A Chance Encounter: Chapter 10
Michael Westen's POV
A couple days later, I found myself in John and Laura's dingy living room on a couch with one arm around Fiona and my phone held to my ear with the other, making a phone call to Sam. "Yeah, Chuck, we're all waitin' for you. When you gonna be here with the good news?"
Sam chuckled on the other line and I was thankful nobody in the room could hear what he was saying. "Your southern accent is making my head hurt, Mikey. I'm walking in the door in two minutes and I got all the pictures ready."
I smiled and gave a thumbs up to everyone in the room. "Alright, sounds great." I flipped my phone shut and took a deep breath. "He'll be here in a minute." John just grunted and Laura was fixing me with a hard stare. We sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes while we waited, and I was relieved when I heard the sound of the doorbell. John got up to answer it, and he came back with Sam in tow. Once everyone was seated again, Sam took out the envelope with all the pictures we had taken the other day.
"I have some good news and some bad news, guys. The good news is I found the girls." Before Sam could go on, John leaned forward in his seat and cut him off.
"Where the hell are they?" He practically shouted.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Well, if you'll let me continue I'll tell you." John nodded and Sam went on. "I actually found them by luck. I was eating lunch at this nice little Mexican place and I saw the older girl enter the Miami police station with the younger girl. I was hot on their tail after that, and what I saw wasn't pretty." Sam handed the pictures to John and Laura. "Take a look at these pictures."
Sam, Fi and I all looked at each other tensely while John and Laura looked at the pictures, and finally, after a couple minutes, they both looked up. "What the hell is that girl doing?" John looked dumbstruck.
"Let me see the pictures, I paid for 'em." I cut in. John tossed me the envelope and I pretended to be looking at the pictures with Fiona while Sam explained more to John and Laura.
"Well, it looks to me like your daughter is turning you in. She and her sister went into at least three different government buildings and talked to officers. Looks like she's blabbing about your drug operation to the feds." I looked up from the pictures to stare at John and Laura, and Fiona laughed.
"Looks like your girl is smarter than you think, buddy." I laughed right along with Fi, and waited for a reaction.
John was shaking his head vehemently. "Nah, I don't believe any of this shit for a second. That girl is as dumb as a box of rocks; she would never think to do this." I felt Fiona tense, and I gripped her arm tightly to remind her not to attack John.
Sam shrugged. "Looks like she's doing it pretty well in the pictures, don't you think?"
"These are just pictures! I'm not just gonna pick up and run away because I see a few pictures of my girls goin' into some buildings. I wanna see them firsthand before I believe anything." This was exactly what I had hoped would not happen. Sam and I briefly made eye contact, and I hoped he was picking up that I didn't know what to do. Sam would have to dictate what happened next.
Sam paused for a millisecond, and then he smiled and pointed his finger at John. "You're a smart one there, Guy. I can probably track down the girls again now that I know where they are going, and I'll call you when I find them." He pointed at me and John. "You two can meet me, and you'll see firsthand what they're up to." John nodded, and Sam turned back to me. "Don't think for a second this won't cost you extra though, Donnie. It'll take a little time to track them down again."
Fiona answered before I could say anything. "It's fine, the sooner this is over, the better. Ain't that right, Donnie?"
I put my arms out like I was really put out. "You act like I'm freakin' moneybags Donald Trump, honey!"
Fiona sighed and kissed me on the cheek. Then she turned to Sam and winked. "He's just bein' a drama queen." I rolled my eyes, and when Sam turned his head I could tell he was hiding a smile.
"Alright, so it's settled. I'll call you when I find the girls, and we'll meet again." Sam stood up from his chair and walked towards the door. He paused when he reached the front hall and turned back. "Oh, and don't try to be a hero and find the girls before I do or else the feds will be on to you." After Sam exited, we all just looked at each other for a few minutes before anyone said anything.
John was clearly fuming, and I could tell he was ready to blow his lid off. Suddenly he stood up and pointed towards the door. "Leave."
Fiona and I both stood up at the same time. "Alright, alright. We'll see ya when we see ya." I grabbed Fi's hand and we walked out of the house. Once we were a safe distance away, Fiona spoke up.
"I don't like this, Michael. If we put Abby and Meghan anywhere near that man, they'll be in danger." Fi was fired up, I could tell from the tone of her voice.
"Fi, we don't have a choice. That's what happens when you have to make a plan on the fly like this. Sometimes we have to do things we aren't comfortable with. We'll try to control as much as we possibly can, and hopefully everything will work out." Fi huffed and we kept on walking. Even though I tried to tell myself this would all work out, I knew we were in trouble.
Abby, Fi, Sam and I sat around my mom's kitchen table the night before our plan was about to take place. We were going over the instructions for about the millionth time, and I was exhausted. I had to make sure we had everything in order before tomorrow. "Okay, Abby, run me through it again.
Abby nodded and rattled off her instructions. "Meghan and I are dropped off at the Miami police station at 9:00 in the morning. We walk in the station and pretend to be waiting for someone. We stay there for twenty minutes before we walk out of the police station, and across the street to the marina. Once we're there, we take a walk around the marina, and leave after that. We walk to the gas station at Grove and Maple, and wait there for Fiona to pick us up."
"Good. Now here's what'll happen." I pointed to Sam. "Sam, you'll call John at 8:30 tomorrow morning, and say you found the girls. You'll tell John that you've already called me and I insisted on coming. I'll meet John at his house and we'll drive together. We'll meet you right across the street from the police station, and that's when we'll watch for Abby and Meghan. Once they come out, we'll watch some more and hopefully John will be convinced. I can pull the paranoia card as much as possible to get him to think the feds are watching us, and if we're lucky, Abby's parents will be gone by tomorrow night."
Sam shrugged. "Sounds like a piece of cake, Brother."
Fi sat back in her chair and threw her head back in disgust. "There are so many holes in this plan, it's unbelievable. I say we go over to the house right now, and blow – "
"Fi, not now." I cut Fi off with a warning glare. Talking about blowing her parents to smithereens in front of Abby would be too much. I ignored Fi's murderous look and turned to Abby. "Think you can handle this?"
Abby nodded confidently. "I'll do whatever I have to do."
As I hurriedly walked up the front steps to Abby's house, I sent a silent prayer up that this plan would work out. The door slammed open before I could even knock, and John rushed out. "Let's go." He said. He got in his car, and I hopped into the passenger's seat.
"I get the feeling like we shouldn't be doing this." I started, about five minutes into the drive. We were nearing the police station, and I wanted to start the paranoia early.
"What are you talking about?" John asked. He was distracted, and I could tell he was thinking about Abby and Meghan.
"What if this is a trap? The feds could be watching the building; they might be looking for you right now!" John just grunted in response and we kept on driving. Before I knew it, we had pulled into a spot right next to Sam, and he was waving at us to roll down the windows.
"Alright guys. The girls are inside the police station right now. Let's watch the doors, they could be coming out any minute." We all sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes while we watched the door. I prayed Abby knew what she was doing. She was a smart girl and I knew she knew exactly what she was supposed to do, but there were a lot of variables we couldn't control. My heart skipped a beat when I saw them come out the front door, and John jumped in his seat.
"There they are!" Abby and Meghan had walked out with two other officers, and they appeared to be talking about something. To me, it looked like a friendly conversation, but to John, it probably looked like something far worse. "This is insane; I can't believe she's doing this."
I nodded my head in agreement. "This shit is real!" I saw a police cruiser driving by, and I immediately ducked my head. John followed suit. "Oh, man they're for sure after us! They probably know everything about you, man!" I had planted the seed of paranoia, and John was completely freaking out. I turned to Sam, who was sitting in his car staring into ours, and nodded to him when John wasn't looking. "What should we do, Chuck?"
Sam shrugged. "I say you both get outta here. It's just a matter of time before this whole thing blows open." At this point, Abby and Meghan were crossing the street again and heading for the gas station. I had to get John to leave, and I had to do it soon.
John looked like he was on another planet, he was so deep in thought. "Did you hear that, man? We gotta go!" John put the car in drive, and as we left the parking spot, I gave one last glance at Sam. I had no idea what John was thinking, but I knew it wasn't good. As a spy, you usually have a pretty good idea when someone is about to do something rash. John was tapping the wheel furiously with his fingers and blinking rapidly.
Suddenly, he turned to me. "I can't do this, man. I gotta know who she's working with. I'm going after them. Maybe I can grab the girls without the feds noticing." I shook my head frantically, but John went on. "I'm not going down without a fight." John turned the car around, and we began driving back towards the direction Abby and Meghan were walking.
"You don't wanna do this, John. Just cut your losses and leave this place! If you stick around, you and I are both gonna get caught." John was beyond reason, and I knew my words weren't getting through at all. We continued driving, and my heart sank when we spotted Abby and Meghan, walking down a side street about a block away from the gas station. They had no idea what was about to happen, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I frantically thought about what I could do, and I was coming up blank. I couldn't stop this without blowing my cover, and if I did that, the whole thing would be over. John suddenly sped up, and I glanced over at him in shock. "What the hell, man?" I asked, for once being truly serious.
"I'll ruin this if they see me. Let's just go." John's statement made me feel uneasy, but I didn't say anything. I needed to figure out if he had something up his sleeve, but I couldn't be too obvious about it. As a spy, there's nothing worse than realizing that something may be going on right under your nose that you know nothing about.
"What are you plannin' on doing?" I asked, hoping for some answers.
"I'm planning on goin' home to talk to my wife, and after I take your drugs I never wanna see your face again. This was a stupid idea of yours to come all the way down here and now we're all in trouble." My stomach dropped. John was playing his cards close to the chest, and it would be too suspicious if I kept asking questions. He was taking my 'drugs' and I should be happy.
"Yeah, whatever. Sounds like you got a lot on your plate. Soon as I give you my stash, me and Dina are outta here." As we neared the house, I put my head back on the seat and sighed in frustration. We would have to keep a close eye on John for the next couple hours just to make sure him and Laura were really leaving town.
…
Twenty minutes later, we were all back at the loft. Meghan was taking a nap on the couch, and Abby, Fi and I were standing on the balcony talking. "So how did it go, Abby?" I asked. I had already expressed my concerns about John to Fi while Abby was getting Meghan situated on the couch, and we both agreed we needed to pump Abby for any information we might have missed today.
Abby shrugged. "It went fine, Michael. You saw us while we were at the police station, and then the walk went fine. Nothing to report. So how did it go with my dad?" I glanced at Fi, and she shrugged.
"It went fine. He seemed pretty spooked, and Sam is watching the house right now, so we'll know when they decide what to do. I'm feeling confident they'll skip town." I prayed I wouldn't eat my words, but something about all this didn't seem right.
Abby smiled. "I'm trying not to get too excited. I'll celebrate when they're actually gone." I just nodded, still feeling the strange sensation I got when something wasn't right.
Abby Gorham's POV
After Michael talked to me about what had happened with my dad, not much happened. I sat and watched Michael and Fiona clean their guns while Meghan slept on the couch. Michael got several status updates from Sam, and he said my parents hadn't left the house since my father got back. That was a little disheartening, but I had to keep my hopes up. I trusted that Michael, Sam and Fiona knew what they were doing.
After Meghan woke up, Michael drove us back to Mrs. Westen's house with the promise that he would call as soon as something happened. Meghan of course didn't really know what was going on, so she was happy to play games and color pictures with Mrs. Westen, but I was so nervous I couldn't sit still. I went upstairs to the room I was sleeping in so I could lie down for a little bit, and I must have closed my eyes for a couple minutes, because I next sound I heard was Mrs. Westen knocking on the door. "Abby?" She asked.
I shot out of bed and opened the door. "Did something happen?"
Mrs. Westen chuckled and shook her head. "Everything's fine, honey. I was just coming up to tell you I'm going next door for a little while. Your sister is downstairs watching TV."
I nodded and smiled. "Okay, I'll go downstairs and join her." I followed Mrs. Westen down the stairs and waved goodbye when she walked out the door. Meghan grinned when she saw me.
"Abby, where were you?" She asked. I sat down on the couch next to her and she snuggled up to me.
"I was upstairs taking a little nap, Meg." Meghan just nodded, and we sat in silence for a while, watching the TV. I noticed Meghan flipping something around in her hand, and I looked down at her to get a closer look. "What are you playing with?" I asked.
Meghan handed me what looked like a little black disk. "I found it in my pocket. Is it yours?"
My heart sank as I looked at the foreign object. It was definitely not anything I owned, and it had a blinking red light on it. I racked my brains, trying to figure out why Meghan would have something like this, and then I remembered. A man had accidentally bumped into her when we were walking by the police station, and I had thought nothing of it. What if it was some sort of tracker? I immediately pulled out my cell phone and dialed Michael's number. "Hello?" Michael answered almost right away.
"Michael, I found this black thing that Meghan was playing with and she said she found it in her pocket. It has a blinking red light and I think it's bad." I was rushing, but I had a strange creeping feeling in my stomach.
"Whoa, whoa slow down, Abby. I can't hear you very well when you talk so fast. What did you find?" I took a deep breath to steady myself, and then started again.
"I found a black circular object with a red blinking light. It looks like a computer chip." I spoke slower so Michael could hear every word.
"We're coming, hold tight." I was panicked by now, and before I could respond there was a very loud bang and the front door slammed open. I dropped the phone and stared at the doorway in shock.