" Jane's slurring was getting worse as she shouted loudly.

Galvez looked startled to hear his full name from this crazy woman.

"Danny Galvez! You must remember me. I looked after you for weeks!" Jane was leaning over the table towards him now. Her body following her jabbing finger.

Galvez was staring at her, his brown eyes searching, but seeing nothing that he recognised in this filthy, orange-tanned woman.

"At the hospital! I was your nurse, I'm Emily-Jane...Emily-Jane Smith!" She screeched.

Carrie jerked as if something had clicked inside. "You! You're... You're... Emily... the ER nurse? Quinn's ER nurse!"

"Shut up Carrie! Where were you anyway? I never saw you visiting Danny once. He was shot you know!" Emily-Jane spat.

The finger started poking Carrie, before Emily-Jane continued loudly, her eyes wild.

"Fucking shot! Worse than Peter Quinn, but you found time to visit Peter, didn't you? Convinced him to discharge himself...couldn't wait to get him out of hospital and back into your bed!" Emily-Jane's cold hands darted for Carrie's throat.

"What the f..." Carrie coughed uncontrollably, astounded, as she sat back, pushing the crazed woman away so hard that she ended up on the floor.

Galvez jumped to his feet. He glanced at Carrie uncertainly, before he spun round to the waitress at the counter who was nodding that she'd already called the police.

"At least you had Roya though, Danny..." Emily-Jane crooned as she struggled to get up off the floor. She had stumbled away from Carrie's side of the table and was reaching a filthy hand up towards Galvez's groin. "Roya was there a lot."

Carrie's eyes widened as Galvez was pushing the clawing hand away in disgust.

"You're drunk and you're abusing us and you're going to be arrested very soon." Galvez's voice was low as he stared down at Emily-Jane with furious eyes.

"Oh, but Danny, after everything I did for you! Don't you remember? I took care of you!" Emily-Jane was still trying to touch him inappropriately. He slapped her hand away.

"If you are... who you say you are, then you ought to be locked up by now! I reported you for mistreating me, as did several other patients, you stupid fucking bitch!" Galvez was fuming.

Carrie was shocked. She's never heard Galvez being disrespectful to anyone before.

Emily-Jane started crying. "I lost my job, Danny. I lost my job..."

The Diner door suddenly banged open loudly. Two Police Officers had arrived and the waitress was quickly directing them to Carrie and Galvez's booth.

At the sight of the Police Officers, Emily-Jane started lashing out crazily. Carrie's cheek initially bore the brunt of sharp nails, before she managed to cover her face with folded arms and cower down into the corner.

Emily-Jane was swiftly cuffed by the Police Officers and dragged towards the door of the Diner as she shrieked.

"You bitch Carrie! You stole Peter from me! He was mine, Carrie and now you're cheating on him with Danny!" Emily-Jane was trying to bite her handcuffs.

The other diners were staring wide-eyed at Emily-Jane as she continued, wedging herself in the door before her final loud scream.

"Carrie's a two-timing bitch, Danny! I saw her in here with Peter! Stick with Roya, Danny!"

The door slammed again and the entire Diner breathed a sigh of relief. Galvez rushed round the table and hugged Carrie tightly as he carefully checked her face.

"Oh baby, oh baby..." his voice cracked as he rocked her gently in his arms and stroked her hair.

One of the Police Officers swiftly returned and began asking about statements and pressing charges. Galvez flashed his Agent ID card dismissively, before tearfully dabbing Carrie's badly scratched cheek with a napkin. The Officer nodded and turned away from the upset couple and started to ask the excited waitress and other customers, about what they had witnessed.

It took some time for the Police to depart, but finally Carrie and Galvez got some food and coffee which they consumed quickly and in silence. Silent apart from their own occasional sniffs and the hushed, gossiping whispers of their fellow diners.

They got out as soon as they could and walked back to the car. No physical contact this time, no fingers were enlaced with each others. They both kept their hands in their pockets. As if the weather sought to match their moods it started raining.

...

Galvez drove them back towards work with the radio turned up loudly. Carrie stared out of her window, before summoning the courage to glance at him. His face was grim.

Carrie turned the radio off abruptly and was silent for a moment, before she nervously asked her burning question. "You know I need to ask about Roya Hammad..."

Galvez sighed. He carefully looked in the rear view mirror before indicating and pulling the car over to the roadside. He stopped windscreen wipers. Then turned the key to stop the engine. Carrie observed him intently as he performed each action, slowly and deliberately.

He put his hand to his forehead and slowly rubbed his dark eyebrows. Carrie momentarily felt hypnotised watching the gentle rhythm of his thumb and two fingers. She couldn't stop her mind flitting to the countless times when those same fingers had taken her over the edge. Made her cry out in ecstasy, often right here in the car.

"What about Roya?" Galvez spoke and interrupted her thoughts. His voice was uptight, but his face was downcast and sorrowful.

"What that woman said... Jane... Emily-Jane?" Carrie cleared her throat as she refocused her attention.

"That nurse is a nut-crazed drunk, Carrie." Galvez rubbed his hand under his collar.

Carrie's temper rose swiftly. "So... she picked the name, Roya, out of thin air did she?" Her fingers randomly plucked the air.

"No, but what about Peter, Carrie, do you want to talk about Peter Quinn?" Galvez turned to her sharply.

"Peter Quinn is not a terrorist!" Carrie crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"Neither am I!" Galvez yelled as he thumped the steering wheel, accidentally sounding the horn.

"But Roya Hammad is a terrorist..." Carrie's mouth and throat were tight. Her scratched cheek was now red and throbbing. "And it seems she paid some secret visits to you, before she was locked up..."

"I'm well aware of that." Galvez spoke slowly and carefully. "There was some stuff going on. That you didn't know about, Carrie. And I'm truly sorry about that."

Carrie felt panic rising. Oh no, please no. Not Galvez. Memories of Brody flitted through her mind. To some extent she'd known what she was getting into with Brody, terrorist or not. Her hunches were always right with Brody.

She'd had no reason to be suspicious of Danny Galvez though.

"So, do you want to tell me?" Carrie gulped.

"Of course I do, baby, but it's complicated, even more so now..." Galvez had his head in his hands.

"Well, start at the beginning!" Carrie begged as tears welled in her eyes.

"Carrie... let's get back to work and we can talk there. See if Peter Quinn is in yet." He put his hands back on the steering wheel.

"What's Peter Quinn got to do with this? I just want to know why Roya Hammad was at your fucking hospital bedside after you'd got shot by her people in Gettysburg!" Carrie was screaming at him now.

"Why don't you ask Peter, Carrie." Galvez spoke calmly as he restarted the engine. "I was in a coma most of the fucking time."

Carrie put her hands over her eyes, then pulled them away sharply. She didn't like being alone in the dark.

…

Galvez started driving, much faster than Carrie was used to. Too fast for the road conditions. He looked desperately unhappy as he focused on the road ahead. The wipers were swishing the rain off the windscreen.

Carrie felt just as unhappy and she tentatively stretched a hand over to touch his knee, in the hope of giving and receiving some comfort. Galvez flinched.

She moved her hand back to her own lap and started scratching her fingers that suddenly felt incredibly itchy. She felt afraid, like she was on the verge of a terrible loss.

"So, what's the story with you and Quinn?" Galvez blurted the question, as he braked and swerved suddenly.

"The story? There is no story" Carrie swallowed nervously at his erratic driving as much as his question.

"But that nurse said..." Galvez began.

"Like you said yourself. That nurse is a fucking nut-case! And that's saying something, coming from me!" Carrie's laughter felt hollow. She was relieved when Galvez pulled over to the side of the road again.

"Why didn't you come and see me at the hospital, Carrie?" Galvez now looked like he might cry.

"That was years ago. They said you were dying." Carrie's voice was emotionless now, matter of fact.

"I-I-I-I would have come for you Carrie. I would have been there everyday. Especially if y-y-y-you were dying..." Galvez had tears in his brown eyes as he struggled with the words.

"Galvez, we weren't together then. I was too busy keeping my eyes on Brody!" Carrie was feeling detached from their conversation now. Like she was floating above it, like an observer.

"Not too busy to visit Quinn though?" Galvez wiped his eyes on his sleeve as discreetly as possible.

"I didn't visit him! I went to the hospital to update him. Quinn checked himself out whilst I was there!" Carrie tried to speak softly, but the edge of frustration in her voice cut through. She suddenly had a flashback of seeing Quinn's naked butt as he had dropped his gown. She gasped realising she hadn't replayed that particular fantasy in her mind's eye for a long time.

"Not drag him back into your bed, like that nurse said?" Galvez almost spat the words.

"What the fuck? I've never had anything going on with Peter Quinn!" Carrie felt her heart thumping. This was a first. Her and Galvez were almost having a row.

"Carrie, did you see Quinn's face last night, when you kissed me? He stormed out!" Galvez looked bewildered now.

"Well that's his problem." Carrie folded her arms.

"Don't upset him, Carrie! You know the rumours about what he did to your last Muslim boyfriend?" Galvez suddenly started laughing absurdly.

"What? Oh, I'm guessing you mean Brody? Do you think that's funny?" Carrie threw her arms up, suddenly horrified at the thought of Peter Quinn doing anything to harm Galvez.

"Peter Quinn is a dangerous man. He can make people do stuff they don't want to do." Galvez was serious now.

"What are you talking about?" Carrie was afraid now.

Galvez continued matter-of-factly "He's very influential..."

"Please tell me what you are talking about!" Carrie suddenly felt close to tears.

Galvez exhaled. "Peter Quinn made me try and have a relationship with Roya Hammad... before the Gettysburg ambush."

"What?" Carrie's mind raced with confusion as she tried to remember back to that time.

"He wanted to get information. Like you did with Brody." Galvez spoke calmly.

"What?" Carrie suddenly felt furious. Why had her colleagues kept secrets from her?

Galvez hung his head. "Roya Hammad might be locked up, but she still thinks I'm on her side... and the Intel we have is that some other Al-Qaeda operatives out there believe that too."

Carrie looked at Galvez. She had never felt so afraid of an answer. "Are you on her side?"

"No of course not." He shook his head. "I'm putting out some duff information, that's all. To all the places they might pick it up. Do you believe me?" His eyes now searched Carrie's desperately, as if he was seeking her soul.

Carrie was silent. She could feel her heart beating as if in slow motion. Each breath took a lifetime.

Finally she concluded her thoughts and spoke. "I really want to believe you. I've trusted you more than anyone."

Galvez exhaled slowly, his whole body visibly relaxed. "It matters to me a lot. That you trust me."

"Do you trust me, Danny?" Carrie asked weakly as she rubbed her temples.

"I trust you, but I don't trust Peter Quinn. Well I do trust himas an Agent, but I don't trust him anywhere near you." Galvez laughed nervously.

"The way he was behaving last night? I thought he might be in love with you!" Galvez suddenly stopped laughing and smiled at Carrie adoringly. Almost as if he expected every man in the world to be in love with her anyway.

Carrie's heart hammered in her chest.

"Perhaps you're right." Carrie's voice was small. "Maybe he loves me, but I don't love him."

"I think I'm falling in love with..." She whispered before tentatively reaching over to touch Galvez's face. He held her wrist lightly and kissed her fingers gently, before squeezing her whole hand tightly in his.