Michael opened his eyes and was met with the same tacky yellow ceiling he had last seen. He had been half-heartedly hoping that when he opened his eyes again he'd be someplace better, someplace that didn't remind him of everything he'd lost. He rolled himself up and put his feet down on the muddy brown carpet that had seen much better days. The ache that was building behind his eyes was going to be a full-blown migraine in an hour if he didn't do something about it. It was probably from the stress of all that had happened. Not only had the Nigerians beat the crap out of him, broken some ribs and added a scar to his collection of them, but also the whole being dumped in Miami thing just capped it. And then there was Fiona, which was a whole month of migraines right there.
He winced as he stretched his back out and the pain shot through his side from the broken ribs, reminding him once again that he was not indestructible. His hand absently strayed to his side, running over the ribs that were aching and the long scar that covered them. The pain from the fractures was nothing compared to the pain behind that scar. God, if only he could put that out of his mind once and for all. But he knew it would never happen, nothing could ever excise that memory.
He rose from the bed and put on the same dirty clothes he'd been wearing for three days and decided to do something about this mess he was in. If he could figure out who had blacklisted him he could probably work out a deal or something that would return his semblance of a life to him. It had been so long since he'd done anything that would be considered normal that it was hard to remember how to live as a private citizen. He pondered the dilemma for a few minutes and then remembered that Lucy Chen was here in Miami. She'd retired from the business a couple of years back and now was working for some security company in town catering to rich folks with paranoia. Maybe she could help him find something.
He grabbed the phone book and started flipping through the pages as he called information for her number.
XxXxXx
Getting the address for the company Lucy worked for was the easy part, actually getting in to see her was another thing. He'd gone and gotten a delivery company uniform and pretended to have an urgent package for her and once he finally got in, the smile on her face was enough to give him a slim hope that everything might just work out. She hadn't been able to give him much but she did give him some information and she promised to call Sam Axe to see if he had any work that Michael could pick up. Michael had worked with Sam a couple of times in the past and they had gotten to be pretty good friends.
Now Michael was walking up to the bar that Sam said he'd meet him in and trying hard not to look like he'd had the snot beaten out of him. "Hey Sam, how's it going?"
"Mikey! Wow, you look like shit."
They shook hands and Michael sat down across from Sam, "Please Sam, it's Michael now."
"Yeah whatever, you'll always be Mike to me."
Michael winced at the name; it brought back so many memories. He'd tried to put that part of his life behind him by using his full name instead of the shortened version he'd preferred in his younger days.
Sam talked for a while and Michael listened before he broached the topic of this meeting. Sam's eyes went wide when Michael told him about how he was going to find out who had burned him so he could get back in to the game. But Sam understood, he'd played the game long enough himself. Sam, however, wasn't like Michael. Sam had easily returned to civilian life after he'd gotten out of the business, now he was enjoying life and making up for lost time spent in the service of his country.
"So Sam, you in or out?" Michael asked.
"What, helping you figure out who burned you? Yeah, I'm in."
"Good," the younger man replied, his mind whirling as he thought about how much he wanted his life back. All of it, not just his job. He wanted the past back too, the laughter, the good times, all of it. And he knew that he couldn't get it all back, but finding out who had burned him would be a step in the right direction. So that's just what he would do and nothing could stop him.
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So yes, there is another part to this coming. It'll pick up in the middle of season 2...right about where we are now. So if you haven't watched up through the mid season cliff hanger, ya might want to. Mainly because it's a damn good show.
