Along came a Spider

Stacy entered the sheriff's office; she just got in from going to old man Jensen's place, seems there had been some trespassing going on and he wanted it stopped. All she could do right now was take his statement then look into it, she didn't think there was a problem but she loved the old man so she would go back out later after work and take a look around. She greeted the deputy at the front desk then headed to her desk. She passed Deputy Frank Vogal, one of the biggest jerks she ever met, who was also a bully in high school. How he became a deputy was a mystery that she didn't care to look into. He stopped her and grabbed her ass and gave her the creepiest smile she ever saw. Without hesitation she reached back, grabbed his thumb, twisted and pushed it towards his arm then twisted more till he went to his knees in pain.

Looking into his pain filled eyes, she said, "You ever grab me like that again, I will not only break your thumb, but also all your fingers and damn the consequences, you her me Vogal?" she told him in a harsh tone.

Just then the Sheriff came out of his office followed by two strangers. "Deputy Sanders, what the hell is going on?"

Not taking her eyes off of Vogal she answered, "This moron grabbed my rear end Sheriff."

The sheriff sighed, "Deputy Vogal, when she lets you go, get your ass into the conference room and stay there till I'm ready to talk to you." He looked over at Stacy, "As for you, there are two DEA agents here to see you, so let him go and get into my office."

Stacy let Vogal go and looked over towards the Sheriff. She saw a vision, she couldn't help but smile and think 'Where have you been all my life?'

As Vogal got up he looked at Stacy and noticed the smile then looked at the brunette standing behind and off to the side of the sheriff, he grimaced. "Ah, now I understand why you turn down every man that asks you out, you're a fucking dyke."

When Stacy heard this she spun, grabbed Vogal and kicked his legs out from under him, sending him to the ground. She planted her knee on his chest, but before she could do more than that she felt a strange, and yet familiar hand on her shoulder, she stopped before her fist made contact.

Before anyone could move to stop Stacy, Alex was already at her side and placed her hand on her shoulder. "He isn't worth it Deputy."

Stacy took a deep breath. "You're lucky Vogal." Stacy slowly got up without taking her eyes off of him and backed away. She could see the fear in his eyes and gave him a predatory smile.

Deputy Mark Henderson walked over to Vogal and helped him to his feet. "What the hell's wrong with you Frank, I swear it's like you have a death wish." He shook his head and looked over at Stacy, "We ain't all like him Stacy."

Stacy nodded and said, "I know Mark."

The Sheriff walked over to Vogal, reached up and ripped the badge off his chest in the process also ripping his uniform. "You're fired, Henderson escort this out of my station."

"Yes Sheriff." Henderson took Vogal by the arm then led him towards the door. "Damn it Frank, I knew you were an ass but damn this takes the cake."

"Fuck you, Mark." Vogal spat at him. "Why do you even care?"

Mark slapped Vogal on the back of the head hard. "Because she saved my life back in high school when I got snake bit by a rattler." He opened the door and pushed Vogal out into the night. "I owe her my life; I will always have her back no matter what." With that he closed the door on Vogal and headed back into the station.

As Mark led Vogal away, Stacy looked up into the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she has ever seen in her life and felt a sense of déjà vu. She smiled and said, "Hi."

Alex looked into green eyes that held her captive. "Hi."

The Sheriff shook his head and turned to Agent Delgado. "Bout damn time, I thought she would never find someone."

Agent Delgado shook his head. "Let's get them out of their trance and get into your office, we still got a lot to cover." Delgado walked up to Alex and snapped his fingers between the two, breaking them out of it. "Come on we got a lot to cover, so get moving into the office; you two can talk later."

"OK, now that we're all here and paying attention." The Sheriff looked at both Alex and Stacy. "Agent Delgado do you want to start?"

Nodding to the Sheriff, "Yes Sheriff, thanks." Agent Delgado turned to Stacy. "The victim was a person of interest in an ongoing drug smuggling investigation that we have been conducting for about a year now." Delgado opened the folder he was holding, took out a piece of paper and handed it to Stacy. "Do you recognize that plant? It was found in the tread of his tires."

Stacy read the lab report then smiled and looked at the agent. "Yea I know this plant, Manihot davisiae, it grows in areas high in limestone." She handed the report back. "There's only one place here where it grows in abundance and I know exactly where it is." She looked at the lab report again and shook her head. 'It can't be a coincidence,' she thought. Looking up at the agents then at the Sheriff she finally said, "This plant grows on a part of old man Jensen's land; he's been complaining about trespassers."

GLW

Vogal was hitting the steering wheel. "Goddamn, stupid, fucking, bitch." When he was finished pounding his steering wheel and venting he looked at the dirt road he would need to take and shuddered. "Dammit." He put his car in gear then turned down the road.

His hands were starting to sweat; not because he was hot, that wasn't it. "La Araña is gonna kill me," he yelled as he drove down the dirt road. He took out a handkerchief and wiped at his nose. 'Man I could use a hit right now,' he thought to himself.

As he pulled up to the adobe shack he started to get frightened; La Araña was a cold hearted bitch, that wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet in your head. Yeah, right about now would be great time for a hit. He wished they had let him go to his locker before kicking him out of the station so he could get his stash. But no, they had to fire him and kick him out of the station, because of that stupid fucking cunt.

As he came to a stop one of Araña's men approached his truck. The man was Caucasian, over six foot and well built, he was wearing desert BDU's, he also had what looked like an M-5 assault rifle hanging from his right shoulder. The man tapped on the window and motioned for Vogal to get out. Vogal opened the door and climbed out of his truck. The mercenary examined the flap of material hanging from Vogal's uniform and shook his head. "La Araña is not going to like this one bit Vogal, I hope you have something that will make up for this." He said as he waved his hand at Vogal's ruined uniform.

Vogal was reaching for the door handle when he heard the ex-marine softly laugh; he just wanted to crawl into a dark hole somewhere, instead of facing La Araña.

The Sheriff sent Stacy and Alex out to old man Jensen's farm to take a look around. As Stacy was driving she was taking quick glances out the corner of her eye at Alex, there was something about the tall brunette that intrigued her. She wanted to know more. "So, how long have you been in the DEA?"

"I just got out of eighteen months of training, I'm still what they call a probie."

Stacy, looked at the other woman, "and Agent Delgado is letting you go on this li'l trip alone, with li'l ole me?"

Alex had to smile and shook her head. "Believe me, he knows that I can take care of myself." She looked at the petite blonde and got that feeling of déjà vu again. "What about you, how long have you been a deputy?"

"Only two months." Stacy noticed that they were almost there. "We'll be there fairly soon."

Alex continued to watch Stacy drive, still with the feeling she knew her from somewhere, but couldn't place it. "What did you do before becoming a deputy?"

Stacy glanced at Alex then back at the road, "I was a police officer for the NYPD."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave?" Alex, saw Stacy's face change and her smile dropped. "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Stacy shook her head. "No, it's all right, I don't mind." Stacy bit her lip before telling her why she left. "I came back here because my daddy died and I wanted to help my mama."

Alex had to smile at that. "Very admirable, family comes first in my book too." Gods, she loved the way she referred to her parents as mama and daddy, it was too damned cute coming from her. In her house growing up, it was 'yes sir, no sir,' or 'no ma'am, yes ma'am.' The price for growing up with parents who were career military.

"We should be coming up on the dirt road soon." Stacy said. But one look at the road when it came into sight sent her gut churning, so she passed it up.

Alex, watched the road go by then turned to Stacy in confusion, "wasn't that our turn?"

Stacy just nodded but didn't comment. About fifty yards away from their turn, she turned the wheel and made a hard right and took the jeep off road. Alex grabbed the handle on the roof and smiled.

Stacy looked over at Alex, thinking she would see fear or confusion but all she saw was calm. She shook her head and continued to drive to a hill then stopped.

"OK, that was fun. Mind telling me why the change in route?" Alex asked.

Stacy unbuckled her seat belt and got out, so Alex followed. Stacy went to the back of the jeep and opened the hatch. She reached in and took out her rifle and two canteens, and her survival kit. She gave one canteen and the rifle to Alex then grabbed a pair of binoculars. She looked at Alex, "have ya ever had a bad feeling about something?"

Alex nodded, "yeah, when I was stationed in the Middle East. It's what kept me and my men alive." She frowned. "When I was in charge that is."

Stacy saw the look and made a mental note to ask about it later. "Well, when I saw that road I had this feeling that we shouldn't be going that way." She motioned with her hand in the direction they needed to go. "Shall we get going, I want to be back before it gets dark out here, there won't be a moon out tonight."

Alex nodded and followed Stacy. About half an hour later they crested a small hill. Alex looked around and saw some movement in the distance so she signaled Stacy to get down. Alex motioned for the binoculars, when Stacy handed them to her she looked through them and saw a tall man dressed in desert BDU's and carrying what looked like an assault rifle. "Shit, a mercenary." She gave the binoculars back to Stacy who then took a look. She whispered into Stacy's ear. "How far away are we from our destination?"

Stacy repressed a shiver, she looked in the direction they had to go and made a guestimation. In a low voice she said, "About twenty five yards and we should be able to see the cabin."

They both started to belly crawl along the ground till they came to a place that allowed them an unobstructed view of the cabin, yet also provided them with some cover. Stacy took her binoculars back out and peered through them, while Alex looked through the scope of the rifle.

"Shit," Stacy hissed.

Alex heard the expletive. "What's the matter," she whispered.

Stacy took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she answered. "That red truck down there?" she motioned in the direction of the truck with her chin, "it belongs to Vogal."

"Looks like y'all had a leak." Alex said quietly. She continued to watch the mercenaries through the scope of the rifle. She noticed that one of them was talking into a radio, and her military instincts kicked in. She leaned in close to Stacy and whispered, "We need to get out of here now."

They both slowly headed back the way they had come. They almost made it back to the jeep when they stopped. Alex, took the binoculars from Stacy and look towards their ride, what she saw made her say a few choice words she learned in Iraq.

"So, from the tone of your voice, I take it they found the jeep."

Alex took out her cell and groaned. "No reception."

Stacy shrugged and said, "I could've told ya that."

Alex ignored the sarcasm and nodded. "No reception and no transport." She looked at Stacy and said, "We can't take the road."

Stacy got angry as she watched the merc's pull out the radio and flatten all the tires. She growled, "I love that jeep." She sighed in resignation and looked at Alex. "Don't worry, this was…well is my back yard, sort of." She took her canteen out of its pouch and took a swallow then looked at it. "And I know where we can get fresh water." Stacy took one last look at her jeep, then she turned around and started walking without saying a word. She was still fuming, she really did love that jeep. She lifted her right hand to the butt of her sidearm and checked to make sure it was secure.

Alex let Stacy fume and just kept an eye out; after a bit she took a swig of her water.

Stacy looked to the setting sun and turned to the other woman, "I would say we walk through the night, but like I said earlier, there won't be a moon tonight."

Vogel was shoved to the floor in the middle of the room when he entered. He was about to protest the treatment when he saw La Araña come into the room and tried to swallow the fear he was starting to feel.

La Araña grabbed a chair and sat down facing Vogal. Leaning forward with elbows on knees the boss looked Vogal in the eyes. Vogal, felt a cold chill run down his spine and he shivered. The boss gave him a smile that didn't reach the eyes, as matter of fact the eyes seemed to get colder and harder.

"I told you to keep a low profile, didn't I?" La Araña said with a growl. A hand reached out and grabbed the piece of torn material and lifted it up, then the boss dropped it with a sneer. "Now here you are with a torn uniform and no badge, what the hell did you do?"

Vogal, hoped that what he had would save his life, he didn't think they would react this badly to him getting fired; after all he did for them. He swallowed. "Two DEA Agents are in town asking about Peterson's death." Vogal rattled off fast.

La Araña raised an eyebrow then sat back in the chair. "You get a name?"

Vogal nodded, "Delgado and Stavros."

La Araña smiled at the name and nodded, "I know of Delgado, but I haven't heard of this Stavros."

Vogal nodded, "from what I heard she is new."

The boss sat thinking, then came to a decision. "Vogal, I'm going to give you a second chance. Which I don't do very often."

Vogal nodded, "I'll do anything."

"I want you to go back into town and keep an eye on the two Agents." La Araña stood up, grabbed Vogal by the hair and tilted his back forcefully so they were looking each other in the eyes. "You fuck this up and I will have you killed very, very slowly and painfully. Do we have an understanding?" La Araña threw him to the floor and gave him a swift kick. "Get out of here."

Vogal got up off the floor and beat a hasty retreat out the door.

The lead mercenary put his figure to his ear and frowned. La Araña saw this. "What's going on Sam?"

"A jeep belonging to the Sheriff's Department was just found about a half mile from here."

"Tell them to take care of that and have the rest of your men pack up the Humvee's, we'll be leaving here in the morning." La Araña started walking to the door that leads to the bedroom, but stopped before going in and turned. "Get changed, I want some real food tonight and you are coming with me."

Sam nodded, he knew the real reason behind this impromptu outing and went to get changed into his civilian clothes.

Stacy reached into her bag and pulled out small canister, she dumped out a ball bearing. She put the canister back in her bag then pulled out a slingshot. Without missing a step she loaded it, pulled the bands back and let the ball bearing fly. She put the slingshot back into her bag.

Alex looked at Stacy, "What was that about?"

Stacy looked up at Alex and smiled. "You'll see blue eyes." With that said Stacy took a detour, after a few yards she bent down, picked up a brown object and held it up. "I hope you're not squeamish."

Alex looked at the dead rabbit. "I've seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, I've eaten food that would make you retch. I'm good." She nodded at the rabbit and said, "Nice shot by the way."

Stacy looked at the rabbit she held and shrugged, "I was actually aiming for the chest area." She then motioned for Alex to follow. "We're almost to the area were we'll wait out the night and eat."

Sitting next to each other near the fire under a rock over hang, Alex turned to Stacy. "How did you learn to shoot a slingshot like that?"

Stacy smiled as a memory ran through her mind. "My daddy, he taught me how to survive out here." She closed her eyes and concentrated on the memory. "I was ten when he first took me out to the desert; he taught me how to use a sling shot, a rabbit stick, and traps. He taught me how to forage for food and how to find water." A tear escaped the corner of her eye and she wiped it away. "He taught me how to take care of snake bites and scorpion stings." She took a deep shaky breath and tried to hold back the tears.

Alex rubbed Stacy's back in soothing circles. She took a chance and pulled Stacy into her side, Stacy accepted the comfort, she placed her head on Alex's shoulder and sighed. "Why did he teach you survival skills?"

"I liked to ride my horse a lot and I would be gone for several hours. He wanted to make sure that I could survive if something happened to me or my horse." The times she and her father spent in the desert were the best memories she had. It wasn't so much the survival training; but it was the time she spent with him. She treasured those times with her daddy. She sniffled, she missed him so much.

"Why don't you lay down, I'll take the first watch." Alex said. Stacy just nodded and put her head on Alex's leg.

Alex smiled at this and placed her hand on the blonde's arm. She fell back into her training and watched and listened.

Earlier

La Araña turned to Sam. "Call Vogel and see if he has eyes on that DEA Agent."

Sam took out his cell phone, "You have eyes on Delgado?" He nodded then hung up the phone without another word. "Delgado and the Sheriff just went into that small restaurant on Main Street." They stopped at a red light then when it turned green he turned the truck onto Main Street.

La Araña and Sam, sat in the booth they requested, sitting so that Araña could see Delgado and the Sheriff. "Why are we here? You have pictures of him on your office wall, you have a file on him as thick as my arm."

La Araña tapped the menu against the top of the table while watching the two men. La Araña turned to Sam and smiled. "I want to meet Delgado."

Sam almost spat out his water when he heard that statement. "Are you nuts?"

La Araña shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

"We have worked way too hard on the myth of The Spider." Sam glanced over at the two law enforcement officers. "Please be careful, we don't need him on our collective asses."

La Araña laughed, "Don't worry I'm not going over there, stick my hand out and say, 'hi I'm La Araña, I believe you are looking for me.' No I'm not going to do that, so don't worry."

"I know you're not; we just worked too damn hard on this cover."

La Araña nodded. "Speaking of myth's and covers; I changed my mind about Vogel."

"Already taken care of, I told two of my men to take him out after midnight." Sam said.

The boss watched Delgado get up and go to the restrooms and came up with a plan.

"Good, good." La Araña said distractedly. After a few minutes Delgado came out of the restroom. La Araña got up and knocked on the table. "I'll be right back," and proceeded on a course that would intercept the Agent. Sam just shook his head and under his breath said, "Just be careful."

When they got close to each other La Araña tripped and fell right into the arms of Delgado.

Delgado smiled down at the beautiful Latino woman that literally fell into his arms. "Hi!"

"Oops, I'm so sorry." La Araña straightened herself up and held her hand out, smiling. "My name is, Maria."

Delgado took her hand and kissed the knuckles. "My name is Delgado; it's pleasure meet you, Maria."

Present

Alex was watching what she could see of the stars from under the rocky overhang, when something made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She closed her eyes and listened; what she heard was nothing, no insects, nothing. She continued to listen, then she tensed when she heard a noise, something sliding across stone. Stacy woke up when she felt the thigh she was using as a pillow tighten up. She sat up and looked at the tall brunette and nodded in understanding.

Alex slowly stood up, reached into her pocket and pulled out her knife. She opened it as she move silently into the shadows. She was happy to notice that Stacy backed up deeper into the shadows, but not before grabbing her kit belt.

Alex waited and watched; a man came into view. She waited for him to pass her by then snuck up behind him. She reached around and wrapped her left arm around his neck. Instead of panicking the man let go of his firearm, grabbed the arm that was wrapped around his neck. He bent forward then dropped to his knee, causing the person holding him to go over his shoulder. As Alex landed she rebounded, came around and kicked him in the head dazing him. She used her knife to cut the hand that was holding the gun then she cut the strap and threw the gun into the darkness.

Stacy wasn't too worried about the brunette, she didn't want to get in the way and cause her to lose, she had to have faith. She heard boots on stone as another mercenary came into view with his weapon at the ready, waiting for a clear shot. She grabbed her light then made a noise, as the man turned to look towards the sound, Stacy turned the light on and shone it directly into his face. The mercenary yelled and ripped the night vision goggles off his face, that's when Stacy switched the light to its flashing setting causing the man to drop to his knees and start vomiting, so Stacy hit him with a Taser. She ran over and cuffed him before he could recover.

Stacy looked over to see if Alex was OK and that's when she saw the first mercenary drop to his knees then he fell forward. She saw Alex still standing and was relieved. She didn't care if the man was dead, so long as Alex was OK.

Alex wiped the blood off of her knife then walked over to where Stacy and a moaning mercenary were. She waved her hand in front of her nose, "What the hell is that smell?"

Stacy made a disgusted face and said, "He vomited and I think he pissed himself too."

"What did you do to him?" Alex asked.

"Well first off I hit him with the Incapacitator, then I shot him with my Taser." She moved away from the mercenary and towards Alex, looking at her to make sure she was alright. "So what do you want to do with him?"

"Umm," Alex looked down at the still moaning mercenary; she really didn't want the blonde to see what she might have to do, but she didn't see a way out of it. They needed information. "I need to get some information out of him."

Stacy frowned at this, she looked away from Alex then down at the mercenary. She shrugged then went over and picked up his night vision goggles. "I'm going to go and see if they have friends that haven't shown yet."

When Stacy was out of sight Alex crouched next to the mercenary and rolled him over. She slapped him across the face, getting his attention. "You serve in Afghanistan?" She asked. "You look familiar."

The mercenary nodded and looked at Alex closely and groaned. Alex smiled, yes he recognized her too. "So….here is the thing, I want info and you are going to give it to me, you understand me?" He swallowed the lump of fear that was in his throat and nodded. "Good, now I know that you know me, so you know what I am capable of." She reached over and unsheathed his K-Bar, she tested the edge of the knife with her thumb. She smiled down at him and ran the tip of the knife across his cheek, watching as the fear in his eyes grew. "Are you going to answer all my questions truthfully?"

"Y..Y..Yes." He stammered.

She patted him on the cheek. "Good, good. So let's get started shall we?" He nodded. "OK, first off who do you work for?"

He never served with her but he saw her on base and he heard horror stories about what she did to terrorists. They were all rumors mind you; but the Intel she got was always accurate. Hell he heard that when the professionally trained interrogators couldn't get answers all they had to do was mention her name and the terrorists would start talking a mile a minute. Off course it was all rumor, but the question was, did he want to find out if those rumors were true. He decided he didn't want to risk it.

He swallowed again before he started speaking. "I work for La Araña."

Alex arched her brow and looked down at the merc. "The Spider?" He nodded. "I read about The Spider. Tell me everything that you know."

So he began from the beginning, about how Carlos Martinez, the leader of the Cartel backhanded his wife Maria once, and once was enough. She killed him that night, while in bed with him. How his leader Sam Coulton, named her The Spider when she related how and when she did the deed, how she laughed at the look on his face when she slit his throat, how she watched the light leave his eyes as he died. How no one outside of the inner circle knew that Carlos was dead. Everyone in the cartel still thinks he is still alive and that he is giving the orders; when in actuality it's Maria that gives the orders now. He told her that Coulton once told him how he heard the laughter and walked in and found Maria nude a still straddling her dead husband. He told Alex how the newly named La Araña took over the cartel and started taking out her rivals, making her organization the biggest and most feared in Mexico.

Earlier

Delgado looked at his watch for the tenth time, worry written all over his face. "I don't like this, Alex should have called by now."

The Sheriff took out his phone and hit speed dial. "Gloria, has Sanders called in yet?" He listened to her reply. "See if you can get her on the radio." He waited for Gloria to come back on the line, "Thanks. Keep trying and call me if you get her." He hung up and looked at the Agent, "The dispatcher can't reach her on the radio." He saw Delgado start to dial a number then said, "If you're trying to get in touch with your agent you won't have any luck. There ain't no single out that way." Upon hearing this Delgado shut his phone and slammed it onto the table.

"Dammit." Delgado cursed.

The Sheriff could sympathize with the Agent, he was worried too. It wasn't like Stacy to stay out of contact for so long. But he also knew that she could take care of herself out there better than anyone he knew. "You told me Stavros was Special Forces, right?" Delgado nodded. "Well don't worry too much. From what hear those guys tougher than nails. Plus she has Stacy with her."

Delgado looked at the Sheriff. "How is that supposed to make me feel better?" He laughed, "Well it would make Alex feel better having the deputy with her."

The Sheriff had to chuckle at that then got serous. "Anybody round here could tell you that Stacy can run circles around Bear Gryll's and those other TV survivalists, when it comes to surviving in the desert."

Delgado sighed, "I'm sorry but that doesn't make me feel better. Alex is my probie, I should be watching her back."

The Sheriff took a sip of his coffee then said, "Look, I saw Stacy's face light up when she saw Alex. I wasn't gonna stand in her way of making a connection with someone. That's why I suggested they go together. Plus I have nothing but faith in my Deputy, like I said, that's her backyard."