Chapter 12

Driving home from the BBQ, Horatio knew that he had to wait. If he pushed Mich now, she would think that he was using the situation to his advantage and would turn away from him. He sighed, oh well; it would give him time to sort himself out a bit more – part of him still felt a little guilty about starting a relationship with someone new.

Damn – he suddenly realised that he hadn't got an answer out of Mich about who Kyra's father was, now it would have to wait, she would really think he was pressuring her if he did. He had his suspicions and a couple of Mich's words tonight re-enforced his thoughts, shaking his head, he knew he would have to leave it, for now…

&&&

Mich was not asleep. She was thinking about what had happened, returning to the party, Eric and Calleigh had given almost teasing looks at her and H, until, seeing the look on H's face, Eric had returned to dancing with Kate, and Calleigh had said nothing – starting up a general conversation.

After revealing the truth, she had cried – H at first holding her hand, but then holding her close as she admitted to killing Jack in cold blood. He had understood why she had done it. But how? Had he seen so many similar cases that he knew what the people like her had been through. Were still going through.

She had cried for almost 20 minutes, H refusing to let her go, until she had cried herself out. Then waited another 10 minutes, to give her chance to take control of herself, before returning to the others.

The relief was there, and strangely enough, most of the anger was gone. The bitterness was still there though, like an old friend to keep her company, but she sensed that it too would soon disappear.

As she was thinking, she could hear H's voice in her mind. Calming, understanding, supportive. She sensed the anger when she admitted to being beaten. As her eyes started to close, she could still sense H's arms around her and felt reassured – protected. Within seconds she was asleep, the first restful night of sleep she would have had in months.

&&&

Santiago smiled, his boss would be very happy with what he had to report. Sitting in his car just across the road from the barn, he had seen H and Mich talking. Had seen the way the Lieutenant had held the girl. After weeks of watching, he could now confirm that the two of them were close. Checking the time, he knew his boss would still be awake. Picking up his cell, he dialled a number, "Ramon... This is Santi… I have some good news for you."

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Mich woke up late the following morning, and was furious with herself. She had wanted to go and practise. With a fright she jumped out of bed, Kyra would be late for school.

Going downstairs, she found Nicky eating cereal in the kitchen. Looking at Mich he started laughing. "What's got into you?"

Looking at him Mich mentioned Kyra. "Relax; she was up early, so Alessandro took her in. We all agreed that you should sleep."

Nicky told her that he and Alessandro had noticed that she was tired. The last couple of months had taken their toll, and Mich needed a rest. Knowing that she wouldn't take a break away from the barn, they had left her to sleep. "We also need to talk Mich, you're overdoing it, let me take the hacks off your hands. That will give you time to train – you won't be getting up at 5.30 and going to bed at midnight."

Mich grinned, "Ok, you have a deal, I am feeling it. As long as you promise me that you won't leave me in bed again on a Monday, I have to practise."

Nicky chuckled. "Only practise…?"

Mich gave Nicky a sharp look. "What are you getting at…?"

"Nothing, just the fact that everyone at the party thought that you and the Lieutenant look good as a couple. Especially when the two of you disappeared for nearly an hour."

"Nick, we were only talking…" Mich put her head down.

Nicky chuckled, "I'm only teasing you, but I have to admit Mich, it was plainly obvious that he likes you."

Mich felt uncomfortable. "He's just a friend Nicky – a close friend, yes, but still just a friend."

"Then why do your eyes light up and you walk around with a Cheshire cat grin whenever you see him."

Mich started to blush, and pushed Nicky away chuckling. "Ok, so I like him, but as a friend Nicky – nothing more. I promised myself, no more policemen, I dated a few – it never worked out. They all reminded me of Jack."

Seeing the tears in Mich's eyes, Nicky put his arm around her shoulders to give her comfort, wrongly thinking that it was because she missed her late husband. Only H knew the truth and Mich was determined to keep it that way.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Tim Slater was worried. He had just been called into the office and asked to do a job. Whilst working for JB, he'd had to beat up a few people, to 'persuade' them to do what JB wanted, but he had always made sure to use his voice and psychology, rather than his fists, it was far more effective.

However, the job he was being asked to do was not part of the business that Cruz was involved in, it was personal, and Tim was not happy about doing it. Cruz had indirectly warned him. Send the message – or be permanently removed from your position. He had to make a call.

&&&

Horatio was concerned. He had been asked to join a meeting - a meeting that was held between people working on an undercover operation that he shouldn't be involved in, but he'd been asked to attend.

The first person H saw on entering the room, was Agent Sackheim. H was quickly introduced to the other agents involved in the case, and asked to take a seat. "I'll come to the point Lieutenant Caine. We know you've been targeted by Ramon Cruz." H nodded his head, he had received the information.

"Unfortunately, we have recently found out that he is not going after you specifically, but your friends, one friend in particular." H felt his blood turn cold. "This leaves us in a particularly nasty dilemma. One of his men has been asked to 'persuade' you to back off, by using your friend as a bargaining point. The man in question is one of our undercover people."

"The problem is, that if he doesn't do the job, he will be removed from the organisation permanently, which is bad for us from a law enforcement point of view, but also for you and your friends."

H was confused. "How so?" "If Tim holds his position – he can feed us information and we can protect your friend to a certain extent, otherwise, we… and you… have nothing. We hoped that you might have some ideas on how we might accomplish this."

"Have you thought about speaking to her about this?"

Sackheim looked puzzled, "She's a civilian, how could she know?"

"She's ex-Scotland Yard and she's worked undercover, she'll know what your man is going through, she'll have a better idea than I do."

The men in the room were startled by H's revelation and several discussions immediately began of how the situation might be resolved. Sackheim called for quiet – and opened the discussion on the table.

H drew his chair back against the wall, and dialled a number. "Hi, how are you?" Chuckling, he continued the conversation, "Are you busy…? Great, can you come in? I can't say over the phone – ok… Call me when you get here – I'll have to sign you in… No I'm not on my side of the office, ok 45 minutes."

Closing his phone and putting it in his pocket, H half listened to the conversation – he was not going to let anyone take a decision without Mich being here; would not let her be used as bait to bring Ramon out into the open.

It seemed no time at all, when his cell began to ring. Excusing himself from the conversation, which had taken on a decidedly unpleasant air from his point of view, he walked out to meet Mich.

"What's going on Horatio?" H hesitated, how much should he tell Mich? And how much should he leave to the FBI? He wanted to protect her from what might happen, but at the same time, knew that she would be angry about it. Mich was proud of her abilities and rightly so, but it didn't stop him being worried.

"We've had another warning from our friend on the inside, and it concerns you." Giving her a little more information, Mich was confused what was the problem, "The FBI doesn't know I've called you, so be prepared for some hostility…"

Opening the door to the conference room, he noticed that arguments were still continuing. Mich's face was one of thinly disguised contempt. She had seen this happen before, and friends had got hurt. And now these… bureaucrats… were going to take a decision for a man in the field without knowing exactly what was going on.

"Gentlemen… May I introduce Ms Bailey; I thought she might lend some insight on the situation to help us make an informed decision." Horatio looked around the room. Most of the agents were horrified, two were openly hostile, but most importantly, three – who had worked under cover themselves, were interested.

"This is a little irregular Lieutenant. We do not discuss cases with people not involved with the investigation."

Mich looked sharply at the agent who spoke, "and you are…?"

"Agent Mitchell"

"The Lieutenant has informed me that I am the target for a particular part of this investigation, is that correct? Well then, I am involved. Now if you don't mind, I would like to know the details of my involvement."

Listening carefully, Mich could understand the dilemma surrounding these men; none of them liked the idea of her being a target and even less the idea that she would be hurt by one of their own.

"So gentlemen, you have three options as I see it. Tell your man not to do the job and risk his life. Pull him out and risk him being hunted down, or telling him to do his job and keeping him inside."

Agent Sackheim sighed, "None of the options is objective, I don't see a way out of this."

Mich pulled a face, "Agent Sackheim, have you ever worked deep undercover, I thought not. What you have to remember gentlemen, is that you are playing with someone's life here, and it is that which must be protected." H was startled. This was not what he had expected, Mich was telling them what they had to do, and he didn't like the idea one bit.

Agent Clarkson looked at Mich with respect. She knew what was going down and what had to be done, not only for the job, but for the safety of the agent involved. They could pull Tim out, but the result could be dangerous, Cruz was known as a vicious player and would hunt Tim down for the rest of his life. Yet he still needed to clear something up before he would make his decision.

"Excuse me Ms Bailey. Your insight is extremely valuable to us, and welcome, but I and possibly my colleagues would like to know where you gained such knowledge."

Mich sighed, "I cannot give you too many details gentlemen, as there are parts of the case still on going, and I have former colleagues involved." Clarkson raised his eyebrows, he had heard that Scotland Yard had some long term cases – which were geared up to infiltrate the deepest part of the drug Cartels which controlled Europe, they occasionally would give information that the Bureau could use.

H was getting concerned. He was seeing a different side to Mich – the unforgiving, single mindedness that had helped her earn her reputation at the Yard. He could not help but admire her; she had quite literally taken over the meeting, but he could sense that there was a way out of this, a solution that would help Tim Slater. A solution that would put Mich in some danger and he didn't like that at all.

Mich took a seat near the head of the table. "What I have to say to you does not leave this room gentlemen, I will have your word on that. I still have many friends on the force who risk their lives every day in the fight against the cartels."

Mich began to tell them of a particular case that had been cracked by a specialist team. Without giving away too many details, she mentioned little about her role, hoping it would not be necessary. Horatio listened carefully and studied her closely, some details about this case were very familiar.

When Mich had finished talking, the agents talked quietly amongst themselves. Suddenly Mitchell looked up. "I remember this case; it was about five years ago, we use it as an example of good undercover work. We discuss it quite often with the rookies coming through. Am I right in saying that the case is still ongoing – though with different players?" Mich nodded her head.

Sackheim was curious. "Tell us what you know Mitchell. Sounds interesting." Mich took a seat to one side – she was interested to know what had been released to the FBI.

"It involves Robert Franks, the millionaire's son. Apparently, when he used to take his trips to the UK he requested 'company' at dinner, and when he liked to go out, so the big rollers used an escort agency, to keep him happy…"

Clarkson nodded his head. "I remember now. The girl he liked most happened to work for Scotland Yard. When she found out who he was working with, she got seconded to the drug squad and was asked to infiltrate the organisation. Apparently, she would disappear from time to time; used to drive her contact crazy, but she caught him after three years of work."

Sackheim was stunned, "Three years going after just one person… and the Brits still have him?"

Clarkson nodded. "We agreed that he should stay in the UK – he's in isolation, if he were brought back here the Cartel would get him straight away."

Mitchell sighed, "I read the report. The agent was good – very good, but after the case closed, she couldn't work undercover anymore… I wish we had some more people like that. I don't know why Scotland Yard let her go… She seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth." Mich smiled to herself. Thinking about the case, the men would soon come to their own conclusion. She was afraid to meet H's eye, she didn't think she would be able to hide the truth from him much longer.

"So Ms Bailey, how would you know the details of a case like this? It was considered to be one of the most dangerous cases a UK agent had handled." Mitchell stared at Mich as if he was trying to accuse her of stealing the information. Mich said nothing, when suddenly she heard a startled exclamation come from Clarkson…

"Your real name is not Michelle Bailey is it?" Mich chuckled. "As far as you gentlemen are concerned it is… and that's how it will stay." Around the room the glances of disbelief turned to respect. Then they turned from her and began to talk…

Apart from H. Mich saw the look on his face, though one of respect, there were also questions and, she was surprised to see, irritation – bordering on anger…