Yikes! Long time between updates, I know. I apologize immensely. Well, I did finally finish this story and started on a sequel. I also had an idea for a third story. Let me know what you think about this chapter.

Enigma

Chapter Twelve

Distracting the Boss

Craig Nottingham's office

13:47 hours

Marissa looked around her as she approached Craig's office. No one was around, so she snuck a quick peak inside.

Craig Nottingham was inside, ear pressed to his phone. "So, the bullet that killed Jose Marco was made by a Glock nine mil? In the head? That's an execution style hit. This person knew what he was doing…What do you mean surveillance can't tell who did it? Find the evidence. I want this guy's head on a platter!" Craig slammed the phone down on the cradle in anger.

Marissa sighed in relief. Her cover was still intact. She opened the door a bit further and stepped in, closing the door behind her. "Everything okay?" she asked, walking up to his desk and sitting on the edge.

"Not totally. My associates down in Miami can't find any evidence of the person who killed Jose Marco. It's damn frustrating!" Craig put his head in his hands.

"You need a distraction from all of this madness," Marissa said scooting over on the desk until she was directly in front of him. She put her arms around him.

"What did you have in mind?" Craig asked.

Marissa smiled slyly and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him to her. He eagerly covered her lips with his. He moaned ever so slightly as Marissa pulled herself even closer to him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"I love this distraction," he breathed huskily, pulling her in for another kiss.

Marissa forced herself not to gag when the kiss got deeper. She heard footsteps outside the office, but dutifully ignored Natasha's approach until she heard her friend clear her throat loudly.

Marissa pretended to jump off of Craig in shock and embarrassment. "Hey, Ramona. I didn't hear you come in," Marissa said, jumping off of the desk.

"Clearly," Natasha replied, glaring daggers at her.

"Next time, lock the door," Craig whispered so she could hear him.

Marissa walked away from the desk and stood next to Natasha, still feigning surprise and a hint of indignation as she faced her friend and surrogate sister.

"So, this is your idea of checking up on the boss?" Natasha asked her loud enough so that she and Craig could hear.

"What? We happen to find each other attractive. Things happen when two people like that are alone."

Natasha continued to stare daggers at her "sister." "Yeah, sure."

"Don't worry about it, Penny. Now, Ramona. You wanted something?" Craig asked throwing a smile at Marissa.

"Just that I thought that a few of the men and women could use some help with English. I know that the library is close by and they should have ESL material."

"That would make them more marketable," Marissa added, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Natasha, still feigning embarrassment.

Craig considered that for a moment. "Okay. Penny and I will go get the materials you need as a starting point. I'll look into buying some language learning materials if it's successful. Ramona, you can give them the good news."

"Okay. I have a room to set up for a client anyway. Penny, I need to talk to you about some of the prices for the champagne my client wants."

"All right." Marissa looked back at the Boss. "Meet you back here in thirty?"

Craig smiled. "Can't wait."

Marissa nodded and followed Natasha out, waiting for her to lash out about the incident in the office.

Natasha waited until they were about three feet away from Nottingham's office, before she turned on Marissa.

"Was that really necessary? You couldn't wait until after hours before jumping your latest boy toy?"

"He needed a distraction from his friend's death. How was I supposed to know you were going to walk in on us?" Marissa defended.

"It's a public place, Penny! Actions like that are not appropriate in the work place. You are so irresponsible!"

"Now you sound like our father," Marissa shot back. "He was always yelling at me too. God, you sound just like him sometimes!"

"Don't you dare bring our father into this! You know I hate that sorry excuse for a man!"

"Don't you think I hated him too? He walked out on us when we were teenagers for Christ's sake!"

"Well, now you're channeling some of his less desirable qualities. Like poor judgment! Look how you went to jail in the first place."

"Like you haven't had your own run-ins with the law? How many times have you been arrested?"

"I know, Penny, but I made sure that they couldn't prove anything. You left a paper trail a mile long! Think before you act!"

"You need to learn to act with your heart, not your head! It took you forever to get your head out of your ass before you even realized Jeremy was over the moon for you! I'm through trying to talk to you!"

Marissa stormed off in a huff, nearly barreling over a couple of people. She could hear Hawkeye chuckling over her earpiece.

She hid a smirk. She supposed it would be rather amusing for him to hear Marissa and Natasha arguing since they got along rather well.

She heard Natasha mutter a curse in Russian and stomp off in another direction, towards Hawkeye.

Marissa felt someone approach behind her. "You okay, Penny? I heard the argument you had with your sister." Craig asked as he put an arm around her.

"Sorry about that. Ramona never liked any guy I was interested in, even when we were little. She always considered me the irresponsible one, the eternal screw-up. I just like a little adventure every once in a while."

"Let's get outta here and go to the library. That way you can both calm down a little, and we can get some work done as well."

Marissa put a smile on her face, half forced. I am so ready to get this mission over with! "Let's go then."

Craig led Marissa out to his Dodge Challenger and made the short trip to the library.

"So, where is the international section?" Marissa asked when they walked through the doors. "That would be the best spot to look for ESL materials."

"I think it's over on the left side. " Craig pointed to a row of bookshelves past a table of computers. He walked over to the shelves.

Marissa looked at the computers. "I'll do a search on the computer."

Craig nodded, already perusing the books. Marissa checked to make sure that he wasn't looking. "Go for it," she whispered into her communications link.

"Copy that Enigma. Keep him distracted as long as you can," Clint reported back. "Widow's on her way to take out the security systems now."

"That'll be fun," Marissa muttered. Just for fun, she typed in a search for Der Kleine Prinz, a children's book she had read so long ago, but never had a chance to read in English or the original French.

The results popped up. The book was currently checked out, but it would make a good distraction. Marissa closed down her search and walked over to Craig.

Craig pulled out a book. "Never read this in English or Spanish. What does it say?"

Marissa laughed in spite of herself. "That's a Harry Potter book! It's the Chamber of Secrets. You never read those books?"

"Why should I? It's for kids."

"Because children's books are easier to read, especially for people who are beginning to learn a new language." Marissa walked over to the German section. "Here is a copy of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales. I loved these when I was little." She flipped over to one of her favorites.

"You can read German?"

"Yeah. Here, this is Rumplestiltskin. It says 'Es war einmal ein Müller, der war arm, aber er hatte eine schöne Tochter.' In English it means 'Once upon a time there was a miller who was very poor, but he a beautiful daughter.'"

"How many languages do you speak? You know English obviously. I have heard you speak Spanish and now German?

"Quite a few. That's the one thing Ramona and I can agree upon. We both love learning new languages. She speaks fluent Russian as well as German and Spanish. I think she also learned Arabic. I can speak Hebrew and French."

"I realized you were both polyglots. I have heard Ramona swear in many different languages under her breath whenever she gets frustrated."

"I speak in German when I get irritated. Ramona gravitates more toward Russian."

"And Mister Hawke?"

"He lets his feelings known in his actions, but he speaks a fair amount of languages too." Marissa knew she was skirting the truth in this conversation, but she had to keep him distracted. "You know, I want to find a copy of The Little Prince. I've never read it in English before. Wanna help me look for it?"

"Sure. I found plenty ESL materials anyway." Craig held a stack of books in his hands. "The youth section is back this way."

"Let me take some of those books," Marissa said, taking three books from the top of Craig's stack.

"Do you remember who wrote the book?"

Marissa nodded, half listening to him, half listening to the conversation going on over the comm. link.

"Nat, you've got three coming up on you from your six. One is an innocent."

"Copy that," Natasha replied tersely.

Marissa heard a bit of a scuffle as Natasha moved to take cover. There were gunshots, then crying in Russian or some similar language.

The duo continued the search for the book for ten more minutes. Craig walked over to the help desk.

"Nat, Barton. Hurry it up," she whispered into her comm. link.

"Give us another ten, Enigma." There was a grunt as another lackey went down courtesy of Hawkeye. "I'm sure you can think of something."

"Uh huh." Marissa muttered as Craig returned. "Find out anything?"

"Checked out as is the German copy."

"Darn," Marissa sighed. "Well, let's grab a table and see which of these books will help the most."

Craig nodded. "Follow me."